The river roared as Lito's team arrived at its banks, the water churning with an unnatural green hue. Truth adjusted her goggles, her iron dragon tail flicking with unease. "The contamination here is worse than I feared," she muttered, kneeling to examine the currents.
Lito crouched beside her, his Light artifact ring glowing faintly. "Those veins of corruption… they're spreading upstream."
Nia kicked at the glowing green crystals with her boot, sending up sparks. "So some bastard's poisoning Eden's water supply? Let's find them and burn them to ash." She hefted her massive fire scythe, flames dancing along its curved blade.
Luna's shadow stretched over the riverbank, her dagger already drawn. "We'll need samples. Truth, can your tools analyze this?"
Truth nodded, retrieving a vial from her belt. As she dipped it into the water, the liquid inside bubbled violently, revealing jagged green crystals forming at the bottom. "Fascinating… These crystals are conduits. They're converting pure magic into corrosive energy."
"This isn't natural decay," she hissed, carefully collecting a sample in a shimmering vial. "The corruption has been crystallized - someone has weaponized it."
Luna's silver staff pulsed in response to the tainted water. The moon elf's normally serene features twisted in frustration as her purification spell dissipated harmlessly against the surface. "This magic resists my cleansing. It's... familiar somehow."
A guttural snarl echoed from the trees. Three corrupted wolves emerged, their eyes glowing the same venomous green as the crystals. "Looks like we've got company," Luna said calmly, twirling her staff.
Nia stepped forward, flames wreathing her fire scythe. "Let me handle—"
"Wait," Lito interrupted, his light element ring flaring and flickered uncertainly. Lito stepped forward, his Light artifact ring glowing. "Remember - they're victims too. We purify, not destroy."
Nia was the first to move, her scythe carving a blazing arc through the air. "Scorching Waltz!" she cried, sending a wave of fire toward the beasts. The lead wolf howled as flames licked at its corrupted hide.
Luna followed with elegant precision, her staff weaving intricate patterns. "Tidal Bindings!" she commanded. Ribbons of pressurized water coiled around the second wolf, trapping it mid-leap.
Truth worked quickly, mixing reagents from her belt vials. With a precise throw, she shattered a glass orb at the final wolf's feet. A cloud of alchemical mist erupted, causing the corruption in its veins to glow brighter. "Now, Lito!"
Lito's ring flared as he channeled pure Light energy into the mist. The corruption crystals embedded in the wolf's flesh shattered, dissolving into harmless dust. The creature collapsed, panting but clear-eyed.
As the last beast collapsed, purified and docile, Truth stared at her crystal-filled vial. "The water's corruption is focused here, but its origin is elsewhere. There must be a central source."
Lito traced the river's path on the map. "If we follow the contamination upstream, we might find the cause of this problem"
Following the contamination upstream, the group discovered a hidden crevice behind a waterfall. The entrance pulsed with eerie green light.
Nia grinned. "Looks like someone left us an invitation."
"Charming," Nia muttered, flames flickering in her palm for light.
The cavern inside was a cathedral of glowing corruption crystals, their sickly light reflecting off a perfectly still pool at the center. But unlike the contaminated river, this water shone with an ethereal silver glow.
---
There is tunnel where towering crystals pulsed with sickly blue light. At its center stood a pool of water so clear it shimmered like liquid diamond. Truth gasped. "This resonance… That's holy water—a primal counterforce to the corruption!"
Before they could react, a figure cloaked in emerald robes emerged from the shadows, their face obscured by a mask of twisted crystal. "Clever little dragons," they sneered, voice echoing unnaturally. "But this power isn't yours to claim."
The masked figure raised a staff, and the Corruption Crystals erupted with energy. The holy water boiled as tendrils of darkness lashed out.
"Protect the pool!" Lito shouted.
"You're too late, meddlers," the figure hissed. "Eden's fall is inevitable."
Nia leapt, scythe blazing. "Not happening, creep!" Her strike clashed against the figure's staff, fire scattering like shattered stars.
The figure snarled, "You meddlers will drown in Eden's sins!" Corruption surged toward the holy spring.
As the masked figure's corruption tendrils lashed out from his crystal staff, Luna stepped forward, her voice a melodic chant. Moonlight staff artifact pierced the cavern's ceiling, illuminating her staff. "Rise, Tides of Clarity!" she commanded. Water erupted from the holy water pool, twisting into a spiraling vortex that ensnared the advancing corruption. The liquid shimmered with lunar energy, its surface reflecting phases of the moon—each shift weakening the tendrils' grip.
"Keep them contained, Moon Elf!" Nia barked, hefting her scythe. "I'll burn this filth to ash!"
"Wait," Truth interjected, her dragon tail flicking analytically. "The corruption is symbiotic with the crystals. Destroying it recklessly could trigger an explosion." She hurled a vial of frothing blue liquid into Luna's water vortex. The concoction spread like ink, isolating the green veins within the water. "Now, Nia!"
Nia grinned, her scythe carving a blazing arc. "Scorching Waltz!" The flames morphed into a phoenix's wings, engulfing the trapped corruption. The cavern trembled as fire and water collided, steam hissing violently. When the smoke cleared, the tendrils were reduced to smoldering husks.
"Tch. Too easy," Nia scoffed, though her white-knuckled grip on the scythe betrayed her exhaustion.
"Lito, I need your Air!" Truth called. He nooded her, channeling energy from his wind ring artifact. And made the smoke from the explosion of the corrupt crystal collected into a small air ball and put it into Truth's lab sample bottle.
The cavern back to normal light crystal merge with source of holy water . The holy water surged, dissolving the crystals' glow. The masked figure staggered, their mask cracking to reveal a face marred by corruption—a once-noble elven scholar, now consumed by greed.
"You… can't… stop the evolution…" the figure rasped before disintegrating into ash.
---
In the aftermath, Truth carefully bottled the holy water. "This isn't just a cure—it's a medicine. These caverns are ancient, built by the nature himself. The water was indeed become our The resource for making the very expensive High Potion here… until someone tampered with it."
Lito gazed at the shattered crystals. "This was only one source. If there are others…"
Luna sheathed her staff. "We'll find them. But first—" She gestured to the holy water pool. "This holy water can power your energy grid, can't it?"
Truth's eyes lit up. "Yes! Its purity is infinite—a perfect conductor!"
As the group prepared to return, Nia lingered by the tunnel, her flames dim. "That elf… he thought the corruption was progress. How many others are out there, willing to destroy Eden for power?"
Lito placed a hand on her shoulder. "We'll save them. Like we saved the wolves."
After that incident, Lito and his group agreed that they would create a power source from this river and provide electricity for the light artifacts that illuminate the entire kingdom. And Lito assigned Truth to research the holy water pool in the cavern and try to extract it as a special High Potion for Eden and sell it to each kingdom as an export item to other kingdoms. And for Nia she was assigned to monitor the construction of the generator water wheel until it was finished. While Luna she returned with Lito to the kingdom and rested after the previous big fight.
To Be Continued…