Beast Evolution Forge

Chapter 157 Rift 2

"So this is a fracture huh? What's so different about it, looks just like a dungeon." Ruby said while sniffing the air.

"Look at the sky, it's warping and unstable. Although it does look like a dungeon, this place is way more unstable." Vell said, touching the soil that turned black. "Such strong corrupted mana in here."

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They all agreed that corrupted mana was strong in here, Regina was the only one left out since she can't use corrupted mana.

"The concentration is much higher than what we encountered before," Wren noted, mana dancing around her fingers as she tested the air. "It's like the corruption has been compressed, distilled."

Vell nodded, watching as the blackened soil seemed to pulse beneath his touch. The sky above them continued to twist and fold in on itself, creating patterns that hurt the eyes if you looked at them too long. Reality itself felt thin here, like tissue paper ready to tear.

[The system's probably expecting you to absorb this, but you're right - it's too unstable to consume directly.]

'There has to be a core somewhere, something maintaining this distortion.' He stood, brushing the dark soil from his hands. "Jia, what can you smell beyond the corruption?"

Her nose twitched as she concentrated. "Nothing much, the mana is disturbing my tracking senses."

"Hmm, let me try." He used resonance and used her sense skill to a much higher degree. He sniffed but nothing was coming up. "Seems we need to go further in, we won't be able to sense much here."

A few steps in and the ground began shaking, 'oh boy, well this is new.' He leaped into the air and the girls followed him just before a huge worm monster burst through the ground.

"Anyone want to take this one?" He asked, landing and sitting on a rock. He watched the girls give each other glances before they all raised their arms in excitement. He looked at them proud but he already had someone in mind.

"Ruby, it's time for your first real fight. You have only been serving alcohol all this time. Let's see what you can do." He noticed that she was excited, despite not being in a dungeon before. 'Would you look at that, she was just a tiny fox when I found her but now she looks like a hunt.'

"With pleasure master." She darted forward, her movement fluid but slightly hesitant - the telltale sign of someone more used to serving drinks than fighting monsters. The corrupted worm towered above her, its segmented body easily fifty feet long.

Her agility was impressive, her small frame allowing her to slip past the worm's attempts to catch her. But Vell noticed she was moving reactively, lacking the practiced efficiency of her more experienced companions.

"Don't just dodge - look for patterns!" he advised, remaining seated on his rock. The worm's movements were predictable if you knew what to watch for.

Her ears twitched as she processed his words. The next time the worm struck, she was ready. She leaped not away, but toward it, her claws raking across its armored hide. The attack left only shallow scratches, but her positioning was better.

"That's it - but you need more power behind those strikes," Jia commented, her tail swishing as she watched her fellow beast-kin fight. "Use your whole body, not just your arms!"

The worm thrashed in irritation, its movements becoming more erratic. She tried to maintain her offensive position but had to retreat when it suddenly coiled in on itself. She stumbled slightly on the landing - another sign of her inexperience in actual combat.

[She's got good instincts, but her stamina needs work.]

"Now finish it - you know where to hit!"

She darted in one final time, her daggers finding the weak spot she'd discovered earlier. But now, instead of overcommitting, she struck and spun away in one fluid motion, letting the worm's death throes expend themselves harmlessly.

As the creature collapsed, Vell nodded approvingly. "See the difference? Fighting monsters isn't so different from managing a bar - it's all about control and timing."

She looked at her daggers with new appreciation. "I never thought about it that way before." She turned to him with bright eyes. "Thank you, Master."

"Don't thank me yet," he said, already looking toward the center of the fracture. "That was just a lesson. The real test is still ahead."

Ada chuckled from where she stood watching. "At least we know our bartender can handle herself now."

"Speaking of handling things," Regina cut in, pointing at the increasingly distorted sky above them. "Shall we deal with whatever's causing all this?"

[The corruption's getting stronger.]

'Yes,' he thought, watching Ruby clean her daggers with newfound confidence. 'But at least now I know everyone's ready for what comes next.'

"Let's head out everyone." He picked up the core and gave it to Ruby, "you first prize." She took it, looking happy and proud of herself.

They pressed forward, the air growing thicker with corrupted mana with each step. The distortions in reality became more pronounced - trees bent at impossible angles, rocks floating in defiance of gravity, and patches of ground that seemed to shift between different terrains with each passing moment.

"The readings are going crazy," Ada reported, her eyes scanning the ethereal displays only she could see. "The corruption's density is off the charts."

Wren placed a hand against a nearby tree, then quickly pulled it back. "Even the plant life is saturated with it. This isn't natural corruption - it's like something's actively pumping it into the area."

[Master, notice how the patterns in the distortions are becoming more organized?]

'Yes, It's not random anymore. There's a structure to it.'

"Whatever's at the center of this, it's intelligent. These patterns... they're almost like writing." Regina said.

"Like a spell circle," Jia added, her ears flat against her head. "But twisted."

Ruby stayed close to Vell, her newly gained confidence tempered by caution. "The air... it smells wrong. Like when wine's gone bad, but worse."

They crested a small rise and stopped. Before them, the land dipped into a bowl-shaped depression. At its center, reality itself seemed to be folding inward, creating a slowly rotating vortex of corrupted space. The patterns they noticed earlier were clearer here - symbols and geometries that hurt the eyes to look at directly.

"Well," he said quietly, "I think we found our fracture point."