Chapter 5: The Taint in the Bloodstone
The Glacial Bloom's sale injected our household with a tangible, electric hope. Kaelen's broken arm was no longer a setback; it was a battle scar earned in a story of triumph and mysterious patronage. He spent his days in physiotherapy and strategy sessions with the Ironheart Guild, his focus sharpened. The "G" note was a secret he and my father discussed in hushed, excited tones, weaving theories about a hidden Guild master or a reclusive S-rank hunter recognizing his potential.
I listened, saying nothing, the secret a lead weight in my stomach. My nightly forays into the Howling Caves became more aggressive. The +5% damage from Cave Cleanser was noticeable; my Umbral Blades sliced through Gnawler hide with even greater ease. The trickle of stats from Apocalypse's Greed continued, a slow, relentless accretion of power.
[ Agility: 11.07 ]
[ Strength: 10.43 ]]
[ Stamina: 10.21 ]
They were still pitiful numbers for a hunter, but they were mine, earned in the silence of the dark. More importantly, my control over my skills was evolving. I could now create a Shadow Echo—a stationary afterimage that lasted a few seconds, perfect for misdirection.
A week after the Bloom incident, Kaelen came home, his sling gone, his face alight with a new purpose. "The Guild has a patrol mission. Perimeter security for a survey team heading to the Bloodstone Quarry. It's a D-rank zone, deemed safe. It's my first official assignment since... you know." He gestured with his newly-healed arm. "It's a chance to prove I'm not just a liability."
The Bloodstone Quarry. My internal map, courtesy of Dungeon Walker, flared to life. It was an abandoned mining operation that had become a low-level dungeon, known for its tough, mineral-based creatures and rich deposits of iron and low-tier mana crystals. It was considered a straightforward grind location.
But something felt off. A faint, discordant ping in the back of my mind, a subtle wrongness the public data didn't show. It was an instinct, a new facet of my EX-tier skills warning me of a corruption, an anomaly.
"Are you sure it's safe?" I asked, my voice tighter than I intended.
"Safer than the Thicket," Kaelen said, grinning. "Don't worry, little brother. It's a full Guild party. We'll be in and out."
I couldn't dissuade him. His need to reclaim his agency was too strong. So, I did the only thing I could. I prepared.
That night, instead of the Caves, I used Dungeon Walker to teleport to the entrance of the Bloodstone Quarry. The air was different here—dry and dusty, carrying the metallic tang of raw ore. But beneath it, there was that same faint, sickly sweetness I'd sensed on the mutated Treant. It was stronger here, a pervasive taint.
I moved inside, a wraith in the labyrinthine tunnels. The usual Rock Sprites and Cave Jackals were there, but their eyes held a faint, angry red glint. They were more aggressive, their movements more erratic. I dispatched them with silent efficiency, my blades cutting through stone and flesh alike.
[ Defeated Cave Jackal (Lv. 28). Experience Gained. ]
**[ Apocalypse's Greed Activated. +0.01 to Spirit. ]]
I ventured deeper, following the scent of corruption. It led me to a vast, excavated chamber. In the center, pulsating like a diseased heart, was a geode of raw bloodstone twice my height. But its usual deep crimson was streaked with black, corrosive veins. Tendrils of the same dark energy snaked out from it, infecting the very rock around it.
And guarding it was a Bloodstone Golem, Level 48. Or what was left of one. The taint had mutated it, fusing jagged spikes of corrupted crystal to its body. Its core, usually a steady glow, flickered with violent, unstable energy.
[ Target: Tainted Geode Core. Status: Corrupted. ]
**[ Target: Corrupted Bloodstone Golem (Lv. 48). Status: Berserk. ]]
This was the source. This was what my brother's patrol was walking into. A D-rank zone hosting a high C-rank, possibly low B-rank, mutated threat.
I couldn't let this stand. I had two options: try to destroy the core myself, or ensure the Guild party never reached this chamber.
The golem was too powerful for a direct, silent confrontation. The fight would be loud, destructive, and would leave evidence I couldn't explain. I had to go with option two.
The next day, I sat in my room, my consciousness split. Part of me was Aiden, idly scrolling through a news feed. The other part was the Ghost, my mind's eye superimposed over the map of the Quarry, tracking the progress of Kaelen's patrol. I could feel them, a cluster of life signatures moving cautiously through the outer tunnels.
They were on a direct course for the central chamber.
It was time. I focused on Umbral Blade Dance, but not on offense. I focused on the environment. In the tunnel just before the central chamber, I began to meticulously collapse the ceiling. Not with brute force, but with precision. I used my blades to slice through key structural supports, to fracture load-bearing pillars. I worked like a surgeon, causing a controlled cave-in that filled the passage with tons of rock and dust, completely blocking the way forward.
Just as I finished, I felt the patrol arrive at the other side of the rubble.
"Damn it!" a voice echoed—the shield-bearer from the Thicket. "The main shaft is blocked! A recent collapse."
"Can we clear it?" That was Kaelen's voice, filtered through the rock.
"Would take hours. And the stability is shot. The whole thing could come down on us."
There was a frustrated silence. Then, "The survey is a bust. Let's fall back and report the structural instability. Mission abort."
I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. They were safe. They would leave.
But as I prepared to withdraw my awareness, I felt it. A surge of chaotic energy from the central chamber. The Tainted Geode Core was reacting to the presence of so much life force, even through the rock. The Corrupted Golem, deprived of its intended prey, was turning its fury on the surrounding environment. It began pounding on the walls, and the instability I had created was now cascading.
The patrol, now in a side tunnel heading for the exit, froze as the entire Quarry shuddered.
"What was that? An earthquake?"
"Move! Now! This whole place is coming down!"
I saw it through my map-sense. The tunnel they were in, the one I had thought was safe, had a weak ceiling, now critically stressed by the Golem's rampage. A section was about to give way, directly onto Kaelen.
There was no time for subtlety.
I used Dungeon Walker. Not to their location, but to a point directly above the weak section of the tunnel, deep within the rock. I manifested for a fraction of a second in a pocket of absolute darkness, my form compressed and insubstantial. I poured a massive amount of mana into Umbral Blade Dance, not forming blades, but creating a wide, solid, disc-shaped shield of pure shadow, reinforcing the crumbling rock from above.
**[ Mana: 410/1250 ]]
The cost was astronomical. I felt a wave of dizziness as my mana pool plummeted.
Below, dust and small rocks showered Kaelen and the others, but the catastrophic collapse didn't happen. The shadow shield held long enough for them to scramble through the section and into a stable part of the mine.
"Did you see that?" the ranger gasped, looking back at the dust-filled tunnel. "It... it looked like it was held up by... darkness."
"Just be grateful for the luck," the leader snapped, herding them forward. "Move!"
I released the spell and returned fully to my body in my room, slumping in my wheelchair, sweat beading on my forehead. The mana drain was real. I watched through my map as their signals moved safely out of the Quarry and back towards the city.
I had done it. I had saved him again, more directly this time. But the cost was higher, and the risk of exposure was growing. The ranger had seen something. The "luck" was becoming a pattern.
Later, Kaelen returned, frustrated by the aborted mission but sobered by the cave-in. "The Quarry's been marked for re-evaluation," he told our father. "It was unstable. We were lucky to get out."
He looked at me, and for a fleeting second, I saw a flicker of something in his eyes—not suspicion, but a strange, dawning confusion. "It was the strangest thing, Aiden. For a second, in that tunnel, I could have sworn I felt... a familiar chill. Like the one from that Glacial Bloom."
I met his gaze, my face a mask of innocent concern. "Maybe the quarry was just cold, Kaelen."
He nodded slowly, but the doubt remained, a tiny seed planted in his mind.
I looked away, towards the window and the city beyond. The dungeons were becoming more unpredictable, the taint was spreading, and my brother was starting to question the edges of his reality. The shadows I wielded were growing stronger, but so too were the shadows of doubt I had to navigate. The game was getting more complex, and the stakes were only rising.