Arc | Chapter. 128: Start of Book 3: The Forgotten Places (Patreon)

Chapter. 128: Start of Book 3: The Forgotten Places

Sorry all for the delay, book 3 is much harder to write than I ever expected. Here's hoping chapter is good. 

I had fought a corrupted chimera, had problems with the dragons as their ruler, and one became my servant ⁠— the Dragon of Wind, Faral ⁠— while another ended up as my slave: the Dragon of Water. All of this happened while visiting the Republic of Miri-Sunre, and upon returning I had confronted the Hero of Flames when he tried to kill my companion. Not long after that, I met Meika⁠; now Faral’s apprentice.

I had fulfilled everything I wanted to fulfill.

The selection of the new king had come to an end, and Arlow were the new rulers of Draliz. Though in order to do so I had to kill the Hero of Spirits, and unfortunately there was an unwanted casualty in the form of Iris Orow; an innocent person who had sacrificed herself to ensure the Hero of Spirits died.

Then, after defeating him, I had to fight the Hero of Flames, who didn’t seem to have an extra life. And well, I had died once in the process, consuming my revival skill. He had given me a warning, a warning that I shouldn’t have ignored. But I did, I didn’t blame myself for it ⁠— not like I had time to do so anyway, because immediately after he died I had encountered the Hero of Arlas. He was the keeper of order and he had… punished me.

He had sent me to a god forsaken place which I was now currently in. The Forgotten Places, where the corruption resided, and where I found myself surrounded by monsters stronger than me.

It had all happened so fast that the only thing that passed through my mind was:

Fucking survive.

I used [God Step] and the ceiling broke apart, the ‘Twisted Thing’ had destroyed it in a single blow, killing multiple of the Error Chimeras. But even then, somehow and in some way where I emerged on the other side of the room I felt it. A sickening feeling that was spreading starting from my cheek.

I touched it only to feel my skin flaking, being nibbled at by an unknown thing that wanted to consume me. I had already been touched by the corruption…? I hadn’t even been hit by jackshit⁠— and the entire chamber shook, all of my senses blared as I threw myself to the side only for a gigantic hind leg to break through the ceiling.

Once more, corrupted debris was thrown all around me, tainting and spreading to the untouched surfaces, and then, the gigantic corrupted being before me roared. It was the strongest thing I had seen in my life and it seemed to be getting ready to fight something. And I didn’t want to find out what the fuck it was.

But unfortunately, luck wasn’t on my side for the fucking gigantic thing charged⁠— the chamber was split in half, torn apart as rocks flew all around me. I protected myself with ice but it still got corrupted from being touched. I still didn’t understand what was going on, but it didn’t seem like I’d have the chance because⁠—

A dozen of corrupted projectiles came my way as I kicked up an ice wall. It immediately got bulldozed right through by a corrupted chimera and then⁠— it charged⁠— bashed me before I could even blink.

I felt my arms nearly break as my body shattered through numerous chamber walls. It was as if they were made of paper, but truth be told every single one was harder than any surface I had ever felt. My back felt like breaking by the second wall, but then came the third, the fourth, the fifth⁠— sixth, seventh⁠— and I hit the eighth wall with a thundering sound.

My vision blurred as I barely managed to stand up, ice collapsing around me from my [Armor of Perma-frost] shattering. My breathing was rugged, and my entire body was trembling with throbbing pain. I coughed up blood as I stared ahead into the piercing and corrupted darkness. And then⁠— it came.

I dodged and a chimera charged through the wall. Somehow, and in some way, I felt that every single chimera I had seen here was much stronger than the one I had fought, which meant⁠—

The chimera threw a punch and I kicked⁠— a pillar of ice hit, but it immediately shattered into nothing but fine dust as it barely pushed my foe back. My eyes momentarily went wide as I immediately made an ice spear and used [Quick Step].

The world around me blurred and I immediately appeared on the chimera’s side. Its mere aura of corruption was enough for me to feel an instinctual shiver, but its reaction time made it all that more terrifying. The chimera had already begun to turn on me, twisting its arms as I immediately called one of my most useful skills⁠—

[Repulse]— and I thrust.

The spear splintered into pieces from impacting the chimera. And with a harrowing screech it was sent flying, breaking through chamber walls as I finally gained a moment of respite. Though I still summoned another spear and began to enhance it for combat.

My entire body was in pain, the ruins ⁠— the Forgotten Places ⁠— felt dark. It was like being deep underground, and yet somehow they had a minimal amount of light emanating from the particles of corruption; it looked like a tainted space that I shouldn’t have been in. But due to circumstances it was where I found myself.

My mind raced, thinking about a lot of things but in the end I only had two conclusions. One was that I needed to survive, and the other was; I needed to get the fuck out as soon as possible. It was a place that couldn’t house life, or sustain it for that matter. It was a place that I didn’t want to be in.

And this was supposed to be a mission⁠? Absolutely ridiculous. Even the tables of power? I couldn’t even fucking gain levels here! I could still hear all of the stupid roars from all the various beasts, and there was also⁠—

I summoned a spear and at that moment a dog-like creature broke through the wall.

[̶̩̋L̷͔̚á̵̮b̵̳͝ ̵̣̇R̶̩̄a̷̩͘t̶̫͂.̸̪̚ ̶̜̔T̸̫̋i̸̩̓ĕ̷͈r̶̡̛:̸̯͝ ̵̠̇S̸̨̾S̶̜͑]̴͈͝.

My eyes flashed with surprise before my enhanced spear immediately pierced through the thing’s neck. Even then, I felt the resistance it put up was ridiculous as I immediately called a different skill.

[Wrath of the Ice Queen].

Dozens of ice stakes exploded from the ground, drawing a pained screech as corruption was shed. For a moment I thought I saw blood but decided to pay it no attention as my muscles tensed and I used two skills in tandem.

[Skullpiercer]— into [Ancient Blow]!

My spear blurred and with a flash of light, it pierced⁠— going through the ground and the Lab Rat’s head as if it were butter. The ground exploded and a small shock traveled throughout the ground.

And a moment later, I got a notification.

[ You have vanquished the: [̶̩̋L̷͔̚á̵̮b̵̳͝ ̵̣̇R̶̩̄a̷̩͘t̶̫͂.̸̪̚ ̶̜̔ from the world. T̸̫̋i̸̩̓ĕ̷͈r̶̡̛:̸̯͝ ̵̠̇S̸̨̾S̶̜͑ ]̴͈͝

[ You have purged part of the Ư̸̖̦̥͑̌͋̀͘n̷̳̼̙̐̎͌͐̈́̈͜ḵ̶̢̥̬̘̪̯͐͊ͅṇ̶̢̲̌͆͝o̷͇̓̅͐͌̐̄̽̈́w̵͚̤̮̖̋̀͛̂n̸̨͈̜̦̼̙͙̿̏ ]

It wasn’t as difficult as I had expected, but I could still see the thing’s Tier⁠— perhaps it just wasn’t corrupted enough⁠—?

And the walls shattered, a chattering sound echoed as I turned only to see a whole horde of them.

[̶̩̋L̷͔̚á̵̮b̵̳͝ ̵̣̇R̶̩̄a̷̩͘t̶̫͂.̸̪̚ ̶̜̔T̸̫̋i̸̩̓ĕ̷͈r̶̡̛:̸̯͝ ̵̠̇S̸̨̾S̶̜͑]̴͈͝

[̶̩̋L̷͔̚á̵̮b̵̳͝ ̵̣̇R̶̩̄a̷̩͘t̶̫͂.̸̪̚ ̶̜̔T̸̫̋i̸̩̓ĕ̷͈r̶̡̛:̸̯͝ ̵̠̇S̸̨̾S̶̜͑]̴͈͝

[̶̩̋L̷͔̚á̵̮b̵̳͝ ̵̣̇R̶̩̄a̷̩͘t̶̫͂.̸̪̚ ̶̜̔T̸̫̋i̸̩̓ĕ̷͈r̶̡̛:̸̯͝ ̵̠̇S̸̨̾S̶̜͑]̴͈͝

…

I immediately used [Quick Step]. The Lab Rats had immediately jumped in the spot I had been in⁠— they crashed against each other sending flakes of corruption streaking through the air. The corruption was like an infection, and I didn’t want to take any part in it so: I ran.

I ran through the ruins, evading the Lab Rats as they pursued after me and the numerous other dangers I encountered. It was⁠— too much for me. I had been slammed through walls, nearly died and even broken my arm, but somehow and in some way I had managed to persevere in search of safety.

Safety that had a chance of not existing in this place. I had more than enough mana, but everything here was so much stronger than me that it felt pointless.

Everything was a threat to my life. And I meant literally everything⁠; from the random pebble that had been launched across the room and cut my skin⁠ — infecting it with the corruption⁠ ⁠— to the arrow traps and random pipes running through some places.

But even then, I still ran; all in hopes to survive.

I slid through a broken down chamber door as the wall behind me broke, a chimera of error chasing after me.

I had used every single movement skill I had and even then it wasn’t enough, the thing was gaining on me. I didn’t know how long I had been running for. I was sure it was hours at this point. Somehow and in some way I had evaded death but my luck was running out.

I was now in a place that mostly resembled a hangar, even the door I had slid through was made out of metal. However, that didn’t matter, nothing mattered as I focused on running, a sense of dread filling me.

Was this it?

Was this how I was going to die⁠—?

The door behind me exploded.

The corrupted chimera had arrived, I looked behind only to see everything that was coming for me. At least six corrupted chimeras were behind, and in the far distance I saw dozens if not hundreds of other twisted abominations. And far in the distance, I saw a single gigantic claw⁠— a Twisted Thing.

The sight gave made me feel despair as I continued to run deeper into the hangar-like place, there were some lights⁠— as if electricity was present. But I paid it no mind, instead focusing on running⁠—

The entire place was like a different world ⁠— surely there would be some type of shelter, right? Right?!

I ran through the halls of some interconnected building to the hangar, there were lights on⁠— reminiscent of light bulbs but emanating a ghastly blue light instead. I didn’t understand what was going on, but I rushed my way looking for something.

I arrived at some stairs only for the top ones to be completely collapsed⁠. I could hear the footfalls of death following close behind followed by ever increasing stronger tremors, and so I headed downstairs.

I continued in a spiral until I arrived at a basement, it was oddly clean a few pieces corrupted material here and there⁠— except for the tubes lining the walls and pillars of the grand room I found myself in. Every single one of them was filled to the brim with corruption, I paused for a moment to admire it before another tremor made me snap back to reality.

The atmosphere, the lack of comprehension, and how close to death I was made me feel a sense of fear that I had never felt before. And so I continued running through the grand basement, it seemed to have no end as the monsters that had been following me began to pour into the expansive room.

The containers of corruption began to break as a tidal wave of corruption began to form right behind me. A sense of impending doom filled me as I saw the end of the room, a pair of open metal double doors were at the end, and next to them there was a gigantic container that had been broken through, a trail of corruption going into the room the doors led to.

Was this the end?

Tears began to form and then I heard a voice⁠— a broken one that somehow and in some way filled me with some warmth.

T̸o̴ ̸y̴o̷u̴r̸ ̵r̴i̸g̶h̸t̵.

My eyes snapped only to see the light of a flashlight intermittently blinking within a small doorway. I didn’t know if it was safe, but did I even have another choice? I immediately turned right, moving away from the pair of double doors, and when I was almost at the entrance I heard an explosion come from behind.

Danger filled the room and at the corner of my eye I saw it.

The most corrupted creature I had ever seen.

⁠[̵̧̞̎͋̎⁠̵̢̟̲̗̟͇͊⁠̸̨̨͎̦̂̄͜͠—̴̧̥̬̺̈́́͑̆͜͠⁠̵̧̥̰̩̳̱̊—̶̛̤̮̪̰̗̞͌̓⁠̸̠̦̞́͂ͅ—̶̡̤͇̺̞̾̊̐̀̕.̶͓̫̖̑̿͜ͅ ̴̢͚̩͐͋̇̓͝T̸̙͉̺͖̯͌̓̒̒i̶͉͙͍͚̔̄́e̴̱̍͋́̈͗r̶̠͙̺̤̤̋͜:̸̟̥̅̈́̾͠ ̷̳͑̀̏͂̈́⁠̴̝̲̄͘—̵͕̖͎͎͒̀͑́]̷̧̞̤͔̀̂͛͝

No name, no tier, no nothing⁠— and a tentacle of darkness came from the distorted figure. I dashed⁠— it hit and I landed past the door, letting out a painful scream.

The door slammed shut as I thrashed on the ground. I looked down only to see the source of my incredible pain.

I lost my leg.

From the knee down, it was missing. Flakes of corruption emanating from it. I continued crying in pain and the lights turned on. I once more heard the same distorted voice from earlier, this time clearer and very much obviously speaking to me.

“R̵e̷l̶a̷x̷,̶ you’re safe now.̷ ̴L̸et’s ̷r̵e̶m̴ove̸ the ̷ corruption ̵ before it’s ̷t̷o̶o ̷l̸at̶e.̴”

Through my tears I followed the voice only to see a man in tattered armor, a black aura already covering his being.

“W-Who are you⁠—”

And [Appraisal] went off, informing me of the man’s identity. My eyes immediately grew wide as the temporary relaxation I felt turned into sheer terror.

[̵H̷e̷r̴o̶ ̵o̴f̴ ̴A̵r̷l̷a̶s̴.̷ ̷T̷i̸e̷r̴:̷ ̸S̸S̸S̷]̴