In hindsight, there wasn't much to be shocked about. Yet again, I had seen weirder stuff by this point. Still, it raised the question of why the Bloodtree was here. The room itself was barren, except for the scarlet soil and Bloodtree at its center.
Lumina and Tessa seemed to be recounting their stories, so I listened in on them with one ear, since I had already heard most of it. Instead, I took a closer look at the giant crimson pillar to see if there was anything different about it.
And there was.
In the fog, I couldn't really tell how high the Bloodtrees were, but this one definitely stretched higher than the others. I craned my neck up to see how high the crimson pillar went. The crimson trunk stretched for over 40 meters before its growth was seemingly interrupted by the ceiling. The Bloodtree flourished outwards from the top, covering the ceiling in a twisting crimson pattern of intertwining branches.
'Man, this is one tall ass room.'
I lowered my gaze once again and was about to direct my attention towards the group when I noticed something at the base of the Bloodtree.
My expression hardened. I had somehow missed something crucial earlier.
What met my gaze was the pale, wrinkly bark of the Bloodtree. The pale stain-like mark wrapped around the trunk eight meters along its length, easily overshadowing all the other marks I had seen back in the forest.
The tree was eaten
'A Gore Mountain...'
And not by a normal one.
I quickly scanned the room to make sure it was nowhere nearby and found nothing. I sighed in relief.
A Gore Mountain had definitely been here at some point, however. Considering the size of the pale mark left along the trunk of the tree, this was no ordinary Gore Mountain either. It was roughly four times the size of a regular one, meaning it was definitely stronger. Maybe it was a Stage higher.
I sighed.
'Any chance I don't have to fight the thing screaming that it's a boss monster?'
I decided I didn't want the answer to that at the moment and chose to check in on the group instead. They didn't seem to have noticed the oncoming headache awaiting them on the Bloodtree.
Everyone was battered to say the least. Both Carl and Justin were covered from head to toe in cuts and bruises. They didn't look like they would be heading down a catwalk anytime soon, needless to say. Despite the group's unfriendly dynamic, everyone seemed relieved at having found some familiar faces. Me included, well, unincluded since I was sitting in the shadows like a creep.
I listened in on their conversation.
"...That's about it from us." Tessa had just finished speaking. She held out the see-through orb and showed it to the others as well.
Justin and Carl nodded. Justin still wore a bitter look on his face as he pinched his brows, however.
"Fuck Tessa. You really need to do your damn homework next time before you get us killed. Hell, we'll be lucky to have a next time. Shit..."
Tessa scratched her head.
"Yeah, I'm sorry."
'It seems they bought her lie.'
She knew this place was a death trap after all, according to Lumina.
"There's nothing we can do about it now. We need to figure out how to get out of here. Justin, tell us about your Record," Carl spoke. It seemed he had already accepted the situation.
Justin nodded and calmed down, momentarily scratching his chin before speaking up.
"I was in this facility we're in right now. Needless to say, when I came here, this place wasn't so beaten up and infested with random red pillars. I didn't see what caused this place to turn into such a dump. It was filled to the brim with arrogant shit heads, though. These weird mother fuckers wearing very flashy armour waltzed around like they owned the place. I couldn't even look them in the eye, or they'd punch me. They didn't really seem to mind me otherwise."
Does this man have no self-awareness?
"They preached something about being the Peacekeepers, but honestly, it just sounded like a title to boost their own egos. Oh yeah, most of them were demi-humans. There were some weird-ass races I saw, too, but that's not important right now."
I raised my brow at the mention of the Peacekeepers. Those were the guys Raxon hated, and apparently, we were currently in some sort of facility owned by them.
Another connection.
Also, there seemed to be people in the Records as well or demi-humans. Like werewolves and stuff? Or maybe vampires?
"I figured out I was in a Record pretty quickly and started searching for my Trial. I scoured the entire facility and found nothing. Most of the doors were locked, and there was plenty of weird stuff on some of the floors, but nothing that seemed very useful right now.
Eventually, I found this big ass door that led me into a scene straight out of a sci-fi movie. Tubes and vials filled with all sorts of gooey stuff were lying about everywhere. I searched the room and found a big piece of paper on one of the tables filled with runes I couldn't understand. Since it looked important, I took it with me once I was done with the room and headed out.
Then those weird Peacekeepers went absolutely nuts and started attacking me as soon as they spotted me. I had to use my Ability, but I ended up finding this big ball of light at the end of one of the hallways and hopped into it before I was completely pummeled to death."
After Justin finished his story, he pulled out a rolled-up piece of parchment paper and handed it to Tessa.
"Maybe you can make some sense of this, Ms Top Scorer."
Tessa unfurled the parchment, ignoring Justin's remark, and silently slid her eyes over the paper. After a couple of minutes of silence, she spoke up.
"This is a formula to make something called Flesh Bane Fog, as well as how to counteract it. The part on how to make the fog and what it is seems illegible, but the other part is fine. Since you found this in your Record, we should probably craft the countermeasure if it's the only part not obscured by the Sanctuary. It will take me a little while to translate it, however."
The mention of such an ominous fog immediately connected some dots in my head. This was definitely the fog I had seen at the village, but why was the formula for it in the Peacekeepers' facility? Didn't the Lord create the fog? I decided to keep listening.
Tessa went silent for a moment as she read through the text some more before a smile bloomed on her face.
"And good news, the orb of condensed Essence I found seems to be one of the necessary ingredients to counteract the fog. We need a couple more things to make it work, and then we should be good to go."
Justin furrowed his brows.
"So, we need to actually make the Debilitator ourselves?"
"Yes, be thankful that we even got one. Not everyone is so lucky," Tessa retorted.
Everyone turned towards Carl. He nodded and started his story.
"I was in a town of sorts, plagued with an epidemic. Big one, separated into layers with stone walls. People and demi-humans lived there.
A crimson fog covered every inch of the place, released by some nearby Lord. And it was apparently the cause of the sickness. It was most likely the Flesh Bane Fog you just told us about, and the Lord may have been the person Tessa killed. After a little while, everyone who had gotten sick started turning into these hideous, fleshy Fracturebeasts."
Yet again, another connection. Carl was right, since it seemed similar to what Raxon had mentioned in his letter, so maybe we were in the same place at different times.
"They weren't hard to deal with, but it was disgusting. You saw normal people's bodies suddenly collapse on themselves and begin to deform, and then you had to kill them with your own hands.
I figured out my Trial was to kill these people for as long as I could. I just felt it.
I slowly became sick myself, but ended up surviving. I was there for roughly three months until I had killed everyone. By the time I was done, the fog had begun to destroy some of the outer layers of the town and turn the soil a light red, similar to the one we are standing on now."
Three months? That was way too long. I had already speculated this, but there was definitely some time dilation at play. And those three months were a familiar time frame as well... Another thought began forming in my head, but I chose to keep listening for now.
"After I killed everyone, I felt like I could leave for some reason. So, I did.
The surroundings were an empty wasteland where I had dragged all the people I killed. I found a blooming, white flower in the middle of the field. For some reason, the scarlet soil steered clear of it, so I took it just in case. Then I went into the same white cluster you all saw."
I snapped to attention. Carl had just mentioned something interesting. He called the surroundings of the town an empty wasteland, but that doesn't quite add up with what I knew. I feel he would have commented on the giant pillars of crimson covering every inch of the place. Were they not there in his Record?
I rubbed my chin, and then it clicked.
Could the corpses have turned into the Bloodtrees from the fog? It was definitely a possibility if he had dragged a whole town of people there. He also mentioned that the soil was turning red from the fog. It was definitely a possibility that the fog did more than make people sick. I wasn't quite sure of this, nor its significance.
As I was pondering, Carl pulled out a white flower. Tiny blue sparks drifted out from the plant before fading into nothingness.
Tessa nodded as she raised her brows.
"Oh, that's a Glimmering Life Blossom. It's one of the ingredients we need to make the Debilitator work. Good."
Everyone remained silent.
"So we didn't get a Counter?" Justin asked.
I awkwardly coughed in the darkness.
'Yup.'
Tessa nodded as she let out a deep sigh.
"If no one in our group is lying, then yes." She momentarily glanced at Lumina before continuing. "But a Debilitator gives some kind of chance at least. It would've been nice to get some info on the guardian as well, but whatever."
After that, everyone fell quiet. It seemed they had covered everything. I noticed everyone looked glum, although the situation apparently wasn't completely hopeless. I noticed Lumina seemed to be wearing a more serious expression than usual as she was lost in thought, but snapped back once Carl spoke up.
"It's fine. We'll set up camp here for the time being. I think we could all use a break. We need to think about our next course of action. Tessa, try to figure out what else we need to make the Debilitator work."
Tessa nodded and began analyzing the formula.
After a short while, the space was filled with the clangour of metal tents being set up. Soon, the familiar encirclement appeared on the scarlet soil with one less member than last time. Everyone seemed to remember Vazor was dead after their own hectic ordeals, but nobody mentioned him.
It seemed I had some free time on my hands for a little bit.
I rubbed my chin and thought about how I should spend my time.
I sat down on the soil as a tasty aroma began to waft towards me from the camp and noticed the fancy stick still in my hands.
'Ah, I should put you away, huh.'
As I was about to focus on the Essence in my body, I had another thought.
Wasn't it about time I figured out how this Essence stuff worked properly?
I felt a small smile creep onto my face.
The thought of gaining more power sent shivers down my spine.