Chapter 213: The Annihilation Tide and the Glimmer of Hope

The ball of energy that Lin Mo had pushed out in an all-or-nothing gamble broke free of the precise binding of his Star Dust power and instantly became violently wild! The annihilation energy, ley line energy, and inert crystal energy that had been forcibly kneaded together inside lost their balance, and like a horse with no reins, like a lit powder keg, they erupted with a roar!

There was no deafening explosion, only a more terrifying, eerie shriek as if space itself were being torn apart and annihilated! That ball of energy instantly swelled, twisted, warped, transforming into an all-engulfing destructive torrent of mingled pitch-black, dark-purple, and ghastly-white energy, like a death-river bursting its banks, surging toward the cave mouth!

Wherever it passed, space itself seemed to subtly warp and collapse, and the cavern floor was plowed into a deep trench whose edges bore traces of crystal melting and instant carbonization! Even the light was swallowed by this raging tide, dimming and paling!

And at this very moment, it was precisely the instant when those dozens of Shadow Stalkers had just completed their shift, emerging from the shadows, about to pour into the cavern! They hadn't even had time to see what was happening inside before they were engulfed head-on by this onrushing annihilation tide—an energy that felt terrifyingly familiar to them yet filled them with absolute dread!

Sizzle— crackle crackle crackle—!!!

Like a red-hot branding iron plunged into ice water, but magnified ten thousand times! The teeth-grinding sounds of corrosion and annihilation rang out in a dense barrage! The dozen or so Shadow Stalkers at the very front couldn't even let out a scream before their energy bodies, like snow under sunlight, swiftly melted, broke down, and dissolved into the most primitive particles! The Stalkers behind them were seized with absolute horror, trying to retreat back into the shadows, but the speed and range of this tide far exceeded imagination, and in an instant it swallowed them up too!

Chaos! Utter chaos! The Shadow Stalker army proved utterly helpless before this indiscriminate destructive force! The feeble energy attacks they fired off were like stones dropped into the sea, and their shifting ability could not be exercised at all in this space of wildly disordered energy! They could only be swept up and annihilated by the tide in vain!

The entire cave-mouth area seemed to have become a forbidden zone for life; the destructive energy ran rampant, dyeing everything into the black-white-gray tones of death.

Inside the cavern, after pushing out the energy orb, Lin Mo was utterly drained of strength and collapsed to the ground, coughing up mouthfuls of fresh blood. The Star Dust glow had become extremely dim, and even fine, backlash-induced black lines had appeared on the surface of his body—he had clearly suffered no light internal injuries and erosion.

Xiang Lingna and Sister Ai Li were shaken beyond words by this terrifying sight and instinctively pressed tightly together.

Zero's console flashed wildly with alarms: "Annihilation energy tide out of control! Spread range exceeds calculations! Estimated arrival at current position in three seconds!"

Three seconds! They too would be swallowed by the disaster they themselves had created!

At this moment of despair, the continuous humming of the Ark seemed to reach a peak! The trembling of the entire cavern also grew violent to the extreme!

Rumble rumble rumble—!!!

Above their heads, under the double pressure of the external orbital bombardment and the internal energy shock, a large section of the dome finally could bear no more, giving out a despairing groan before collapsing with a thunderous crash! Countless massive, burning metal components and crystal clusters came raining down like meteors!

But this collapse, by sheer chance, formed between them and the raging annihilation tide a makeshift physical barrier of rubble and fallen rock!

Boom! Crash!

The devastating annihilation energy tide slammed violently into this newly formed barrier of rubble, erupting into even fiercer energy shockwaves that instantly vaporized great quantities of debris, but its surging momentum was at last blocked, buffered, and dispersed! Only a small portion of the annihilation energy seeped through the cracks like venomous snakes, and was barely held back by the last, tottering energy shield Zero had just managed to raise in time.

A narrow escape!

The four of them stared at the annihilation energy still battering and wearing itself away beyond the temporary rubble barrier, and at the dark-red sky and falling rain of fire revealed through the breach in the ceiling, lit crimson by the orbital bombardment, all feeling an unreal, dazed sensation.

The Doctor's Shadow Stalker army had, by this twist of fate, been almost entirely wiped out by their own hand!

However, the crisis was far from over.

The external orbital bombardment was still continuing, and the entire Ark remnant groaned and trembled, as if it might come apart at any moment. The barrier above their heads was not solid and could be blasted through or smashed down again at any time.

And the greater cost was this—the milky-white crystal tree, having lost a great deal of energy (including the contaminated portion), had become extremely dim, as if it might go out at any moment. Yet the black, corrosive matter at its roots, though it too had been much consumed, seemed to have been enraged, growing even more violent, and even beginning to exude a… greedy, devouring intent, like an awakened fierce beast, no longer content with slow erosion but trying to extend its tendrils toward every living thing around it!

The World Tree seed in Xiang Lingna's arms seemed to sense this extreme threat, its light flashing urgently.

And the unconscious Priestess Liyana, apparently stimulated by the violent external energy shock and the aura of annihilation, began trembling violently once more; the dark-purple crystal on her brow flashed wildly, and she was on the verge of losing control again!

At this moment when everything seemed about to come to an end—

Through the great breach in the dome above, they could see the side of the Doctor's main ship, which had been continuously conducting the orbital bombardment in the distance, suddenly and without warning explode violently!

A massive attack, mingled with the emerald magical radiance of the elves, the berserk blood-qi of the beastfolk, and a certain searing plasma energy, came hurtling from who knows where and slammed hard into the engine section of that main ship!

The fierce explosion even briefly outshone the light of the orbital bombardment!

Immediately after, a wave of consciousness, faint yet incomparably clear and carrying an intense sense of urgency, as if crossing countless spaces, precisely plunged into this chaotic airspace and echoed in the minds of Lin Mo and the others:

"Lin Mo! Boss! Is that you? Hold on! Gelrona brought the fleet to kick these bastards' asses!"