Beatitudes

Episode 70.

A step was taken out of a shimmering screen of colorless light as a foot covered in sleek black boots stretched out, followed by a second feet bringing along the rest of its body as well, three other pairs of feet also stepped out at the same time, as the owners of the four pairs of feet respectively paused in their tracks right outside the gates of the tainted bulwark leading to the deeper parts of the tainted zone.

The group of four was naturally Isaac and the gang, Isaac looked on around him with anticipation in his eyes while Adam opened his mouths to say a few words,

“Let’s head on our way…”

The tainted bulwark situated just shy of the deeper parts of the tainted zone on the imaginary borderline between the cleared and the deeper parts of the tainted zone had a force field around it that filtered the impurities and any strange substance away, keeping it all away from the mini city of sorts, so I wasn’t able to realize the subtly different air about the deeper parts of the tainted zone, not until I stepped out through the gates did I feel the slightly chilly wind hitting my face as it brought about the scent of c*****e and blood from ahead of us, in the direction we were heading.

Everything in the tainted zone seemed to be affected by a strange type of aura that pervaded the entire zone, not a single thing was left unchanged as compared to the surroundings of the untainted zone, the skies overhead had an even darker shade of gray coloring it compared to the cleared parts, one would barely be able to notice the tinge of blue in the sky that was once the magnificent sight that one would see when they raised their heads. Similar to the skies above, the earthen grounds below our feet as we walked seemed very much more darker than it usually was with the trees and vegetation looking sick and grayed while even the visible soil itself took on a greyish black color, a sign that these weren’t normal grounds.

The fact that all these changes stemmed from a vague past over that happened on these lands had me marveling at the level of strength such a catastrophe had been. I had no clear picture on what had happened as even Adam claimed to not have much knowledge on it, he also mentioned the fact that most people hardly remembered the past of these lands like it had just popped up all of a sudden one day and drove the habitable areas of the various races backwards substantially. That also had me wondering, if such a significant occurrence left barely any impression of its past in the people’s mind, was there even anyone who had the exact knowledge of what had happened or not, and if there was someone who had knowledge of it, why wasn’t it passed on to the masses or at least even passed on bits and pieces of the truth if not all, was everything as calm and orderly as it seemed now…

It didn’t take us long to reach some distance inwards as our attention was focused on a mountain ahead, towering about dozens of meters up to the skies, a particular thought crossed my mind as I spoke up at this point, breaking the silence that had slowly grown comfortable over the days we spent,

“This is that kind of mountain… or just any other common mountain around…”

Adam smiled faintly as he replied,

“Most of the things in the deeper parts of the tainted zone are beyond common at this point despite not being special, so you should be more clear on your words. But yes, you’re right, this is one of such mountains, while not dotting every single piece of land in the deeper parts, they’re fairly present every mile or so that you walk…”

I kept silent in thoughts for a while before I asked another question,

“Since this one is located fairly on the edge of the deeper parts, how are we to be sure that it hasn’t already been cleared?’

The other two walking alongside us said nothing but seemed to be listening intently to our conversation,

“The thing about these mountains is that they have a kind of respawn mechanism of sorts, just a single clearing of these mountains isn’t enough to rid it of the beasts that dwell within, through some sort of mysterious and vague way, new beasts always find their way into these mountains and then grow into power while undergoing a kind of biological adaptation to the habitat within. Trust me Isaac, these mountains are far more magical and mysterious than you could currently imagine, none has been able to fathom its depths or even scrape up a bit of its origin, fighters have to go in constantly to clear out the mountains after which a new group takes up residence there as well.

 The only way to shut the mountains mechanisms down and thus disable the growth of new inhabitants is to destroy it, either from the inside or outside. To destroy it from the inside is to use a formidable amount of strength to perhaps damage its core or everything in its entirety and trust the words I say, none of the three of you should be able to destroy it completely enough for it to shut down. The lowest tier of mountains like this one can only be destroyed by someone at the fourth tier and funnily enough, these mountain restricts entrance or participation of any fighter three tiers above its own, it’s impossible to force your way through.

So while it’s extremely hard to destroy it from the inside, it’s even more harder to do so from the outside, it’s been tried and tested before but it’s been shown to be nigh impossible, these mountains although randomly placed across the lands actually has a kind of resonance with each other within a certain radius distance. So while you aim to destroy just a single one with formidable strength, you’re actually challenging a whole group of mountains, despite the distance between them, the mountains maintain connection and hence when you attack, it’s like you’re going against a number of mountains all on your own, the key to successfully destroying it by simultaneously destroying all the mountains connected to each other in the particular radius.

But while its hard to emulate such strength and strategy, a fighter in a high enough tier should be able to do just that albeit with more effort so while the alliance and other groups have such powers in their midst, they simply can’t afford to bother too much with that when they’re all trying to reach a higher tier, destroying the mountains doesn’t exactly have any curse energy to reap…”

“…”

Adam after having finished with his rambling turned his head sideways as he noticed the blank stares from the three people walking beside him, it was then he noticed what he just did. A simple question was asked that simply required a short answer, but he went on to verbally dump info on their heads like it was so little to bear. He looked at their faces and immediately spotted the dazed look of confusion that Isaac and Harry had, Hiya seemed to be much better but even she had a queer look in her eyes as she stared at Adam,

Adam said nothing more as he mused quietly in his head,

Adam: I seem to have said too much, how did I even say all that in one breath

Horace: You don’t say hm, I personally think you had been possessed by someone, forcing you to take the brunt of the grave task that is info dumping

Adam: “…”