A wave of frigid cold passed him , instantly freezing the ground where he stood . The ten-fingered claw that had just tried to grip him was trapped in place , leaving Zac completely unencumbered for a moment . He glanced back and saw that a black crown of ice appeared on Catheya’s head as she rose into the air .
Five teardrops with ancient engravings of ice appeared behind her head , and a frigid cold swept out in every direction . In no time , an area of hundreds of meters had been turned into a world of ice . The roiling waves of the lands were frozen solid , the spikes and pitfalls cracking into chunks of dirty ice .
Deal with the big guy . I’ll try to stop it from gathering more bodies! - Ogras shouted as six wings grew from his back .
The ghastly flag had been fully unfurled , forming a band of anguished faces three meters long . Just looking at the tapestry of suffering made Zac’s soul shudder .
A storm of spears from the flying demon destroyed everything locked within the ice . In an instant , a huge crater over thirty meters deep had been formed , exposing a terrifying truth .
The whole bedrock was now filled with corpses , almost an endless number crawling for the surface . A stream of Ogras’s captured wraiths was already pouring into the hole , dragging bodies out and ripping them apart by the hundreds .
Catheya’s world of ice had already spread into the hole , locking the seeping resentment in place and protecting the wraiths from being assimilated by Sinner’s Lament . The corpses lost some of their unnatural flexibility from the cold , while Ogras’s wraiths remained unaffected .
Zac wasted no time as he flashed through the air , using the floating steps of Earthstrider] to appear right beneath the creature . A storm of fractal leaves erupted from his body , each one two meters long and imbued with both War Axe and Kalpataru .
The corpse construct emitted an unstable aura approaching Middle D-grade , but the shell of corruption it had created couldn’t defend against the unstoppable force trapped inside the fractal leaves . Huge chunks of black oil and dry flesh were carved out of the creature , falling like rain all around him .
A huge , twisted face formed on the creature’s stomach , and dozens of sinner blades shot at Zac . Unfortunately for the enormous creature , Zac was far too agile in his human form . Another patch of grass appeared beneath his foot as he took another step in the air . The next moment , he appeared over a hundred meters away , right behind the creature .
The monster was already forming another layer of corruption around its wounds , but Zac didn’t care . The outburst from Nature’s Edge] had destroyed hundreds of corpses , shrinking the construct by almost 10% . And he wasn’t finished there . Four powerful vines stabbed into the ground , giving Zac some upward momentum to keep him in the air a bit longer . Simultaneously , a hundred-meter leaf appeared in front of Verun’s Bite] .
The blade was almost as tall as the creature and contained the truths of the Abyss and Arcadia . The blade fell , and the world was delineated . A spatial divide cut the huge creature in two , creating a ten-meter-wide corridor of nothingness . The blade lingered for a few seconds , disintegrating any corpses that tried to move toward the other side of the unbridgeable chasm of Rapturous Divide] .
But the skill couldn’t last forever . Zac looked up at the creature as he landed on a platform of ice formed by Catheya , and had to immediately flash away to avoid dozens of sinner blades . The two halves were already fusing into a whole , though they had shrunk once more . Zac grunted with annoyance .
If the construct refused to die , he’d just have to keep swinging until there was nothing left to reform .
Ten minutes later , Zac panted atop a frozen pile of broken flesh , almost half of his Cosmic Energy consumed . Ultimately , he hadn’t found any better method than methodically cutting the creature down until no corpses were left . There were no weaknesses to the construct , and none of the three managed to find anything like a core of its energy .
The punishing thunder ultimately hadn’t come to their rescue , though the corpses were thankfully possible to permanently destroy , unlike the resentment wraiths .
Nothing , - Ogras swore as he appeared next to Zac . - I was almost sure the shards of the Sinner Core fueled it . -
Maybe it was , but the pieces dissolved before we could find them , - Catheya guessed . - After all , we dealt with this thing in the crudest way possible . -
Now that we know what to expect , we should be able to snatch the pieces before they disappear . That might prevent the construct from forming altogether , - Zac said .
How did you know to hit the spike before? - Catheya asked curiously .
So far , we haven’t managed to destroy any wraiths , except when using items empowered by thunder . - Zac shrugged . - I was worried the Sinner Core would share the same properties and reform even if I cut it . It seemed more prudent to target the spike that was full of the aura of lightning . -
What now? - Ogras asked as he turned to Catheya . - Can we use that array of yours? -
The array of Sinner Crystals soon appeared , but she shook her head soon after .
Not from here , at least , - Catheya said . - We’re most likely too far away . The energy in the crystals can’t reach very far . The compass should be able to reach further during a surge , but I’m not sure the ambient energy is enough . We may need a powerful sacrifice of resentment to work . -
A sacrifice? - Zac said . - So , more crystals , or what? -
Exactly . The more crystals we sacrifice , the greater the range . -
Then we need to gather crystals to find mounds , but the more crystals we gather , the more waves of wraiths we’ll have to endure . -
Just so , - Catheya nodded .
Seems straightforward enough . The harder we work , the more mounds we’ll find , - Ogras shrugged . - I guess we can rest when this is all over . -
17
KEYS OF ASCENSION
Zac released a long pent-up sigh of relief as he stumbled out of the teleportation array , appearing in Vastness City . The gate closed behind him , and Zac was finally free from that wretched place . Only then did he truly realize just how grimy he was . He was covered almost from head to toe in blood and corruption and literally oozed sinister energies into his surroundings . Even the angry scars on his body almost glowed .
A few people curiously looked over as Zac appeared , but seeing a wretched-looking human was all too common in this place . Too many looked like they’d been hit by a truck when coming back from their missions . Besides , it was close to the end of the month . Those who wanted to duel would have finished their fights already , so no one tried to urge him to leave the protected teleportation square .
Ogras and Catheya had teleported straight home to their manors . The twenty-one days in Sinner’s Lament had completely wrung them dry , to the point Zac had been forced to carry them to the exit .
For three weeks , the assaults never relented . It didn’t matter if they didn’t harvest so much as a single Sinner Crystal . Within two hours , they would be attacked all the same . And they’d soon found out that without farming a decent chunk of crystals , they’d fall behind on rent . Stress kept building as corruption accumulated , and there was never any time to recover . At least not if they wanted to make Mana .
Even with Catheya’s method to localize the Sinner Mounds , they barely managed to find and destroy one mound a day . The rest was spent gathering Sinner Crystals , withstanding surges , and trying to take some fitful bouts of rest . At least the rewards were pretty good .
Twenty-two Sinner Mounds meant a total bounty of 6 , 600 Mana . After deducting twenty-one days’ worth of fees , they were left with a profit of 2 , 505 Mana . Of that , Zac had earned just over 1 , 000 , while Catheya and Ogras shared around 750 each . Unfortunately , that meant Zac had stalled out at 9 , 803 Mana , just shy of reaching the first echelon .