Chapter 472 - Taming the Golden Light

After the Gold 3 depth, everything else had been quite easy.

When they broke through to the surface, the first thing that struck Hagen was the silence.

"Where are we exactly?" Bloodwyn asked, his enhanced senses scanning the horizon.

Hagen consulted his mental map, cross-referencing their emergence point with the landmarks he could see through the near forest and the plains.

"Near the edge of the iron forest, at the end of Goldcrest territory," he admitted with slight embarrassment.

The war had indeed emptied this area. Where normally there would be patrols, border guards, or at least some signs of human habitation, now there were only the natural sounds of the forest.

They had emerged quite near Ren’s old house, but they didn’t know it.

"The new abyssal formations confused my navigation more than I expected. But we’re not too far off course..."

"But you the ’best explorer’ got lost down there," Bloodwyn finished, though his tone carried amusement rather than anger.

"The underground ecosystem changed completely," Hagen defended himself. "Those ’standardized’ creatures we encountered... it’s like they invaded the entire deeps network. My old reference points there are all useless now."

It was true. In years of underground travel, Hagen had never encountered such big changes to the abyssal environment. Such widespread transformation made him wonder what other modifications were occurring in other territories.

The thought was deeply unsettling. If the abyss itself was being restructured on such a massive scale... What other changes were occurring in places no one had thought to explore?

Bloodwyn seemed unconcerned by the navigation error. If anything, he appeared pleased by their current location.

"Actually, this is fine," he mused, his eyes scanning the forest. "We are still close, and not emerging directly in the infected zone means fewer surprises."

They moved deeper into the forest. Bloodwyn’s corruption seemed to intimidate the forest creatures, creating a bubble of unnatural quiet around their advance.

The trees here were almost normal, with very little mana.

Under normal circumstances, it would have been a relaxed trip.

But Bloodwyn suddenly went rigid, his head tilting as if feeling something.

"What do you sense?" Hagen asked, immediately alert to the change in his companion’s demeanor.

The question hung in the air for several seconds before Bloodwyn responded, his voice carrying a note of cautious worry.

"Yano King," he said finally. "Still at the castle, doing something weird with his energy, but..."

"Can you tell if he’s coming for us?" Hagen pressed, anxiety creeping into his voice.

Bloodwyn was quiet for a long moment, his expression thoughtful as he processed the information his senses were providing.

"Doesn’t seem to be moving from what I can tell... Why? Hard to say," he admitted. "Either our forces are well-matched enough that he’s not confident about winning now, or..."

He paused, his frown deepening.

"Or he doesn’t want to leave the castle alone to attack us because of our King Coleoran’s mana signature. I can sense it too, even from here."

The risks seemed significant for Yano. If Dragarion decided to come, Coleoran could take the castle and enter the door under it...

So Yano’s king was being forced to remain at the castle due to the presence of two powerful forces in different directions, it created a window of opportunity that might not last long.

Perhaps Dragarion was even thinking that was exactly Yino’s strategy... to make him come out by dividing their forces.

But it also suggested that the balance of power was more unclear than they had assumed.

How strong was the king if he decided to wait for them to 1 vs 2 him in the castle instead of attacking now?

Though the truth was that Dragarion was dead tired and

they

were the ones losing a great chance.

"Either way," Bloodwyn continued, "it works in our favor that he’s not coming to stop us from completing the mission."

They continued their advance through the forest.

♢♢♢♢

Finally, they reached it.

The claw-shaped tree stood exactly as described by the survivors, its twisted form unmistakable against the forest backdrop. The ancient oak’s branches stretched like gnarled fingers covered in tons of golden dots.

All around it, pulsing gently between the twisted branches and roots, was their objective.

The light of the World Dragon.

Every mushroom was smaller than Hagen had expected, no larger than a child’s fist, but the power emanating from them was unmistakable.

The sight was beautiful and deeply unsettling. The mushrooms created patterns of light that seemed to dance in rhythm with some unheard music, their golden glow casting everything in warm, inviting radiance that somehow felt wrong.

"Finally," Bloodwyn breathed the disgusting smell, his enhanced senses analyzing the pulsing light that emanated from the countless mushrooms scattered throughout the forest floor.

"The infamous ’World Dragon’s Light’ named by the princess," Hagen murmured, remembering. "Though it looks to me more like..."

"Infection," Bloodwyn finished. "It’s spreading slowly, but always following the bigger mana concentrations. Look..."

The vampire was right. The mushrooms weren’t randomly distributed, they followed clear expansion routes, consuming whatever crossed their advance and leaving behind more of their kind. The first infected zone stretched in a rough circle around the ancient oak, with tendrils of golden fungi reaching toward the iron ring boundary.

"They’re barely entering the silver ring according to the reports," observed one of the 15 remaining soldiers. "We’re ahead of schedule."

Bloodwyn nodded, but his expression remained cautious. "Easy to eliminate, according to the briefing. We’ll see about that."

As they approached the infected zone, Hagen felt an immediate and visceral reaction. His skin crawled with revulsion, as if every cell in his body was screaming warnings. The abyssal energy that flowed through him seemed to recoil from the golden light, creating an internal conflict that made him nauseous.

The sensation was like trying to force two opposing magnets together, his corruption-enhanced biology rejecting the purifying influence of the light aggressively.

"Anyone else feeling that?" he asked, noting similar expressions of discomfort on his companions’ faces.

"Like oil and water," muttered another soldier, his beast trembling anxiously at his side before immediately retreating back into fusion. "My beast doesn’t want to get close."

Bloodwyn seemed less affected, but even he maintained a respectful distance from the mushroom perimeter.

Hagen remembered Selthia’s warnings about the light, her instructions to avoid direct contact.

"We activate the crystals from here," he announced, pulling out the remaining corruption crystals from his pack, those that they hadn’t lost in Dragarion’s involuntary attack. "No need to get closer than necessary."

The other soldiers followed suit. The abyssal artifacts hummed with purple energy, eager to fulfill their purpose.

The activation was simultaneous and a bit dramatic.

Ten corruption crystals erupted with dark light, their combined energy creating a beacon that pierced through the dirt. The call went out into the abyss.

The response was immediate.

Deep below, something stirred. The ground began to vibrate with a strength that spoke of massive movement, of countless forms answering the summons.

"They’re coming," he announced unnecessarily, as the tremors intensified.

"Good," Bloodwyn smiled, his fangs gleaming in the crystalline light. "But while we wait..."

He gestured toward the mushroom-covered clearing, where the claw-shaped tree stood like a gnarled monument.

"I think we can make some progress on our own."