Everything was dark down here, the corruption covered every inch of this place, dark mud-like substances oozed from the walls and ceiling, it was as if the whole place was bleeding out, the sound of something rupturing always coming first, echoing through the enormous underground cave as if it was crying out in pain.
At first, there was nothing other than that, it was nothing more than walking through muddy terrain but as Wrath descended deeper and deeper, always able to see clearly in spite of the absence of light, she soon encountered the previous warriors who had challenged the depths.
Their weapons laid in the corruptions, sometimes intact and sometimes shattered, their equipment was always broken however, unlike their weapons, they couldn't just let go of it when the corruption spread to them.
The first she encountered were already dead or dying, unable to speak or do anything, their bodies had been warped completely, ressembling nothing more than an abstract collection of various limbs stuck together, they retained none of their past appearances nor did they retain even a sliver of intelligence.
As she finished off the ones that were already on the verge of deaths, the system spoke its usual words, calling them corrupted challengers, their past species replaced and forgotten.
When she finally encountered a challenger that was in condition to fight back, she quickly learned that, while they were rabid creatures, their strength was no joke, they fought with feral brutality, clawing, kicking, biting and charging with all of their strength in every movements.
The few hits that connected sent her flying away but she always managed to avoid getting hit straight on.
Due to their utter focus on killing, striking at them wasn't difficult, allowing her to quickly end them after getting used to their aggresivity.
One swift thrust to the thing that was their heads and they would fall down just like anything else.
There weren't many of them in the end, only about twenty when counting the ones that couldn't fight, after all, climbing up the mountains wasn't an easy tasks for most people, only the cream of the top would have arrived up to this point.
They had all failed however, still, this meant that just like Edwind, there last act before shifting into these creatures was to bring back the charm to the surface, meaning that each and every one of them had somehow managed to escape the fight against either one of these beasts or Edwind himself, this was strange.
She had an idea of how that was possible but there was nothing to confirm it, so she just continued to press forward.
She encountered no other of these corrupted challengers, the long path she followed was empty of anything, no corpses either, just emptiness and utter silence, the walls and ceiling had stopped crying out in pain and bleeding, everything was still.
Unlike the previous areas with were nothing more than a cave covered in corruption, the place Wrath arrived to was grand and solemn, the corruption was still everywhere but unable to tarnish this area.
It didn't have any particularities other than its cubic shape and two pillars on the end of it but the feeling was here, this was were something greater dwelled.
Cleaving through the silence, the sound of warped screams were heard coming from behind the pillars as a large figure rose to its feet.
Its head was elongated and ressembled that of a rabbit, the two large ears hanging down the sides, torrents of black blood came rushing out of its maw as it opened it, it was almost as long as its entire head and filled with crooked teeth of all sort, stabbing into its own gums.
Its eyes were large and malformed, gazing down at Wrath with no complex feelings at all, its eyes were devoid of anything.
The head was the only thing that seemed to hold some coherance to it as its body was nothing more than a piece of flesh with too many legs and hooves strapped onto it.
Other mouths seemed to open in other locations of its body, sending their own torrents of blood as they did so.
The creature limped as it moved its body toward her, as it walked, Wrath took a step back.
There was no need to check to be sure of it, the corrupted challengers were nothing next to this thing.
Wrath stayed thoroughly on guard but once it decided to attack, it simply disappeared from her sight, she was barely able to follow the movements of the large beast, only able to reinforce her stomach as one of its hooves crashed into her.
The impact was cushioned but the corrupted wasn't done yet, it went into a frenetic and constant series of attacks, the swinging on only its limbs was much easier to follow but still tremendously fast and the numbers of them was an issue.
Especially when coupled with its movements, it kept shifting its body around, turning around and spinning around while attacking, it could allow such stupid moves for there was nowhere it couldn't defend itself.
Wrath had both of her swords out, reteliating to its assault with her own, the body of the creature was easy to pierce and slash but it didn't care for the damage it sustained, taking the attacks without flinching.
Wrath was being pushed back and eventually, she was backed down against a wall, the creature used this opportunity to try and crush her with its full weight, extending its arms as it rushed forward.
That was its mistake however, the monster was nothing but brute force and violence, Wrath however, wasn't just a monster.
In a flash, three of its limbs fell off and its body and pierced in many places as it rammed its body into the wall, crushing nothing but itself in the process as Wrath had moved behind its body in that short instant.
That technique wasn't easy to use in any ways, especially when she wasn't angered but for some reason, seeing this formerly noble warrior reduced to such a state deeply enraged her, she had never felt such feelings when cutting down any one else and it wasn't like she had know Edwind before his corruption.
The beast stood up, trashing around, finally showing a reaction to being hurt, it roared in a pained voice, puking blood from its mouths as it stumbled around.
The monster gathered itself and rushed head on toward Wrath, putting everything it had in this attack, moving at even greater speeds than before.
Wrath prepared to intercept its charge with another set of attacks.