Chapter 123: Crystal Arm Roars, Root Cage

Crimson eyes, like lanterns from hell, lit up one after another within the deep, rotting-vine corridor—dense, brimming with pure savagery and hunger. Heavy footsteps pounded like death-knelling war-drums, drawing closer with every stride, each step making the slick floor tremble. Corrupted Tree Spirits! These once-loyal Wang Ting guardians had now fallen into monsters that knew only destruction!

"Hold the formation!" Copperbeard's roar exploded through the narrow corridor, carrying the dwarven fury that surfaces in the face of certain doom. His massive frame stood like a boulder at the very front, his rune-engraving chisel held across his chest, its emerald glow lighting up his blood-smeared, resolute face. At the crystalline conduits of his severed arm, under the extreme pressure, the depths of the cracks actually glowed with a faint red light, as if molten lava were rushing within!

Xiang Lingna and Wrench shielded the weakened Lin Mo between them, back to back. The stardust crystal on Lin Mo's chest glowed faintly—maintaining that thin force-field was already his limit. Uncle Suolin leaned against the vine wall, his silver-grey eyes locked on the approaching crimson, his broken longbow drawn once more by burning his own life, an extremely dim moonlight arrow coalescing on the string.

Roar—!

The first wave of Corrupted Tree Spirits reached the edge of the light! Their bodies were like twisted treants—their torsos rotten, blackened wood, wrapped in dark-purple, pulsing energy veins, their limbs gnarled vines bristling with bone spurs! They flung open fanged maws dripping with slime, swung corrupted wooden fists like siege-hammers, and lunged with the stench of annihilation!

"Die, ya bastards!" Terror unleashed the goblin's madness in Wrench. He shrieked, and with the sharp spike-conduits on his "Survival Arm," drove viciously into the energy vein on the leg of the Tree Spirit at the very front! Splurch! Dark-purple pus-blood spurted! The Tree Spirit let out a howl of agony, its movements faltering!

Uncle Suolin's moonlight arrow flew soundlessly, piercing clean through the crimson left eye of another Tree Spirit! The faint lunar essence contained within triggered a small-scale purifying explosion, blasting away nearly half of that Tree Spirit's skull!

Copperbeard, meanwhile, was a true slaughter-storm! The rune-engraving chisel in his hands became an emerald whirlwind of death! Every slash precisely split the corrupted wood, severed the pulsing energy cores! The dwarf's terrifying strength, combined with the elven runes' suppression of corruption, made him a meat-grinder tearing apart the Tree Spirits that charged in! Foul-smelling pus and shattered limbs flew everywhere!

But the Tree Spirits were simply too many! Wave after wave! They knew no fear, only the instinct to destroy! The narrow corridor limited Copperbeard's swings, and left them no room to dodge!

Crack!

A thick corrupted vine lashed like a steel whip, slamming hard into Copperbeard's back! Even his hardy dwarven frame was sent staggering, the skin on his back split open, a searing pain! The corrosive pus seeped in fast!

Poof!

On the other side, a Tree Spirit's bone-claw tore through a weak corner of the stardust force-field, slashing viciously toward Xiang Lingna! Xiang Lingna screamed in terror!

"Get lost!" Ice-blue flames blazed in Lin Mo's eyes as he forced out the last of the stardust crystal's power—a condensed beam of stardust shot out like a scalpel, precisely severing that bone-claw!

But the effort left Lin Mo utterly drained; his body went limp, held up only by Xiang Lingna and Wrench gripping him tight! The stardust force-field collapsed instantly!

More Tree Spirits surged forward! The corridor was blocked at both ends! They were like a lone boat in a raging tide, about to be swallowed any moment!

"Aaargh—!" Copperbeard let out a furious roar! He felt the searing pain and burning at his crystalline severed arm reach their peak! The red light in the depths of those cracks blazed like molten lava! A violent, uncontrollable energy surged through his crystallized stump, as if it would tear him apart!

"All of you—GET BACK!!!"

Driven by ultimate fury and the will to protect, Copperbeard gave up control! He stopped suppressing the violent geothermal-furnace energy in his crystallized stump, and instead channeled his entire will, pouring this destructive force viciously into the rune-engraving chisel in his hands!

Wooooooong—!!!

The rune-engraving chisel instantly became a red-hot branding iron! The emerald glow was utterly devoured by the violent crimson geothermal heat! The blade let out an unbearable, almost shattering shriek! A terrifying shockwave of energy—mixed with elven life-runes and pure destructive geothermal heat—erupted from Copperbeard as its epicenter, blasting outward in a fan toward the surging Tree Spirit horde ahead!

Rumble rumble rumble—!!!

Like a volcanic eruption! A torrent of interwoven crimson and emerald energy swept through! Wherever it passed, the walls of rotting vines were torn apart and charred like paper! The dozen or so Corrupted Tree Spirits at the very front didn't even have time to scream before being instantly vaporized! Those slightly further back were also ripped into burning fragments by the violent energy! A large scorched area was instantly cleared at the front of the corridor! Even the air grew searing hot and warped!

This terrifying eruption not only cleared the threat ahead—the massive impact also sent Copperbeard himself flying, slamming hard into the vine wall behind! The rune-engraving chisel flew from his grip and embedded in the scorched ground, its blade covered in cracks, its glow completely gone!

Copperbeard crashed to the ground, coughing up great mouthfuls of blood. The crystalline cracks on his severed arm had already spread to his shoulder, crimson light slowly flowing through the cracks, radiating astonishing heat, as if the entire arm might explode at any moment! He had paid a tremendous price!

"Boss!" Wrench was horrified to the core.

But before they could even catch their breath, an even more terrifying change occurred!

As if thoroughly enraged by Copperbeard's devastating strike, the entire corridor of rotting vines came alive!

The vine walls on both sides writhed and squeezed madly! Countless new, thicker corrupted roots, dripping with dark-purple pus, burrowed out of the walls and floor like giant pythons, coiling toward the group with the stench of destruction! The vine canopy overhead was also rapidly closing, like the jaws of a great beast! The corridor was shrinking! Turning into a living, lethal cage of roots!

The mournful drums and the crashing of annihilation-energy were shut out, leaving only the terrifying sounds of rotting roots writhing and squeezing, and the group's desperate gasps!

They had been buried alive!