26 Ten Years (Part 17: Journey To The Cave)

Year 1569 AC

Adone stood in front of a curtain that was entirely made up of the dark mist of dark and death essence thinking 'Could I withstand its chaotic nature?'

After steeling his resolve he said "Let's go, if any of you are unable to withstand the chaotic nature of essence, return and wait at this place for the rest of the group. If I have to stop because of your loss of control I will make sure that you stay on this mountain for all eternity"

"When I complete this mission, all the soldiers and their family members will enjoy a life of wealth" Adone used the famous {cliché (¬‿¬)} tactic of carrot and stick.

Each and every soldier started to march towards the curtain of dark mist, with seriousness in their eyes.

When Adone walked into the mist, he was surprised to that there was nothing out of ordinary other than the obvious dark mist. There was no headache that came after being in contact with chaotic essence.

The soldiers who went to find the location of cave described that they felt after being in contact with chaotic essence, they felt a pain in their head and a feeling to escape the pain in their heart started to grow even though the pain was something they were used to due to the training that they undergo before became soldiers.

The pain kept increasing as they made their way towards the cave and their faces started to show signs of the pain that they were enduring but Adone felt nothing, not even the slightest feeling of uneasiness.

This made him question the effects of chaotic nature and spirit as according to his knowledge he should only possess a slightly stronger spirit then these soldiers due to his reincarnation.

'Bionic Chip, analyze this chaotic nature and its effects on the spirit and also try to quantify the spirit as well' Adone commanded in his mind.

[Beep! New Mission Established. Analyze the chaotic nature of essence and its effects on the host's spirit. Beginning analysis]

[Beep! Analysis 0.1% complete]

[Beep! Analysis 0.2% complete] …

…

[Beep! New Mission Established. Quantify the spirit using the effects chaotic essence]

His vision was almost completely filled with the information but he shifted it to the corner of his eyes as moved on.

Both the captains had a serious look on their faces but they were fairing much better than their subordinates.

When they covered half the distance one of the nineteen soldiers rushed towards Adone, knelt in front of him and said "This subordinate is unable to hold on much longer, so please punish me after your highness returns from the mission" then he rushed back below the mountain.

"It will only get worse from here so anyone who is unable to hold on or are on the verge of losing the reasoning, turn now or you will have to endure more on your way back" The captain said.

Two more soldiers came forward and knelt before the prince before saying "This subordinate (subordinates) is unworthy of taking part in this mission please punish me (us) after your highness returns from the mission, we will not delay your highness". They then rushed towards the first soldier as well.

The group moved forward but the pain in their head intensified and the feeling to escape the pain in their heart changed to a feeling to end this pain by 'escaping' life itself.

Even Adone who wasn't feeling much, in the beginning, started to feel the effects which gave him a sense of urgency to complete this mission and run away from this mountain.

After a while, a scream came from the back of the group "Haaaaaa…"

It came from a soldier who took his sword out of its sheath and tried to slash himself while screaming but his attempt failed as his peers in the group jumped towards him to stop him.

"Deal with it" Adone said coldly to the captain duo who understood what to do.

One of them walked towards the screaming soldier who was 'sieged' by his own comrades, silently he decapitated the soldiers in a single slash of his sword which no one saw how came out of its sheath and returned back to it.

"You should have returned when captain warned you, I will warn you one last time if you can't hold on, return or you will call this place your home for the rest of eternity" Adone said coldly then restarted his journey.

The rest of the group stared at the body of their comrade then followed Adone but the numbers in the group kept dwindling as the soldiers were unable to hold on.

Ultimately there were only Seven members in the group left (including Adone and captains) when the entrance of the cave came in their view.

"Your Highness, the concentration of chaotic essence in the cave is too much for us to endure so we do not know what's inside the cave" the captain who scouted the location of the cave said.

"Don't worry, I know what's inside the cave. Just follow me" He said calmly then walked towards the cave that appeared to be filled with viscous black goo but when Adone touched it with his hands, it started to stick to his hand and a filling of weakness came to Adone as if this goo was sucking his strength.

[Beep! Host's life force is being forcefully extracted. It is advised that the host immediately move away from this substance or remove it.]

Intrigued by the properties of viscous black goo Adone commanded 'Bionic Chip, analyze this substance'

[Beep! New Mission Established. Beginning analysis]

[Beep! Analysis 1% completed]

[Beep! Analysis 2% completed] …

…

This was the first time that he saw anything that dealt with life force in this world though he was aware that it existed, so he was very excited to know more about it.

[Beep! Analysis completed]

After some time the voice rung in Adone's mind for which he was anxiously waiting while dealing with the pain in his head and the energy drain due to the dark viscous goo.

But what came from analyzing the substance caused him the frustration that he was dealing with for a long time that caused due to the fact that he was unable to sense or control essence at all and even with a cheat like Bionic chip, he was only able to understand the basics of the basic with the help of demonic beast core and Viviana's ring.

[The substance in contact with the host's hand is related to death essence and is used to extract and carry the life force from its prey to someone in control. The chip is unable to analyze more as there is an insufficient amount of experimental knowledge of essence]