With the Echo of the Scar's Pain now a silent, sorrowful presence fading behind them, Einar and Lyra ventured deeper into the Shadowed Veins.
The tunnels continued to twist and turn, the obsidian walls becoming increasingly intricate, adorned with strange, crystalline formations that pulsed with faint, internal light in hues of deep violet and sickly green.
The metallic tang in the air grew stronger, almost acrid, and the whispers, though still fragmented, carried a more urgent, almost frantic quality.
Einar focused his Void sense, the pull of the corrupted energy growing stronger with each step. It felt like an invisible thread, taut and vibrating with a dark resonance, leading them further into the heart of the Obsidian Scar.
Lyra's white lightblade remained their steady guide, illuminating the treacherous path ahead.
The ground beneath their feet was uneven, often crumbling away into small fissures that glowed with the same malevolent crimson energy that animated the Shard Walkers.
They came to a vast cavern, its ceiling lost in shadow, the only illumination provided by their own light sources and the strange, glowing crystals embedded in the obsidian walls.
In the center of the cavern, a swirling vortex of sickly green energy pulsed erratically, tendrils of dark energy snaking outwards and dissipating against the cavern walls. The air here was thick with a palpable sense of decay and corruption.
"This isn't it," Einar projected, sensing that while the energy here was potent and clearly influenced by Gorok, it lacked the specific signature of the nexus point he was seeking.
It felt more like a localized pocket of concentrated corruption.
As they cautiously navigated around the edges of the cavern, the obsidian floor began to glow with intricate patterns of crimson light.
The whispers intensified, swirling around them, and the green energy vortex pulsed more violently. Suddenly, several figures began to rise from the glowing patterns on the floor.
They were humanoid in shape but their forms were translucent, composed entirely of swirling crimson light, their faces contorted in silent screams.
"Scar Wraiths," Lyra warned, her grip tightening on her lightblade.
"Guardians of these deeper veins, their forms now twisted by Gorok's influence. They are more directly connected to the pain of this place."
The Scar Wraiths drifted towards them, their silent screams resonating as waves of pure agony, even more potent than the anguish of the dust figure they had encountered earlier.
Einar felt his spiritual form tremble under the assault of raw, untainted suffering.
This deeper layer of the Shadowed Veins was proving to be even more perilous, the echoes of the Obsidian Scar's tormented history now actively defending the path to the source of Gorok's corruption.