Asher walked deeper into the fortress, the air growing heavier with each step. The dim light barely reached the corners of the corridor, and the silence pressed against his ears. It wasn’t the natural quiet of an abandoned ruin—this was the silence of sothing watching him. Sothing preparing.
And Asher could feel it.
Soone, or sothing, was trying very hard to stop him.
Not with a single guardian.
But with an entire army.
He exhaled slowly, almost amused.
"Finally," he muttered, "sothing to make this boring expedition less dull."
He took another step—and the fortress reacted.
tal groaned. Walls shifted. A cold echo ran through the corridor like a warning.
Then ca the sound:
clink... clink... clink...
Dozens of footsteps scraped against the steel floor.
Seconds later, black liquid tal began spilling from every crack in the walls. It flowed like rcury, rising and shaping itself into human-like constructs with smooth, shapeless heads. Their reflective surfaces twisted his reflection like a warped mirror.
Asher stopped, eyes half-lidded.
"...Really? This again?"
The constructs responded by launching themselves toward him with blades forming from their arms and spike-cannons appearing across their shoulders.
Asher didn’t even raise his guard.
His aura expanded gently around him, and he walked through their charge as if moving through tall grass. The mont the constructs touched him, their bodies cracked and splintered. One got close enough to swing; Asher turned slightly, caught it by the head, and threw it down the hall so hard it tore through ten others like they were made of paper.
More poured out imdiately.
They kept reforming.
They kept coming.
Asher rolled his neck and activated Crimson Initiate. Red veins lit up under his skin, pulsing lightly.
He threw one punch at the air.
Boom.
A shockwave ripped through the corridor, smashing the approaching constructs into the walls like tal debris in a tornado. They scattered... but more bodies spilled from the ceiling to replace them.
A low hum vibrated through the air.
The pressure shifted.
Two Voiders dropped down from above, landing in near-silence like shadows taking physical form. Their bodies pulsed with void hunger, and the mont they saw him, both rushed forward with murderous speed.
Asher didn’t bother stopping his walk.
He caught one Voider by the throat mid-charge. Its body twisted, trying to dissolve into his arm, but he tightened his grip and crushed the creature’s neck, throwing the collapsing remains into the second Voider.
That one tried to absorb the remains for power.
Not fast enough.
Asher appeared in front of it and ended it with a single punch that vaporized its head. The rest of its body folded inward and disintegrated like collapsing dust.
Behind him, more of the tal constructs clambered over the walls, forming a wave. This ti they were larger, sharper, and moving faster than the ones before. Red lines pulsed across their bodies—an unnerving imitation of his own Sanguine energy.
Asher raised an eyebrow.
"Adaptive, huh? Cute."
The enhanced constructs moved in perfect sync, surrounding him instantly. One launched a storm of razor spikes. Another reshaped its arm into a massive hamr. Two more turned into drills, spinning toward his ribs and back.
Asher let out a slow breath and activated Bloodlit Dominion.
Red energy washed outward, forming a field around him. The mont the constructs’ attacks entered that field, the blades, drills, and hamrs lted like wax in a furnace.
He took a single step forward.
The floor cracked under the pressure.
Then he blurred through the group, striking faster than they could reshape. Every punch caved in alloy. Every kick sent bodies flying in fragnts.
Still, these ones didn’t fall normally—they rged.
Ten lded into one hulking giant of black alloy.
Another ten rged into a second giant, both towering enough to scrape the corridor ceiling.
They rushed him from opposite sides like collapsing steel mountains.
Asher raised both hands and let his Sanguine energy gather thick in his palms. The aura grew so dense it humd.
He slamd both hands forward.
"Fall."
A red shockwave blasted out, obliterating both tal giants in an instant. They shattered into hundreds of shimring fragnts.
But even as they fell, the fragnts wriggled, trying to pull themselves back together.
Asher stomped once.
Blood Forge spread beneath him like a glowing seal, burning each fragnt until they stopped moving entirely.
The corridor fell silent.
But only for a heartbeat.
The passage ahead darkened as sothing else approached. More tal constructs crawled from vents and cracks. Voiders clung to the ceilings, their hollow eyes fixed on him. Twisted demons tore through sealed doors with shrieks of hatred.
All of them ca together in one massive rush.
Liquid tal bodies ford ramps to launch Voiders at him.
Demons hurled themselves forward with claws and fangs bared.
Spikes fired in every direction.
Dark voids opened under his feet, trying to swallow him whole.
Asher finally stopped walking.
He inhaled deeply.
Both Sanguine Supre veins ignited, flooding him with hot, crushing red power. The corridor lit up like a furnace.
He lifted one arm.
A simple motion.
A clean downward strike.
The air split.
The corridor split.
Everything in front of him—Voiders, constructs, demons—was cut by sheer pressure alone. Bodies disintegrated. Voids collapsed into nothing. tal turned to molten slag. The floor cracked apart under the fallout.
When the dust settled, Asher stepped through what was left without slowing down.
Every fifty ters, more enemies waited.
Liquid tals slithered from vents.
Voiders crawled on ceilings like starving insects.
Demons clawed through steel barriers.
Stronger groups. Faster ones. More desperate ones.
Asher tore through them effortlessly, one blow at a ti, his expression calm—almost bored.
Finally, he walked into the next massive chamber.
The floor trembled.
tal groaned deep inside the walls.
Darkness bent like sothing breathing.
Void energy leaked through cracks in the ground.
Asher rolled his shoulders.
"Good. Finally," he said, almost smiling. "Sothing worth my ti."
Sothing massive waited deeper inside.
And he walked toward it without hesitation.
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