You guys really are jerks , - Zac muttered as he dropped back down toward the tunnel he entered through .
Well , this is a Red Zone , - Null giggled . - If the task ended the moment you got the treasure , who’d bother coming here to fight you for it? If you don’t want the hassle , you can just throw the Mountain Heart away . -
Zac shrugged . There was no way he’d discard the Calamity Core] , even if it meant clashing with high-echelon guests . He’d known it the moment he held the treasure . This thing easily surpassed any of his prepared items for his upcoming Core Formation .
Forming a Cosmic Core as a mortal heavily relied on treasures , but not any old item would do . Some attuned treasures weren’t suitable for Core Formation , while others had clashing spirituality or unsuitable insights . He had mountains of attuned items in his Spatial Ring , but most carried defects that would impact his breakthrough if not refined . But refinement also meant the item lost some of its efficacy .
The Calamity Core] was different . It contained incredibly Pure Daos of Life and Death , completely unblemished by outside influences . Furthermore , the core was completely unsullied by any lingering spirituality . Zac didn’t know what happened to the Mountain Spirit , but it had fully severed its connection to the mountain and its core . It wouldn’t need any refinement and could be directly absorbed .
And as such , the Mountain Heart had become the perfect item to set up the foundation for his incredibly complex core . It was even a twin-attunement treasure . The fewer treasures he used to create the nucleus of his Cosmic Core , the greater the cohesion would be . With the Calamity Core] , he only needed to add a Supreme treasure with Pure Conflict , and he’d have all the pieces he needed .
This would drastically increase his chances of success and even improve his chances of forming a higher-quality Cosmic Core . A top-tier foundation would act as a stabilizer as he extracted the energies of lesser treasures and added them to his core . With the incredible difficulties he faced with his Void Core , he couldn’t give up on something like that . The treasure even came with a massive Mana bonus , so there was no way he’d throw it away .
Zac reached the tunnel , and he wasn’t very surprised that no powerful current of Death poured through the pathway anymore . The shakes were persistent and increased with ferocity . The outside energies were siphoned off long before reaching the heart of the mountain , if they were dragged into the mountain at all .
The tunnel turned to a blur as Zac rushed toward the surface with utmost urgency , leaving a cloud of dust in his wake . It was a mix of Karma , smell , and energy-purifying dust that would hopefully throw the beasts off his trail . But the raging beasts were the least of his worries , unless the source of that terrifying roar before returned .
The Calamity Mountain was a sinking ship with the spirit gone and the core extracted . He needed to get out before it leaked too much energy , or it’d become his tomb as it plunged into the depths . A high-pitched screech echoed out ahead , but the Pseudo Beast King didn’t get a chance to react before its head was split in two by a Dao-empowered swing of Verun’s Bite] .
Upgrading his soul had once more improved his control over Mental Energy , and forming his crude Dao Braids was effortless and instantaneous . Not only that , but the current layout of his soul allowed for faster extraction . In his current human form , he could easily draw exactly the energies he needed from his Evolutionary Soul Core .
It didn’t directly improve his combat strength , but that was mostly because he hadn’t yet investigated the limits of his spiritual control . He should be able to create better Dao Braids after forming a Three Fates Soul , perhaps even forming a simple Dao Array . The spiritual domain that he could naturally form was also a huge help .
It stretched hundreds of meters around him , even passing through the mountain walls with their strong energy-isolating properties . Better yet , it barely required any energy to run . It provided an additional sense that helped him scout the path ahead for dangers . And being a passive domain , Zac suspected only Mentalists would notice it , in contrast to domain skills that would give off clues from how it used Cosmic Energy .
Zac continued at breakneck speed , each step with Earthstrider] moving him hundreds of meters through the tunnels . But soon , he opted to swap back to his undead form , using Abyssal Phase] to squeeze through the cracks that had appeared all over . It saved him hours , but Zac was still worried . The situation grew increasingly dire , with whole tunnels collapsing .
More than one path had collapsed to the point not even his wraith form could squeeze through . And he could tell that the mountain had started to sink , though it was a gentle descent . And there were still miles and miles of tunnels he needed to push through before he reached the surface .
After the fiftieth attempt , a talisman hummed to life . Zac breathed out in relief and infused Miasma without hesitation . He was swallowed by aquamarine light a second later , displaced by the top-quality escape talisman . The dour tunnel was replaced by the glowing radiance of the thousand suns of the Calamity as he appeared a few thousand meters away from the crumbling mountain .
The two attuned suns had started to drift away , and boulders fell like rain from below . Zac was more certain now , seeing the mountain from above , that it had died . A hint of decay and mourning gripped the whole thing , and huge clouds of stockpiled energies leaked out from the thousands of tunnels .
A huge maw suddenly appeared right in front of him , but the jagged edge of Gorehew] rebuffed the beast long enough for five putrefying chains to dig into the body of the winged salamander . The beast shrieked with pain as flesh sloughed off from its body , and it fell into the abyss a moment later .
The danger was averted , but the salamander was just one of innumerable beasts in the vicinity . The sky was filled with animals fleeing the mountain , forming a deadly beast tide . There were hundreds of Beast Kings and a thousand times that number of E-grade beasts who possessed the ability to fly . Many had already trained their gazes at Zac , but they quickly looked away when Zac released his murderous aura and Daos .
He’d already confirmed there was no Middle-stage Beast Kings in the tide . There was no sign of the leader of the mountain either . Its aura had disappeared just before he seized the Calamity Core] . Zac almost wondered if it was connected to the mountain somehow , and died when the mountain did . Of course , it was also possible it left for the higher reaches of the Calamity after its home was destroyed .
That wasn’t an option for most of the remaining beasts . Huge upheavals would rock the lower layers of the storm for the coming months , possibly years .
As for Zac , he had no interest in staying on to see the fallout . The Beast Kings had better things to worry about than Zac , and he was in no mood to waste energy fighting a mountain’s worth of beasts . The glider had already appeared beneath his feet and he had it fly away from the tide , heading for the vast emptiness beneath .
As luck would have it , the starting island wasn’t that far away . He and the toad had essentially moved in a huge circle while moving toward the mountain , climbing a bit higher with every jump . Now , the exit was just two islands over and one layer down , so there was no need to go back the same way he came .
Thousands of beasts following in his wake made for the islands below . Though most seemed somewhat lost , just hovering around the crumbling mountain , perhaps hoping it would stabilize—a futile hope .
The air screamed around him as Zac followed Null’s guidance beam . Occasionally some agitated beast would succumb to its instincts and try to attack him , but they were swiftly turned into bloody warnings for the others to stay clear . The real danger was the environment itself . Jumping down wasn’t as dangerous as climbing higher , but the attuned winds grew stronger by the minute .