The world trembled under the might of this colossal beast. Its ethereal-blue appearance dominated their visions as the few that remained behind them fell to their knees, as if prostrating to what they believed to be a deity.

The hands were like tentacles, all emerging from a blue diamond that presented itself like a tear in space.

The fear captivated their hearts as Frost and her companions instantly prepared themselves for the worst. Cer, Ber and Res were primed for battle, finally taking things seriously now that an Eternal Night Corrupted had appeared.

A single prompt then flashed before Frost’s eyes.

 

< CONDITION: Greed Counter is invulnerable to all damage. Exiting the 1,000-meter perimeter of the Greed Counter is impossible until its defeated >

 

“… Cer. The Corrupted. Why the fuck is there one here if they’re so rare!?” Frost roared, angered by its sudden appearance.

“The fuck are you asking me!? They are rare! They’re fucking rare, so don’t go barking at me! Not now of all times!” She was also wracked with disbelief as they watched the behemoth float upwards of tens of meters into the air, its countless hands walking for it like legs.

“IS THIS THE TIME TO BE FIGHTING!?” Res exclaimed, already firing an electric beam at the creature.

However, it did absolutely nothing to her shock.

“Dammit. IGNIS! Listen to every call Nav makes! And you three – RES! None of us are going to be able to damage it!” Frost called out, then reiterating: “I can read its condition! WE CANNOT DAMAGE IT AT ALL!”

The triplets stared at Frost like she was crazy for a moment, but at the same time, they had no choice but to believe her, seeing the proof through Res’ failed attack.

“Figures! There’s no way it could have shrugged off that attack!” Res growled, turning back to the fumbling adventurers.

Their ranks had broken entirely by now, and only a handful including Perla remained, clutching at her mouth like her life depended on it. The danger was ever prevalent now.

“Heh. So you have that kind of knowledge of the Corrupted as well! So not only can people turn into them, and whatever lingering emotions – but you also know how to defeat them, huh!? How convenient!” Cer praised, baring her fangs as they tried to anticipate this monster’s next course of action.

 

< [Corporeal Value] >

 

< “There was always greed in the hearts of all.” >

 

< “We argued the value of coins. Of metal in a world rich in minerals.” >

 

The voice of countless thousands spoke like a grand choir.

 

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”

A high-pitched scream then emitted from the creature like that of a siren, and at once, Frost felt her head begin to pound. A migraine could not properly describe this agony, but thankfully, she adapted to the pain only seconds after thanks to her Painkiller Passive Ability.

Seeing Jury and Ignis struggle, alongside Snap who landed right beside them – she moved in and stretched herself thin, sharing her Painkiller effect.

“Angh… T-thank you.” Jury winced.

“… ow…” Ignis growled menacingly.

The triplets on the other hand were nearly unfazed by this, and simply stood there defiantly like victory was all but assured. Floating blue diamonds then appeared on each and every one of their heads, alongside a numerical value. Even Snap’s.

“NAV! WHAT DOES THIS MEAN!?”

“Blue numbers… what the hell is this thing playing at?” Res uttered. “Can’t damage it at all…”

“It’s assigned a value to you all! Be wary! I believe it may have to do with its entire skill set!”

Frost instantly began trying to [Cleanse] it from herself and the others but to no avail as they hunkered down and tried to assess their first move against this creature. In the meantime, they needed to wait for Nav to present them with the Subjugation Requirement.

Ignis and Jury took cover behind an outcropping boulder as Frost dragged the few that remained here and plopped them down with them, healing them and wondering just what the green color over their heads meant.

Frost and her companions had their values reach high into the six digits, with hers appearing as an ‘X’ to her surprise. The value itself was also written in blue. The very few that tried to flee were in the deep red.

And just like the people they saw earlier...

“IS THIS MY WORTH!?”

“HIRE ME! PLEASE! I DON’T WANT TO BECOME A COIN!”

“WHYYYYYY –!”

 

< [Stacking Wealth] >

 

< “The process they underwent drove the torturers mad.” >

 

< “They cared only for the coins despite their woes.” >

 

One by one, the odd 8 people had their heads blown off by a mysterious force. Coins showered all over the place, spitting them out like shrapnel as they carved through rock and inches into the ground alike.

The ethereal hands then reached out to collect these coins, scooping them up as it phased through the earth like phantoms. Another set then collected the bodies, dragging them into its body where it began to mutilate, gouge, and compress their bodies into stacks of giant, bloodied coins.

Frost, possessing the foresight to see seconds into the future, instantly took hold of the fallen adventurers behind her and screamed out at the top of her lungs:

“MOOOOOOOOOOVE!”

She leapt out of the way as Snap snatched Ignis and Jury to safety, right before the stacked disks were fired like giant bullets, striking the boulder like a meteor.

The triplets simply scattered, as if sensing the attack through instinct alone. Their movements were far more refined than what she was used to seeing, watching, them dodge the remaining 7 giant coins with spectacular agility.

“FROST! How the hell do we beat this thing! Are we supposed to outlive it or something!?” Cer called out to her from across a miniature chasm, crushing stone beneath her feet. “It’s not a Corrupted Zone as far as we can tell, so it’s safe to say that it’ll be easier, right!?”

Res, despite Frost’s explanation, fired yet another one of her beams towards the creature. She needed to confirm that it was indeed invulnerable.

“Dammit… that’s weird. When the hell did Eternal Night Corrupted start having higher DEF stats than our ATT!?” Res shouted, misinterpreting Frost’s claim of invulnerability.

“I mean that literally! I can’t even damage it if I wanted to! My bites bypass all DEF stats and it’d do absolutely nothing to it!” Frost clarified in a deafening roar.

“… does such a thing exist?” Ber was taken aback by this, as were the other two.

It was the first time they had heard of such a thing, and thinking about it now, it may also explain why some Eternal Night Corrupted managed to easily kill off entire groups of Moons and Stars.

Just like the One Thousand Eyed Bird.

“Nav! Please hurry!” Jury cried, feeling the pressure being to amount.

Their stats made them perfectly capable of defeating this thing, but there was no telling just what else it was capable of. The fact that it was able to give them a value was enough to keep them on edge, understanding that they were entirely vulnerable to its attacks.

Even Ignis, whose RESIST was 500 was affected by this.

“Any time now Nav! Do you have the requirements!?” Frost cried out one last time as another horde of people fled through yet another exit.

This time it wasn’t just ten or twenty. It was upwards of 50 people in total.

They were, to Frost’s shock, unaffected by Corporeal Value like themselves.

“They can’t see us at all… tch! Perla! Pull yourself together! You want to live, right!?” Frost snapped at the trembling woman, alongside the other fallen adventurers who seemed to be in a world of their own.

Still, Frost deeply empathized with their state of affairs. She imagined herself being just like them if it weren’t for Jury. Helpless, and hopeless against a creature of nightmarish proportions. However, they were only obstacles if they could not even attempt to defend themselves.

It would only be a matter of time before they perished at this rate. The reason why she wanted Perla to snap out of it was because she specialized in protective magic. Even without their help she may be able to protect herself and the others, although…

This was wishful thinking. Even Frost was aware of this cruel reality. The difference in power was quite frankly too staggering.

 

< SUPPRESSION REQUIREMENT:  Only those Empowered may damage it after eliminating all Hired Arms >

 

< SUBJUGATION REQUIREMENT: Greed Counter is defeated when its HP reaches 0 >

 

< I apologize for the delay. The Archivist expressed a resounding connection to this Corrupted! >

 

“So is this part of her story!?”

“She believes so. Although, while it may be connected to her in some way or form, it does not change that this was still derived from something else. A ‘disorder’, connected to civilization in some way.”

“… whatever the hell that means.” Frost grit her teeth, right before shouting at the top of her lungs: “HEY! WE NEED SOMEONE TO BECOME AN EMPOWERED TO DAMAGE IT!”

This, unsurprisingly, confused the triplets at the other end of the chasm.

“The fuck does that mean!? Mind explaining a little bit MORE!?” Cer exploded, her voice echoing twice in this deranged circus.

 

< [Mangled Coins] >

 

< “Do you hear the mechanisms churn? Forget the screams. Focus on the sound of the coins dripping from their outstretched cavities.” >

 

< “It was agonizing for the mortal. But for the healers it was a hell of our creation. They had a certain taste for their products.” >

 

“SHIT! Can anyone – dammit! None of us are going to make it there in time! I have no idea either! But right now just focus on surviving until we understand this thing better!” Frost yelled as the monolithic Corrupted thrust a dozen of its countless hands into the directions of those fleeing souls, and watching another few dozen come their way.

They suddenly turned into a vibrant shade of gold, moving like streaks of light.

 

 

Snap made it their mission to haul the adventurers they had on hand around with them. It unfortunately had its own hands full as a result, meaning that it could not reach the hoard of 50 people even if it tried.

It needed to evade these hands more than anything else given its weakness.

The triplets, Jury and Ignis wouldn’t make it to the people there either. Their hands were suddenly full as dozens of these tentacles came crashing down, smashing straight into the earth.

The ground split in their wake, appearing like giant stakes which then slashed towards them rapidly. Frost easily evaded an oncoming bundle, weaving between them head on as she chomped on one of these appendages, following it up with a solid punch to finish off its remaining HP.

As expected, the Corrupted created by it were not invulnerable, much like the False Corrupted the One Thousand Eyed Bird summoned during their battle. Realizing this, Frost relayed this information to the others and began hacking away at these things, all the while she hungrily munched on their appendages like it was a giant gummy noodle.

“[Galvanizing Blood: Link] Get rid of those things!” Res ordered her sisters as they sprung straight into action.

Her eyes sparked with intense sparks of electricity as an even powerful current connected the three together like a giant, transparent wire. It supplied the other two with immense power, temporarily boosting their AGI by an additional 20 points.

They were now faster than Frost by 5 AGI.

“Like usual, our ‘eye’.” Cer nodded, beginning to munch her way through these things with little trouble, requiring up to 5 consecutive bites.

She moved like a wolf, her body moving near parallel with the ground as she grappled her way through these tentacles, bundling them up with insane reflexes and biting multiple at once with a massive electric fang.

Her prowess truly shined here, and then, as if to show off in front of Frost – she used an entirely different skill.

“How do you like this!?” She yelled, her vocals creating an electric shockwave that continually seared the very golden flesh of these appendages.

The range of this was an incredible 50 meters from her point of origin.

 

Cer | MP: 8,900 | 10,000

 

And to think such an attack only used 1,100 MP.

They flailed in response, unable to control their movements, for she had inflicted them with an immense number of Zapped stacks, finally becoming the Electrocuted Condition which lasted up to a total of 10 seconds.

But 10 seconds was a long time, and she did not allow them to spare even 5 in her presence.

“This – THIS IS HOW WE GET DRUNK, FROST!” Cer rejoiced in the heat of battle, reveling in the dance of combat as Ber followed in her sister’s steps, finally showcasing the true strength of her Atelier-made gauntlets.

“Not bad sis! See this! THIS –” Ber followed in suit, punching at the air around her.

Each strike was like the clap of thunder, and the sound alone was enough to inflict damage not only to the Touch of Gold, but to everything within her vicinity.

The ground split, and with a consecutive flurry of swipes, she sent an array of electric slashes straight for the oncoming tentacles.

“This is what it means to be a Moon. Our presence alone… SHAKES THE WORLD!”

Ber, much like Cer, moved like an animal, dragging her claws deep into the soil as if sharpening her claws, which sparked like miniature fireworks. She used this as leverage to fling herself into a chosen direction at a moment’s notice.

With how insanely sudden her twists and turns were, a normal person would have had their neck snapped from the sheer force alone.

The crevices and fissures created by the explosions were nothing compared to what these triplets did. Their mere presence, as Ber proudly proclaimed, wreaked havoc upon the world.

Frost could only imagine the immense power of a Woe of the Fallen Star Corrupted if not even a full team of Moons could hold a candle to them.

Res was no different either. But she did not speak unlike them. Her usual serious demeanor was amplified by tenfold. Her gaze alone was capable of boring straight through one’s heart physically.

And she was not wrong to believe this.

Because a faint glow appeared on every object her gaze happened to fall on. The sheer electrical power of her Atelier Weapon was able to superheat anything in her sight almost passively. There was an aura of electricity that encased her like a cocoon, instantly causing the Touch of Golds to simultaneously combust and flail uncontrollably upon grazing it.

Frost was delighted to see that they were in an entirely different realm of strength compared to normal people.

“Frost, I hope you realize that these people are in our way! If this was a matter of them or another thousand, then they’d be killed right here and now by us!” Res admitted, reminding Frost that this was but a segment of their full strength.

If she used any more of her power, then it was likely that the strange link connecting her with the others would kill the adventurers if they so happened to touch it. Frost’s order to keep them alive was the only thing that limited them.

And speaking of Frost – She tried to make her way towards the survivors across the region, taking down a number of the Touch of Golds along the way, gnawing at them until she eventually received an ability.

 

< Stats of the Touch of Gold gained >

< Unique Ability Gained >

 

< ABILITY: Midas’ Conversion >

< Did the kings of civilization know the cruelty that spawned from their greed? >

< EFFECT: Transform the living into coins. The coins carry the true value (the skills) of the fallen >

 

< “The conversion ritual was the beginning of our end.” >

 

< “The coins they made were always so warm to touch. The value was always inherent in its very existence… Tied to only that of itself.” >

 

The picture was still too blurry for Frost to decipher. But the pieces were quickly falling into place. This Corrupted was heavily related to some incident in the past. Either that, or it had something to do with the creation of the coins.

Whatever the case was; it was clear that greed and cruelty went hand in hand in this very event.

“A Disorder… do Disorders reference an event maybe? Or something else? I know the Righteousness was a Disorder too but – but what the fuck are they!?” Frost yelled, frustrated at the question as she prompted Nav to wear the Iron Candle.

“We do not know. But we understand that it relates to something big. Something massive!”

Frost’s body began to radiate an immense heat as she manifested the Iron Candle. A single wax wing then formed over her right shoulder. Though Ignis was countless meters away she could tell that the girl was watching close, almost fondly at the familiar warmth she emitted.

“Civilization might be too big for a single person’s trauma! And too real to be folklore!”

“Do you suggest a Disorder is a mass belief? An emotion on a larger scale?”

“I don’t know, but you’d think so with something this fucking huge!” Frost yelled and launched herself forward using a combination of Flame of a Fleeting Ember and Final Onrush to instantly reach her top speed.

This allowed her to reach far faster speeds than the triplets could fathom. She blitzed straight through the ruined, bloodied arena as electric shocks tore the ceiling apart, revealing nothing but a black abyss beyond its frail material.

She could have sworn it was noon outside.

The world split in her wake. The dust itself incinerated as she drove through and intersected many of these tentacles just as they grabbed their prey. However, she could not save them all. There were few who were dragged along, shredded against the outcropping rubble and debris.

“… These Corrupted – here in an Impuritas dungeon –! I’ll burn this place down and bring that thing with it!”

Screams rang as these people ran for their lives; all the while Frost’s emotions climbed further. Frost was like their guardian angel. A burning, black dove that fought to defend them from the onslaught of the Touch of Golds.

At the moment of her immediate involvement, the Greed Counter then let loose of yet another high-pitched screech.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”

 

< [Hired Arms] >

 

< “The strongest were the ones exempted from this madness. They were bought, ironically, by the weak to prevent it.” >

 

< “When promises become broken, we often wonder where those people go. The ancient tradition never died. The cursed magical experimentations lived on.” >

 

It was at that moment that an array of cries then resounded elsewhere. It came directly from Snap. And then, just as Frost turned into its direction, she watched one of the rescued Adventurer’s lift their massive hunk of iron high above their heads.

And then, with a single movement, they plunged it straight down to an unsuspecting Snap’s head.