'You ready?'
Above the Demon Beasts, Niara heard the voice of the tiny slug, hidden and protected within her clothes. She nodded, and instantly, her body began to heat up.
It was a heat from within. Something that shouldn't exist inside her — a spiritual root — was now completely filled with the power of a Spiritual Guardian.
'Burn it as much as you can and try to absorb it all with your Bloodline. The connection you've formed with the heavenly laws should help,' Darian explained calmly.
Niara snorted, focusing.
No other Mannaz in this universe could do anything like it, because none of them had what she had. On top of that, her Bloodline had recently become much denser, allowing her to try something big and costly without the fear of being drained right after.
Her scales lit up intensely. She burned, without hesitation, everything a Mannaz naturally had — and the power from the ring too.
Seconds later...
'Did I fail?' she wondered, feeling no big change.
Meanwhile, Darian was focused on the ground.
'No, you did it,' he said, excited. 'Let's go down.'
It had been simple and effortless for her, like breathing. Her body instinctively knew what to do — she just had to will it.
On the ground, all the demon and common beasts were completely trembling, their eyes unfocused. They didn't have the strength to do anything at all.
That was something Darian had read in the book: a Primordial Dragon possessed a passive power that could suppress any type of beast with ease.
In that universe, those with such a Bloodline naturally caused fear in beasts — but only that. The common ones would flee in panic, but intelligent ones could ignore it.
That happened because Mannaz were half-human, and their Bloodline was subtle. But now, Niara was different. She could activate her power and release a presence close to that of a true Primordial Dragon.
In normal battles, doing this would be too costly and not worth it. But to suppress these beasts? It was amazing.
The terrifying Dragoness landed calmly on the ground.
All the regular beasts in the area collapsed, unable to move even an inch. The wolves, though shaking from head to toe, managed to stay on their feet and slowly turned toward her. Their eyes were filled with nothing but fear and disbelief.
"I don't want to hurt you. I didn't come here to fight," Niara said softly. "I came to this planet to find the Rainbow Lilies. You have them, and you know where to find them, right?"
She looked at the thousands of black wolves, sizing them up. Her gaze soon landed on one that clearly stood out from the rest. Beasts used strength to determine leadership, and she knew that one was the strongest.
There was a solid pride coming from these beasts, which made her admire them a little. Besides, she could instinctively feel they weren't evil — there wasn't a logical reason, she just believed what she felt.
The leader stared at her, tense, then nodded. He immediately bowed to the ground, almost like kneeling before a human.
Niara narrowed her eyes. The Demon Beasts all remained standing, like they refused to submit. But once the leader did it, they all quickly followed.
Niara snorted. "What the hell is this?"
She asked the leader, because the whole thing was just weird.
'Back there, behind that rock, there's a hidden entrance,' Darian said in her mind, and she turned around.
All the wolves lifted their heads, startled. Niara walked up to a ten-meter stone and moved it easily with her hand.
On the ground, there was an entrance. And then — a miasma flowed out.
"What the hell... is that Risen corruption?!" she said, shocked.
Darian was surprised too. "There are no Risen inside, only these Demon Beasts, but the corruption is real."
He couldn't feel the thick karma of the Risen. He only sensed the normal karma every living being had, meaning there were creatures hiding in there.
What was going on? Darian had no idea. He had asked Niara to follow her instincts, and they ended up finding a path to something completely abnormal.
Niara moved, entering the place. It was a deep underground cave, but she ran through and, in seconds, reached a large open space.
There, she saw hundreds of Demon Beasts that looked like black wolves.
They were all lying on the ground, but not because of her. Their bodies were covered in deep wounds—so deep their bones were showing. That corrupt miasma was leaking out of the injuries.
They were alive, but all had their eyes shut, unmoving. A few let out faint groans of pain.
"Partner..." she murmured, feeling a sharp ache in her chest.
They were clearly suffering, but none of it made sense.
'I know. You can turn everything off now.'
With his permission, Niara stopped the suppression coming from her bloodline. She also pulled back her scales, which made Darian jump out from where he'd been hiding and run up to her shoulder.
It hadn't even been a second before they heard fast footsteps coming from the entrance underground.
Niara turned around and faced a massive, powerful demon beast. The wolf stopped in front of her, still shaken, staring at her shoulder where the Spiritual Guardian sat — radiating a presence just as terrifying as hers.
"Why are they corrupted, but still seem alive? If you don't tell me, according to Academy rules, I have to destroy this place immediately and send an emergency call," Niara said seriously.
Any Summoner who saw anything suspicious involving corruption was required to report it right away.
The beast took a deep breath. Then its body lit up with a black aura like a cloak hiding its real form.
Darian was shocked, but Niara didn't flinch — she recognized that phenomenon.
Right before their eyes, the giant wolf started shrinking, and its shape began to shift. Within seconds, the beast was gone — replaced by a tall, imposing man with a humanoid appearance. He looked human, but still had fur, ears, and a tail like a wolf.
It was the metamorphosis Darian had read about in that book — a method that let beasts shrink to use less energy; sometimes just to a small size, other times into a humanoid form.
They did it using the natural power of their bloodline. It wasn't good for fighting since they lost most of their physical advantages, but it helped with wielding weapons and doing other tasks.
He still had some wolf traits since reaching perfect metamorphosis wasn't easy. Even so, completely shifting into a nearly perfect humanoid was impressive.
The transformed wolf looked at Niara and Darian, then knelt down again.
"Sorry. We don't have any Rainbow Lily," he said, clenching his fists. "Everything we had went to keeping our brothers... stuck living this miserable life."
"Why are they like this? And how?" Niara asked again, this time more firmly.
He lifted his eyes. "Because of the Celestia Academy. We're forced to keep them this way."
"Why?"
She asked coldly, and he took a deep breath before answering:
"We're the Abyssal Corrupted Wolves. One of the reasons our race still exists is that we've got natural resistance to Risen corruption."
Niara was caught off guard. She'd never heard anything like that — not even rumors.
"But it's just resistance. If we get infected, we still turn into Risen like anyone else. The difference is, others lose their sanity in a few hours. We can hold out for several days before breaking," he continued, voice heavy with pain.
"Celestia Academy themselves sent us to this planet a long time ago. The reason is that Rainbow Lilies grow here. If our infected brothers eat that herb directly, they can hold off full corruption… usually for months. Depending on the dose, maybe even more than a year. But… they're all still alive and conscious, suffering the whole time."
Darian quickly understood the reason behind it all. After all, he'd already learned from Niara about the corrupted weapons the Mannaz were hiding.
Being in a semi-corrupted state greatly boosted your power. If these beasts could stay like that for a whole year, they were perfect cannon fodder against the Risen.
They probably had enough strength to take on weaker Risen — at least for a while. Celestia Academy had dumped them on that planet and forced them to keep a hidden group of semi-corrupted beasts. If needed, they'd be used in battle — sacrificed without a second thought.
Niara clenched her fists, overwhelmed with a deep rage ready to burst.
Darian scoffed. Nobody gave a damn in this universe. They couldn't become Summoners, so they were treated like disposable trash. If they had any use at all, they'd be exploited.
The slug turned back.
In that moment, he activated his white power, covering the area in a sacred light.
Niara's eyes lit up. Her partner was impulsive just like her.
The wolves stopped trembling and felt their bodies grow lighter; the pain faded...
But not for everyone.
"!"
Darian's eyes widened.
*ROAR!*
One of them shot up, furious, its body radiating thick corruption.
'I can't heal him?!'
The wolf suddenly lunged, jaws open for a savage bite.