Chapter 1289: Fertile Earth
Zac trudged through the deadly duochrome. The dusty winds were red-hot with nature's wrath. Its everchanging shape was a stark contrast to the utter stillness of the ground. The storm had buffed the ground into a perfectly flat obsidian mirror. Its enduring silence was reminiscent of the Abyssal Pond. And like the bottomless waters, the land held incredible dangers.
It was impossible to tell whether it was something underground that fueled the storm or if the smooth surface had absorbed its strength for eons. No matter the truth, the ground felt like a volcano at the precipice of eruption. Its unspoken threat added to Zac's desire to leave. The further he got from the imperials, the better, and it wasn't like there was anything of value in this region.
Nothing changed over the next three hours. There were no signs of pursuers, and there was no break in the monotonous view. By that point, Zac was starting to get mentally exhausted from the ceaseless war within his body. It wasn't just the storm bothering him. Turning into a streak of fire that tore through such intense winds had done way more harm than the fight that prompted his escape.
[Ossuary Bulwark] was only faring marginally better. The armor was covered in shallow scars resembling trenches formed during earthquakes. The damage was still superficial. The armor would quickly recover with rest and supplies, but more troubling breaks would appear if Zac weren't careful.
The armor retracted, and Zac switched to solely defend with [Void Zone] and his physical body. Even weakened, the nullification sphere was more effective in resisting the winds, especially when Zac shrunk it to closely wrap his body. Zac continued without rest, knowing he couldn't keep this up forever.
Zac had expected there to be at least some places to hide from the storm and recharge his batteries. It was also difficult to tell whether he was making any progress. The Hollow Court's pillar occasionally peaked through the madness, but Zac had already learned that they couldn't be implicitly trusted. What one saw wasn't necessarily the truth when Natural Formations were involved.
He needed to look into fallback options while still in a position to do so. Zac took out a flying shuttle from his Spatial Ring. It was one of the flying treasures they'd used when entering the cursed remnants inside the Imperial Graveyard. Zac piloted it for a few minutes before landing. Flying above the clouds was out of the question. The winds were getting stronger the further up he went.
It was also like the Dao of Nature took offense to any man-made creation within its domain. Cutting winds were explicitly targeting the metallic craft, trying to grind it down to a smooth disk like the floor. Zac kept the ship out a while longer, using it as a lightning rod while inspecting the ground. There were no cracks to exploit, and his Soul Sense couldn't discover any underground caves.
Out of better options, Zac chose to test out the tactic that saved his life in the Twilight Chasm. [Verun's Bite] dug into the ground, tearing out a small chunk of tempered stone. Zac didn't have time for a second swing before a scream of warning forced him to run for his life. He didn't even take the moment to stow the flying treasure.