Chapter 148: Families

Chapter 148: Families

Sofia explored the lost Avian city in the following hours. Not much besides the stone walls had survived the passage of time. There were some parts of the city where the air was thick with curses; Pareths [Purify] cut a path through them. She understood after the fact that they were random and not linked to anything interesting, which was a disappointment. She never found a way that led to the place Pareth had fought in.

Street after street, her vision became clearer and clearer until it suddenly opened up all at once. She could see in this cavern as well as during a bright day. There was no more darkness, no more shadows, everything was clear everywhere she looked as she turned around.

Can I turn it off?

Sofia found herself in the dark once again.

Yeah lets not do that.

[Venerable physique of the primeval void] :

First step : Become more resilient to explosions (50%)

Second step : Become able to see in the dark (100%)

Third step : Become able to breathe light (0/100%)

Fourth step : Overcome absolute cold

Fifth step : ???

Current step training method : Hold your breath in the brightest environment you can find.

The new step is, uh, different from what I expected? Breathe light? How does that even work? Am I becoming a plant? Well, at least the training doesnt sound so bad. All I need is a bright place, shouldnt be too hard. But I wont be able to do that in this dungeon.

Done with her main goal for entering this dungeon, she decided to speed things up. Since she could finally see, she was confident enough to fly up. The cavern was humongous, there was easily a hundred meters between the ground and the stalactite-riddled ceiling. Flying up she had a good view of the whole Avian city. There were a few interesting-looking buildings she hadnt explored yet, but most importantly, she could finally see the Buried Cathedral.

When she had entered this main cavern, she had turned to the left and found the city, the Cathedral was on the right. It was an impressive work of architecture, and it was preserved much better than the city, but most impressive were the messages she was getting when she looked at it.

[You have been affected by : insanity. But your skills negated the status]

[You have been affected by : insanity. But your skills negated the status]

[You have been affected by : insanity. But your skills negated the status]

The person down on the altar was still desperately trying to communicate, in Avian. When she heard Sofia take a few steps back, she started violently sobbing in between her words.

Fucking Ugh.

Can you understand me? Sofia tried.

Silence followed for a few unbearable seconds. And then the gibberish Avian talk started again, with a renewed pleading energy. Sofia couldnt understand a single word but she could clearly feel the same kind of dread, the same kind of despair, the same pain in this womans voice that had once been her siblings, as a kid, hopeless, begging for their next meal with both their lives on the line.

... Sofia closed her eyes, trying her best to suppress the bittersweet memories of her sister.

Alright, you win. Im coming.

There was no obvious way down, and she couldnt fly or jump because of the curse. Similarly, if she wanted to search for the real stairs down it would take forever for Pareth to cleanse the way. If the curse is in the air Wait, I do know of another way to disperse that How did I not see that before?! It was so obvious!

How does it work with the staff?

Usually, Sofia couldnt use [Angels bolt] while holding something. She discovered that it didnt apply to the staff. The lightning gathered and formed a lance, except that instead of the usual wild plasma javelin, it was contained around the staff, almost like a coating. To save some mana, this was the spell version of the skill.

The pleadings from the person below had stopped.

This worked quite well at repelling the curse or to be exact, at consuming it, the curse mana seeping into the spell, feeding the lightning. It wasnt what Sofia had expected and she freaked out when she saw the curse from outside the purified zone closing in but it disappeared before it could even reach the staff itself.

Good enough. Sofia still wasnt about to jump down however, she ran through the Cathedral, searching for a way down as she burned the curse away. It didnt hurt as bad as it used to, her armor held out better than usual. Pareth was holding the blessed marrow greatshield. 10% more resilient is much more noticeable than I thought.

Sofia couldnt stop cursing at herself for not having thought of that way to deal with the curse sooner. It was so much better, saving a lot of time and effort, all she had to do was to hold a bolt and run. It still took her a while to find the way, the Cathedral was surprisingly large from the inside, and she had to dispel the bolt after a while. A fully formed one, she normally couldnt dispel without backlash, built the staff worked as advertised, completely negating that. After waiting for a few seconds for her armor that was glowing red to cool down, she cast another bolt and started running again. Finally, she found her way down and soon entered the main chamber by a side door.

Entering the main chamber from the ground floor this time, she had a direct view of the altar.

The Avian demon was pinned down on the altar by metallic shackles covered in runes, emitting a black glow.

Sofia couldnt see much from where she was, the altar was higher than her head, but three things were certain. This was the person who had been talking. She was crying and repeating the same few Avian words over and over again. And she was an Apostle.

Just like she could see the Heroes levels without [Identify], Sofia could see information on that Apostle, which she thought was due to her authority as an honorary Apostle.

[Evranarheimlein - Daughter of Curse - Lv. 299]