Chapter 90: The Ember's Faint Glow, the Holy Sigil Beneath the Earth, and the Ashes of the Tender Branch

The burning boulder, wrapped in the breath of death, came crashing down! Copper Whisk's eyes nearly split from their sockets as he burst beyond his limits, his massive mechanical prosthetic arm (though twisted) plunging into the scorched earth at the edge of the vine basket, his shoulder and back bracing the falling boulder head-on!

Boom!

A muffled crash! Copper Whisk's legs buckled, nearly dropping to his knees, a spray of blood mixed with shards of his innards bursting from his mouth. The boulder scraped past his shoulder as it slid down, battering the edge of the vine basket into total deformation, sparks flying in all directions. Ignoring the searing pain, his lone eye fixed on the center of the basket—Lin Mo's charred body was buried beneath rubble and ash, only a small portion of his chest and that right fist tightly gripping the stardust crystal exposed. That faint blue-white glow flickered stubbornly through the smoke.

"Hold on!" Copper Whisk's throat squeezed out a hoarse voice, his mechanical arm frantically clawing away the rubble.

Screech—!

A piercing shriek came from overhead! A rotting wyrm dove down, its talons aimed straight at the immobilized Copper Whisk's back! Another lunged toward Xiang Lingna, not far off, buried in the scorched earth with only a corner of her lapel showing!

Despair seized his heart once more! Copper Whisk instinctively dove forward and rolled!

Riiip! The wyrm's talons tore open the already damaged armor on his back, trailing a spray of blood!

"Get lost!" Copper Whisk grabbed a scalding stone and hurled it, but the wyrm dodged easily. The wyrm lunging at Xiang Lingna had its talons already within an inch!

At that hairsbreadth moment—

"Raaagh—!" A roar brimming with fury came from the slope below the collapsed bulwark! A figure wreathed in the embers of underground fire (the spot Copper Whisk had been blasted to earlier) came charging like a cannonball! It was Copper Whisk! His whole body was charred black, one leg clearly injured, but the massive forging hammer in his hand still trailed white-hot molten metal!

"Get the hell—down here!" Copper Whisk roared, hurling the burning forging hammer with all his might!

The burning hammer head struck dead-on the spine of the wyrm lunging at Xiang Lingna! Crack—the sound of splintering bone rang out, and the wyrm wailed as it plummeted, burning! This thunderous strike shocked the other wyrm into panic, pulling it sharply higher.

Copper Whisk landed heavily, staggered a few steps to steady himself, his lone eye fixed dead on the wyrm in the air. "Wrench! Save them!" he bellowed, charging toward Xiang Lingna.

Wrench finally dug Lin Mo out, his charred body a horrifying sight, but the starlight on his chest still remained. He carefully extracted the stardust crystal and placed it on Lin Mo's chest. "Master Copper Whisk! Young Lady Xiang Lingna is over there!"

Copper Whisk dug furiously through the scorched earth, revealing Xiang Lingna's deathly pale little face. He checked her breathing—a faint breath still lingered. "Still alive..." his voice was hoarse.

Hiss... hiss...

A spine-chilling, sticky, squelching sound rose from deep within the pipe ruins! Under Copper Whisk's mechanical eye (his only remaining right eye) in night-vision mode, his scalp went numb—in the mud ahead, countless tiny, purple-black worms with only circular mouthparts on their heads were burrowing out in dense swarms, surging forth like a tide! Drawn by the scent of blood or the aura of stardust!

"Damn it!" Copper Whisk cursed low, struggling to stand.

The worm tide moved with terrifying speed! In a blink it was about to swallow Lin Mo's ankles!

Hum—! The stardust crystal on Lin Mo's chest suddenly erupted with intense milky-white radiance, spreading into a one-meter-wide light barrier!

Fsss fsss fsss! The worms touching the barrier instantly carbonized into flying ash! But the worm tide was endless! The barrier fluctuated violently, dimming rapidly! The crystal's glow was also weakening!

Copper Whisk looked at the rapidly dimming barrier, then at Xiang Lingna and Lin Mo. The muscles on the dwarf's face twisted in resolve. His gaze finally fell on his own mechanical eye, which kept flashing red with overload warnings.

"A dwarf's life... is a tough one!" he roared, his mechanical hand clawing savagely at the mechanical eye in his left socket!

Squelch—! Amid the sound of metal tearing through flesh and blood, the eye was ripped out! Blood gushed forth!

"Taste this!" Copper Whisk mustered every ounce of strength and hurled this overloaded "bomb" fiercely toward the rear of the worm tide!

BOOM!!! The explosion thundered deep within the pipes! The shockwave shredded swathes of worms and triggered a collapse! The worm tide fell into chaos and stalled!

The cost: Copper Whisk lost his left eye, wracked by searing pain and vertigo.

The lifeline: the worm tide's assault temporarily slowed, and a smaller-diameter pipe branch entrance, half-buried by rubble from the blast, was revealed!

Copper Whisk tore off a strip of his lapel to plug the socket, the agony turning his vision black. He hoisted Lin Mo and Xiang Lingna, dragged Wrench, and inched forward step by step toward that sole path of survival! Every step left footprints mingled with blood in the mud.

Behind them, the worm tide, after its chaos, surged after them with even greater fury!

Just as Copper Whisk was about to reach the entrance—

Hum! A wave of cold, sticky, brutal energy erupted from Lin Mo's right arm! The stardust barrier shattered in response! The dark-purple Corrupted Claw Mark broke free of its bonds, its sinister light blazing! Purple-black patterns crawled up Lin Mo's arm! Lin Mo's body convulsed violently!

This burst of corrupting power, like a beacon, instantly stimulated the worm tide!

Creak! Boom! The rubble blocking the cave mouth crumbled completely! The worm tide flooded into the branch pipe! Hissing filled every inch of space!

Ahead, the rampaging mark corroded Lin Mo; behind, the lethal worm tide! Copper Whisk, gravely wounded, on the brink of death!

An absolute death trap!

Right at the edge of the abyss—

Hum... hum...

A thread of extremely faint yet tenacious emerald radiance, like dawn piercing through rock, lit up from within Xiang Lingna's embrace, pressed against Lin Mo's chest! It was that withered twig of the World Tree! From the spot at its tip where embers had once flickered, an unprecedented, serene and profound emerald halo burst forth! The light gently enveloped Xiang Lingna and flowed along her arm toward Lin Mo's corroded right arm!

The emerald halo and the dark-purple sinister light clashed violently and dissolved one another! The Corrupted Claw Mark's glow dimmed sharply! The blue light of the Anchor of Order within Lin Mo blazed mightily, joining the emerald force in a frantic counterattack!

Stardust (Order), the twig (Life), the Anchor of Order (Will)—the three forces, through Xiang Lingna's unconscious connection and Lin Mo's survival instinct, formed a brief resonance! Temporarily suppressing the eruption of the Corrupted Claw Mark!

The surging worm tide, touching the spreading halo of life and order, hissed in terror and recoiled!

Life bloomed in the light of the withered branch's final "burning out"!

Copper Whisk's lone eye blazed with the light of salvation at death's door! Squeezing out his last strength, he grabbed Wrench by the ankle, dragged his companions, and stumbled deep into the pipe!

Deep underground, unknown darkness awaited them. The brilliant emerald light at the tip of the withered branch, after this final act of guardianship, like a candle burned out, was utterly extinguished, merging into the withered twig-stem, never to stir again. Only its lingering warm halo, like a faint beacon, guided this battered band through the desperate underground maze, toward an unknown, perhaps-existent dawn, pressing on with agonizing difficulty. The tender branch had burned out, but could the fire of hope it kindled endure in the deeper darkness?