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Chapter 392 - Ash City
After stowing the map in his robes, Cassius went straight to the third floor. Dense spiderweb-like black lines climbed across the entire space as light flared. The floor, the walls, and even the ceiling bore ancient and intricate ceremonial markings.
These lines were not only on the third floor; they were embedded into the walls, covering the entire Tower of Refuge. As long as Cassius provided enough Blood of the Spirit as energy, it would transform into a safehouse.
Standing at the stairway, Cassius turned to look in the direction leading to the fourth floor. The higher portion of the Tower of Refuge had already collapsed and was damaged, so the original functions that once existed there naturally could not be used.
Fortunately, the three main functions of the Tower of Refuge lay in the first three floors. The revival altar on the first floor was the most important, the Library of Misfortune on the second floor explained and guided new spirit bearers, and the defense array on the third floor offered protection and filtered out the calamity lingering in the air.
As long as these three abilities remained, most of the Tower of Refuge's main purpose was retained. Cassius stepped forward and walked to the center of the third floor. There, he found a translucent human-sized diamond-shaped deep blue crystal. A metal disc about half the size of a palm floated motionless in mid-air at the crystal's tip.
He reached out and grabbed the hovering disc. A spiral pattern adorned the surface of the disc, resembling a silver-white vortex converging inward. At the very center of the vortex, an intricately carved eye remained closed.
Cassius examined it briefly, then followed the method described in the Library of Misfortune on the second floor. He pressed the Mark of the Spirit Bearer against the center of his chest.
It overlapped precisely with the location of the Rune of Wisdom. In an instant, a scorching, burning sensation flashed and then vanished. When he looked down, the metal disc had disappeared. Instead, the center area beneath his collarbone now bore the vortex mark. The eye in the middle was now wide open.
It resembled a living eye, emitting a faint blue glow. 𝖓𝔬𝔳𝖕𝖚𝖇.𝖈𝔬𝔪
The Mark of the Spirit Bearer was a brand of Qi, not some physical object to be carried. This meant that even if Cassius ended this time-travel and returned to the real world, he could use the Mark of the Spirit Bearer to re-enter the Calamity World. It was essentially a ticket.
The Mark of the Spirit Bearer now resonated with the activated Tower of Refuge. It could now forcibly pull the Qi of Cassius's real-world self into this world.
However, there was a need for caution. It was best to enter the Calamity World during nighttime in the real world, since calamity and reality were reversed. The real world's night was the Calamity World's daytime. During the Calamity World's daytime, the ubiquitous calamity in the air weakened to an extreme degree.
A Qi body could operate for a longer period without going mad. Additionally, the Calamity World became less dangerous during daytime. Many powerful dark creature clans in special areas grew lazy or fell asleep, leaving only some weaker beasts roaming around.
After taking the Mark of the Spirit Bearer, Cassius returned to the second floor.
Relying on the Calamity World map in his hand, he looked for information on the Pale Land region. About half an hour later, Cassius finally found some intelligence on Ash City amidst a mountain of books. Ash City lay in the northwest area of the Pale Land.
Bordering the Despair Skeletal Forest, the dark creatures born in that region had two characteristics. First was the ossification from the Despair Skeletal Forest, and second was the burning characteristic of Pale Lands. These two traits mixed together formed the Ash Clan, the overlords of Ash City.
Notably, Ash City, a special zone of the Pale Land, had its own distinct "burning" trait. Black smoke, toxic fire, and gradually intensifying erosive heat... It was more like the lingering warmth of ash after a fire.
The intelligence Cassius found included pictures and details.
Wild Beast-level: Ash Warriors, Ash Archers, Spearmen.
Savage Beast-level: Vertebral Blade Warriors, Dark Fire Sorcerers.
Cataclysmic Spirit-level: Toxic Smoke Giants, the Lord of Ashes and its nine avatars.
First, it was important to understand that the Calamity World was not the real world. One's body in the Calamity World was formed of Qi. Any damage or consumption of Qi would weaken a spirit bearer's strength.
In other words, it resembled a game world with hit points.
Cassius could not disregard low-level Wild Beasts and Savage Beasts. If they had a numerical advantage and made use of terrain to hinder and focus their attacks, he might not benefit. In the real world, a weaker opponent could not break a stronger opponent's defense, but in the Calamity World, one’s defense would inevitably be broken. Even minimal damage still counted.
After pondering a moment, Cassius returned to the first floor.
Following the Library of Misfortune's instructions, he unlocked another function of the revival altar—displaying the time. Day and night here were constant. Twelve hours of day and twelve hours of night. At this moment, two hours of daytime had passed.
The clock-like phantom suspended above the revival altar recorded this faithfully.
Cassius pressed a hand against his chest. The Mark of the Spirit Bearer had another function: tracking his madness value.
It had five levels, and each level triggered a reminder. When he neared the latter half of the third level, Cassius would consider returning to the Tower of Refuge and use the defense array to filter the calamity.
Once the concentration reached the fourth level, his Qi body would begin to involuntarily lose rationality. His emotions would grow impulsive, irritable, and aggressive.
If he reached the fifth level, he would inevitably begin to transform into a beast. Early on, if his willpower was strong and decisive enough, he could still dash back to the Tower of Refuge for treatment. However, once he passed the midpoint of the fifth level, it would be too late—he would inevitably fall into a bestial state.
One needed to remain vigilant. The rise in madness did not depend solely on time; it was also related to the spirit bearer's condition. If he was injured or overly exhausted, the madness value would rise more quickly than before.
"Ten more hours should be enough..." he muttered.
Cassius took the map of Ash City and left the tower.
At the same time, in another corner of Ash City, fallen pillars and collapsed walls formed large swathes of ruins. Dense clusters of buildings blocked out the light, casting huge shadows.
A black-robed figure moved silently within the shadows.
Ghost-Man had come to carry out a mission for Black Rain Manor at the Lord of Ashes's residence. Without a doubt, the central area was extremely dangerous and might involve encountering the Lord of Ashes. This was the most powerful Cataclysmic Spirit-level being in the Ash City area. It was very hard to deal with. The Lord of Ashes possessed ten forms: one true form and nine avatars. Each form of the Lord of Ashes had Cataclysmic Spirit-level strength!
If one avatar encountered an enemy, the other avatars would rush over. Depending on the situation, they might choose to surround the enemy or merge to form a stronger Lord of Ashes.
In other words, the Lord of Ashes grew stronger the longer you fought against it. Ultimately, you would face ten Cataclysmic Spirits swarming you, or something even more terrifying if all ten combined, fully unleashing the lord's full power.
So, Ghost-Man had to be extremely cautious. He only intended to grab what he needed and then leave without lingering. If he encountered difficult dark creatures along the way, he would detour around them.
Tap.
He suddenly halted and leaned against the back of a building.
He could hear the dull clatter of bone armor ahead of him on the spacious main street of the city. A patrol of Ash Warriors passed sluggishly by. Clearly, this was due to it being daytime; the dark creatures' vitality was at its lowest.
Even so, the street still carried a bloody and ferocious aura. These Ash Warriors generally ranged from two to two and a half meters in height. They were clad in heavy full-body armor that sprouted from within their bodies. One could faintly see lumps of flesh and veins through the gaps of the armor. Each Ash Warrior gripped a large, bone-white two-handed sword, its sharp blade edge tainted with traces of blood.
Aside from Ash Warriors, there were several Ash Archers as well. These also wore full armor, but theirs was much lighter. However, what was most bizarre was their bone bow, since it was grown directly from their arm to form a bow's shape. The bow still had flesh and blood vessels entwined around it, and the bowstring itself was formed by twisted, resilient blood vessels. The inner side of their forearm featured grooves piled high with arrow-like bones that could be plucked out for immediate use.
Notably, the Ash Archers' entire arm emitted black smoke, and lava-like cracks ran across its surface.
Did this enhance their arrow shots? Nobody knew.
Ghost-Man hesitated in the shadows for a moment. He was about to rush out and swiftly slaughter these beasts, but then more noise came from the street.
Four or five figures over three meters tall appeared. They resembled werewolves with strong, backward-bent legs whose claws dug firmly into the ground.
Their upper bodies were swollen and muscular. Half of their bodies bore spiderweb-like fissures that flickered with firelight. These were Savage Beast-level Vertebral Blade Warriors. Their blades were stored inside their bodies. A bone handle protruded behind their necks, as the massive blade used their spine as a sheath.
They panted heavily, black smoke puffing from their nostrils. Their bloodshot eyes radiated a furious red glow. They looked very troublesome to deal with.
Ghost-Man halted the step he had planned to take. Four or five Savage Beast-level dark creatures in the Calamity World were not easy to handle. He decided to play it safe, as he had done several times before, and waited for them to pass.
Three seconds later, Ghost-Man felt lucky about his decision.
A blurred figure wreathed in black mist and ash appeared in mid-air, radiating a dangerous presence. This was one of the Lord of Ashes's avatars; a Cataclysmic Spirit-level being!
Ghost-Man asked himself: if it were one-on-one, he could win if he used all his tricks? However, the Lord of Ashes had many avatars. Once a fight erupted here, the others would come swarming in.
If he engaged, he would be doomed. If the Lord of Ashes grew too angry and decided to merge all avatars, the ensuing pursuit would be even more horrific!
It was practically certain death.
Ghost-Man immediately suppressed his aura and presence to the lowest possible level. He planned to patiently wait for the dark creatures to move on, then find a chance to sneak through.
One must never confront a Cataclysmic Spirit-level being head-on in Ash City.
This was the principle Ghost-Man had set for himself.
While his thoughts churned, a thunderous rumble echoed from the city's main road, as if a steamroller was barreling through. The vibrations were almost visible. Loose stones on the ground bounced several centimeters high.
"Such heavy footsteps... must be a Toxic Smoke Giant..." Ghost-Man felt even luckier. Otherwise, he would have encountered two Cataclysmic Spirit-level beings at once. He turned to look toward the street corner.
A large group of Ash Warriors and Archers were stampeding in a frenzy, like a can of sardines spilling out. They no longer carried their usual ferocity and savagery, but rather an animalistic terror.
Whoosh!!!
A fierce gust of wind swept down the street. A massive silhouette blocked the sunlight, and shadows enveloped the ground. The Ash Warriors beneath the shadow opened their eyes wide in fury and ran like mad.
However, they were still a step too slow.
Boom!
A ten-meter-tall Toxic Smoke Giant slammed down through the air in a huge arc, evidently being used as a weapon by someone.
Splat, splat, splat...
The two-meter-tall Ash Warriors were smashed flat, like tin cans under a hammer, causing flesh and blood to burst out.
Ghost-Man looked carefully and saw a two-meter-tall figure gripping one leg of the Toxic Smoke Giant, swinging it like a flail. The figure's movements were calm and effortless, as though hefting a giant over ten meters tall posed no strain. Its strength was immense.
After the thunderous impact, Cassius raised his makeshift weapon again. He charged toward the black smoke figure.
Armed with the Ash City map from the Tower of Refuge, Cassius knew that the greatest concentration of dark creatures lay in the Lord of Ashes's domain. He intended to quickly accumulate his first portion of Blood of the Spirit to activate the Tower of Refuge's defense array. He couldn't afford to be timid.
So after understanding the situation, he chose to dive headlong into the fray. The Library of Misfortune's data indicated there were no Dark Ultimate Forms in the Lord of Ashes's domain, which reassured Cassius. As long as the opponent remained within the realm of a combat artist, he feared no one.
Boom!
He swung the giant's corpse as a weapon once again, crushing dozens more dark creatures on the spot.
"How dare you kill the members of the Ash Clan right before my eyes..."
"You!"
Boom!!!
The Lord of Ashes's avatar, a figure of black smoke, roared as it rushed toward the commotion. Black smoke billowed around its body, swelling to four or five meters tall.
Just as it was about to attack, it was instantly sent flying by a massive blow. The Lord of Ashes's avatar was smashed sideways by the Toxic Smoke Giant's corpse and shot out like a cannonball.
A trail of black smoke stretched through the air. Its body crashed through a tall building, leaving a huge hole and out the other side. It quickly disappeared from view.
Bang!
Only several seconds later did a distant muffled crash echo back.
"Roar!"
An enraged bellow followed the explosion of a dreadful aura several hundred meters away. The Lord of Ashes had obviously gone berserk.
On the main street, Cassius paid no heed after sending the Lord of Ashes flying with a single blow. He simply kept swinging his weapon, treating the remaining dark creatures like targets in a game of a whack-a-mole.
Blood splattered everywhere, squelching and squishing. It was oddly satisfying.
In the shadows, Ghost-Man swallowed nervously. This hunter, who had entered the Calamity Tunnel alongside him, was certainly not ordinary! Judging by his performance, he was no mere expert newly recruited by the Dark Hunter Organization. At minimum, he might be a Shadow Hunter! Perhaps even...
It might not be impossible that he was a Radiant Hunter, the strongest amongst hunters!
While Ghost-Man felt shocked, he also looked at the towering pillar of black smoke far away and shook his head. Even if one was a Radiant Hunter, provoking the Lord of Ashes in Ash City's territory was unwise.
Ten Cataclysmic Spirit-level beings swarming you at once would leave no room to escape. If the enraged Lord of Ashes decided to merge all avatars into one, the ensuing chase would be a disaster!
Survival would be nearly impossible.
This bold hunter was likely heading for trouble...
