At the same time, Dustin’s right fist shot out in a simple, direct punch with crushing force. His fist drove straight into the cyclop’s weak point-the crimson eye at its center.
The cyclop’s body stiffened, and the glowing blue patterns across its body flickered and died. As if the earth and rock that formed its body had lost cohesion, it crumbled to the ground with a loud crash, leaving only a cracked, dull red crystal eye rolling free.
Seeing that, the remaining two cyclops seemed to sense Dustin’s overwhelming power. The red light in their eyes flared. Instead of attacking, they scrambled backward and tried to burrow into the ground.
“Trying to escape?” Dustin let out a cold snort. Using the tip of his boot, he flicked a piece of armor fragment from the ground into his hand.
He infused it with true energy and snapped his wrist forward. The fragment split in midair, and the two resulting shards streaked toward the crimson eyes of the fleeing cyclops with deadly precision. With the same outcome as the first one, their bodies disintegrated into lifeless heaps of dirt and rubble.
The battle ended as quickly as it began, but the guards shivered as they stared at the dents and corrosion on their shields. These were just the residual echoes from the ruins, and they wondered what else they would encounter if they ventured deeper.
Dustin walked to the nearest pile of debris and picked up one of the cracked red crystal eyes, examining it closely.
“The energy structure is peculiar,” he said. “It’s not pure spiritual energy or internal energy. It feels more like hatred, fused with the energy of the land itself. Whatever the source is, it’s far from ordinary.”
His gaze shifted toward the path ahead.
The brief encounter earlier had made the group even more alert. They pressed forward in the direction Dustin led them and encountered several more waves of the echoes.
Some were the one-eyed earthen monsters, while others were shifting energy forms that attacked the mind with piercing shrieks. With him leading the way and the group’s coordination, they came through safely despite some frights.
As they ventured further, the scattered bones and broken weapons on the ground became less common. Instead, they found stone fragments resembling architectural remnants, along with the occasional dried-up spring and the withered roots of strange, unidentifiable plants.
The faint, serene spiritual energy in the air grew slightly stronger, but so did the oppressive, malevolent energy that twisted alongside it.
After passing through a field of shattered white stone pillars, the landscape changed again. A massive fissure split the mountain before them, as though some colossal blade had carved clean through solid rock. Pale mist drifted through the crack, and beyond it seemed to lie hidden depths.
Standing at the entrance was a remarkably intact bronze gate towering over 100 feet high. The gate was sealed shut. Its surface bore intricate reliefs of celestial bodies, mythical creatures, and rows upon rows of ancient script in a language none of them recognized.
Coiled across the seams were vines of tarnished gold, long dead but still rigid as iron cables, as if sealing the gate for all eternity.
Above the entrance, two enormous characters were etched in ancient cloud script. Though faded by centuries, it was still legible.
Aether Garden.
