Maela noticed his tension and gave his shoulder a light pat of reassurance.
Just as Starlight was about to offer some words of encouragement, Xia Duo’s frantic voice cut through his thoughts.
“Po Kong! What’s happening to you?”
Starlight looked back and saw that Po Kong had collapsed onto his knees on the crystal surface at some point, his Sacred Wood Phantom lying at his feet.
His right shoulder, which had been grazed by the energy beam earlier, had already begun to crystallize. Countless tiny, dark red spikes protruded hideously from the wound, making it look as though some malevolent creature had parasitized him.
More terrifyingly, these crystals were spreading toward his neck at a rate visible to the naked eye.
Moen’s fingertips shimmered with emerald-green natural energy as she gently brushed them over Po Kong’s crystallized wound.
However, the dark red spikes only dimmed slightly in luster, showing no signs of receding. A rare look of confusion flashed in her eyes, and her brow furrowed into a tight knot.
“The structure of this mana... is very strange... Pure natural power cannot completely extract it. It can only serve to suppress it.”
Due to its unique properties, natural mana usually worked wonders against all sorts of abnormal statuses. Yet at this moment, it was like water meeting oil, unable to penetrate the corruption no matter what.
While the Stone Troll King’s power wasn’t particularly overwhelming in terms of raw intensity, it was incredibly bizarre. This was the first time she had seen her spells rendered completely helpless.
Xia Duo watched her sister cast the spell with anxiety, unable to stop herself from asking, “Even your magic is ineffective?”
Moen shook her head and pointed to the edge of the wound, where a ring of green light could be seen struggling against the dark red energy.
She had already increased her mana output, but despite her efforts, the hideous dark red crystals were only barely contained within the shoulder area and could not be thoroughly purged.
“These crystals are obstructing the flow of Po Kong’s battle qi. Otherwise, given the unique nature of War God Battle Qi, breaking through this shouldn’t have been difficult.”
As the group stood at a loss, Maela stepped forward. After glancing at Po Kong’s wound, she spoke hesitantly, “I... I might be able to help with his injury.”
“What? Do you have an idea?” Starlight asked.
“If I’m not mistaken...” Maela said as she generated a tiny crystal in her palm, “the power of this Stone Troll King is very similar to my mana. Both have undergone a mutation, and both mutated in the direction of crystallization.”
“You mean... you want to use your mana to decompose it in reverse? Isn’t that too dangerous? That’s inside someone’s body. One slip-up could cause a violent backlash!” Starlight’s brow furrowed as he realized what Maela intended to do.
“Yes. If I can find the congestion points of the mana, I should be able to rearrange and break them down. At least, that’s the theory...” Maela took a deep breath, her gaze becoming determined.
Just as Starlight was debating whether they should proceed, a familiar voice echoed in everyone’s ears.
“The dwarven girl’s idea is quite good. It’s worth a try.”
“Noah! You’re awake!?”
A look of joy crossed Starlight’s face as he turned to the book at his waist. Within the rose-red gem on the cover, a familiar light was already flowing.
After the battle with Desdoraka, Noah had exhausted his soul power and fallen into an unprecedented deep slumber. Even the Dragon God’s Tears prepared by Yserazor had failed to restore him.
But his awakening at this moment clearly served as a much-needed reassurance for Starlight and the others.
Noah made no attempt to hide his voice, which gave the unsuspecting Stark and Maela a significant fright.
“Don’t be afraid. Just think of me as an artifact spirit attached to Starlight. You dwarves should have heard of artifact spirits, right?”
The book at Starlight’s waist floated in front of the group, its pages flipping on their own without any wind.
Noah’s translucent phantom materialized before their eyes. Though it was much fainter than before, his voice remained steady.
“Huh? An artifact spirit? Inside a book?”
Stark was stunned. He had heard legends of artifact spirits residing within divine weapons, but using a fragile book as a vessel was something he had truly never heard of.
Maela, meanwhile, leaned in curiously, carefully observing Noah’s book-bound form.
By now, Po Kong was grimacing in pain, yet he still managed to squeeze out a strained smile. “I say, Senior... you finally slept enough... just to come and... laugh at me, right?”
“How can you all still be in the mood to joke? This is an emergency!” Xia Duo’s face twitched as she spoke coldly.
“Haha, don’t worry about the details for now. With my help, this silly boy won’t be in any danger.”
Noah let out a low chuckle. Simultaneously, a pale blue light flowed from the pages, covering Po Kong’s wound.
Under the suppression of his soul power, the hideous crystal clusters on Po Kong’s shoulder immediately dimmed, and the pain lessened considerably.
Seeing this, Maela quickly manipulated the crystal sled to a steady halt at the edge of the tunnel. She transformed the surrounding crystal railings into fixed supports, preparing herself to assist at any moment.
“Alright, follow my instructions. First, the dwarven girl.” Noah’s figure flickered slightly as he pulled everyone into a soul link. “Use your mana to follow the trajectory I map out and lock onto Po Kong’s shoulder.”
Under his guidance, Maela’s mana soon permeated the wound on Po Kong’s shoulder, immediately triggering a violent reaction with the residual red power of the Stone Troll King.
Po Kong’s body jerked violently. He instinctively tried to struggle, but Xia Duo forcibly held him down.
“Moen, use a blade to make an opening below his deltoid to give this energy a vent to escape through,” Noah continued to direct.
Moen nodded immediately. She pulled her dagger from her storage space and accurately pierced Po Kong’s shoulder, slicing an opening exactly two inches long.
Po Kong let out a muffled groan as a surge of dark red energy mixed with blood gushed from the incision.
Starlight looked down and saw two completely different types of crystallized energy tangled like a ball of yarn within the gaps of Po Kong’s muscle tissue.
Maela’s mana was constantly gathering that dark red energy and forcing it toward the new wound, but every inch of progress triggered a violent surge of energy...
“Hold on! The most critical moment is here!”
Noah’s voice echoed through the soul link. The pages of the book flipped frantically as more soul power poured down, forming a precise grid of force that firmly locked the rampaging energy within Po Kong’s body.
“Little Star, now!” Noah shouted suddenly.
Starlight, who had been ready at the side, immediately let a brilliant white light shine from his palm. A faint trace of Power of Destruction precisely sliced into the energy Noah had locked onto, gouging out the contaminated mass.
The moment the energy cluster was removed in its entirety, Po Kong’s muscles went into a violent spasm, and a large cloud of blood mist sprayed from the wound.
Almost at the same instant, Moen’s healing spell landed.
Emerald natural energy, like the finest silk threads, quickly wove into a net that covered the hideous wound.
Moen’s fingertips exerted a slight pressure, and the tissues at the edges that had been scorched by the Power of Destruction began to regenerate at a visible rate.
Once everything was finished, Po Kong slumped onto the crystal sled, his heavy, ragged breathing sounding exceptionally clear in the tunnel. His clothes were already soaked with sweat, clinging to his solid muscles and twitching slightly with the rise and fall of his chest.
“Ha...” A weak smile appeared on his face. “It’s finally... over!”
Xia Duo silently took out a water skin and gently wiped the sweat from his face with a towel. Moen’s treatment continued, but the visible wound had already mostly recovered.
“This energy is indeed quite troublesome. If not for Noah’s guidance, Po Kong would have been in a bad way.” Starlight looked once more at the energy still pulsing in his palm before crushing it out of existence.
The group looked at one another, seeing an unprecedented gravity in each other’s eyes. The ability displayed by the Stone Troll King had completely overturned their understanding of conventional power systems.
This opponent was unlike any powerhouse they had encountered thus far; this mutated energy seemed to have transcended the existing laws of power.
Rate on N.U.
