I Became a Ruined Character in a Dark Fantasy-Chapter 634

The light that filled his vision shattered like glass, and Ian was thrown backward.

Boom!

A purple explosion rippled before his eyes. Even as he instinctively righted himself in mid-air, Ian could perceive the full view of the ashen stone chamber with its dangerously flickering spell circuits. Purple sparks scattered across the cracked, web-covered altar.

He was back in reality.

Crack—

Ian landed, skidding across the stone floor. Even through the haze of dust, the light pulsing through the veins of his right hand and forearm glowed vividly. The quest completion window popped up almost at the same time.

If you planned to devour me, you should have been prepared to be devoured in return, Ian muttered inwardly, thinking of the White Mage, and closed the window.

His eyes twitched right after. Another quest had appeared immediately.

[Heir of the Spell.]

Its only explanation was to perfect the vessel and inherit the knowledge in full. The completion condition was simple: reach the highest level, and the reward was brief: spell unlock.

Does that mean I’ll be able to use every spell? Or...

Many assumptions flashed through Ian's mind, and a faint, hollow laugh touched his lips. It meant that although he had overwhelmed and absorbed the White Mage's remnant, he had not yet fully accepted the knowledge.

The completion condition was just as daunting. Even if only a few steps remained, each one was steep. It wouldn't have been easy to achieve, even in the game, in this half-complete state.

This really must’ve been endgame content, something only the veteran players could attempt.

It was a quest not even the author of the guide he’d read had discovered. Well, that same person had also written that if one misallocated a skill point, they should just start over.

—Why are you standing still again, my friend? Don't tell me you're seeing something again?

Closing the quest window, Ian shook his head. "No. I’m back."

He paused immediately after. It wasn't because of the aching pain spreading through him.

—That’s a relief. I didn't know you'd get so completely mesmerized. Though I’ll admit, what happened after was rather impressive.

Ian didn't reply to the ensuing whisper, instead looking slowly around the stone chamber. He could now see things that hadn’t been visible before. Purple was flowing out from inside the cracked altar and was spreading densely beyond the spell circuits.

Ian stared blankly at the purple swirling in a pool in a broken circuit, and finally muttered, "Is that the flow of the spell?"

It resembled Vision of Chaos and Magic Detection, yet differed from both. It wasn't just a combination of the two; it felt like he was seeing through another layer. Everything was sharper, more intricate. Even the very process of chaos and magic sublimating into a spell was laid bare before his eyes.

—Something's changed, hasn't it?

Sensing his reaction, Yog whispered.

"Yeah. I’m seeing what I couldn’t before." Ian’s eyes narrowed faintly.

The colors were dimming faintly. Realizing the light in his own veins was also fading, Ian drew upon his magic. The color flowing through the circuits became clear again.

—Ah, right... Looks like your third eye has opened.

Yog whispered as Ian watched the altar turn colorless, its chaos fully expelled.

Ian's head tilted slightly. "You mean that pineal gland thing?"

A conversation between Lucia and Diana crossed his mind—about the vessel of the soul, the part tied to all forms of extrasensory perception.

—Whatever you call it... the word that comes to me is the parietal eye.

As Yog added that, Ian brought his hand to the spot between his eyebrows. Fortunately, an enlarged pineal gland hadn't burst through his brow, nor had a new eye appeared. Not on his forehead, either.

"Well... at least I got something out of this."

Besides the skill points, he added inwardly, a faint grin curling on his lips. He couldn’t tell how useful it would be, but it was certainly a reward befitting a mage.

—It’s more than that. You can now perceive what transcendent beings see and understand.

Yog’s whisper carried a short laugh.

—Of course, that might be all it is for now.

As Ian nodded, the altar collapsed with a roar. Of course, he knew why. The engraved curse had exploded, and the altar could no longer draw power from the fractures. Once it expelled all the chaos it held, it could no longer maintain its form.

An ominous feeling crawled down his neck the next instant. It wasn't hard to realize why. The purple light in the surrounding spell circuits, as well as the dais, was fading and scattering.

Tap—

Ian spun around and dashed for the stairs, even unfolding the Wind Blade.

—Why the sudden rush, Friend?

As the dusty, ashen wind gathered around Ian, Yog asked, puzzled.

Why do you think?

Ian started running up the stairs.

—Ah, the curse broke.

Yog added, just as Ian reached the top of the stairs.

A deep rumble vibrated beneath his feet as he stepped into the corridor and turned back.

Rumble, rumble, rumble...

Immediately after, the chamber shook as if in an earthquake. A strange lightness washed over him, and Ian’s brows furrowed as he dashed through the corridor.

I knew it.

The altar had collapsed, and the spell circuits had stopped functioning along with it. That meant the chaotic waves that once neutralized the rift’s pull had vanished. In other words, the floating fragments were now being drawn into the rift. The fragment supporting the mansion beneath his feet had begun to fall.

Stone dust rained down as Ian dashed to the entrance hall and skidded to a stop, twisting. The wind that blasted from behind him drew a swirling path through the rising dust.

Thud—

The mansion collapsed just a few seconds after Ian ran out the door. But Ian didn't look back. As he stopped, his gaze scanned above.

Should I call this beautiful, even now?

A massive fragment spun slowly above him like a roof, while smaller shards orbited around it like satellites. The reason their speed felt slower than before was likely because the fragment he was on was also spinning at a similar speed. Yet that wasn’t all Ian saw.

Swoosh—

Violet, red, and purple trails spiraled chaotically through the air, connecting into tangled paths. The surrounding fragments followed those paths—the pull of the fracture’s gravitational flow.

At least I know the direction, and I’m not being drawn in closer. Could be worse.

—Ah, yes... I almost forgot about that one.

Ian tilted his head, and then his brow twitched. Amid the roar of falling debris, he realized an alien shriek was echoing through the air.

Screech—

It was a hideous sound, like the wail of a storm tearing through a canyon.

—It must be the tree from before. The curse carved into the altar was probably meant for it. With the curse gone, it finally found its freedom.

It was enough to make Ian's eyes narrow further. Yog let out a chuckle.

—I told you that you might regret it, my friend.

Then you should’ve insisted harder.

Ian immediately dashed forward. This was no time to stand around and assess the situation. Although it seemed slower than he expected, the fragments were still falling and being sucked into the rift.

—It probably wasn't this strong of a curse. It was likely made to corrupt slowly over a long time.

As Yog chattered on in a relaxed tone unsuited for the situation, Ian reached the edge of the fragment and kicked off, soaring up.

—That way, by the time the fairies realized the curse's existence, it would already be too late. I would have done the same.

The wind swirling around him pushed him even higher. The open rift and the ominous sky spread out below his feet, but Ian's gaze was fixed on a red trajectory carved in the air, and the rock fragment that was sliding along it.

—But the White Mage guy probably didn't expect the chaos flowing from the rift to amplify the curse.

Time seemed to slow. The heightened danger had sharpened his Intuition and Concentration to their absolute limits.

—He probably didn’t even realize that his own consciousness would create the rift. Nor that his amplified spell would end up neutralizing its pull, either.

Ian paid no attention to Yog's rambling. From here on, he couldn't make a single mistake. If he fell for any reason, he would plummet into the rift with no way to resist.

Crack—

Ian landed heavily on the next fragment, crouched low like a four-legged beast. He felt a faint sense of weightlessness, but that wasn’t why his eyes twitched. The rock fragment beneath him was falling. The shock of his landing must have knocked it off its trajectory.

One thing after another, really.

In a game, it would’ve been merely annoying—but now, it was a matter of life and death. Without a moment to think, Ian hurled himself toward the next fragment cutting across the spiral’s path.

Shhh—

As he shot through the air, slicing through the wind, his eyes flicked between the spiraling currents and the drifting fragments, calculating his next leap. The spinning scenery unfolded around him, but it couldn't break his extreme Concentration. The flood of sensory data made his head burn as he processed it all at once.

Crunch, wham!

Landing on the fragment with a scrape, Ian relaunched himself before his speed had even fully bled off, recasting his fading Wind Blades in mid-air.

—You move like a beast, my friend. Or perhaps... a beastfolk would be the better word?

Yog's laughter-laced whisper slowly trickled into his mind. Of course, Ian paid it no mind. He just entrusted himself halfway to instinct, leaping from fragment to fragment, climbing against the current.

Whoosh—

As a result, he was now rising faster than the fragments were falling. Before long, a sweeping view of the dark jungle came into sight above him, like a shadow drawn across the sky. Even through the spinning motion, he could tell the whole jungle was surging like waves, streaked with violet light flaring like restless fire.

Screech—-

The wind-like shriek still echoed, never stopping for a moment, as if to prove its grudge from being bound by the curse for so long. However, Ian had more immediate problems to deal with.

As Ian soared toward the next fragment, his eyes twitched. There were no more fragments following the spiral’s path—only countless ominous vortexes twisting through the air. He had reached the highest point of the falling debris. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

Already?

The real problem was the distance that still separated him from the ground. As he cut through the air, his gaze swept over the ash-gray wasteland and the dark chasm beneath the clouds.

—Is this a moment that requires my help, my friend?

It was a height that even he would find difficult to survive. Even if it didn’t kill him, recovering would take a long time. However, he couldn't use Yog's help. He had another use for the chaos.

I didn’t think this would be the first time I used it.

Ian landed in a crouch on the approaching rock fragment. It bobbed once, and as he stopped, dust billowed around him. At almost the same time, a golden light flared up.

Whom—

A golden pulse rippled from him, pushing the dust outward in concentric waves. On his crouched forearms and neck, a golden color was spreading like roots. A golden haze rose from his back, instantly forming the shape of a pair of wings.