Kenji plunged Shadowfang into a pulsating growth on the cavern wall, carving out a path.
The darkness here was complete, thicker than anything above.
It pressed in on them.
The air was heavy, sweet and rotten, clinging to his lungs.
His system screamed,
[Corruption Influence: EXTREME!].
The red warning throbbed sickeningly in his vision.
He felt the blight all around him. It tried to invade his mind, whispering promises of power and surrender.
He fought it, channeling his rage into a controlled fury, pushing deeper into the unknown.
"Keep moving! "These tunnels... "They're alive,"
he grunted.
He strained as he pushed past a huge, twisted root that had broken through the concrete.
Kaito clutched a flashlight in his teeth. He tapped his wrist console frantically, his brow furrowed in concentration.
"My sensors are going haywire! These tunnels are shifting, growing! It's like the blight is burrowing, expanding a root system! Stay close! This way, through that collapsed pipe – watch your head, it's covered in corrosive fungi!"
His voice was a mix of technical urgency and genuine unease, laced with the metallic tang of fear.
He stumbled over a piece of rubble, cursing under his breath.
"This is insane. We're in its digestive tract or something."
Elara, her Lumina light a dim, desperate glow, struggled against the pervasive gloom.
It seemed to drain her energy, causing her light to cast more shadows than brightness. Her breath hitched.
"My light... it's like trying to shine through mud! Stay close! I can't get a clear line of sight!"
Her voice was strained, filled with the fear of not being able to see, to help.
Every rustle, every drip of corrosive fluid from the ceiling, made her flinch.
A low growl echoed from the dark ahead. Suddenly, the wall beside them exploded, covering them in concrete dust and thick liquid.
A blind, armoured creature called a Burrow-Husker charged out. Its huge, clawed front limbs ripped through the shaky tunnel.
It swung wildly, its movements surprisingly fast despite its bulk.
Kenji ducked under a sweeping claw, the impact shaking the tunnel.
He turned, swinging Shadowfang in a fierce arc, targeting the creature's vulnerable belly.
"Too tight in here! Watch the walls! They're coming from everywhere!"
he growled, his voice strained, dodging another clumsy but powerful blow.
As the Burrow-Husker reeled, a new threat emerged from the deep shadows behind it.
A Gloom-Stalker moved silently along the ceiling. Its long, multi-limbed body blended into the darkness.
Only its glowing compound eyes showed its cunning nature. It dropped down, lashing out with razor-sharp tendrils.
"Above us!"
Elara screamed, and her light flared up. Still, the darkness swallowed it, leaving just a faint outline of the creature.
She barely managed to throw up a small Lumina Barrier, deflecting a strike aimed at Kaito.
Kenji moved, a dark blur.
He fought the Gloom-Stalker up close. The air buzzed with the thwip of its tendrils and the hiss of Shadowfang.
This wasn't graceful combat; it was a desperate, brutal brawl in suffocating darkness.
He felt the cold touch of the blight on his skin, trying to seep into his very being. He pushed back, pouring his will into Shadowfang, his teeth gritted.
They pushed through, each fight a desperate, claustrophobic struggle.
The tunnels grew increasingly organic, the walls pulsing, weeping a viscous, glowing fluid.
Kaito kept them focused. His System showed a strong energy signature up ahead.
Finally, the tunnel opened into a vast, cavernous space.
Kenji froze. Elara gasped. Kaito let out a low whistle of utter dread.
It wasn't a core. It was a Root Network. A huge, throbbing, organic web of decay spans hundreds of metres.
It drills deep into the planet's crust. It pulsed with a sickly green glow. Its huge, twisted roots reached deep into the world's core.
From its surface, hundreds of glowing tendrils stretched out.
They linked to the city's old system: rusty data cables, large power lines, and old water pipes.
All of it pulsed with the blight's corrupted energy.
"He's not just conquering,"
Kenji whispered, a cold dread seeping into his bones.
His mind was bombarded by jumbled, intense images of the planet changed into a strange, ugly shape.
The Heart of the Eclipse surged, nearly overwhelming him. It felt like it sensed a dark reflection of its own purpose.
"He's eating the world. Transforming it. This is… this is a planetary parasite!"
His voice trembled in a horrified whisper. The weight of their discovery struck him hard.
Kaito stared, his jaw slack.
"It's too big! Too integrated! It's like trying to find the off switch for a living mountain! It's drawing raw energy... converting it! There has to be a central processing node... or a primary energy conduit! Give me a minute, Kenji! Just a minute!"
He tapped quickly, his face full of worry, looking for a weak spot in the vast living network.
"There! That massive central conduit! It's pulsing with the highest energy signature!"
Elara pointed her Lumina light. It was dim but now focused sharply on a thick, pulsating root. This root looked like the main artery of the whole network.
"If we can overload that! It's the primary channel for the converted energy!"
Her voice was strained, but there was a fierce determination in her eyes.
Kenji looked at the conduit, then at Kaito, then at Elara. This was it. This was the moment. He knew what he had to do.
The Heart of the Eclipse roared within him, a terrifying beast begging to be unleashed.
He had to overload it, push it past its breaking point, risk everything.
"Kaito! Target that conduit! Elara, give me everything you've got!"
Kenji roared, his voice raw, channeling immense power into Shadowfang.
His body started to glow with a dark, unstable energy. The Corruption Influence meter flashed a bright, unyielding red.
He felt the whispers grow stronger, trying to pull him down and make him part of the spreading blight.
But he fought it, focusing on the conduit, on the monstrous Root Network.
"I'm going in! Prepare for backlash!"
He launched forward like a living missile of dark energy.
He aimed at the throbbing conduit, the powerful heart of Noxius's plan for their world.