Awakened Corruption

As the window closed, an old man shut the curtains of his house, getting the roaming monsters out of his sight. Several hours away from dawn, news about infernopests ambush at the kingdom circulated; a rumor of two unidentified intruders thrashing onto the Aclarian palace has reached the people's ears.

Citizens were advised to stay in their homes, while guards are scattered around the city slaying monsters.

"Tsk. Just how lax is the security system in this country?" The old man said, shaking his head in disbelief. Unbeknownst to him, an infernopest already slithered to his balcony, looking for an entrance.

The entire city is filled with these monsters—dispersed on the city grounds and swarming houses.

A purple haze progressively bordered the entirety of Aclaria at every tick of the clock. The royals who escaped to the province watched as the dark-purple fog surrounding their country condensed to clouds, acting as a mantle that covers the dawning sunrise.

Then, it began to spread outside the Aclarian territory.

Until it reached the breadth of the north.

Dawn has come—

But the black and purple haze already covered the whole northern realm.

News spread like wildfire.

Aclaria has been attacked overnight, releasing malevolence and corrupted mana into the northern territories.

Celestial towers with their respective archmages peered at the view below. Priests and priestesses gazed upon the corruption before them. Innocent children trembled in fear inside their homes.

In the Aclarian alleyways, the homeless ran for their lives. Some were unfortunate to be devoured, and some had found refuge in the good people trying their best to help.

These scenes can be viewed aboveground.

A cloaked man whose shawl fluttered in the strong gust of wind looked at the spectacle below him. He stood in an edifice that had the tallest view, and as he closed his eyes, he dropped the book he had just finished reading, letting it plummet to the ground below.

"The silence before the chaos…"

"…is the loudest sound of all."

A sudden upheaval then began to shake Aclaria as the ground reverberated into an earthquake. Below that was the underground dungeon Lumi and Siegren had found.

--in the underground dungeon--

The saintess had awakened, but she was in no state holy.

Lumi ran, trailing behind Siegren as he pulled her with him. While running farther away from the awakened saintess who was screaming like an animal being butchered, Lumi's head fell blank.

"Snap out of it—don't let it corrupt your rationality,"

Lumi glanced upwards to Siegren. He wasn't even looking at her.

"We have to get out of here first," he said. "Can you materialize a rope right now?"

Lumi thinned her lips. "I think I can, but it'll take a while," she said. "The miasma is too thick for the blessing of the goddess to get through. I need to have it cleared, even just for a tiny bit."

Siegren drew his greatsword, then buried it to the ground. The soulless started to absorb the corrupted mana and malice around it, clearing the fumes. Lumi clasped her hands together, praying for the blessing of the goddess as she casts her spell.

Golden light then began to accumulate.

However, doing so led the undead within the proximity to sense the divine.

The corpse of the saintess then finally began breaking free from the grasp of the heavy chains. The cracks extended link by link until they broke, crumbling into fragments and rusted bits. The corpse then took its first steps, its bones cracking as it marched forward.

The seal of saint Hibton—the chains that acted as a prison for her corpse—started to erode away as they set, receding into cinders.

**

In Estela…

"The saintess died sealing thousands of monsters into the Depths, sacrificing her soul in return…" The head priest murmured as he watches the scene unfold in front of him.

The northern realm experienced an upheaval that shook the three kingdoms alike.

And the aftermath was direr than anyone could ever imagine.

From every corner of the north—crawling out of the black holes that now appear in the sky—were numerous variants of the undead that once plagued the land. The terrain in which the saintess had sealed fifty years ago, had now become corrupted.

From the black sky came the wraiths; gravesnares, morphed mutants, and infernopests on the other hand rose from the ground.

"Fifty years ago, I was terrified, cowering in fear as I stood in front of those monsters. But all my fear faded away when I saw the saintess' power." The head priest exclaimed, walking to the fore, reaching the temple outdoors as he watched the sky grow darker and thicker with corruption.

"But now," he clenched his fist. "The phenomena have repeated. The saintess' power is long gone."

"Head priest…"

"Gather the templars," the head priest exclaimed. "The seal of the saintess had been undone. The monsters from fifty years ago are going to rise once again. And I…, I will go to the king."

He then turned to the clerics, "All of you—guard Estela! Innocent blood should be shed no more!"

**

Rising from the soil are thousands of monsters once mortal—the bodies of those who once lived in the forgotten nation underneath Aclaria.

Siegren then pulled his sword from the ground as gravesnares and wraiths charged to attack. Monsters accrued as they advanced to the priestess, attracted by the divinity she conjured. As she mouthed her prayers, Siegren held his sword tightly and warded the monsters off—allowing Lumi to recover her divine powers without any distractions.

The ground trembled from the large stomps of multiple morphed mutants who now appeared before the two; and like the other monsters, these mutants were also drawn by Lumi's divine power.

Morphed mutants, whose bodies are much larger due to their multiple strong limbs, and an unquenchable bloodlust for the living— now attacked Siegren all at once.

Siegren held the grip of his sword rigidly as the mutants charged to attack. Lumi was still chanting the liturgy, mustering all divine power as the soulless continued to absorb the corrupted mana and malice around the air.

The fist of one large mutant landed on Siegren, which he evaded by holding his sword's central ridge and its grip, holding back the monster's knuckle which landed on his blade's surface.

Then, its other hand struck Siegren, reaching to grab him. With a swing of his leg, he evaded the attack—and as Siegren spun, so did his sword.

He lifted the claymore and slashed one of the mutant's arms. It screamed in pain, hurling into an enraged attack. The other mutants followed, aggressively adapting to Siegren's attacks.

Explosions surrounded the area. The mutants were voracious, their bloodlust saturating his senses. While other monsters attacked aimlessly, these mutants were different—they were able to predict the pattern in Siegren's offense.

Siegren backed away, panting as he held the soulless with both hands. He cast a sideway glance at the priestess, who was now glowing with divine threads forming around her. The threads then began to accumulate, forming a rope made from materialized divinity.

The monsters then continued to attack, with Siegren warding them off without a hinge. But even he was at his limit.

"Siegren," Lumi exclaimed. "We're going up."

Siegren glanced at Lumi, who then spiraled the golden rope above. Lumi extended her arm to him, which he took. As soon as he did so, the rope wrapped around his arm, and then—in just a matter of seconds—they were lifted up and beyond, away from the monsters of the Depths.