Pandora Unchained - a Cultivation Progression Fantasy

Having obtained the archer's agreement and distrusting Melinoë, the White Tower Group, and the Hargrave Clan, Sorin once again hopped onto the creature's tentacled back. By now, half its tentacles had been burned away by spells and poison, though they were rapidly regenerating as the creature breathed in the madness suffusing the core region.

Sorin dodged tentacle after tentacle, only stopping briefly when one of Michael's arrows blasted apart three or four tentacles every second. With the archer's help and Gareth and Daphne's help from afar, he was able to reach the center in a decent amount of time.

Just before he caught sight of the creature's main eyes, Sorin slipped on his Ring of Mind Ward, which he'd obtained from Marik Kepler for the apothecary examination but had never used. He normally didn't wear the ring since it would be damaged whenever it intercepted a mental attack, regardless of whether Sorin could resist it or not.

Shortly after he slipped the ring on, a bubble of disruptive energy appeared around him, soon followed by a shield of light. Melinoë and the White Tower Group had clearly caught on to what he was doing, and though they were at odds, they had nothing to lose by escorting him to the center to attack the creature from up close.

Thousands of alarm bells went off in Sorin's head as he crossed the zone of dense corruption directly surrounding the creature's main eyes. The Violence in his blood and the rot in his bones stirred into action.

"You want to provoke me?" said a grinning Sorin. "Fine. You asked for it." Unable to control himself any longer, he embraced Violence and used his blood as a catalyst to cast Five Poison Apocalypse. Five runes formed from five different poisons appeared around him and began to expand violently.

Realizing the threat he posed, hundreds of spines pierced holes into his body. Five Poison Apocalypse was only an A-Level spell, but given that it used the entirety of his S-Rank mana stores, it could rival even some of the stronger S-Rank spells. More importantly, he was now in close proximity to the creature's well-protected main organs. Should they be affected, their life would be in grave danger.

Though the spines wounded Sorin, he poured his blood into the growing spell circles without reservation. The serpentine spell circles began to expand abnormally quickly until finally, they began to conflict and destabilize, and only Sorin's conscious effort could maintain them.

I need to hold on, Sorin thought as another wave of spines pierced his body. Fireballs and purification spells blasted the creature's appendages to minimize the damage they caused him, but they were only able to clear out so many. I only practiced Five Poison Apocalypse a few times on our way here, and never to the limits of its potential. Let's test exactly how potent this spell could be.

Normally, Sorin would have difficulty maintaining the diagram, but thanks to his new armor, his magic was amplified. This both empowered the spell circles and allowed him to control them more easily as they relentlessly absorbed his blood and mana.

The region directly surrounding Sorin was a war zone. Though not all spines could be intercepted, most tentacles had been to date. But that changed when the creature suddenly erupted with a mental attack targeting all those present and used the gap to send ten spiked tentacles flying at Sorin.

These tentacles were clearly different from the rest. They were more fragile than normal and disintegrated as they smashed through his defensive barriers, exposing him to yet another mental assault.

The attack shattered his shield distortion and caused cracks to appear in his ring of mind ward. The ring's protection held up for only three seconds before finally crumbling, just long enough for Sorin to fully utilize his mana stores and complete his spell.

"Five… Poison… Apocalypse!" he shouted as the five diagrams were suddenly drawn into his body and burst outwards, with his own flesh as the point of origin. Half of his remaining life force was instantly drained by the attack, causing his toxic blood to mix into every portion of the spell matrix.

A five-colored sphere violently expanded, melting away tentacles, spines, and flesh. They drilled into the horror's eyes, into its thirty beating hearts, and the single large brain at the center of its cylindrical body.

If Sorin were a mere hero, the creature might have avoided lethal damage. Unfortunately, Sorin was a Tarnished God Seed, and as a result, his spells tore through its three-star resistances.

Dying and unable to maintain its lucidity, the creature reflexively shot out what remained of its needles, turning him into a living pincushion and even chipping his bones.

Yet, contrary to its expectations, this only served to empower Sorin. His armor's berserker properties increased his defenses, speed, and strength. In addition, its life-siphon properties were funneling life force into Sorin like man due to the damage the three-star horror was suffering.

Any damage the creature caused was quickly healed. As for his bones, only their emerald seals fractured, revealing the underlying bronze and a larger number of silver runes than before. Their emergence further intensified the Five Poison Apocalypse, speeding up its demise.

With Sorin's attack having critically weakened the creature. The heroes and God Seeds assembled quickly took advantage of the situation. Melinoë and her nightmares led them, Michael and his Sun Chasing Arrows, Charles Hargrave and his seemingly endless supply of S-graded poison spells, and Bast Phillips unleashing pillar after pillar of purifying light.

Each of their teams joined in as well, including Sorin's. Stephan immediately adopted his Pigmy Shadow Bear form and started mauling the creature uncontrollably.

Lawrence, who was also no longer restrained by the disappearance of the creature's eyes, and all the potential he'd accumulated in battle in the form of 'marks' was now on full display. Every strike from his short sword pierced vital points with deadly precision, greatly speeding up the creature's demise.

Astley was currently unconscious and being guarded by Daphne. The fire mage, finally able to concentrate on her true calling, began chanting an S-Tier spell. Comets of acidic fire rained down on the creature at one-second intervals, each time blasting away pieces of flesh and chitin, further exposing its vulnerabilities for Gareth to take advantage of with consecutive Crushing Storm Arrows.

Having achieved his goal, Sorin decided that it was time to retreat from the center of activity, lest the creature's death throws take him by surprise and end him. He was about to do so when suddenly, his body moved of its own accord. Somehow, there was a disconnect between his mind and body, enabling Violence to take over and madly hack at what remained of the creature's brain with his tiny dagger.

What's going on? Sorin thought as he considered the situation. This creature shouldn't have this sort of ability. Is this… distortion? Am I… am I dreaming?

He suddenly became aware of tendrils of madness that had burrowed into his body through his exposed wounds. This madness wasn't uncontrolled like it usually was but had instead carefully weaved a network inside his body.

Normally, Sorin would be able to metabolize this corruption; unfortunately, it already had an owner and was covered in golden light, which greatly slowed his Toxic Metabolism's ability to process it.

Violence rose within Sorin, this time from deep within his spirit. It violently attacked the threads of madness to free him.

There was only one person who was capable of doing this: Melinoë! And if there was one thing Sorin couldn't stand, it was betrayal.

Treachery had cost him everything. It had cost him his cultivation, his position in the clan, his career, and most importantly, his parents. How dare she stab him in the back after all he'd done?

In his rage, he instinctively hammered at the mental prison, keeping his mind and body separate, until finally, something shattered, and a patchwork dreamscape was revealed. And within that dreamscape, he saw a white-robed woman: Melinoë.