NOVEL NEXT Chapter 41: Fighting The Corrupted Celestial!
Aleron took a while to digest the gains of the previous level and calm his mind. Then, after about fourteen hours had passed, he stepped into the next level.
The moment Aleron's foot crossed the boundary into Level 9, the world twisted.
The surroundings dissolved into a crimson wasteland.
Charred ground stretched endlessly in every direction. Giant obsidian pillars jutted out from the ground like the ribs of some long-dead primordial beast.
The skies above were thick with storm clouds that crackled with red lightning. There was no wind—only silence—and the scent of ash hung heavy in the air.
Aleron's narrowed eyes scanned the area, every instinct screaming. He could feel an unprecedented sense of danger.
Aleron's gaze snapped toward his surroundings, trying to detect the source of the danger.
Suddenly, the air trembled.
A golden ring of symbols etched itself into the air, then shattered, releasing a suffocating pressure. Three beings emerged. Their very presence made the space shudder.
The first was a Corrupted Celestial.
It stood at least ten feet tall, cloaked in bloodstained celestial robes that had long since lost their radiance. Its once-divine wings were skeletal, hanging in tatters behind it.
A crimson halo floated above its head, flickering like a dying star. Its eyes—glowing pits of malevolence—locked onto Aleron.
"Origin… Expert," Aleron muttered, his voice low, sensing the strength of the Corrupted Celestial.
He was filled with shock. He was just at the ninth level and was already facing a Corrupted Celestial.
What the hell?
Then what would he face at Level 100?
Aleron noticed the Celestial's pressure, having encountered a few Origin Experts before coming here.
He could still recall how, previously, he had stood no chance against the Origin Experts who had been enhanced by the strengths of their summons.
Now, would he be able to handle something at the Origin Expert level?
Aleron was just at the Origin Adept level and was totally unsure.
But with 8% of the Arcane Star bloodline and the strength of himself and Ashkar fused, he would definitely be able to handle it!
In fact, he felt a slight thrill and was excited.
Two more shadows stepped forward behind it.
The Corrupted Guardians.
Their once-armored forms were warped mockeries of their former selves.
Their bodies gleamed with darkened celestial metal, but gaping wounds across their torsos and necks oozed black ichor.
They each gripped massive, jagged weapons—one a corrupted glaive, the other a sharp blade that glowed with an eerie, ominous light.
Peak Origin Adepts.
Aleron didn't wait for them to attack first.
The second the Guardians moved, he lunged.
The first Guardian struck. Aleron ducked under the glaive, his left claw raking across its exposed ribs.
Sparks flew. The second Guardian came from the side, its corrupted sword descending in an arc meant to cleave him in two.
Aleron's wings flapped once.
The burst of wind blasted the Guardian off course, its swing missing by a breath.
He shot upward, turning midair, and launched a barrage of flame from his mouth.
Dragonfire roared through the battlefield, crashing into the second Guardian and engulfing it.
The Corrupted Celestial raised a single hand.
An unseen force slammed into Aleron's side, hurling him to the ground like a comet.
He crashed into the earth, obliterating one of the obsidian spires. Dust rose.
The Corrupted Celestial descended.
Every step it took burned runes into the earth. Its aura twisted gravity itself, and Aleron felt the weight of it pressing down on his bones.
He forced himself up, coughing once, blood on his lips.
He grinned.
"I was hoping for something more."
With a roar, he vanished.
He reappeared above the Celestial and brought his clawed fist down, but the creature caught it midair with one hand.
Their energies collided, warping space between them.
The Celestial's free hand came forward like a hammer. Aleron grunted, barely twisting in time to avoid a direct hit.
Even so, the shockwave from the blow sent him flying again, skidding across the ground.
The Guardians were already back on him.
They moved in perfect sync, one aiming low while the other attacked high.
Aleron spun.
A tail—massive, reptilian, golden-scaled—erupted from behind him and smashed into one of them, sending it spiraling.
He grabbed the second Guardian's sword mid-swing with his bare hand. Flames erupted from his palm, melting the corrupted metal.
The Guardian screamed, only for Aleron's claw to puncture its chest and tear out the core of its heart.
He ripped out an object that seemed like a sphere, causing the Guardian to collapse weakly to the ground, its breath fading.
Dark ichor splattered.
One down.
The moment lasted less than a second before the Celestial descended once more, slamming into the ground where Aleron had stood.
But Aleron was already behind it.
He brought both fists down onto its wings, snapping bone and membrane alike.
The Celestial let out a deafening shriek and retaliated with a pulse of divine-corrupted energy that ripped through the land in a spiral.
Aleron's chest exploded with blood as the wave struck, sending him tumbling, but he gritted his teeth and twisted mid-fall, slamming his palm into the ground to stop the slide.
Then he rose again.
His body healed visibly—scales knitting back, bones resetting.
"Keep going," he muttered to himself.
He blinked forward, appearing in front of the recovering Celestial and fired a beam of condensed draconic breath point-blank into its face.
The beam seared through flesh and bone, knocking the Celestial backward.
But it did not fall.
It was laughing.
Its voice was distorted, layered, and wrong.
"Your fire cannot cleanse divinity corrupted by gods."
Its body twisted grotesquely, flesh regenerating, its arms lengthening, and four wings sprouted anew—two of bone, two of black flame.
It ascended, summoning spears of red light and hurling them down like meteors.
Aleron was filled with shock.
The Corrupted Celestial could talk? How?
He hadn't seen any corrupted creature that could talk.
Due to this, Aleron was filled with disbelief.
Perhaps there was a way he could learn more about this world through them!