The cavern opened up into a space that looked less like a natural cave and more like the workshop of a madman. A laboratory of an ancient scientist obsessed with both biology and mystical engineering.
The walls there were lined with bamboo-like pipes that hissed with escaping vapor. The ceiling was crisscrossed with pulsating, rootlike wires. Some of them were dripping a viscous, glowing fluid.
Jack, still in his hulking rakshasa form, entered. He stepped over a pile of discarded bones. Some were humanoid. Some were definitely not. He moved toward the center of the hall.
The air here felt nothing like he had ever smelt. In the middle of the chamber stood two massive glass cylinders. Reaching from the mossy blue floor to the jagged ceiling. These huge tubes were filled with a swirling, phosphorescent blue liquid. Casting a sickly pallor over the entire room.
Jack narrowed his eyes. Crackling sparks of his Primordial Aura were still flickering around his massive body, armor, and weapon.
He saw them.
In the left tube, suspended in the glowing brine, was Chloe Chase. Her eyes were closed. Her shoulder-long hair was floating around her head like a golden halo. She looked peaceful... which was definitely suspicious.
Next to her, in the second tube, was something Jack hadn't expected. It was a girl. But she was not exactly human. Her skin was a deep, bruised blue. And her long hair was a shocking, snow-white contrast. Long, pointed ears poked through the strands. A dark-elf.
Jack didn't know they existed in the Purplesky Realm. But there she was, looking as fragile as a porcelain doll.
While observing, Jack didn't discard his vigilance. And it was the right attitude.
Rune, in front of him, had flickered a frantic, pulsing crimson. A warning. The fairy, in his tiny dragon form glared at a direction with a deep focus.
Jack raised his [Judgement Warhammer] and looked at the same direction. One moment the place they stared at was empty. But the next moment, a figure exploded outward from the shadow.
It was the shadowling that had snatched Chloe. It was twice the size of the ones Jack had crushed in the tunnels. Its body was a mixture of a dark goblin and shifting mass of ink-black smoke.
It didn't let out any sound at all. It just moved. In an extremely fast speed.
The creature was a blur of darkness. It swung its claw. But the claw didn't stay a claw. It shimmered. The claw and its entire right arm transformed into a massive, jagged war-hammer. A weapon seemed to be made of compressed shadow-matter.
Jack raised the [Judgement Warhammer]. He didn't wait for the attack to reach him. He lunged and swung his own hammer.
CLANG! The shadow hammer struck Jack's war-hammer.
The clash of the two hammers was deafening. The shockwave rattled the glass of the tubes and sent a tremor through the floor. Unlike the smaller shadowlings, this one didn't break with one swing.
It was fast... unnaturally so. As Jack pulled back for a second strike, the creature lunged forward. Its form became fluid again. It flowed around Jack's guard like a dark tide. Reforming behind him and delivering a crushing blow to his shoulder.
Jack grunted. His [Naraka Armor] absorbed the brunt of the impact. But the force still made him move several steps forward.
He rotated and swung his war-hammer around. The creature created even bigger hammer with its two hands fused. And it also swung the blunt weapon.
CLAANGG!
The impact rang out like a church bell in a silent night. Jack felt the vibration travel up his rakshasa arms. Rattling his teeth.
He was surprised. His rakshasa form was built for raw, unstoppable power. Yet, this thing had met his strength head-on. And it didn't lose out.
The shadowling didn't wait for a counter-attack. It dissolved into a puddle of formless shape again. Slipping under Jack's next swing.
The [Judgement Warhammer] smashed into the stone floor. Sending a spiderweb of cracks through the cavern.
The creature reformed behind Jack. Its arm was now a long, whip-like blade.
Jack spun. His instincts screamed loudly. He caught the blade on the haft of his hammer. Sparks of mystical energy flew as the two forces collided.
It was fast. Incredibly fast. Even with the rakshasa's enhanced reflexes, Jack was struggling to keep the thing in his sights. It moved between the physical and the ethereal with sickening fluidly.
Every time Jack swung for a killing blow, it dissolved. His hammer passed through nothing but cold shadow. Then, a split second later, the creature would solidify and deliver a strike to his body.
"Annoying!" Jack spat. The attacks only damage him slightly. And his [Hyper Regeneration] recovered the damage very quickly.
But he couldn't let this continue. He needed to end this. Chloe might be in real trouble in that liquid filled tank.
The shadowling lunged again. Its arms transformed into dual axes this time. Intending to crack and split Jack's skull like a firewood.
Jack stood his ground. He reached deep into his supernatural abilities, and activated one of them. [Mysterious Anomaly]!
The telekinesis aspect of the ability flared.. It wasn't strong. In this rakshasa incarnation, his [Mysticism] wasn't high after all. But even a weak power had its use.
Besides, Jack didn't need to throw the shadowling across the room with his telekinesis. He just needed it to stay still for a fraction of a second.
As the shadowling's dual axes descended, Jack flared his will. He focused the telekinetic power on the creature's mind. Instead of its strange physique.
A sharp, mental jab pierced the shadowling's mental processing. The creature stumbled. The solid and fluid from stuttered for a fraction of a second.
That was all Jack needed.
Jack's left hand shot out. The chain bracer on his wrist glowed with a vengeful light. A pair of blazing chains burst out. The [Chains of Vengeance].
The pair of infernal chains erupted. Blazing, dark chains. Coated in the shimmering sparks of his Primordial Aura.
They lashed out like hungry snakes. Wrapping around the shadowling. Biting into its shadowy flesh. The coating worked. The creature was trapped within the chains.
The creature shrieked. A high, discordant sound that hurt the ears reverberated in the whole chamber.
Jack didn't give it a second chance. He gripped the [Judgement Warhammer] with his right hand. And swung it. The weapon hummed with absolute authority.
BOOM!
He brought the hammer down in a vertical arc. The blow was so heavy that it seemed to suck the light out of the room.
It struck the trapped shadowling. Right on the target. The creature's head. This time, there was no escape. No resistance. The Primordial Aura shattered the creature's immunity to physical attacks. And the sheer physical weight of the rakshasa's strength did the rest.
The shadowling exploded into a cloud of dissipating soot. Its essence was erased from existence.
Jack stood over the spot for a moment. His chest was slightly heaving. The silence returned to the cavern. Broken only by the hum of the blue tubes.
Jack looked at Rune. She glowed in calm green color. Safe. No more direct danger.
The rakshasa closed his eyes and let the current form bleed away. [Incarnation Shift]. Instantly, he transformed. His body and hair shrunk. His skin turn lighter. And his heavy armor morphed into the practical leather outfits of his human mercenary form.
He felt lighter and more precise. The rakshasa was the brute force. An excellent choice for destruction. The human was more versatile for investigation.
Rune drifted toward the tubes. Back in his mechanical fairy shape. Her light was now shifting between the calm green and a soft, inquisitive yellow.
Jack stepped toward the cylinders and activated his [Eyes of Judgement]. The world shifted. Information began to appear across his vision. Overlaying the physical reality of the laboratory.
He looked at the closer elf...
[Name: Tane'eil Elethorinnei ]
[Race: Purplesky Native (Dark Elf)]
[Status: Critical, Dying]
[Condition: Host for Shadowling Queen]
[Status Effect: Parasitic Connection]
[Note: The Queen's consciousness is migrating. The current host is exhausted. A new vessel has been selected.]
Jack turned his gaze to the other tube...
[Name: Chloe Chase]
[Race: Human]
[Status: Unconscious, Stable]
[Condition: Forced Soul Integration in Progress]
[Status Effect: Fortune Blessing]
[Warning: Shadowling Queen's soul is infiltrating the subject's spiritual core. Success rate: 72%.]
Jack cursed under his breath. He looked at the rootlike wires connecting the two tubes. They were pulsing with a dark, oily blue light. Pumping the essence of the dying dark-elf and the predatory Queen into Chloe.
"It's a host swap..." Jack muttered.
He raised his hand. Ready to smash the glass. But he stopped. His still-activated [Eyes of Judgement] flickered red. Information flooded his mind again.
If he broke the tubes now, the sudden shock and the severance of the spiritual link would likely injure Chloe's soul. The queen's essence was already partially inside her. Pulling it out forcefully would be like trying to remove fish from an aquarium full of water by smashing the glass wall.
He needed a better approach. What should he do?