novelraw Chapter 1188 - 1187 - The Inverted Mountain
Chapter 1188 - 1187 - The Inverted Mountain
Lind had never been sure of the generic description of the place but he had to admit, it really was an inverted mountain. Further, he saw the natural wind and water wear and tear on it so it was once on the surface!
The cavern had a few wrecked buildings but there was nothing else, not even a teleportation array to get into the damned thing. He instead flew up slowly with only his draconic stamina to support him. He did not find any openings or even hidden doors to crack open.
It was perfectly sealed at the lower peak.
He scaled to the wider base at the top but it was just a mountain. Paths and even some dead scrub brush were everywhere. It was almost surreal in how normal it was if not for being upside down and underground!
He also noted it was not Fiend stone at all. It was granite with a mix of a few other stones. Why was everywhere else Fiend stone but the inverted mountain was normal?
It hinted at something but it took him a week to finally reach the top. He was being extremely cautious but no traps or attacks ever came. He was inside their base but the Radiant Tier Fiend never showed herself.
He could only draw 2 conclusions.
The first was that she literally could not leave the facility. The other was that she did not care. She knew he was coming and would choose where they met.
Still, he expected at least something to attack him or trip him up, yet it was just a void of nothing.
After looking over every nook and cranny of the mountain he was left with 3 options. He could try to bait them to react, he could attack directly, or he could become annoying.
He chose the last option.
He grew to his full size before emerald flames built up in his throat. He gave no time as he blasted the entirety of the Fiend stone with his harmonic flames.
The reaction was immediate. The stone was turned to dust without any effort on his part. There were no arrays, traps, or anything to resist his assault. The ground shook above but he did not stop.
Part of the reason he transformed was to resist if the ash fields came crashing down on him.
His attack served 2 purposes. He was not attacking the mountain but he would eventually expose it to the surface. The moment that happened, Celestial Qi would come flooding in.
He knew none of them would want that.
Half the surrounding structures were reduced to nothing before vile Qi spiked from the mountain. His emerald eyes narrowed as he saw male Fiends appear on the surface.
Of course! They simply tore through space!
If you knew the layout, shifting in and out was as easy as breathing.
Lind sneered as Sliver and Shard Tiers were what came to fight him.
"DIE FOOL!" The Fiends were in dark robes but unlike the pathetic armies that attacked his dragon forces, they were peak grade 7!
They had swords, spears, and there was even a mace! All the weapons were of the same grade! He truly underestimated what they were capable of!
Arcs of intent flew at him but he just waved his claws and negated it. The numbers kept increasing until 50 Fiends were attacking him. It was a bit troublesome but they seemed to now know how to work together.
If they could coordinate, they might have been a threat but as it was, they were pathetic.
He snapped his tail and mane at them. Half of them died before they grasped the threat of his harmony. Did the Radiant Tier not warn them? Why?
Something was off but he quickly wiped out the idiots who were too sure of their strength to really fight back. By the time some of them began to coordinate, it was far too late.
Laws enhanced by his harmony ensnared 3 of them easily. The rest he killed without mercy.
The mountain strangely took no damage from either of their attacks. He narrowed his eyes and confirmed it was not normal stone as he first assumed. He looked at his 3 captives who were now disheveled.
Even tied up, the Fiends were impossibly handsome but he only felt revulsion from them.
"Stupid beast! You think you can possibly leave here ali–" One of the Fiends tried to remain arrogant but Lind severed his jaw. He did it casually without an ounce of anger.
"If you think I will indulge your antics, you are all sorely mistaken. I do not need you to talk at all." His emerald eyes flared as his dragon claws glowed. Celestial Qi flowed around him which actually made them blanche.
A very cruel weaving was created that he never used publicly. Lind was not arrogant either. He was willing to face the consequences of his actions openly and thus knew dark acts would not be removed in the future.
He would have to face that in his next tribulation.
The weaving was actually disturbingly simple but only Celestial Qi could get it to work. He wondered why but for once did not pursue the reason. The sigils were connected by the traces and Laws flowed around him until the 3 subjects' heads glowed.
They screamed in agony but he ignored it. Information was flowing into the weaving as he did not trust to let it into his own mind. Fiends had surprised him before with how ruthless they could be even with themselves.
Further, the Great One was absolutely watching him. Any Fiend could be his eyes so absorbing mental information was extremely dangerous.
The weaving created a sort of map slowly but he finally saw the immense facility inside the inverted mountain. Shock and rage warred within his heart as he grasped the immensity of what he was seeing.
It was not just the Corruption but the various lairs he had scratched the surface of were connected here as well!
It was all centralized! The bloodline array too! It all came back here!
"May you grasp the depth of your sins in the next life." Lind's throat lit up with emerald flames before he reduced the 3 Fiends to ash. He also burned the other bodies on the floor and that were stuck on the mountain.
He left nothing to chance.
No more Fiends came so he took time to recover with an elixir and made sure any injuries were purged of Fiend Qi. He was not invincible to such numbers but it was easy to dodge and reduce their attacks when they had been so random.
He examined the map on his weaving but frowned. They clearly came from deeper in but the center was vague. No information at all and nothing to explain how the Corruption was spread either.
Was that why the Radiant Tier could not come out? They were integral to the Corruption?
He had not considered that.
It gave him a bit of hope if that woman's movements were limited.
He found an open tunnel and tore open space. It resisted him at first but he put more power into it. The tear opened and he saw a metal corridor as he had seen long ago. He stepped through and the metal grating made a clang as he landed on it.
Gravity had flipped! He was upright but the peak was above his head!
He quickly looked around but no one was nearby. No one free at least. Instead there were lines and lines of tubes.
They were metal and crystal lattice covers. Tube ran into the floor around each and mist flowed off them without end. He found it disturbing as he brushed away a layer of ice.
Fiends. They were all Fiends! Their bodies were hale but he could feel their souls were not. It was like part of them was missing!
He calculated he was about 3 floors from the base of the mountain which made roughly 50 to 60 floors of tubes!
There were billions of them here!
Each row was stacked 3 high on the floor he was on. Assuming the pattern replicated, it was insane!
He also slowly understood what the Corruption was. Fiend souls! They literally parsed their souls to taint the Qi and poison the entire 2nd layer!
He still needed a mechanism to distribute it but it had to be in the area he had no map for. He began to follow the corridor and noted the monitors every few meters. It showed the status of each Fiend and he noticed some were marked yellow compared to green for the majority.
He had no idea what it meant but he finally paused as he found one marked red. He figured out where that tube was and moved towards it. He was stunned to feel something familiar.
His harmony!
He came to a burnt out tube that was shattered with the others cracked around it. It was one of the lairs he destroyed!
"The yellow marks a lair Fiend? Maybe but at the very least, I caused this." The silence and cold air was disturbing but he moved inwards in the hopes to find an answer to his burning questions.
Where was the Radiant Tier and the Corruption source? Were they one and the same?
He could only continue and hope to find the answers.