Chapter 53. From the Pit
The pit glowed brightly, bathing the forest in its sickly glow. The light pulsed like a bad headache, and the pit burbled and spat as if it boiled, but emitted a fierce cold instead.
Caught under the influence of the cursed nail, Rhys could do nothing but watch as Ernesto continued to pour mana into the pit. He narrowed his eyes, reaching out toward the nail with his mana. It had to ‘touch’ him somehow, right? Somehow, this nail was exerting influence on him. If he could find that connection and trace it back, then if he absorbed the curse power, he could break free. The only problem was that he couldn’t sense the curse. Whatever it was, it was extremely subtle, and right now, curse power, horrible scents, impurities, and a thousand other sensations overwhelmed him constantly as the pit boiled away. Identifying one small scrap of curse power in the midst of the sensory storm was like identifying one particular raindrop during a hurricane.
From out of the sky, a slash of starlight imbued with the power of night lashed down on Ernesto. He whirled and drew his sword in the same motion, cutting the slash in two. The two halves of the starlight smashed into the pit and threw up a small wave, but that was it.
“What have you done?” Aquari asked, taken aback.
Ernesto laughed. “Awakened what was sleeping.”
“Awakened…?” Her brows furrowed.
“Did you not know what this well truly was? Don’t tell me, did you honestly take this for nothing but a trash pit?”
Aquari held her sword before her, hovering over him on a different sword. The sword she stood on was no more than ordinary steel, but the sword she held was pitch black, with tiny pinpricks of light embedded in its blade, as though she’d cut out a piece of the night sky and bound it into a sword. She narrowed her eyes at him and said nothing.
Ernesto chuckled darkly. “Then watch, while I awaken what slumbers below, and your sect is obliterated. There’s nothing you can do anymore. I’ve already begun the awakening process. Nothing can stop it now.”
“Why?” Rhys shouted, then blinked, surprised. I can talk? Can’t move, can talk. Good t o know.
“Why? Isn’t it obvious? I’m naught but a lower-tier professor in Purple Dawn Academy, without any land to my name. After this cursed beast ravages your land, and I lead the Alliance here to righteously slaughter the heretics who dared to cultivate such a dangerous curse, they’ll naturally gift this land to the hero who purged the land of such vicious demonic mages. My stature within Purple Dawn will shoot up, and I’ll make tenure in no time.”
Hell of a way to make tenure. “You aren’t doing this on the behalf of Purple Dawn?” Rhys asked, acting shocked.