When Lumian and Asael woke up, the sun had already risen and the dark sea had receded. The duo cooked the scavengers' meat to recover their energy from the battle against the shell centurion and the close encounter with the messenger of the needle.
Lumian summoned his runes, noting he had obtained quite a few fragments from killing the centurion. He remembered previously having two hundred and fifty-two fragments, but now, after killing the centurion and consuming its core, that number had increased to two hundred and seventy.
Lumian asked Asael if they could stay at least two more days to hunt scavengers, a request Asael accepted without objection.
Both spent that time training, facing each other with their weapons to improve their combat style. Of course, Lumian lost to Asael's greater skill and experience. However, his learning speed was terrifying.
Originally, Lumian could only fight Asael for a few seconds at the start, even using his aspect ability. But thanks to having obtained a large number of fragments and constantly fighting scavengers, he had been unconsciously changing his combat style, gradually developing his own martial art. With this, he managed to hold a decent fight against Asael.
Asael, seeing Lumian grow so fast, increased his own training to avoid being surpassed.
In the end, they spent about five days on the high cliff, killing scavengers nonstop.
On the morning of the sixth day, they decided to keep moving west.
Days later, Lumian was sitting on the corpse of a scavenger, calmly wiping the blue-blooded spear clean.
"Hey, Lumian, this is like the tenth one we've killed," Asael commented while examining and crushing the scavengers' cores.
Lumian gave a faint smile.
"Yeah, though it's not strange. This labyrinth is full of these things… and God knows what else," he murmured.
"Did you receive any Echo?" asked Asael, looking at the blond teenager.
Lumian shook his head.
"No. It seems the spell hates me. I haven't even gotten a single memory since we fell into this place," he replied, disappointed by the lack of memories.
Lumian rolled his eyes.
Be thankful you don't have 'Destined,' or we'd run into a great titan, he thought.
Monster Core [337/1000]
Lumian looked at the number with satisfaction. He would soon reach four hundred fragments, but the amount he received per scavenger was decreasing; this was a sign that he needed to hunt stronger Nightmare Beasts.
The scavengers no longer posed any difficulty in small groups of five or ten. However, if there were more than fifteen, he would have to escape.
Lumian looked behind him, observing from a distance how the crimson coral was beginning to turn gray and lifeless.
They would soon reach the giant corpses of the leviathans. And after that, the tree of souls.
Lumian thought of different ways to resist the tree's mental control once they killed the demon. For now, he only had pain. Hopefully, his defect could nullify the tree's direct influence, because it would generate an intense emotion of worship and loyalty… emotions that, precisely, his defect destroyed instantly. If that happened, the tree's effect wouldn't hold power over him.
However…
Lumian glanced at Asael. He wasn't sure if he could resist the tree's mental attack. If he could avoid it, he would prefer that Asael not get close, but he would need his strength to face the demon.
"What are you thinking about?" Asael asked, snapping him out of his thoughts.
"About some things," Lumian replied.
He jumped off the scavenger's corpse and observed the sky, noting there were still several hours of light left before the dark sea returned.
"Let's go," said Lumian.
During their journey through the labyrinth, Lumian and Asael noticed that scavengers weren't the only beings inhabiting it. There were other nightmare monsters.
They hid at night and hunted during the day.
There were colonies of carnivorous worms that attacked from underground and took them by surprise more than once; carnivorous flowers that strangled their prey with blood-sucking vines; and transparent tentacles that emerged from cracks and dragged scavengers away in a matter of seconds.
Fortunately, the scavengers were so territorial that they destroyed everything not of their species. In the end, the only ones that could confront them were the giant centipedes, creatures at least three meters long, with hundreds of small legs. Their chitin wasn't hard and could be pierced, but they possessed an acid that corroded armor, were fast, and jumped from unexpected places.
"Where are we heading now?" asked Asael.
"Towards the ridge. We should arrive by dusk… if another one of those centurions doesn't show up," Lumian replied.
The duo moved silently westward, towards enormous ridges rising above the coral. As they approached, the sun was already beginning to set.
They entered through the remains of the empty eye socket of one of the enormous corpses. Thanks to Lumian's affinity with darkness, he could see the interior clearly, finding no monsters hiding.
Upon reaching the highest part, the sun was setting and the dark sea began to cover all the land.
They prepared scavenger meat. After eating it so many times, both had grown accustomed to its taste. Occasionally, they passed the waterskin to hydrate.
After a while, they slept in shifts: each would have three hours to rest before the other took their place until sunrise.
When morning came and the sea receded, Lumian, with Asael's help, climbed to the top of the leviathan's spinal column.
He observed his surroundings without showing emotion. He could see how the once-crimson coral had turned gray and lifeless, with visible deformities, as if suffering from a horrible disease. The material seemed brittle and fragile, on the verge of turning to dust.
The dead area stretched as far as the eye could see. Lumian looked even farther, noticing an enormous hill made of ash. At its summit stood a gigantic tree that seemed to defy the world with its size.
Its bark was black, and its leaves were vermilion red. Its long branches stretched towards the sky, covering the hill with an imposing shadow.
Tree of Souls, Lumian thought.
He recalled some anime and manga featuring a gigantic tree called the "World Tree." But he frowned before relaxing.
That tree was too small to be a World Tree. Lumian would bet it was just an immature… and corrupted… sapling.
Lumian watched it intently. He couldn't look away: somehow, the tree seemed incredible and vibrant, almost beautiful.
However, as soon as those emotions of awe and yearning arose, they were instantly extinguished. His defect mercilessly crushed the Tree of Souls' mental influence.
Lumian smiled widely, full of happiness. The tree planted emotions in him, and his defect destroyed them instantly.
Finally, his face became completely calm.
Hahaha. I knew it. I'm immune to this bastard, Lumian thought, satisfied.
"Lumian, is everything alright up there?!" Asael called from below.
"Yes, everything's fine!" he replied immediately.
After observing the Tree of Souls a little more, Lumian decided to climb down from the skeletal remains, which took him some time.