Orario and balance 2.296

After a long effort, Viggo and company finally reached the fifty-sixth floor. The place was in darkness, an arid soil and large rocks in the distance that functioned as a wall that prevented looking at where the skeletons of dragons were and the dark substance that gnawed them.

Viggo was first leading the way helped by Ivaldi's mask that allowed him to see in the dark. As visibility was low, the mask deployed the energy meshes over the surface, so everything within Viggo's range of vision seemed to be cut into squares. He held the leviathan axe in his left hand and carried his right hand free. Then he was followed by Ottar, who carried the great sword that Kain made for him and Rosewisse with her silver wand. The road ahead was wide and desert. It was about three hundred meters to reach the rocks, but the huge ribs of the dragon could already be elucidated. There should have been at least ten, but now only four were counted. The dark creatures took their time to scavenge the corpses.

—Watch for any changes— Viggo whispered without looking back and his voice muffled by Ivaldi's white mask.

—Understood— Rosewisse and Ottar replied, holding their weapons.

Viggo continued advancing until he found the huge rocks and the passageway between them. The space was still wide, but now there were huge stains of the dark substance on the walls. Viggo frowned, they couldn't pass through here anymore unless he destroyed the dark matter.

Viggo stopped, looked back and said –first, there is dark substance, that means that the main creature has some intelligence and I prepare a trap– Ottar and Rosewisse nodded seeing Viggo as a silhouette that the only thing that stood out was the white oval-shaped mask –second, I will occupy the sunlight so you can turn on the lamps so you do not go blind. And finally, be prepared, once I eliminate the dark matter the monster may be alerted and come running to attack us. If that happens, I attack it first with sunlight. If it doesn't work, we run away, but if it does, you wait for me behind. No one wants to become food for that thing—

That comment made Rosewisse shiver, she knew the creature only from the projections that Viggo made with the help of Ivaldi's mind. Ottar just tightened his grip on his great sword. Both brought their hands to his waist from which hung a lamp and activated it. This lamp was fed by the energy of the purple stones of the monsters of the dungeon.

Viggo advanced ahead and with his active consciousness his second divinity that at this moment was a small seed compared to the tree that was his divinity associated with clairvoyance. The divinity associated with sunlight was like a source of energy that channeled the force of the sun into Viggo's hands and produced golden electric rays that coated the hands. Viggo approached with said sunlight in his hands producing sparks and lightning constantly. He walks a couple of steps, all the dark matter and said substance was retracted. Viggo increased the flow of divine energy and directly touched the substance. The dark matter fell to the ground, quickly gathered, and formed a body one meter high like the creature that Viggo and Ottar had seen before. It was an amorphous mass with tentacles and mouths all over it. It had four coarse elephant-like legs and made a beastly muffled snake-like sound as a warning.

Viggo stepped back, Rosewisse and Ottar saw him. He took the sunlight in his hand and condensed it into a spear of sunlight. He threw it at the creature hitting it in its centre and the latter let out a shriek of agony to finally collapse and fall on the barren earth as if it were a tar stain. However, the destruction of the creature did not stop at that point but began to reduce in size. Viggo with the mask could clearly see how it was consumed like a paper to the fire until it was transformed into particles so small that it disappeared.

—Well— said Viggo —it's done, let's continue, sunlight is the enemy of these things—

Viggo advanced through the passageway between the rocks while Rosewisse and Ottar followed closely. When they reached the end of the passageway, they saw how the floor was extended with more than a thousand meters wide and tens of kilometers in the distance. The dragon bones they saw from the other side were the only ones left. The rest had been devoured and only large patches of dark matter remained. The four ribs they saw on the other side fell and caused a dust. It seems that as Viggo initially said, the dark matter creature had reacted to the death of the substance that Viggo attacked with sunlight. Dark matter from a large crater ahead of them quickly gathered and a three-meter-tall creature formed with an amorphous, tentacular body and mouths on all sides with four elephant legs.

Viggo quickly formed a spear of sunlight that blinded Rosewisse and Ottar. He didn't care about them; he was more concerned about killing the creature. Viggo threw the spear of sunlight and struck the creature in the centre. The latter released a roar of agony that was heard as if they were many different animals at once.

—Viggo, idiot— Rosewisse protested, covering her eyes.

Viggo looked back and saw Rosewisse and Ottar sitting on the ground covering their eyes. Viggo smiled but didn't laugh. Once Ottar and Rosewisse recover it would be their downfall.

—Sorry, I won't move, so calm down. Relax and wait until the blindness passes—

Viggo investigated the distance with Ivaldi's white mask. The energy mesh stretched for miles, but all he could see were a dozen craters with more amorphous masses of dark matter waiting to take the tentacular shape full of mouths. There were no dragon remnants anymore and no other creatures were seen. It was a desert wasteland and uninhabited in every sense of the word.

It took twenty minutes for Rosewisse and Ottar to regain their vision and hit Viggo in the stomach.

—Idiot— they said at the same time.

Viggo endured the pain, he didn't think they would be so angry.

—You almost blinded me; I thought it would stay that way for life— Rosewisse said in an annoyed tone of voice.

—I'm sorry— Viggo said, holding back the pain and holding his stomach.

—Viggo, think things before you do them— Ottar added.

—Yes, it's just that this thing was forming and had to be overcome before it got into trouble— Viggo replied, let out a sigh and straightened his back —stand guard for me, I'm going to put my armor back on—

Rosewisse and Ottar nodded at the same time. Viggo donned the turquoise dwarf royal armor with golden edges. Then he looked at the road ahead, turned to look at Rosewisse and Ottar and asked them —Shall we go?—

—Yes, come on— replied Rosewisse —but let me know when you go to occupy your power, I don't want to be blinded—

—I say the same— Ottar added, just as annoyed.

Viggo chuckled and walked ahead as they followed. However, this time he did something different, put away the leviathan axe and extracted Ivaldi's mind from his ring. He take Ivaldi's mind in his left hand and leave his right hand unoccupied to throw the spears of sunlight.

Approaching a crater with a dark matter creature, Viggo channeled mana into Ivaldi's mind and said artifact did its job by scanning the surroundings and projecting the dark matter creature's information. There was only one title for that amorphous thing "outside". Usually, Ivaldi's mind would transmit all the information associated with an element to Ivaldi's mask, but this time there was no information.

At the same time, the pool of dark matter gathered and quickly formed a tentacular creature with mouths on all sides and four elephant legs. The creature began to climb up the crater, but before it could reach the top, Viggo used his divinity of sunlight and formed a spear of sunlight in his right hand. He threw the spear and struck the creature in the centre. Like the previous creature, this one also let out a roar of agony as if it were several animals in one.

—Come on— said Viggo, seeing that only the crater was empty, and he continued advancing. Rosewisse and Ottar followed closely, scared to death. Since Viggo had told them that sunlight was the only thing that could harm these creatures. Therefore, there was almost no one left of the Hera and Zeus family, all of whom had been devoured while trying unsuccessfully to fight these creatures.

When they reached the end of the apartment, they found a corridor that went down a slope. Viggo was scanning it with Ivaldi's mask. There were no signs of dark matter, so he looked at Rosewisse and Ottar and asked —Shall we continue?—

—What do you say?— asked Rosewisse with a frown, but with a clear fear in his eyes.

—Come on, Viggo, you must find out what these creatures are hiding— said Ottar.

Viggo nodded, advanced through the cave that led them hundreds of meters below the earth, and they encountered a more overwhelming floor than the previous one. However, the most impressive thing for Viggo were two things. First, that there was a kind of city built in stone with huge construction that spanned several kilometers away. And the second thing was the proliferation of dark matter everywhere. Viggo had a divinity that allowed him to generate ten spears of sunlight per hour, but this was too much. He just felt overwhelmed and felt unable to move forward. Maybe it could try and fight, but when all the dark matter came together and formed a single creature, it would be the end of all.

—Let's go back— Viggo said quietly —this, for now, is impossible—

—What are you talking about, Viggo?— asked Rosewisse, she too saw the silhouette of the city that stretched several miles away, but she could see no more —Are there so many?—

Ottar looked at Viggo, then at Rosewisse and again at Viggo, he was confused.

Viggo turned around and looked at them head-on with the mask on his face. He took off his mask and held it out to Rosewisse — there are many, watched over yourself—

Rosewisse took Ivaldi's mask, put it on, and investigated the distance. She took a deep breath through her mouth. Then she understood why Viggo wanted to go back, it was not viable in any way.

—Let me see— said Ottar, holding out his hand.

Rosewisse took off the white mask and put it on his hand. She looked at the ground with a shocked expression that she couldn't believe.

—Ottar— Viggo said by way of help —you just put the mask on your face, investigate the distance, and after ten seconds a mesh of energy will spread. Then you concentrate your eyes on a single point for another ten seconds and the image will zoom in. Do not worry about the poor light of the floor, everything will be quite clear.

—I understand— replied Ottar, put on his mask and saw what Viggo and Rosewisse could see. Miles and miles of a stone city covered in dark matter on all sides. Even circular spheres the size of an adult with a huge igneous eye could be seen on certain sides. He took off the mask, held it out to Viggo, and Viggo picked it up.

—We can't give up— said Ottar —take up all your sunlight, and then we run. You must be able to do some harm. Then, once you replenish the sunlight we go back and continue throwing until everything is cleared—

—It's not good, at most I can make ten spears of sunlight an hour. That means that dark matter it would take us a month to clean the entire floor. We need to look for a more efficient way, now is the time, in the future we will not have time to think about these things—

Rosewisse and Ottar looked at the ground, thought of something, and nodded in agreement.