A bit earlier...
Niara and Darian were slowly making their way through the dark tunnel. Before long, Niara stopped and stared ahead. Something invisible was right there, just in front of her.
"A barrier. I can feel I can't just walk through it," Niara said. "Should I attack and destroy it?"
Darian shook his head. This was a test — blasting their way through didn't seem like the right approach. He studied the space ahead, trying to sense something, but it felt like there was absolutely nothing there.
"Maybe I'll try..." he muttered.
Niara nodded and gently picked him up, stretching out his little hand toward the front. She stopped just a few centimeters from what she sensed was the barrier.
The little slug stared into the empty space ahead and took a deep breath. With a thought, a small black-and-white dot appeared on his antennae. He stretched them forward.
*Buzz*
When the two powers touched the barrier, a hum echoed out and the space ahead warped slightly. His antennae didn't go through, but his energy did.
He let out a small huff and turned to Niara. "I think I can only get through with my soul."
She nodded, already knowing what to do. She closed her eyes and focused.
She would use a Level 1 Summoner support technique — the same one she used to keep Darian inside her body back in the dungeon. It was called Vital Vessel.
This technique was a must-have for any Summoner, because when a Spiritual Guardian returned to their universe, their body would stay behind, and the Summoner needed a way to keep it with them.
That "body" was just a faint physical manifestation — not truly physical. That's why it could be converted into energy and stored within the Summoner, waiting for their partner to return and use it again. Since it was just an empty shell, there was no cost to keeping it.
She opened her eyes and nodded. Right away, Darian felt something pulling him toward her. She'd used this before, so he already knew she didn't care about switching roles between them.
Darian looked back at the barrier, gave a small sigh, and let the pull from Niara take over. His slug body began to glow, turning ethereal.
His physical body stayed behind, and Niara stored it. Meanwhile, Darian wrapped his soul in the black-and-white power, then leapt toward the barrier. As soon as he touched it, he passed right through.
Inside, there was a small chamber, brightly lit.
His gaze was drawn straight to a single point at the far end — the source of the light. It was something rainbow-colored, about ten centimeters tall, radiating a pure and powerful presence.
"The Rainbow Lily..."
He murmured, then looked carefully around. He quickly spotted something very small, gently floating in the air.
It was a tiny canine fang, pure white. The moment he saw it, Darian felt a strange connection to it.
He slowly walked toward the fang. It felt completely physical — just like his slug body.
A few centimeters away, he reached out...
"!"
The fang lit up and turned into particles.
Then, it shot toward him... going straight into his soul from all directions and disappearing.
He felt his mind spin and go dark...
...
When he opened his eyes, a pair of amber eyes were staring down at him, a small smile on her face. Niara was there again.
Darian saw the ceiling of the chamber behind her, confused. Then he looked back at her again — and noticed her breasts gently in the way, between him and her face.
"So you finally woke up, huh?"
She spoke calmly. Only then did Darian feel her hand gently stroking his head. Startled, he quickly sat up and backed away.
He had been lying down, his head resting on her lap. Looking down at himself... he wasn't a slug. He was in his spiritual form, one that looked like his human self.
But something felt different — he felt more physical than just a soul. It was almost like a perfect manifestation of his slug body. He could be touched and everything.
"Why are you so shy?" Niara stood up and walked slowly toward him, stopping and giving him an amused look.
Every time Darian had taken on this human-like spiritual form, she hadn't really had the chance to observe him properly. Whether it was in the dungeon or when they created the body, everything had been way too tense.
Her eyes discreetly scanned him. "So this is what you look like in your universe… a pure, young human..." Her gaze drifted lower and stopped. "Down there too, looks like…"
Darian's eyes widened and he looked down.
"WHAT?!"
He was in his spiritual form... but unlike during the entry test, this time he wasn't wearing anything.
As he looked down at the lower part… it was empty, obviously. That form wasn't a perfect replica — it was just a physical shell wrapped around his soul, so it didn't need that organ down there.
"Hehehehe..." He turned to Niara, who was laughing non-stop.
Darian would've blushed like crazy, if that form even allowed it. Meanwhile, she had her fun at his expense.
After a few minutes, she calmed down, and Darian took a deep breath, staring at her. "Happy now?"
She met his gaze with a playful smile. For some reason, she felt totally comfortable doing whatever she wanted around him.
He could only sigh — he couldn't bring himself to be mad. "How long was I out?"
"Almost two days. But now that we've got this Rainbow Lily, it doesn't matter," she replied lightly, turning to look at the medicinal herb still in the corner.
Darian nodded and started thinking about what he remembered after passing out.
He had dreamed… a long dream, where he saw scenes from the lives of several different Abyssal Corrupted Wolves. All of them had once been leaders of that demonic beast race.
And most importantly, he saw the owner of the fang he'd absorbed earlier.
She was a mutant wolf, one of a kind in the past — a distant ancestor of the current leader. She had pulled out her own fang before heading to battle as punishment, and was later corrupted by the Risen.
After removing it, she performed some strange ritual using her blood. Darian didn't fully understand her intentions, but guessed she had a mutation that allowed her to create that fang and leave it behind. As for its power...
He took a deep breath and focused...
With a single thought, a subtle glow started to emerge from his soul. His entire physical shell unraveled, and then the canine fang was recreated in front of him.
"This thing's a weird treasure. It can replicate what that inscription at the academy does to make a physical manifestation. But it's even better, and doesn't drain the ring's power," he muttered, holding it. "Too bad it's not worth using. I'm already weaker without my real body, and I'd also lose my calamity-level power."
"That's a shame... We could walk side by side like this," Niara teased again, making Darian wave it off.
"We don't have much time," he said, and she sighed.
Her body glowed, releasing the slug body. She held it gently, and his ethereal form began to solidify again.
Darian focused, and the fang entered his body without triggering its ability. He used the same support technique that Niara had — the kind Summoners used. It was super useful for fusing non-physical things into his soul. After that, he returned to his glorious form... on her shoulder.
"I understand a bit more about these demonic beasts now. I received the full legacy of their past generations, starting from when the Risen first showed up. I saw lots of important things they wanted to pass on... in the form of images," Darian told Niara.
"The current leaders only receive impressions and a few words from their ancestors. But I saw, little by little, how this race got weaker — slowly abandoning their greatest strengths. They probably forgot what they're really capable of. All because the academy forced them to stay on this planet, focusing only on searching for Rainbow Lilies... just to be used in battle later."
"Oh?! Can you teach them?" Niara asked, surprised.
"Teaching won't be necessary. The 'Corrupted' part in their name isn't for nothing. They can instinctively absorb poisonous, cursed, and evil things to get stronger. That's why they have a natural resistance to the Risen's corruption."
He spoke calmly, then paused, an idea coming to him. "If we feed them stuff like that... yeah! They could feed on the Risen to grow stronger. That's like divine nourishment for them — dark and twisted, but perfect."
"What? They'll get completely corrupted the moment they take a bite and—" She stopped mid-sentence, and her eyes lit up.
Just touching a Risen's body would be enough to corrupt a normal person. Imagine eating one? But if Darian was around, he could cleanse the corruption.
Without the corruption's poison, their flesh actually fit the description perfectly.
"This is great. If I have a lot of white power, I can use it to help them grow. Way back when the Risen first appeared in the universe, these demonic beasts could fight them on equal footing with no problem."
"Sure, back then the Risen probably weren't that powerful yet. But those beasts also didn't have many resources to feed on. Maybe I can push them to evolve to their absolute peak. They'll definitely be able to help out in battles without having to sacrifice themselves so much."
The two of them were fired up, but they didn't have much time left before the test ended.
Niara moved and picked the ridiculously ancient Rainbow Lily. Thankfully, that herb lost its power very slowly — even inside the ring. By the time they returned, it would still have like 99.9% of its strength.
They ran quickly out of the cave.
Right before exiting, Niara narrowed her eyes, feeling that something was very wrong.
And then, as they emerged from the mountain...
The scent of blood hung thick and fresh in the air.
Niara froze, staring straight ahead, stunned.
Corpses...
In front of them were countless massive bodies of common beasts… and also Abyssal Corrupted Wolves themselves...