Master of Dominion-Chapter 75: Disappointment

Rumble!

A blue thunderbolt whistled through the air slamming into the midst of the Withered Vermins, blasting them into chunks of limbs and gore before sending out a shockwave that paralyzed several others with short spasms, giving Ayobe the perfect chance to retreat back into the boundary ward sigil.

Ayobe leaped backwards and rolled several times in the air before landing within the array.

"Thanks," she said, turning to Xaphxan, who stood not far away, experiencing slight spasms from his own spell. She turned her gaze back to the clearing, which was now filled with more Withered vermin corpses than she could count, then towards the killing machine that kept cutting through the vermins as one would with grass.

’They’re relentless’. Ayobe scrutinized the horizon and could see more pouring in. She quickly shifted her focus to recovering her aether reserves so she could relieve Iyvre.

But the Iyvre in question would likely have become a nightmare to any enemy, were it not for the Withered, who clearly knew no fear as they threw themselves at what could only be described as thier deaths.

Iyvre had basically drawn a perimeter around herself, cutting down any Withered that crossed those lines. Her figure was a cacophony of movements with her glowing white blade flashing across multiple positions at the same time.

She whipped her hair away from her face, her hair now black with blood and grime. Her cold gaze moved from one angle to another with her blade following instantly.

Iyvre was a bit surprised ,not at the relentless wave assaulting them, but by how long she’d been fighting without taking a break. Though by now her aether reserves were already running low,but it seemed her aether hadn’t just increased in amount but also in its quality, allowing her to maintain her sword beam technique for a very long period of time.

It wasn’t until thirty minutes later that the wave seemed to have stopped, giving Iyvre time to catch her breath as she slowly retreated back into the array.

"It’s finally over," Ayobe said in relief.

"I don’t think so," Iyvre replied, her gaze still wary, before sitting and resting her back against a tree. "if we’ve already gotten a wave when it’s not even the last night yet, imagine what we’ll face by then. Besides, I see no Withered husk, which means it’s still out there and close," Iyvre continued grimly.

She turned to Xaphxan. "Go check the other side and see how they’re holding up."

Xaphxan nodded slowly, his gaze still plastered on the clearing while trying his best to remain positive.

He believed everyone else should have come to the same conclusion as he had, which made him believe that there was no way the wave had ended. Still, he headed to the other side of the array, only to see Rael covered from head to toe in black blood while piercing his sword into the heart of what seemed to be the last Withered Vermin on this end.

Rael slowly turned to Xaphxan, having felt him coming through his senses. "It ended on that end?" he breathed heavily.

"Yes..." Xaphxan replied. As he saw Yasmin leap down from the almost gnawed-up tree, he continued, "But boss, I suggest we..."

"I know," Rael cut him off as he stared into the distance with a weary gaze. "I know the wave isn’t over." He turned and entered the array along with Yasmin, who posed a question to him.

"Knowing that, what do you plan to do?"

"Try and draw out the Withered husk," Rael replied, causing her to stare at him with an incredulous expression.

"And how do you plan on doing that without it being suicide? Besides, there’s no way a Withered husk would not have attacked directly if it were close by," Yasmin rebutted, shaking her head.

"Well... uhmm, except if it’s intelligent," Xaphxan hesitated before slowly speaking his mind, making both Yasmin and Rael pause in their steps, with Yasmin squinting at him.

"Hmm, you might not be wrong," Rael replied, using the dreadful sensation he’d felt earlier alongside the coordinated attack to come to a similar conclusion.

"That doesn’t even make sense," Yasmin spat incredulously.

"I guess, but I’ve never really faced or dared face the Withered head-on before, nor have I ever studied it, and I believe that goes for all of us. So it is a possibility that Withered husks are that intelligent," Rael nodded his head as he slowly sat on the ground while trying to recover as much aether as he could.

Yasmin couldn’t come up with a response; after all, Rael was right that they hadn’t really faced the Withered head-on before, so their knowledge was limited. "Tsk," she hissed, knowing how difficult their survival would be if that were the case.

Rael, on the other hand, wasn’t too bothered about that. While he was weary and cautious, he wasn’t about to drown himself in horrifying thoughts.

Besides, there was a moment of reprieve from all this grimness. Rael massaged his numb hands as he accepted the reward for the Tier 2 quest; he had managed to slay a hundred Withered spawns already, which was why his palm was numb from the continuous swinging and thrusting of his sword even after he’d ran out of aether.

[Tier 2: Slay 100 Withered Spawns]

Description: Charge and meet this corruption head-on; rid the lands of this blight.

Quest complete: 103/100

[Tier 2 Reward allocated]

[Would host like to claim the reward?]

[Yes/No]

"Yes, of course," Rael murmured to himself, hoping that this reward would yield something useful for the remainder of the nights.

Well, he ended up disappointed.

[The host has been granted the Pythos Armor blueprint]

[Classification: A Bronze-ranked aether armor forged entirely with copper and serpent’s scales, and inscribed with Fortification runes to enable its durability against aether attacks.]

[Origin: An armor that once represented the might of the once-glorified Upeca Empire, now a blueprint lost in the annals of history.]

Rael remained silent for a long while as veins popped up on his head. He tried and succeeded in holding himself back from yelling curses at the system.

’A fucking blueprint? What use can that even be now? ’he growled internally before brushing it aside to focus on more important things. He turned to Xaphxan.

"Xaphxan?" he called.

"Yes, boss," Xaphxan replied, edging closer, obviously weary of the fuming and annoyed expressions that had crossed Rael’s face a few seconds ago.

"Tell me about the circuits," Rael asked.