"How long does this path go?" Jorak complained. They have been running for more than half an hour. The only times that they slowed down was when they encountered a junction or a door in this hallway. They are cautious that there might be hidden enemies that could ambush them.

"Shut up and just run!" Vera shouted.

"Yeah focus on running instead of complaining!" Ru chuckled.

The group continued to run then a few hundred meters away they could finally see what seemed to be the end of the path. It was leading to a large Atrium but a dark aura similar to before could be felt creeping as they come closer. They immediately slowed down. They started to walk slowly towards the open atrium and what they saw was something grotesque. It was a creature that should not exist.

It was humanoid in shape except for the part of its stomach. It was bulging that it would seem that it would explode at any time. Its skin was a mix of patched up skins from different people and animals. Unlike the previous creatures, it seems to have no black spots but it still has dark tendrils. Some of it are coming out from its face while the others came from inside its body and pierced its distorted skin. Contrasting to the tendrils from before, it was not like veins that would dig and wrap itself into its host. It was instead wiggling in the air.

After seeing the creature, Cyziel immediately pushed the closest door to them then mentally sent a message to everyone to follow him. There was a huge urgency in his actions that the others didn't even think twice to follow him.

Like the hidden room in the armory, there were also bones inside the room. There were also two beds inside and two large cabinets.

Lucia was still looking at the creature as the others ran in.

"Lucia what are you doing?" Draka grabbed her and pulled her inside the room.

*They are the same color.* Lucia murmured.

As soon as she was pulled inside the room, the creature turned around hearing the commotion. Fortunately, they already got inside the room and it was not able to see them.

"Its aura....That's.. That's an abyssal creature!! No its more similar to an abyssal lord. Why-" Ortix shouted.

"Keep your voice down!" Volus placed his hand on Ortix mouth to shut him up.

Seeing the panicked state of his friends, his conjecture was correct. It was what he also felt. He immediately casted the magic he did before to enclose the sounds of the room.

"What abyssal creature? What are you guys saying?" Ru was even more scared than the rest. She was probably the weakest in their group and knew that it was something far from anything she has encountered before.

"Its.. Its.." Ortix looked at Volus then Cyziel. He did not know whether he should say it.

"Its not an abyssal creature but it is similar to one. It is a creature of the wild or what we would call the children of the dark." Cyziel interjected. "But this one seemed different. Not anything I have seen before. I could feel the aura of the abyss in this one."

"Can you explain it to us further?" Draka asked.

"We could tell you the whole story later but for now we need to focus on how we can defeat it. It might have noticed us and it will attack as soon as it sees us." Cyziel kept himself solemn to hide the fear that he was feeling from the creature. "That thing is a nether based creature."

Cyziel proceeded to explain that its body was actually like a physical soul and it is also its weakness. It uses the bodies of the creatures it killed to hide its actual body. Once its body became visible then it becomes vulnerable. Since it has a tangible body then it can be hit by physical attacks. They just need to rip apart its false body and they could win this battle.

He then proceeded to warn them of the dangers when facing this creature. Since it possessed a body then it might have been able to use a few of the skills of its previous owner. Additionally, they should be careful of the dark tendrils that are swinging around it. Otherwise, they could end up the same with those reanimated corpses.

"Like before, I would go in first." Cyziel cannot show any weaknesses. Once he did, their whole group might crumble. "Wait for my signal to go in!" I can do this. I am much stronger than before. Worse comes to worst, I'll take off my ring.

Cyziel now opened the door. He walked out confidently then turned left to face the enemy. Its pitch black eyes were already staring at him. It did not immediately attack him contrary to what he thought. He got confused since the hideous creature only stood before him. It was twisting its head trying to observe him.

What am I doing! This is my chance. Cyziel placed his palm on top of each other then directed it at the creature. "Celestial Beam!" A beam of white light emanated from his palm that traveled in an instant. It immediately hit the creature. "Go Disappear!"

"Kreeee!!!!" The creature shrieked. Its skin was starting to disintegrate. It then used its countless tendrils to block the light then its other tendrils extended to attack Cyziel. He had no choice but to stop his attack and start to dodge.

It was whipping its tendrils with blinding speed that he needed to continue dodging. Cyziel then pulled the blade staff from his back and injected it with light energy. He started to cut at the tendrils that were attacking him.

"Vol! Ort! Go!" Cyziel shouted. The two immediately dashed out of the room.

Ort charged as he used his shadow step but the creature was actually able to detect him. It immediately lashed out one of its tendrils targeting him. He used his new daggers to block the attack but it still pushed him to a corner of the room.

Volus used the soul pierce spell similar to the one used by Liko in their tests but this time it was meant to kill. The creature seemed to have felt it but it only got angrier. It opened its mouth and it spit at him a green colored liquid. He was able to dodge it but it frizzled when it hit the ground. It was some kind of poison with corrosive properties.

Cyziel then cast a fire stream towards the enemy but it casted a water stream to counter it. It immediately followed it with its tendrils and it was able to thrash him to the ground. It was not finished as it wanted to pierce him but Cyziel immediately stood up and gathered wind essence in his mouth as he blew a large amount of gust towards the incoming tentacles. It pushed the tendrils back giving him space to move away.

Ortix started to rush again towards the creature. This time, multiple tattoos of his are now lighting up. His speed got faster and he was now able to swat away the tendrils. He almost got near to pierce the target when two tendrils merged together and tried to pierce him. He tried to block it with his dagger but his strength was not enough. His hands were pushed away and it continued to his body. Luckily, the scale armor was able to defend against it. It gave him time to step sideways and catch his breath.

Volus was also not in a great shape. He was proficient with soul and nether attacks but it seems that it has minimal effect on the creature. He was now using the techniques from other sects that he knew of. He tried to use phoenix palms and fist but he can't get close to the enemy. His range attacks are all getting countered.

"The body of the possessed was from a mark of the champion!" Cyziel could now verify due to the number of elements and the strength that the enemy had. "We need to take this seriously!"

"Cyziel! When are we going in! We can also help!" Vera shouted from inside the room. She could hear the fighting outside and it was already a few minutes since it started but Cyziel haven't called for them.

Cyziel actually had no plans for them to join. It was too dangerous so he wanted to kill the creature with just the three of them but it seems that it was not actually that easy. "Just wait a bit!"

The three was starting to get overwhelmed. They were now getting little scratches on their body. It seemed nothing but when it piles up then it would be the cause of their fall.

It was now time for him to get really serious after seeing what the creature was capable off. He looked at his hand where his rings are located then he focused at his pinky finger. He then tried to pull out one of his rings.

"I can't take it off!" Cyziel shouted. Fear was on his eyes. He can't understand.

"What do you mean you can't take it off?" Volus replied back as he kept on fighting.

"My rings! I can't touch it! I cannot materialize it! No! This hasn't happened before!" Cyziel knelt down the ground. He does not know what to do. Tendrils was already coming for him. Luckily, Ortix blocked it using a force barrier.

"What the hell are you doing? It is not time for you to yield!" Ortix shouted angrily. "We have been to a more precarious situation than this!"

He is right! What the hell am I doing! Even Ortix reprimanded me. Cyziel stood up. "I'll be relying on you all. Vera! We need your help!"

The rest of the group rushed out. The creature immediately saw the incoming reinforcements and it sent numerous tendrils towards them. Volus went to help them. He stood in front of them then his left hand started to glow black while his right hand started to glow white then he clapped. A large yin yang barrier was constructed in front of him. The tendrils were not able to get close. It is a one sided barrier so the people inside would be able to attack.

Meanwhile, a heartbeat is suddenly heard by everyone then it grew stronger and stronger. The eyes of Ortix was now glowing red. He then removed the force barrier that he created then punched back at the incoming tendrils and they were all annihilated.

Cyziel's black eyes got even darker. The streaks in his eyes that covered his golden pupils expanded. It now covered his whole eyes instead of just his pupils. He then stared at the creature. He was observing it. With these eyes, he was able to see where the dark energy from the enemy was coming from. "Focus on tearing up the skin on its belly!" Afterwards, his eyes returned to its normal golden pupil.

As soon as everyone heard it, they immediately focused on his bulging stomach.

They were using ranged attacks to target it. Due to the number of people that are attacking the creature, it was not able to defend it all. Fire ball. Stone fist. Water pierce. Wind blade. Light beam. The group continued attacking underneath the protection of the yin yang barrier. They cannot hurt the tendrils but they can definitely tear down the fake skin that it has.

Ortix' attacks was too strong. The creature needed to put most of his efforts on him or if he got close then he would literally just tear its skin out. Cyziel with his unparalleled proficiency with elemental magic doubled down on the bombardments. What the rest did, he did a similar thing with an even higher power. Fire blast. Stone drill. Water jet. Wind slash. Lightning pierce. Celestial beam.

Finally they were able to take off the skin in its belly and little by little, every other skin it has, was starting to fall off. They could finally see its actual body. Its most vulnerable part. It would now become an easier fight or so they thought.

Its appearance was like a large orb of darkness but it has a large mouth on the middle and it can be seen that its tendrils were connected to its spherical body.

"It should not look like this! Something has warped it!" Cyziel uttered. "Go continue attacking it!"

They resumed their bombardments but then the creature screeched. "Kreeeeeeee" It sent a large nether based aura that hit everyone. Only Volus and Cyziel was not that affected but even Ortix was stunned. The rest faltered on the ground.

Why! Why is this happening? It should get more vulnerable! Cyziel started to think what they should do.

The creature didn't stop its attacks. It opened its mouth and sent a large blast of dark energy towards the yin yang barrier. It was now starting to crumble. Volus needed to fight back. He knew that his spells and techniques based on soul, nether or darkness had no effect. His skin started to glow momentarily with white light. It should be noted that the people in his sect has either black or white skin and he has the white one. This symbolizes that he originally practiced yang based techniques which are mostly light or fire based abilities.

Light energy started to accumulate around him then formed white blades that started to rotate before flying towards the creature. It was effective. It shredded the tendrils like butter. It was now getting closer to its body then the creature generated dark spheres that floated around it. When the blades hit it, they disappeared.

"Be careful of the orbs! Some dangerous energy is inside!" Cyziel shouted.

The orbs shot out. They hit the yin yang barrier. The orbs disappeared but the barrier also disintegrated. Cyziel needed to help. He bombarded the creature again but it generated a dark aura encompassing the area around it. When it got in the aura, his spells disappeared. It is due to the properties of aether and nether. The enemy was using a condensed pure nether energy to protect itself. Attacking it would cause the nether energy to decrease but it would also cause the aether spell to disappear. It is like matter and anti matter. The problem is that the enemy seems to have a substantial amount of nether energy.

Normally, aether and nether would not be able to touch each other but it is only when the quality and quantity were small. When it started to get more abundant, they would now affect each other. After all, they are 2 sides of the same coin.

"Run back! We cannot win against it!" Cyziel was now feeling despair. He might have caused his friends to die. He cannot let this happen.

"Cyziel! Ortix! Run with them. I will hold it off." Volus shouted.

Cyziel helped Ortix stand straight and they immediately dashed towards the hallway. He then helped the others to stabilize themselves. He used a light nether magic to help cure their souls which was damaged by the nether aura. The team started to run back and Volus was able to successfully hold them off.

Suddenly, it merged multiple of its tendrils and it even contained the nether aura it used to protect himself. It then attacked. Volus used any energy he could muster in this moment to create a pure circular yang barrier in front of him since he had no time to create a yin yang one but then the combined tendril curved and dodged his barrier. Its target was the people behind him.

Cyziel and Volus was at the back and in front of them was Lucia. He cannot dodge or Lucia would be hit. He pushed away Volus then stood behind Lucia which caused the tendril to pierce his robe then his body. Some of the merged tendrils started to separate and entangle his body. It was now trying to pull him away.

"No!" Ortix shouted as he tried to hack at the tendrils with his dagger but he was not able to cut it completely. One tendril even separated then slapped him before merging back. It caused Ortix to be blown away hitting the others at the front. Volus was also trying his best to cut through the large tendrils with his light blades spell but it was only regenerating.

"Ortix! Why are you still not using your eye!" Volus shouted.

A slit on Ortix' forehead appeared but nothing happened. "I'm trying but I can't. It still has not recovered! What about you? Why are you still not transforming?"

"I also tried but some of my souls are still fragmented!" Volus' skin kept on glowing white but it would then turned dim again. He was repeatedly trying something but it was not working. He was now running towards Cyziel, disregarding his back that could also be attacked.

Cyziel's body was starting to turn translucent. It seems that the creature was corroding his aether body. If it goes on then his body would disappear and his soul would also be vulnerable. The creature was made from nether so it would definitely be able to take hold of naked souls. It could try to possess it, control it or just eat it.

Cyziel tried to transform the metastone ground so he can have something to hold on to but it was too hard and it was non malleable that he was not successful. He was almost pulled back but he was able to latch on the opening of the room where they previously hid.

He saw Volus beside him who does not know what to do. "Do not come near me.. Just run.." He faintly said.