Corrupt Creations

The duo activated their senses, trying to identify what was happening underneath, but what they captured shocked them to the core. 

Lan Xue wasn't able to sense what was causing all that disturbance, what could only mean one thing that she didn't want to believe in. As for Seth, he was able to see it all. There was a gigantic creature made of crimson crystals destroying everything after it awakened. 

Suddenly, he saw the monster turning its head upwards and looking directly at him. 

"Not good! Run!" 

Boom! 

The crimson giant raised his crystalized hands and released his Mana, destroying the whole ceiling and opening a huge path to the surface. 

Seth and Lan Xue jumped backwards, getting away from that area the fastest they could. 

BOOM! 

The already destroyed ground, violently burst apart and massive rocks flew everywhere. A giant crystal red hand held the edge of the destroyed ground and propelled the massive body out of that hole. 

Seth and Lan Xue looked back to see what was happening, but when they realized, there was a huge golem full of spiky crystal shards already standing right in front of Seth. His massive crystal hand was already coming towards Seth, not even giving him time to react. 

Bang! 

Seth was taken off guard and received that hit totally unprepared. His body flew through the terrain like a horizontal meteor, destroying everything in front of him for many and many kilometers, finally stopping after destroying a huge mountain. 

This hit he suffered, was nothing like the ones he received from fighting the Cerberus. This time he had suffered a massive loss, even though he was being buffed by the energy of corruption. The crimson golem had hit him on his right side and out of reflex, Seth had used his arm to defend. Now it was thoroughly broken and Seth was lying unconscious amidst a huge pile of debris. There were many internal injuries inside his body and it didn't seem he would be standing up for now. 

A single hit was able to crush him as if he were an ant, just like the way he was used to crush his enemies. 

Lan Xue didn't have time to react and save him, she immediately tried to use her energy scan on that red crystal giant, but it was not returning her any information. She realized that she was dealing with a Mana Sovereign entity and this situation fit right in those criteria she told Seth before. This enemy was too strong for them. 

At that moment, Lan Xue realized she had to choose if she wanted to leave or to fight against a Mana Sovereign entity. Her brain was trying to work quickly, as many and many things were passing inside her head, but the crystal giant suddenly started to move even before she was able to decide. 

ROAR! Boom! 

Its roar created an energy shockwave that destroyed everything around, and just after it did that, the creature suddenly jumped towards Seth direction, covering a great expanse of land in s single movement. When it landed back on the ground a few kilometers away from its initial point, the point where it had descended, suffered a huge blast. The creature completely ignored Lan Xue, since it felt something different in Seth. 

When Lan Xue saw that huge ominous creature moving towards Seth, it was like she had suddenly forgotten her initial worries, unconsciously using her strongest ability to move towards him. 

The crystal golem leaped once more, causing the whole ground to tremble. When it was up in the air, it positioned its body to fall right where Seth was lying, but just as it started to descend, a snowstorm surged upwards, completely disturbing its pace and stiffening its movements. 

Instead of falling right on top of where Seth was, it fell three to five kilometers away, causing the whole area to collapse. 

Lan Xue appeared up in the air as both her hands were moving in a different pace and in a different direction. 

Her right hand was exuding a freezing sensation, creating a storm of ice and snow that kept freezing the whole area around the golem. Her left hand though, was pointed towards Seth as a blue light left from it, turning into a ball of water that swiftly flew towards him. 

That water elemental ball enveloped his body, protecting him from the energy fluctuations from what was about to happen and slowly healing some of his wounds. 

Roar! 

The crystal golem didn't seem to like what was happening around him and a huge quantity of Mana suddenly expanded from its body, completely destroying everything that was raining on top of him. 

Those huge blocks of ice that were coming downwards, were crushed by the intensity of that Mana, vanishing completely. However, this time the pale red crystals around that giant's body, started to shine with an ominous crimson light. 

Many crimson shards started to dethatch themselves from his body, hovering in the air and pointing their sharp ends, towards Lan Xue. 

Lan Xue felt that no matter what, she couldn't let any of those shards penetrate her skin, else she might end up losing her life. There was something in that energy, that send chills running down her spine. 

Suddenly, the shards accelerate towards her, cutting the air and leaving crimson marks behind. 

Lan Xue started to quickly retreat as many ice walls appeared at the places she was passing through, creating dozens of extra protective layers behind. 

When the first crimson shard touched those ice walls, they broke them like those walls were made of paper and not a hardened form of ice. 

One by one, the ice walls were shattering in a rapid succession, but slowly the crimson shards were losing their momentum. Unfortunately, when the last wall broke apart, many of those shards were still moving forward while pursuing Lan Xue. 

Lan Xue suddenly stopped running and created a small river in front of her. She was not only able to use ice elemental energy, but she was able to use water as well. She started to move her arms, and the river she had created started to move according her commands. It went towards the remaining shards, washing them away and making them lose their strength. 

Roar! 

But suddenly, the aura around the red golem increased in intensity and the shards that were losing their power quickly exploded in hundreds of thousands of thing fragments. Those fragments seemed to have been recharged, creating a shower of thin red needles that threatened to pierce Lan Xue's skin. 

If any of those shards entered in contact with her, she would be corrupted by that tyrannical energy. 

"Everlasting Ice!" 

Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish! 

As the thin red needles stormed their way towards her, they started to enter an area where everything inevitably turned into ice. Hundreds of thousands of needles were freezing in quick succession, falling down towards the ground and shattering. 

After all of them were frozen, Lan Xue finally cancelled her ability. She spent a lot of Mana resisting that single attack, what made her feel like things were not good. However, before she could relax, she felt the need to use an even better skill to protect herself. Immediately, she recollected her freezing aura and prepared for the incoming attack. 

The red crystal golem didn't like that all of its needles were frozen and wasted, its Mana inflated once again and it raised both his arms, smashing hard against the ground while infusing a lot of Mana on it. 

Boom! 

A red shockwave travelled quickly through the land, arriving underneath the place Lan Xue was hovering at, really quick. The ground at that place opened up and a huge crustal shard suddenly left from inside the earth like it was an ascending iceberg, piercing its way towards the heaven. 

While the giant red crystal was coming upwards, the golem started to repeat the action of smashing the ground multiple times in a row. 

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! 

Suddenly, many red towers made of crystals were moving upwards at an inconceivable speed, sealing Lan Xue's routes of escape. Together, they resembled a huge crimson mountain right at the center of the Desolate Scorching Wasteland. 

Lan Xue used her movement skill to dodge the first attack, moving quickly through the skies, but suddenly, a second attack surged upwards towards her, then a third and a fourth. It kept happening until she had nowhere to run to. That was when the golem struck the soil the hardest it could and a huge red crystal mountain surged upwards with a lot of momentum. The peak was just like an arrow head, ready to pierce Lan Xue's defenses and body. 

Lan Xue had no more else to go, so she had to spend another huge chunk of Mana to create another one of her defensive spells. 

This battle was starting to get one sided, where she could only defend herself against her enemies' attacks.