Chapter 781: Blighted, Lurking
The Blighted—from what Izroth understood, they were similar to the undead that existed in the Mortal Realm. However, there were some noticeable differences between them.
"Grrkwaaa!!" The Blighted who stood on the mountain pass ahead of Izroth and Sychia unleashed a loud shrieking cry.
"Grrkwaaa!!" The rest of the Blighted, as if responding to its cry, launched forward, bringing along with them a pure wave of killing intent.
'Is that one their leader?'
Izroth's gaze locked onto the Blighted on the mountain pass in front of them.
He did not panic as the group Blighted charged from every direction. Instead, Izroth calmly observed the movement of the Blighted and realized that everyone was rushing at them. That is except the first Blighted who released the ear-piercing cry.
'Strange. The Blighted are supposed to be mindless bloodthirsty creatures who will even devour their own kind to satiate their bloodlust. Why are they following the order of another Blighted? Was he wrong? Or...'
Naturally, Astratis would not let Izroth journey through the Mountain of the Blighted completely uninformed. The Son of Thunder shared with him some basic information about what he may encounter along the way. This included the behavior of the Blighted and how to take advantage of it.
However, the Blighted before Izroth was nothing like what Astratis mentioned.
Of course, Izroth did not believe that Astratis intentionally misled him. After all, it was of no benefit to him to deceive Izroth after having already regained his strength.
But, the fact remained unchanged that the Blighted appeared to be working together and following commands—this was in direct conflict with the information Izroth obtained.
As the Blighted arrived within five meters of his position, Izroth moved his hand to the hilt of his Sword of the Storm.
Though before he could draw his sword, Sychia held her hand out.
"Leave this to me," Sychia said as she took a step forward and unsheathed her blade.
'Oh?'
"Then, if you insist," Izroth replied with a carefree smile as he lowered his hand.
Although he exchanged a blow with Sychia back at the village, she was still in a weakened state. He was interested to see what she was capable of. After all, he had to ensure her safety until they reached the outside of the Secret Realm. Therefore, it was important to see how well Sychia could hold her ground with his own eyes.
When Sychia's blade left its sheath, a cascade of cherry blossoms in mid-bloom scattered throughout the battlefield.
After encompassing every Blighted within the beautiful scenery of falling cherry blossoms, all of a sudden, every cherry blossom came to a grinding halt as time seemed to stand still.
"Blossom Sword Twelfth Outlook: Scattered Bloom."
The second after those words left Sychia's mouth, the cherry blossoms vanished.
The following moment, a single cherry blossom bud materialized on the forehead of one of the Blighted closest to Sychia. Then, in a fraction of a second, the cherry blossom fully bloomed.
Phhtk!
When the flower bloomed, a deep cut formed on the Blighted's forehead as a putrid black liquid escaped from the wound. Soon after, several similar cherry blossoms appeared on the several different parts of the Blighted, repeating the same process as the first flower that materialized.
In the blink of an eye, the Blighted was covered from head to toe in deep wounds as it fell to the ground motionlessly. Though it was not the only one.
A similar phenomenon was emerging all throughout the battlefield. One by one, the Blighted succumbed to the effects of the cherry blossoms and were covered in deep cuts before collapsing to the ground.
Izroth watched the spectacle unfold. To those who were far away from this place, it would resemble stunning picturesque scenery. But, for someone like Izroth who was able to peer into Sychia's attack—it was a ruthless strike that caused death to soon follow.
'A piercing sword intent that's hidden behind a seemingly delicate strike... Not bad.'
The cherry blossoms may seem like magic, but Izroth was certain that every flower was a sword strike. Each cherry blossom was directly connected to Sychia's sword as she displayed a form of flawless control and precision.
'If it's this much, she should be able to deal with someone like Maragos without trouble. But, if she can defend herself to this extent... Doesn't this reduce the difficulty of the quest by quite a bit?'
What Izroth failed to realize was that his presence was an anomaly to the quest Enemies In All Directions.
The first part of the quest was to find a way to detoxify Sychia. Under normal circumstances, this would be a nightmare for the vast majority of players to complete. In most cases, it should require the player to locate the initial user of the poison and find a way to get the antidote from them.
Of course, the only somewhat guaranteed chance of this happening was finding the portal out of the Secret Realm ahead of time and waiting for them to arrive.
During that entire time, Sychia would be poisoned, growing weaker and weaker with every passing moment. This would increase the difficulty of protecting her even further.
But, Izroth had a grade-three poison cleansing pill in his possession with a purity so high that it could rival a grade-four pill!
How many players in RML could get their hands on a grade-three pill with the effectiveness of a grade four pill? Let alone a lifesaving one that cleansed poisons. The answer was less than the number of fingers on one's hand!
...
In less than a couple of breaths, Sychia managed to eliminate the last of the Blighted.
Sychia returned her sword to its sheath. Her nose scrunched up slightly and her brows furrowed from the putrid stench in the air.
"This smell is rather unpleasant. I suggest we leave this area with haste." Sychia stated as she held the back of her hand up to her nose.
"I agree. If we continue at our current pace, we should arrive on the other side of the mountain in an hour or so. Well, as long as we don't run into any more surprises like this one. Let's go." Izroth said calmly.
Izroth sprinted ahead with quickened steps as Sychia swiftly followed after him.
...
Not long after Izroth and Sychia left the area that had been transformed into a Blighted graveyard, the heavy mist returned. But, this time, it did not immediately vanish as a single mysterious figure lurked within. The only thing one was able to make out where the figure's crimson eyes.
A couple of seconds later, the heavy mist disappeared. As it did so, there was nothing there to be seen.
But, more shockingly, there were no traces of the Blighted! Even the putrid black liquid released from their bodies had been scrubbed clean from the mountain pass.
Going by looks alone, it would be impossible for anyone to tell that a one-sided massacre had just occurred there.
Suddenly, a large shadow appeared on the ground that belonged to an enormous creature passing overhead. The shadow on the ground moved at great speeds; however, one could make out a pair of wings and a long tail.
Despite the movement of something so massive, there was no sound.
But, what was truly terrifying was that this giant creature had been present the entire time Izroth and Sychia confronted the Blighted, yet it managed to escape their detection. And, at the moment, it was heading in the same direction as them.
...
"Grrkwaaa!"
Swoosh!
Izroth's blade swung forward, cleaning severing the head of a Blighted from its body.
Izroth did not halt his steps as he continued to dash ahead through the crowd of Blighted, only attacking when necessary.
"How are these creatures able to evade our detection and get this close to us before we can discover their presence?" Sychia asked as she kept up with Izroth while fending off the Blighted attacking from every angle.
"That's a good question. I'll let you know when I have an answer." Izroth replied nonchalantly as he evaded one of the Blighted who launched their whole body at him.
'This is troublesome. Their strength isn't that great, but their numbers seem to be increasing the further we head into the mountain. There's also something else that's bothering me...'
At the moment, Izroth and Sychia were fighting their way out the middle of a huge crowd of Blighted that seemed to be neverending. It was like facing a small army filled with bloodlust that did not fear death.
Bzzzt! Crrrrrckle!
"There's something I need to confirm. There's a small crevice up ahead. We'll head there for now. I'll clear a path." Izroth stated as two bolts of lightning crashed down from above, encompassing his Sword of the Storm in the powerful purple lightning.
Swoosh!
Izroth swung his sword outward with an overbearing aura as one of the Blighted were immediately fell.
Bzzzt!
Upon falling, a bolt of lightning jumped from the Blighted body to one of the nearby creatures, causing them to receive a great deal of damage as well.
The lightning continued to bounce between multiple targets, clearing the path ahead to the crevice for Izroth and Sychia.