Master of Dominion-Chapter 69: Night 1
Rael stood in the middle of the compound and stared at the night sky, which was ominously clear of clouds and stars. Oddly enough, only one moon remained above, fixed in a single position.
In truth, Rael was simply counting down in his mind; he was sure that in a few minutes, the day would be over, marking the beginning of hell. He had spent the entire day paranoidly etching the Uruz rune on anything etchable, as could be seen from the black chest plate armor designed with the rune.
Rael focused on both his Dominion and warrior senses as he could feel the odd stillness in the air, which added to his already restless mind.
He took a cool breath, trying to avoid the haunting silence that plagued the woods. For even the usual roars of beast was missing,infact even the insects were awfully quiet, making the entire woods feel hunted.
And honestly, Rael only felt safe within his territory where his Dominion sense assured him ,anystep beyond it brought a terrifying chill.
"Huff, does it have to be so fucking dramatic?" Rael cursed to himself as he turned to his quest log:
[Tier 4: Survive the Withered Nights]
Status: Dormant
Trigger: In 24 seconds
Objective: Endure the Withered Nights, a time when corrupted essence floods the land and sanity rots.
[Reward: ???]
"Shit, waiting for it even makes it more terrifying," Rael murmured as he quickly noticed some slight changes to the bright, pale colour of the moon.
"It’s time!" he yelled, signalling the sisters and Xaphxan. They clearly didn’t need his reminder, for they too were staring at the moon as it slowly began to be corroded with blood. The pale light transformed into a deep, red-coloured glow that painted not just the sky, but the earth in a reddish gloom.
[Trigger: in 10 seconds]
Rael squinted at the blood-coloured moon, which was awfully thicker than any red moon he’d ever seen in his past life. But that wasn’t his main concern. He, Iyvre, the sisters, and Xaphxan quickly blocked their ears as much as they could for what came next.
SHRIEKKKK!!!!
A loud, eldritch scream tore through the air as a horrifying shiver coursed through every living being within and beyond the Zodiac Woods.
"Tsk," Rael groaned, bearing the loud shriek that had literally caused the already activated boundary ward sigils to flare up. It was only after a few seconds that the eldritch scream stopped.
[Tier 4 Quest Activated]
Survive the Withered Nights
Status: Active
Objective: Endure the Withered Nights, a time when corrupted essence floods the land and sanity rots.
[Reward: ???]
Rael ignored his quest log and analyzed the feedback he’d gotten from the boundary ward sigils. It seemed that scream, whatever it was, wasn’t just an announcement that the Withered Nights had arrived, but a kind of psychic attack that had caused the wards to activate.
After analyzing this, Rael couldn’t help but imagine what would have happened if one had heard it beyond a protection array.
"Insanity," Rael murmured. Of course, such a thing probably wouldn’t cause an aether user to go mad, but it would definitely make their chances of survival zero; they’d have to fight both their minds and the Withered.
Rael turned his attention to Xaphxan, who had slowly crept closer to him.
"You’re scared?" Rael questioned point-blank, immediately hiding his own nervousness. He wasn’t going to lie to himself ,he was slightly terrified. Honestly, he doubted anyone who heard that scream wouldn’t be.
"Yes, a little," Xaphxan replied, obviously fidgeting, causing Rael to lay a hand on his shoulder.
"Good. You should be; I am myself. It is even more reason why we have no choice but to face it and try to survive," Rael consoled, or at least tried to, causing Xaphxan to clearly see that his boss was terrible at pep talks.
"What to expect now?" Rael asked as he turned to Iyvre and her sisters, who had walked over too. He quickly noticed Iyvre holding the hand of Ayobe, who clearly looked unnerved by the scream earlier.
"We wait," Iyvre replied, her expression taking on a much more serious look compared to her usual stoicism.
"Or hope," Yasmin added from the side as she headed toward a five-meter-tall, tower-like structure that Rael and Xaphxan had built three days ago.
"Hope for what?" Rael asked, already coming to the answer himself.
"Hope that we get a swarm instead, and not a wave," she said unbothered, as she climbed the structure that probably would have collapsed if not for her seeds that had sprouted roots to hold it together.
As for what she meant, Rael knew that in a Withered Night, there was a swarm and there was a wave. A swarm was basically smaller, weaker Withered spawns crowding together in a pack that could range from 25 to 100. Then there was a wave ,much worse and is led by a Withered Husk, basically a Rank 2 equivalent, with a much larger army of spawns surpassing 100.
"I say we defend from within and use long-range attacks to lessen the burden on the sigils, at least until the last night," Iyvre suggested, eliciting a nod from both Ayobe and Xaphxan.
Rael too was about to accept, only for his face to frown as he looked at the new quests that had popped up.
[Tier 2: Slay 100 Withered Spawns]
Description: Charge and meet this corruption head-on; rid the lands of this blight.
Reward: ????
[Tier 3 Quest: Slay a Withered Husk]
Description: Face a higher form of the corruption’s spawn and purge it.
Reward: ???
" Fuck?" Rael cursed.
...
A few minutes after the scream that made the very air tremble, further away from the Taurus zone within a shattered cliff daggered with black, rotten trees, and this trees ,if that’s what they were ,suddenly stirred as if awakened by some horrific force.
A blackish, sticky goo ruptured out of the trunks, splashing through the air. But Instead of falling into the chasm by the cliff, the goo clung to the walls, squirming and moving up the cliff, contouring and expanding in mass,it Passed by several sprouts of weeds hanging on the cliffs, and corroded them, turning them into thorny roots that wiggled in a grotesque manner as if they were alive. No, they were actually alive.
