The Vengeful Extra's Ascension-Chapter 270: Taking on the Conspiracy!

Albedo remained very alert as he moved through the Shatterwood Forest, seeing that the fog moved very unnaturally.

All of the fog around him recoiled and bent, twitching in subtle pulses, as though responding to a strange rhythm.

Albedo stood within the treeline, half-shadow, half-silence.

The altar ahead was positioned within a clearing carved unnaturally from the forest. The surrounding trees leaned outward, their bark split and darkened as if something corrosive had breathed against them for weeks.

Three robed figures knelt in triangular formation before the blackened stone structure, chanting in very low tones.

They were clearly all trained, and behind them, the containment circle hummed faintly, the sigils etched deep into the soil began to glow with intermittent pulses of sickly violet, meaning it was primed and calibrated.

Albedo expanded his perception again, carefully this time, limiting the amplitude of his Amethyst resonance to prevent triggering any alert threshold within the formation.

He sensed something deep beneath the surface layer of the circle, there were secondary anchors.

Mana conduits extending like roots underground, nd those conduits tunneled outward toward an external control point.

If he stepped into the perimeter at full strength, the circle would react. If he destroyed it directly with overwhelming force, it would log the mana signature.

If he lingered too long, whatever was meant to emerge would emerge anyway. So he had to make the best of this shitty situation.

Albedo shifted. His aura dimmed further. He didn’t want to use his full power, at least not yet, he had to keep some failsafes in case things went south.

One of the robed figures paused mid-chant. Albedo stepped into the clearing. Leaves did not crunch beneath his boots. His gaze was level and unhurried.

The three cultists rose as one. Their hoods concealed their faces, but he could see the faint sheen of Abyssal corruption creeping along the veins of their hands. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

"Zephyr Academy," one rasped.

Their voices carried distortion, layered, like echoes overlapping, "You arrived sooner than predicted."

Albedo did not answer, just staring at them and the circle behind them that pulsed once, but did not activate.

The trigger threshold required greater mana density.

The cultist extended an arm. A jagged blade of condensed void energy formed along their palm. The other two began weaving secondary formations.

The first cultist lunged, blade slicing downward in a diagonal arc designed to bisect his shoulder.

Albedo sidestepped and his hand snapped outward, two fingers striking precisely at the wrist joint.

The void blade shattered into dissipating fragments. He pivoted, heel striking the cultist’s ribs. A crack echoed. The man flew backward, skidding across the earth.

The other two completed their formation.

Blackened chains erupted from the ground, twisting toward Albedo’s limbs.

Instead, he allowed one to wrap loosely around his forearm. He traced the chain’s mana thread.

Followed it. Identified the control node. Then pulsed a precisely measured destabilization wave along the same frequency.

The chain collapsed inward and rebounded, snapping violently against its caster.

The cultist screamed as their own formation recoiled. Albedo stepped between them before the echo faded. His palm struck once against the second cultist’s chest and the cultists’ mana imploded inward, sending him unconscious.

The third began chanting faster. The containment circle flared brighter. The air grew heavier.

Albedo realized this was the fail-safe, or rather their true plan. Just waste his time and sacrifice themselves, and the circle would compensate for their lack of power.

Albedo exhaled slowly as he realized this and walked towards the altar.

The third cultist raised both hands. A spear of condensed Abyssal energy formed and he hurled it towards Albedo, who caught it.

The energy hissed against his skin. He rotated his wrist and redirected the force into the ground. The spear drilled downward harmlessly, carving a narrow trench.

Then Albedo appeared before the final cultist.

His fingers touched the cultist’s forehead. A controlled pulse of mana disrupted the neural pathways feeding the formation. The chanting stopped.

Silence reclaimed the clearing the containment circle dimmed, but did not deactivate.

It remained primed, waiting for him.

Albedo stood alone amid fallen cultists.

The air shifted subtly and the circle flared again this time without cultist input. The sigils brightened to a deeper shade of violet. The underground conduits pulsed in synchrony.

They were receiving a signal from an observation node, meaning as Albedo predicted, someone was watching all that he was doing, analyzing his powers and studying him.

Still, Albedo did not look upward. He did not betray awareness. Instead, he placed one knee against the earth as if assessing the formation academically.

His palm pressed against the outer edge of the circle. He allowed a thin thread of mana to seep inward.

The circle reacted instantly. The center cracked open. Space tore, and something stepped through.

It was not fully formed.

Half-flesh.

Half-shadow.

Abyssal carapace layered over a skeletal frame.

Four elongated limbs ending in blade-like protrusions.

Its aura radiated High Amethyst pressure.

The creature’s head tilted.

It sensed him.

Measured him.

And lunged.

He pivoted aside, the creature’s blade-arm carving through a tree behind him.

The trunk split in two.

Sap hissed into steam.

He retaliated with targeted disruption. He struck the junction where flesh met shadow. Mana destabilized along the seam.

The creature shrieked. It was strong, but nothing Albedo couldn’t handle.

Its movements lagged half a second behind unseen commands. Albedo extended his perception again. Traced the control frequency.

There.

A tether. Threaded through the underground conduits. Back to the node. If he severed it too violently, the summoner would know precisely how.

If he ignored it, the creature would escalate. He let the beast strike again.

Allowed it to drive him backward several paces.

Let it appear evenly matched.

Then, as it overextended, He rotated inward and drove his palm into its core cavity. The pulse traveled backward along the control line.

A feedback surge. The creature convulsed. The tether snapped chaotically and the summoning destabilized.

The beast howled as its body fractured into shards of shadow.

The containment circle flickered violently, and died.

The observation node had likely registered the feedback as structural failure.

Albedo stood slowly. His breathing remained steady. He had not revealed much of his Amethyst level strength.

But he had learned something invaluable. Graves was not merely affiliated with Abyssal Worshippers. He had operational control over High Amethyst summonings.

He knelt beside one unconscious cultist and pressed two fingers to their temple.

A controlled mana intrusion, trying to read any of their memories to see what he could gleam. With his Source Code, he was able to bypass some of the restrictions, and all he saw were flickering memories that were fading.

Dark chambers beneath stone. A sigil etched beneath an Academy tower. Graves standing before a veiled figure cloaked in Abyssal distortion who Albedo recognized from the Novel as Another Abyssal Monarch

This one was Nazghul, the Soul-Drinker!