The bell's formless pressure grew with intensity as their vessel continued its approach. Those with weaker mental fortitude were already suffering, and a quick scan showed that no less than a third of the soldiers were twitching erratically or holding their heads. More alarmingly, a few displayed smiles resembling those on the carving, even when their eyes were wide with horror.
Zac felt fine beyond a profound sense of wrongness, but [Immutability of Eoz] desperately tried to fend off something he couldn't sense or see. Neither his overwhelmingly powerful soul nor recently upgraded Soul Defense skill seemed to be of any use against the mysterious threat. In other words, it wasn't a mental attack, but neither was it strictly a curse.
Considering their enemy, most elites carried some form of ward against curses. They should at least have shattered upon failing to block the attack, but not a single one so much as shook despite one soldier after another adorning a macabre smile.
The situation was bad, but Dossin made no attempt to turn or evade. The flying treasure pressed through the solidified space like a moth to the flame. Zac doubted that turning around would save them from their predicament or that the vessel was even capable of such a feat. It was more like they'd strapped themselves to a rocket and launched it toward their destination.
Zac furiously went over his means and stockpiled treasures in search of a solution. The most obvious was to jump ship and run away, but that would be like jumping out of the frying pan into the fire. They were no longer moving at dangerous speeds, but that only proved just how impassable their environment had become. It was impossible to tell whether space had solidified because of the bell or if the bell had been used because of it.
Either way, most E-grade cultivators would find moving impossible when they left the vessel's protective barriers. There was no way that the common escape talismans his men carried would work either. Even if activated, they'd displace their users a few dozen meters at best. They'd still be exposed to the bell, which seemed to be stirring from its slumber.
"Shield your mind and infuse the platform with Cosmic Energy!" a clear voice boomed in Zac's mind.
It was Dossin, but her voice contained a mysterious power that made her order feel like an imperial edict or a God's decree. Millions of soldiers instinctively followed her command, flooding the platform with streams of energy. Even his undead followers followed suit but quickly stopped after Zac sent an urgent command.
Whatever treasure Dossin used to cut through the bell's influence wasn't enough to pass through Zac's mental defenses, but he still joined the effort. For now, their best chance at survival was the safeguards provided by the alliance. If even that failed, Zac could only sacrifice his strongest lifeline and ask Sendor for assistance.
Creaks and rumbles shook the floating barge as it struggled to endure the immense accumulation of Cosmic Energy. It was so dense that a knee-high layer of shimmering light formed on the square. And that was just the spillover that the vessel failed to contain. Most of the energy was dragged toward three distinct locations on the vessel—toward the fore, to Dossin, and to the still-standing Array Tower.
Radiant streaks of destruction lit up the desert as an array of hidden weapons all activated at once. The display was far more overbearing than the Acheron Company's lineup of War Machines, but Zac frowned upon seeing that none of the attacks targeted the bell. Instead, Dossin seemed content with randomly firing at empty space.
No, not random. The Dravorak general was using the weapons like an icebreaker, weakening the spatial blockade that had reduced their speed by over 90%. As a result, the vessel was rapidly picking up speed, though that only meant they were hurtling toward their doom with increasing velocity.
"Stop!"
Zac's head snapped around just in time to see a grinning soldier push a comrade aside. More people tried to restrain him, but it was like he'd been imbued with intractable power. The smiling man's eyes were bloodshot with strain and struggle, and tears streaked down his cheeks as he dug into his chest. The next moment, he was holding a still-beating heart in his hand in a gruesome reproduction of the bell engravings.
The horrific scene was like the trigger for a mental plague sweeping through their ranks, where the first casualties were the soldiers who had tried to stop their friend. Chaos quickly erupted as more and more warriors dug into their chests before presenting their gift to the sky. Zac moved to stop a few of them, but a scream of danger made him freeze with hesitation when he was about to grab a man's arm.
"Close your eyes! If you touch a possessed, you'll be the next! Focus on nothing but infusing!" Dossin shouted, her voice hoarse with strain and determination. "Hold on a bit longer! It's almost ready!"
Zac wanted to scream with frustration as he helplessly watched his men succumb one after another. Such wretched endings, and there was nothing he could do. Worse, the bell didn't even grant its victims death. It should be impossible for Late E-grade Cultivators to last long without a heart, but their auras were steady as they stood frozen with extended hands.
The only solace was that the struggle on their faces was gone. The profound terror in their eyes had been replaced with joy, completing their transition into the heretical imagery. Hopefully, it meant these poor men had fully succumbed to the bell and didn't need to suffer any longer.
Most terrifying was that all the extracted hearts beat in perfect sync, where each thud was a toll that empowered the bell even further. The phenomenon created a negative spiral that was rapidly going out of control. Dossin had urged them to hold on, but their armies would be wiped out within the minute unless something changed.
None dared to interfere with the dead, but they tried everything to save those who remained. Talismans, War Arrays, and Defensive Treasures were thrown out without any care for expenditure. A few leaders even took out mysterious items to shield their men. But despite their best efforts, the sacrifices only grew more frequent.
The only one who had a semblance of success was Vilari. A blanket of spiritual pressure covered the Acheron Company and two neighboring forces as Vilari activated a large-scale domain. She didn't possess any large-scale defensive skills, so she used her emotional manipulation to combat self-harming actions with sloth or nihilism. Unfortunately, a terse shake of the mentalist's head indicated the effect was limited and that she couldn't hold on for long.
Then, a pulse of pure light was released from the middle of the barge, and a high-pitched sonorous call echoed through the region. The light formed a huge celestial bird whose song swept the madness aside. Dossin had finally come through, but Zac swore upon seeing cracks appear on the summoned avatar. Whatever Dossin activated stopped the coerced deaths, but it was clearly not a match to the heretical bell.
The bird seemed to understand its plight and shot toward the bell as it sang with increased fervor. However, Zac didn't get to see the creature's final stand, as he felt a tremendous pull from below. The ship crashed into the ground, but instead of an explosion, there was a flash of brown light and an embrace of the earth itself.
It was the second Array Tower that had been activated—a bird to buy a window of opportunity and an earth movement skill to take them away. Zac had become part of the stones they passed through, and he felt his speed rapidly increase.
But not even deep underground could provide sanctuary from the heretical bell.
Immense vibrations shook the very essence of Zac's being. It was like the world was whispering in his ears, whispering ancient secrets of boundless terror. He was overcome with despair, to the point there was nothing left to do but rejoice as he embraced the inevitable end. If you can't defeat them, then join them.
Zac wailed when reality shattered, but the only sound was the ebbing voice of earth's madness. Thoughts eluded him, and the passage of stone and sand provided little context. It might have been a second or an hour before dry darkness gave way to light, and the disjointed impressions solidified into a harried consciousness while clumps of mud became flesh and bone.
The surroundings were utterly foreign when Zac opened his eyes, which was the biggest gift he could ever hope for. He unsteadily got to his feet among a sea of sprawled-out soldiers and broken debris. A voice in the back of his head screamed at him not to look up, to not invite that horror back into his life. Zac calmed his beating heart before warily peering at the sky.
The bell was gone, and the space around them was so fragile it almost felt like he could tear a hole in the dimension with his bare hands. It should be impossible for such a powerful treasure to appear anywhere close—its mere presence would collapse space and deposit it in another dimension.
Besides, even for a Monarch, the heretical bell had to be difficult to control. It might even be impossible to collect for a good while after being deployed. Zac couldn't imagine anyone getting close and living to tell the tale after it had been awakened.
Zac turned back to the broken pieces of the flying vessel scattered about. Their exit from the ground was not meant to have been so chaotic, but there was no doubt in Zac's mind the ship had saved everyone's lives. His back became slick with sweat from remembering his mind being fully consumed by madness. Those unstoppable impulses must have come from when they passed right beneath the bell.
If his body hadn't been in an intangible state, he would have dug his heart out with a smile. And if even his Dao Heart and Hidden Nodes proved insufficient to protect against the bell, then who could possibly have survived the brief encounter? Whatever was hidden within the bell was simply on such a high level of existence that it made any resistance irrelevant.
Zac turned his sight inward as the people around him got to their feet. Everything appeared normal after scanning himself head to toe with every method in his arsenal, but that wasn't nearly enough to fully assuage his fears. But his Hidden Node had fully calmed down, which hopefully meant the bell didn't leave any lingering threats behind.
In other words, those who still lived when they entered the ground should have all survived. Still, no matter where Zac looked, he saw smiling corpses gripping their hearts. At least a tenth of their recently assembled army had fallen in less than a minute, and many more would undoubtedly walk away with Heart Demons.
Zac was still shocked at how powerful a weapon the Kan'Tanu had managed to deploy, but he had survived enough terrifying and inexplicable ordeals for the bell not to leave a lasting impression on his Dao Heart. However, not everyone was the same. Being exposed to this kind of calamity differed from life-and-death battles on the battlefield. The helplessness could plant the seeds of fear that would poison one's path, preventing you from going any further on the road of cultivation.
"How do you guys feel?" Zac asked with a low voice as his commanders gathered around him.
"I'm… I'm fine," Emily said, but Zac hadn't seen her face so grim since the day they first met.
"We'll make them pay for what they did," Zac said, his voice rising into booming thunder as roiling Killing Intent spread through the region. "We'll capture that damn fortress and blow up the bell and every single cultist who had anything to do with it."
Confused, fearful faces hardened, and eyes shone with a promise of bloody retribution. It wasn't just his men who stirred from Zac's forceful proclamation. Fury spread through the ranks like the mental plague before. Smaller gusts of Killing Intent joined the overwhelming amounts of murderous air Zac deliberately released. It fused, forming something akin to a communal desire. A desire for steel and fire, of vengeance and murder.
Zac was happy that so many had been dragged out of their mental prisons by his actions, but his words weren't just empty posturing. He meant what he said with every fiber of his being.
Until now, he'd been so focused on survival and potential conspiracies that he'd lost sight of the big picture. Zac even felt ashamed as he recalled his behavior in the meeting half an hour ago. He'd listened to the discussions like an outsider, silently judging the other commanders for focusing on personal benefits over the war effort.
But how was he any different?
The thought of seizing the ancient War Fortress hadn't even crossed his mind. If anything, he'd felt it an unnecessary risk, especially since he'd have to hand the thing over to the alliance if he succeeded. He better focus on keeping himself safe and potentially harvesting some seals or treasures.
But how could Zecia possibly win if no one ever stepped up? How could he say he'd done everything in his power to keep his friends and subjects safe if he didn't try to make a difference, an actual difference, to the war? This wasn't about Contribution Points or quests.
Like it or not, he was one of the people with the highest chance of seizing the fortress. With the Mystic Realm being limited to Middle Hegemons, only the vanishingly rare monsters like Kator could pose a threat to his life. Besides, taking over the fortress might not come down to strength but rather fate and luck. And how many could compete with him on that front?
'Thank you.'
The voice came from Dossin, and Zac slightly nodded before turning to Vilari.
"Can you tell if there are any lingering dangers?"
Vilari looked lost in her thoughts but shook herself awake after a second. "There shouldn't—"
"LIAR!" an enraged roar reverberated through the valley, silencing all discussions.
Zac glanced over and found one of the young commanders standing before Dossin with fires in his eyes and a sword trained at her throat. He had six Hegemons standing behind him, ready to back him up. They were all from the same faction, but Zac sensed they wouldn't be fighting alone if a battle truly broke out.
His call for vengeance had momentarily unified their allied army, but reality was bound to come crashing back. They had been sent into this mission blindly, and they'd encountered something terrifying and inexplicable right out the gates. A tenth of their men had died before seeing a single Kan'Tanu, and General Dossin was ultimately responsible for their mission.
"You said neither side would use large-scale treasures! So, how do you explain that cursed thing? And where was the alliance when we were almost wiped out?!"
"Since when has war been predictable?" Dossin said. "Our enemy managed to outplay us this time, but they ultimately failed. They activated such a powerful taboo treasure but only managed to kill a small number of our men. What if they had used it on a large-scale battlefield instead? Hundreds of millions could have died.
"I have already reported the situation to headquarters. The alliance will surely make them pay for exposing such a powerful item."
"The alliance," the young man scoffed. "Who but the alliance knew where we were going? What regions we would cross? I wonder how the Kan'Tanu could set up an ambush with such speed and precision..."
Dossin's eyes thinned. "I would be careful about your following words."
The young man's chest still heaved like bellows, but one of his retainers knew they couldn't let their Lord go any further.
"The young master is just lamenting the fallen. If we'd entered the ground a bit earlier…"
"It takes some time to charge and deploy the [Eightfold Earth Traversal Array]. Secondly, the ancient bell created mysterious ripples in the ground. I suspected they would damage the ship, and reality proved me right. We barely got through the bell's sphere of influence. Had I activated the traversal any earlier, we would have been crushed or spat out right beneath the bell. Everything I did was to minimize our casualties and give us a chance at survival."
Zac nodded in agreement. Dossin was only following orders just like the rest of them, and she did the best of a bad situation. If anything, her judgment and quick thinking were extremely impressive. Her calm and rational explanation also helped defuse the tense situation.
"If you feel my actions or leadership lacking, you are welcome to petition a complaint upon our return. However, despite our accident, our mission is ongoing, and I am the commanding officer. Our vessel failed to take us the whole way, but we're only ten minutes from our destination. The Kan'Tanu didn't have any covens nearby, so we still have a chance to reach our destination first. Collect the fallen and ready yourselves for battle. We move out in two minutes."
Zac turned back to Vilari, only to find her dazed off again.
"What's wrong?" Zac asked as he pulled the mentalist to the side. "Did you harm your soul by using your skill? Or did you notice anything from the bell?"
Vilari almost flinched at his words, and Zac's worries only intensified. He'd thought Vilari would be the one who could handle that cursed influence the best, but Zac now realized he might have had it backward. Her soul was incredibly powerful, but that was ultimately useless when it came to the bell. Conversely, the sense of despair that blossomed into deranged joy had a lot of common ground with Vilari's path. The way their companions had ended their lives was even similar to Vilari's puppeteering ability.
However, the bell contained a form of evil that had twisted the Emotional Daos. It resembled the Lost Plane and how it had tainted the pure truths of Ultom. Had Vilari's Daos been damaged, or had the corruption somehow taken hold within her?
Vilari seemed to understand the thoughts going through Zac's mind and shook her head.
'I… I'm fine,' she answered in his mind. 'But I fear the bell might have come for me.'
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