Chapter 629: A New Way to Kill

In the southern area, several small cracks had continued to spread.

One of the old routes had been completely blocked, and farther away, hot steam was rising from between the broken rocks.

Lian was standing in the eastern part of the base when an alert sounded from his communication device.

"Emergency report! The route connecting the two southern positions is splitting apart!"

He immediately replied.

"Send me the location."

A few seconds later, a new marker appeared on the map.

It was not far away.

He moved without wasting any time, and when he arrived, a large part of the stone path had split apart.

The two sides of the crack were several meters apart, and red molten rock could be seen deep below, hot steam was rising between the rocks and drying out the plants near the edge.

On the opposite side, six support staff members were trapped.

The ground behind them was also slowly collapsing.

One of the guards was trying to cross the crack using his movement skill.

But the great distance and unstable edges made it impossible for him to find a safe way to help the others cross.

Lian examined the situation for a moment, A few meters apart, and both sides still have solid rocks.

The solution was simple.

He raised his right hand.

\[ Frost Dominion \]

The air around him quickly became cold.

The moisture in the environment turned into small ice crystals, and a white layer of ice formed over the rocks near the crack.

Then the ice began to spread from both sides, thick branches of ice formed along the solid rocks and extended toward the center.

A few seconds later, the two sides connected.

He released more mana to make the structure thicker so it could support the weight of several people.

In a short time, an ice bridge had formed between the two edges.

"Cross one by one!" His voice echoed through the hot steam.

The first guard immediately started moving, followed by the second and then the others.

He maintained the flow of cold energy, but just as the third person reached the middle of the bridge, a faint cracking sound came from beneath it.

He lowered his gaze.

The hot steam from the molten rock had reached the underside of the ice, drops of water were falling from the edges of the bridge, and white steam was rising along the crack.

Damn it, it’s hotter than I thought.

Lian poured more mana into the structure, and the small cracks on the bridge’s surface closed, but at the same time, another part of the lower layer began to melt.

The molten rock was still a considerable distance from the bridge.

However, the heat rising from the depths was enough to slowly destroy the ice structure.

"Move faster!"

The last two guards crossed the bridge carefully but without stopping.

At that moment, the sound of cracking ice rang out.

Lian released more cold energy, and the structure became solid again for a few seconds, and finally, the last person reached safety.

He lowered his hand, and the flow of mana stopped.

A few moments later, the middle section of the ice bridge cracked under the constant heat.

Crack!

Thick pieces of ice broke away from both sides, then fell into the white steam and red glow of the molten rock, and the sound of their impact could be heard from deep inside the crack.

The young Vorhelm looked at the remains of the bridge for a moment.

"So even my ice can’t withstand this heat for very long."

Of course, if he used all his strength to reinforce the structure, he might be able to keep it standing for longer.

But doing so would require a constant supply of mana, and as the temperature increased, the amount of mana needed would also increase.

Keeping a bridge standing for a few minutes was possible.

But permanently sealing the massive cracks in the land, with molten rock rising from their depths, was a completely different matter.

Some time later, Alaric arrived at the location with several officers, and the commander first checked the condition of the six rescued people.

After making sure they were all safe, he walked toward the crack.

"Did you make that ice bridge?"

Lian nodded.

"Yeah."

Alaric looked at the remaining steam.

"Can you make it again?"

"I can, but it won’t last."

He pointed toward the red glow deep below.

"The higher the molten rock rises, the more mana I’ll have to use to keep it standing, for now, I can buy us a few minutes, but I can’t seal all the cracks in this area with ice."

Alaric looked at the crack for a moment and then nodded.

"A few minutes can mean the difference between life and death when transporting the wounded or rescuing a group."

He turned toward the officer beside him.

"Remove this route from the map of permanent routes, if we need it again, we’ll only use it for emergency transport."

The officer recorded the order.

Lian looked at the commander for a moment.

Even after seeing the power of Frost Dominion, the man had no intention of building the entire defense plan around its constant use.

A few minutes later, all the forces in that section had moved to their alternative positions, and the first night continued with the base still standing.

But farther away, more cracks could be seen in the darkness beneath the golden light of the Hollow Sun.

On the morning of the second day, the Land of First Dawn no longer looked completely like the paradise Lian had seen when he first arrived.

The golden trees still shone across the plains, and clear rivers still flowed through the grasslands, but large cracks had appeared in the ground in some areas.

Hot steam was rising from parts of these cracks.

Several old routes had been blocked, and some trees near the unstable areas had tilted because the soil around their roots had fallen away.

However, a large part of the area was still beautiful.

This contrast made the scene even stranger.

A short distance away from a green forest, the ground had split open, and the red light of molten rock could be seen deep below.

As Lian left his resting place, he looked at the sky for a moment, the Hollow Sun was still at the same height.

Its black pupil remained open, and the golden rings around it were moving slowly.

Almost one night had passed since the first judgment, and only a few hours remained until the next one.

He took a calm breath.

"It’s better to use this opportunity."

He now intended to examine something that had occupied his mind for a long time.

The Corrupt Sun talent.

During the attack by the black vultures, he had managed to destroy the mana structure of the Reverse Reflection Array by using it.

But that battle had caused a new question to form in his mind.

If I can control corrupt light this precisely, why should I only use it to destroy arrays?

Until now, he had focused mostly on the talent’s ability to wear things down, but perhaps he could use the same energy in other forms as well.

Especially in combat.

After informing the communication unit of his approximate location, he moved away from the main base, though he had no intention of going into a dangerous area.

He only wanted to practice in a quiet part of the rocky ground near the base, a place where he could return quickly if he received an emergency message.

Some time later, Lian reached an area surrounded by several tall, white rocks.

The ground was relatively stable.

There were no active cracks nearby, and he could not sense any dangerous creatures through his perception either.

He stopped between two rocks.

Then he looked at the golden light shining down from the sky, even after the Hollow Sun had awakened, the light in the environment still flowed normally across most areas.

And that was enough for the Corrupt Sun talent.

Lian raised his right hand and released a small amount of mana, at that moment, a very thin strand of the light around his fingers changed color.

The bright golden light turned into a faint black shade, and a corrupt aura formed along the path of the light.

He examined it for a moment.

So far, it’s the same as before.

He had already used this ability to corrupt energy flows, but this time, he tried to concentrate the energy in a very small point.

At first, the strand of light became thinner for a moment.

But when he applied more pressure, its structure became unstable and scattered before reaching the target.

A dark mark remained on the surface of the rock in front of him.

He looked at it.

"Too much focus makes me lose control of its path."

He tried again, this time reducing the amount of energy and keeping the path of the light shorter.

The corrupt light became thinner, and he pointed his index finger at the rock in front of him before directing the energy along a straight path.

Hiss...

A dark beam of light shot out from his finger like a laser, reached the rock’s surface, and left a shallow line on it.

Lian looked at the result for a moment, and a faint smile appeared on his face.

This is interesting.

The concentrated impact had managed to wear away the rock, and this was with him using only a very small amount of mana.

But the real advantage of this method was something else.

Speed and focus.

The corrupt light could reach a specific point almost without requiring any large physical movement, and if the target had a mana barrier, the talent’s main effect would also work at the same time.

He could take any of the lines of light and reflections in the sky, corrupt them, and then control them however he wanted.

He realized that he could now shoot beams of corrupt light like lasers, causing his targets to break apart and fall to pieces on the spot.

There was no limit to the number of shots he could fire at the same time, he could shoot hundreds of beams of light.

Of course, the mana limit still existed.

He also realized that he could place a beam of corrupt light on a target and activate it whenever and wherever he wanted, causing the target to break apart.

It was like a special skill used by Assassin classes.

Lian repeated the experiment several more times.