Salvos (A Monster Evolution LitRPG)

553. Bubbles

I flew on.

The Corrupted Netherstructures pursued me. They didn’t let up— even as my last clone died, exploding into a giant cross. They waded through the fiery blast, hardly affected by the powerful magic. 

It wasn’t like they were completely immune to regular attacks. They could still be hurt and defeated by ordinary magic, even if it was like they had a resistance to it. In the same vein, I could be killed by the corruption, but I had a Level 5 [Corruption Resistance] General Skill right now.

However, more importantly, it was more that the corruption itself was weak to divinity. And thanks to my [Divine Essence of the Angelic Devil Princess] Grand Skill, I was able to easily defeat the corrupted creatures I encountered down here in the second layer so far. Unfortunately, right as I was cornered by a group of powerful Corrupted Netherstructures, my first Grand Skill came to an end.

And now, I relied on my second Grand Skill— my aura of invulnerability. I gritted my teeth as I focused the protection onto the tip of my right claws. There was a spark of gray flame, and if any attack struck me there on that small piece of my body, I would be able to escape unscathed. However, I was still very much threatened if I was attacked from anywhere else.

It seemed like a ridiculous use of my aura of invulnerability. But I was trying to preserve it. I knew that if I created a barrier that persisted around me constantly, the protection it provided would last a total of maybe… twenty minutes? Maybe more. I wasn’t entirely certain.

I just knew that this was a more cost effective use of my second Grand Skill. If an attack from the Corrupted Netherstructures came close to killing me, I could deflect it by rapidly expanding [My Flames Shall Burn Until Eternity Ends] into a shield. And not only that, but— 

I narrowed my eyes as a group of Corrupted Gargoyles flew ahead of me, heading my way. They hissed, raising their glowing claws as they moved to intercept me. I glanced back, and the Corrupted Netherstructures continued giving chase. 

I was trapped. It was either I returned to the dozens of Corrupted Netherstructures flying after me, or I continued diving headfirst into the five Corrupted Gargoyles right ahead. Considering there were significantly more of the former than the latter, and the latter was weaker than the former…

I made my decision. 

“Take this!”

I yelled as I crashed into the group of Corrupted Gargoyles, swinging my right claw forward. The aura of invulnerability protected me as I ripped them apart. I heard the notifications resounding in the back of my head as I just flew forward, shrugging off the rest which survived the impact.

Defeated [-̸͙̍̀͠-̴̛̠͊̀͝-̵̪̱̼͑-̶̰͎͙̉̆͝ Gargoyle - Lvl. -̸͙̍̀͠-̴̛̠͊̀͝-̵̪̱̼͑-̶̰͎͙̉̆͝ ]!

Experience is awarded for defeating a corrupted piece of the world!

Defeated [-̸͙̍̀͠-̴̛̠͊̀͝-̵̪̱̼͑-̶̰͎͙̉̆͝ Gargoyle - Lvl. -̸͙̍̀͠-̴̛̠͊̀͝-̵̪̱̼͑-̶̰͎͙̉̆͝ ]!

Experience is awarded for defeating a corrupted piece of the world!

…

This was what I could do with [My Flames Shall Burn Until Eternity Ends]. It was as much a weapon as it was an armor. I continued on, flying with [Divine Haste] active as I tried to increase the gap between myself and the corrupted creatures chasing me.

I tried to cast [Warped Time] to further increase my speed, but I failed. I wasn’t able to properly manipulate the world around me here in the second layer— not while I was speeding away from the corruption. Maybe if I could focus, I would be able to better get a hold of the space around me.

But I couldn’t focus. Not right now. I cursed as I swerved out of the way of a tendril of corruption. It shot past me, striking the side of a nearby building. I watched as the tendril began to recede— and in a single motion, it yanked the collapsing building my way. I blinked, before raising both my arms to brace myself. 

I flew straight through the rubble as I wreathed my body in an armor of flames. I didn’t use my aura of invulnerability for this. I could survive a bit of falling debris with ease. It simply obfuscated my vision for a moment until I emerged from the other side.

I raised my head as I lowered my arms. And [Angelic Premonition] informed me of something I couldn’t quite comprehend— a danger that would have instantly swallowed me whole. I looked up just in time to see nothing ahead of me.

Literally nothing.

A sphere of nothingness.

“Shit—”

I cursed as I caught myself just in time from crashing into the abyss. I floated face to face with where space came to an end. I took in a deep breath, before I heard the shriek resound behind me. I spun around just in time to dodge a tendril of corruption shooting past my head.

Another tendril shot my way, and I dove down. I swerved around the bubble of non-existence as the attacks didn’t stop coming. The Corrupted Netherstones didn’t let up. I no longer had my Divine Nebular Scythe with me. All I could do was parry the strikes with my right claw— using my second Grand Skill as a small shield.

I glanced back once. An army of corruption followed behind me. The chasing Corrupted Netherstructures had attracted the attention of many more corrupted creatures. I saw everything from Corrupted Netherstones to Corrupted Gargoyles to even ordinary Corrupted Rocks— far smaller and far less afflicted by the corruption.

There were hundreds of them giving chase. During my entire time down here in the second layer, I hadn’t been able to find more than a handful of corrupted creatures gathered in the same area. Yet, somehow, here was a small army of them. A single one of them could have destroyed a city in the Mortal Realm alone. And all of them could have probably destroyed the entirety of the Human lands together.

I didn’t stand a chance against them. Maybe I could have dealt with a couple of the Corrupted Netherstructures with both my Grand Skills. But against all of them… I didn’t think I stood a sliver of a chance. 

A corrupted tendril shot forward, and I raised my claw to block the attack. But the tendril turned at the very last moment. It struck me from the side, cutting deep into my shoulder. I yelled in pain as my [Corruption Resistance] hardly even dampened the damage. Black blood spilled out from the gash on my skin, only to flicker for a single moment.

I immediately disengaged. I continued flying away from the army of corruption. I circled around the bubble of non-existence as I sent another volley of [The Holy Flames] back at the closest corrupted creatures. But it barely slowed their approach.

I wasn’t sure why so many of these corrupted creatures only showed up now. Perhaps I had been overconfident, delving this deep into the second layer. But I had hardly encountered more than a handful of them until now. So I was completely taken by surprise by this turn of events.

There was nothing I could do to escape. I could only just keep flying forward and hope I lost them somehow. At least, that was what I thought as I continued to descend down the second layer. But I watched as the city vanished around me. The ever-pervading buildings and structures were gone, reduced to a sea of rubble down below. Floating bits of debris, twisted and distorted with space littered the air, and I just barreled through it all without care. 

These floating rocks wouldn’t hurt me. They weren’t corrupted creatures, nor were they bubbles of non-existence. I only had one goal right now, and that was to escape my predicament. I pushed on as I continued weaving around the tendrils shooting my way. I burst through a floating house, flying out the other side— 

And that was when I saw it. 

At first, I didn’t know what I was looking at. I couldn’t comprehend what this scene unfolding before me seemed to depict. It was impossible to understand. At least, at a first glance.

But when I squinted, I began to understand more of what was shown before me. The warped space— the expansive emptiness— started to make sense. And my eyes went wide as I realized that I was… doomed.

“Those are… bubbles of non-existence?”

No— that wasn’t it. It was a storm of non-existence. A nebula of the void. Those floating spheres of nothingness gathered together in a large cluster, blocking the path ahead. It was like a nebulous wall that was hardly visible because of the small spaces between each bubble. It was no different than looking at a gathering of clouds when I was flying up in the sky of the Mortal Realm.

And just like when I was flying up in the sky of the Mortal Realm, there was only one thing I could do— which was to fly through the gathering of clouds. Except, this time, instead of clouds, it was the abyss that waited before me. The very same void that would crush me for my presence alone.

I didn’t slow. I continued flying straight at it. Why didn’t I stop? Because I knew what waited behind me was certain death. Perhaps I could fly through the small bits of space between the hundreds and hundreds of bubbles of non-existence.

At least, that was what I hoped. But there was a little problem— or actually, a rather major problem. I blinked, watching as the storm of non-existence shifted ever-so-slightly. The veil of the void peeled back just a tiny bit, and a distortion emerged from the other side. I stared in horror as the world rippled. All the colors in the spectrum of light mixed together into a depraved thing.

A moving rift that stretched hundreds of feet tall.  

A creature that even Belphegor struggled against.

[-̸͙̍̀͠-̴̛̠͊̀͝-̵̪̱̼͑-̶̰͎͙̉̆͝ Hellspace - Lvl. -̸͙̍̀͠-̴̛̠͊̀͝-̵̪̱̼͑-̶̰͎͙̉̆͝ ]

And now, I wasn’t sure I could even escape from this predicament alive.