Chapter 55 - Resistance
The trail of blood led them deeper into the Garden. As with the Necropolis's size, the Primordial Vein's domain, 'The Garden', was oddly vast. It should be a simple area, filled with an unfathomable amount of power. It would usually have a small habitable section where not demons but beasts existed and could be hunted and killed.
That had been Liesel's idea of survival.
But this place was like a magnified and mirror reflection of the forest that Liesel initially traversed for a week to reach the Saffron Helm. Everything here was giant. Even pebbles were a foot large, and it produced a very awkward and foul place to climb up.
The Rosharam had left its trail, and so they had to follow it. Having to climb a hill entirely made of loose rocks was far from her preferred method of hunting, but little choice they had.
The Garden may have something to do with the Shade Being that guided the caravan to the Necropolis, or their Goddess.
Though the dominion was odd, when looked through the lens of Rakamel's livelihood, it was ideal. They had access to the forest, even if it was impossible to live in. Liesel was starting to wonder if the Divine could influence a Shade Domain to this degree, and the answer was no. The Divines were bound to their ideals and Domains, and it never crossed the Shade Beings' Dominions. She hoped the caravan was actually worshipping a Divine, rather than a Shade Being. Of course, Divines were far from perfect. One had just tried to kidnap her while she was quite literally dying. But the Shade Beings were a different kind of abnormal. They were dangerous, but unlike gods, the only intersectionality between them and the mortal kind was when a mortal intruded on their domain. In some way, they lacked the aspiration to be worth ever being worshipped. They were just unfathomable beings, gazing upon whom might destroy your mind.
Liesel could feel exhaustion catching up to her. She had been healed, but her body had yet to recover to its previous strength. Though her feet had grown accustomed to walking, climbing up a steep, uneven hill was an entirely different beast.
"Do you feel anything?" Liesel asked.
Auram shook her head. "This place is vast, and creatures are very few."
That too was at odds with the core principle on which this place was supposed to be built. It was the last line of defence for the Primordial Vein. It should be the most dangerous place in the entire Necropolis, perhaps second to the Soul Heart, but that was not written in stone.
Of course, Liesel had observed this quirk of the Garden earlier; otherwise she wouldn't have come here alone.
Fiya had an even harder time keeping up with the Half-Weaver. She was a mage, and despite having a better constitution than Liesel, the desert hadn't been kind to her either.
Fiya was heaving by the time she reached the top of a plateau. Unfortunately, they had not reached the end of their journey.
There was a cave-like structure along the flat wall, which was the last obstacle between them and the peak. Their destination only went inside, though.
"We are very far from the steed," Fiya said. "Should we keep chasing it?"
"Auram will know if there is another danger," Liesel said, "so we are fine."
"Don't worry about a thing. I am here..." Auram frowned. "I can feel the poor thing, but... there's nothing else."
"Is she dead?" Fiya asked, grimacing.
"I don't know. Maybe she has a skill to hide herself," Auram suggested.
"We cannot afford to waste time," Liesel said as she approached the cave.
On some level, Liesel hoped Garhalik's daughter was alive, even if it was apparent her effort to survive had failed. It was an achievement for a child, even for a Rakamel's offspring, to have kept up with the mutated beast for so long.
Liesel hurried towards the cave entrance. Auram decided to look for the girl, which Liesel found a bit concerning. But she decided she should let Auram do as she pleased. The spirit had survived far longer than Liesel could even begin to fathom; what right did she have to tell Auram the rights and wrongs?
The spirit teleported back to Liesel's side by the time she reached the entrance.
"Couldn't find a thing," Auram uttered with a frown. "Maybe she's not here."
"I hope that she has taken a different route back to the village," Liesel said. "What about the beast?"
"It's... well," Auram didn't need to finish.
The entire cave structure thrummed with the raging Materiality escaping from the inside.
Liesel's skin shivered, not from the danger the beast would pose. Her body seemed to remember the feeling of Materiality sensitivity that had been painful only a day and a half ago. It was acting like that problem still lingered, but that was just lingering trauma.
"Don't use your spells," Liesel said. "Any that can seriously harm the Rosharam."
"Why?" Fiya asked.
"I don't know if hurting them also affects the effectiveness of my skill. If it does, then all our effort may yield nothing."
"But it's strong. I can feel its rage from here."
"It's most likely in pain, being driven to insanity by the invasive energy that is quite literally transmogrifying its body and soul," Liesel said. "Just stay in the back. I will immobilize it first, and when I give the signal, focus on binding it."
"What if you are in danger?" Fiya asked. "Should I kill it then?"
"No," Liesel shook her head. "If it dies, I most likely will too."
Fiya swallowed. "Maybe we should've brought others too then."
"I like to imagine there's a future beyond this Necropolis, and if it is to come true, they should know as little about me as possible."
Fiya lowered her head. She trailed behind Liesel as they ventured into the dark passage. The glowing blood on the ground and the scraped flesh on the cave walls illuminated the passage red.
"Are you going to kill me when this is over?" Fiya asked.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
"No," Liesel shook her head, though she could understand what led the mage to that conclusion. "I don't trust them to keep my secrets a secret. You don't seem like the type who will jeopardize my life without consideration."
"But that's not a guarantee."
"I am willing to take a tiny risk," Liesel looked back at the mage, "because you have been very helpful to me on many occasions. Or maybe, I am just not cynical enough to kill someone who has not given me a reason to yet."
"Others have?"
"No," Liesel shook her head. "They have expressed enough of themselves that I don't even trust most with what they already know, but it is not enough to take their life, especially when I am pushed into the role of leading them for now. I think we are at that precipice, though, where if I reveal more, I'd have to judge at some point whether I am willing to gamble my well-being for them or not."
"But... can you really just kill one of us because of a secret?"
"Yes," Liesel said.
"I can't believe you," Fiya shook her head. "You didn't harm Kurvam, even though he is so openly hostile."
Liesel decided that was enough conversation for now. She needed the mage to trust her, as Fiya was too useful and also amicable enough that Liesel would have a hard time rationalizing her as a threat.
The cave mouth widened as they reached deeper, splitting into two. Only one had blood smears, which served as a guide inside the winding paths, circling in the same area and descending lower.
The passage opened into a large area, still inside the mountain, but it seemed to have been the home of a creature, which was now unrecognizable. It had been mauled and torn to pieces.
The mutated Rosharam was bashing its head against the wall. A crack ran along it, reaching the ceiling.
Liesel pointed at the ceiling and gestured at the mage to destroy it. "Stay here, and I will intercept it from the side."
The mage nodded. She waited as Liesel went deeper, weaving the Impact Rune from the rune jewel.
As the rune manifested, the Rosharam stopped its assault. Its head turned in her direction. Its glowing red eyes dilated, filled with only black Miasma. It snarled, its voice mixed with Materiality.
A bolt of energy crashed on the ceiling above it. The shaken structure caved immediately and collapsed over the beast.
The mutated demon remained on its feet, even though its fleshy body was taking a beating.
Liesel stabbed the rune with her sword as she soaked Materiality from the Materiality Core. She took a deep breath.
"Auram," Liesel said, "Can you calm it down?"
"Nope," the spirit shook her head. "There's nothing inside to calm."
"I see," Liesel nodded.
"I wouldn't have done it even if I could. You are going to kill it, so it should at least have the opportunity to fight for its life."
Liesel nodded. She hadn't really considered it a possibility to begin with. She also found the idea a bit twisted, even if the question of morality made no sense against a senseless beast. But she had felt Auram's objection beforehand.
As her Soul Core refilled, she began channeling Materiality through her body. A portion of her focus was on her faux seal. She'd probably have to give up on it for a few moments.
It shouldn't be as dangerous as fighting Garhalik, though, Liesel licked her lips.
The beast dashed in her direction. Its hoof crushed a chunk of ceiling into dust. It was too fast.
Liesel burned Materiality into her legs and leapt to the side as the Rosharam dashed directly at her. She landed on her feet and enforced it to steady herself. She enforced her left arm, clenching the blade, and tapped on the side of its head with the tip.
The rune exploded. She clenched her fingers tightly to keep the recoil from yanking her weapon away from her. Yehia was not here to assist her, after all.
The beast's head twisted awkwardly. It crashed to the ground, skidding across the rough floor for a few meters.
But it jumped back to its feet, grunting and growling, almost instantly.
Fiya used another spell, striking its tail, to get its attention. And Liesel rushed towards the beast, cutting across its sides as it was preparing to dash towards Fiya, who was moving along the wall.
Despite Liesel's attempt to get its attention, something about the spell drew all its focus. The beast dashed towards the mage.
Fiya's eyes widened. She prepared Dostrike to kill it, but then she hesitated.
"Target its feet, then throw your body to the side!" Liesel shouted.
Fiya almost yelped in surprise. She aimed the energy at one of its hooves, instantly melting it, along with the stone floor.
She jumped as the beast crashed onto the wall like a landslide.
Its neck twisted upon impact. It cried in pain.
Liesel clenched her soul's puncture. "Bind it."
Fiya conjured the binding chains to tie it to the ground. It struggled, and almost managed to climb back to its feet, but missing a hoof, it collapsed back to the ground.
Liesel exhaled. She absorbed Materiality into her core and began forming the Unravelling Rune.
"Wasn't that too easy?" Fiya asked, frowning, as she patted her scraped shoulder. Her eyes were watery from the physical pain.
"Compared to the Sand Centipedes, who were more than willing to escape, it is a very simple creature, not to mention mindless. If we had been slightly off... things may have turned out very ugly, though."
The mutated Rosharam stopped struggling. Liesel settled her hand on its head, and immediately felt a jolt of lightning pushing her away.
She withdrew her arm immediately. Her palm was red and shaking.
What is this?
"You can't do it?" Fiya asked.
Liesel weaved the Unravelling Rune one more time. As she settled her hand on its forehead, between the two torn horns, she again felt the same sharp pain in her nerves.
She clenched her jaw and decided to keep pushing. Perhaps it was resisting her power.
The Rosharam snarled, pulling its body away from the hand. The blackened rune disintegrated.
Liesel looked down at her burned palm, and then at the beast. "Is it because it doesn't have the capacity to feel powerless?"
"What do you mean?" Auram asked.
"The condition to activate my skill is that my prey shouldn't be able to resist. Either because it is half-mutated and its mind is in too much pain to surrender... or because the jewel itself is resisting my skill, I can't do it."
"Then..." Fiya restrained the beast even more tightly.
Liesel looked at her sword. She could try bleeding out the beast. Eventually, it would feel too weak to muster the energy to resist. But that felt counterintuitive. It might be rational if she were trying to be a different archetype. But she wanted to test one more thing. If she was eventually going to use her Skill on an ascendant, then it might be a gift rather than a trouble.
Liesel wove the rune on her palm again, and this time she gathered Materiality into her palm. She had been maintaining the faux seal since the beast fell, and she wanted to preserve as much time as possible for now.
As she settled her hand on its forehead, the sharp resisting pain spread into her body. She clenched her jaw and channeled the Materiality into the rune. With one hand, she absorbed the energy from the core, and with the other, she pushed it into the Rune.
Though the pain never eased, after almost a minute, she felt a thump. The white streaks of light coursed through the demon's body, who no longer made any attempt to resist.
It doubled on the second time. Usually, Liesel had captured creatures and demons alike in three pulses.
However, the mutated Rosharam took five pulses, and by the fifth, she felt the corner of her vision turn black.
And she felt another weight on her mind. It was coming from somewhere behind her.
On the fifth pulse, the demon turned into threads of red energy that flowed through her Soul Vein and settled within her Soul Vein.
[Do you wish to use the unravelled soul to bind the Withering?]
Liesel considered for a moment. The System would ask for her permission if she were awake, though it was not a consequential thing right now. She didn't want another temporary binding.
She declined mentally.
[A Tainted Soul Acquired!
The analysis and extraction process has begun!
Estimated Time: 12 Hours]
The wait was not as long as Liesel had been expecting. Still, not a small amount of time. She was tempted to check the withering's status, but that would only weigh on her mentally. The only number that truly mattered was the one she would have during peaceful meditation after she returned to the village.
She climbed back to her feet and approached the place that had felt odd. It still did. The exact same spot where the demon had been bashing its head. Her Soul Core was almost being pulled towards the wall.
Liesel licked her lips. She knew what the Materiality wanted her to do. "Auram, do you feel anything?" She pointed at the cracked wall.
The spirit shook her head. "It's just a wall created by the Primordial Vein."
"So it would seem," Liesel nodded. She exhaled, channeling Materiality into her blade. She focused on the hum.
"Liesel?" Auram said, "What are you doing?"
When the hum reached the right wavelength—not the Soul Severing one, but one that excited the Materiality in this spot—slashed at the wall. Her mind blanked.
The Blood Devourer fell onto the ground.
"Liesel?" Auram whispered, a despair seeping into her voice. The human had vanished, and the spirit couldn't feel anything. "Liesel..."