Chapter 973: Sealed Spring [Part 2]
Chapter 973 – Sealed Spring [Part 2]
Its head was the worst.
A crown of dead branches framed a face that had no real skin. Just bark, moss, and a carved mouth split too wide across a stone mask. Water leaked from its eye sockets, but no eyes sat inside them. Only pale blue lights flickered deep within, starving and unfocused.
Around its chest, faint elven script glowed and died, glowed and died, as if old wards were still trying to hold it together.
Then it spoke.
Or tried to.
"Food..."
The voice scraped out like stones grinding under water. "Food..."
Gula recoiled. "Why does it sound like me when I haven’t gotten dinner?"
Sira shot her a look. "This is not the time."
Lux’s gaze stayed fixed on the creature. "System. Analyze."
[Analysis Initiated]
[Target Scan In Progress...]
[Warning: Target Is Partially Shielded By Ancient Elven Sanctuary Residue]
[Warning: Target Is Not Conventional Lifeform]
[Warning: Mana Drain Field Detected]
Lux’s eyes narrowed.
The creature took one dragging step out of the spring.
The ground beneath its foot blackened.
The moss shriveled.
The blue-white glow of the pool pulsed into its hollow torso, feeding it.
[Analysis Complete]
[Name: Mana Devourer]
[Class: Ancient Immortal Warden / Corrupted Mana-Root Entity]
[Level: 389]
[Origin: Sealed Spring Guardian]
[State: Starved / Corrupted / Partially Immortal]
[Power Source: Absorbed Mana From Grove, Visitors, And Residual Sacred Spring Core]
[Elemental Composition: Water / Stone / Root / Ash / Memory Residue]
[Primary Ability: Universal Mana Consumption]
[Secondary Ability: Root Binding]
[Tertiary Ability: Regenerative Reconstruction Through Spring Core]
[Threat Level: Extreme In Enclosed Sacred Territory]
[Weakness: Unknown]
Gula swallowed. "Level three hundred eighty-nine? That’s stronger than us."
Sira’s smile turned sharp, but her eyes were serious."That’s not small."
The creature’s head tilted.
The pale lights inside its empty eye sockets fixed on them.
"Food..."
Its mouth cracked wider.
This time, the word came with pressure.
Mana pulled from the air.
Sira’s Pride aura flickered.
Lullaby’s Sloth field thinned.
Gula gasped and held her stomach harder, not from hunger this time, but because something inside her had tried to answer the devourer’s appetite.
Ely staggered.
Lux moved instantly.
One step back.
His hand caught Ely’s wrist and pulled her behind him.
Dark-gold authority rose from his body like a blade leaving its sheath. "Don’t let it touch your mana."
Sira laughed once, short and dangerous. "How generous. I was planning to feed it compliments."
Lux’s eyes stayed on the devourer. "It won’t appreciate taste."
Gula whispered, "I do."
Yue stepped beside Lux, jade-gold energy gathering along her sleeves. "This is not the first elf."
"No," Lux said. "This is what guards the road to her."
The Devourer lowered its massive body, branches scraping against the stone arches.
The pool behind it began to drain upward into its spine.
"Food..."
Lux lifted his hand.
Infernal fire ignited at his fingertips. HellFire Rain.
But he didn’t release it.
Not yet.
Because if the creature absorbed all mana, blasting it might just feed it.
[Combat Advisory]
[Direct Mana-Based Attacks May Be Absorbed]
[Physical Disruption Recommended]
[Spatial Isolation Recommended]
[Warning: Entity Regenerates Through Spring Core]
Lux smiled faintly. "Of course."
Sira looked at him."That smile means bad idea."
"Yup." Lux’s ring pulsed once.
[Sovereign Event Horizon Ring: Standby]
Yue glanced at the spring.
"If you isolate it from the core—"
"It may stop regenerating," Lux finished.
The devourer roared again.
This time, the chamber shook hard enough for stones to fall from above.
Lullaby lifted both hands, Sloth authority spreading thicker. "Too loud..."
The roar slowed.
Just a little.
Enough.
Lux’s smile sharpened. "Good girl."
Lullaby blinked sleepily. "Mm."
Sira rolled her shoulders, Pride aura blooming brighter.
"Finally. Something to hit."
Gula stepped back, face pale but eyes oddly focused. "It keeps pulling. Like hunger without a stomach."
Ely looked past Lux, fear and grief mixing in her eyes. "This was supposed to be a spring."
Lux did not look back. "It still is."
The devourer raised its root-claw arm.
Lux’s eyes glowed.
"It’s just starving."
The claw came down. And the chamber exploded into motion.
Lux moved first.
Not backward.
Sideways.
His hand caught Ely by the wrist again, pulling her out of the strike path as the root-claw smashed into the stone floor where she had stood. The impact sent cracks racing across the chamber, black water spraying upward from the sealed spring in jagged arcs.
Sira leaped left, her heels barely touching the stone before she twisted away from a second root lash.
Lullaby simply dropped.
Not fell.
Dropped.
Like sleep itself had decided gravity was optional, her small body sinking low beneath the shockwave while her pillow slid under her like a shield.
Gula jumped back with a yelp, hugging herself as if trying to stop her own Gluttony from answering the creature’s hunger.
Yue blurred right, sleeves snapping as she avoided a spray of absorbing water.
The Devourer roared again.
"Food..."
Lux’s ring flashed.
[Sovereign Event Horizon Ring: Activation Requested]
[Dominion Mode: Emergency Isolation]
[Target: Mana Devourer]
[Objective: Separate Entity From Spring Core]
"Activate."
The ring pulsed dark-gold.
Space bent.
The air around the Devourer folded inward like an invisible cage trying to close around its massive body. For half a second, the plan worked. The monster’s limbs slowed. The pool behind it distorted. The spring core beneath the surface glowed brighter, exposed by the pressure of the ring.
Then the Devourer’s head snapped toward the pool.
Lux’s eyes narrowed. "No."
Too late.
One of the creature’s root-arms plunged backward into the spring.
Not attacking them.
Reaching down.
Gula’s eyes widened.
Her whole body stiffened as if she felt the hunger move.
She pointed sharply. "That’s not in your plan, right?"
Lux’s face went cold. "No."
The Devourer’s hand closed around something under the water.
The spring screamed.
Not with sound.
With light.
A blue-white orb rose from the pool, wrapped in roots, water, and ash. It pulsed like a heart made of sacred mana.
The spring core.
Ely’s breath stopped. "It’s taking the core..."