“This is bad!” Yserazor shouted, but his warning came too late—
The crystal on Lian’s chest shattered before everyone’s eyes, exploding into countless fragments.
It was a life-saving item infused with a massive amount of spatial power; having its activation forcibly interrupted had triggered a violent energy backlash.
The chaotic spatial mana surged out like a flood bursting through a dam, and a silver light instantly swallowed everything within a radius of dozens of meters.
“Hold on tight...”
Starlight immediately realized something was wrong. He grabbed Lian, who was beside him, but before he could extend his mana to cover Po Kong and the others, the runaway spatial turbulence formed a twisting vortex, pulling everyone in without warning.
With a flash of silver light, the cliffside that had been crowded with three massive dragons was suddenly empty. Only scorched marks from the teleportation remained on the surrounding rocks.
...
Starlight snapped his eyes open. A cold sensation immediately traveled up his spine—he was half-submerged in a rushing stream. The icy water washed over his body, snapping him into full consciousness.
He struggled to sit up and found Lian and Little Gold lying on the stony bank nearby, both still unconscious.
“Wake up... Lian, Little Gold... wake up!” Starlight hurried over, shaking them.
At the same time, he did not let down his guard, scanning their surroundings.
They were in a dense forest, but only the three of them were there; the others were nowhere to be found.
After a while, Lian finally opened her eyes groarily. Upon seeing her surroundings, her eyes widened. “Where... where is this?”
Almost simultaneously, Little Gold woke with a start, shivering. Clutching his chest, he asked, “Were we swept away by spatial turbulence?”
Starlight didn't answer immediately. He looked up at the sky, his throat tightening instinctively.
Because of the teleportation, he had no way of knowing how long he had been out or their exact location.
But the sky, which should have been azure, was now stained a sickly pale red, like a cloud of diluted blood splashed across the horizon.
Countless twisted runes could be seen moving through the clouds like living things. Further away, a massive grey cloud mass stretching from the earth to the sky was slowly rotating, with something faintly shimmering within.
“It looks like we’re still within the Dragon Nest...” Starlight answered dryly after a long silence.
Although he wasn't entirely sure what the defense mechanism Yserazor mentioned did, he was certain that the anomaly had disrupted the original teleportation power, sending everyone to different locations.
Because he had been holding Lian’s arm and Lian had been next to Little Gold, the three of them had ended up together.
“What should we do now?” Little Gold looked around at the unfamiliar environment, his voice tinged with a hint of bewilderment.
The Dragon Ancestor's Legacy Scale on his chest was flickering, as if it too felt uneasy about their current situation.
“We need to find a way to regroup with the others... Dammit, this was so sudden.”
Starlight rubbed his temples, but he couldn't think of a feasible plan. None of the three of them were experts in long-distance communication or tracking.
Even the usually composed Starlight felt a surge of frustration. When he had looked down from above earlier, the Dragon Nest's area was massive.
Moreover, the terrain inside was extremely complex. Trying to find the others without guidance was like looking for a needle in a haystack.
“Calm down, Little Star.” Noah’s steady voice suddenly echoed in his mind, instantly clearing his head. “Observe carefully and use the resources you have.”
Just then, Lian excitedly tugged at Starlight’s sleeve. “Brother Starlight! I’ve sensed Uncle’s location!”
She pressed her fingers to her temples, her silver eyes shimmering. She seemed to be casting a spell. “It’s faint, but through our bloodline resonance, I can sense a general direction!”
“Hm? You found Senior You’s location?” Starlight was momentarily stunned.
This was excellent news. You was with Wu Hua; if they could regroup, even if You couldn't use his power freely, he would be more than capable of protecting the combat-weak Lian and Little Gold.
Starlight’s spirits lifted, and he immediately looked in the direction Lian pointed. The sky there was even darker than where they were, looking quite eerie.
However, despite the apparent danger, they finally had a clear objective.
“Well done, Lian!” Starlight patted her shoulder, then frowned as he looked at himself.
While the temperature inside the Dragon Nest was much higher than on the mountain ridge, the humid air made his soaked clothes cling to him uncomfortably.
Starlight snapped his fingers, and a cluster of orange-red flames appeared beside him, drying the moisture. He then quickly took out a spare set of clothes from his storage space and changed.
While changing, Starlight didn't forget to ask, “Little Gold, can you sense the location of other dragons? Like Yserazor?”
Little Gold shook his head. “No, the mana flow here is chaotic. I can't sense that fatty’s aura at all. But he is a Dragon King, after all; he should be fine.”
“Alright then, let’s head toward the location Lian sensed.”
Seeing that Little Gold had no other leads, Starlight didn't dwell on it and led the two of them downstream along the creek.
The dense forest within the Dragon Nest had clearly not been maintained by elves like the Star-Song Forest; it was in a state of savage, unbridled growth.
Moving through the nearly suffocating primordial jungle was no easy task. Starlight looked at the dense woods where there was hardly a place to step, and a flash of inspiration hit him.
“Follow me.” He patted a thick tree trunk beside him. “We’ll go through the canopy.”
Thanks to his ten-plus years of experience living in the valley, Starlight skillfully found handholds to climb. As an elf, Lian naturally had no trouble either.
In contrast, Little Gold was somewhat clumsy and eventually had to be brought up to the treetops by Starlight using magic.
Once the three of them reached the massive canopy, their field of vision suddenly opened up.
However, the entire forest was shrouded in a rising, faint mist, with visibility less than three hundred meters.
“This mist...” Lian’s fingertips had just touched a passing wisp of grey mist when she immediately pulled her hand back as if burned. “There are dark elements in it! No... there’s death power too. This is magic!”
Starlight could feel it as well. The eerie mist possessed the unique corrosiveness of dark elements and the deathly stillness of death power. If an ordinary creature were exposed to this environment, they would be burned in no time.
However, for Starlight, who had already comprehended the Shadow of Annihilation, this level of corrosion was almost negligible.
“Don’t be afraid, it’s a small matter.”
He lightly flicked his finger, coating Little Gold and Lian with a layer of his own mana to neutralize the external influence.
After setting up the protection, Starlight added a wind element spell for lightness to the three of them and began heading in the direction Lian had pointed.
After traveling through the canopy for about ten minutes, Lian suddenly pointed in one direction. “There seems to be something moving over there.”
Starlight looked where she was pointing. Through the drifting grey mist, he could faintly see an abrupt stone mountain standing amidst the sea of trees.
Though his hearing wasn't as exceptional as Lian’s, he could make out a strange “shasha” rustling sound.
They hadn't seen any significant creatures along the way. But Starlight was certain that whatever was making that noise wouldn't be small.
“Let’s go take a look, but be careful.” Starlight lowered his voice and led them quietly toward the stone mountain.
As the distance closed, the odd sound became clearer. When the last layer of the canopy was pulled aside, the sight before them made all three of them catch their breath.
At the base of the mist-shrouded stone mountain, over a dozen twisted black monsters were wandering in an open space. They were of various forms, yet all possessed hair-raising deformities.
Rate on N.U.
