章節 126: Chapter 124: Consumed by the Void
Chapter 124: Consumed by the Void
Having been forced by Darius to study it extensively, Haku knew The Lithic Bastion was infamous for its three distinct regions, each more treacherous than the last. These areas—the outer ring, the middle ring, and the center—offered riches and rewards proportional to their danger. As one ventured closer to the core, gravity intensified, and death became an ever-growing specter.
Haku was currently darting through the outer ring, known as The Stalwart Plains. Despite being the least perilous of the three, he knew it was still far from safe. Vast flatlands stretched under a sky that felt heavy, dotted with jagged stone formations and towering earthen pillars. Cracks ran through the land like scars, glowing faintly with concentrated earth mana.
The environment was bleak and unforgiving, with scattered groves of ironwood trees acting as natural borders between sections of grassland. For adventurers, it was a treasure trove of rare minerals, ironwood, and chaotic mana crystals, not to mention the alchemical plants growing amidst the danger. But the risks were steep—gravity here was twice that of normal, making it a grueling challenge for those without strong physical bodies or earth-aligned mana. Rockfalls and sudden tremors kept even seasoned explorers on edge, while hidden pitfalls and patches of unstable ground threatened the unprepared.
But even knowing all of this, for Haku, these wonders and dangers were secondary. He was too busy running for his life to care.
Bounding through a grove of trees, his ember-fox form allowed him to navigate the uneven terrain with speed, though even with his cultivation, his chest burned from exertion. He found a moment's rest in a tall ironwood tree, his claws digging into the rough bark of a large branch as his mind raced.
'This isn't what I agreed to!' Seething, his ears twitched as he strained to hear any sound that might betray his pursuer.
Squeezing his eyes shut, he tried to calm his panic and focus. His nostrils flared as he inhaled deeply, allowing the chaotic scents of the region to flood his senses. Scent-clouds formed in his mind's eye, overlapping and shifting as he deciphered them.
'What am I supposed to do against that thing?!' The memory of Labrys's laughter and his crushing strength was a weight pressing down on Haku. He growled softly, his frustration mounting.
Then his nose caught it—a scent that made his fur bristle and his pulse spike. It was gritty, grey, and unmistakable. The wind carried it faintly, but it was enough.
He opened his eyes, scanning the grassland below. His pupils narrowed as his gaze locked on the source. Panic crept in as realization hit him: he wasn't alone.
Haku pressed himself against the tree trunk, disappearing into the bark as he shifted into his ghost-form. 'Screw what I said. I'm not dying today.'
Through the shifting pinetrees, he saw Labrys's massive silhouette approaching the grove, the bull's heavy steps shaking the ground. Haku's breath caught as the minotaur suddenly paused, his enormous head tilting upward. Those glowing eyes fixed directly on him.
'Is he loo— Motherfucker!' Haku's thoughts cut short as he launched himself from his perch just in time. An axe the size of a wagon wheel obliterated the tree he had been hiding in, shards of branches and splinters raining down with iron needles.
Hitting the ground in a roll, Haku shifted forms mid-motion, his body erupting into flames as he roared. "That's it! If I can't even hide, I'll at least bite his damn dick off!"
His five-meter tall beast form blazed to life, claws tearing into the dirt as he skidded to a stop. Fire roared across his shoulders and back, his glowing horns and eyes locked onto Labrys. He snarled, his ears flattening against his head as he prepared to charge.
"This is worse than sparring with Darius… but at least I can see what I'm figh—"
Mid-charge, Haku suddenly halted, his expression freezing. His furrowed brow betrayed a spark of an idea. "He saw me in ghost form… but maybe—" He vanished mid-sentence, his massive body fading.
Labrys's stone-covered grin widened as he reached the edge of the grove, his horns brushing aside trees like twigs. His hand extended, the jagged plates of his armor grinding as his massive finger pointed directly at Haku.
"Disgraceful," Labrys rumbled, his voice a deep growl that shook the trees. "Didn't you promise your brother you wouldn't use that cowardly trick? I'll let you in on a secret, little kit—hiding is useless against me. These eyes see everthing."
With a metallic thud, his enormous axe returned to his hand, tearing through the air like a meteor before slamming against his palm.
Haku froze, his ghost-form flickering as his mana surged.
Labrys stomped forward, his massive hoof shattering a rock as he advanced. 'Siaer's soul fruits taste like death, but being able to see his soul is worth it.' Trees cracked and toppled in his wake, his horns demolishing everything in his path.
Haku snarled, his ghost-form fading as he crouched low, fire erupting along his back as Labrys stormed into the grove, his presence a wall of unrelenting strength.
After a few more heavy steps, crushing trees and scattering debris, Labrys emerged into a clearing where Haku waited.
The ember fox had shed his ghost-form, his obsidian fur moving with shining stars that seemed alive. Their radiant white light mixed with the dark blue flames that blazed along his body, licking upward from his front legs, encircling his neck, and trailing down his back and tail.
Curved horns framed his head like a crown, their molten cores swirling with shifting blue lava. His powerful jaws parted, revealing serrated fangs that pulsed with heat. "I'm done running," he growled, his voice low and steady. "If you're just gonna kill me, I'd rather die fighting."
Even at five meters tall on all fours, Haku was still shorter than Labrys's towering six-meter bulk. The bull-like tyrant's body was covered in jagged stone plates. His bull's head was crowned with massive stone horns curving upward, their surface glowing with ancient runes. Molten yellow eyes burned beneath his thick brow, their searing intensity cutting through the haze of destruction.
Labrys's body was humanoid, with thick, muscled arms and a broad chest. His stone-plated legs resembled those of a bull, ending in hooves that cracked the earth beneath them with every step.
He snorted, a burst of steam shooting from his nostrils as he tilted his head toward Haku. "Took you long enough to stop runnin, kit. A warrior never turns tail. Watching you scamper like prey was startin to get embarrassing."
The minotaur hefted his monstrous axes with ease, resting them against his shoulders with a loud clank. Sparks ignited as the stone blades ground against his skin.
"I'll give you credit," he rumbled, his molten eyes narrowing. "You've done well evading for this long. But I won't mistake this show of bravery for strength. Acting tough before you die won't earn you mercy, kit."
"I'm not asking for any," Haku snarled, his stance lowering as his claws dug into the earth. "And stop calling me kit, old cow."
"Cow?!" Labrys's molten eyes burned brighter, the insult igniting his fury. Flames from Haku's body reflected in the enraged guardian's molten gaze as he raised his massive axes. "Now you're going to suffer before...again?!"
Before Labrys could bring down his axes, Haku bolted, his laughter echoing through the trees.
"Get back here! I thought you were done with this crap?!" The guardian roared, his hooves smashing into the ground as he charged after the fox, shaking the earth with every step.
Haku darted ahead, weaving through the trees with wild precision. The explosive crashes of shattering trunks and splintering wood told him Labrys was barreling straight through the grove in pursuit. A manic grin spread across his face as he spotted a massive outcropping of jagged rock rising from the grassland ahead.
'Just a bit farther,' he thought, his flames flickering brighter as his speed increased. Zig-zagging through the chaos, Haku narrowly dodged a shower of iron needles from the shattered trees, his paws barely touching the ground.
Breaking free of the treeline, he surged forward, pouring a massive amount of mana into his legs. His muscles swelled, the fibers visibly tightening like coiled steel, and with a powerful leap, he launched himself toward the top of the rock.
Behind him, Labrys burst from the trees in a storm of shattered branches and dust. His glowing eyes locked onto the leaping fox, his fury reaching a boiling point. With a roar, he pulled back his arm, ready to hurl his axe. But just as he prepared to release it, his brow furrowed in confusion. 'Somethings wrong...'
Haku twisted in mid-air, casting a fleeting glance back at the enraged guardian. His sharp teeth flashed in a wicked grin. 'Detonate.'
For the smallest fraction of a second, the faint, ghostly outline of Haku flickered just beneath Labrys's massive form.
BOOOOOOM!
The explosion erupted with a deafening roar, tearing through the grove and sending a shockwave across the plains. Trees disintegrated into splinters, and the earth heaved violently under the force. Dust and debris filled the air, obscuring everything in a blinding cloud.
As the echoes of the blast faded, the battlefield fell silent, the chaos leaving only a smoldering void in its wake.
----
Siaer quickly lifted her head, turquoise eyes widening as a mushroom cloud rose in the distance. Shaking her head, she muttered, "That idiot took it too far, just like I knew he would."
Blood dripped from her mouth as she shifted her hoof, lifting it from the crushed knight beneath her. The body clung for a moment before falling limply to the ground as she shook it off. "Better hurry." Bounding away, her antlers released faint spores that drifted in the air.
Behind her, the stillness shattered as beasts surged forward, their roars and growls filling the area. They descended upon the bodies of the fallen knights, a group that had ventured too close to their guests "training grounds" and paid the price.
----
Standing behind the stone formation, Haku shook the dirt from his giant body and shifted back into his ghost-form, his mind racing. "It worked!" His invisibility flickered briefly as he summoned two burning phantoms. They manifested faintly, then perfectly mimicked his ghost-like state.
Earlier, he had drawn inspiration from his last spar with Darius, particularly his use of his water mirrors. After confirming his phantoms could assume his ghost-form, he wagered that Labrys could detect him while hidden, but not his phantoms. He desperately gambled everything on this strategy, and after confirming Labrys couldn't see them, all he needed was to gain some distance, find cover, and wait for his guard to drop.
Focusing intently, he deactivated his technique, leaving only the phantoms hidden. Leaping back to the top of the stone rise, he crouched and scanned the destruction below. His senses sharpened, ears twitching and nose flaring.
"Figured it wouldn't kill him," he muttered, his muscles tightening. He growled low, letting the sound echo. "Not feeling too good?! Thought you said my act wasn't a show of strength? Looks pretty strong to me!"
The smoke from the blast clung to the crater below, obscuring Labrys from view. Haku sniffed, his sharp nose catching the metallic tang of blood, though the figure remained hidden. The silence that followed was unsettling, broken only by Labrys's voice rumbling from below.
"I wasn't planning to kill you before, you know," he said, his tone cold and dangerous. "Chop off a limb or two? Sure. Siaer could've fixed that. But now..."
Haku's vantage point allowed him to observe the entire scene, the heat radiating off the smoldering crater making the air shimmer. As he leaned forward for a better look, a sudden sting shot through his nose. "Ow!" He rubbed it furiously, eyes watering. "It's hot?! Why's it hot?"
The smoke below began to shift, its lazy crawl upward accelerating rapidly before exploding into the sky. A shockwave of heat followed, distorting the air and forcing Haku to stagger back.
Finally, the figure of Labrys emerged. Standing on all fours in the center of the massive crater, his hollow eyes locked onto Haku's.
Haku froze, his breath catching as the realization hit him. "I'm really gonna die."
Labrys's body had transformed into an atrocity, a grotesque distortion of his former self. His massive frame now stretched unnaturally, each rib and sinew visible beneath skin pulled tight like weathered parchment. The once-imposing stone plates that had shielded him were gone, leaving bleeding patches of raw, exposed muscle and bone.
His horns, once symbols of his strength, sat atop a skin covered skull, curved downward like jagged scythes, their surfaces cracked and uneven as though carved by violence. Hollow eyes blazed with a searing, spectral light, and his gaping jaws dripped a vile liquid that sizzled and burned wherever it fell.
Every step he took was accompanied by the crack of shifting joints, his elongated limbs moving in ways that defied nature. The hooves that once crushed stone now clicked against the ground with an eerie sharpness. Around him, the air itself warped under the weight of his presence, a black aura of malice and despair.
Labrys was no longer the guardian he once was—he was a walking nightmare, a creature born of terror and rage. Every fiber of his being seemed intent on murder, and the very ground rotted beneath his reshaped form.
Just as he was about to flee, Labrys's crawling voice slithered into Haku's ears, halting him mid-step. The words were guttural and foreign, like the chant of a cursed tongue: "Thoo mott ay-yee flee-yah feh-reer dow-tha-noom, ek em oh-hiow-kvai-meh-lee-ger. Nafn-gave-thr af thay-em for-noom, kendr eng-goom. Ek em leek dow-thans, voh-kuh-mahth-er ee Tome-r. Halt-oo eng-goom haht-ree, thvee meen ray-thee er theen sko-pun, meet nahe-reh-ver-uh af theen-oom fah-lee."
Haku's body locked in place, his instincts screaming at him to run, but his limbs refused to obey. Eyes wide, his voice finally rasped, "There's no way you're gonna kill me without telling me what that meant."
Labrys's hollow eyes flared, burning with cruel amusement as he replied. "You cannot flee before death; I am inevitable. Named by the old ones, known to no one. I am the body of death, the watcher in the Void. Hold no grudge, for my rage is your making, my presence, from your fall."
"..... Pffft!" Haku, sweating and trembling, tried and failed to suppress a laugh.
Labrys's jaws twitched, "just die."
Taking a single step forward, the instant Labrys's black hoof touched the ground, the earth cracked and blackened. A pool of living darkness oozed from beneath him, writhing like larvae, its surface wiggling with a grotesque, alien life. The mass sprang forward, crawling toward Haku in desperate bursts, its edges starving.
His flames roared to life, fighting the oppressive space around him, but the black ooze advanced without pause. His jaws snapped at the air, his muscles coiled, but the air itself seemed to trap him. 'Fuck, fuck, fuck!' The mantra pounded in his head as his flames flickered and dimmed.
The shadow grew closer, suffocating, overwhelming. Haku's struggling ceased as the black mass rose over the stone formation like a tidal wave in reverse, climbing impossibly high before curling inward. The writhing pool descended like a crushing landslide, its pitch-black waters swallowing him whole. His massive body vanished, as though slipping into a portal, without so much as a final roar.
Labrys watched in silence, his glowing sockets fixed on the formation's peak. The black ooze rippled and flattened, smothering the stone beneath it. The last echoes of Haku's presence erased.
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