"Holy mother of gods!" Agnes swore as she stared at the wreckage he had created.
His attack had ravaged the tall structures of the wall, breaking into the pathways all around. Most of the blocks of stone hadn't even fallen on them, from the look of it.
"Does the suppression affect you at all?" she asked again.
"It does," he shrugged, "but I can suppress the suppression for a certain amount of time."
On top of everything, he hadn't even used his full strength. Not to mention, he couldn't even imagine what the result would have been if he had used void light instead.
It would definitely be far out of his control. Still, the reach wouldn't have been so outrageous, considering his void essence output was limited to 25%, and concentrating void essence was several times more difficult than radiance essence, which practically worked like breathing after the heart transplant.
"At least it drove away the corrupt spirits," he said.
They moved deeper into the labyrinth. The coldness and foulness in the ambient essence rose astronomically with each passing step.
"You still haven't said anything about the experience," Agnes said as they crept soundlessly. After a moment of silence, she added, "If it is something sensitive, you do not have to..."
"No," he waved his hand. "I have been thinking about where to start since the time you asked... Honestly, it's just too much to offload. Not to mention, I still fail to comprehend it all... the things I experienced... the things she showed me at the end were just too much at this moment."
"Well, looking at how strong you have grown, I think it's more than worth it."
"Yes," he said. "It's just that..." He let out a deep breath. "I met a person from my past there, and I don't know if I'll ever meet her again. If she is even alive..."
"Who is this she?" Agnes asked after a moment of silence.
"That's the tricky part," he mumbled, "but it wouldn't be wrong to call her my Master."
"Was she beautiful?"
"Like an angel."
"Hmm," her hum tinged with disbelief. Experience more tales on m v|l e'-novelhall.net
Half a day passed like that, moving slowly on foot, making sure they weren't circling the same spot. Corrupt spirits attacked multiple times, without gaining any ground against them.
"The concentration of dark essence is rising, which means we are on the right track," Agnes said.
"Do you need any more purification before we go deeper?"
"I have barely fought; the corruption hasn't had any opportunity to accumulate yet."
"Are you sure? It feels like the foulness is biting into my spirit," he said. Thankfully, the radiant heart was purifying all the foulness before it could even infest him.
"I'm fine," she said firmly. "I may not have a glowing heart like yours, but I am far from being fragile enough to fall to a little foulness."
"Gotcha," he mumbled. "How long do you believe it will take us to reach the final place?"
"Definitely within today," she replied. "I'm not sure how far we have to go for it. It can't be just ghosts here."
"I hope we find the essence vein... I have been delaying a vital advancement for a while."
"Essence vein?" Agnes raised an eyebrow. "We have already found that... Well, only a part of it."
"Where?"
"It's in the second layer, but don't worry, it's likely sourced from the core area. So you can go through your advancement after we finish—"
A blood-chilling cry reverberated throughout the pathways as they came to a stop before a towering structure with a closed entrance. More screams followed right after. The dark essence churned and twisted along with the cries, creating a psychological effect on them.
It didn't affect him. Agnes broke out of it a moment later.
"—cleaning up the stuff here."
"Looks like we have finally reached it," he said, scanning his surroundings.
"Only have to deal with a few guardians," Agnes said, taking a fighting stance.
"Yeah, only a dozen or so Moonspawns."