However, Stark seemed completely oblivious to everything happening around him, his hands moving in a blur as he continued to crack the system.
At the same time, 《The Great Journey of Carlos》 at Starlight’s waist gently floated up and drifted toward Stark. A rose-red arc of light bridged the gap between the two gems.
It was only then that Starlight noticed the facets of the two gems corresponded perfectly, as if they had been split from the same stone.
He instinctively reached out to intervene, but the moment he touched the arc of light, he was repelled. A needle-like sting shot through his fingertips.
“Is this... resonance? But what triggered it?”
Starlight stared at his numbing fingers, his thoughts racing.
Since beginning his journey, he had spent no small amount of time researching what made this book Carlos left him so special. Ultimately, he had only been able to conclude that his master had used some unique technique to anchor Noah, his soul clone, within the pages.
Furthermore, he had inquired about the rose-red gem on the cover in countless places. Whether it was in human city-states, elven tribes, or even asking the well-traveled Rift Dragon King, the answer was always the same.
Despite asking so many people, he hadn't even learned the type of gemstone it was. He only knew that its color and shape were highly unusual and that its hardness was so extreme it was nearly indestructible.
Now, this sudden miraculous phenomenon, combined with Noah’s distress, undoubtedly pointed the finger at Stark.
Just as Starlight’s mind was swirling with questions, an urgent cry from Maela broke his train of thought.
The commotion caused by the two gems was relatively quiet, and under the glow of the swirling blue runes, it was quite inconspicuous.
Thus, Maela hadn't noticed what was happening behind her. Her attention was entirely fixed on the battle being displayed on the screens.
“Starlight, look! What’s happening to the Stone Troll Emperor?”
Starlight quickly looked at the screen and saw that the Stone Troll Emperor, who had been locked in a fierce battle with the four patriarchs, had curled into a ball and was crouching on the ground with its hands over its head.
At the same time, a pale red barrier manifested around its body, shielding it. Even though the four patriarchs were putting everything they had into their attacks, they only managed to trigger weak ripples on the surface. They couldn't break through the light curtain at all.
In the next instant, the Stone Troll Emperor lunged to its feet, and a violent shockwave of energy exploded outward from its center. The four patriarchs were sent flying like kites with broken strings, slamming heavily into the crumbling pillars of the temple.
However, the monster showed no interest in its fallen enemies. Instead, it turned its gaze elsewhere.
The four crystals embedded in its chest suddenly detached and floated before its eyes. Shards began to peel away from the surface of the crystals, revealing the cores within.
The four crystals rotated slowly, eventually fusing into a single, perfect, fist-sized crystal. The light it emitted gradually shifted from crimson to a rose-red hue.
The Stone Troll Emperor suddenly unhinged its massive maw and swallowed the fused crystal in one gulp.
Immediately, the crystal clusters on its skin began to grow wildly. Its dark purple flesh completely crystallized, and its entire body began to turn translucent.
A few breaths later, its eyes snapped open. A beam of light, almost physical in its intensity, erupted from its bowl-sized eyes. When its gaze slowly settled on the Fire God statue, the entire space shuddered!
“Oh no, it’s coming for us!” Maela cried out in alarm.
“Bang!”
The Stone Troll Emperor vanished from its spot. When it reappeared, it was already standing directly in front of the Fire God statue.
It raised a fully crystallized foreclaw high and slashed downward with immense force.
“Crack!”
The rock layer, several meters thick, was torn apart like thin paper. The base of the statue disintegrated instantly, and a massive hole was gouged into the wall of the control room.
Amid Maela’s screams, the three of them were now completely exposed to the monster's sight.
“Tch!” Starlight glanced at Stark, who was still frantically operating the console. The red light within the crystal ball had begun to pulse rhythmically; clearly, his work had reached its final stage and could not be interrupted now.
With that thought, he didn't hesitate for a second. He condensed the Sword of Destruction once more and charged directly at the Stone Troll Emperor.
When the Sword of Destruction collided with the crystal claw, the space seemed to fall into an eerie silence.
There was no expected explosion, only the ear-grating sound of crystals shattering. Starlight’s feet sank deep into the floor as the rock beneath him cracked into a spiderweb of fissures.
“Get... back!”
Starlight roared through gritted teeth. The white light on the blade flashed brilliantly once more, and the Power of Destruction surged out like a bursting dam, forcefully shearing off two of the Stone Troll Emperor’s crystalline claws, which were as hard as Saint weapons.
“Clang—”
The severed crystal claws fell to the ground, emitting a crisp, metallic ring.
The Stone Troll Emperor slowly took half a step back, a look of confusion appearing in its rose-red crystalline eyes for the first time.
It didn't understand. Its power had increased so much, yet two of its claws had still been severed.
“It seems...” Starlight panted as he adjusted his stance, holding the Sword of Destruction across his chest, “your evolution isn't quite perfect.”
“This... impos... sible... Crea...”
Before the Stone Troll Emperor could finish its sentence, the Fire God statue in front of them suddenly erupted with a light as dazzling as the sun.
An ancient mechanical voice echoed through the temple. Although it was in an ancient language that none of them had heard before, Starlight could clearly understand its meaning.
【Ignis Protocol Authentication Complete】
【Great Furnace Defense System Activated】
A pillar of crimson light shot into the sky, entering the ceiling from the war hammer held high by the statue and piercing straight through the mountain toward the heavens.
The moment the light touched the rock layer, countless energy veins resembling fiery patterns spread across the dome, covering the entire underground space like blood vessels.
The crimson light flowed down the energy veins, and in the blink of an eye, it formed a semi-transparent spherical shield that enveloped the entire Great Furnace, blocking the encroaching magma.
The massive boulders constantly peeling from above struck the light curtain and were instantly incinerated into red-hot lava, which then solidified into sturdy support structures as the energy flowed through them.
In an instant, the entire dome underwent a world-shaking transformation.
Under the infusion of crimson energy, the originally cracked rock layers were re-forged, glowing with a metallic luster. The spiderweb-like cracks healed at a visible speed, and the falling boulders defied gravity to return to their original positions, perfectly mending within the flowing lava.
The people inside the temple naturally couldn't see everything happening outside, but the gradually weakening tremors meant that the defense was already working as intended.
Stark finally snapped out of his trance-like state and let go of the floating crystal ball. “This is... the Original Forging Technique left by the Fire God... To think it could reshape the rock structure so easily...”
Meanwhile, the Stone Troll Emperor’s pupils had constricted into thin slits, its gaze locked onto the two gems floating before Starlight and Stark.
The greed and desire contained in that look were almost tangible, causing a layer of cold sweat to break out on the back of Starlight’s neck.
The gaze made the ever-vigilant Starlight feel his hair stand on end, but he suddenly realized that the surrounding space had been completely churned up by the statue's activation. The spatial lock the Stone Troll Emperor had previously established had been silently dispelled.
Starlight sensed the change in the surrounding elements. The spatial folds caused by the monster's lock were collapsing under the wash of the Fire God’s power. He only needed to wait for the space to stabilize a bit more before he could use instant movement to leave.
“Now’s our chance!” Starlight took a decisive step back, reached the sides of Maela and Stark, and grabbed their hands.
The Stone Troll Emperor reacted immediately, roaring as it charged toward the three of them, but before it could take two steps, two silver-glowing chains lashed around its neck.
Looking back, the four patriarchs had reappeared on either side of the monster, each pulling on an end of the chains.
With the combined strength of four Saint Rank experts, they actually managed to slowly drag the Stone Troll Emperor back.
Rate on N.U.
