Chapter 47: The Battle for the Molten Heart, the Brand of Thorns, and the Doctor's Net

Deep within the earth-vein fissure, the orange-red orb of light pulsed like a newborn sun, each throb sending tremors through the earth and radiating a vast, primal power. Yet the strands of dark-purple energy coiled around it clung like bone-burrowing maggots, exuding a cold, rotting aura, greedily corroding the newborn earth-vein seed, attempting to brand a withered mark upon its core!

"Roar—!" Above the wasteland, the Doctor's projection warped and flickered amid violent energy fluctuations, letting out a distorted, furious howl: "The Heart of the Earth-Vein?! You actually… forcibly catalyzed the earth-vein core of a planar fragment?! Madman! An uncontrollable energy source! You'll destroy this place!"

He knew far better than Lin Mo just how dangerous a forcibly activated and corrupted earth-vein core was! It was like a super-bomb that could explode at any moment and scatter lethal withering spores! This had gone beyond the scope of his "capture and research" plan and become a pure catastrophe!

"Destroy it! It must be destroyed!" The Doctor's projection instantly turned ice-cold, all prior intent to recruit vanishing without a trace. His virtual fingers danced rapidly, as if manipulating something. Below, the electronic eyes of the two "Pathbreakers," battered askew by the tremors, suddenly blazed with a piercing red light and let out shrill alarms. They forcibly steadied themselves, no longer paying heed to Wrench or Lin Mo, and their four mechanical legs suddenly surged—becoming two steel whirlwinds that, heedless of death, charged madly toward the earth-vein fissure! The bio-cannons on their backs flickered wildly with green light, their target the pulsing orange-red orb deep within the fissure!

The Doctor meant to detonate the earth-vein core! He would rather destroy this precious energy source than let it fall into Lin Mo's hands or spiral completely out of control!

"Stop them!" Lin Mo's pupils contracted sharply. Ignoring the searing pain of two clashing forces within him and the purple veins spreading across his skin, he roared. He forcibly activated the Seed of Life, attempting to summon the embryonic war-blade hovering above the molten pool—the one that had absorbed the embers of the earth-fire!

Hum!

The dark-gold war-blade hummed again, its blade-runes flaring to life. A spiral edge of condensed emerald-silver radiance instantly took shape—sharper than before! Yet this time, the edge clearly condensed a fraction slower, its glow dimmer. Forcibly activating the earth-vein core was an enormous drain on both Lin Mo and the war-blade!

Whoosh!

The spiral edge tore through the air, slashing at the lead "Pathbreaker"! Pshhh! The edge precisely severed one of its mechanical legs! The monster lost its balance and tumbled to the ground! But the other "Pathbreaker" had already reached the fissure's edge, the green light in its back-mounted bio-cannon condensing to its absolute limit!

"No—!" Wrench's eyes nearly split with rage. He snatched up a stone and hurled it viciously, but it was like a mayfly trying to shake a tree!

At this hair-raising critical moment!

"Ugh…" An extremely faint moan came from the side. It was Sister Ai Li! She had actually forced her eyes open amid the violent tremors and energy shock! Though her gaze remained unfocused, her face was paper-white, and fresh blood seeping from the bandaging on her chest stained her tattered priestess robe crimson—yet her right hand had seized, in a death grip, the broken half of a corrupted wooden spike beside her, its tip stained with purple withering power!

She used every last ounce of strength remaining in her body to hurl the wooden spike at the "Pathbreaker" about to fire!

The motion was feeble, the trajectory crooked. The half-spike flew limply toward its target, unable even to reach the "Pathbreaker's" towering frame.

However—

Just as the wooden spike was still several meters from the "Pathbreaker," a sudden change occurred!

Deep within the earth-vein fissure, the strands of dark-purple energy coiled around the orange-red orb seemed to be powerfully drawn by a kindred force and trembled violently! An invisible suction instantly acted upon the flying corrupted wooden spike!

Whoosh!

Like iron filings drawn to a lodestone, the wooden spike's speed surged abruptly! It became a purple-black afterimage and, with uncanny precision, shot straight into the bio-cannon's muzzle on the "Pathbreaker's" back as it charged!

Hiss——!!!

Like cold water poured into boiling oil! The sickly-green bio-corrosive fluid and the withering wooden spike imbued with the Rotclaw's essence instantly underwent a violent, unpredictable reaction within the cannon barrel!

BOOM!!!!

The "Pathbreaker's" back-mounted bio-cannon barrel suddenly bulged, twisted, and then exploded with a roar, like an over-inflated balloon! Viscous slurry, a mix of sickly-green corrosive fluid and deep-purple withering energy, splattered outward like fireworks! The terrifying blast wave utterly shredded the "Pathbreaker" into fragments, and even dragged in its leg-severed companion struggling nearby, blowing them both into a heap of scrap iron burning with eerie green-purple flames!

The blast's aftershock struck the earth-vein fissure; the orange-red orb pulsed violently, and rocks tumbled from the fissure's edges!

"Sister Ai Li!" Lin Mo cried, both shocked and overjoyed, looking at the figure that had once again collapsed unconscious from exhaustion.

"Beautifully done! Big Sis Ai Li!" Wrench, surviving by the skin of his teeth, was so excited he was hopping in place.

Yet the crisis was not over!

"Useless trash!" The Doctor's projection grew even more blurred under the blast's impact, but his voice carried absolute fury. He looked at the chaos below, at the surging earth-vein core, at Lin Mo and the war-blade he both coveted and feared, and a ruthless glint flashed in his eyes.

"If it cannot be controlled… then bury it utterly!" The Doctor's projection slammed both hands downward! An invisible data-wave pierced through space!

On the scorched earth surrounding the depression—previously bombarded by the "Scavengers," ravaged by earth-fire, and torn up by combat—dozens of faint blue light-points suddenly lit up! These points rapidly linked, forming a complex energy matrix that covered most of the depression!

【Warning! High-intensity spatial lock field detected, generating! Target area: depression center (including earth-vein fissure)! Effect: spatial solidification!】

【This field will greatly reinforce spatial structural stability, preventing spatial jumps or tears, while simultaneously… greatly amplifying the power and range of any internal energy source detonation! Equivalent to creating an enclosed… high-pressure bomb casing!】

The Doctor had activated his hidden contingency! Under the seal of the spatial field, he would detonate the earth-vein core and utterly annihilate Lin Mo, his companions, and everything in this region!

"Initiate… Final Purification Protocol!" The Doctor's projection issued an icy command.

Deep within the earth-vein fissure, the orange-red orb, suppressed by the spatial field, suddenly pulsed with wild, chaotic violence! At the orb's center, the strands of dark-purple energy writhed and swelled madly, as if goaded! Orange-red and dark-purple light clashed and tangled in frenzy! A destructive energy storm, powerful enough to level the entire depression, was being forcibly catalyzed and brewing!

"Damn it!" Lin Mo's face changed drastically! He could clearly feel the destructive pulse about to erupt from the ground beneath his feet! Space was locked—there was nowhere to flee! And Sister Ai Li, Xiang Lingna, and Wrench had all lost the ability to move!

"Boss! What do we do?!" Wrench stared at the blue force-field net blazing around them and the increasingly violent light deep within the fissure, scared out of his wits.

A dead end! A true no-way-out!

Just as Lin Mo neared despair, the embryonic dark-gold war-blade hovering above the molten pool in his hand suddenly hummed again! This time, the hum was neither low nor clear, but carried a peculiar rhythm, as if countless thorn-vines were howling in a gale!

At the guard, the runes formed of life-light filaments and moon-glow silver lines suddenly erupted in unprecedented brilliance! The light was neither emerald nor silver-white, but a deep, dark-gold, as if it had weathered countless ages! An ancient, tenacious power, imbued with the will to protect and sacrifice, awoke with a thunderous roar from deep within the war-blade!

This power resonated powerfully with the will to protect that Priestess Liyana had transmitted at the end—the will that had merged into the World Tree's remains! The embryonic war-blade actually broke free of the molten pool's hold on its own, becoming a streak of dark-gold flowing light that actively flew into Lin Mo's hand!

Heavy to Handle! Warm and smooth! A blood-bonded feeling instantly surged through his entire body! Lin Mo felt a sudden "boom" in his mind, as if countless images flashed by: the elves' devout prayers in the withered forest, the World Tree's glory that blotted out the sky, Priestess Liyana dancing beneath the moon, and… the tragic sight of that ancient giant tree crashing down within the withering mist, yet driving its last root deep into the earth-vein to protect the surviving pure land!

This was… the Brand of Thorns! The ancient will of Priestess Liyana and her kin to protect the world and take root in the earth-vein—the final legacy left upon this war-blade that had fused the elven world's essence with the wasteland's earth-vein power!

"Take root… protect… earth-vein…" Lin Mo murmured, enlightened. He gripped the heavy embryonic war-blade tightly in both hands, tip pointed downward, pouring all his strength, will, and the conviction to protect his companions into it! Then, he drove it viciously down into the violently trembling earth about to erupt!

"In the name of Thorns—take root!!!"