Corrupt Creations

"Ice Fortress!" 

Swish! 

Around Lan Xue, a huge fortress made of ice was suddenly generated. The ice that constituted its walls, seemed just like a thousand years old iceberg that would never break and never relent. That ice was tougher than iron and could stop anything from approaching her. 

The huge crystal red mountain mercilessly collided against the fortress of ice, creating a huge and powerful Mana shockwave that could kill anyone below the Mana Control late-stage Realm instantly. 

Boom! 

Crack! 

The sharp peak of that crystal mountain penetrated Lan Xue's ice fortress, destroying its surface and making its way towards her. However, there were many and many layers of ice walls it still needed to penetrate until it reached her current position. 

The peak kept moving forward, breaking the ice layers of protection, until it completely stopped. Lan Xue had spent too much Mana on that skill, but at least, it was able to protect her from that attack. 

But suddenly, the whole body of that golem made of red crystals started to shine again, and from right where the peak had penetrated, Lan Xue's ice started to turn red. 

The red color started to dye the ice fortress, quickly making everything change, ruining her skill capabilities. Lan Xue tried to use her Mana to stop what was happening, but it was to no avail. It was like her ice fortress was not hers anymore. It was now, in control of that crimson-colored energy. 

Lan Xue swiftly decided to destroy the ice fortress defending her back side and move away from there. In just a few seconds, her entire skill had changed, the ice was dyed red and it started to turn into red crystals. 

Crack! 

The whole fortress shattered and the crimson shards started to gather in a certain area in the air. In a matter of seconds, it formed a huge horizontal spiky Shard, that resembled a threatening red lance. It was pulsing with energy and pointed towards Lan Xue, like it was crazy to pierce her and feed on her blood. 

After it finished forming, it was remotely shot towards her direction, moving at an inconceivable speed. 

Lan Xue realized the penetration power of that skill was nothing like the others before. Her barriers would be inevitably useless against something like that, so her only option was to freeze it thoroughly. 

"Ice World!" That loli figure used one of her most powerful abilities. Both her arms opened up and a freezing fog covered the whole area. At that instant, the ground, the Mana and even the air started to completely freeze. 

The red crystal lance instantly froze at the place it was. A layer of ice covered its whole surface, making it unable to reach her body. The lance slowly cracked, shattering and falling down in pieces. 

Finally, the crystal golem realized ranged skills were not able to reach her at all. It had a really low intelligence and it also lacked a lot on other aspects, such as how to better use the Mana or to properly utilize the corruption, but what it didn't lack was speed and power. 

After realizing his projectiles were useless, it decided to personally act. 

ROAR! 

Boom! 

It suddenly leaped towards Lan Xue, moving so fast that when she noticed, it was already arching high up in the skies and descending towards her in a high velocity. 

She knew she couldn't keep up with its physical prowess, so she had to somehow make it stay away. The freezing fog she just released with her Ice World, suddenly moved towards the golem, trying to slow down his speed. 

At the same time, she casted another Ice Fortress around her body, trying to defend from that attack. Unfortunately, the crimson golem was already expecting she would protect herself again, and this time, it was going to make sure his attack would land. 

Even though the freezing fog slowed its movements down, it collided with a lot of power against her Ice Fortress, making huge cracks appear on its surface. The shockwave generated was so strong, that Lan Xue felt like a hammer was pounding her right in the chest. 

However, even before she could rejoice her Ice Fortress was able to hold a physical attack from him, an overbearing pulse of crimson energy left from that creature's body, smashing hard against her defensive skill and completely destroying it apart. The fog from her Ice World was also dispelled. 

The golem had been previously storing energy to create this opportunity. 

Not even thinking twice, Lan Xue decided to use her movement skill to leave as fast as she could from there, but her speed was a step slower than that creature's speed. 

A massive red hand made of crystals, descended towards Lan Xue before she could execute her escaping skill. She couldn't even prepare a shield to properly defend against that attack, receiving that blow head on. 

Bang! 

Her body shot through the air like an arrow, while blood was spraying everywhere. Her body was not like Seth's body; a body physically enhanced with strength and agility. All she could rely on, was on her Mana and the defenses her cultivation was able to provide her. However, they were not enough to resist a direct attack from a mana Sovereign initial-stage creature. 

Actually, Lan Xue would have been obliterated if not for one thing. The loli dress her mother had left behind for her. It activated a protective blessing, creating a barrier around her skin that mitigated most part of the impact she had received. 

That dress was not a normal piece of clothing but a treasure item, since it was left behind by her mother, a person that was once the Sect Master of the Glazed Lake Sect. 

As her body was flying through the air, the golem started to move at a high speed after her. It wanted to destroy the insect that delayed it for so long. 

When it was about to catch up with her, a dark shadow suddenly appeared beside Lan Xue, grabbing her body and teleporting five kilometers away in a single second. It happened so quickly, that for a single second, the crystal golem even lost his target Mana signature. 

Lan Xue was in a semi-unconscious state and was only able to feel she was being held by someone; however, her situation was not so favorable. Many of her bones have been fractured and unfortunately, her connection with her Mana had been cut down. Other than that, Seth realized that her body was being infected by corruption! 

He had no time to inspect that for now, but they were lucky that the amount of corruption that entered her body was not that great, so it would take time until it was able to thoroughly affect her. However, it would keep making her condition get worse and worse. 

Seth was holding her close to his body with his left arm, while his right arm was still broken, but slowly recovering. There was a greenish energy around it, but his injuries were too severe for it to heal him completely for now. Actually, Seth had been unconscious throughout this whole time. He was fortunate to wake up, when the shockwave from Lan Xue's skill clashing against the golem made everything fiercely shake, making his consciousness return. 

Lexi urged him to leave from this situation and hide, since the golem was too strong for him. But when he saw Lan Xue taking a direct hit, his body moved faster than he was even able to think, unconsciously repeating the same thing she did for him. 

The condition they were in now, was horrible and he needed to take them away from there right now, else they could end up dying. But suddenly, Seth heard a loud roar and the earth trembling. 

"Run! He had scanned your position with his energy scan.  You have to quickly leave now!" Lexi's voice told Seth of his predicament and he didn't even thing twice, before activating his Shadow Walk and moving to a random location. 

Seconds after he left, a massive body dropped down, creating a wide and vast destruction around the whole area. It was just like a powerful bomb had dropped down and destroyed everything. 

Seth kept running for their lives, not even stopping to look back. He kept pushing his Shadow Walk to the limit while spending all his Mana to move the fastest he could. What he didn't know was that the direction he chose to escape was where Lan Xue had told him not to go to, even if their lives depended on it. 

Some kilometers ahead of him, a huge crater existed. It was so deep and dark that even the sun light that tried to enter inside it would never leave from there. That abyss seemed to swallow everything down, and there was an unholy aura down there, that was even stronger and more tyrannical than the aura of the Crimson Light.