Pandora Unchained - a Cultivation Progression Fantasy

Wind whistled past Sorin and company as the great flying beast, Lorimer, flew just above the crashing waves not far away from the Cliffs of Perdition. "The one-hour deadline is almost up," said Sorin. "Have the harpies moved yet? According to information we obtained, all executions must be carried out by a dedicated punisher."

"Just the usual patrols," said Gareth, who had the best eyesight in the group. "Wait a minute, I think I see something. A group of ten white-feathered harpies. Silver-armored with one gold-feathered leader—a punisher, according to the description. Lawrence, you said golden feathers means they're equivalent to a cultivator that's 50 percent sanctified?"

"Stronger," said Lawrence. "At least according to my sixth sense. If I clashed with one of them one-on-one, I wouldn't last more than thirty seconds."

"The guards are opening the gates," Gareth continued. "We're looking at a minute before they arrive at the cliff cages. I'll confirm once more: are we sure about this?"

"Positive," said Sorin.

"I'm not sure about the poison bit, but I'm all about fighting them head-on," said Stephan.

"We've been over this, Stephan, don't make me hit you again," said Sorin. "Poison is a completely legitimate method of destroying your enemies."

"Destroying? Yes," said Stephan. "Bravely fighting? No."

Seeing that no one else objected, Gareth muttered something under his breath. A gust of wind picked up behind them and propelled them towards the cliffs. "Lorimer, it's all on you."

"Reeeee!" said Lorimer. Luxurious wings slapped the surface of the water and flung the large rat and his passengers forward. A second flap increased their speed to five times their group's normal running velocity. Cries came from the cliffs as the harpy scouts noticed them too late.

"Evasive maneuvers!" shouted Gareth. Lorimer rolled to avoid a ballista bolt fired from the cliffside and continued evading as Gareth directed.

Now aware of Sorin and his party, the white-feathered harpies split away from their gold-feathered leader to meet Lorimer's charge head-on, leaving the punisher to make her way to the human-filled cages.

"We've got twenty seconds before the scheduled time of execution," warned Gareth as he shot arrows at the gold-feathered leader. A gust of protective wind blasted away the arrows and formed a protective shield around the cliffside prison.

"Lorimer, drop us off here to keep the rest tied up," said Gareth. "Stephan, you're still sure you want to go ahead with this? It isn't wise to underestimate these harpies."

"Relax," said Stephan. "Sorin's coming too, isn't he? I can't compete in terms of firepower, but my defenses and life force are much tougher. Lorimer, fire it up. We can take it."

"Reee!"

The rat's coarse fur and beautiful feathers lit up as Lorimer merged his flame form with his new aerial form, doubling their previous maximum speed.

"Yoohoo! This is what I'm talking about!" yelled Stephan as the Lorimer cut a quick arc around the prison and charged the wind shield that had been summoned.

"Reee!" Lorimer warned.

"Don't worry," said Sorin. "I'm very durable."

Lorimer veered just before hitting the prison, flinging both Sorin and Stephan into the wind shield.

Stephan transformed moments before they made contact. As for Sorin, he put his faith in his fierce regenerative capabilities. Flesh peeled his bones, and his skin wriggled as it tried to reconnect. "Natural Selection!" he heard Stephan growl as he entered the inside of the wind sphere first.

Sorin arrived seconds later bearing a large payload of poisonous mana. "Five Poison Apocalypse!"

A poison nova erupted with Sorin as the center. It hit the gold-feathered harpy first, the prison guards second, and the pitiful humans in the prison third. Flesh melted as the five poisons began working their magic, and that included the prisoners.

Fortunately, Sorin was on the scene. He took in a deep breath and stripped the poisons affecting the humans before they could cause too much damage. Whatever poisonous miasma remained in the area rushed back into his body and partially replenished his mana stores.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The gold-feathered harpy, sensing Sorin's threat, flew towards him with a golden spear in hand. Yet before she could even strike him, her flight path changed. Her weapon veered and struck Stephan's spiked silver armor instead.

"Is that all you've got?" growled Stephan. "It looks like you harpies aren't all you're cooked up to be!" Savage Dismemberment!" His paws swept out, filling a thirty-foot radius with dangerous cutting energy. The gold-feathered harpy was forced to block.

I'll take care of these small fries first. Sorin linked up with the poison inside the prison guards and forced it deeper into their bones and vital organs. Even the strongest among them could only fall to their knees as the poison ate them from the inside.

Twangs sounded out as ballista bolts pierced through the wind shield in response to their intrusion. Their target was, surprisingly, the prisoner cells. Fortunately, Stephan's taunt was still in effect, and the ballista bolts curved mid-flight to strike him, interrupting his fierce attack on the gold-feathered harpy.

"The gold-feathered harpy moved in to take advantage of Stephan's predicament, but this time, Sorin intercepted the spear and caught it in his gauntleted hands."

"You dare interrupt the Justice of the Furies?" hissed the gold-feather harpy in a language Sorin instinctively understood.

Sorin had spoken to myths before and was therefore unsurprised that the harpy could speak. "Your gods are dead. Only the evils remain."

Poison rushed out of Sorin's hands and into the gold-feathered harpy's spear. A gold light pushed back but was unable to prevent the infiltration of corruption and poison.

The anatomy of gold-feathered harpies is consistent with lower-grade harpies. Dependence on internal organs is reduced thanks to an infusion of divinity. Poison resistance is high but unspecialized. Reworking poison formula. Poison formula is optimized.

"A seedling of Asclepius," hissed the harpy. "You dare mock the gods when divine blood runs through your veins? Somehow, I'm not surprised. Your bloodline has never hesitated to break the rules." The harpy stepped back and unleashed a flurry of spear strikes that blasted past Sorin's inferior defenses and pierced into his bones.

Sorin's eyes narrowed as he realized his opponent had changed. A golden light was now shining from the harpy's eyes and emanating a weak but qualitatively high pressure that reminded him of his ancestor, Asclepius.

"Possession?" said Sorin, summoning a flurry of golden needles coated in anti-harpy poison. A hastily summoned wind shield deflected most of the needles, but the twelve main needles pierced through its defenses and struck bone.

Flesh melted away at these key points, greatly weakening the harpy's mortal body. Yet, thanks to the divinity suddenly present inside it, it maintained functionality. "Your host body is too weak; spirit and your divinity are lacking. Perhaps if you retreat now, you'll be able to scrape out a meager existence."

The harpy grinned despite its body's terrible situation. "It matters not. Regardless of what happens to this pitiful body, your group will inevitably face our wrath again. But first, a gift. Taste my wrath, criminal's inheritor!"

"Stephan, a little help?" said Sorin.

"I'm trying, but whoever's firing the ballistae is giving me a hard time," said Stephan.

"Fine," said Sorin. "Just keep them off my back and protect the prisoners."

The air stilled as divinity erupted from the gold-feathered harpy and gathered the surrounding wind in the shape of a spear. The weapon stabbed toward Sorin, who hastily summoned a poisonous python to defend.

Unfortunately, the summoned creature shattered, and the spear continued towards Sorin. Nemesis isn't good at defending, and neither am I. Violence enhances my body. Madness, break my limits. Strife, find its weaknesses.

The spear of the wind was powerful, but Sorin could feel that it wasn't fully stable. The corruption in the air, along with that third, invisible force, was destabilizing and restraining what would otherwise be a flawless attack.

The harpy's spirit was fading. Though Sorin's poisons weren't well suited to attacking spiritual entities, the corruption hiding inside him was. As he rallied most of his power into a physical attack with Nemesis, a few slivers broke off from the spear and shot into the decaying spirit.

"You think you can destroy this remnant spirit with divinity?" mocked the harpy. "Wait, what's in these needles? It can't be! What have you done!?"

The last of the spirit melted away prematurely, eliminating the driving force behind the wind spear. Having lost its support, the spear destabilized, providing an opening in which Sorin stabbed the tip of his spear to blast the wind spear apart.

The cages shook, and the prisoners coughed up blood. Fortunately, Stephan had changed his position and was now located between the prisoners and Sorin. What few stray needles and wind blades Sorin couldn't pull back were attracted to the bear's armor like iron fillings by a large magnet.

"These guys are so annoying!" growled Stephan as he intercepted another five ballista bolts. "Lawrence, how's it coming along?"

"Just give me thirty seconds!" responded Lawrence. A shadow flitted across the cliffside and slew the harpies manning the siege weapons.

Having eliminated the strongest jailor, it took no time at all for their group to clear the rest of the Cliffs of Perdition. They cleared the rest of the mountain while they were at it, bringing the number of nests cleared and eggs claimed up to twelve."

"Thank you for your timely assistance, benefactor!" said the leader of the imprisoned humans as they were brought down to the base of the Punishment Peak. "We offered everything we had to Lord Hope for this chance at survival. Thanks to you heroes, our gamble paid off! "

Bonus Objective: Save the Human Survivors has been perfectly cleared, a voice suddenly spoke. Awards shall be granted as follows:

Corrupted Divine Crystals x 12

Cultivation Inheritance of Ariadne: Seven-Colored Yarn Art

S-Tier Skill—Seven String Confinement

A-Tier Skill….

…

…

…

The list was comprehensive, and the rewards were directly handed over from the leader of the survivors.

"With this, our task is complete," said the leader of the survivors. "Now that the world anchor is fully stabilized and our shackles are broken, we will begin the transfer ritual to return to our ancestral home, Olympia."

"Wait!" interrupted Astley as the man left. "I have questions. Questions about the past. Questions about the present. The Twilight of the Gods destroyed most of our written records, but surely there is some oral history you can share?"

The leader of the survivors cocked his head. "Is it meaningful to dwell on the past, Myth-Binder? It is said that our lineage birthed many gods and demigods, but all of them perished in the Twilight of the Gods, with no exception.

"We prayed for many centuries before realizing the truth of this world: the gods are dead, and the Eight Evils reign. Don't get me wrong, benefactor— we honor the gods for defending us from the enemy, as we would not be here without their great sacrifice. Ultimately, however, we must look to the future. Only through Lord Hope do we stand a chance at survival."

After speaking these last few words, a white light enveloped the leader and his people. "I do not have the answers you seek, myth-binder, but perhaps the Temple of the Furies contains the historical records that you seek. They cannot be accessed due to the potent divinity protecting them, but perhaps drawing this divinity out from the temple can weaken these defenses?"

Bonus Objective Unlocked! Fully unseal the Temple of the Furies and fight them at their strongest.

Rewards:

Shattered History Tablet (1)

???

"Well, that went well," said Sorin as the survivors teleported away. "If this is the loot we can obtain in a basic dungeon, I wonder what we'll be able to obtain in the advanced dungeon."

"These aren't normal rewards, Sorin," said Daphne, shaking her head. "We lucked out. Inheritance-type rewards are quite rare. Typically, they are duplicates of existing inheritances; this one is not."

"Can we even use it?" asked Stephan. "The higher the level of the inheritance, the lower the compatibility. Not just that, this is a cultivation art we're talking about. Is anyone here willing to sacrifice their current cultivation to pursue a completely different art?"

"We might not be," countered Daphne. "But any clan worth its salt will be able to find compatible recipients and integrate them into their clan. The real question is whether this inheritance is worth the trouble. Heavy investments would have to be made."

"Yeah, but the skills are different," said Stephan. "They might not require one to cultivate the art first."

"Sorry to interrupt, but are we not in a hurry?" asked Gareth. The advanced dungeon was still ahead of us, and we'd just been given an optional quest. Do we accept it or reject it?"

"We accept it, obviously," said Astley. "The reward mentioned, the shattered history tablet—it's invaluable. If my share on this adventure isn't enough to cover its value, the Order of Phantasia would be more than willing."

"I agree with Astley," said Sorin. "Not just because of the history fragment, but because of the unknown reward. Didn't you say that divine inheritances are rare, Daphne? Then shouldn't the reward of a chained quest be even greater?"

"I mean, in theory, but these rewards are semi-random," answered Daphne. "Much like making an offering to Lord Hope would be."

"Um, guys?" said Lawrence, raising a hand. "Didn't Sorin almost die fighting whatever possessed that harpy? I'm pretty sure that whatever guardian we summon would be even stronger. Can we handle maximum difficulty on this thing?"

"What, are you scared?" asked Stephan. "Aren't you all about taking risks?"

"I'm not scared, and I'm definitely not a risk-taker," countered Lawrence. "Every person I offend is carefully vetted. Anyway, isn't it up to Sorin in the end?"

"Why Sorin?" asked Stephan. "We're a team. Everyone has an equal vote."

"Oh?" asked Sorin, cracking his knuckles. "Are you saying you'll go against my decision?"

Stephan shivered. "Then again, you are the strongest on the team. If you feel confident, I feel confident as well."

In truth, Sorin didn't feel confident. The only reason he was considering it was because they now had time to prepare. "If we go in with a plan, I don't see why we should be frightened."

"Agreed," said Daphne. "In this situation, speed was a necessity. A mage is most powerful when they have more information and time to prepare, and the same goes for a poison user."

Gareth frowned, but in the end, he didn't disagree. "As long as we're careful, I'm not opposed. That said, we've all exhausted a lot of energy just now. How about we take a few hours to rest up before proceeding."

Everyone else agreed, and Sorin, having already recovered his health and mana, turned his attention to the loot they'd just obtained: the corrupted divine crystals. According to the Kepler Clan's records, these crystals can't be used in their raw form and must be processed by the Temple of Hope. But is that really the case?

He gave it a bit more thought before sending a tendril of tarnished God Light into the crystals. The golden and black energies in the crystal vibrated excitedly upon sensing the infusion of energy. The third energy, no longer as firmly restrained by the corruption and divinity in the crystal, went on the offensive.