novelraw Chapter 440 - 431: Elemental Contamination
Chapter 440 - 431: Elemental Contamination
The storm and thunder intertwined, electric arcs swirling around as they relentlessly attacked every living thing nearby.
Following Edin for some distance, what appeared before Lin Jun was a smaller storm elemental.
Although called small, it was actually two to three meters tall.
This was clearly the "legacy" left by that Storm Elemental Lord.
Even though its main body had been defeated, the core area of its explosive power had formed a lasting elemental pollution zone, where a large number of low-tier Elemental Spirits were breeding.
This imbalance of elements could often settle over a long time, but for the Silver Thorn Squad currently trapped, these low-tier Elemental Spirits meant a life-and-death crisis.
After Ivan teleported the squad of four and Edin back to the basement of Red Stone City, the S-Class Demon Crystal was exhausted and scrapped, and the old mage lost consciousness, foaming at the mouth.
The current scene in the basement was tragic.
Edin had lost an arm, his equipment completely destroyed, the Half-dragon Gall had suffered the most severe blow and was barely hanging on by a thread, Nova was somewhat better but still half-dead, struggling to perform some healing technique just to keep Gall alive.
Except for the elf Nightowl, the entire squad was severely injured and forced to stay in place to recover, which turned out to be a wrong decision.
If Ivan were conscious, he would definitely have moved the team out immediately, but unfortunately, there were no ifs.
The Storm Elemental Lord did not return to find them and went directly north.
But the newly spawned Elemental Spirits came to trouble them.
These Storm Elemental Spirits were not particularly strong, but now Nightowl was the only one with enough combat strength!
Nightowl had to guard the entrance to the basement, not allowing any Elemental Spirits to enter, and had no time to move others.
As time passed, Nightowl became increasingly exhausted, while the strength of these Elemental Spirits seemed to be growing...
Fortunately, after some rest, Edin, though still without much combat power, was able to escape on his own using illusion techniques.
Edin didn’t mention the wooden core matter, knowing that at this time, Silverthorn wouldn’t agree to give it to him; the wooden core was Edin’s hope for returning to save them.
It could be imagined that if Nightowl couldn’t hold on anymore, he would have to escape with the wooden core and one teammate, which would cause many more complications, and any resulting discord would be even more troublesome.
Fortunately, after Edin escaped Red Stone City, not long after, he surprisingly saw the spreading fungal mat!
"So, my wooden core is still in the basement of the City Lord’s Mansion in Red Stone City?" Lin Jun asked.
"It’s still there now," Edin replied meticulously.
"How long do you think they can hold on?"
"Two or three days... should be the limit."
There was still some time.
Edin quickly noticed the magic gathering within the fungal mat, with one Puki after another slowly rising from the surface of the fungal mat.
Under the acceleration of the magical power, Lin Jun took half a day to cultivate more than thirty Elite Puki, handed over to Edin to command, to guard against wandering Elemental Spirits.
Next, a batch of special Puki began forming on the fungal mat.
They had only one skill: [Magic Storage Level 8].
These Puki did not leave the fungal mat after being born but stayed on it, continuously filling with magical power.
This charging process lasted another half day.
Eventually, hundreds of energy-storing Puki were densely packed in this area...
Due to the insufficient number of Puki controllers, some cannon fodder Puki in Inanna’s marching team fell onto the fungal mat one after another, disappearing into the ocean of Puki.
An 8,000-strong team stealthily lost a few hundred without drawing others’ attention, but they could sneakily make up for it later.
The reason for gathering so much magic power here was...
[Achievement: Follower Maker (Fast Creation of a Follower)]
The suddenly appearing huge magical vortex caused Edin to take several steps back to stabilize himself, with the Puki along with their stored magical power being quickly devoured and absorbed into the vortex.
"Edin, watch closely, this is the noble fusion summoning of a Puki!"
Directly using [Follower Maker], due to the power limit of one fungal mat, at most only one Gold Level Puki could be summoned.
A single Gold Level Puki was clearly insufficient for the upcoming operations needs.
And Lin Jun’s solution was, to use these magical battery Puki, to pre-store magic here, sacrificing half a day, bringing down a weakened version of a Knight at Diamond Level without a symbiosis Demon Crystal!
The magic vortex also caught the attention of several distant Storm Elemental Spirits, who flew over at lightning speed.
Edin was about to command the Elite Puki to fight when Lin Jun took the initiative.
[Mushroom Cannon Level 10]
A dazzling magic cannon shot out from the gradually dissipating vortex, accurately hitting the foremost Storm Elemental, completely smashing it.
The explosion’s shockwave caused the remaining two Elemental Spirits to stagger.
In this brief interval, the newly born Knight Puki leapt among them.
[Blade Storm Level 8]
The blade whip whirled like a tornado, storm against storm!
The remaining two Storm Elementals were instantly shattered, dissipating into the air.
"Edin, lead the way!"
...
At the basement entrance, Nightowl’s silhouette appeared particularly frail amidst the flickering lightning.
She had just used a series of shadow shuttles with enchanted dagger attacks to completely tear apart the third Gold Level Storm Spirit.
The remaining elemental energy slowly dissipated at her feet, and fatigue was already clearly written on her face.
She leaned against the damaged stone wall and briefly closed her eyes.
Continuous sleepless combat over several days had worn down her mind and body like a dull knife.
She could clearly feel that her once-proud speed had slowed considerably, and her precision was declining.
In the past, dealing with those three Gold Level should not have been so strenuous.
She glanced back at the depths of the basement.
Ivan still lay in the corner, his complexion ashen, his breathing so weak it was almost imperceptible.
Nightowl even doubted whether the old mage, after forcefully absorbing that S-Class Demon Crystal and completing that overload teleportation, had suffered any irreversible damage and didn’t know if he could even awaken...
Nova leaned against the other side, his face pale, struggling to mobilize the barely remaining magical power to maintain the faint healing aura shrouding Gall.
Half-dragon Gall was in the worst condition, his massive body covered in scorched marks and wounds from elemental erosion, hanging on by Nova’s healing efforts in the absence of Healing Potions.
Edin left only two days ago.
Unless a miracle occurred, or someone stumbled upon her while nearby, found by Edin.
Otherwise, she feared she couldn’t hold on until then.
So...
A painful choice lay before her — who should she save?
She could at most only take one person, using shadow shuttling to forcefully break out.
And after she left, the remaining two probably wouldn’t last long before being torn apart by those frenzied elemental spirits...
"Why must I make such a choice? Ivan, wake up fast!" The mental pressure led Nightowl to gnaw at her nails.
Suddenly, the familiar sound of storm and thunder came from outside the basement entrance.
"Endless, can’t I get a little more rest..." Nightowl complained, adjusting the grip on her dagger.
However, this time, the storm’s noise seemed particularly loud.
Seeing the storm elemental almost filling the entire passage, Nightowl’s face turned extremely grim.
"Diamond Level?!"