Boulder scrambled out of the rubble pit, his golden scale armor shattered across most of his body.
He pulled a fist-sized blue crystal from his storage device. The light patterns swirling inside the crystal were so intense they seemed ready to overflow.
He crushed the crystal, and the fragments condensed in mid-air, forming the fledgling outline of an aqua-blue portal.
Standing not far away, Wizard Dark Stream gave a gentle push toward Boulder.
An invisible force slammed into Boulder’s chest, sending him stumbling back two steps and widening the distance between him and Ethan once again.
Blood Fury’s massive, fanged maw descended from above.
With no time to think, Boulder held his trident horizontally over his head. Blood Fury’s teeth clamped down on the shaft, the screeching sound of grinding metal echoing throughout the altar.
Boulder’s arms shook violently, the golden scale armor cracking further from his shoulders down to his elbows.
“Genos! Go!” Boulder squeezed the words out through gritted teeth.
Standing by the stone wall at the edge of the altar, Ethan’s gaze swept back and forth across the battlefield.
Boulder was being suppressed so heavily by Blood Fury that he could barely lift his head, while Dark Stream stood to the side, sealing off all his paths of retreat.
The portal was tightly wrapped in grayish-white threads, making it impossible to open in the short term.
Boulder pulled out another item.
It was a golden bead the size of a longan fruit, with a long, narrow vertical slit on its surface that made it look like a real eye.
He flicked the bead toward Blood Fury. The bead split open in mid-air, the vertical slit widening into a genuine golden eye.
The moment the eye opened, an invisible restrictive force enveloped the entire altar.
Blood Fury’s movements suddenly froze, and Dark Stream’s right hand, which was controlling the threads, also paused.
The restriction lasted for less than a single breath, but for Boulder, it was enough.
He broke free from Blood Fury’s jaws, rushed to Ethan’s side, and grabbed his wrist.
“Go!”
Boulder gripped Ethan’s wrist and dragged him toward the portal.
The young horns on either side of his forehead glowed so intensely they seemed on the verge of burning. Most of his golden scale armor was gone, revealing blood-streaked skin underneath.
He charged forward recklessly, a single thought occupying his mind.
He had to take Genos with him.
This First-Tier Wizard who had just joined him, the only confidant who understood his Ten-Thousand-Year Plan, could not be lost here.
Fragments of golden scales peeled off his shoulders, spinning in the air before being ground into dust by the wind pressure from Blood Fury’s claws before they could even hit the floor.
The stone slabs beneath his feet shattered under the force of his sprint, every step leaving a deep indentation in the ground.
The portal was getting closer.
The aqua-blue light membrane rippled in the air, and the energy circuits around the frame were beginning to stabilize.
Just two more steps and he could take Genos through that door, leaving this gods-forsaken altar and these two Second-Tier Wizards who had appeared out of nowhere.
He could return to the deep sea.
He could settle the score later.
Blood Fury’s roar bore down from behind.
The sound was so powerful it made the very air tremble.
Boulder swung his trident behind him, and the silver runes wound around the shaft exploded simultaneously. Three beams of different colored light shot from the prongs, blasting toward Blood Fury’s gaping maw.
Just one more step.
In that moment, the stone floor beneath his feet suddenly erupted.
A dark green colossal vine, as thick as three men could span, burst from the ground, sending shattered stone and soil flying in every direction.
The surface of the vine was covered in dense, dark gold runes, each one radiating a blinding light.
This vine had been condensing from the very moment Ethan pressed the signal for help.
Layer upon layer, it had silently wound, stacked, and compressed deep beneath the altar.
At this very moment, it had reached exactly 1174 layers.
Boulder’s pale blue pupils reflected the image of the rapidly growing vine.
He wanted to change direction, he wanted to let go.
It was too late.
The vine struck with incredible speed.
“Genos! You—!”
Boulder’s voice was completely swallowed by the thunderous roar of the vine’s impact.
Boom!
The vine slammed brutally into Boulder.
The force of 1174 stacked layers was released in a single instant.
The air was compressed into a visible white shockwave that exploded outward in all directions.
The remaining stone beams of the altar’s ceiling were sent flying by the blast, tumbling through the air and smashing into the distant rock walls, disintegrating into a rain of debris.
The fragments of crystals that had already been shattered across the walls were uprooted and sent flying by the shockwave.
The vine struck Boulder squarely.
His golden scale armor disintegrated in entire sheets the moment it made contact.
Before the fragments could even scatter, they were ground into powder by the overwhelming force that followed.
Boulder was sent flying horizontally by the strike, like a stone projectile launched from a catapult. He smashed through an entire stone wall on the western side of the altar, then tore through the earth behind it, carving out a tunnel dozens of meters long through the rock.
The entire body of Horn Mountain trembled violently under the impact.
Blood Fury retracted his claw, a hint of surprise flashing in his crimson eyes.
He tilted his head to look at Ethan, his massive maw curling into a gruesome grin. A low, muffled sound rumbled in his throat, as if he were laughing.
Yes, he was definitely laughing.
Though, honestly, Dean... that smile of yours is a bit hideous.
Truly.
Wizard Dark Stream stood nearby, the grayish-white light shield behind him dissipating silently.
He made a swiping motion in front of Ethan, and a ring of grayish-white light membrane materialized out of thin air, blocking all the flying debris and the lingering shockwaves.
Ethan stepped out from behind the membrane, not a single speck of dust on his clothes.
In the center of the altar, the colossal vine with its 1174 stacked layers could no longer withstand its own power after striking Boulder. It began to disintegrate, starting from the tip.
The dark gold runes dimmed one by one, and the wooden fibers shattered inch by inch. Fragments fell from the air like rain, vanishing into fine motes of light before they could even touch the ground.
The disintegration spread from the tip to the root. In the span of a single breath, the entire vine had completely vanished into the air, leaving behind only a massive crater over three hundred meters in diameter on the floor.
The rock layers at the bottom of the pit were compressed to a density greater than steel, their surface as smooth as a mirror.
Boulder lay at the end of the tunnel.
His golden scale armor was completely gone, revealing blood-streaked skin. His left arm was bent at a grotesque angle, and his trident had been knocked from his hand, pinned into the rock wall over ten meters away, its shaft still vibrating slightly.
He struggled to crawl up, propping his upper body with his right hand. As he did, a mouthful of deep blue blood surged up his throat and splashed onto the rubble.
His pale blue pupils were filled with shock, fury, and utter disbelief.
Wizard Dark Stream raised his hand and closed his fingers into a light grip.
The portal still rippling in the air suddenly froze.
The aqua-blue light membrane was squeezed as if by an invisible giant hand, shattering from the edges.
Cracks spread across the membrane, growing wider and denser. A second later, the entire portal exploded along with the energy circuits around its frame, turning into countless fine motes of light that were swept away by the air currents in the altar until they vanished completely.
Boulder watched helplessly as the portal was crushed.
That was his last path of retreat.
Leaning against the rock wall, his pupils constricted violently. His lips moved twice, but he couldn't force out a single word.
“Heh.” A smirk played on Ethan’s lips. “You dumbass, I can’t exactly let you leave like that.”
Rate on N.U.
