Free Web NovelChapter 447: Fighting The Pavilion Spirit
Moon’s eyes narrowed as the information from Eye of Truth spread across his vision.
[Hidden Information: A Pavilion Spirit with the ability to revive indefinitely within a 1-kilometer radius of the pavilion she was birthed in. Revivals do not weaken the spirit at all. Beyond the 1-kilometer radius, revival is disabled entirely. The pavilion connection also sustains her mana regeneration.]
’Indefinite revival within one kilometer. No weakening upon death.’
Moon’s mind processed the important details instantly. As long as they fought on this mountaintop, she could die and return at full strength. Again and again. He could kill her a hundred times and it would mean nothing. She would simply stand back up, undiminished, while his mana drained and his stamina eroded with every exchange.
’Spirits really do have a superior revival mechanism. No wonder they’re considered one of the strongest races.’
But the information cut both ways.
Her mana regeneration was tied to proximity. The closer she was to the pavilion, the faster she recovered. Right now, fighting at the castle’s doorstep, both her revival and her regeneration were at maximum capacity.
That also explained why she hadn’t simply killed herself to teleport back when she realized the attack on the elders’ bodies was a trap. She had been too far away. Beyond the one-kilometer radius, the revival didn’t function.
’One kilometer.’
Moon mapped the route in his mind. The path down the mountain. The rocky terrain at its base. The treeline beyond. He had memorized the distance markers during his approach, and the one-kilometer boundary fell roughly at the base of the peak, where the mountain’s slope leveled out into the flatlands.
If he could drag this fight beyond that line, everything changed. Her revival would be disabled. Her mana regeneration would drop. Every wound he inflicted would hit harder than ever. Every death would be permanent.
Moon sprinted toward the pavilion door.
The pavilion spirit had been bracing for an attack. Her ice sword was raised, her stance set, ready for his next attack. When Moon turned and ran in the opposite direction, straight through the castle gates.
Upon realizing his intention, her expression darkened immediately, taking on a gruesome look unfitting of her beautiful face.
"You don’t dare!"
She shot after him. Her feet touched the ground and ice formed beneath them instantly, creating a frictionless surface she skated across at a speed that far exceeded Moon’s sprint. The gap between them shrank rapidly.
Crash!
Moon barged through the inner door and leapt into the air. His body twisted mid-flight, turning to face the entrance behind him. Purple lightning crackled in his hand and a Raiju streaked back through the doorway. freewebnovel.cσ๓
ZAP!
The pavilion spirit skidded to a halt, her ice sword coming up to intercept. The wolf struck the blade and detonated, buying Moon a handful of precious seconds.
He used every one of them.
His eyes darted across the room like a ball bouncing off walls. The throne room. Pillars. Empty weapon racks.
"Nothing. It’s not here."
The pavilion’s spirit core and the device that the Evolvers had spoken about. The mechanism that could teleport everyone off the island.
They weren’t in this room!
Moon’s gaze caught a corridor branching off to the left, and at its end, a staircase leading upward into a deeper sanctum.
He bolted toward it.
Behind him, the pavilion spirit tore through the doorway, ice spreading across the floor in her wake. Her fury was beyond words now.
A human was inside her home. Running through her halls. Desecrating everything the pavilion stood for.
Moon ascended the staircase in two leaps, the stone walls blurring past him.
The staircase opened into a vast chamber. Moon’s eyes swept across it in an instant. Carved stone walls lined with shelves holding containers. A meditation platform at the center, surrounded by pillars of ice.
This was her personal sanctum. Where she cultivated. Where she grew stronger. Where she spent the years that separated her from the spirits above.
Moon’s gaze raced across every surface, every shelf, every corner. He was looking for the device. The teleportation mechanism that would get everyone off this island. It had to be here, in the deepest part of the pavilion, protected by the strongest spirit.
’Where is it?’
He didn’t find it.
Suddenly, Moon felt a gust of wind coming from his back. Something was accelerating fast!
Moon threw himself sideways on instinct alone but as fate would have it, he was not fast enough. The ice sword carved through his left shoulder from behind. The blade bit deep, slicing through muscle and grinding against bone, stopping just short of severing the arm entirely. Blood sprayed across the stone floor in a wide arc.
"HRGH!" Moon hissed through his clenched teeth. The pain was blinding, white-hot, radiating from his shoulder through his entire left side.
His arm immediately went limp, hanging uselessly, blood pouring from the gash in a pouring stream.
The pavilion spirit stood behind him, her blade dripping with his blood. Her expression was beyond fury. It was the cold, in absolute rage.
"Human...You will not leave this room alive. You have committed all kinds of evil doings, your punishment could only be death...."
Moon stumbled forward, putting distance between them. His right hand was already casting. Minor Mend and Cleanse layered on top of each other, the warm feeling spreading across his shoulder, stemming the bleeding, forcing the severed muscle fibers to reconnect. The bone knitted itself back together with an agonizing sensation that made his vision swim for a fraction of a second.
The arm was functional again within seconds. Barely. The healing had closed the worst of it, but the damage ran deeper than what his spells could fully repair in the heat of combat.
Before the spirit could press her advantage, the chamber shook.
The Hydra crashed through the staircase entrance, its massive body barely fitting through the opening, stone crumbling around it as it forced its way in. The Fire Hound followed, squeezing past the Hydra, its body already wreathed in flame.
Mirage galloped in behind them, his eye glowing purple, the doppelganger splitting from his body the moment he entered the room.
The Fire and Nature beast soul materialized at Moon’s side too.
