From Moving Crates to Killing Gods-Chapter 60: Across the Wasteland

I started walking toward Argent, my legs still trembling. After killing two Corruptors, my hands were sticky and dropping dark liquid, the substance felt between oil and blood. It clung to my skin like guilt, though I felt none for the creatures I’d just dispatched.

The wasteland was vast, kilometers of hostile terrain between me and safety, and I couldn’t help but wonder if the third Corruptor would return with friends. The thought made my steps hurry despite my worn out state.

The spire of Argent gleamed in the distance, impossibly tall and painfully far away. I estimated at least three hours of walking, maybe four given my weakened condition. Three or four hours of constant vigilance, of jumping at every shadow.

"Should’ve kept one of those heads." I muttered, wiping my hands uselessly against my pants. The black substance spread. "Would’ve made for a convincing warning."

I had my yo-yo back, but against a group of Corruptors, it would only let me take one down before I was overwhelmed. And I had to use Quickstep with caution, who knows if I’d lose my consciousness again. My head still pulsated from the last two activations.

I stumbled over a rock, barely catching myself before falling. The motion sent a small spike of pain through my skull.

"Perfect." I grumbled. "Just perfect."

And then I remembered.

I froze mid step, my heart suddenly racing. How could I have forgotten? How had it slipped from my mind?

"Inventory." I whispered.

The familiar blue window materialized in front me, showing the contents I’d accumulated... which was a single thing. The object I’d completely forgotten about, the Hibrem Cube.

I’d acquired it after killing the Corruptor king during exile, the System rewarding me with what looked like a personal barrier. At the time, I’d been too overwhelmed, too shocked by survival itself to fully process its significance. Then training had consumed my focus, and the cube had remained unused in my inventory.

Until now, when I needed it most.

I moved my hand and selected the cube on that blue window. The cube appeared in my hand, materializing from nowhere in a way that felt surreal. It was small, perhaps the size of my palm, composed of what looked like silver. It seemed to pulse with an inner light, tiny circuits running through its surface like veins.

I remembered the System’s description. The only thing he managed to save from the corruption was his ability. Barrier.

"Barrier." I said, focusing my thoughts on the cube. The cube warmed in my palm. A low hum began to emanate from it, so quiet I might have missed it if I hadn’t been focusing so intently. Then, a faint green light began to seep from the cube’s surface, spreading outward in all directions.

"Grow." I followed, remembering what I had learnt. It moved slowly at first, then, a translucent membrane started expanding from the cube in my hand. It passed through me without resistance, continuing outward until it formed a sphere that covered me completely.

"Holy..." I breathed, turning in a slow circle. The barrier moved with me effortlessly, maintaining its perfect spherical shape as I shifted position. I reached out, my fingers stopping just short of the inside surface.

I took a step forward, then another. The barrier moved with me like it was attached to my very being, maintaining that perfect shape. A mobile sanctuary in the middle of hell.

Now with confidence, I resumed my walk toward Argent. The wasteland still looked desolate, but it felt less threatening now. My pace quickened despite the exhaustion still weighing down my limbs.

About twenty minutes into my journey, I spotted movement on the horizon, the unmistakable void like motion of Corruptors. Three of them, moving perpendicular to my path, they hadn’t noticed me. My heart rate spiked, my hand automatically reaching for my yo-yo.

But I forced myself to keep walking, to maintain my pace. The barrier would protect me. It had to.

The Corruptors drew closer, their path gradually converging with mine. Soon they would be near enough to sense me, to feel the emotions radiating from my mind. I tried to calm myself, to quiet the storm of fear and anticipation in my chest, but it was useless. You couldn’t hide fear from a Corruptor.

Except... they weren’t reacting. The Corruptors continued their path, oblivious to my presence despite being close enough that I could make individual details of their dark shapes. One was slightly larger than the others, its head swinging in wild arcs as if searching for something.

Searching for me, perhaps? For emotions it could somehow no longer sense?

Understanding dawned slowly. The barrier didn’t just keep Corruptors physically away, it masked me from their perception entirely. My emotions, my very presence, were contained within this perfect sphere, undetectable to the creatures that roamed outside.

I was invisible to them.

I felt a laugh get stuck on my throat, equal parts relief and disbelief. I clapped a hand over my mouth to stifle it, an unnecessary precaution given my newly acquired invisibility, but done by instinct. The Corruptors walked a couple of steps away from me, never once turning in my direction, never once sensing the crumbles of fear I’d presented before the barrier’s protection.

As I continued toward Argent, my thoughts turned to the cube itself, still warm in my palm. Where did it draw its power from? How long could it maintain this barrier? Was its energy finite, a limited resource I was currently depleting with every step? Or did it somehow tap into the same mysterious source that powered Argent’s much larger barrier?

Questions without answers, but they kept my mind occupied during the long walk back. Better to wonder about magical energy sources than to think on what waited for me in Argent. Because that was its own kind of problem, explaining where I’d been, why I was covered in Corruptor’s blood, how I’d ended up outside the barrier in the first place.

’Sorry everyone, I have a secret vow that randomly teleports me to random places without warning, including outside our only protection against monsters that want to eat our brains. Oh, and by the way, I’ve been keeping this secret since we got back, because the System told me I’d die if I mentioned it. So... how was your day?’

Yeah, that would go over well.