Chapter 980: Do You Guys Know How to Fix This?
Chapter 980 – Do You Guys Know How to Fix This?
He looked at Ely. "Ely."
She blinked, still standing behind him where he had told her to stay. "Yes?"
"Now it’s your turn."
Her gaze shifted to the floating fragments.
The moment she focused on them, the dark-gold seals around the fragments pulsed. Lux lifted his hand slightly, releasing his claim without letting the pieces fall.
The fragments floated toward her.
Slowly.
Gently.
Ely’s breath caught.
One by one, the pieces gathered before her, orbiting in a trembling circle. Their light painted her face blue-white and silver. Her high-elf features softened beneath that glow, and for a moment she looked less like Ely Vireleth, modern high elf from a prestigious family, and more like something older standing beneath the first trees.
Her expression became serene.
Almost sacred.
Everyone went still.
Sira lowered her claws.
Yue watched carefully, spear held at her side.
Gula stopped clutching her fork-spear and actually held her breath.
Lullaby’s sleepy eyes opened just enough to witness the moment.
Lux crossed his arms and waited.
The fragments circled Ely.
Ely raised both hands.
The fragments shivered.
For a moment, it looked like she knew exactly what to do.
Then Ely blushed. "Uh..."
Lux’s eyebrow twitched.
Ely looked at the floating shards.
Then at Lux.
"Do you guys know how to fix this?"
Silence.
Lux almost facepalmed.
Almost.
He got halfway there, hand lifting toward his face, then stopped because he was trying to maintain at least a little operational dignity.
Yue cringed.
Gula burst out laughing.
Sira rubbed her temple.
Lullaby whispered, "Oh no."
Ely’s face turned redder. "I’m serious!"
Lux inhaled slowly.
Then exhaled.
"Yes," he said. "We noticed."
Ely pointed at the core fragments, mortified. "They floated to me! I thought my instinct knew what to do!"
Sira lowered her hand from her temple. "Just use blood again."
Gula immediately made a face. "Blood again? So cliché."
Sira glared at her. "Do you have a better idea?"
"Eat the corruption?"
Lux pointed at Gula. "Absolutely no one eats any piece of the sacred spring."
Gula pouted. "You always say no before my best ideas."
"Because your best ideas are crimes with seasoning."
Yue stepped closer, looking at the floating fragments. "It needs to be restored."
Sira gave her a look. "Obviously."
Yue turned her calm gaze toward Sira. "How would blood restore a broken core?"
Sira opened her mouth.
Paused.
Then frowned harder.
Lullaby tilted her head. "Just splash it all over?"
Everyone looked at her.
She hugged her pillow. "What? Sometimes rituals are messy."
Lux huffed. The sound was half laugh, half exhaustion. "No."
He looked at Ely.
"How about your healing skill?"
Ely blinked. "My healing skill?"
"Yes."
"But healing skills are for living beings."
Lux smiled.
Softly.
It was a strange sight after what had just happened. His clothes were torn. His eyes still carried the glow of unhinged Greed, the same demon who had called an ancient corrupted warden bad collateral while ripping its core out.
And yet, when he looked at Ely, his smile was gentle.
"That spring is alive."
Ely went still.
Lux nodded toward the fragments.
"It was starved. Broken. Corrupted. But alive."
Yue’s eyes softened with understanding.
Gula stopped laughing.
Sira lowered her gaze to the fragments.
Lux’s smile lingered. "Try it."
Ely swallowed.
Then she nodded.
She brought her hands closer to the floating fragments. Soft mana gathered in her palms, gentle and warm, nothing like the violent mana blasts Lux had forbidden earlier. The Devourer was gone now. The absorption field had collapsed. This mana did not get stolen.
It flowed.
Carefully.
Like water returning to roots.
The fragments trembled.
Ely’s mana wrapped around them, thread by thread, not forcing them together, but reminding them how to belong.
One piece turned.
Another answered.
A third slid into place.
The fragments began to orbit faster, light weaving between them like veins reconnecting. Blue-white glow deepened. Silver-green roots of light spread across cracks. Ash-gray stains peeled away and fell as harmless dust.
Ely’s expression changed.
The embarrassment faded.
Her eyes widened, but not with fear.
Wonder.
"I..."
The core pieces clicked together.
A pulse went through the chamber.
The broken spring responded.
A single drop of water rose from the shallow pool.
Then another.
Then another.
The fragments fused.
A whole orb formed before Ely’s hands.
Blue-white at the center, silver-green around the edges, pulsing softly like a sleeping heart.
[Restoration Complete]
[First Song Spring Core: Reconstructed]
[Ownership Resonance: Ely Vireleth / Ancient Elven Bloodline]
The orb floated forward.
Straight to Ely.
She reached out instinctively and caught it.
The glow washed over her face.
For a moment, she simply stared at it.
Then her lips parted.
"I did it..."
Lux’s expression softened. "You did."
Sira smiled, proud despite herself.
Gula clapped once, then stopped when Yue gave her a look.
Lullaby mumbled, "Good healing."
Yue nodded. "Well done."
Ely held the core carefully, like it might break again if she breathed too sharply.
Lux looked toward the ruined spring. "Now we need to revive it."
He snapped his fingers.
[Sovereign Event Horizon Ring: Spatial Pocket Release]
[Dominion Field Cancelled]
The controlled combat pocket shattered around them.
The repaired core remained in Ely’s hands, but the dark-gold battlefield pressure vanished. The chamber returned fully to the real sealed spring beneath the Hollow Mountain.
And somehow, it looked worse.
Without the ring’s containment glow, the damage was clearer.
The spring was nearly dry.
The roots around it were brittle and dead. The stone arches had cracked. The blue-white glow beneath the water had disappeared completely. The moss at the edges had turned gray. The trees beyond the chamber looked hollow and exhausted, their leaves dull, their flowers closed.
Ely stepped toward the spring.
Lux followed but stayed behind her.
This was hers.
Ely knelt at the edge of the pool.
The core pulsed in her hands.
For a second, fear crossed her face.
Then she lowered it into the spring.
The water accepted it.
Not sank.
Swallowed.
The orb slipped beneath the shallow surface, and the remaining water lit from within.
A heartbeat passed.
Nothing.
Then...The spring breathed.