Free Web NovelChapter 203: Chapter 198: Escape the Underground Palace (Part 2)
"Then... then you have to hurry." Its voice was choked with sobs.
"Mommy’s not very brave. She must be terrified right now..."
Ian closed the Jade Box and tucked it into his clothes.
"Gaga, let’s go!"
"You’re a complete madman, ga!" Gaga cursed, but its wings unfurled, instantly expanding to a nearly twenty-meter span.
The man and the crow turned and charged back against the tide of demons, heading for the laboratory.
There were even more demons along the way.
Ian no longer held back.
The [Crystal Energy Barrier] flared to life. Seventy-two Floating Crystal Guards shot out with a whistle, swarming like luminous bees to weave a dense shield and spear formation in front of him.
He unleashed [Frost Ash Beam]s with abandon.
Wherever the pale purple beams passed, demons were left either dead or crippled.
Whenever he encountered a cluster of them, he would hurl a [Gravity Collapse Ball] into their midst, clearing a patch of ground with a BOOM.
But there were too many demons.
They were endless. It was impossible to kill them all.
Ian’s chest heaved violently, his Spiritual Power draining away like water from an open floodgate.
He pulled two vials of [Spirit Recovery Potion] from his Dimension Ring, bit off the stoppers, and downed them.
The cool liquid slid down his throat, barely staving off the dizzy spell.
"To your left! Three Rock Armor Scorpions are pouncing!" Gaga shrieked.
With a wave of his left hand, Ian sent three Floating Crystal Guards shooting out like bullets. PFFT! PFFT! PFFT! They sank into the scorpions’ heads.
Simultaneously, he flung a [Scorching Beam] from his right hand, striking a Resentful Spirit that was sneaking up on his right side.
HISS! The [Yang Flame] effect caused the Resentful Spirit to dissipate instantly.
Finally, they reached the entrance to the laboratory.
The entrance had partially collapsed. Rubble and twisted metal blocked the way, leaving only a gap less than two meters high.
It was pitch-black inside, and a cringe-worthy CRUNCHING sound echoed out, as if the entire Underground Palace was being torn apart by some immense force.
"In!" Ian ducked and squeezed through.
Gaga followed close behind, but the situation inside was even worse.
The corridor was twisted and deformed. The reliefs on the walls were all cracked, and fragments of twisted human faces had fallen all over the ground, their eyes still blinking.
The ground buckled and collapsed, and dark red hot air carrying the stench of sulfur rose from the cracks.
"Which way?" Gaga asked.
Ian said nothing. He simply pulled out the Jade Box and opened it.
"Lucy, show us the way."
Lucy poked out her "head," sensed for a moment, and extended a silver tendril, pointing to a fork in the path to the left that had half-collapsed.
"That way... Mommy’s over there..."
Ian glanced at the path.
Stones were dropping from the CREAKING ceiling. The ground was split by a half-meter-wide, bottomless fissure.
"Let’s go."
He kicked off the ground, his body darting forward like a cat.
Just as a large stone came crashing down, he slid sideways into the branching path.
Gaga activated Shadow Shuttling and appeared directly in front of him.
The fork was even narrower; they almost had to turn sideways to get through.
Cracks spread like spiderwebs across the walls. Dark green moss grew frantically, only to wither just as quickly in a repeating cycle.
A thick, acrid smell of burning hung in the air, mixed with... the stench of blood.
"Something’s up ahead," Gaga said in a low voice.
Ian slowed his pace, spreading his Spiritual Power out like a spiderweb.
Thirty meters away, around the corner, three Corpse Demons wreathed in black smoke were squatting.
Their backs were to them, and they were gnawing on the corpse of a Deep Red Wizard.
CRUNCH, CRUNCH...
The sound of bones being crunched was piercingly clear in the deathly silent corridor.
Ian’s eyes turned cold.
He extended the index finger of his right hand, and three pale purple beams of light shot out silently.
PFFT! PFFT! PFFT!
The three Corpse Demons’ heads exploded simultaneously.
The power of the [Ice and Fire Spiral] left their bodies half-frozen and half-charred as they fell to the ground, motionless.
Ian walked past quickly, not even glancing at the corpse.
Lucy’s connection was growing stronger.
"Closer... so close... Mommy is trembling..."
Ian quickened his pace.
The familiar laboratory door appeared ahead.
The door was warped and stuck in its frame, leaving only a narrow gap.
Ian reached out, gripped the edge of the door, and pulled with all his might.
"Come... on... OPEN!"
With a loud CREAK, he managed to wrench the metal door open.
The laboratory was in shambles.
Lab benches were overturned, bottles and jars smashed to pieces on the floor. Potions of all colors mixed together, emitting a corrosive SIZZLE.
On the stone platform, the small silver tree had shrunk into a ball, only the size of a palm, its branches and leaves trembling.
The "Dark Soil Core" beneath it had dried and cracked, its silvery-gray surface covered in fissures.
The small tree sensed someone enter and trembled even more violently.
"Mommy!" Lucy shrieked from inside the Jade Box.
The small tree suddenly "looked up."
Although it had no facial features, Ian could feel that it was "looking" toward the Jade Box.
_Lucy... Vivian... My children..._ a weak, trembling consciousness reached out.
"It’s me." Ian walked forward and squatted down by the stone platform.
"The Underground Palace is collapsing. Come with me. I’ll reunite you with your children."
The little tree hesitated.
It could sense that Ian meant no harm, but... ’Leave this place?’
It had slumbered here for who knows how many years. This place was its "root."
"There’s no time," Ian said urgently.
The entire laboratory was shaking violently.
With a CRACK from above, a fissure split open, and rubble and dust rained down.
A rock the size of a washbasin smashed into the spot where Ian had just been standing, leaving a crater in the ground.
The small tree’s branches and leaves trembled in fright.
Ian reached out and gently touched its trunk.
"Trust me," he soothed the small tree in a low voice.
"You don’t want your children to be without a mother, do you?"
Inside the Jade Box, the Five Fruits cried out in a cacophony. "Mommy, come with us!" "There are tasty Potions outside!" "The Great Demon King is fierce, but he doesn’t lie!"
The little tree was silent for a few seconds.
Then, it slowly unfurled its branches and leaves, touching Ian’s finger.
A clear thought, filled with the weight of entrustment, reached him.
_Take care of... them..._
Ian nodded solemnly. "I will."
He reached out and carefully scooped up the small tree, along with its "Dark Soil Core."
The moment the "Dark Soil Core" left the stone platform, the last of the underground energy supply was severed.
The small tree’s light began to dim, its silver glow fading.
Ian quickly retrieved a larger Jade Box from his Ring, its bottom lined with moist soil rich in Life Energy.
He planted the small tree inside. It immediately sent out fine silver threads to absorb the energy.
Seeing that the little tree was stable for the time being, Ian closed the lid and stored the box away.
The entire laboratory began to collapse.
"Go!"
Ian turned and rushed out of the laboratory.
The corridor had mostly collapsed, and stones were falling from the ceiling like rain.
Gaga cleared the way ahead, Wind Blades flying everywhere, cleaving through the rubble that blocked their path.
Ian followed behind, his [Crystal Energy Barrier] at maximum, the Floating Crystal Guards spinning wildly to deflect the falling rocks.
"Gaga, where’s the exit?" Ian yelled.
"To the right! Follow me!"
Gaga shrieked, weaving madly through the twisting, deforming corridor.
Behind them, the sound of the collapse pursued them like a tidal wave.
Wherever they passed, walls toppled and the ground gave way. The entire Underground Palace seemed to be getting crushed by a giant hand.
A light appeared ahead.
It was the exit!
Ian glanced back. In the depths of the Underground Palace, darkness surged forward like a tide, turning everything it touched to Void.
He kicked off the ground, his body shooting like an arrow toward the narrow gap that was all that remained of the exit.
"Gaga!"
"Coming, ga!"
Gaga turned into a black shadow, sticking close to his back.
The man and the crow squeezed out just a moment before the gap closed.
BOOM!
Behind them, the entrance to the Underground Palace collapsed completely.
Huge rocks crashed down, and dust and smoke billowed into the sky.
