The right path would be perfect for setting up as many traps as possible. Ghouls themselves got weaker when outside of the corruption. Although the whole place teemed with corruption, anything helped.

Gale moved towards the entrance halls, surveying the stone walls and wooden floors that had more stone beneath them. Unlike the forest where branches and leaves were used to cover traps, this environment had none. Normally, he’d cover them up to avoid the trap being dodged. With ghouls, he didn’t need to. He just needed materials to create the traps.

He pressed his palm against the wall, activating Phase Touch. Concentrating, he wanted to only get the innards of the wall. Easy, right?

No it wasn’t. Gale had spent the last half hour concentrating on making Phase Touch into two parts. One that moved and stayed as is while the other part was where he would move the part that he wanted to move. Separating the two instances of Phase Touch gave him a dull headache behind his right eye.

Slowly, he moved his hand, pulling at the instance of Phase Touch where the innards of the stone were applied. The stone moved with a grating sound until he’d taken all of it out. Phase Touch deactivated immediately as Gale caught the rock that almost fell on the floor.

Perfect. He didn’t need to conceal the trap that well. All it needed was just a place to put the trap somewhere that’s out of the way. All he needed to do was keep it out of sight from Elliot.

Dad always said to use nature’s gifts, holes in trees, dense bushes, and hollow trunks as ambush spots. But now, he’d apply all of that to this non-forest environment. The stone could be used as pellets. Wood from the floors could be used as materials for holding kinetic energy. The corruption also ate at the materials themselves, making perfect pitfalls or anything that needed to collapse.

Gale walked further away from the main entrance in the right corridor. Thick essence signatures splattered all over the tight corridors. Most likely the knight was using the corridors as choke points to hold against whatever he was fighting.

He began creating several chambers along the corridor, just like the first one he’d made. Each pull of the brick, he’d use Alter to make them smaller and set them aside. At first, it was slow. He picked up after carving up four chambers. Creating two instances of Phase Touch and controlling them at the same time came easier the more he did it.

The essence signatures on specific spots made different places within the area more stable than the rest. They were less likely to collapse when he altered them which meant a higher chance of being tripped.

[Colloquial name: essence signature, essence residue]

[Real name: Dainv Blood]

[Residue of inner Origin Core within a Dainv. Once a Dainv has used up all of his essence reserves, a Dainv may tap into their Origin Core as fallback. At this state, the Origin Core is highly vulnerable.]

Goosebumps pricked at Gale’s skin. How long had the knight fought against this world? Surely, Elliot wasn’t the first one he fought against. The signatures everywhere were just proof that the knight took his duty to the absolute word, never abandoning his obligations.

Could I even beat Elliot by myself?

Nothing was certain in this life, but one way or another, getting one punch in at life’s face was going to be worth it.

Haste, preparation, and continuous diligence were the keys to everything. Mom and dad had carved that into his very bones. He carved several more chambers along the corridor. Phase Touch also carved the pricks into sharp points and then merged with sticks made from the floorboards.

He crafted a kinetic mechanism that would launch the short rock arrows at where he pointed and placed it all along the chambers he carved.

Crouching down, Gale pulled out his blade and carefully pried up another floorboard in a clean spot. The wood came away with minimal noise. Beneath it, he found solid ground.

Using Alter, he shrank the earth beneath, excavating a deep pit. He phased the excess dirt into the wall and then dumped it outside.

The pit would need to be hidden as best as he could. He replaced the floorboard, marking its edges with a tiny scratch only he would notice. In the forest, he’d used leaves to cover his traps while breaking off a twig nearby to tell him it was near.

Moving to the hall’s centre, where the corruption thinned near a broken pillar, Gale began his most ambitious trap. He had only ever made traps in the forest, never anywhere indoors. The orphanage was also off-limits. The traps he’d made were always the relatively simple snares and pitfalls in the woods. But theory was theory, and physics didn’t change just because he was inside.

He created a series of interconnected spaces within the walls, each one precisely placed. When triggered, they would collapse in sequence, bringing down sections of the ceiling. But he didn’t exactly have any demolition experience. That’s where the corruption came in handy. He didn’t need to be a demolition expert to know these would collapse with just a bit of force.

The entrance hall’s high ceiling offered other possibilities. He carved the support beams with Phase Touch to weaken specific points in the support beams, careful to leave enough structural integrity. One good hit would bring them down on command. His father had taught him to use falling logs in the forest. This one had the same concept.

Near the main doors, where two clean spots created a natural funnel point, Gale set up his favourite forest trap with a twist. Instead of rope and spring-loaded branches, he used Alter to create tension behind the walls. Phasing out the supporting structure would release the tension, it would then snap shut like massive jaws.

He worked methodically through the hall, each trap building on the last. The corruption actually helped, masking his alterations to the castle’s structure. It was hard even for him to tell where he had laid his traps.

There were places where the essence residue fought back against the taint which is where he placed his most delicate mechanisms. The cleaner spots would keep them stable until needed.

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At the hall’s far end, Gale created his masterpiece. A complex series of Phase Touch points in the walls and floor, connected by lines of Altered stone keeping down hundreds of wooden planks under tension. Like the tripwires he’d used in the forest, but invisible and untouchable until he himself activated it by phasing the floor.

He added redundancies to each trap. First, applying Phase Touch to the whole floor would immediately release the tension. Second, a kick point where the floor would loosen and release the tension that way. The lethality would drop by a margin, but it was better than it not triggering. And lastly, at the furthest point of escape, a tripwire that was a fallback on that specific kick point. In the forest, weather or animals could ruin a good snare. Here, he had to account for any possible way that might make triggering the mechanism difficult.

The more the better.

The essence signatures actually helped, creating natural barriers between his traps. Like using different trees to anchor separate snares, but now he used the clean spots to isolate his mechanisms. It would prevent chain reactions he didn’t want.

Suddenly, the sound of footsteps descending down the grand staircase echoed against the stone walls. A full throat manic laughter came from the vile being coming down. The gaseous corruption clung even tighter to the walls, pulsing more wildly like a heart racing.

Elliot stood at the landing of the grand stairs. His face no longer resembled that of a normal human being. It was replaced by decayed muscle that clung to the bones of a human skull. Maggots crawled around the scalp and the cheeks. Black veins pulsed along the muscles, and his eyes burned with a blue flame that matched the colour of the blue moon.

“The thief returns!” Elliot shouted, voice cracking. “You dare show your face after stealing possessions of Her Majesty?!”

Gale shifted his weight. One sudden move, and he’s out of there. There were a lot of traps he had set up already, but nowhere near enough for comfort.

“Whatever you’re talking about, they weren’t yours, stupid!” Gale shouted.

“Mine? MINE? They belonged to Her Majesty! Each sacrifice strengthened our connection, our devotion!” Elliot threw his head back as another burst of voice cracking laughter boomed in the hall. “But you… you took them. Stole them. Ruined everything!”

Corruption swirled beneath Elliot’s feet as he looked down on Gale. The darkness spilled like a waterfall down the stairs.

“The amulets,” Elliot suddenly made himself look smaller with two hands clasped together. His eyes became fixed on Gale’s pocket. “Return them, and Her Majesty might show mercy. She might forgive your transgressions. Give them back, and perhaps I’ll kill you quickly.”

Gale pulled one amulet from his pocket. He had completely forgotten the amulet he took from Marcus and Drew.

The system’s message popped up as he put the amulet up to his eyes.

[Analyzing…]

[Corrupted Moon Amulet]

[No Entry in Codex]

[Effects: Siphons Ether from user to main host.]

[First entry into Codex reward!]

Gale dismissed the notifications with a thought. Drew’s words from Blue Haven suddenly made sense. And now confirmed that the sacrifices strengthen Elliot and also made him fall down as punishment.

“You’re nothing but a parasite,” Gale spat, dropping the amulet back into his pocket. Elliot had no qualms about commanding his thralls to die while he stayed safely behind. “You hide behind others, drain them dry, all for what? Power?”

“Power?” Elliot’s face contorted. “You understand nothing! Her Majesty demands devotion! Sacrifice! The amulets are her blessing, her way of sharing her glory with her faithful servants!” He took a step down the stairs. “I am her chosen! Her voice in this realm!”

“Her voice?” Gale positioned himself near one of his trapped floor sections. “You’re just another puppet, Elliot. Those amulets don’t share power. They steal it. They’re draining you just like you drain others.”

“LIES!” The word exploded from him with such force that the corruption rippled. Elliot began his descent on the stairs. “Her Majesty rewards loyalty! She’ll restore my strength once I bring her your head and return what you stole!”

Good. Good. Tell me more about how you’re weaker now than before. It would be good, but the signature on Elliot still felt overwhelming, like standing against a mountain moving directly at him.

“Look at yourself,” Gale said, sliding his foot toward the trigger point of his first trap. “You’re falling apart. How many sacrifices did it take before you realized you were getting weaker, not stronger?”

“SILENCE!” Elliot’s scream shattered several windows. “I won’t listen to your poison! Her Majesty’s light shines eternal! Her blessing flows through me!”

The corruption swirled around Elliot, but Gale saw it clearer than before. The man had gotten weak. Nowhere were the natural movements of a human. All Elliot was now was just a carcass on borrowed life. The blue moon’s “blessing” was consuming him from within.

“You want these amulets?” Gale pulled both from his pocket, holding them up. “Then fight me, you dog of an ugly moon.”

“You dare? YOU DARE CALL HER MAJESTY UGLY??” Elliot’s eyes locked onto Gale. “I’ll tear you apart! Feed you to Her Majesty piece by piece!”

Silence fell between them.

Elliot didn’t move, but a hint of movement at the upper levels of the castle did. The essence signatures glowed brighter, fighting against the oncoming darkness.

If Elliot took one more step, Gale would trigger the trap and probably bolt out of there. He could fight another day. Instead of less than a hundred traps, he’d make thousands. That’ll show him. Hopefully even kill him.

The massive main entrance doors creaked open slowly. Metal scraped against stone as the towering black armour of the knight filled the entrance. His presence split the corruption like oil on water, creating a clear path where he stepped.

“So, young lamb,” the knight’s said with a hint of clear sarcasm. “It seems you’ve found this wretched place.”

Elliot pointed at the knight. “You! Always interfering, always meddling in Her Majesty’s divine work!”

The knight ignored him, focusing on Gale. “I must apologize for my harsh words before, young one. The madness… it comes and goes, like waves upon a shore. In my clearer moments, I see the truth of things.”

“Don’t you dare ignore me!” Elliot screamed. “Her Majesty will have your head along with the thief’s!”

“Be silent, puppet,” the knight said. “You know not what forces you toy with.”

Even as the knight said his mind was clear, there was still a hint of insanity in that. Getting out of here and running away? No longer viable. Just one goddamn variable and now he’d have to punch life when he wasn’t ready.

Life never waits for anyone to be ready.

“Your parents taught you well, young lamb,” the knight took another step forward. “Let us now bathe in the blood of the corrupted. Young lamb, part this wretched tide and show me what you’ve learned.”

A thunderous sound rolled down from above as dozens of feet moved at once, accompanied by inhuman howls. Elliot’s face split into a grotesque smile that made the maggots writhe even harder.

“Yes! Come, my faithful! Her Majesty calls for blood!”

“Fool,” the knight laughed, growing ever more manic by the second, similar to Elliot.

The stampede grew louder, doors splintered along with floorboards. Their wails and roars held no semblance of any human vocal chords.

“They will tear you both apart,” Elliot said, spreading his arms wide. “And I will offer your limbs to Her Majesty!”

“Time grows short,” the knight said almost frantic. “The darkness calls, young lamb. I feel its pull. The eyes are coming. They are…. three. Run. Run while you still can. I will… I will try to hold them back… NO. Fight with me, young lamb! Fight!”

“None of you will leave this place!” Elliot shouted. “Her Majesty demands sacrifice, and I will deliver!”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep