(Normal Pov)
The silver-born carriage remained in stead without any passengers in its mass. Bells of roaring thunder loudly sounded over the top of the valley.
A magnificent structure adorned in marble white , with slight cracks on it's enormous pillars stood strong against the tide of the elements.
Not very far from it , two figures stood facing a single entity.
Covered in gut-wrenching dreads that not just looked but were worms was a blue-haired humanoid void creature , it's moonlight gold eyes shone brighter than the northern star yet pure malice was all that could be seen in them.
Facing it , Litei Frost- Spectre and Riuki Fuyukabe- Sword Saint stood on one knee each panting heavily.
The winds of the endless ceased leaving only the magnetic roots of the storm less thunder. Every minute or so a crackling sound would bellow throughout the vast valley of the Abandoned Temple.
Though they had disappeared , the few but visible patches of green grass swayed around slightly , creating a hypnotic rhythm to whomever gazed upon them. Truly the Collapsed Realm was a dangerous place.
A wide grin made its way unto Sword Saint's face , mixed in with excitement and unimaginable pain. He leaned on the silver longsword in his hand , trying to catch his breath and recollect himself.
Looking over to his right he saw Litei , similarly trying to catch his breath but he instead had had his tunic and robes severely damaged to the point where some of his skin was visible. Not to mention the blood oozing out of the gaping wound on his back—the result of being slashed by one of the sharp dread worms.
Attempting to formulate a plan in his head , he played with the idea of using a distraction and running away but it would prove futile , even he knew that.
Any other thoughts seemingly vanished like the time his father caught him outside the gate. How long had it been since then… a month?
No.
Right now he couldn't allow any other things to tamper with emotions. He may have not ever been in a battle but he knew that every second mattered no matter how weak or strong your opponent was.
For a moment he thought that he at least had some time to idle by and think of something that'll help defeat the horrid monstrosity in front of them.
However, their foe did not bear that line of thought.
Soon after that hopeful idea the long brown worm-like dreads lunged at Litei without paying Riuki any mind. By a rabbit's hair , Spectre managed to move inches out of the way.
Then a thought sparked within him.
He moved closer to Sword Saint , careful to watch his step in case the ghoul inserted some of its worms into the sand like before. Noticing this action Riuki cast a bewildered glance at Litei , locking eyes with him and somehow understanding what he intended to do.
But before he could play his part in the plan , more of the dread worms lunged towards him this time at a more rapid pace.
It seemed that the creature realized how strong Riuki truly was .
Nevertheless , even that amount of strength wasn't nearly enough to fight the horrid ghoul. And that was only if his assumption of it being in the Corrupted Stage. You see void creatures were ranked quite similarly to humans who started at Dormant—>Child Of Destiny—>Traveler , depending on their stage of evolution then within that level :
Traveler
↓
Journeyman
↓
Path Finder
↓
Divine Traveler
↓
Lord Of Realms
↓
Beyond
Although , the void creatures went a little more to the opposite side Normal—>Unholy—> Corrupted —> Tainted—> Cursed Void —>Tyrant—>Void less—>Beyond. So assuming that it was at least an unholy ranked void creature based on that it's dwelling was that of a temple ruined by the harshness of time , he could more or less say that its strength was comparable to a Traveler like himself.
So why was it so damn hard to kill this thing!?
He wasn't a normal traveler after all , he was a Saint—individuals blessed with innate talent in a specific sacred object granted to them by the Distant Echo and fully merged with their soul chain up awakening.
Even a normal Journeyman in their latent stages would have trouble with him as well.
So how come this unruly creature had gotten to this point since the ambush without losing its head!?
Riuki swiftly dodged the attack while still lost on thought. Another factor entered the dilemma ; Litei whom had proven that he was a strong individual based on how he reacted during the ambush.
With the two of them how could the unholy ghoul still be overpowering them by a large margin?... unless… Litei was still a dormant human!.
How? It didn't make sense as to how a dormant human could survive that long in the Collapsed Realm without any aid.
If he was a normal human at all.
He shrugged the thought off.
Such ridiculous notions in the dead heat of battle would get him and his companion killed. Now that the ghoul had toned down on the malicious intent , he now had some room to hand over the item to Litei.
Accepting it with grace he nodded at Sword Saint and Riuki in turn nodded back.
'Let's do this.
❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️
_Frost Here!👋
1/3 Done.
Right , there is a reason why this chapter is not the usual 1000 words:
As you know from the previous chapter , the power was out so I managed to squeeze in a Chapter before I had to switch off the Wi-fi to conserve power.
But now , it's back so decided to drop this at 5:45 because well I'm experimenting with the schedules to see which times my readers read and which times they are busy.
If you have any input please comment about it and we'll discuss it and set a good time.
Storm's brewing right now , so who knows when I'll update next.
Well , that is unless I exceed 10 collections and 7+ Powerstones by Midnight (Classic way to express love for books).