Chapter 636 Dusk stalker
636 Dusk stalker
Their journey to the southern continent was smooth, mostly thanks to the Arcane Bastion. Although the dangers of the sky were nowhere compared to Ocean Tribirus, there were still a lot of Nôv(el)B\\jnn
dangers lurking in the sky.
What made the sky and ocean dangerous was the disadvantaged movement of the travellers. Even if they were part of the Wind and water pathways, their movement capabilities were no match for the creatures in their natural habitat.
Fortunately, Blake and the crew didn't have to bother about any of that as the Arcane Bastion stealthily passed the beasts or shot down everything directly in their path.
Just as predicted, in the late hours of the 7th day, the land of the southern continent appeared on the horizon, prompting Dorian to announce it to the group scattered all over the Bastion.
Blake who was meditating at the training ground where he fought both Xander and Slade, teleported straight to the deck.
It didn't take long before the rest gathered and set their eyes on the Black Zone.
From an aerial perspective, the continent lay shrouded in an impenetrable veil of mist, casting an eerie pall over its vast expanse. The dense, swirling fog cloaked the land in perpetual twilight, its tendrils seeming to reach out hungrily toward any who dared approach.
At the continent's heart, piercing through the oppressive gloom, stood a solitary white spire, its pristine surface gleaming ghostly against the surrounding murk. This enigmatic monolith exuded an otherworldly aura, a silent sentinel in a sea of shadows.
The mist that engulfed the continent was of course no ordinary fog; it was a supernatural barrier, silencing all forms of communication, both magical and technological, rendering the land an isolated enigma.
"Before you ask if we could fly directly to the spire, the answer is no." Dorian took the words out of Brian's mouth. "We tried it during the expedition, but the artefacts lost connection with the controller and the volunteer that flew above the continent never came back."
"I can't believe I was eager to do this." Brian couldn't help but gulp at the sight of the eerie continent.
"If not that this was a black zone, your confidence back at Calton would have made me believe you had explored the continent twice." Blake chuckled at his reaction, but his laid-back expression made the rest wonder if he wasn't joining them in the exploration.
At that moment, darkness converged to form a projection of Cassius. "Dorian will be stationed outside here until we are out."
'What if we don't make it out, what would he do?' Brian was curious but didn't dare to voice his thoughts to not reduce the team's already low morale.
Once they were done taking in the view of the continent, the team made their final preparation before proceeding to the teleportation room to get beamed down to the continent.
"No last words before I leave?" Blake asked Dorian who had already manned the controls.
"Are you planning on dying?" Dorian asked with a raised brow to which Blake shook his head with a smile. "Then I'll talk to you when you get back."
At that moment, the teleportation platform lit up and the group were warped to the shores of the continent, exactly where the joint expedition team had landed.
Upon setting foot on the continent, the oppressive mist abruptly dissipated, restoring their vision to normalcy, though a palpable sense of unease remained.
"What the hell?" The group were shocked and apprehensive by the sudden development.
In the outskirts of the continent, the landscape was a patchwork of diverse terrains, ranging from dense, shadowy forests to arid, wind-swept deserts.
Immediately they understood what they were about to face, Blake instinctively turned back to the shore.
"Sure enough, we can always leave if we want." Blake let out a sigh of relief as he was afraid that the shore would have vanished just like in horror movies.
"Is it me or does this mist feel oddly familiar with Night mist?" Damon turned to Blake who was the only person that could relate.
The mist's clearance just after they stepped foot on the continent, felt too familiar to how they could grant vision people within the night mist their vision. The rules here were simple; no vision unless you are within.
"Yes, I can even detect the mist sapping at our vitality. Thankfully, our Angelic bodies drastically reduce the rate of absorption and replenish our vitality with its natural rejuvenation." Blake explained the results of his scan.
"What next?" Brain asked while looking around, it was then that Cassius' figure once again appeared.
"Although it might sound easier than it seems, our goal is to reach the spire as it is the gateway to the main realm. It is now up to you guys to decide how " Cassius pointed at the structure located at the centre of the continent.
Out of nowhere, Blake felt an extremely dangerous aura wash over causing him to abruptly turn to the right with a deep frown etched on his face, then to the left but there was nothing he could see.
"We need to leave now!" Blake said to his confused teammates as he teleported them into his pocket dimension without their permission.
Once he sensed that the feeling was gone, Blake dropped to the ground and let out a deep sigh of relief.
"What happened?" The team were totally confused and worried about Blake's abrupt actions.
"I had a premonition that if we remained there for a bit longer, one of us would have died." Blake shook his head a few more seconds of lateness would have led to history repeating itself.
"How is that possible?"
The group couldn't believe there was something that could stop 5 Angels and 2 Emperor beasts from escaping if they wanted.
"During this past few months, my intuition led me to study a book titled Corruption. What we just encountered now is a corrupted entity called, a Dusk stalker." Blake explained.