The Oracle Paths

The atmosphere was a stark departure from the ventilation shafts he had been navigating up until now.

Those were nothing but wide conduits of desolate black steel, designed and engineered for one purpose only: to evacuate and reabsorb potential energy surpluses when the Magnetic Resonator's Conversion Chamber was temporarily overwhelmed. Whether it was radiation or temperature, they were abnormally high in these passages.

In comparison, the well-lit, properly furnished room now laid bare before him was far more welcoming.

It was the same voidsteel cladding each wall and ceiling, as if countless tunnels and chambers had been carved into a colossal block of metal like an anthill.

However, the ornate decorations and opulent furniture made the place pleasantly habitable. Most Civilians and low-level Evolvers lived in conditions far worse than this.

Jake could affirm with certainty that he had finally arrived at the base where the Magnetic Resonator was operated. If any qualified personnel were working in this godforsaken place, this was where he had a good chance of encountering them.

Regrettably, spotting the dried blood splatters of various hues repainting the walls and the floor, he immediately discarded that thought. The Digestors had been there before him.

The absence of corpses or bones didn't unsettle him, but Xi remarked grimly,

[Digestors aren't typically the sort to leave blood traces behind. High-Rank Digestors may not be interested, but those that have recently spawned can't afford to be picky.]

Once this anomaly was mentioned, Jake could no longer ignore it and began to furrow his brows.

Was this a set-up? But to what end?

Following the blood trails passing through the door and disappearing into the corridor with his gaze, Jake suddenly considered a chilling possibility he dreaded above all.

"To coax us into rescuing potential survivors? Hence, encouraging us to voluntarily explore this base?" He muttered, reactivating his Cosmic Sight, but the walls here also hindered his mental sense.

Perhaps more effectively than on the outside. Until now, Jake had been led to believe that this interference was a property of the Voidsteel alone, but the fact his spiritual energy couldn't penetrate these walls even by a millimeter suggested something far more ominous.

[A Dungeon Digestor.] Xi declared ominously, stealing the words from his mouth. [It's worse than I thought.]

Jake gasped, then grew grim as he pondered this possibility. The more he thought about it, the more plausible it seemed.

His first encounter with a Dungeon Digestor was still fresh in his memory, and given the choice, he would never willingly step foot in one again.

"That explains why neither my mental sense nor my Oracle Scans can penetrate these walls." He acknowledged heavily.

[If it is indeed a Dungeon Digestor... No, forget what I said.] Xi retracted, knowing whatever she would say, he wouldn't abandon his friends.

She wanted to tell him that a Dungeon Digestor in such a place was almost impossible. Before settling somewhere, these creatures were harmless or nearly so Nexuses.

A Digestor like this shouldn't be able to establish itself in the heart of a Magnetic Resonator by itself. Someone probably smuggled it in here secretly.

Jake and Xi were one, so even without speaking, he knew very well what she was thinking. He also knew there was something else she wasn't telling him.

It was okay if this Nexus had been transported from the outside, through the Yellow Cube. But if this Dungeon Digestor was a local, given its possible affinity with space-time, they could fear the worst.

In the heat of the moment, Jake's instincts yelled retreat, but remembering that Lucia, Hade and Ulfar were also inside, he couldn't afford to falter.

The blood spattered across the ground could just as well belong to his comrades as to the facility's staff.

With a wave of his hand, he coalesced the blood into several hovering, vibrant orbs. His iris shimmered faintly as he inspected the bloody spheres, even going so far as to sample each by the tip of his finger.

This was an act unfathomable to the Jake of old, yet he tasted these alien sanguine drops without a second thought, as if it were the most natural course of action. Perhaps he didn't fully grasp the extent of his transformation, but Xi, in contrast, was all too aware of his metamorphosis.

Despite this, she had no intent to caution him. She desired his strength, his survival, regardless of the cost. Unbeknownst to her, she too had changed dramatically, her behavior and concerns having long since deviated from her intended algorithmic existence.

"This isn't their blood." Jake's voice resonated relief, had it been otherwise, he wouldn't know how to react. The fact that no Oracle Path worked here only further solidified the likelihood of a Dungeon Digestor.

'But I'm a kind of Digestor too. So maybe...'

Trusting in his Artifact Incarnation, he closed his eyes, formulating a wish in his mind. This was unlike his wristband, which followed his desires like a loyal canine. Here, he had no interface for assistance. His body itself was an Oracle Device.

Expecting an immediate failure, he was taken aback when as he funneled his willpower, spirit power, and even a portion of his soul power into his wish, he, without realizing it, catalyzed an unexpected phenomenon.

His intelligence, Spirit Body, and Soul Strength were not to be trifled with, Channeled and focused via mysterious and profound methods he did not comprehend, he was graced with unprecedented mental clarity.

When he reopened his eyes, they contained bottomless swirls of black and white lights that guided his path. In an unearthly trance, he confidently strode toward the door, as if he knew where he was heading.

Navigating the labyrinthine corridor, he turned left, then right without hesitation. Despite his trance-like state, his movements were unhurried; it required his full concentration, and his Grade 10 Energy was pushed to the brink.

The further he ventured, the more ordinary the base seemed. The infrastructure was intact, and every detail and appliance was preserved. It bore little resemblance to the first Dungeon Digestor he had explored. Either this one was far more mature and intelligent, or it was a newborn. The latter seemed the most plausible.

Hope had not yet flickered out!

His uninterrupted journey comforted his hypothesis. As he devoured miles of desolate corridors without encountering a single soul, the heavy burden compressing his chest since learning of Cekt's predicament finally lightened.

His breathing returned to normalcy.

"Still, why are there no enemies?" Jake's teeth grated in irritation as he ventured into yet another desolate hallway.

BANG!

Just as Jake started to believe that he might retrieve his comrades without a hitch, the cover of an air vent - similar to the one he'd sneaked in through earlier - burst off its mount, spewing out a stream of repulsive grey creatures.

Jake retreated with a casual leap to avoid getting crushed, and coldly observed the abominations spilling unceasingly into the narrow hallway, to the point where they were crushing each other.

These monstrous creatures, a grotesque fusion of a gorilla and a large feline, reared their ghastly form. Their bodies were a grisly mass of sinew and muscle, grayish and somewhat translucent as if lit from within.

Their eyes, those horrifying, silver orbs, glowed

with an eerie, unholy light, piercing the darkness around it. The creatures' beastly visage bore no skin, their grisly, bloody flesh exposed in raw and macabre detail. The grotesque fibers of their muscles glistened in the faint light, the horrific spectacle enough to freeze one's blood.

Every heaving breath they took caused ripples to move across their exposed flesh, the sight equally fascinating and horrifying. When it bared its teeth, each one sharp as a razor's edge, the sight was made more gruesome by the thick, silver blood that dripped from its mouth, staining the ground below.

Those that had been first to tumble into the hallway seemed to tire of being squashed by their kin as one of them managed to crawl out of the landing zone towards Jake. Morbid cracks and snaps echoed in the hallway as the creature reformed its broken bones and healed its wounds at a shocking pace. In less than a second, the monster was completely restored, sniffing the air and training its malicious gaze on its designated prey.

ROOOARRRR!

Its guttural growl echoed ominously through the silence, the raw, primal sound serving as a chilling reminder of the creature's hostility. Unfortunately, Jake was not afforded the luxury of admiring its vocal prowess for long.

With an awkward, jerky grace, the quadruped creature galloped towards him, covering the distance between them in the blink of an eye. The Digestor pounced at him, leaping into the air as if to tear out his throat.

Its thick, robust limbs, powerful enough to rip a tree from its roots, flashed their chitinous claws before his face. In the creature's eyes, Jake was already dead.

The monster anticipated seeing terror and despair on its victim's face, a delicacy it relished, but instead, a sneer of cold disdain twisted Jake's features.

SPLASH!

With a casual supersonic backhand that was impossible to dodge, the creature's head burst like overripe fruit, splattering the corridor. With chilling indifference, the architect of this carnage raised his gaze, locking onto the next victim while licking his lips.

"Next."