Chapter 751: Pillar of Desolation (2/2)

Now, things were slowly coming back to him, and he looked with rapt attention as the first of the puppets were finally dragged onto the pillar by the nearby statues. It struggled and fought, but it was all in vain as the statues enclosed the man in an embrace as the fetters wound them all tighter and tighter.

A pained wail echoed out from the puppet, and Zac could see some emotion in its eyes for the first time – fear. It only lasted for a fraction of a second though before the enormous sphere of death on the top of the pole released a pulse, prompting a wave of darkness to cascade down along the length of the pillar. It passed the spot where the warrior was being held, continuing out through the other chains to deliver a painful surge to the other captives.

The darkness passed, and the puppet bound to the pillar was gone, replaced with yet another statue locked in an eternal struggle. Meanwhile, it looked like the totem pole had grown a bit taller, and the sphere at the top had grown slightly more oppressive.

The other half of the puppets were still trying to break out from the prison Zac had conjured, but the river swirling at the edge of the cage was as impassable as his old skill, or rather even more so. Zac could feel how their monumental attacks were disrupting the churning waters, but it wasn't enough. It was an everchanging blockage, and Zac sensed how the cracks in his skill were swiftly moved away, replaced by other sections of the river.

Breaking out was possible, but you would either need to be able to unleash a terrifying strike to split apart the river in one go, sort of like Billy’s titanic smashes that could break apart almost any array. If that wasn’t an option, you’d need extremely keen senses or good scouting skills, so that you could keep track of the damage you caused.

The second option was easier said than done even if you had the capability, since [Pillar of Desolation] wasn't the only skill Zac would have going in a situation like this. Activating another skill would force him out of hiding, but Zac didn't care as he silently appeared at the edge of the cage, far away from his targets.

One spectral wraith after another appeared as Zac activated [Deathmark], and he smiled with satisfaction as he saw the wraiths looking more corporeal than usual. It was no doubt thanks to the orb of budding Oblivion shining down on the area. While it suppressed the interlopers in this domain, it also looked like it helped Zac’s summons.

He didn’t feel any boost to himself, but that was perhaps because he wasn’t a conjuration of death like the axe-wielding wraiths. In either case, they looked slightly more corporeal, and while they didn’t seem much stronger, they would last longer and be able to withstand more punishment before dissipating.

Soon enough three more puppets were caught by the chains of death. Two of them were inexorably dragged toward the pole, but one managed to resist. It was an extremely bulky warrior who probably had Strength as his main attribute that managed to resist the pull. He had dug his feet into the ground, and his limbs bulged as he released a torrent of energy to withstand the pull of the fetters and even topple the pillar itself.

However, the stalemate only lasted a second before a wraith flashed over, its axe separating the man’s head from his torso with an emotionless swing imbued with the Branch of the War Axe. Soon enough he was dragged along with the others, joining the statues on the pole.

Zac finally felt a pang of danger as the two surviving warriors shot toward him, their auras rising to unprecedented levels. Zac had been in this very situation more than once before, and the small skeletal warriors of [Profane Exponents] appeared behind him, just in time to form a thick barrier to seal him off.

The next moment, the cage wildly shuddered as the two puppets self-detonated, creating a terrifying explosion of Twilight Energy in the area. The barriers Zac had hastily erected were only enough to block the destruction for a second, but that was enough for Zac to activate and flash away with [Abyssal Phase].

The rumbling soon subsided, and Zac deactivated all his skills. The real Twilight Ocean soon came crashing back, no longer held back by his deathly river, and Zac looked at the desolation around him with a satisfied smile. Two deep craters had been left in the ground after the puppets self-destructed, but Zac was more interested in the small spot frayed space that lingered at the area where the core of the anti-sun had once been.

It was a crackling black glob that shuddered as it was rooted in place, looking a bit similar to a spatial tear yet decidedly different. It almost felt like a frayed thread on a sweater, and if Zac pulled on the thread it would lead into the true Abyss. Zac obviously wouldn't do such a thing, instead opting to immediately set off after confirming that he had progressed the quest and that there was no loot to pick up.

The lack of Spatial Treasures was disappointing, but the quest progress was higher than expected. In fact, it had reached (9/729). It mostly confirmed that it was those odd Havarok cultivators who were considered the jammers in the quest, rather than the array pillar itself. There were probably a lot of them lurking around the rim of the Chasm, and what he’d seen so far didn’t give Zac reason to believe finishing the quest to be overly difficult.

The preparations of the Havarok might have been enough to thwart most people since most would be lucky if they could even stay alive in front of the energy density the puppets conjured. Zac even guessed that only he and Uona would have the ability to trash those things as they came.

Even then, Zac didn’t start swimming along the edge of the array in search of the next pillar, and neither did he wait for another batch of puppets to come looking for him. He kept going straight ahead instead, moving further and further away from the chasm. Destroying the pillar was simply a precaution, a way for him to display some progress in case the Eveningtide Asura really had some hidden traps in case he completely disregarded the quest.

But there was no way he was actually going to keep breaking open those jammers.

A [Perennial Vastness Token] was nice and all, but you needed to be alive to enjoy it. This was a Decree quest, and he would have to physically head over to the Eveningtide Asura or an assigned representative to cash in on the quest. The chance of him surviving such an exchange was worse than slim.

Getting a decree quest would normally be a dream come true for most wandering cultivators, since getting one was the quickest way to add a Teleportation Array to your private teleportation system. Just being able to travel back and forth between Twilight Harbor and some other world in the Zervereth Sector would allow you to make a decent living as a porter.

But that was for normal cultivators, and for normal times. It wasn’t even a given that the Twilight Harbor would exist in a few decades if Alvod Jondir had his way, so what good was teleportation access? And even the harbor survived, would Zac dare return to this place after the ruckus he had caused?

So why make an enemy of the Havarok Empire for a reward that you’d never get to enjoy? If anything, the more of the jammers that stayed intact, the better. That way the Eveningtide Asura was more likely to have his hands full while Zac fled back to the Zecia sector in his human form, never to be seen again.

Zac even wished he was a bit more talented like his sister. If he was, he might have figured out a way to seal up the chasm even better. But for now, creating some chaos would have to do.