Jinn BLADE
Chapter 111 | Mud and Mind

Chapter 111: Chapter 111 | Mud and Mind

Their figures emerged from the swirling portal, and what greeted their eyes was a stark contrast to the place they had come from.

The air changed almost immediately, thick and heavy, filled with the smell of rot and wet soil.

*Heavy rain sounds!

"Where the hell...?" Verhedyn muttered, his eyes darting left and right as he scanned the surroundings, already uneasy.

*Heavy rain sounds!

Rain fell hard from the dark sky above, dropping like a thousand cold needles stabbing through their clothes and skin.

It splashed against the shallow waters of the swamp they now stood in, forming ripples that danced outward with every drop.

Dark mists swirled slowly across the area, blending with the rain and mud, making it nearly impossible to see anything clearly more than a few feet ahead.

*Heavy rain sounds!

Shadows twisted with each movement of the mist, and every distant sound echoed as if something was lurking nearby.

"Let’s move," Biyo said, his deep voice carrying weight.

His brow furrowed, sensing the danger hidden in the silence of the place.

Without delay, he reached to his sides and unsheathed both of his heavy axes, the blades shining faintly under the dim rainlight as he stepped forward, fully alert.

"Be ready. If anything comes, we don’t hesitate," he added firmly.

"Remember to focus your eidra," he reminded, not looking back as he kept walking into the swamp.

"We’re already doing that, don’t worry," Orin replied, her voice steady even as the cold rain soaked through her clothes.

She closed her eyes briefly and breathed in slow and deep, steadying her control over her eidra.

The others said nothing, but their focus could be felt.

Each one of them quietly reinforcing their inner control as they trudged forward behind Biyo.

*Heavy rain sounds!

Their steps were heavy, the wet earth beneath sucking at their boots.

The water splashed and sloshed with every movement, and sometimes it was hard to tell what was just mud and what was something else lying beneath the surface.

They kept close, moving as one.

*Splash!*Heavy rain sounds! *Splash!

The sound of the rain above mixed with the splashing below and the occasional rustle in the distance—it made it hard to relax.

No one dared to speak anymore.

There was a feeling in the air that something was watching them.

Something that didn’t breathe but waited.

They continued walking through the swamp for what felt like a long while, but no matter how far they went, they found nothing—nothing peculiar, nothing strange.

Just more of the same swamp.

The same twisted trees, same pools of dirty water, same thick patches of mist swirling around their legs.

No enemies.

No portal.

Just an endless march through the wet and sinking ground.

"Kurghk!" Verhedyn gritted his teeth as he took another heavy step, the thick swamp tugging hard at his legs.

His face twisted with frustration.

*splash!

"We aren’t going anywhere!" he spat, water splashing from the sudden stomp of his boot.

Kain, who was just behind him, gave a tired nod.

His face was pale, rain dripping off his soaked blonde hair.

"He’s right..." he muttered, his voice low as he struggled through another step,

"it’s like we’re caught in some kind of loop."

His breath started to grow ragged, each step heavier than the last.

Vox, adjusting his glasses, wiped them with his sleeve, but it was pointless—the rain just kept pouring onto them.

He squinted at the path ahead, eyes tense.

"It’s as if we’re inside an illusion!" he shouted, raising his voice above the pounding rain.

That word—illusion—hit Biyo like a bolt of lightning.

His eyes twitched as his mind raced.

What if they really were?

He quickly raised his hand to the side, signaling the children to stop moving.

"Stand aside," he said, voice serious. "Let me test something first..."

Without needing to be told twice, the group stepped back, giving him space.

They watched with tired, muddy eyes as Biyo stepped forward, now standing in the center of the pathway.

The ground beneath him was wet and soft, but it didn’t matter.

He gripped both of his axes tight in each hand, drawing a breath deep into his chest.

His muscles tensed, and with a roar—

"YAARGH!!"

—he slammed both of his axes into the ground with full strength.

*CRACK!!!

A loud crack echoed across the swamp as the force of the blow shook the ground.

From the impact point, a sharp trail of ice burst forward across the muddy path.

It zipped through the earth like a white scar, moving in a straight line through the darkness, slicing through puddles and water.

The group waited, watching closely.

The ice continued on until it faded from sight, disappearing into the thick fog and rain.

But after a few seconds... they saw it again.

The ice trail returned.

But not from the front.

From behind them.

Biyo stood silent, his face slowly shifting from confusion to confirmation.

He exhaled, almost like a growl, and narrowed his eyes as he clenched one of his fists.

"We’re in an illusion," he said with a frown. "It’s tricking our senses, making us walk in circles."

The children looked around, their expressions hardening as realization set in.

They weren’t lost... they were trapped.

"What do we do now?" Orin asked, her eyes shifting across the foggy swamp as if trying to spot something hidden, maybe the source behind the illusion.

"We must look for something," Biyo muttered as he ruffled his thick, damp beard, deep in thought. "A person creating’ the illusion, maybe a creature lurking’ around... or perhaps even a device."

"A device, you say?" Vox’s eyes lit up, his tone shifting as he stepped forward with interest.

"Then maybe I could help with that."

"You could, ladd?" Biyo glanced sideways and stepped aside to give him room. "Then, by all means, do make our lives a little easier if you could."

"Hey, just don’t electrocute us with your weird sparks," Verhedyn grinned with a half-hearted shrug, glancing down at the rain-soaked ground.

"We’re standin’ on wet mud, after all."

"Haha," Vox gave a dry, sarcastic laugh, not even turning around, before continuing forward.

Despite Verhedyn’s teasing, there was a quiet trust between them all. Vox, despite his strange and peculiar habits, always delivered when it mattered.

He closed his eyes and breathed in slowly, trying to steady himself.

His heartbeat echoed loud in his chest, syncing with the flow of eidra building inside him.

He knew his eidra was attuned in a unique way—resonating stronger in the presence of devices or artifacts, almost like a beacon.

And if this illusion was being made by some sort of machine or strange construct, there was a chance, just a small chance, that he could sense it.

"Still," Vox murmured under his breath, "wouldn’t hurt to try."

He began channeling the power, wrapping his arms in a faint glow of electric-blue eidra.

Sparks traced along his fingers as he lowered both hands down towards the swamp floor.

The water shivered at his touch, reacting subtly to the energy flowing through him.

From his palms, thin strands of eidra spread across the wet ground—barely visible to the others, but to Vox, it was like a network of electric tendrils branching out in all directions.

They slithered across the swamp like hungry snakes, brushing against every surface they could, feeling, searching.

He closed his eyes tighter, focusing all his senses.

The others didn’t speak, didn’t move, just stood watching, the sound of rain still falling all around them.

To them, Vox was just standing still.

But in Vox’s vision, the tendrils were alive, moving fast, scouring the swamp floor like searching hands.

Vox’s eyes widened with both happiness and excitement, a grin slowly forming on his face as he realized his theory was right.

He could split his eidra off and use it to find devices, especially ones built on eidra-tech.

His eidra’s high attunement with such mechanisms gave him an edge no one else in the group had.

As the strands of eidra continued to crawl across the swampy ground, he closed his eyes once again to concentrate, ignoring the rain that poured down on him, soaking through his clothes and dripping off his chin.

His breathing remained steady, calm, like he had done this a hundred times before.

The silence dragged until suddenly—Vox flinched.

His eyes snapped open as he looked directly at Biyo, voice firm.

"I’ve found it, to the east. Someone or something... it’s operating it. I’ve locked on to it with my eidra!"

Biyo didn’t waste a second.

He gripped his axes tight and nodded sharply, eyes narrowing.

"Good job, lad. Now lead the way!"

Vox gave a quick nod before dashing off through the swamp, water splashing beneath each of his steps.

The rest of the group followed right behind, trudging through the thick muck.

Despite the terrain, they didn’t slow down—not when they were this close.

Still, Vox kept his guard up. Whatever was running the device wasn’t going to give up easy.

As they moved deeper, the illusion began to flicker around them like broken glass.

The trees shimmered, the colors dulled, and shapes wavered unnaturally.

Kain looked around with a confused expression. "The surroundings... they’re getting blurry," he muttered, squinting through the haze as he followed closely behind Vox.

"That just means we’re close to that fucker!" Orin shouted from behind, her fists already crackling with raw eidra, ready to fight the moment something came at them.

Then it happened.

"There! Up that tree, on the branch!" Vox yelled as he pointed forward, his finger shaking slightly.

Without any delay, Biyo hurled one of his axes at the direction Vox had pointed.

The axe spun through the air with a vicious whistle before it struck something hidden in the tree with a loud

*BANG!

But it wasn’t the sound of metal against bark or stone—it was wet, soft.

Then a shriek tore through the air.

*Shriek!!!

"I hear it!" Verhedyn called, stepping forward.

A moss-covered corrupted creature fell down from the branch, twisting and squirming as it hit the ground.

Biyo’s axe was embedded in its side, ice trailing outward from the impact point and spreading along its mossy flesh.

Before it could recover, Verhedyn moved first, launching ice daggers straight into its limbs, freezing its movements.

Right after, Orin stepped in, throwing a handful of violet bombs that exploded across its body, sending pieces of scorched moss flying in every direction.

The creature tried to scream again, but Kain was already moving.

He dashed forward in one clean motion and brought his sword down across the creature’s neck, slicing it clean through.

The head fell with a soft thud.

The body collapsed a moment after.

And then... everything around them changed.

The illusion shattered.

The thick trees, the never-ending swamp, the rain—all of it vanished.

Replaced instantly by a flat, open grassland beneath a dark sky.

Just a few paces ahead, a portal stood spinning and humming with energy, waiting for them.

"HAH!" Biyo bellowed, laughing as he lowered his axes. "Didn’t even need to help ya kids! You showed that creature how it’s done!"

"Biyo, look," Kain called out, pointing ahead. "The portal. That’s gotta be the one to the next floor or something, right?"

"Aye," Biyo nodded, his expression turning serious once again.

He looked back at the group and gave a sharp beckon with his hand. "Come now. We shouldn’t waste more time. Jinn lad’s life’s hangin’ on a thread."

His hand then opened as the axe that had struck the beast flew towards his hand before he attached both axes once again on both of his hips.

One by one, they stepped forward, boots pressing into the now-solid earth as they walked toward the portal.

Its swirling light seemed to pulse with urgency.

None of them knew where it would lead.

But one thing was clear—

They were getting closer.