CHAPTER 167: SINISTER VIRUS

After that movement in the chains, everything went silent again. Darian took a deep breath, then turned to Niara, who nodded in confirmation. After that, he turned to the others.

"Let’s fly up there and take a look."

This time, no one hesitated. That was clearly something really important. They’d felt the power of Spiritual Guardians with multiple rings. If they could save them, it would be a huge gain for the universe.

Niara opened her wings and quickly flew upward. As she got close to the scarlet chains, she stopped. Darian focused on them and realized it was an enormous inscription connected to multiple places across that planet.

Everyone felt an overwhelming danger coming from the chains. If they touched them or tried to pull the bodies out... something terrible would happen.

"I feel wood energy flowing," Rion noticed right away.

Ariu added, "It’s coming from outside... being carried through the chains and... going straight to the bodies."

Darian nodded. He could sense a flow but hadn’t figured out what it was. Now it was clear what that forest was for. It was like a small greenhouse, artificially maintained for a specific purpose.

Those trees and plants, even surrounded by miasma, had survived and adapted—probably with external help. They produced wood energy, something created by nature races, with very valuable healing properties.

That power from the natural races stimulated life energies, helping with regeneration. But finding a high concentration of it was extremely rare.

That was what was keeping those Spiritual Guardians alive.

Darian had Niara get closer to one of them. They were directly connected to the chains, as if glued to them by their backs. And at the front... they were pierced by countless black spikes.

They looked around. All the bodies were in the same condition.

"So that’s how it is... they capture Spiritual Guardians alive and seal them like this. Then they use the power coming from their rings... endlessly."

The rings regenerated automatically. As long as they kept them alive, whenever enough power built up... they’d extract it again... and again... forever.

Technically, Spiritual Guardians outside their original bodies could live forever and wouldn’t age. But after their summoners died—whether naturally or not—they could never return to this universe.

The scarlet chains and the seal on their bodies... those were terrifying things that could only have been made with the power of a Risen Lord. That’s what was keeping them tied to this universe. The wood energy was being used to nourish their souls and help them endure... stopping them from breaking apart. It was an eternal farm.

Darian sighed. Those defeated ones... didn’t even have the right to die.

How long had these people been here? On their home planets, their original bodies were probably still sleeping endlessly, unable to be removed from the altars.

*Crack*

Suddenly, a low cracking sound echoed. Darian turned to the body in front of him. It was a female figure, kind of like a harpy. One of the spikes in her body had just snapped.

Then, almost automatically, the chain connected to her body lit up. A new black spike appeared and pierced her... in the exact same spot as the last one.

Darian understood. The power of the Spiritual Guardians never died and was constantly trying to break the seal. The spikes probably broke all the time, so they were just silently replaced.

"These spikes..." Darian muttered, analyzing carefully. His mind worked fast, and an idea started forming.

He turned to another nearby body and looked at the spikes on a figure that looked like a bronze golem. He felt one of the spikes trembling... it was about to snap.

*Crack*

When it did, Darian quickly moved a tiny thread of black power into the hole in the body. Another spike appeared and replaced it, sealing the hole again.

’Perfect... I can infiltrate inside the body!’ he thought, focusing. His black power started moving through the body with no resistance. If he wanted, he could even reach the connected chains... but doing that right now would be risky.

He turned to another body. Covered Niara’s hand with black power and, without hesitation, made her pull out one of the spikes.

She pulled it out without any problem, and Darian quickly injected black power into the hole.

The chains trembled... then the spike was silently replaced.

He examined that spike, excited. It was solid, made of a power identical to the chains, which seemed like they were part of something much bigger... after all, 99% of the rings’ power was being sent somewhere deeper underground.

Darian and Niara moved on to other bodies. To play it safe, he started removing just one spike per body, invading them with the minimum amount of black power possible. When he’d planted enough power hidden inside a bunch of them, he stopped.

He’d stolen almost a hundred of those spikes.

Then he grabbed one of the spikes and brought it close to the chains.

Everyone got tense.

But...

He touched the chain with the spike... and nothing happened. That confirmed his theory, making his eyes light up.

Suddenly, Darian turned to Niara and gave her a challenging look.

She grabbed a spike with a slight smile, then made a strong forward motion.

"!"

There was no sound, but the spike pierced the chain and opened a small hole.

The terrible danger they’d felt before... didn’t happen. She pulled the spike back, and the chain regenerated in a second. No alarm, no reaction at all... not even a hint of danger.

"These spikes, the chains... and probably everything connected to this... comes from the same source. That’s why they don’t trigger the defenses."

Darian confirmed, satisfied. If anything external touched the spikes or the chains, something crazy would definitely happen. But Darian’s black power, being similar to a Risen Lord’s power, didn’t trigger anything either.

Using black power to break that thing directly would definitely be dangerous. But using the spikes themselves—something created by the chains—was like pouring water into a lake that was already full of it. Niara didn’t even need to use much force... and the chain ’broke’.

"Let’s go," Darian said quickly, and everyone moved down to the ground.

He turned to the two Summoners. "Can you guys tell exactly where their ring power is being sent?"

The two didn’t even need to think and nodded right away. Darian told them to stay alert. Judging by how much ring power had dropped earlier, that farm didn’t seem designed to store too much before starting to drain their energy.

It took only two hours... then the chains above trembled, and their energy dropped again, just like before.

The two young Summoners were much more focused this time.

In the end, they pointed toward another side of the ruined castle, far away from the pit.

They moved there. In that spot, there was no door or any kind of entrance to an underground area. So Darian pulled out an artifact that controlled the earth and carefully started digging.

In all four Realms they’d destroyed recently, the area where the runes that formed the central inscription limb were hidden was always underground, sealed off. This wouldn’t be any different; and for sure, the ring power was being taken to that place.

But... if they went through the normal path and found a door, would they destroy it like before? That would be stupid. There were definitely mechanisms set up to detect something like that.

So, with help from the young Summoners, Darian dug straight down, right above where the place was.

In just a few minutes, he stopped and saw countless black runes, creating a barrier. Obviously, the whole room was sealed.

He pulled out a spike and handed it to Niara.

*CRACK*

A hole opened.

"GO!"

Everyone jumped inside.

The chains, the spikes... everything was connected, using the same type of material and energy. They also had the same defense mechanism.

They passed through, and the runes calmly closed behind them... like nothing had happened.

There, just like the other four places they’d visited, was a small cave with a sea of runes. But unlike the previous ones, these runes didn’t have any golden tone. They were all black and corrupted.

Darian’s eyes lit up when he saw that. The runes were giving off the same fluctuations as the spikes, the chains, and even the seal of that room. Everything had been made by a single Risen Lord, using the same material and the same type of inscription.

The only way to break or even touch these things would be using something with the same properties... which should be impossible for anyone to have. As for energies that could invade, obviously only a Risen Lord’s black power could do that. What Darian had... his was identical or the same... not even he knew the difference.

Niara grabbed another spike, and Darian coordinated the movement in sync.

*Crack*

A rune opened. He quickly injected black power... and then it regenerated.

He couldn’t break anything... or obviously, they’d be discovered. Next, they targeted several other runes and repeated the process.

After a few minutes...

"We managed to create a real chance." Darian muttered, a little excited. "Now... if we can reach the academy’s core in this galaxy... I can use my black power from this place and break its defenses from the inside. That way... we take back the sealed core."

Everyone felt their hearts racing. What was once absolutely impossible... even if they somehow reached the core... had now completely changed. A sinister virus had slipped into one of the four doors, silently... and could cause massive damage.

Darian let out a heavy sigh. Up until now, he’d been lucky, plus using every bit of his skills and help. It was a mix of factors. But this place they were in... it was just a planet without much importance, protected by a few powerful mechanisms.

It shouldn’t be impossible for him to get into the other three limbs... but it wasn’t necessary. He’d already invaded, and it wouldn’t make a difference now. The real challenge would be invading the academy’s planet... but doing that... would be an unbelievable miracle.

In the middle of his thoughts...

...

A voice suddenly echoed, making everyone there freeze.

"Well, well... so many parasites got this far without me noticing?"

The voice came along with a thick miasma that wrapped around them.

It was... definitely... a Risen Lord.

They’d been discovered.