CHAPTER 308: TRAINING (4)

The air in Kelros changed.

One second, it was heavy but still, the next, it moved, rippling through the ruins like breath exhaled from something ancient and sleeping. Dust lifted from the ground in slow spirals, and the faint hum of mana deepened into a low, almost sentient rumble.

Merlin sprinted through the shattered streets, lightning crackling faintly along his boots with each stride. The world blurred past, hollow windows, collapsed arches, the blackened remains of what used to be market stalls. His comm-crystal pulsed in his hand, unresponsive.

"Damn it," he muttered under his breath, pushing more energy into his speed.

He could feel it now. The corruption wasn’t just concentrated underground, it was rising.

Nathan’s group had made it halfway to the western plaza when the ground buckled beneath them.

"Move!" Nathan shouted, grabbing Elara by the arm just as the cobblestones split open. A black mist burst out like a geyser, swallowing the air in rot and pressure.

Elara spun her spear, embedding it into the ground to steady herself as the energy wave rolled past. Her earth affinity pulsed faintly, anchoring the terrain around them.

The mist solidified, not into a form, but into a movement. Like a shadow trying to remember what a body looked like.

Nathan’s expression turned grim. "That’s not natural mana."

Elara nodded tightly, eyes narrowing. "Corrupted."

The mist shrieked, a sound like broken glass, and lunged.

Nathan’s daggers flashed into his hands, lightning crackling across the edges. He met the strike mid-air, slicing through the dark mass. For a moment, it tore apart, then immediately reformed.

"Not solid!" he barked.

"Understood." Elara slammed her spear down, a ring of jagged stone bursting upward. The shockwave drove the mist back, scattering it across the plaza like smoke.

But even as it dispersed, it didn’t fade. It laughed.

Merlin arrived seconds later, lightning trailing faintly behind him. He stopped at the edge of the plaza, golden eyes narrowing as he took in the sight, black mist, unnatural movement, and the faint stench of decay.

"Status?" he called out.

Nathan wiped sweat from his brow, voice sharp. "Hostile’s amorphous. Physical strikes don’t hold. It’s like it’s not here all the way."

Merlin’s jaw tensed. "Corrupted manifestation. Aether shadow, class beta or higher."

Elara’s gaze flicked toward him. "You’ve seen one before?"

"In the novel," he almost said, but caught himself.

"...Read about them," he corrected instead. "They form around corrupted cores. If this one’s here, the core’s waking up."

The mist swirled again, thicker this time, faces flickering in its depths like echoes of memory. The ground pulsed beneath their feet.

Merlin’s eyes lit faintly, the lightning within his irises flaring. "Don’t let it spread. Anchor the perimeter."

Elara nodded, driving her spear into the earth. The ground beneath them hardened, ridges of stone rising in circular formation, a stabilizing ring of mana.

Nathan crouched low, twin daggers humming. "What’s the plan?"

"Contain," Merlin said simply. "Then purge."

At the southern sector, Rhea and Cael weren’t faring much better.

A second rift had opened near them, smaller, but angrier. Rhea thrust her hands forward, a stream of white-gold flame bursting from her palms, engulfing the shadow. For a moment, the fire burned bright, but the mist drank it in, devouring the flames until only embers remained.

"What—?"

"Mana absorption," Cael said quickly, wind gathering around his hands. "It’s feeding on elemental discharge."

"Then we cut off its food."

Rhea shifted stance, her eyes blazing. "Switching to kinetic output."

She slammed her foot into the ground, the resulting shockwave bursting outward, not flame this time but raw, concussive force. The shadow staggered backward, briefly destabilized.

Cael used the opening, sending compressed wind blades slicing through the air. They hit, and for the first time, the mist screamed.

Merlin felt the echo from across the ruins.

He smirked slightly. At least they’re holding their own.

"Alright," he muttered. "My turn."

He raised his hand. The air around him vibrated, arcs of lightning twisting into spirals.

The mist lunged toward him, hungry and fast.

Merlin’s voice was quiet, almost calm. "—Condense."

A surge of blue light exploded from his palm. Lightning wrapped around the shadow like a cage, tightening with a sound like tearing metal. The mist shrieked, its form convulsing violently.

Elara braced herself against the backlash, her eyes wide. "Merlin—!"

He didn’t respond. His magic was shifting again, threads of wind joining the lightning, forming a spiraling vortex that dragged the corrupted mist inward.

Nathan’s voice rose over the chaos. "You’re going to overload it!"

"That’s the point!" Merlin shouted back.

The air cracked, a blinding flash tearing through the plaza. For a heartbeat, everything went silent. Then the mist exploded outward, evaporating into motes of dark light.

When the smoke cleared, the corrupted presence was gone.

For now.

Merlin exhaled slowly, lowering his hand. The lightning around his body flickered out. "That was just a fragment."

Elara nodded, scanning the area. "The core’s still active. Stronger than before."

Rhea’s voice came through the comm-crystal, slightly distorted. "We’ve got more activity near the southern shaft. It’s spreading underground."

"Regroup at my location," Merlin said immediately. "We’re heading in."

By the time Rhea and Cael arrived, the sky had dimmed again, not from sunset, but from the black haze creeping through the upper atmosphere.

Elara frowned. "If this keeps spreading—"

"It won’t," Merlin said sharply. "Not if we end it fast."

Nathan tilted his head. "You’re planning something reckless, aren’t you?"

"Always," Merlin said dryly, already walking toward the nearest tunnel entrance. "Let’s move."

The descent into the mines felt like walking into another world.

The air grew dense, colder with each step, until the light from their torches seemed swallowed by the dark. Faint mana veins glowed dimly along the stone, once blue, now pulsing a sickly green.

Elara’s voice was quiet. "I can’t sense the bottom."

"That’s because it’s not a normal space," Merlin murmured. "The corruption warps terrain. Distorts it. It’s like a pocket dimension feeding off the core."

Nathan whistled low. "Wonderful. So we’re inside a stomach."

"Don’t make it worse," Rhea muttered.

They kept moving.

The tunnels began to change, from carved stone to something rougher, more organic. The walls pulsed faintly, veins of black mana running through them like arteries.

Then they heard it.

A heartbeat.

Slow. Deep. Echoing through the cavern.

Merlin’s expression hardened. "That’s it."

They stepped into a wide chamber, and saw the core.

It hovered in the air like a molten heart, black and green light swirling around it, arcs of corrupted energy snapping outward. Tendrils of mist coiled through the air, forming distorted shapes that looked almost human.

Elara whispered, "How many lives did it take to grow that large..."

Merlin didn’t answer. He knew the number. The novel had mentioned it, thirty-three miners, drained to the bone.

Nathan stepped closer, daggers drawn. "So how do we destroy it?"

Merlin took a slow breath. "We don’t. Not yet. We weaken it first, cut the channels feeding it mana. Then hit it together."

Cael raised an eyebrow. "Together?"

Merlin turned, golden eyes sharp. "When I say now, channel everything into the core. No hesitation."

"Understood," Elara said immediately.

Nathan grinned faintly. "You heard the man. Let’s make it loud."