Chapter 112: Blood-Stained Leaf, Elf Ranger

The faint cracking sound from outside the ventilation shaft pierced the three's taut nerves like an ice needle. The splashing of water falling into the pool now sounded especially grating.

Bronzebeard's massive right hand silently tightened around the rune-carving knife; the cold crystal touch brought a strange sense of comfort. His single eye locked firmly onto the small ventilation shaft covered in glowing moss. The dwarf's tough perception, like invisible tentacles, pierced through the thick stone wall, straining to catch any movement from outside.

Silence.

Absolute, suffocating silence.

Xiang Lingna tightly covered her mouth, her large eyes filled with terror, her small body involuntarily shrinking toward the altar. Wrench, like a startled mole, crouched low, aiming the sharp spike conduit on his "Survival Arm" at the ventilation shaft, his bean-sized eyes flashing with tension and a hint of mad excitement.

Time seemed to freeze. Every second stretched endlessly long.

Suddenly!

Thud!

A dull sound of a heavy object hitting the ground came from outside the stone chamber directly beneath the ventilation shaft! Immediately followed by a very suppressed, painful, rough and heavy panting, and... the faint sound of liquid dripping!

Not the hiss of a subterranean creature, nor the hum of machinery, but more like... a person? A person who suffered heavy injuries?

Bronzebeard's brows knitted tightly, his single eye filled with doubt and alarm. He signaled Wrench and Xiang Lingna to remain absolutely silent, while he, like the most steady rock, moved silently to the stone chamber's only metal door, controlled by an elven emblem. He pressed his ear against the cold metal, holding his breath to listen.

The panting was intermittent, filled with exhaustion and pain. Drip... drip... that was the sound of blood hitting the ground! And the amount was not small!

"Who?" Bronzebeard's low, hoarse voice, like muffled thunder, pierced through the thick metal door.

The panting outside the door suddenly halted! Then, a more urgent whisper, heavily laden with pain and disbelief, spoken in Elvish, came through: "... Life... life essence?... The Sanctuary... activated?! Impossible..."

Elvish! Although the accent was somewhat strange, carrying the unique rasp of the Withered Forest, it was indeed Elvish! Moreover, the other party had sensed the life essence inside the Sanctuary!

Bronzebeard's heart skipped a beat. A surviving elf? Priestess Liyana's kin?

He hesitated no longer, using his mind to communicate with the elven runes at the connection point of his severed arm, guiding energy into the emblem node beside the door.

Hum...

A pale golden light flared, and the metal door silently slid open inward.

The scene of the corridor outside came into view.

A figure was curled up on the cold stone floor, facing away from the door. Tall and slender, wearing tattered, dark green leather armor stained with dark purple filth and dried blood, a head of lusterless, withered gray hair hung loose. Most shocking was his back—a deep, bone-exposing tear ran diagonally from his right shoulder blade to his left waist; the wound edges were everted and blackened, emitting a strong scent of withered decay, with dark purple pus-blood constantly seeping out and dripping onto the stone floor. Deep within the wound, faintly visible, writhed purple-black energy like tiny vines!

Beside him lay a broken longbow, its bowstring wrapped with withered vines. Several peculiar leaves with scorched, curled edges and silver-white veins were scattered in the pool of blood.

Hearing the commotion behind him, the person turned around with difficulty, extremely slowly.

A blood-stained, pale yet handsome face, with pointed ears hanging limply, covered in fine cracks. His eyes were a strange silver-gray, now filled with bloodshot veins, his pupils slightly constricted from intense pain and shock. When he saw Bronzebeard standing inside the door—a dwarf covered in blood, with a severed arm connected to a strange crystallized conduit, holding an elven rune-carving knife, and behind him, a goblin peeking out and a terrified little girl—his silver-gray pupils suddenly dilated!

"Dwarves?! Goblins?! Human child?!" His voice was hoarse and broken, filled with absurdity and vigilance. "Who... are you? How... did you open the Thorn Sanctuary?!" He tried to prop himself up, but the searing pain in his back made him groan, collapsing again, with more dark purple pus-blood gushing out.

"Elf?" Bronzebeard's single eye was sharp as a blade, confirming the other's identity, but his vigilance did not waver. He noticed the familiar, disgusting scent of decay on the other's wound—the Corrupted Claw Mark's pollution! And the degree was extremely deep!

"Uncle Suolin... Grayleaf... Moonshadow Sentinel..." The elf painfully stated his name and identity, his silver-gray eyes staring fixedly at the rune-carving knife in Bronzebeard's hand. "The carving knife... you... repaired the Water Purification Core?" He had obviously heard the sound of flowing water just now.

"We... refugees." Bronzebeard spoke concisely, his gaze sweeping over the terrifying wound on Uncle Suolin's back. "Your injury... Corrupted Claw pollution."

A hint of bitterness and despair appeared on Uncle Suolin's pale face: "... The Withered Beast Horde... the Corrupted Claw vanguard... the outpost... has fallen... Only I..." He coughed violently, spitting out phlegm streaked with purple-black blood. "I... followed the abnormality in the earth veins... and... the faint life essence... to find this place... Never thought..." His gaze swept over the three again, filled with confusion and deep exhaustion.

"Xiang Lingna... Light Moss..." Bronzebeard did not explain much, signaling Xiang Lingna.

Although afraid, seeing Uncle Suolin's pained state, Xiang Lingna's kind nature took over. She carefully plucked a few of the thickest Light Moss leaves, radiating a strong life essence, ran over, and held them to Uncle Suolin's mouth.

Uncle Suolin looked at the moss leaves radiating a soft green light and full of vitality before him; a hint of surprise and longing flashed in his silver-gray eyes. He painfully opened his mouth, and Xiang Lingna stuffed the leaves in.

The Light Moss dissolved instantly upon entering the mouth, and pure life energy flowed into Uncle Suolin's dried-out limbs and bones in an instant. At the wound on his back, the crazily eroding purple-black energy seemed stimulated by this pure life force, surging violently for a moment, bringing even more intense pain, but was then slightly soothed by a gentle healing power. Uncle Suolin's tightly furrowed brows relaxed slightly, and a very faint trace of color returned to his face.

"Good... good stuff..." Uncle Suolin panted, looking at Xiang Lingna with eyes full of surprise and a hint of gratitude. "... High affinity with Nature..."

Wrench approached, using the metal wrench of his "Survival Arm" to carefully poke at Uncle Suolin's broken longbow, then looked at the writhing purple-black energy deep within his wound, his bean-sized eyes shining: "Tsk tsk... this pollution... is intense! Elf brother, you need to treat this injury ASAP! Otherwise, sooner or later you'll turn into a monster! We have an altar here! But..." He changed his tone, carrying the goblin's characteristic cunning, "... you have to tell us first, what's the situation outside? Where is the Withered Beast Horde? How did you get chased?"

Bronzebeard also stared at Uncle Suolin. This suddenly appearing elf ranger was unknown as friend or foe, but the intelligence he brought was crucial.

Uncle Suolin leaned against the cold stone wall, his silver-gray eyes looking at the warm Life Altar inside the shelter, then at Xiang Lingna, and finally settling on Bronzebeard, his expression complex.

"The forest... is worse..." His voice was low and despairing. "The power of the Corrupted Claw... is spreading... from the direction of the Withered Wang Ting... more terrifying waves are coming... The beast horde... is just the vanguard..." He painfully raised his hand, pointing deep into the corridor outside the door. "They... are digging... searching... for earth vein nodes... destroying... polluting... I tried to stop... and was severely injured..."

Movement in the Withered Wang Ting? The Corrupted Claw destroying earth vein nodes?

Bronzebeard's heart sank heavily. This confirmed the information transmitted by the crystal shard in the storage room! And the Corrupted Claw destroying earth vein nodes was likely to completely cut off the energy source of the elven ruins, or... to find an entrance to deeper earth veins? If they found and polluted the geothermal source supporting the Sanctuary...

"The Thorn Gate... do you know it?" Bronzebeard asked in a deep voice; this was the only hope leading to the surface.

A hint of surprise flashed in Uncle Suolin's eyes: "... Emergency passage?... Long abandoned... the energy pathway... should be severed..." He seemed to remember something, struggling to pull out a palm-sized leather pouch, roughly tied with withered vines, from the lining of his tattered leather armor. "... My... supplies... inside... there are... Star-veined Wood seeds... and... this..." With trembling hands, he opened the pouch, pouring out several spindle-shaped seeds shimmering with faint silver light, and a piece of emerald-green crystal fragment with irregular edges, radiating a soft green light.

The aura of that fragment was extremely similar to the Jade Heart fragment Xiang Lingna once wore! Only smaller in volume, and the light much dimmer.

"Jade Heart... fragment?" Xiang Lingna couldn't help but exclaim softly.

Uncle Suolin looked at the fragment, a hint of grief flashing in his eyes: "... The outpost's... last piece... the core... shattered... I... only managed to grab this little bit..." He painfully pushed the fragment and seeds toward Bronzebeard. "... Star-veined Wood... can solidify soil... purify... weakly... help... help you... The fragment... if brought near the altar, perhaps..."

Before he could finish speaking, his body suddenly trembled! At the wound on his back, the purple-black energy, like a stimulated viper, spread crazily upward! Uncle Suolin let out an uncontrollable, painful roar, his silver-gray pupils instantly covered by a layer of deathly gray haze! Beneath his skin, dark purple blood vessel patterns bulged like living creatures!

Corruption backlash! In the moment his emotions surged and his will slackened, the Corrupted Claw pollution dwelling within him erupted!