Chapter 305: An Extract Option and Unexpected Gains from Corruption?
The elevator doors slid open with a soft chime.
Caelus and Sylvia stepped out into the lobby, their senses immediately on high alert.
Screams echoed from the entrance, and people rushed past them in blind panic.
"Ahhh! Run! This place is not safe!"
"What’s going on?" Sylvia’s crimson eyes narrowed at the sight.
They pushed through the fleeing crowd, shoving past terrified residents until they reached the main entrance.
And what they saw made them freeze.
A swirling mass of dark energy hung near the apartment doors.
It pulsed and writhed like a living thing, crackling with corruption.
Then, it abruptly shattered.
BOOM!
The dark mass exploded outward, fragmenting into dozens of twisted creatures.
Their bodies were made of shadow and broken light, their forms flickering between solid and ethereal.
Caelus’s blood ran cold seeing this.
He knew these things.
"Dark spawns from the abyss," he said in slight shock. "That damned Hollow King, he’s here too?"
Screeech!
The creatures screeched then and lunged toward the fleeing civilians.
Caelus moved without thinking.
[Skill Activated: Star King’s Sword Vault]
Golden light rippled behind him as he snapped his fingers. Starlight swords erupted from the portals, raining down on the nearest spawns like a meteor shower.
Three creatures exploded into dark mist before they could take another step.
He had switched to Star King’s Sword Vault after the battle with Reign Bloodfang ended. He was tired of using Holy Sword Surge, and the cooldown was surprisingly only 12 hours.
Sylvia was already in motion beside him.
Her Blood Sword Construct materialized in her hand, crimson energy coating the blade as she dashed forward.
She carved through two spawns with a single diagonal slash.
"Don’t let them reach the civilians!" Caelus shouted.
He activated Gravity Domain, creating a crushing field around a cluster of five spawns.
Their bodies crumpled under the pressure, limbs snapping as they struggled against the invisible force.
The Ruyi Jingu Bang appeared in his grip.
"Get bigger!"
The staff expanded instantly, sweeping through the weakened spawns and scattering them like leaves in a storm.
Onlookers who hadn’t fled yet stared in disbelief.
"Is that Caelus Kross?"
"The guy from the news!"
"He’s fighting those things!"
Sylvia’s Crimson Sovereign manifested behind her, its massive claws descending on a spawn that tried to flank her.
The creature didn’t even have time to screech before it was crushed into nothing.
More spawns poured from the corruption zone.
Caelus’s eyes flashed with blue light as his draconic features became more prominent. Horns emerged from his temples, scales spreading across his neck.
He launched himself into the remaining horde.
His staff blurred as he spun it overhead, building momentum before bringing it down with devastating force. The impact created a shockwave that sent spawns flying in every direction.
Sylvia followed up immediately, her Blood Sword carving through the airborne creatures before they could recover.
The last spawn fell in seconds.
Silence settled over the entrance as the dark mist dissipated.
The corruption zone flickered weakly, its energy nearly depleted.
Then, something unexpected happened.
A notification appeared before Caelus’s eyes.
[Extract?]
"Huh?" Caelus was baffled seeing this. He could extract this thing?
"Hubby," Sylvia spoke up just then. "I can see an extraction option as well."
"Then, we should both extract and see what we get," Caelus suggested.
It shouldn’t be a bad thing, right?
Caelus didn’t hesitate. He pressed extract.
Warmth flooded his body as energy rushed into him from the dying corruption zone.
His cells absorbed the power, his muscles tightening as strength poured through every fiber.
[Ding!]
[Extraction Successful.]
[+0.25 Combat Score]
[+1 Level]
[Combat Score: 4.87 → 8.12]
[Level: 1 → 2]
The sensation was incredible. He could feel himself growing stronger in real-time.
Beside him, Sylvia experienced the same thing.
[Combat Score: 4.87 → 8.12]
[Level: 1 → 2]
"These corruptions can do such a thing? It gave 0.25 Combat Score and a Level!" Caelus stared at the fading zone with a stunned look.
Their combat score directly reached 8 as well. 3 from the level-up and 0.25 from the Extraction of the Corruption.
Sylvia’s expression mirrored his shock perfectly. "My extraction is just blood extraction, how did I get this too?"
Their eyes met, and the same thought crossed both their minds.
If they could extract from corruption zones like this, couldn’t they level up rapidly?
The possibilities made their hearts race with excitement.
But at the same time, they wondered, how was Sylvia able to do the same?
Just then, a voice cut through their thoughts.
"How did you do that just now? How did you cleanse the corruption zone?"
"Do you have a cleansing skill of high quality?"
Caelus and Sylvia spun around, hearing the voice.
A young woman stood behind them, her blonde hair cascading over her shoulders with streaks of vibrant green woven through it. Her smile was warm and charming, but her emerald eyes held sharp intelligence.
"Oh, where are my manners?" she said with a small laugh. "I am Lunari Mavik, coming from the Vatican, Italy. Nice to meet you."
Caelus studied her carefully.
One glance was all he needed to identify her nature.
The holy power radiating from her made it obvious; she belonged to a faction.
Most likely the Boundless Light Faction or the Biblical Faction; he was not sure which was which.
But hearing "Vatican", he was led to believe that she was from the Biblical Faction.
Beside him, Sylvia shifted uncomfortably.
Her vampire instincts recoiled from the pure energy emanating from this girl.
It was uncomfortable, to say the least.
"Nice to meet you. It seems like you came here at the wrong time from the Vatican, miss," Caelus replied with a faint smile.
Lunari ignored the remark and tilted her head with curiosity. "That cleansing ability, where did your power come from?"
"It’s a skill I obtained from an Ancient Ruin inside the Origin Expanse," Caelus answered. "It’s called Corruption Purge; it’s nothing special, really. I was surprised to see it working as well."
Naturally, he was lying. There was no way he was going to reveal he could extract and get stronger from this.
Lunari’s eyes sparkled with interest hearing this. "If you have that talent, then we can deal with these corruption zones much faster. I also happen to have a Cleansing Ability. With it, our efficiency can rise a level or two."
She gestured toward the streets beyond the apartment, which were filled with corruption zones.
"Would you like to come with me, friends? It’s quite dangerous out there, and we could help each other and also help the city."
Caelus exchanged a glance with Sylvia. She gave a subtle nod despite her discomfort.
"Sure," Caelus agreed.
Lunari clapped her hands together. "Wonderful! What are your names, friends?"
"Caelus Kross."
"Sylvia Reign."
Lunari’s smile widened as if thinking of something. "Interesting, very interesting indeed. Let’s move!"
’To think I would find these two that Miss Valeria was talking about here.’ Lunari smiled internally and didn’t say anything.
They burst out of the apartment building together, spotting another corruption zone two blocks away.
Lunari moved with incredible speed, golden light trailing behind her as she engaged the spawns head-on. Her palm struck a creature’s chest, and holy light erupted from the impact point.
The spawn disintegrated instantly.
Caelus flanked left while Sylvia took the right.
His gravity fields crushed three spawns simultaneously while starlight swords rained from above. Sylvia’s Blood Sword danced through the chaos, leaving trails of crimson light.
The corruption zone collapsed within minutes.
[Extract?]
Caelus pressed yes with Sylvia in tow.
[+0.25 Combat Score]
[+1 Level]
[Combat Score: 8.12 → 11.37]
[Level: 2 → 3]
They didn’t stop moving.
Another zone appeared three streets down. Lunari led the charge, her holy power blazing like a miniature sun.
Caelus watched her fight with growing awareness.
This girl was strong, far stronger than her casual demeanor suggested.
Even with his current combat score, he couldn’t be certain of victory against her.
The second zone fell. Then the third. Then the fourth.
Each time, Caelus and Sylvia extracted from the dying corruption.
[Combat Score: 11.37 → 14.62]
[Level: 3 → 4]
[Combat Score: 14.62 → 17.87]
[Level: 4 → 5]
They cleared zone after zone across Queens. With Caelus and Sylvia’s auras, they never got tired, and it seemed like Lunari was the same.
She wasn’t tired either.
Lunari handled the spawns with devastating efficiency.
Caelus provided area control with his gravity fields, and Sylvia delivered precise killing blows with her Blood Sword Constructs.
By the time they reached the tenth corruption zone, Caelus had grown significantly stronger.
[Combat Score: 37.37 → 40.62]
[Level: 11 → 12]
Three more zones fell in rapid succession.
[Combat Score: 47.12 → 50.37]
[Level: 14 → 15]
Caelus’s body hummed with power. The constant extraction had pushed him far beyond what he expected.
50 Combat Score; that was 50 Rookie Ranks at level 50.
It was an incredible feeling.
Before, the power was scaled based on an average healthy individual; now, it scaled on one Rookie Rank. The difference was of heaven and earth.
As they approached yet another corruption zone, Caelus activated extraction once more.
But this time, something different happened.
[Ding!]
[Extraction Successful.]
He extracted expecting levels and a combat score, but he got something entirely different this time.
"Huh, it’s not levels this time?"
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[A/N: don’t forget to leave some Powerstones and Comments... they’re basically the life support keeping this book alive. We have fallen so much in ranking recently.]