The Shackled Void-Chapter 83: Edge of the Broken World [32]

The wind on the mountain ridge changed. The piercing cold of the Whispering Glaciers slowly faded, replaced by a dry, sulfurous heat. The sky above them was no longer the grey of snowstorms but began to be stained by a sickly, bruised crimson, as if the atmosphere itself were a wound.

Nihil walked ahead, his steps steady on the sharp granite rocks. Though his physical body felt no fatigue, his low Capacity was a constant alarm in his mind.

[Capacity: 15/50 -> 16/50 (Slow passive recovery)]

"The rock structure is changing," Elara’s voice broke the silence, her breath still ragged. She pointed to the ground. The grey granite began to mix with veins of black obsidian and brittle pumice. "We’re approaching a volcanic zone. Or at least, a zone that has experienced massive thermal trauma."

"The Blasted Lands," said Lyraelle, her hand never far from her sword hilt. "The land where gods died. Even Orcs don’t dare hunt this far."

They descended the last steep slope. The path was narrow, flanked by a chasm on one side and an unstable cliff wall on the other.

Suddenly, Nihil’s passive Tier Vision pulsed. Not a major danger warning like the Ancient Dragon, but a sharp spike of predatory aggression.

"Above!" Nihil yelled.

He didn’t see it; he felt it. A "weight" swooping down from the sky.

A large shadow covered them. A Mountain Drake—a smaller dragon-kin, without fiery breath but with claws that could tear steel—dove at supersonic speed.

Nihil had no time to use a skill. His Capacity was too precious to waste on a single beast. He drew his Elven sword.

The Drake targeted Elara, the weakest prey.

"Get down!" Lyraelle lunged, shoving Elara to the ground and covering her with her own body.

The Drake’s claws struck the rock where Elara had stood a second earlier, sending sharp stone shards into the air. The creature shrieked in frustration, its leathery wings beating hard, creating a whirlwind of dust. It circled in the air, preparing for a second strike.

Nihil was already moving. He didn’t wait for the creature to come to him. He ran towards the vertical cliff wall beside them.

He didn’t climb. He ran up it.

[Using: Atomic Manipulation (Fairly Stable)]

[Capacity: 16/50 -> 14/50]

He manipulated the friction between his boot soles and the rock, increasing it so he could run horizontally on the vertical wall for a few seconds.

As the Drake swooped low to snatch Lyraelle, Nihil leaped from the wall. He was above the creature.

In the air, time seemed to slow. Nihil accessed the River Sword Style data in his mind. He held his sword with both hands, pointing the tip downward. He didn’t use muscle strength alone; he used gravity and falling momentum.

SRAK!

Nihil’s sword embedded itself in the Drake’s back, between two thick armor plates.

The creature roared, its body spinning wildly in the air, trying to dislodge the attacker on its back. Nihil gripped the sword hilt tightly, letting himself be tossed about.

"Bring it down!" Lyraelle shouted from below. She was already standing, her bow drawn, but she couldn’t shoot without risking hitting Nihil.

The Drake flew upward, trying to smash Nihil against the cliff wall.

Nihil’s Thoughts: Analysis. Impact in 3 seconds. Structural damage to body: 80%. Options: Release sword and fall? Inefficient. Option 2: Force landing.

Nihil released one hand from the sword hilt and pressed his palm directly against the creature’s scales.

[Using: Void Grasp (Rank E) - Burst]

[Capacity: 14/50 -> 9/50]

He didn’t try to erase the entire Drake. He erased the base of its right wing.

Muscle, bone, and wing membrane vanished in an explosion of black dust. The Drake instantly lost lift on its right side. Its shriek changed from anger to panic as it began to spiral uncontrollably.

Nihil pulled out his sword and kicked off the creature’s body, leaping away moments before impact.

BOOM!

The Drake hit the rocky ground with the sickening sound of shattering bones. Dust billowed high.

Nihil landed with a roll, Void Reconstruction automatically repairing micro-fractures in his leg bones from the landing impact.

[Capacity: 9/50]

The Drake was still moving, dragging its shattered body, its jaws snapping. Lyraelle stepped forward, her face hard. Without hesitation, she fired one arrow straight into the creature’s eye, piercing its brain. The beast convulsed once, then lay still.

"Execution efficiency: adequate," Nihil said, standing and brushing dust from his new cloak. He wasn’t breathing heavily. His heart beat with a calm, slow rhythm.

Elara got up, brushing off her knees. She stared at the Drake’s carcass, then at Nihil. "That was... reckless. You used almost a fifth of your remaining energy."

"Necessary investment," Nihil replied. "Drake meat contains high energy concentration. We will take its heart. It will help me recover Capacity faster than normal rest."

They spent the next hour dissecting the creature with grim efficiency. Nihil ate a portion of the creature’s raw heart—an act that made Elara turn away and Lyraelle stare at him with a mix of disgust and respect. For Nihil, it was merely dense caloric and mana residue intake.

[Capacity: 9/50 -> 12/50 (Effect of high-energy matter consumption)]

They continued their journey. Towards evening, they reached the crest of the final ridge. Before them, the view opened up.

And it was a view from hell.

The Dragon’s Spine Mountains ended here, dropping steeply to a vast plain stretching to the horizon. But it was no plain of grass or forest. It was an ocean of ash, black stone, and gaping craters. The sky above was blood-red, covered in thick clouds occasionally lit by purple lightning. No green. No blue. Only red, black, and grey.

In the midst of the devastation, far in the distance, a thin pillar of black light rose into the sky, as if sucking the color from the world around it.

"The Nexus," Nihil whispered.

The echo within his soul vibrated at the sight. It wasn’t fear. It was hunger. A sense of longing.

"That..." Lyraelle’s voice trembled. "The land... feels wrong. Even from here, I can feel the wind carries the taste of death."

"It’s not death," Elara corrected, scanning the horizon with her tablet which now showed chaotic readings. "It’s nullity. The background radiation there... the laws of physics are distorted. Gravity, thermodynamics... everything is fluctuating."

Nihil stepped to the edge of the cliff, his cloak flapping in the hot wind that carried the smell of sulfur and ozone. He looked back toward the white peaks they had left behind, toward the unseen Silverwood in the distance.

That was the old world. The world that made sense.

He turned back to the crimson plain.

"Welcome to the New Age," he said.

They began descending the path leading down into the dust. The first season of their escape had ended. The second season, the journey into the heart of darkness, had begun.

Nihil’s first step onto the soil of The Blasted Lands made no sound. His boots sank into the thick layer of ash covering an obsidian bedrock. The heat here was oppressive, not solar heat, but heat radiating from the ground itself, as if the planet’s core was running a fever.

[WARNING: LOW-LEVEL VOID BACKGROUND RADIATION DETECTED.]

[Environmental Synchronization: Stable.]

[Capacity Recovery: Increased (+2 per hour due to environmental resonance)]

For Elara and Lyraelle, this place was a nightmare. Lyraelle had to chant a thin protective spell around herself and Elara to filter the toxic air.

"Don’t breathe the ash directly," Elara warned, her voice muffled by the cloth covering her face. "My analysis shows these particles contain traces of heavy metals and corrupted mana residue. They could cause hallucinations or pulmonary necrosis."

Nihil walked unprotected. For his body, rebuilt by the Void, this environment felt... comfortable. Like coming home. The toxic air felt fresh in his lungs.

"We’re not alone," Nihil said suddenly.

He stopped near a rock formation that looked like a giant ribcage jutting from the ground. His Void Sonar showed no heartbeat, but his Tier Vision sensed echoes. Broken echoes.

From behind the shadows of obsidian rocks, figures began to emerge.

They were once human. Or Elves. Or Orcs. Now, it was hard to tell. Their skin was pale grey, stretched taut over bones. Their eyes had no pupils, only milky white pools of blindness. They wore tattered remnants of clothing from various eras—ancient soldier armor, priestly robes, traveler’s garb.

The Hollow Men.

They made no sound. They didn’t growl. They moved with terrifying coordination, guided by a broken collective consciousness.

"What are they?" Lyraelle whispered, her sword trembling in her hand. She could feel these creatures had no souls. They were empty shells animated by the residual energy of this place.

"They are what happens if you fail to reach the Nexus," Nihil answered coldly. "Casualties. Lost pilgrims. Their minds erased, their bodies left to walk."

There were about twenty of them. They carried rusted weapons and staffs glowing with unstable violet magic.

A Hollow Man wearing the remnants of a wizard’s robe raised its staff. A sphere of violet fire shot toward them. It was no ordinary fire; it was cold-burning.

"Spread out!" Nihil yelled.

He didn’t dodge. He stepped forward and raised his left hand.

[Using: Paradox Mirror (Rank E)]

[Capacity: 12/50 -> 7/50]

The violet fireball struck his palm. Instead of exploding, the fire was sucked into a small vortex before his hand, reversed, and fired back at double speed.

BOOM!

The Hollow sorcerer disintegrated into ashen dust as its own fire hit it.

The fight erupted. The remaining Hollow Men rushed forward. They felt no pain, no fear.

Lyraelle moved, beheading two approaching foes. But as her sword cut through their necks, no blood spilled. Only dry dust. And their bodies kept moving, grasping hands trying to seize her.

"Destroy the head! Or sever the legs!" Nihil shouted, kicking the chest of a Hollow soldier, shattering its ribs.

Elara fired her Pulse pistol, blowing out the knee of an enemy trying to approach her. "They’re not biologically alive! They’re kinetic constructs!"

Nihil was surrounded by five Hollow Men. He didn’t have enough Capacity for mass Void Grasp. He had to use his sword.

He took a deep breath, entering a state of focus where time seemed to slow. He called upon the memory of Shadow Dance.

He moved.

Slash. Thrust. Spin.

Every motion was calculated for maximum efficiency. He wasn’t trying to kill; he was crippling. He severed tendons, shattered joints. Within ten seconds, all five attackers lay on the ground, unable to move though they still tried to crawl toward him.

Suddenly, the ground beneath them trembled.

Not from the Hollow Men.

From a crater near them, something much larger rose. A monstrosity of fused flesh and rusted metal. It had four arms and a face that was a fusion of three different faces screaming in silence.

Void-Touched Abomination.

[Tier Vision: Activated (Briefly)]

The existential weight of this creature... was heavy. Equivalent to B-Tier. Far above Nihil’s current physical combat ability.

"Retreat!" Nihil commanded. "That’s not something we can fight with blunt steel!"

The Abomination roared, a sound like scraping metal. It lifted one of its arms holding a large stone pillar and hurled it toward them.

Nihil saw its trajectory. It was heading straight for Elara.

He couldn’t use Phase Step to move Elara—he’d never tried it on another person and the risk was too high. He couldn’t shatter the stone with Void Grasp—his Capacity was too low.

He had only one option.

He ran toward Elara, using Atomic Manipulation on the ground under his own feet to slide like on ice, increasing his speed.

He slammed into Elara, knocking her sideways just as the stone pillar struck where she had stood a second before.

The impact sent a shockwave that threw them both rolling in the ash.

Nihil rose quickly, pulling Elara to her feet. "Run to that rock crevice! Now!"

Lyraelle tried to distract the monster with nature-energy infused arrows, but the creature’s hide was too thick. The monster turned toward Nihil and Elara, ignoring Lyraelle’s attacks.

Nihil’s Capacity: 7/50.

He couldn’t kill it. But he could trap it.

He watched the monster step forward, its heavy foot stomping on the brittle ground above a sealed volcanic vent.

Nihil waited.

As the monster stood directly over the weak point, Nihil aimed his hand at the ground beneath its foot.

[Using: Atomic Manipulation (Fairly Stable) - Focus: Destabilization]

[Capacity: 7/50 -> 2/50]

He ’deleted’ the molecular bonds holding the thin stone crust together.

KRAK-BOOM!

The ground collapsed. The monster, unprepared for the loss of footing, fell into the gaping volcanic vent beneath it. An angry roar was followed by a horrific SPLASH as the creature fell into a pool of hot mud or magma below.

Nihil fell to his knees, breathing heavily. His Capacity was nearly depleted again.

[Capacity: 2/50]

"Is it... is it over?" Elara asked, trembling.

"For now," Nihil replied. He stood, brushing ash from his cloak.

They walked toward a black stone ruin near the battle site. It wasn’t a natural formation. It was the remains of a temple. On its walls, carved symbols made Nihil’s blood run cold.

A circle with three intersecting lines. The symbol of the Cult of Nullity. But this symbol was old. Thousands of years old.

"They’ve been here from the beginning," Nihil whispered, his finger tracing the carving. "Ravenna’s cult... they didn’t create a new religion. They tried to revive something that has existed here since the First Anomaly fell."

He found a cracked stone tablet in the center of the ruins. On it was writing in an unknown language, but his Void Memory translated its concepts.

...The Key is split into three. One within the Light (The Church). One within the Blood (Demons or Nobility?). And one... lost within the Mind (?).

"We have a second clue," Nihil said.

Their journey in The Blasted Lands had only just begun, and they had already discovered that the history of this place was far darker than they imagined. And in the distance, beyond the red haze, the eye of the Void Nexus seemed to stare back at them, waiting.