From the corner of his vision, he noticed two Dark Elementals detaching from the group and leading a convoy of the fully charged moles away into the gloom. After a brief moment of hesitation, Seth decided to follow them.
Sticking to the high ledges and deep shadows of the cavern, he moved like a ghost, letting his gaze scan for any other Elementals hiding in the darkness. To his surprise, they didn't head for the obsidian city in the distance but veered toward a smaller outpost carved directly into the cavern wall.
There, more than a dozen Dark Elementals had formed a silent ring around a strange apparatus made of crystal that looked like a cow trough. Seth watched from his perch as the terrified moles were forced forward, one by one, to release the Darkness aether they had absorbed.
The dark, violet energy flowed in crackling streams from their backs into the bizarre structure, where it was seeping into a viscous, perfectly black liquid that seemed to stabilize the raw power. The sight immediately reminded Seth of the Tears of Ebon Snakes.
Once drained, the moles were left trembling and weak before being shoved aside by their overseers. Then, two new hulking figures arrived, escorted by a quartet of Dark Elementals. They were like nothing Seth had ever seen.
Their putrid, gray skin reminded him of the Ghouls from the Undead cave, but they had the monstrous, oversized frames of giant men. They stood well over eight feet tall, with muscles that seemed to rip and bulge through their taut flesh, which was dotted with weeping sores oozing a dark ichor. Two bulging, bloodshot eyes protruded from their skulls, and a pair of thick tusks jutted upward from their lower jaws. Both creatures were harnessed to a large, empty cylindrical vessel that they dragged toward the outpost. Seth cast Intermediate Identify on one of them, before hiding himself more intentionally behind a pillar.
The Undead Giant barely flinched at being Identified and, as it reached the outpost with its pair, they both began to unhitch themselves. Their massive shoulders slumped with momentary relief. But one of the nearby Dark Elementals seemed to decide it wasn't time for a break; it glided forward and with a flick of its wrist, its shadow-wreathed claws lashed out, tearing deep, sizzling gouges across one of the titan's backs.
The creature let out a guttural scream and glared at the Elemental. Its colossal fists clenched for a moment, yet it reluctantly moved toward the newly filled black vessel. With grim resignation, both giants harnessed themselves to the container and began to haul it toward the distant city.
I can't follow them, Seth thought, watching the two Undead beasts moving away while flanked by their four shadow guards. That city is too densely populated. It would be suicide to go in there.
'But I can,' Nightmare said, reading through Seth's mind. Not waiting for an answer, the direwolf materialized from the teardrop necklace.
'Fine,' Seth replied. 'But be careful.'
'Don't worry.'
The direwolf disappeared into Illusionary Emptiness and ghosted after the convoy, as Seth used Link to see through his partner's eyes. For about ten minutes, the direwolf was forced to trail the convoy from a distance, matching the lumbering pace of the two Undead Giants. When they finally arrived at the city's entrance—a gaping maw encircled by teeth-like obsidian structures jutting from the ground—Nightmare slipped inside while remaining in the deepest shadows.
The sheer number of Dark Elementals within was staggering; they glided through the place, stood in silence like sentinels, and seeped from the walls themselves. Seth instantly knew his initial guess had been an understatement—this place held well over four hundred of them.
Through Nightmare's eyes, Seth witnessed yet another breathtaking and unnatural sight. The convoy stopped at the base of a colossal, obsidian spire that pierced the cavern's gloom. The Undead Giants poured the viscous black liquid from their vessel into the dark, shimmering pool at the structure's base, and immediately the liquid came to life.
A great cascade of pure shadow defied gravity and flowed upward while clinging to the spire's surface. At the very apex of the structure, the stream narrowed and trickled into a single, massive drop that already hung from the cavern's ceiling like a black star.
As Seth and Nightmare watched, the liquid began to coalesce and crystallize from the inside out. The drop grew even darker, then pulsed with a power so immense it seemed to absorb the very light and space around it. Seth couldn't cast Intermediate Identify through the direwolf's eyes, yet there was not a single doubt in his mind. This was either a Darkness Essence or a Darkness Seed.
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Such a thing is supposed to take centuries to form, Seth thought. But those Dark Elementals are manufacturing one.
The crystallized drop dangled directly above a small, isolated rock hut. In the shadow of the building stood a single Dark Elemental. It was sleeker and taller than the others, its form more defined, less chaotic. Its hollow eyes swept across the plaza, as if ensuring the operation continued to proceed without issue, before looking up at the black jewel above.
As more liquid flowed into it, the drop elongated and quivered, its surface tension straining as if about to break. The Dark Elemental tensed, coiling like a serpent, ready to move the instant the prize fell.
All at once, the hundreds of lesser shadow creatures throughout the plaza seemed to stir while slowly inching toward the hut beneath the treasure. The overseer glared at them, its bladed claws rising in a clear warning to protect what was its due. Then, as if on cue, the massive black drop hanging from the ceiling ceased to tremble and became perfectly still once again, hinting that it wouldn't fall. At least not right now.
'You can come back,' Seth said to Nightmare, who immediately pulled back without arguing.
The sheer number of Dark Elementals in this city, combined with the overwhelming power radiating from the lone keeper by the hut, shattered any idea of a direct assault. They would die miserably.
Seth clenched his jaw. If only I could contact Professor Reat.
The man could have slaughtered every Elemental guarding the place without breaking a sweat. With him here, they could have taken that drop outright and walked away with it. But Reat was probably far away, and Seth had no way to reach him.
Nightmare walked back and arrived beside him, a thrill of pure excitement streaming through Link. 'We have to get that thing!' the direwolf exclaimed, jumping on its front paws. 'I felt it, Seth. The aether inside is so pure!'
'There's no way,' Seth answered, the image of the leader's aura still fresh in his mind. 'Did you see that thing? We'd be torn apart before we even got close.'
'Then we do what we did with the Fishlords,' Nightmare retorted. 'We become ghosts. We disrupt their work. We hit their slaves and the moles. And force them to come after us. Then we pick them off, one by one, staying in the dark until the number remaining in that city becomes manageable for us to steal that thing! '
Seth's gaze lingered on the distant city of shadows. 'That would take more than a month. There are hundreds of them, Nightmare. Back in the Fishlord Rift we had the upper hand in terms of Rank aside from the Lancer. We don't have that here. Every fight will be difficult. And their chief will never leave its post. You saw how it guarded that drop. And that's assuming this thing doesn't fall before we eliminate enough of them.'
'We need to at least try,' the direwolf insisted with a stubborn growl.
Seth let out a long sigh. He also wanted to tear apart this whole operation. Deep inside, he felt a sharp revulsion toward everything they had seen: the tormented moles, the enslaved Undead Giants, the siphoning of all the cave's energy. It all made something primal stir inside him. An urge to destroy this blasphemy against the natural order.
And there were all the other advantages of this place.
The high concentration of Darkness-attuned aether had been highly beneficial to Nightmare's development; in a single fight, Shadow Bite and Shadow Step had moved up in quality. On top of that, the constant threat of the Elemental's armor-piercing claws had also forced Colossus to improve one of his defensive spells. Fighting more of them would undoubtedly push the giant scorpion to progress faster than ever.
The moral imperative to act, combined with the promise of such unparalleled growth, began to sway Seth. The potential reward was also too great to ignore. If that crystallized drop was truly an Essence or a Seed, the power it could grant Nightmare was immeasurable.
Turning their backs on all this would be unwise. And since when had his Path ever allowed him to walk away from a fight?
Seth looked at Nightmare and nodded.
'Alright, let's give it a try,'
Seth stood with Nightmare by his side in the oppressive shadow of a narrow canyon pass—a perfect bottleneck en route to the mine—while Colossus waited within the teardrop necklace. Earlier, he had formulated a plan to strike at the system's weakest point: the convoy. If they launched an assault directly on the mine or the outpost, they would be overwhelmed in seconds by the dozen Dark Elementals. This was their best option. They just had to wait for a group returning with an uncharged herd of moles.
Soon, their targets appeared.
Two Dark Elementals glided at the back, their shadowy forms contrasting with the pale hides of the exhausted moles shuffling before them. As Nightmare dissolved into Illusionary Emptiness, Seth began to channel Phantom Punch, pushing a torrent of aether into the spell's complex grooves. He watched as the convoy approached and listened to their footsteps echo off the high walls.
The moment they passed his position, Seth lunged forward. He threw a punch into the empty air, and the massive, skeletal fist of the Undead spell surged into existence around his arm. Then, just as he had done against Lucius, he cast Shadow Step.
Before the Dark Elemental at the back could even react, Seth materialized behind it and his already-swung punch connected with devastating force. Phantom Punch slammed into the creature's chest, obliterating most of its torso in a violent implosion of shadow.
A second later, Nightmare pounced and sank his fangs into the same opponent, his enhanced Shadow Bite tearing through the Elemental's dissolving form. The moment the creature's dark beaststone clattered to the ground, its partner seemed to realize what was happening and whirled around. Its claws surged with dark aether, yet before it could connect, Colossus erupted from the teardrop necklace to intercept its assault. Quartz Armor crystallized over his massive shell as the giant scorpion charged in. Seth used Intermediate Identify.
The Dark Elemental's claws screeched against the layer of quartz-encrusted stones and dug deep gouges, but this time they failed to reach the scorpion's natural carapace underneath. Nightmare used Shadow Step and appeared behind the creature to bite its lower body, a corrosive cloud of black smoke billowing from his maw. With a loud hiss, the Elemental dissolved into a streak of darkness and flowed away from the assault. But even as it reformed, Colossus was ready. He rushed forward while casting Chitinous Taunt, and the Elemental's hollow sockets snapped back to him against its will.
Seth seized the opening and dashed in to unleash a relentless barrage of punches. His fists slammed in the smoky, incorporeal body with a satisfyingly solid thud, as if he were striking some flesh for once.
The three of them fell into a lethal cohesion, chipping away at the Dark Elemental's form. Colossus absorbed its frenzied slashes, and his armored shell groaned under the onslaught as Seth and Nightmare launched the counters. Soon, the creature began to weaken, its shadowy form flickering. Seth had begun to rear back his fist for the final blow when a sharp warning from Nightmare's Danger Sense surged through their bond.
Seth's core ignited almost simultaneously. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted three new figures identical to the creature before them gliding out from the mine's entrance and heading their way.
They had been detected.
(NOT UPDATED):
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Thank you so much for reading!
Busy month for me, too many hours at work and all that, so I haven’t been very active, but as always, thanks for the support!
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21 25!! advanced chapters on !