Psychokinetic Eyeball Pulling

Chapter 175: Source of Corruption

Bones snapped and cracked. They resounded out from Ragan’s body like a firecracker. His flesh was being torn apart like pieces of paper, and a strange liquid seeped out from the cracks. It wasn’t the familiar red that she expected, but it was a purple and thick, like a gelatinous substance.

From his usual height, he grew at least an extra few feet, and a new set of arms pierced out from under his arm-pit. Once his evolution was finished, he no longer looked human, but instead he had transformed into a humanoid Spawn.

It was beyond what Astrid could have imagined. The corruption was deeper than she had ever seen before.

Ragan, or whatever he was now, let out a terrifying scream. It sounded like a knife against a chalkboard. Whatever he was now, he was no longer human. Astrid could see it within his eyes. He had been taken over.

Astrid’s clone shot forward and slammed into the newly evolved Ragan. She needed to get him away from the group, having him in front of them was far too dangerous with his current power.

They continued down the hallway as Ragan continued to slam his elbow into Astrid’s Mind Barrier. Layer after layer was destroyed, then replaced. It cost a lot of mana, but it was worth it to provide her team the safety they needed to attack the rest of them.

However, it wasn’t just repairing her Mind Barrier that was spending her mana, but the fact she had to split her consciousness with her clone made it all the more difficult. Her clone was stronger, but fighting with both at the same time was taxing her mana, and mental capabilities.

Fighting Avemoth, she relied purely on her clones for movement. But now, she was in an all out brawl.

She ignored the mana expenditure, and blasted Ragan through multiple walls of the arc. She didn’t hesitate for a single second as she conjured Psychokinetic spikes and shot them through the holes in the wall.

Ragan recovered in an instant and ducked his body under the incoming spikes. Growling like a savage beast, he stomped on the ground, and hurtled straight for her.

The moment Ragan took a step, Astrid [Crashed] the matter by his foot, causing him to stumble. He was about to regain his footing when Astrid made him completely fall. He was about to get up, but Astrid connected to his eyes. The corrupted man wasn’t given a single second to think.

Yanking his eyes, she felt a strong force of resistance, but with her current bonuses to eyeball pulling, it lasted only a few seconds. She tore his eyes from their sockets, and miniature explosions rocked his head, causing red to spill.

Yet he remained standing. His head twitched all around him, then snapped onto Astrid’s location.

Astrid didn’t know if he had some detection ability, but in a hallway, she held all the power. Bullets in the dozens formed all around her and with a surge of mana, she fired them forward. Each bullet tore through the corrupted man’s body. He thrashed from side-to-side, attempting to dodge them. Then, he slammed his body through a wall.

Ragan attempted to use the walls as an obstruction, but to Astrid, it didn’t make a difference.

She followed the still beating heart despite the devastating wound pierced through it, and fired more bullets. She attempted to [Crash] the bullets mid flight, but it was too difficult to do it consistently. However, it didn’t take long before one of the bullets exploded into a frenzied chaos.

Ragan’s body shot through the wall from the concentrated attack. The primal fire from her Eye Skill caused his skin to blister, but it still wasn’t enough to take his life. He rebalanced himself, then used the momentum to charge straight for her.

“You may have a strong body, but your mind is garbage.” Astrid’s clone spat, then stepped to the side.

A purple-orange haze blasted past her position. Her dark matter sphere split the air apart, tearing it into a primal blaze that trailed through the hallway. The walls of the surrounding area warped under the might of the attack, and anything in its wake was torn asunder.

In a split second, it clashed against Ragans' already wounded chest.

Since Astrid’s clone was close to Ragan, she accurately [Crashed] the spiralling ball of death.

The noise of the battlefield was shut off like someone had flicked a switch. The world turned to utter darkness, and only the sparkling of purple, orange from the primal fire, and white from the stars of the void remained.

Ragan’s evolved body was crushed into nothing. Disappearing into the void, the only sounds remaining were his hallowed screams. It lasted only for a few seconds before it was shut off.

Astrid clicked her fingers, and the dark matter black hole was cut off. The evidence of Ragan’s body was entirely eviscerated into nothing. As if he never existed in the first place.

Once the surroundings turned to normal, the entire hallway was obliterated. No walls existed, and the sky from the outside world entered the powerful walls of the arc.

She was surprised. The arc’s walls were no normal metal, but perhaps it was different compared to Rebirth. After all, this arc was just an inferior product.

With Ragan defeated, it wasn’t long after Astrid turned her attention on the others before they were all defeated.

Astrid walked up to the massive hole in the arc and gazed out. Hundreds, or thousands of people all looked up from the town below. There were certainly many strong players amongst them, but even they dared not to infiltrate a pirate king's territory.

This mission should have been something to kill time–to take Astrid’s mind off of home. But it turned out to be something more than that.

She took a breath, then joined her team. They stopped in front of the massive set of doors that were completely out of place for the unfurnished arc.

The doors were at least four inches thick, and they weren’t low quality either. However, it seemed that Ragan hadn’t entirely lost his rationale. The thick doors were locked, and judging by the lock, it was created by a master craftsman.

Unluckily for them, Astrid sunk her mind into the door. She followed the matter, or more accurately, where the matter wasn’t. It didn’t take long for her to create an image of the lock in her mind, and with a push here and there, it opened with a thunk.

Astrid looked to the others, and only Lisa held a look of apprehension. Perhaps she also had a vague idea of what was behind the doors.

Brett was going to say something, but after realising the serious expression of Astrid, he stopped.

Astrid pushed open the door, but it was too heavy. using Omni-Kinesis, she powered up her body with Strength, then pushed again. The door opened as if she hadn’t struggled in the first place, and the sight caused everyone to take a sharp inhale in shock.

Men, women, and children lined the enormous room. They wore nothing but a thin white robe. Someone had pierced thin tubes into their arms, and a pneumatic machine pumped a strange substance into their bloodstream.

Astrid’s face twisted into that of wrath. Then, she spotted a face that caused her heart to leap. She rushed over, and pulled out the tubes from his arm. Although she couldn’t recall his name, he was one of the second years that had joined her on the resource collecting mission.

“What is going on here?” Calum asked in horror.

Daniel approached another person. She was a woman, but it seemed he realised who she was. Unlike the second year Wayfarer, the woman’s body had already undergone a drastic change. Gills had opened up from her ribs, and even had emerged around her throat, and arms. Even her hair had thick scales underneath each strand.

She was corrupted.

“They are creating–” Daniel grabbed his blade, then slashed it across the woman’s throat. With a thud, her head fell to the floor. He bit down onto his lips. “Corrupted.”

Astrid’s mind twitched, there was someone here. They were alive. She exploded forward, and pulled them out of a dark crevice. He was wearing a white lab coat that was bloodied in spots.

Having trouble keeping her mind in check, she spat through gritted teeth. “Revert them.” It was an order.

An eye of primal fire, and another of vivid green floated behind her. But the scientist was forced to gaze into her other two eyes. One of the void, and another with a deep X that caused him to tremble uncontrollably.

“I–I can’t, there is–'' Astrid tightened her grip with Psychokinesis, causing the man to splutter, then she loosened it. “There is no–cure. Not right now, but I can!” He shouted as if to plead.

Astrid let the man go as he fell to the floor with a crash. She squatted down until they were at eye level with each other.

“Tell me.” Astrid commanded.

The man almost lost his gaze into Astrid’s eyes, but he managed to strip his vision away and bobbed his head up and down. He shifted his sight toward the hundreds of corrupted.

“I need to continue–”

Astrid frowned.

“Please–” The man placed his hands on the ground as sweat dripped down his forehead. “I was in charge of extracting the corrupted Spawn blood into hosts. If there’s anyone that can find a cure, it’s me.”

“Into people you mean?” Astrid snarled.

There was nothing the man could say, he knew he was a villain. Perhaps his words were just an attempt to save his life, but since the corruption was also happening back on Rebirth, she had to try and find a cure. Even if it meant continuing the testing on the people here.

“Astrid, you can’t let him.” Leena took a step forward, but Astrid placed her hand up.

“It may be cruel, but if we can find a cure, then–”

“There is no cure.” Daniel walked and stopped beside Astrid. “You know how the old corruption was stopped.”

Daniel didn’t need to continue. Of course she remembered. Rebirth was almost devoured by corruption. The only way they stopped it was by slaughtering those infected, or exiling them.

“There is a way.” Astrid grit her teeth as she glanced over to one of the corrupted.

“What?” Leena tugged at her sleeve. She had a bad feeling about what Astrid was going to say next, and her next words only confirmed it.

“Only if one becomes corrupted can they know how to stop it.” Astrid stood up and walked over to the corrupted.

It was time to test how the corruption took place.