Chương 100: Chapter 86 – Ash Against Corruption

White flames crackled around the burning ninth root-pillar. Beyond the hollow, distant impacts and roars echoed from the battlefield outside. But compared to the chaos from moments earlier, the stillness felt surreal. Cade exhaled slowly and looked at Aquelion. The massive gator lay motionless in the mud. Pale aquamarine light pulsed beneath the seams of his hide. He was alive and breathing steadily. Just unconscious. Relief loosened some of the tension in Cade's chest.

The Viscount had lost much of the grotesque bulk the corruption had forced onto his body. He still measured at least five meters long, but his frame had narrowed dramatically. His ribs no longer vanished beneath thick layers of unnatural muscle and swelling corruption. Now he looked lean. Scrawny, even. Not quite as skeletal as Cade had been after his Ashen Baptism, but close. Cade crouched beside the unconscious gator and studied the aquamarine flowing between scales.

When he examined the Viscount with [Essence Sight], he was surprised to find the gator had no Core. How hadn't he noticed before? Aquelion had fought like a monster even before Rowana strengthened the corruption within him. His control over his corrupted version of Lifebreathing alone had already made him terrifying, let alone everything else he could do. And he had done it all without a Core. But how much of Aquelion's strength had truly belonged to him? How much came from the corruption living inside?

The thought lingered unpleasantly in Cade's mind as he stood again. He honestly did not know what the gator would become now that the corruption had been fully purged from his body. Maybe Aquelion would choose a completely different path or maybe he would still become the kind of creature that slaughtered innocent people, just as the System had predicted. But he could cross that bridge if and when it came up.

A short distance away, Pearl leaned heavily against one of the massive root-pillars while Brahm stood nearby inhaling long streams of drifting essence from the burning remains of the ninth pillar. White ash swirled toward the tortoise with every breath. Pearl noticed Cade approaching and gave him a tired nod.

"You alright?" Cade asked. Pearl hesitated before slowly nodding again.

"Just exhausted," she admitted quietly.

"I pushed my Core too hard." Cade glanced at Brahm as the tortoise inhaled another dense stream of pure essence.

"Why don't you recover the same way he is?" Cade asked.

"There's essence everywhere." Pearl glanced toward Brahm before shaking her head.

"That is not how my Path works. Mine is of transformation, creation, and growth" she explained softly.

"I bring life into the world around me." Her gaze shifted toward the drifting ash and burning pillar.

"I will not take strength from death and destruction." Cade looked back toward Brahm again. The brash tortoise's damaged shell had already begun mending. Ash and pure essence drifted visibly across the wounds, gathering over the damaged sections. Cade's eyes narrowed slightly.

"I need to learn how to do that." Brahm snorted as Cade walked over beside him and inhaled deeply. Immediately he felt his channels fill as pure essence rushed through him and warmth spread throughout his body. Brahm glanced sideways at him.

"Concentrate it where you are wounded," he rumbled.

"Will it to restore your body to what it once was." Cade focused essence toward the claw wounds across his ribs and felt the rhizome redistribute the gathered essence evenly throughout his body. The steady flow eased some of the lingering pain and slightly accelerated his natural regeneration, but the wounds remained deep claw marks carved across his flesh rather than rapidly healing shut. His expression tightened.

"I've tried something similar before," Cade muttered.

"The rhizome inside of me keeps spreading the essence out instead of letting me focus it in one place." Brahm shrugged.

"I am not Vorduun, I do not know how to teach. I told you what I do, the rest you must figure out on your own." Well that wasn't helpful, Cade thought as he exhaled slowly before another question surfaced.

"What's actually supposed to happen after the Ashen Baptism?" Brahm blinked and looked at Cade like he was an idiot.

"You fill your channels with pure essence," he answered simply.

"Then begin walking the Path of Desolation." Cade stared at him.

"That's it?" That was all he had needed to do? Just absorb pure essence and fill his channels? If only he knew that back when he first met the Ashen Emperor. Then again, when he had finally regained consciousness, the Ashen Emperor had already left and taken the drifting ash with him, leaving nothing but dry cracked earth in his wake. His gaze drifted back toward the unconscious form of Aquelion. The Viscount had learned beneath Rowana.

He had walked a corrupted version of the frogs' teachings while developing powers and instincts unlike anything Cade had seen. But he had also now endured an Ashen Baptism. Cade honestly did not know what that would make him. Maybe Aquelion would continue along a path similar to the frogs. Maybe the baptism would pull him toward the tortoises and Desolation instead. Or maybe the Viscount would become something else entirely. Then another thought surfaced.

Cade could interrupt the baptism with lightning just like what had happened to him. He could force Aquelion to walk between both Paths. Maybe not the exact same as Cade, but something close enough that the gator might understand what he was going through. For a brief moment, the idea tempted him. Aquelion was already strong, intelligent, and loyal. At least he had been before the corruption. If the Viscount survived the transformation, Cade would no longer walk alone.

He would have someone beside him who truly understood. Cade stared at the aquamarine light moving beneath the black scales. Then slowly shook his head. No. That choice did not belong to him. Whatever path Aquelion walked next… The gator deserved to choose it himself. A deep tremor rolled through the ground outside the root-pillars. Cade turned immediately. Beyond the hollow beneath the Great Tree, ash swirled upward into the sky in a massive rotating vortex.

White particulates spiraled higher and higher while distant roars echoed across the battlefield. Brahm's head lifted.

"The Emperor has fallen," the young tortoise rumbled.

"What?" Brahm watched the distant vortex for another moment before slowly nodding.

"And a new Emperor has been crowned." Even after everything Cade had seen, hearing that spoken so casually still felt odd. The tortoise snorted and pushed himself fully upright. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"Good," Brahm said.

"Now that I have fulfilled the Emperor's task, I can get back to the fun."

"You're going back out there?" Cade asked.

"Of course." The tortoise grinned.

"The battle still rages and much of the essence remains unclaimed." Before Cade could respond, Brahm charged out from beneath the Great Tree. Cade watched him go for a second before turning back toward Pearl. The frog still leaned heavily against the root-pillar. Her breathing had steadied somewhat, but exhaustion still clung to her movements. Cade gestured toward the unconscious Aquelion.

"Watch him for me." Pearl looked uncertain.

"You're going out there?"

"There's still a battle happening, I have to help if I can." Cade glanced toward the distant flashes of combat beyond the hollow. White flames flickered across the battlefield outside while distant explosions of violet lightning illuminated the dark sky.

"If Aquelion wakes up," Cade continued, "make sure he doesn't try anything stupid." Pearl hesitated before slowly nodding.

"I will try." Cade turned and sprinted after Brahm. The moment he emerged from beneath the Great Tree, the scale of the battlefield hit him fully. The entire wasteland beyond the root-pillars had become chaos. White flames spread through massive trenches carved into the ash-covered ground. Leeches swarmed in writhing masses while ash worms erupted violently from beneath the surface. Half-burned corpses smoldered beneath drifting curtains of ash and steam. And there were barely any ash tortoises left.

Cade slowed for a moment as realization hit him. Six, maybe seven survivors total besides Brahm and Vorduun. That was it. The rest were dead. A hollow feeling settled into Cade's gut. He had freed Aquelion from the corruption, but it had cost dozens of lives. Even now the surviving tortoises fought surrounded on all sides by corrupted creatures. Then a leech peeled off from the rest and launched toward him.

Cade reacted instinctively as his [Mantle of Dissolution] surged upward in a flowing arc of pearlescent ash that enveloped the leech midair. The mantle flooded through the creature's channels, stripping away both essence and structure in mere moments. The bloated body collapsed into drifting ash while its liberated essence rushed back through the tether connecting Cade to the mantle and flowed directly into his waiting channels. Ding! You have defeated [Corrupted Juvenile Swamp Leech — Level 5].

You have gained experience. Dungeon Quest Updated: Cleanse Cynthia's Legacy Progress: Minor Corruption Cleansed: 26 / 100 Major Corruption Cleansed: 2 / 2 Prime Corruption Cleansed: 0 / 1 His eyes widened at what he had just done, but before he could fully process the notification that flashed through his mind, another pair of leeches lunged toward him from opposite directions. Instinctively, the mantle reacted again. Ash spiraled outward around Cade's body and wrapped both creatures before they could reach him.

Their corrupted flesh hissed apart almost instantly beneath the desolating ash and more essence rushed into him through the tether. You have defeated [Corrupted Juvenile Swamp Leech — Level 10]. You have gained experience. You have defeated [Corrupted Juvenile Swamp Leech — Level 9]. You have gained experience.

Dungeon Quest Updated: Cleanse Cynthia's Legacy Progress: Minor Corruption Cleansed: 28 / 100 Major Corruption Cleansed: 2 / 2 Prime Corruption Cleansed: 0 / 1 Cade mentally shoved the notifications aside before they could continue cluttering his vision. Still, they had confirmed something important. Only the creatures he personally killed counted toward the quest progress.

He didn't know if that was simply because the System only tracked his own contribution, or if the ash tortoises weren't truly cleansing the corruption completely when they killed the creatures themselves. Another ash worm burst upward directly beneath him, interrupting his thoughts. Cade reacted, jumping to the side to avoid the worm's horrible mouth while simultaneously plunging his will into the rhizome. It answered and drew directly from his essence channels.

Wood exploded outward from his palm and twisted into a long spear. At the same time, Cade pulled dense streams of pure essence from the battlefield into his channels and activated [Prismatic Conduit]. This time he did not feed the skill with his health. He forced his will down on the rhizome, only allowing it to use his essence. The rhizome pulled hard and it would have sucked his channels dry in less than a moment if not for the constant influx of pure essence Cade was breathing in from all around.

Prismatic currents raced through the wooden spear. The unstable charge traveled up the weapon as the ash worm turned and lunged toward him. Cade thrust the spear forward and prismatic lightning detonated in a screaming torrent that tore straight through the worm's open mouth. The creature exploded. Burning chunks of flesh scattered through the ash. Cade inhaled deeply, absorbing more essence from the battlefield while already moving toward the next target. Leeches launched toward him from every direction.

The [Mantle of Dissolution] intercepted them in flowing spirals of pearlescent ash that wrapped around bloated bodies and stripped them apart midair. Essence flooded back into Cade through the tether as dissolved flesh collapsed into drifting ash around him. Another worm erupted nearby. Cade formed a jagged blade from the rhizome and drove it into the creature's head before releasing a burst of [Prismatic Conduit].

Multicolored lightning detonated throughout the worm's body with enough force to split it apart from the inside. A grin tugged briefly at the corner of his mouth despite the exhaustion weighing on him. This battlefield was dangerous but Brahm had been right. It was overflowing with essence and experience. A thunderous impact shook the ground. Cade turned immediately toward the disturbance. Vorduun battled Rowana less than a hundred meters away.

The old tortoise now stood nearly ten feet tall with white flames leaking from his open maw. Across from him, Rowana darted through the battlefield in flashes of violet lightning and twisting vegetation. But she looked worse now. Much worse. Thick violet fluid seeped from ruptured wounds across her body while her movements had lost much of their former grace. Violent spasms now interrupted the smooth precision she once carried.

One arm ended in a ragged stump just below the elbow while several of the massive growths covering her body had split open and collapsed inward. It seemed even the apex monsters in this corrupted dungeon had their limits. Cade looked toward Vorduun. Deep cracks spread across sections of his shell while blood mixed with ash along his arms and legs. Thorn-covered vines remained embedded in parts of his body where Rowana's attacks had pierced through his defenses. Yet he kept advancing.

Then another realization struck him. If Rowana truly was the source of the corruption here, Cade might need to kill her himself to ensure it was fully eradicated from this realm—not to mention complete the quest and receive credit for it. Then another thought surfaced. Could she be cleansed instead? Cade's gaze lingered on the corruption twisting through Rowana's ruined body. Even from this distance he could see it enveloped her completely.

He had barely managed to save Aquelion, and the Viscount's corruption paled compared to hers. No. The merciful thing would be to put her out of her misery and eliminate the corruption once and for all. Another thunderous impact shook the ground as Vorduun crashed into Rowana. The First Elder tried to twist away in a blur of violet lightning, but the old tortoise caught her with both massive claws before she could escape. His forelimbs slammed shut around her body and locked her in place.

For the first time, Cade saw genuine fear on Rowana's face. The violet growths covering her writhed as she struggled against Vorduun's grip. Thick roots erupted from the ground around him while black mist swarmed into his eyes, but the old tortoise ignored her futile efforts. Vorduun roared before biting deep into her stomach. The battlefield went still for a heartbeat as rows of jagged teeth punched through flesh and corruption alike. Violet fluid exploded outward across Vorduun's jaws while Rowana shrieked.

And then he breathed out a torrent of fire directly into the wound. White flames blasted through her torso and exploded out her back in a deluge of ash and burning violet corruption. The growths covering her body blackened while shrill screams echoed across the battlefield. Dense essence burst outward from the wound in a wave that momentarily drowned Cade's [Essence Sight] in blinding light. It felt less like watching a creature burn and more like witnessing a star collapse into a supernova.

Yet even with desolation burning through her Core, Rowana still thrashed in Vorduun's grasp. Violet lightning detonated from her body. A bolt struck Vorduun directly in the face hard enough to stagger even the massive tortoise backward. Rowana tore free from his claws trailing smoke and flames as she crashed through the battlefield. She hit the ground hard and rolled through the ash before forcing herself upright. Cade's eyes widened as he saw the damage Vorduun had done. And yet— Somehow she still lived.

Rowana looked back at Vorduun with burning hatred for just a moment before she fled. The First Elder vanished into black mist and violet lightning. For half a heartbeat, Cade lost sight of her completely. Then violet lightning crashed against the trunk of the Great Tree halfway up its massive surface. Thick bark twisted and peeled open just long enough for Cade to glimpse Rowana's ruined body disappear into the hollow interior before the tree sealed shut once more. Silence spread briefly across the battlefield.

Then Vorduun began coughing violently. The old tortoise spat blackened blood and chunks of burned corruption into the ash before suddenly barking out a deep rumbling laugh.

"She bleeds!" he roared.

"That much desolation inside her Core will kill her soon enough!" The surviving ash tortoises answered with thunderous bellows of their own. Rowana may have retreated but the battle around them wasn't over yet. Cade moved. The [Mantle of Dissolution] exploded outward around his body in swirling arcs of pearlescent ash as a cluster of leeches launched toward him. The mantle enveloped the creatures midair and stripped them apart in seconds. Their bodies collapsed into drifting ash and liberated essence.

Cade absorbed as much as he could as he darted through the battlefield and swept the mantle outward in wide currents that erased entire clusters of leeches at once. An ash worm erupted nearby. Cade thrust one hand forward and the rhizome exploded outward into another spear. He fed [Prismatic Conduit] entirely from his own essence as he drew more in from his surroundings. Lightning screamed through the spear and detonated inside the worm's broad side, nearly vaporizing half the creature in a single blast.

Cade followed immediately with the [Flames of Desolation]. White fire spread across the ruined remains, reducing corrupted flesh to drifting ash and pure essence. Cade inhaled deeply and cycled the reclaimed power straight back into his channels. He barely slowed as he sprinted across the battlefield hunting down the remaining leeches and worms. Wood burst from his hands as the rhizome formed weapon after weapon. Spears. Blades. Jagged stakes.

Cade hurled himself through the dwindling chaos, converting ash and essence into destruction faster than the corruption could spread. The surviving tortoises rallied around the momentum and what remained of the leeches and worms collapsed beneath white fire and dissolving ash. As the last worm died, the battlefield finally fell quiet. Cade stood amid drifting ash and burning corruption, breathing heavily, when multicolored lightning struck the Great Tree. The colossal trunk trembled from the impact.

His head snapped upward. Deep within the bark, violet light spread through the massive tree like veins beneath flesh. A moment later, branches high above the battlefield shuddered as fresh growth raced across the skeletal canopy overhead. Vorduun stared upward grimly.

"In her desperation to survive, Rowana has spread corruption into the Great Tree itself."