I Can Only Cultivate In A Game-Chapter 361: Annihilation
Over the next two days, the city transformed.
From every district, from every frost-hollow and crystal-lined quarter, Kahr’uun warriors stepped forward. Some were veterans hardened by decades of battle against the corruption’s lesser manifestations. Others were younger, newly trained, faces set with grim determination. Some carried ancient weapons etched with mana-conductive runes. Others relied solely on their spellcasting.
They came regardless.
They came knowing the truth.
They came knowing they might never return.
By the end of the second day, nearly one thousand Kahr’uun warriors stood assembled before the great doors to the sanctuon of eternity
The cold intensified, responding instinctively to the gathering of mana and resolve.
Rhozan stood before them with his staff planted firmly against the froststone ground.
"You know why you are here," he voiced strongly. "You know what awaits us above."
He did not sugarcoat it. He did not lie.
"This enemy was born from our ancestors’ crime," Rhozan continued. "It hunts us because we exist. It will not stop. It will not forgive."
Murmurs rippled through the ranks
"I will not lie to you," Rhozan declared. "This battle may be our end. The corrupt entity adapts. It grows stronger with every confrontation. It has never been destroyed."
Silence followed.
Not a single warrior stepped back.
Rhozan nodded grimly. "Then before we march... there is one final rite."
From the far end of the platform, another Kahr’uun approached.
Rhozan’s brother.
The High Priest of their people.
His body was adorned with ancient runes etched directly into his blue skin, glowing softly with ritual mana. He raised his staff causing its crystal tip to emit a deep cerulean light.
The warriors knelt.
The priest began to chant.
The air thickened.
Mana gathered like a storm.
A vast protective blessing unfolded across the assembly... layered enchantments woven together through sacrifice and faith. Defensive barriers, resistance sigils, mana amplification fields.
It didn’t offer invincibility but it was a fighting chance.
As the ritual ended, exhaustion weighed heavily on the priest’s shoulders. He swayed slightly, supported by attendants.
Rhozan placed a hand on his brother’s arm. "Thank you."
The priest nodded weakly. "May the ancestors bear witness."
When preparations were complete, Rhozan turned toward the massive tunnel leading upward toward the surface.
"...Move out," he commanded.
The march began.
...
...
Three hours.
That was all it took for the frozen surface world to become a graveyard.
The wind howled across the endless ice plains, carrying with it the echoes of war...
Roars, screams, the thunder of spells colliding, the shriek of torn metal and shattered ice filled the surroundings.
The sound traveled far, unrestrained by mountains, spreading across the white expanse like an omen.
The corrupt entity had returned.
The moment the one thousand Kahr’uun warriors emerged from underground and stepped onto the surface, it appeared as if it had been waiting.
No warning.
No hesitation.
The sky itself seemed to darken when it manifested as its massive form tore through the snowfall like a living calamity. Blackened tendrils of corruption twisted around its body, seeping into the ice beneath it, spreading decay in a radius that warped both mana and matter.
The Kahr’uun formation reacted instantly.
Magic erupted from the ranks.
Brilliant streaks of blue, white, and violet mana tore through the air, forming elemental spears of ice, compressed mana bolts, gravity distortions, enchanted javelins reinforced with runic sigils. Warriors swept forward, chanting spells in unison, their voices overlapping in a deafening chorus.
The first wave struck.
The corrupt entity didn’t retreat.
It charged.
Its movement was violent and unnatural as its massive body accelerating with a speed that defied its size. The ground exploded beneath its limbs, ice shattering as if struck by meteors.
The collision was catastrophic.
The entity slammed into the Kahr’uun vanguard like an avalanche made of flesh and darkness. Warriors were flung aside instantly... Some smashed into the ice with bone-crushing force while others were torn apart midair by lashing tendrils of corruption.
Blood sprayed across the snow.
The first screams echoed.
Still, the Kahr’uun did not break.
They regrouped with disciplined formation as magic shields were conjured to support casters in the front lines. Frost barriers rose from the ground, locking the entity in place for a fraction of a second.
That was all they needed.
"NOW!"
A concentrated barrage followed.
Dozens of high-tier spells detonated simultaneously against the corrupt entity’s body. Ice spears drilled into its flesh. Blades of condensed mana carved deep furrows across its torso. A gravity implosion crushed inward, warping space itself.
For a moment...
Hope stirred.
The corrupt entity reeled back with its form partially torn apart as black ichor splattered across the ice, sizzling as it ate into the frozen ground.
The Kahr’uun warriors roared.
They pressed forward.
Then the entity laughed, letting out a low, resonant tremor that rattled the bones of every living being nearby. The corrupted flesh began to shift, regenerate, and adapt.
The damaged portions hardened.
The mana residue from the spells was absorbed.
Its speed increased.
Its aura expanded.
Rhozan, fighting near the center of the formation, felt his heart sink.
"...It has gotten stronger," he muttered.
Stronger than the last encounter.
Stronger than any record preserved in their histories.
The corrupt entity lunged again, faster than before.
A sweeping limb carved through the air, slicing cleanly through multiple magic barriers as if they didn’t exist. Kahr’uun warriors were cut down in an instant.
Their bodies were severed, crushed, or simply erased by the corrosive energy coating the strike.
Dozens fell.
Then dozens more.
Despite relentless counterattacks, the warriors found it increasingly difficult to even touch the entity.
Those who managed to land hits quickly realized the terrifying truth.
Their attacks weren’t being blocked.
They were being understood.
The corrupt entity twisted its body in response to incoming spells, adjusting angles, density, and movement patterns with frightening intelligence. Ice spells froze empty air. Mana blades cleaved shadows. Projectiles missed by inches as the entity moved like a nightmare given form.
And when it struck back...
It was merciless.
One of the Kahr’uun commanders unleashed a full-powered domain spell, encasing the entity in a prison of absolute frost. The temperature plummeted instantly, space itself stiffening under the spell’s authority.
The entity paused and then its body expanded.
Corruption erupted outward like an explosion, obliterating the domain from the inside. The commander barely had time to widen his eyes before a tendril pierced straight through his chest, lifting him off the ground.
He died screaming.
The ice beneath him turned red.
By the end of the first hour, bodies littered the battlefield.
By the second, the stench of blood and corrupted mana filled the air.
Now, three hours in...
Over three hundred Kahr’uun warriors lay dead.
Some were frozen where they fell with their blue blood crystallized against the snow. Others had been torn apart so violently that only fragments remained...
Broken limbs, shattered armor and discarded weapons half-buried in ice were the highlights of the day.
The surface region, once pristine and untouched, had been utterly transformed.
Cracked ice stretched in every direction. Massive craters scarred the land. Black corruption spread like veins through the snow, pulsing faintly as if alive.
Rhozan fought at the forefront with his body covered in wounds and mana bleeding from dozens of cuts. He roared commands, rallying those still standing, forcing order amid the chaos.
"Hold the line!"
"Reinforce the eastern flank!"
"Casters—don’t stop chanting!"
The Kahr’uun obeyed.
Even as their numbers dwindled.
Even as despair crept into their hearts.
They fought with everything they had.
Because retreat meant extinction.
A group of warriors attempted a coordinated strike from above, using flight magic to descend upon the corrupt entity from multiple angles. Their weapons glowed with lethal enchantments as spells layered upon spells.
The entity twisted mid-combat.
A single burst of corrupted energy exploded outward.
The flying warriors were torn apart instantly. Their bodies were shredded, magic dispersed, screams cut short as they rained down like broken dolls.
Rhozan watched it happen.
His fists trembled.
"...This might be the end," he whispered under his breath. "But witg my very last breath, I will protect my own..."
The corrupt entity turned toward him.
Its gaze locked onto Rhozan causing an even more intense chill to spread through the air.
And then it charged.
The ground shattered beneath its advance, its massive form tearing through what remained of the frontline. Rhozan raised his weapon, mana flaring desperately as he prepared to meet it head-on.
He knew.
This might be where it ended. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂
The ice beneath his feet was no longer white. It was stained deep blue and crimson, cracked and warped by continuous detonations of magic and corruption.
His armor was shattered in several places with rough fractures exposing glowing runic veins beneath his skin. Each breath came heavy as mana exhaustion clawed at his core.
Yet he did not retreat.
The corrupt entity grotesque form loomed before him with its shadow stretching across the battlefield like a living curse. Tendrils of corruption writhed around its form, gnawing endlessly at the frozen terrain, devouring mana particles in the air as if feeding.
Rhozan raised his staff and began chanting resolutely.
