38 - Corruption (Patreon)

“What was that?” Dazien’s voice asked in her mind as Phoenix catapulted herself from the hill and ran in the direction she had come from.

“Book said a Golataur,” she replied, glancing back to see if it was chasing her but didn’t see it yet.

“I’ve never heard of a Golataur sounding like that,” Uriel added to the group conversation, “They may be monsters but they’re usually more intelligent and don’t normally seek out direct confrontation.”

“Well, this one’s also Caged and Corrupted, whatever that means,” the Wayfarer explained and winced as a mess of shouts echoed in her mind.

“GET OUT NOW!” Dazien’s command reverberated in her mind over the others and she added another burst of mana to push herself forward across the snow.

“I am!” she retorted and another bellow of rage and tormented pain sounded from behind her. She looked back to see the Golataur’s eyes focused on her and glowing with an eerie blue light, “And it’s chasing. My book gave a quest to flee and get Paul! Why would it do that?!”

“Seriously? He was a famous Corruption Hunter! He’s never talked to you about it before?” the Defender asked incredulously.

“No? I don’t remember reading about it either,” she complained, but didn’t want to admit she hadn’t finished making her way through that massive book of “common knowledge” Scholar had given her. She had other things that kept interrupting, like fighting monsters, and traitors, and not exploding her crafts… which didn’t go so well with that poor Prism Lens earlier.

“Corruption is basically an inverted element,” Uriel said in a more subdued tone, “If it’s a Golataur then it’s likely Ice.”

“So wouldn’t the inverse of that be like Fire?” she asked, attempting to use [Push] on the monster itself to force more distance between them but quickly stopped as it drained her mana at a much more precipitous rate.

“No, it’s Corrupted Ice. The inverse of Fire would be Corrupted Fire. It’s a bit difficult to explain but think of it like a plague, tainting the very magic itself, turning it into some of the most dangerous and self-destructive energies in the world,” the Mage replied.

“Wait, are we talking magic zombies here?” she asked in horror and with another glance back she could see the vague comparison with its sickly appearance that was much closer now, galloping after her, and its skeletal hand was glowing brightly, “Can Golataur’s cast magic?!”

“Yes, they can,” Uriel replied matter-of-factly, “But Zombies are actually a result of Corrupted Death magic. The Golataur isn’t technically an undead unless it gets to the point where the magic has fully taken over it and it can spread its Corruption. Are there glowing veins and eyes on it?”

“Um, yes on the eyes.” 

“Run faster and whatever you do, don’t let it touch you!” Dazien yelled out.

Suddenly something burst through the snow ahead of her and she reactively dodged to the side. What looked like a smaller goat version of the Golataur behind her, but carved out of ice and snow, popped out with a terrifying bleat.

“It can summon minions?!” she asked incredulously and felt a slight wave of relief as she sensed the auras of her party and the next second had Rayna impacting like a furry missile with the summoned creature about to bite her leg off.

“Golats,” the Mage responded, “Those are rather aggressive and–”

“Not now Uriel!” she heard Dazien actually shout aloud that time as they all came into sight when she rounded a last hill, “Focus on slowing them down as we run!”

The Defender was pulling the apathetic cinderen along and commanded through the communication link again, “Rayna, don’t let it hit you either. While it’s likely Ice attuned we don’t know for sure what else it might have and if it’ll overlap with one of us. If it can summon, it might have Dimension which would double with Phoenix. If that roar was some sort of ability it might have Song which would–”

“I get it. If it summons, it could also have Covenant which means you too, King,” Rayna retorted, “Lessons later. What are we doing?”

“We need to retreat to the city. Phoenix get the portals going for Saiya first.”

She was about to oblige when a blast of ice slammed into her back, sending her flying into the snow and knocking the breath out of her. She groaned and reconjured her [Starlight Companion] and [Sun Shell], no point in trying to hide them when she was clearly not hidden.

“A touch of frost and your death follows,” Uriel incanted.

“Not Ice!” Dazien yelled.

“You said slow it down,” the mage retorted, “You know slow is Ice, burning is Fire.”

“I meant to distract it! Oh fu–”

Another roar, followed by another bleat from the direction Rayna had vanished in, and the Golataur changed directions from trampling the downed Wayfarer, focusing in on the Ice mage that had attacked it.

Dazien lifted a shield just in time to impact with the lowered demon horns aiming to impale his partner and triggered [Stand Your Ground] in a vain attempt to withstand the assault that still managed to push him across the terrain a few meters.

Phoenix rolled over, ignoring the pain, and sent her [Night Blade] flying straight into the monster’s head but it didn’t seem to care in the slightest. Looks like “undead” meant no vital areas that could one-shot it.

Another smaller Golat appeared near her suddenly and she managed to toss a portal near Saiya before reconjuring the dagger in her hand along with her [Caustic Floe] sword to take on the little minion that lunged towards her.

“Uriel! Go through the portal now!” the party leader yelled before the Golataur conjured an icy staff to slam down on the Defender. As Dazien raised his sword to parry, a deafening crack rang through the air and the gemite was instead sent to the ground as the sheer force overpowered his Strength.

Saiya hadn’t gone through the portal yet, instead casting [Heal Life] which sent a bolt of Life magic into the downed warrior and additionally put a new Boon on him after getting upgraded by Paul’s gifted [Sustain Spirit Gem].

Ability: Heal Life

Type: Spell (magical, life)

Cost: Low mana.

Cooldown: None.

Current caste: Sapphire 1 (68%)

Crystal Effect: Delivers Life energy through a projectile, giving a small burst of health to an ally target.

Sapphire Effect: Bestows an instance of [Life Regen]. 

• Life Regen (boon, magical, life): Periodically regain health for a moderate duration.

Phoenix asked, “Why is it after Uriel?”

“Because they share an Elemental attunement,” the Healer explained in place of the recovering leader as Snowbelle distracted the Golataur with a blast of acidic water straight into its chest. “Corrupted creatures can’t stand the presence of their element in its pure form. They are obsessively driven to corrupt beings with it.”

There was a sound like a shattering gong being struck in the distance and Rayna reported, “One creepy ice goat thingy down.”

“Good, now get Uriel out of here!” Dazien groaned through the mental network, rolling over to try and regain his footing.

That’s when everything went spiraling sideways.

Phoenix felt like she was watching in slow motion as she stabbed the little Golat with her sword and saw Uriel move between Dazien and the Golataur, managing to use his own sword –which he rarely needed to wield– to redirect the glowing staff to land in the ground beside the pair. The blast of snow being sent up and the tremor through the ground made it obvious to everyone that if that blow had landed on the gemite’s back that it had been aiming for, their leader would be dead; crushed in his armor just like the stone ground that caved in next to them.

What made Phoenix’s heart stop, however, was the sight of one of the Golataur’s glowing hands buried in Uriel’s abdomen and the elongated face biting down on the shoulder of the cinderen’s extended arm. The mage’s cry of pain made her heart restart and she flung herself forward towards her friend, trying to catch him as he was released by the monster.

When she looked back at the minion she had abandoned, Rayna had arrived in time to engage it instead, creating an insane rhythm with her strikes to make quick work of the weaker summon.

Dazien was already incanting, “You have forsaken my rule and thus forfeit your freedom!” quickly constructing a metal cage around the monster while shoving both of them back behind him and towards the portal but Uriel stumbled.

Phoenix tried to keep the mage upright, pulling one of his arms over her shoulder, and was grateful to her increased Strength from her Crystal 5 attribute helping in this regard. Then her [Guide Book], in another poorly timed appearance, had yet another task for her.

New Quest: Cleanse the Cursed

Your companion has been inflicted with a Corrupting Bane.

Objective: Eliminate the potential Corruption.

Path 1: Cleanse the Divine Bane.

Path 2: Kill Uriel Karislian.

Reward: Sapphire Caste Spirit Gem.

Phoenix worriedly looked at the cinderen’s face near her own and saw it twisted in pain. She incanted “As surely as the sun will rise again, let life shine brightly from within, and you will see the dawn of tomorrow,” triggering the severe cost version of her only healing spell in an attempt to save her friend. Path 2 was not an option she would ever pick.

Saiya was on the other side of the cinderen then, casting her own spell, “May the stream cleanse you.”

Uriel clenched his teeth and the Healer frowned before looking towards her, “Uriel’s been marked by the [Corrupting Ice] Bane, we need to get him to another Healer. I can’t cleanse Divine Banes.”

“Take him through the portal and find help, my cooldown will be up soon,” she replied, then turned to look at Dazien as she informed through the mental chat, “Go through and contact Paul. Rayna and I can run for a couple of minutes.”

The Defender moved quickly as the Golataur finished shattering the Crystal Caste cage and Rayna tried to intercept the next magical spell by rocketing into the monster’s side and smashing it off course, using both her [Sonorous Stomp] followed by her [Siren’s Cry] to further knock it away from the retreating party members.

Dazien only paused a moment while following after the Healer and Mage to begin telling her, “I better see you in one minute or else–”

“What? You’ll tattle to dad?” Phoenix shot back, fully enjoying the embarrassed flush on the gemite's face before shaking away the brief humor from her mild hysteria to assure him, “Get Uriel help. We’ll be right there. Now hurry up!”

Then she triggered her mana-recovery tattoo and began winding up a bigger deterrent for the undead creature, “From the depths of the universe I summon forth the shards of annihilation. May the wrath of the cosmos descend upon all who dare to oppose me.”

She dismissed her portal as soon as the trio had gone through and yelled out to the bard, “Time to fly, Rayna!” as her Meteor appeared in the sky above the Striker and Corrupted monster wielding its staff.

“Abyss no!” the voxen shouted back after releasing the blast of consumed [Impetus] stacks causing a ripple of vibrating sound waves that spread throughout the monster’s flank. It responded, to their horror, by stomping its hooves on the ground over and over, causing multiple mounds of snow to appear nearby before a half-rotted Golat minion burst from each with an angry scream.

Luckily, Rayna was already racing towards her as the meteor finished its path to crash into the growing swarm. The powerful Sapphire Caste Golataur was still standing however when the molten rock shattered around it, devastating the smaller minions but only causing the mini-boss to become angrier.

The pair fled. The Striker forgoing any ideas Phoenix had about her personal autonomy and picking up the Astromancer, as the squad of evil ice goats chased after them. The bard would occasionally dodge out of the way of an oncoming ice blast from behind them that she was impressed the Striker could sense coming, hoping that hitting Sapphire would be just as useful for her.

Another minute later they were in Tulimeir, having practically dived through her portal as she quickly slammed it closed behind her, not wanting a repeat of “the mecha-cat incident” and threatening all the people in the city. 

Uriel lay collapsed on the ground nearby as Dazien was bent beside him, holding the mage’s hand tightly, and nearby guards were leveling weapons at the two men while Saiya stood next to them trying to keep everyone calmed while explaining, “I assure you, Lord Paladin Wayland has been informed and is on his way any minute.”

The Cataclysm Mage let out an ear-piercing scream then and one of the guards yelled, “He don’t got a minute before he turns! How big a Caste difference was between the lad and whatever got him?”

Phoenix moved to her friend's side, kneeling opposite the gemite and asking over their communication link, “How long does he really have?”

The Defender grimaced and startled her by tearing the cinderen’s tunic, ripping it off the delirious man to reveal a dark muscular chest covered in lighter scars in the shapes of runes and a nasty bite that hadn’t fully healed on the mage’s left shoulder that had glowing blue veins bleeding from it, slowly spreading over the torso and down the arm. A secondary source of tainted magic came from the half-healed wound on the right side of his abdomen where the glowing clawed hands had gouged.

“Maybe a couple of minutes. I don’t know if Lord Wayland will make it that quickly. He told me he was with Lord Teras at the OOM building on the other side of the city when my ability became in range of him again,” Dazien said with a grimace, “It’ll take even longer for a priest with Divine cleansing to even get the request.”

The gemite’s words triggered a memory and she quickly double-checked her collection before conjuring a vial to her hand, yanking the top off, and pouring the glittering pastel rainbow liquid down Uriel’s throat, praying that it would work.

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