Chapter 77: Wise's Ability Test, The Highlight of March 7th
The shadows of the passage writhed. A split second later, a black tide of Abyssal Mimic monsters violently surged from the darkness, their guttural roars echoing off the cavern walls as they lunged toward the three who had barely caught their breath.
"Prepare for battle!" Lumine's voice cut through the chaos, sharp and commanding.
The cavern erupted into a war zone.
Refusing to blindly charge into the gnashing horde, Lumine took the vanguard. She planted her boots firmly and slammed her heel into the cavern floor with explosive force.
"Tidal Rockfall!"
Deafening rumbles shook the earth. Massive, jagged rock spikes tore through the hard ground like a pod of awakened earth dragons. In the blink of an eye, a formidable, spike-laden Geo barricade thrust upward, sealing off the front of the passage.
The barrier took the brunt of the monster tide's frontal assault, the sickening crunch of Abyssal bodies slamming into solid rock echoing loudly. More, it bottlenecked the battlefield, completely neutralizing the enemy's numerical advantage and preventing the trio from being flanked.
Wise's eyes narrowed behind his bangs. He stepped forward, thrusting both hands out. Crimson flames erupted from his palms, taking the shape of two roaring fire dragons that illuminated the pitch-black cavern.
A continuous, blinding stream of intense fire swept across the enclosed space like a high-pressure water gun. The flames flooded the kill zone Lumine had created, leaving the monsters nowhere to run.
Searing crimson tongues of fire licked at the twisted bodies of the Abyssal Mimics. The sickening, crackling sound of burning flesh and shattering armor filled the air, accompanied by agonizing shrieks.
Mualani stood slightly behind them, her jaw practically hitting the floor. Did this guy have an endless reservoir of Pyro elemental power?
The sheer volume and intensity of the flames seemed infinite. It completely shattered her understanding of how elemental energy was supposed to work back in Teyvat!
Meanwhile, Lumine remained the picture of calm, her golden eyes tracking the flow of combat. She dictated the rhythm of the battlefield with veteran precision.
Just as Wise's relentless inferno scorched the monsters into a howling frenzy, the Anemo energy Lumine had been quietly gathering in her palm reached its peak. She thrust her hand forward.
"Windblast!"
A ferocious, howling tornado tore from her grasp, spiraling directly into the heart of Wise's raging flames.
Wind fueled the fire.
The scattered inferno covering the cavern floor was violently sucked into the vortex. Within seconds, it transformed into a towering, colossal fire tornado that scraped the cavern ceiling, radiating a destructive, apocalyptic heat.
A blistering shockwave swept through the passage, instantly incinerating the remaining monsters caught in the fiery vortex.
Mualani finally snapped out of her daze, shaking off her shock at Wise's absurdly wealthy display of firepower. She wasn't about to be left out!
"Explosive Cascade Missile!"
She summoned her Hydro energy, launching a barrage of high-speed water bullets. The projectiles streaked through the air, unerringly striking the few surviving monsters that had been scorched black and pushed to the edge of the fire tornado.
Hiss!
The moment the freezing Hydro energy collided with the superheated, charred bodies of the Abyssal creatures, the drastic temperature shift triggered a devastating physical reaction.
With an ear-piercing crackle, the hardened shells and twisted limbs of the monsters violently shattered into pieces, unable to withstand the sudden thermal shock.
Thanks to the trio's textbook elemental coordination, the seemingly impossible tide of monsters was completely eradicated in mere minutes.
Only a handful of stragglers remained, twitching weakly in the dark corners of the cavern. Wise didn't even blink, casually flicking his wrists to send a few stray embers their way, reducing the last of the threats to ash.
The passage fell into a heavy, brief silence, filled only with the acrid stench of burnt ozone and the fading black smoke of dissipating Abyssal energy.
"Is... it over?" Wise asked, his chest heaving as he stared down at his own hands. Wisps of smoke still curled from his fingertips. He looked genuinely bewildered, struggling to process that the apocalyptic inferno had just come from him.
Mualani dismissed her weapon, wiping a bead of sweat from her forehead. Exhaustion tugged at her features, but it was heavily overshadowed by lingering awe and a healthy dose of fear.
Lumine, however, did not relax. Her brow furrowed into a tight knot. She kept her sword drawn, its blade still humming with residual energy, as her golden eyes pierced the gloom ahead.
"Something is not right."
She lowered her voice, the sound barely carrying over the crackling embers. "The initial surge of these monsters was a clear attempt to overwhelm us. But after we broke their line, where were the reinforcements? Is this really all the Abyss has to offer? A single, brief probe and then nothing?"
Wise and Mualani stiffened, their brief moment of relief vanishing instantly.
She was right. The victory had come far too easily. The abrupt end to the assault felt incredibly unnatural.
Mallko's voice drifted over from behind them, quiet and grave. "The Abyss never makes pointless sacrifices. Perhaps this was merely a test of our strength, or perhaps... they are stalling to accumulate power."
Lumine's grip on her hilt tightened until her knuckles turned white. A probe? Or had the Abyss intentionally let them pass, funneling them toward an even more catastrophic trap deeper in the dark?
Or worse... were they pulling their forces back to concentrate entirely on Kachina?
"Whatever their plan is, we cannot afford to stop. Mualani, keep tracking the direction!"
Lumine forced her doubts down, her expression hardening into absolute resolve.
No matter what nightmare the Abyss was brewing in the shadows, rescuing Kachina remained their absolute priority.
The group took a fleeting moment to catch their breath before pressing forward. Strangely, the path ahead offered no resistance.
The cavern remained jagged, suffocatingly dark, and thick with the nauseating stench of Abyssal corruption, yet the massive hordes of monsters were nowhere to be seen. Even the occasional scattered ambush had ceased entirely.
This unnatural smoothness did nothing to ease their nerves. Instead, it felt like a physical weight pressing down on their chests.
Lumine led the way, her sword held at the ready, her gaze sweeping every shadow like a hawk.
Wise and Mualani flanked her, their muscles coiled tight, ready to unleash hell at the slightest provocation.
The dead silence of the Abyss was infinitely more terrifying than the deafening roars of its monsters. What exactly were they walking into?
'Are you holding on, Kachina?' Lumine thought, her anxiety spiking with every step. She forced her legs to move faster.
Whatever waited for them at the end of this dark road, they would tear right through it.
Meanwhile, in another sector of the abyssal ruins, Stelle, March 7th, and Iansan were locked in their own grueling struggle. Guided by Iansan's faint, instinctual tracking of Kachina's aura, the trio trudged heavily through a knee-deep expanse of freezing, viscous black mud.
The foul, corrosive energy of the Abyss constantly gnawed at their protective auras, while the overwhelming stench of decay made every breath a battle against nausea.
Finally, the suffocating resistance of the sludge began to thin. Through the gloom, they spotted the jagged outline of a solid shore, coated in a hardened, obsidian-like shell.
A collective wave of relief washed over them. They pushed their burning leg muscles harder, desperate to drag themselves out of the disgusting basin.
"We are almost there! The shore should be just—"
Before Iansan could finish her sentence, March 7th, who had been enthusiastically leading the charge, let out a piercing shriek.
"Ahhh—!"
Hovering silently at the very edge of the slope leading out of the mud were several distorted, translucent black silhouettes.
They barely resembled anything human. The entities drifted without making a single sound, radiating an aura of absolute, freezing despair. Where their eyes should have been, two pinpricks of dark, bloody red light burned through the gloom. They were the exact same Echoes that Lumine's team had clashed with earlier.
"Gh-ghosts!" March 7th yelped, her courage evaporating instantly. She scrambled backward, practically diving behind Stelle and gripping the back of the Trailblazer's jacket like a lifeline.
Recently, in an effort to master the Sheep Talisman she had acquired, March had fallen down a massive rabbit hole of supernatural research. She had spent nights binge-watching paranormal videos and reading up on souls, spirits, and hauntings. As a result, her imagination was currently running at maximum capacity, making her incredibly jumpy.
These sudden, floating, red-eyed horrors had slammed directly into her newly developed phobia.
Iansan instantly stepped in front of the two, leveling her spear at the floating entities. Her face was set in a grim snarl. "Do not panic! These are not ghosts! They are soul imprints that have been completely corrupted and twisted by the Abyss!"
She kept her eyes locked on the drifting figures. "They possess no physical form. Standard physical strikes and elemental attacks will barely scratch them. Their primary method of attack is mental invasion! Our best option is to avoid them entirely!"
Iansan's voice was tight with urgency. It was obvious the seasoned Natlan warrior wanted absolutely nothing to do with these specific abominations.
"Soul imprints?" March 7th peeked out from behind Stelle's shoulder. The moment she heard the word 'soul', a spark of realization cut straight through her panic.
Her hand instinctively went to her pocket. The Sheep Talisman.
'Soul power... the Sheep Talisman...' The connection clicked perfectly in her mind.
"March, just stay behind me, I will—" Stelle started, reaching back to pat the archer's hand, fully prepared to pull out her baseball bat and start swinging at the incorporeal horrors anyway.
But before Stelle could finish, March 7th took a deep, shuddering breath. A look of fierce determination crossed her face as she stepped out from behind her tall companion.
March closed her eyes, blocking out the terrifying sight of the red-eyed figures. She focused all her mental energy, her fingers wrapping tightly around the octagonal stone of the Sheep Talisman in her right hand.
Buzz—!
A resonant hum vibrated through the damp air. Instantly, a spherical, translucent barrier of pale golden energy erupted from March 7th's body, expanding outward to safely envelop all three of them.
The barrier pulsed with a warm, tranquil light. It radiated a deeply soothing, soul-protecting aura that aggressively pushed back the foul, freezing despair of the encroaching Echoes. The contrast between the holy golden light and the abyssal darkness was blinding.
"Huh?" Stelle blinked, lowering her bat slightly as she stared at the glowing dome. She turned to look at her friend in genuine surprise.
"March? Your shield... why did it change color? And since when does it have those fancy patterns?" Stelle asked, voicing her thoughts with her usual blunt curiosity.
March 7th slowly opened her eyes. Seeing the brilliant golden barrier holding strong around them, the lingering fear on her face was quickly replaced by a mix of deep relief and bubbling excitement.
"It is not my usual Ice Shield! It is... it is a Soul Barrier I constructed using the soul power from the Sheep Talisman!"
She puffed her chest out slightly, though her voice still held a tiny waver. "Theoretically, it is designed specifically to defend against mental and spiritual attacks... I just do not know for sure if it will actually hold up against those creepy black things..."
Stelle looked past the golden light. Taking a detour through the abyssal mud would waste precious time they did not have, and wandering off the path could easily lead them into even worse traps.
The red-eyed Echoes had noticed the golden light. Drawn to the pure soul energy like moths to a flame, the twisted silhouettes began drifting slowly toward the barrier.
Stelle's eyes narrowed, and a familiar, chaotic grin tugged at the corner of her mouth. She made her decision instantly.
"Who cares! We will know if it works when they hit it! It is way better than being trapped in this disgusting mud! March, keep that shield up! We are rushing straight through!"
"Mmm!" March 7th nodded vigorously, her expression hardening as she poured all her focus into maintaining the golden glow.
Shoulder to shoulder, the trio cautiously stepped out of the sludge and onto the hardened slope, charging directly toward the waiting shore.
[Inorin's Note:
Enjoying the story? Dropping a quick review, comment, or Power Stone means the world to me and keeps these daily updates flowing!
Want to read 50 chapters ahead or just want to help keep a shameless translator alive? (My livelihood actually depends on this, haha 😭). You can support me directly here:
(P.S. Just remove the brackets and replace the [.] with a regular dot . to use the links!)
✨ Patreon (50 Advanced Chapters): patreon[.]com/InorinTL
☕ Ko-fi (Support / Sponsor): ko-fi[.]com/InorinTL
Thank you so much for reading and keeping this project alive!]