Chapter 723: Into the Abyss (1/2)
“Are we really doing this?” Kurtz frowned as he looked at the small crystal encased in layers of his Mental Energy. “We saw the fallout ourselves at the auction. He has the protection of a Monarch outside. Besides, you have heard the rumors. Something odd is going on this trial, and a character like this might be involved in the upheavals.”
“Our options are limited,” Havan sighed. “We have reached an impasse, treading water for three centuries. The offers from the established factions have already dried up. We can’t give up our freedom for a chance at Hegemony any longer even if we wanted.”
Kurtz and Fathela sighed as well. It was true. They had been so full of vigor two hundred years ago, waving off the invitations of clans and sects alike. They had reached the peak of E-grade in just 30 years and already gained renown in the circles of wandering cultivators, what need was there for them to sell their souls? For the next 50 years things were fine, and the trio of childhood friends kept making improvements to shore up their foundations even further.
Then their progress simply stopped.
How Kurtz wished he could go back in time and shake some sense into his younger self. There was no shame in joining an established force, to take part in the wisdom of the predecessors. Now they were impossibly stuck at the bottleneck, feeling their momentum drying up.
It wasn't inconceivable they'd find the opportunity to take the next step inside the Twilight Ascent, but it was ultimately a long shot. Even if they found the opportunity, it might not be enough for all three. But the opportunity in front of them was different.
“This Arcaz Black does definitely have a terrifying background… He spent over 50,000 D-grade Nexus Coins on that auction. Even if we just get that necklace and nothing else, we can reforge our fate by selling it to the Veilplume Monarch after things have died down,” Havan said. “I think we can get ten thousand D-grade Nexus Coins from her, more than enough for us to make an earnest attempt at Hegemony.”
“And who knows what else he has in his Spatial Ring,” Fathela added, indicating his stance on the matter. “And I don’t think this will kill our dream, but rather the opposite. We need power to get to that place.”
Kurtz took a deep breath, but he soon steeled his resolve. What Fathela said was true. Killing a noble Draugr might cause trouble, limiting their chances at making it to the Heartlands. But what about now? Not even the local tyrants were extending invitations at the moment, let alone any of the factions with their roots in the Undead Empire.
“Alright,” Kurtz eventually said as he took out three vials. “If we do this, we need to go all out.”
“You old goat, you still had these?” Havan blurted, but his eyes shone with delight. “With this, our chances are even greater.”
The three immediately turned thought to action and set out through the labyrinthian gullies and canyons of Hollowtongue Mountains. They knew the general direction of the target, but reaching him would still require some effort. As expected, it took almost four hours and a lot of doubling back to close in on him, and that was only because he hadn’t moved since they set out.
The spot they had reached was a secluded valley, and it had been quite a chore to find a path leading inside. Their target sat on a rock five hundred meters away with a large coffin on his back and a brutal axe in his right hand. His long silver-grey hair swayed in the waters as he calmly looked at Kurtz and his companions' approach.
His features were pristine, and Kurtz could feel a palpable pressure on his soul from all this distance. This was a true pureblood, perhaps even someone from the original line from how the very core of his being felt subdued by his mere gaze. Arcaz Black was nothing like the diluted bloodlines of the local factions.
Kurz soon enough snapped out of the reverie as he started to analyze the man as an enemy combatant. The choice of weapon seemed a bit odd to Kurtz, and not in line with what he expected from a Draugr noble. Perhaps if it was an Izh'Rak Reaver with their predilection toward physical carnage.
Besides, beastcrafted weaponry wasn’t too popular among their kind since they always held a hint of life. It was possible to transform the Tool Spirits into deathly beast spirits, but the exorbitant cost didn’t justify the benefit. Why all the hassle when you could create a natural death-attuned Tool Spirit by crafting using the right materials from the start? Was it perhaps a quirk of the obscenely wealthy?
A value of 500-750 soon appeared over the Draugr’s head, which was a bit of a surprise. It was too low for a Dao Branch from what they had gathered, but too high for a Peak Fragment. Did he possess two Death-attuned fragments and was working on fusing them into a singular branch? That would mean he most likely had yet another Dao though since pure death needed to be mixed with something else.
'Triple Fragments?' Fathela's voice echoed out in his mind, echoing his own guess.
It would put them at a small disadvantage, but three fragments were not necessarily that much stronger than their own dualities. They also had numbers and teamwork on their side. If they met a few years later, they might have delivered themselves for slaughter. But as long as the young master didn’t possess a proper branch, Kurtz felt they still had a good chance to walk away victorious.
“Arcaz Black,” Kurtz greeted as he scanned the secluded valley.
Judging from what they had learned about the Hollowtongue Mountains so far, there should only be one entrance and exit to a valley like this, unless there was some hidden passage that the Draugr Lordling had found. Arcaz Black was definitely not a fool though. Him coming here and not moving for six hours was definitely not him thinking he was in the clear.
It was an invitation.
Kurtz wasn’t surprised, and neither were Havan or Fathela. It was extremely suspicious that the mark had lingered for a full week as it made its way through the mountains. There was no way they were the first party to follow the call. Even if Arcaz Black didn’t notice anything amiss at first, he should have figured something out soon enough and removed the tracking brand.
“So it’s just the three of you?” the young Draugr said as his eyes moved back and forth between their squad.
Kurtz felt a shudder as those abyssal orbs. He felt a sense of primordial fear, but also a sense of longing. Those eyes were not only a gate to the endless abyss, they were also windows to the promised land. The world where Monarchy was just considered the middle-point of cultivation. Where nigh-eternal Autarchs erected divine domains for their followers to gain insights into the Dao.
Where the latent will of the Primo connected the mortal realms with the Heavens themselves.
“We apologize for the impudence,” Havan sighed as he took out [Trailblazer], the ancient Spirit Tool they had found in a Trove 200 years ago. “For our dreams, we must sin. Your death has the power to transform our fates.”
“Many have tried to steal my fate,” Arcaz grunted as he stood up, the collisions of the chains connected to his coffin echoing through the valley. ”None have succeeded so far.”
There was nothing else to be said, and the three immediately made their move, centuries of fighting together allowing them to work in perfect harmony. Fathela became the eye of a poisonous storm as he activated his [Shroud of Azuza] while Havan’s sword domain spread to cover half the valley. As for Kurtz, he quickly conjured the four markers of [Mindworld], superimposing his restrictive domain on top of Havan’s offensive one.
However, Kurtz barely had time to realize something was wrong before Arcaz Black appeared right in front of him. Primal fear surged through his veins as a terrifyingly condensed aura was released from the Draugr Lord. But hundreds of near-death experiences had honed Kurtz’s reaction. The moment the young lord appeared, Kurtz was already phasing 300 meters away with [Voidgate].
Fathela and Havan didn’t run from their target though, but they rather pushed forward as Kurtz sent out eighteen array clones from his body, each of them indistinguishable from his real self on the surface. But the clones barely had the chance to move away from his position before a massive construction sprung up around them.
Gates, walls, and miasmic towers. There was even a restrictive rune above in the sky that made Kurtz sink toward the surface. This was a proper fortress, and Kurtz frowned as he looked around at the intricate detail of the skill. This was a true peak skill, not something that people in Twilight Harbor would have access to. It was a testament to the difference of heritage between them and this young lord.
‘Don’t panic, we knew about this skill from the beacon,’ Fathela’s voice exhorted through the mental link. ‘And it should still be unevolved from the looks of it.’
Kurtz agreed as he took in the skill. The restrictive rune that had appeared over their heads was exquisite, but it ultimately lacked the spirituality of an E-grade skill. It would probably be able to put even middle E-grade warriors under pressure, but it was just a minor inconvenience to them.
Four spectral chains shot out from the ramparts, but Kurtz simply had them disoriented and shuttling back and forth in search of the true target. In an instant he had managed to lure twelve of the chains, lessening the pressure of the two front-line fighters by a large degree.
However, he barely had time to set things up before a miasmic haze followed by a cascading wave of darkness spread out, filling the whole cage. Next, a Dao Field put them under far greater pressure than the restrictive rune above their head, and it was only partly countered by their own auras.
Had their guesses been wrong? The pressure they felt clearly surpassed that of a Peak Fragment, yet it wasn't at the level of a Dao Branch. A braided Domain? Was such a thing even possible?