Chapter 117: Star Dust's Fury, The Thorn Gate Opens

Cold! Chaos! Hunger!

The terrifying will of the unknown existence behind the door, like billions of filthy ice needles, stabbed viciously into Copper Whiskers' soul along the crystallized conduit! This will was more primal and violent than the Doctor's, filled with pure greed and destructive desire for life energy! It wanted to devour everything! Tear everything apart!

"Ugh—!" Copper Whiskers let out a beast-like growl, his single eye instantly bloodshot, the veins on his forehead bulging like earthworms! The crystallization cracks at his severed arm spread at a speed visible to the naked eye, emitting faint cracking sounds! The violent headache made his vision go black, and he could barely grip the rune carving knife! He felt like a small boat in a storm, about to be utterly crushed by this terrifying torrent of will at any moment!

"Boss!" Wrench was scared out of his wits, wanting to step forward but not daring to.

"Uncle Copper Whiskers!" Lingna's cry carried the utmost terror.

Roar—howl—!

The roar behind the door grew clearer, filled with the wild fury of being disturbed! The heavy Thorn Gate trembled violently! The dark green crystal at the gate's core, covered in cracks, had dark purple streams of light writhing within like venomous snakes! The withered thorns covering the gate came alive, whipping and coiling madly, emitting teeth-grinding creaks! As if something were violently slamming against the great door from within!

The "bad thing" Lingna had sensed was awakening! Was assaulting its bindings!

The shadow of death descended instantly! Before them an unknown terrifying monster was about to break through the door, behind them the Doctor lurked, and Copper Whiskers was on the verge of collapse from the assault on his will!

At this critical moment—

Hum!

A completely different, condensed and resilient will, like starlight piercing the darkness, suddenly erupted from the direction of the Core Sanctuary!

This will carried an unquestionable sense of order, a depth forged through hardship, a resoluteness of protection! Like an invisible barrier, it instantly interposed itself before Copper Whiskers' consciousness and slammed viciously into the terrifying will surging from behind the door!

Boom—!

A silent psychic storm swept through the narrow passage! Copper Whiskers only felt the tearing agony in his mind suddenly ease! The roars and pounding from behind the door also abruptly stalled!

"Lin Mo?!" Copper Whiskers whipped his head around!

At the entrance of the Core Sanctuary, a figure was leaning against the doorframe, struggling to stand. It was Lin Mo!

His scorched-black body was still broken, but those eyes had opened! Deep within his pupils, there was no longer chaos and agony, but ice-blue flames burning like tempered stars! The dim Star Dust crystal on his chest was now erupting with an unprecedented, condensed-as-substance milky-white blaze! It was this blaze that supported him to his feet and unleashed that protective shockwave of will!

Lin Mo said nothing, his body so weak that a single gust of wind seemed capable of toppling him. But he merely stood there, his burning Star Dust will like a lighthouse, firmly locked onto the Thorn Gate!

"Suppress... it..." Lin Mo's voice was hoarse and broken, yet carried an unquestionable force. The light of the Star Dust crystal on his chest surged again, and a condensed milky-white pillar of light, like a spear of judgment, instantly crossed space and slammed viciously into the restless dark green crystal at the Thorn Gate's core!

Hiss—!

Like boiling oil poured on snow! The dark purple streams of light writhing madly within the crystal were struck by the Star Dust pillar, emitting a piercing shriek, and instantly melted away by more than half! The trembling of the entire Thorn Gate and the monster's roars behind it came to an abrupt halt! That terrifying assault of will was cut off at its source and receded like a tide!

Copper Whiskers instantly felt the pressure ease, gasping for breath, the cracks on his severed arm's crystallized conduit ceasing to spread. He looked at Lin Mo with eyes full of shock and gratitude. The power of the Star Dust crystal was far stronger against corruption than they had imagined!

"Now! Repair the gate! Open it!" Lin Mo growled low, the light on his chest flickering violently from the exertion, clearly unable to last much longer.

Copper Whiskers snapped back to his senses in an instant! The chance would be gone in a flash! Enduring the lingering dizziness and agony, his massive figure shot toward the Thorn Gate like a cannonball! The rune carving knife in his hand became a streak of emerald light!

"Lingna! Guide us to the damaged core points! Wrench! Dust! Maximum dose!" Copper Whiskers' roar echoed through the passage.

Lingna was reignited with hope by Lin Mo's eruption, her small hand pressing once more onto the star-grain sapling, instantly locking onto the most fragile core cracks in the gate's crystal exposed after the Star Dust pillar's strike! "Here! Here! And here! There's something purple-black wriggling deep in the cracks!"

Wrench shrieked, splashing the entire jar of pure crystal dust onto the spots Lingna indicated as if it cost nothing! The dust, like shimmering stardust, covered the crystal's cracks and those wriggling purple-black energies.

The rune carving knife in Copper Whiskers' hand seemed to come alive! The blade tip, dipped in dust, carrying the precision of a dwarven craftsman and the resolve granted by Lin Mo's Star Dust will, stabbed viciously into the crystal's core cracks! The emerald glow flowing along the blade and the Star Dust's milky-white light complemented each other!

Carve! Scrape! Mend!

Copper Whiskers' movements reached the absolute limit of speed, each strike precisely repairing the broken energy circuits within the crystal, expelling and covering those stubborn purple-black filth! Wrench desperately used his metal-tipped conduit to shove dust deep into the crevices, aiding energy penetration.

Under the sustained suppression of the Star Dust pillar and the protection of Lin Mo's burning will, the terrifying existence behind the door seemed temporarily subdued, with only unwilling, low growls seeping through the gate.

Finally!

When Copper Whiskers carved his final stroke at the deepest point of the core crystal, the final node of the energy circuit—

Hum——!!!

The entire Thorn Gate erupted with an earth-shattering roar! The dark green crystal at the gate's core was instantly lit up! No longer the sinister dark purple glow, but a pure, resilient emerald radiance brimming with the breath of life! The light, like a rushing river, instantly illuminated every coiled thorn on the gate! Those withered, broken thorns recovered their vitality at a speed visible to the naked eye, becoming thick, resilient, dripping with emerald green! The ancient pattern of the giant thorn tree came alive in the light, exuding a majestic pressure!

Crack! Crack!

The heavy sound of mechanism turning rang out! The tightly sealed massive gate, driven by the majestic life energy, slowly and firmly swung inward!

The scent of decay was instantly dispersed by the air surging from within the door, thick with the fragrance of grass and trees and moist water vapor! A faint, long-lost ray of light from the surface pierced the eternal darkness underground, falling upon the three stunned faces!

The door was open!

Yet, the scene that met their eyes made everyone's hearts plunge instantly into an icy abyss!

Behind the door was not the expected forest, but a vast, gloomy underground cavern filled with countless thick, gnarled, corruption giant vines emanating a dark purple ghostly glow! Gray-black viscous fungal threads hung down like waterfalls from the cavern's ceiling, and the ground was covered in thick, purple-black moss that writhed like a living thing! The air was thick with an overwhelming miasma of decay and spore dust!

And at the center of the cavern lurked a horrifyingly enormous shadow—a massive fleshy tumor, formed by countless corruption giant vines coiled together, pulsing like a heart! The surface of the tumor was riddled with holes oozing dark purple pus, from which the earlier roars had come! Countless slender, fang-covered vine tentacles extended from the tumor, writhing wildly in the air! Even more terrifying, suspended above the tumor was a constantly rotating cloud of dark purple spores emanating a deadly withering aura!

Beyond the Thorn Gate was a terrifying nest cultivated by the power of the Rotting Claw! The monster lurking here was the "bad thing" Lingna had sensed! Its silence earlier had merely been gathering strength, waiting for prey to walk into its trap!

Now, with the great door flung open, the pulsing heart-tumor abruptly stalled, then erupted with an even more violent, even hungrier howl! Countless wildly dancing vine tentacles, like sharks scenting blood, instantly locked onto the three figures at the doorway! That deadly spore cloud, like an enraged swarm of bees, began to spin faster, emanating waves of destruction!

The light on Lin Mo's chest flickered violently, clearly having consumed enormously from the earlier eruption. Copper Whiskers gripped his rune carving knife tightly, stings of pain radiating from the crystallization at his severed arm. Wrench clutched his "survival arm" in terror.

The door of hope had indeed swung open, but beyond it lay an even more terrifying abyss!