Search for this symbol: ***EDIT*** to find new/reworked material. This is a repost.

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Van and the rest of his team once more traveled by a Blackie-drawn sled. They traveled all the way back to the five-way split they found in the beginning and took one path they had not investigated. It was the left-most one, which Synthia had gone to first.

"The slope is quite steep, be careful," Van commented. The group descended in silence.

The walls of the tunnel glowed faintly with luminescence. The air inside was freezing – as usual. There was the occasional demon beast that they had to kill, but none of them were particularly difficult to kill.

A few hours pa.s.sed, and the slope of the tunnel started to become less steep.

The crew saw a tunnel branching off for the main one and peered into it. Their faces went pale white.

"another egg chamber…" Delphine whispered, "but this time…"

"This time there a hundred time more eggs…!"

Van looked inside and was immediately chilled. This egg nursery was the largest they had ever seen. Pale blue eggs were lined up neatly up the walls of the immense chamber. Red, pulsing veins ran between them, feeding the eggs with blood extracted from the corpses in the middle of the chamber. There were three recently dead. Van thought he vaguely recognized one. A shame that it wasn't Cyrus.

Cras.h.!.+

There was a loud noise.

Van's head whipped around. He saw a pale figure staring at them. It was a thin woman with a confused expression on her face. Suddenly, she hissed and ran towards them.

"Attack her!" Van bellowed.

The troop immediately got into formation. Ed, Gef and Phern knelt. They lifted their s.h.i.+elds.

Bang bang bang!

Standing over them, Ryan shot his silver bullets.

The thin woman swerved the streaking silver lights. The last one hit her on the leg, but she kept running.

Delphine's expression was full of revulsion, "The bullet broke her leg but she's still standing. What in the Nine Heavens!"

"Ready. Sword Slas.h.!.+" Van bellowed.

In unison, Ed, Gef and Phern swung their swords. A brilliant blue flash emitted from their blades and combined. The strike swept towards the running figure. The moment they spent preparing to strike again, Delphine used to attack the running woman with th.o.r.n.y vines. They wrapped around one of her legs.

Riiip!

With one hand, the woman bent down and ripped the thick vines in two. She drew back her hands. Long black fingernails sprouted from her fingers. The demonic energy around her increased.

Van narrowed his eyes. This power… she was in the 7th level of Qi Distillation!

"Blackie, now!"

A ma.s.sive snarling shadow pounced at the woman and slammed her to the ground. Shrieking, the woman struck the large wolf. A wound was created on Blackie's shoulder.

The giant wolf retaliated by sinking his fangs into her arm. The wolf's wound began to slowly heal.

The woman screamed.

BANG!

An invisible force lifted Blackie off her and threw him to the side.

A flickering in the corner of her eye alerted her to an attack. She threw up a pale arm just as Van swung at her with his obsidian axe.

Thunk!

A thin, severed arm fell to the ground.

The woman looked at her arm and some clarity returned to her eyes. She tried to run.

"Depths of the Dark Seas!"

A giant whirlpool of icy dark water surrounded the woman, Van and Blackie. The large wolf circled around her and occasionally nipped at her heels. She was cowed.

"What is your name?" Van said, his axe at her throat.

Her large eyes stared at him. No noise came out of her mouth.

Blackie growled.

Van narrowed his eyes, "Why are you here? Who told you to take care of the eggs?"

The thin woman continued to look searchingly at him. Finally, she put a palm out and gently dropped it a few times.

[Calm down?]

Van wasn't sure if he interpreted it right. Or maybe…

"Drop the walls of the whirlpool?" He tried.

She nodded.

Van scoffed, "You will just run away! Tell me where the mastermind of these demon nurseries are, and I will let you live."

He did not mention the fact that all the humanoid beasts they had interrogated thus far had died the moment they tried to tell him anything.

Looking at her face, Van knew that she knew.

The thin woman looked at him and did not open her mouth. However, she lifted her remaining hand and crooked her pinky finger.

[Follow.]

Van contemplated it for a moment.

"You are not fast enough to run away from us completely, anyway," He said at last. Both him and Blackie could outrun her, judging from the speed she displayed previously.

He dropped Depths of the Dark Seas.

Blackie and Van watched her quietly. She darted her eyes to one side of the chamber and started screaming in a strange sounding language. She ran.

"Chase her!" Van instructed. He leaped for Blackie and clung to the giant wolf's back. The wolf ran past the troop and Van swung them onto the giant wolf.

Van watched the fleeing figure in front. Her running pace was somewhat slower than when she was attacking them.

***EDIT***

[She is leading us somewhere!]

The thin woman pressed something, and one side of the chamber indented, revealing a rough door. She immediately ran through it.

The crew chased after her on Blackie's back.

Half an hour later, they arrived into an extremely large chamber. A strong demonic atmosphere suffused the air. The smell of blood was so strong you could taste it at the back of your throat.

The thin woman suddenly vanished, leaving Van and the rest in the entrance to the chamber.

Miserable shrieks filled the air of the chamber. Their howls and wails traveled all the way to Van's ears despite the distance between them.

"Let go of us!"

"No, not my child! Take me instead, I beg you!"

"Shut up," A voice coldly replied, "Slaves. Take her away!"

There was the sound of footsteps. Another voice spoke up.

"Demon!!! Let me out of here!! "

Van recognized Cyrus' voice. Immediately, he indicated for the rest of the team to tread carefully.

But it was too late.

"Who's there!?" A cold voice barked.

In reaction, Cyrus immediately began screaming.

"Save me! Please, whoever's there. Save me! This demon wants to kill me and feed me to grow his demon army. He is a traitor to humanity, he wants to destroy the Divine River Re"

There was a choked gargling noise.

Cyrus did not speak again. There was a soft noise, as if someone wearing robes was walking around.

"Come out, come out wherever you are…" The cold voice teased. The sound floated in the air and entered Van's ears as if the speaker were right next to him. The effect was both chilling and eerie.

Van tensed. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up stiffly. Delphine gripped her weapon tightly.

Flicker.

A tall emaciated man with a blue eyes and long white hair suddenly appeared in front of them. His skin was stretched and pale – as if he had not seen the light of day for years. If he were less gaunt, he might have been considered handsome. A smile crossed the emaciated man's thin lips.

"So some more experimental subjects have decided to deliver themselves to me…Hahahaha!"

Van heard this and was alarmed. However, he did not hesitate, "Blackie, attack!"

GROWLL!

The giant wolf leapt forwards.

"Oh? An ancient bloodline lies within this beast. How interesting… but it can't quite compete with…mine…!"

The emaciated man's cold blue eyes suddenly turned a shocking black that covered even the whites of his eyes. Two white horns sprouted from his forehead. A terrifying aura filled the ma.s.sive chamber. It caused a nauseating fear to fill their bellies. The emaciated man's power suddenly quadrupled.

"Those who try to stop us will die!"

BANG!

A black light filled the chamber.

Grimacing, Delphine reacted quickly and summoned her Aqua Light s.h.i.+eld.

Weng!

A green-blue s.h.i.+eld s.h.i.+mmered into existence above Van's head. It only blocked about 10% of the damage, but the moment was enough for Van to shove them all out of harm's way.

"Good reaction speed, Delphine!" He praised as the black light headed straight for him. However, he soon realized that the power contained within the black light was too much for him to withstand.

Gurrgle.

At that moment, the green turtle sh.e.l.l within Van's mindscape began to tremble and vibrate. The dark power within the emaciated man's move was being eaten by the turtle sh.e.l.l!

Van remembered that it had done something similar in the past. Grinning, he capitalized on the chance and lifted his palms.

BANG!

Red hot flames billowed out of Van's palms and attacked the black light emitted by the emaciated man. He committed every fiber of his being to maintaining the flow of spiritual power from his fists.

Szzt!

The black and red lights battled.

The emaciated man became puzzled.

[Why is he not dead yet?]

[…The power of darkness is being…consumed. The kid's flames are devouring the dark qi in my move!]

Of course, the emaciated man did not realise that it was Van himself that was consuming the dark qi. This was because the flame was indeed quite effective at combating dark attribute – the only things that could compete with it would be the lightning and light attributes.

The emaciated man narrowed his eyes.

[I don't believe a low-level brat will be able to withstand my power for long.]

Weng!

The emaciated man's aura flared out. The power of darkness immediately doubled.

The green turtle sh.e.l.l in Van's mind grew excited. It greedily sucked in the dark qi in the atmosphere. Soon enough, another s.h.i.+eld symbol appeared on its l.u.s.trous viridian surface.

The emaciated man was both startled, annoyed and furious, [What is going on? This brat is actually difficult to kill. He seems to have some ability to consume dark power!]

As Van continued to battle, he felt a strange pull to something in the back of the chamber.

[What's over there…?]

Van finally saw a large dais a few hundred metres away from them. A b.l.o.o.d.y aura emitted from it, saturating the s.p.a.ce around it with a crimson colour. A b.l.o.o.d.y red crystal about the size of a fist was embedded into the ground. Large pulsing veins emerged from it. A small flickering flame lay within it.

Van's eyes narrowed, [That red crystal must power the blood demonification of the Luminous Ice Worm eggs. We must destroy it!]

Scattered around the dais were a few cages filled with starved mission-takers. They saw Van looking shouted. Their thin faces were red from excitement - they all wished to be free.

"Save us!"

"Kill him!"

BANG!

The emaciated man loosened Blackie off himself and threw the wolf to the ground. The wolf yelped but stood up again.

Van's hair flew up behind him. The harder he forced the flame energy out of him, the more lightheaded he felt.

[This is the hardest I've ever pushed to channel fire qi… my head…ugh…]

Something in the large chamber responded to the aura of fire Van was emitting.

The emaciated man suddenly felt an extremely pure aura of flame emitting from somewhere behind him.

[This aura…! Could this be…? The Tri Divine Blood Flame is reacting to this kid…!]

The emaciated man grew frightened.

[If the Tri Divine Blood Flame is removed, my plans will be for naught! I need the power of the Blood Flame to build my demon army!]

The emaciated man's worst nightmare came true – the crystal containing the Tri Divine Blood Flame suddenly emerged from the ground.

Like a comet, the fiery crystal shook itself and shot straight towards the two battling figures.

The emaciated man immediately canceled his next move and tried to capture the Tri-Divine Blood Flame.

Van didn't let him.

[Scattering Smoke Steps!]

Van's body flickered.

The burning object collided with Van's palm and immediately sank into his flesh. The young man felt his blood turn molten. Time slowed. His hair slowly started to turn red.