Chapter 770: Out of Time, Out of Options (1/2)
Zac tried to take in the situation as he cleared his mind of the tremendous waves of synthetic bloodlust that crashed into his mind after drenching the previous area in blood. The castle grounds were far bigger compared to how it appeared through the vaunted dome from the outside. It felt like a city of its own stretching thousands of meters in every direction.
Just the outer square he had entered was as big as half of Port Atwood, with the whole castle grounds being tens of times larger. It was nowhere near the scale of the research base in the Mystic Realm, but it was still insanely large to be a residential building. A million people would be able to live here with plenty of room to spare.
The group of Blood Cultivators in front of him, most likely Blood Thralls converted by Uona, seemed to have been in the middle of preparing for some battle, only for Zac to stumble right into the square they used as a gathering point. There were over fifty of them, with many of them emitting auras that put them in the top percentile of the trial.
Uona had been active in her recruitment, not simply indulging in wanton slaughter that most seemed to have believed. As for the blood mistress herself, she was nowhere in sight. However, Zac could sense a tremendous sanguine aura in the distance. It didn’t come from the main structure though, and Zac could guess why – it was sealed.
A radiant rune hovered above its main tower, powering a barrier that seemed completely impenetrable. The bloody aura rather came from a side structure right next to the castle. A huge bloody sphere hovered above the building, and more and more power blood continuously seeped into it from the building below.
Something terrifying was brewing inside the ball, no doubt the results of thousands of cultivators being killed and drained in this trap. Was it an offensive array of some kind? To strike at either the Havarok who probably were on their way as well? Or rather at the sealed castle in the middle, to seize the valuables and expose that Realm Spirit that Ventus mentioned?
Oddly enough, the desolate aura of the Splinter of Oblivion didn’t come from the same direction as the bloody egg. Instead, it seemed to originate from another side building almost on the opposite side of the massive compound he had entered. This one didn’t give off any indications of danger like that shockingly condensed sphere of blood, but Zac still felt the hair stand on end when looking in that direction for some reason.
In either case, he had already been exposed. The fact that Uona wasn’t already rushing toward him probably meant she couldn’t just leave that orb as she wished. That didn’t prove that she was completely locked in place though, and the more time he wasted the higher risk was of him getting mired in her ploy.
Zac shot forward, and the pent-up frustration that had been set to simmer for weeks now was finally allowed to be ignited into a conflagration. For the first time since entering the city, he didn’t quell these murderous impulses. The haze was gone, and he could feel that the pervasive array didn't cover this core section either.
The traps of soul and blood could no longer harm him, making his anger a tool rather than a weakness. Instead of pushing it down, he used it to regain his long-lost momentum as he closed in on the Blood Thralls, the chains of [Love’s Bond] piercing the streams of blood flooding toward him.
He didn't activate [Abyssal Phase], as there was no need to. His towering aura filled with killing intent had given the Blood Thralls pause, and that short moment of hesitation was all he needed to close the short distance with a few herculean leaps. A keening cry of bloodlust echoed through the square as the massive edge of [Gorehew] ripped three Peak E-grade warriors to pieces.
The moment the blade had bisected the final warrior it instantly disappeared, just as a sinister aura filled the chains of his other Spirit Tool. The churning waves of blood closing in on him instantly turned black before they started to fall apart, a result of an overwhelming wave of corruption filling them from [Blighted Cut].
Zac's eyes lit up, confirming his theory that his rot-based skills would be effective against blood cultivators. However, while these were warriors working under some sort of slave-like compulsions, they were ultimately talented warriors who had qualified to enter the Twilight Ascent. More attacks were already pelting toward him, but the three pygmy skeletons had already answered his call.
A large spectral coffin appeared in front of him, and it swiped back and forth to crush the incoming blood spears. Still, [Profane Exponents] couldn't completely block out everything when fifty warriors attacked him at once. A sharp pain erupted in his side as a lanky cultivator flashed past him with shocking speed, wielding two daggers dripping of both blood and ichor.
Unfortunately for him, the rogue had underestimated just how inhumanly durable Zac's body was, and he had only managed to leave a shallow wound in his side. The blades had been laced with some sort of toxin, but Zac could instantly sense that it wouldn't become a problem. The City of Ancients was ultimately in the middle reaches of the Twilight Ocean, and his [Purity of theVoid]-node had more than enough capacity over to help deal with some toxins.
Besides, he was a pureblood Draugr, which brought the benefit of extremely strong natural resistance to most poisons. So the attack didn't even phase Zac as he continued to push forward as a wave of darkness spread with Zac as the epicenter. One skill after another was activated as Zac started to superimpose his domains to completely restrict the small army.
The blood soldiers clearly understood that they were dealing with a close-combat warrior, and they quickly set up a series of defenses while two squads pelted him from behind a bloody barrier. Meanwhile, the rogue from earlier was joined by another group of nimble warriors that tried to launch quick and deadly strikes at him from the sides.
None of these warriors were a threat to him, but there were simply so many of them. He only had two hands and the ability to keep a couple of skills running at once, and he felt one shallow wound after another being added to his body. However, this was exactly the kind of fight he excelled at, and he inexorably pushed forward as he was finally joined by some reinforcements in the form of the axe wraiths.
From there, the dance of his Inexorable Stance begun, where he continuously pushed forward, unleashing an unceasing barrage at both the backlines and the warriors who tried to flank him. A spectral warrior suddenly appeared behind a thrall who wielded a spike and a shield, but just as she was about to stab the spectre and destroy it, a chain dripping of corrosion shot toward an opening under her arm.
She desperately swiveled to block the chain with her shield, but that opened her to an attack from the wraith. She was still a Dexterity-based warrior, and she phased to the side just as she was about to be bisected by a ruthless swing of the wraith. However, she was still nicked by the spectral edge, which meant her fate was sealed.
A rune appeared on the wound, and she stumbled forward while shrieking from pain as the darkness of [Deathwish] streamed into her wound. A few more warriors had been marked already, and even the unscathed Blood Thralls were in a bad way from his corroding domain. The blood attacks were continuously being eroded by the pervasive atmosphere, and by the time they reached Zac they'd lost half of their strength.
Zac wouldn't let his summoned companions do all the work, and the four chains of [Love's Bond] weaved back and forth to restrain and harass the flanks while Zac pushed straight ahead, braving a ceaseless barrage of attacks. The ranged attackers tried to keep some distance, but he used his superior attributes and wraiths to direct the battle.
Soon enough, he had managed to essentially swap places with the blood thralls, with them having their backs against the huge wall. That way, they weren't able to escape his advance, and Zac would be able to maneuver more freely in case reinforcements appeared.
It was a valuable insight. Until now, he had only fought one or a handful of enemies while utilizing his Inexorable Stance. In those battles, his tactics had been to restrain each individual warrior, directing the tempo of the fight while creating openings. Now, it was more about controlling the tempo of the whole battlefield while breaking apart their cooperation.
He was like an inexorable army, pushing forward, neither fearing death or defeat. Any attempt of the enemy to swing the battle in their favor was crushed before it even had a chance to be started. Ambushes were turned into frantic last stands as wraiths, corrosive chains, and Zac himself appeared out of nowhere.