The Exalt [Cultivation Fantasy]

The last thing Serena remembered was Oscar's voice shouting for her to take cover and the bloated hydra exploding. A mix of flames and bubbles filled her vision until a sudden silence and darkness. Then, out of nowhere, she heard something snap, followed by more snaps.

"Ernest?" Serena mumbled the name of her gardener. Everything Ernest cut and pruned plants in the garden, a similar snap would come out. Agitated, Serena groaned and grumbled. Ernest couldn't be here in Ashen Grove. Was she dreaming?

"Wake up."

A voice called out to her. It sounded so familiar, yet she couldn't quite put her finger on whom. The voice resembled someone she knew well. Oscar? No, she thought it was impossible. Rather than the warmth and gentleness she had come to love, there was only a chilling harshness, a cold indifference. Her Oscar would never talk to her in such a dismissive tone.

"Wake up." The voice remained emotionless.

"Ah!" Serena felt herself drop, falling uncontrollably. She banged her head and knees, hissing in pain. Slowly, her eyes began to open, and a soft light of many colors expanded in her view. The light was comforting, setting her at ease, not too overwhelming. As her eyes recovered, the world around her came into focus.

The ground was full of moist dark-green plants and moss of several glowing colors. Many broken pieces of vines wrapped her arms. With a shake, most of them fell off her. They felt like tiny wriggling worms squirming on her skin, making her stomach churn.

"Where am I? Ugh!" Assaulted by the rotten smell, Serena gagged and could not breathe. The wriggling vines, her hands covered in a disgusting green mixture, and the horrible smell was too much.

"Get it together." Someone tugged her arm and forced her to stand up.

"Oscar?" Serena was surprised and smiled at the man with lovable black hair. Her chest felt warm, and she purposely staggered closer to his side, wanting to embrace him.

"Get off."

Confused, Serena snapped her head and glanced closely at Oscar. Earlier, she thought perhaps the change in Oscar's voice was due to her drowsiness and mind still coming to. Now, she was wide awake, and Oscar was still emotionless. The words he spoke and the harshness with which he handled her were unnerving.

The man she loved was behaving strangely. His features were the same, black hair, eyes, average yet lovable face, and enticing muscles. They were the same, but she saw a difference. The black eyes were dull and emotionless, and the face was stone-cold; not a single emotion could be seen or felt.

"Oscar? Is this a joke? Why are you behaving like this? Serena grabbed onto his shoulders with her trembling hands. Oscar knocked them away. She felt her heart breaking, and her lips quivered. Oscar had always pulled himself away in a gentle manner. The stinging pain from her hands was the result of his callousness and a lack of care.

"We don't have time for your foolishness. Free the others who are trapped."

"You…."

"Get to work."

Oscar walked to a bundle of vines wrapped into a mound. With his lances, he tore and cut through the many vines, some of which sprang out in an effort to grab onto him, all failing to touch even the hem of his garments. Serena watched in horror as a person fell out of the vines, struggling to breathe and covered in dead vines. The realization struck her at last. She had been held prisoner here like the other poor soul until Oscar came to free them.

Putting aside her misgivings about Oscar's current demeanor, Serena summoned her ax anima, chopped through vines like lumber, and freed several others. The prisoners were all Blue Ocean Pavilion students, and she recognized a few from her time in the base, people thought to have been missing.

If there were other places like this, then how many people were assumed dead when they were actually alive and held captive? What made her more uncomfortable was the unknown reason for her fellow students being imprisoned. Something was amiss. Serena wanted to know more.

After they freed up the rest of the captives, Serena calmed them all down and directed them toward Oscar.

"Is everyone awake?" Oscar's cold voice roused everyone from their stupors. Some were here for a week, while others were more recent. Serena turned to Oscar and listened to what he had to say next.

"Currently, we are in an underwater cavern full of Grovekeepers. I don't know what they're planning, but they're sacrificing beasts to the altar in the central chamber."

"S-sacrifice?" One of the freed captives paled.

Serena paled as well. A sacrifice was not what she wanted to hear after finding out she was held captive. She could have been one of the helpless sacrifices for whatever evil the Grovekeepers were up to.

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"I went out and faced hundreds of them. They're all weak individually, but there are twelve of us here. If we do it right, we could finish this place off." Oscar's dull eyes sent chills down Serena's spine. It was like an expanding abyss, sucking in all of her joy and delight.

"Fight them? If there are hundreds, then we should escape as fast as we can!" Another captive exclaimed. Everyone here was tired and drained after being trapped for so long. Serena had seen this many times on the faces of the ones who made it back to the base. Unfortunately, there was no safe place to rest in these caverns.

"The exit I know of is blocked, and we could be led astray outside. Take a healing elixir and get back on your feet." Oscar tossed some elixirs from his space pocket to them. "I'll kill every last Grovekeeper here, with or without any of you."

His voice contained a commanding tone laced with threats. Serena shuddered, unable to find a semblance of the Oscar she knew. Then to her feet, a yellow ax plopped to the floor, her armament.

"That's your weapon. Take it up and follow me."

She gulped and knew there was no refusing Oscar's words. She bent over and gripped her ax. With both her axes in her hands, she nodded and stepped forward. The other students drank their healing elixirs and stood up. They all had shaky eyes, but they had made their resolve.

"Keep an Ein shroud up to avoid the chill and be wary of orange spheres. It releases a gas that puts you right to sleep. Besides that, we move as one and kill everything in our path." Oscar went over to a pile of weapons and armor. Most likely where the Grovekeepers piled their spoils from the prisoners, he took up a bright red bulwark and led the charge outside.

Serena followed on the edge of his heels. Outside the prison, Grovekeepers were standing idle, and one was about to scream. Serena threw her ax anima, splitting its head into two. The others stampeded ahead, their eyes bloodshot, and their faces snarled. With Oscar at the helm, the group cleaved through scores of Grovekeepers.

They were doing it! Serena smiled, feeling power surging within her. The Grovekeepers were nothing before her axes, lighter than before. A renewed clarity washed through her head, allowing her to see much more than before. She grew ecstatic at her improvement after the battle against the hydra. From her enlarged vision, she spotted several Grovekeepers holding orange spheres.

"Orange spheres!" She shouted.

Suddenly, a blur rushed past her. Oscar hacked and smashed a path through the Grovekeepers, reaching the ones with the orange spheres. In a single second, they all fell. All the orange spheres cracked on the ground and released a mass of gas that caused all the Grovekeepers on that side to fall down.

'How reckless!' Serena got a water whip ready to drag Oscar out when the gas cleared. But soon, a shadowy figure moved around, stabbing into all of the asleep Grovekeepers. Huh? Her face twitched, and her eyes widened. Oscar stepped out of the orange gas as though it was nothing.

"Didn't you say that stuff would put you to sleep?"

"I noticed one of them drank a blue liquid before entering the gas to get me before." Oscar held up a large vial of blue liquid. "I figured it provided immunity to the gas. So I drank some and charged in."

"Well, still–"

Oscar rushed past her before she could finish speaking. She turned around and bit her lip. What was she doing? Shaking her head, Serena followed Oscar back into the heart of the battle. Focusing herself back on the battle, Serena released a torrent of water and flooded away many Grovekeepers.

"That bastard….thanks," Oscar mumbled next to her.

Serena trembled and turned to Oscar. It was the Oscar she was familiar with. The gentle voice and clear obsidian eyes. But what was this sudden shift? Her blood ran cold. The fear of what was happening to Oscar gripped her heart.

"Everyone! Let's jump down!" Oscar leaped over the edge. Serena gasped. She turned to the others, hesitant. But the waves of Grovekeepers came close, and they all jumped down to join Oscar.

…….

'I was too careless,' Oscar tapped himself on the head and landed on the chamber below. His fear and panic for Serena's fate were the main cause of his defeat earlier. Oscar cursed inwardly at how he so easily lost his wits. If not for Demon, then he might've….

'Let's stop thinking about it. I have to lead everyone away. Blasted Demon, he just wants to kill everything and doesn't care about the others.' Oscar didn't know if Demon could hear his thoughts, but he didn't care. He was going to give Demon a rant after this.

Peering around, the Grovekeepers surrounded him. Oscar turned to the stone altar. An Exalt Beast was tied up as the next sacrifice, a deer. The deer also looked weary and ragged. Blood dripped down from the torn skin under its tight bindings.

For some reason, his heart sank, and his eyes heated up. Was it his connection to deers from his anima that made him feel something more toward them? He couldn't keep calm.

The deer grunted and nudged its nose to reach his fingers. It came up short and groaned in pain, unable to free itself from its bindings. The saddened and tortured appearance struck Oscar like a nail to his heart.

Wasting no further time and seething with an unknown rage, Oscar swung the bulwark, using its thin edge as a blade with Ein to cut the bindings. Something kept nagging at him; whether it was his connection to deers or seeing something so helpless, whichever it was, he felt compelled to free it.

The deer rose, twice the size of a normal deer, twice Oscar's width, and reached over his head. Its beautiful antlers and hooves were made of teal crystals. Its thick coat of white fur with green markings like tattoos gave it a savage appearance, fitting for Ashen Grove. Releasing a loud, beastly roar, it leaped off the stone altar.

Oscar, his deer anima, and the deer charged together into a frontal charge. The deer's crystal antlers pushed away crowds of Grovekeepers, showcasing the strength of this beast.

The other students joined in, and all manners of spells exploded around the chamber. Still, more and more Grovekeepers sprang up out of nowhere. An icy chill flowed through Oscar's blood. It was inconceivable to see so many Grovekeepers.

'We can't continue this. There must be a way to victory.' As his mind spiraled around for a chance, he noticed another tunnel and smelled the scent of beasts coming from within. That's it! Oscar sprinted through the tunnel and found tens of Exalt Beasts, all tied up.

He had no idea if this would work. Right now, it was the only shot he had. With a silver burst increasing his speed, Oscar zipped through all the beasts. The sounds of their bindings snapping apart signaled the freedom of the Exalt Beasts. They all got up, roaring and growling, from which Oscar could feel their anger.

Oscar smiled and ran out of the tunnel, back to the chamber. The numerous roars grew closer behind him. A mini-beast tide was on its way.

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