"Who are they?"
Dracs asked with curiosity. Indeed, the sight in front of his very eyes was something he could have never imagined!
Before replying, Farek kowtowed deeply on the ground for a couple of seconds. Then he stood up and said.
"They are all the previous Guardians, Ancestors, Revered Disciples of the temple. One day, I'll be there with them, guarding our Mausoleum for the future generations."
Dracs was silent. He just deactivated his scan and looked at these people who deserved respect for their sacrifice. The atmosphere was solemn.
After some time passed, they remained here. At the moment Dracs had recorded all the formation and the picture in his mind and virtual library. But of course, he had only more questions that needed to be answered.
He followed after Farek that led the way and then took a staircase that went down further below. The structures were more and more broken; the corridors were filled with dust, bones, and holes in the walls. And it was here that Dracs began to feel the corruption.
Since he came to the Mausoleum, he had never felt the slightest bit of corruption but now, that was another thing, it seemed that the corruption was leaking slowly from everything, like a poison contaminated each part of this area.
he couldn't help but ask.
"Farek, is the training ground below this area?"
The guard was really concentrated and didn't take the time to look back before answering.
"Yes, we will be there in a couple of minutes. Stay alert, these corridors can be said to be the last 'safe' area."
Suddenly, Dracs had an idea, and he said.
"Please Farek, can we stay here? I need to test something. It shouldn't take too much time."
At this moment Farek stopped, then he looked at Dracs with a disdainful look and replied coldly.
"What are you going to do, Young Master? Do you think you are still in Akran City, ordering people right and left?"
Dracs was taken aback by this reaction, but it was only for an instant and rage surged and he shouted.
"Are you joking? I was happy to go on this journey with you, but what is this shitty attitude? Quick, tell me!"
Farek who was acting high had now his eyes almost popped out of their sockets! He tried to say something, but no words came. He was agape, speechless! How could he have thought that this young master had a sneaky tongue like this!
He needed a couple of seconds before recollecting his attitude and finally said.
"You are right, it was a bad attitude, what do you plan to do here, it's not an area we should stay for long, I would have preferred that we join the shelter before taking a pause."
When hearing this, Dracs calmed down. It was really the kind of useless attitude he hated to hear, a haughty attitude, looking down on others. What's the point of doing that? He just couldn't understand those people, and of course, couldn't tolerate them at all.
He nodded and said.
"I only wanted to check the condition in the environment. I feel a difference in the ghost qi and there should be a reason for it."
Farek looked at the young master in front of him in understanding. And he said.
"You are talented if you are able to sense the difference here because it's not that huge. When we'll reach the training ground you'll understand. That's why I advise you to wait a little more until we reach the shelter."
Dracs pondered for a moment, but he couldn't miss this opportunity. There was corruption everywhere and he just couldn't let it go without trying to purify it and make it his own.
He smiled mysteriously and said.
"Don't worry Farek, It's just a little test of my abilities, it won't take too long, after this we'll go to that shelter."
Farek felt dejected. Even though he wanted to rebuke this young master, he couldn't.
On his side, Dracs felt ecstatic! He neared the walls and put his hand on it, closing his eyes while activating all his system abilities, then he whispered.
"Purify!"
[DING]
[Corruption source detected, due to the high concentration of corruption, don't purify it all or you would probably trigger many dangers]
[Calculating…]
[DING]
[Recommendation: You can purify slowly 60,000cp/h, but no more than 133,543cp because of potential dangers]
Dracs was so happy that he almost jumped on the spot! And without any more care for the poor Farek, he immersed himself in the process, purifying as much corruption as he can while checking his pool of corruption points.
Time flowed, and Farek was shocked and fearful at the same time. It was the first time that he saw someone using a skill to absorb directly the malevolent qi that was ruining the Mausoleum.
He tried to remember which technique this young master was using, but he couldn't find a clue at all. So, after many minutes, he could only think of one skill. The ultimate art of the White Ghost Temple, something that he had only heard of and never saw.
At first, he had some doubts, but when he saw what the young master was doing, it only reinforced his assumptions.
However, it was nothing about the ultimate art but only the own related corruption abilities that Dracs had up his sleeves. Nothing that can be compared with a normal art or technique.
And like this, Dracs was delighted while gently absorbing the corruption, not daring to overdo it in case he triggered the wrath of some monsters.
And of course, while he was thinking about it, the counter had reached more than a hundred fifty thousand corruption points, so he had to stop
However, what he didn't know was that in the depth of the Mausoleum, far below his position, an entity that was neither a ghost nor a living being, had sensed that his aura had been picked but in his slumbered, that was not a real loss.
This entity knew perfectly that every few years, the humans controlling the upper level of this world would send their young ones, sacrificing them, in order to try to stop his power.
But to him, it was not that important. These little sacrifices couldn't even scratch his aura at all.
In the meantime…
[DING]
[Shop has been updated…]
"Not bad, not bad!" Dracs exclaimed in his mind full of excitement.
He removed his hands from the wall and felt disappointed. He knew that there was plenty of corruption here, but the system had warned him to not take too much of it.
~sigh~
While he was mourning, Farek woke him up from his state with a slightly irritated tone.
"Is it good for you, Young Master? It has been more than an hour now, so we should go."
Dracs couldn't blame him. After all, Farek had waited without saying anything for quite a while.
"Thank you for your patience Farek, we can go immediately."
He said while nodding in approval.
And like this, they resume their walk in this hollow place. The deeper they went, the denser the corruption became. It was replacing the ghost qi bit by bit and was giving a suffocating feeling.
Farek was very tense until they finally went out of the cramped corridors and arrived in a big underground area that was towering dozens of meters in height. It was like an entirely different world.
This place was like an ancient underground city with high buildings embedded in the walls. There was also an underground river flowing gently between rows upon rows of beautiful temples.
But the beautiful scenery was destroyed because of the ruined state of everything. That place could only be described as a ruin and that wasn't only that, the corruption here was a hundred times denser and was covering every inch of that place.
It was sad. Even for Dracs that was a Corrupted Anomaly, this sight was not good, it was true that it was like an infinite reserve of corruption points, but that corruption was so destructive and malevolent that he would need to refine it.
He couldn't help but ask Farek.
"Farek, this… How could that magnificent big city have fallen like this? Even the ghost qi is acting strange here…"
"We shouldn't talk here, Young Master. We're near the shelter. It's only a couple of hundreds meters from our position, we should hurry, the damned will be on us at any time!"
Understanding the urgency of the situation, Dracs only nodded and quickly followed Farek between the destroyed buildings and paved roads. Strangely, the ghostly light provided by the ghost qi was so dimmed that it was quasi impossible to see more than twenty meters of distance.
Here and there, some screech could be heard inside a building, fiery eyes lurkings through the destroyed windows of the houses. It gave chills and even with his virtual map activated, Dracs couldn't exactly determine the position of these monsters.
At this moment, Farek started running like a madman, followed right behind by Dracs! A couple of seconds later, they heard a terrifying scream echoing in the previous house they just passed and they only accelerated until they finally saw a wooden door with a torch flickering with white light on its side.
Farek directly opened it and rushed inside with Dracs.
They were finally inside the shelter.