Chapter 100: We Will Protect You
With this crazy thought, Mark knew he was about to go through unimaginable pain. His body’s instincts tried to use fear to stop Mark, but Mark still gritted his teeth and moved forward.
He bent down to pick up the box and hurriedly opened it, but the box was now extremely difficult to open. Mark really wanted to curse at Kael for why he had to protect the spiritual herb so carefully.
"Mark! Are you crazy?"
Seeing Mark’s actions, Brann immediately shouted. Anyone could understand that Mark was planning to use the spiritual herb right away.
But could a spiritual herb be eaten like that? Normally, to use a spiritual herb, one needed to stay in an environment where no one could disturb them for a very long time to absorb it.
Recklessly swallowing a spiritual herb without S-rank strength or above would almost certainly result in death or becoming crippled.
"Stop! We don’t need a weak F-rank like you risking your life to do something pointless."
Alice shouted loudly while treating Kael’s wounds. Even though the others were in the middle of an intense battle, they still spared an extremely brief moment to glance at Mark.
"Mark! I’m the team captain. I order you not to commit suicide. Swallowing a spiritual herb without preparation, you will definitely die."
Everyone’s concern deeply moved Mark. But the more they were like this, the more determined Mark became to bet his life to give everyone a chance to live.
"I am trash. Isn’t it only reasonable for trash like me to risk my life?"
Even though he really wanted to say many nice words, after coming out of Mark’s mouth, those words turned into something like this. And at this moment, he had also successfully opened the box and obtained the spiritual herb.
Fearing that everyone would stop him, Mark immediately put the spiritual herb into his mouth and frantically bit and tore at it.
The feeling was extremely unpleasant, as if he were eating a piece of ginger covered in dirt and still wrapped in its skin, no, perhaps it was even more unpleasant because this spiritual herb was not meant to be eaten.
Mark tried to use his own willpower to force himself to chew the spiritual herb into pieces as quickly as possible and swallow it into his stomach.
The moment he had only just chewed it into pieces, an enormous amount of energy had already flooded his entire body. If he swallowed it down as well, this enormous energy surging as countless tsunamis might truly cause Mark to explode into pieces.
Spiritual root! I beg you! Help me.... Help me just this once...
Feeling his consciousness quickly becoming blurry, Mark used the last bit of reason he had left to beg his spiritual root.
Inside Mark’s consciousness space, the earth spiritual root that had been completely still now began to emit a strange light. Cracks started to appear on it.
These cracks were tiny compared to the enormous spiritual root, but this was only the beginning. Forcibly using such a huge amount of violent energy that far exceeded its limit, the spiritual root would naturally suffer severe damage.
Even if the spiritual root tried its best to restrain the energy, using it still required Mark, but now Mark’s consciousness was no longer clear.
No... I have to stay conscious... stay conscious... calm down...
Cracks appeared on Mark’s body. Blood kept flowing from his wounds, staining the gauze wrapped messily around Mark’s body red.
"Arghhh!"
Mark let out a roar. A brown aura radiated from Mark’s body with such terrifying intensity that everyone had to pay attention to him.
Even the skeleton knight that had been attacking nonstop stopped because it sensed that a powerful enemy had appeared.
"Ohoho, how interesting. At this rate, you will be stronger than my incarnation in the future. Of course, that’s assuming you survive today."
Cerberus laughed excitedly when he saw Mark roar with his eyes rolled back as if he had lost consciousness. Although he didn’t really understand what cultivation was, Cerberus was still an immortal entity, so he could still understand what was happening.
The spiritual herb contained a huge amount of energy. For an F-rank body to dare swallow it directly without exploding was truly an incredible thing.
"Mark..."
Kael and his teammates looked toward Mark. Everyone thought Mark would explode immediately, but this situation, completely opposite to what they had imagined, gave them hope.
The terrifying power radiating from Mark could clearly change the course of the battle, but Mark’s condition right now was extremely bad.
Mark’s body swelled up as if it were about to explode, while the spiritual root forcibly compressed the energy, causing Mark’s body to shrink back down.
Swelling up and shrinking back down like that, Mark’s body was continuously damaged more and more severely. In this condition, whether he could control the power or not, Mark wouldn’t be able to live much longer.
"Protect Mark! If he succeeds, we’ll live."
Kael shouted to boost everyone’s morale. He also raised his bow and shot straight toward the skeleton knight’s attention.
But the skeleton knight allowed Kael’s arrows to shatter several of its ribs before swinging an energy slash straight toward Mark.
The moment his life was threatened, Mark regained a little bit of consciousness, but at this moment, he couldn’t even move.
It wasn’t because his arms and legs were numb, but because the violent energy that could lose control at any moment made him dare not move.
The sound of metal colliding rang out sharply, as a huge body stood in front of Mark.
Brann turned his body into metal and used both hands to block the skeleton knight’s energy slash. The slash immediately injured Brann’s arms, but Brann immediately used his body as leverage to knock the slash upward.
The ceiling of the cave was carved open with a deep gash, and the entire cave shook violently once again.
"Calm down, Mark. You’re the only chance for all of us to survive. We’ll protect you, so just focus."
Brann’s words were like a buff that strengthened Mark’s spirit countless times. His consciousness, which had almost disappeared, turned back around and faced the violent energy once again.