Chapter 0080: Seeking Life in the Shadow of Death

With only the briefest hesitation, the earthy scent thickened in the corridor behind them, and a strange rune array flickered faintly on the floor.

Immediately, two tall figures emerged from the array.

It was a teleportation spell, not a passage through the earth!

A cold blue light flashed in Grimm’s eyes; with just a glance, he discerned the method the newcomers had used. Though they had employed a teleportation spell, there was not the slightest trace of spatial fluctuation; instead, earth-elemental energy permeated the air. It seemed this teleportation was actually powered by the forces of earth!

However, this was hardly the time to pause and study such a thing. With pursuers at their backs and an ambush ahead, the situation was dire indeed!

“So, you’re Mary, aren’t you?” One of the two behind them stepped forward, his voice icy. “Excellent, excellent. The two who killed Grelia are both here tonight. I’ll tear out your souls and bind them into a Soulbound Corpse, where you’ll wail in agony for ten thousand years!”

He was a tall, handsome noble youth, his pale blue robe shimmering with brilliant, shifting runes in the darkness. An aura of fearsome frost was spreading through the entire passageway.

“Grelia? Who’s that?” Mary was utterly bewildered.

“If the name Grelia means nothing to you, perhaps the name Thornvine Witch rings a bell?” The noble’s handsome face twisted with a savage, deranged expression.

“Thornvine Witch!”

“Thornvine Witch!”

Grimm and Mary exclaimed in unison, both realizing with a shock that this calamity had not come without cause! Their old enemy had come to seek revenge! Judging from his age, he was likely the Thornvine Witch’s lover or something of the sort. Now they were really in trouble!

“What’s this Soulbound Corpse he’s talking about?” Mary couldn’t help but whisper.

“It’s a type of undead—made from living people. Before the victim dies, special witchcraft runes are drawn over their body. When they die during the sacrificial ritual, their soul is trapped within the undead shell, forced to serve the spellcaster for eternity,” Grimm replied quickly.

With the chip’s assistance, Grimm possessed a terrifying, photographic memory for all manner of basic knowledge and obscure disciplines within the world of witchcraft.

The noble youth sauntered forward, adding coldly, “What you described is the mildest of punishments. Once you become Soulbound Corpses, I’ll find a desolate place deep underground to bury you, leaving you fully conscious and suffering in darkness for a hundred years! Don’t worry, I’ll pay you regular visits, ensuring your souls remain intact, your memories ever fresh—you’ll never even have the mercy of madness! Hahaha…”

Grimm shivered involuntarily, feeling he had underestimated the enemy’s evil and insanity.

“Which way?” While the noble was lost in his maniacal laughter, Mary whispered urgently.

“Forward!” Grimm replied under his breath. “There are two quasi-witches behind us. Ahead, I sense only a single soul. That’s our only chance!”

“Alright!”

No sooner had they spoken than fire blazed up around Grimm, a shield of flames swirling into existence. Mary grabbed hold of him, the two entwining their limbs, and without hesitation hurled themselves into the crackling, sparking net of lightning ahead.

“Trying to run?” the noble in blue roared. His body suddenly swelled to several times its size, and a huge, bristling hand reached to snatch them both.

Without the slightest hesitation, their figures shot forward like arrows, vanishing into the storm of lightning.

The massive hand of the blue-robed noble missed them by a hair’s breadth; his fingertips had barely touched the net when the crackling current seared them black. Howling in pain, he withdrew, his hand shrinking back to normal size, though scorched between the fingers, faint wisps of smoke rising.

“Damn it! Hegel, take down your lightning trap!” the blue-robed noble bellowed, though his target was nowhere in sight.

The moment Grimm and Mary plunged into the net, the wild, rampaging current surged toward them.

First to bear the brunt was, of course, Grimm’s summoned flame shield. Arcs of savage electricity burst against it, sending showers of sparks flying. Currents that could reduce a normal person to cinders in an instant battered the shield relentlessly. The dense lightning gathered into a terrifying, blue plasma, floating less than a meter from Grimm’s head, swirling menacingly.

Ordinary flame shields offered a defense rating of only thirty-five, but as a fire-elemental adept, Grimm’s shield was exceptional, its defense boosted to fifty. Even so, it was barely enough to shield them over the scant ten meters they needed to cross.

Ten meters!

For someone with Mary’s extraordinary agility, such a distance would normally pass in a blink—yet now, it seemed interminable and deadly.

The flame shield had barely carried them halfway before it vaporized, the searing, superheated plasma flooding in. In less than the time it takes to bend a finger, it could reduce Grimm to smoke. Mary’s constitution was far hardier, giving her a fighting chance to survive the rest of the lightning’s fury.

All this happened in the blink of an eye! As Grimm’s body trembled, ready to close his eyes and embrace death, Mary suddenly cried out. A torrent of blood surged from within her, instantly enveloping them both.

Yet even the purest blood magic could not withstand the savage, fiery plasma—the two of them were like fresh meat roasting over a fire. The blood magic that shielded them was devoured in an instant. In the end, the protective force grew too thin to cover them both. Gritting her teeth, Mary channeled almost all the remaining blood energy to Grimm’s side, leaving most of her own body exposed to the current and burning plasma.

Sizzling and crackling—the dreadful sound of flesh roasting. The parts of Mary exposed to the elements were charred in an instant, then crumbled away into ashes, scattering in the air.

On the far side of the narrow passage, a squat gnome stood frozen in shock at the sight before him.

He could see clearly everything that happened in the lightning net. Yet, even witnessing it with his own eyes, he could scarcely believe what he was seeing.

Someone had actually dared to force their way through his lightning trap!

How… how could it be?

But whether he believed it or not, it had happened. Right before him, with a faint “pop,” a charred, blackened mass burst from the net, crashing heavily to the ground.

“Tough little critters, aren’t you! Well, that’s fine—Landon will owe me two big favors for this!” Though squat and ugly, the gnome was indisputably human. Seeing two prey deliver themselves to his feet, he was delighted. He stooped eagerly to seize them.

A thin, shimmering glove of electricity was visible on his hand. Any living thing touched by this paralyzing current would be unable to stand for a quarter of an hour.

Clink.

With a soft sound, a crystal-clear elemental core tumbled to the floor.

The gnome paused in surprise, intending to step forward and snatch it up. But before he could get close, a thick cloud of earthy elemental smoke billowed up, enveloping him.

“Huh? What’s this?” The gnome’s curiosity was piqued. Meanwhile, on the other side of the lightning net, Landon’s furious shouts echoed through.

As the gnome hesitated, torn between grabbing the two victims or shutting down his trap, a thunderous roar erupted from within the elemental smoke. A colossal beast burst from the ground, its massive body coiling menacingly as it lunged at him.

A body of living stone, a serpent’s head, tongue, and fangs wrought from rock—it was a stone python!

With a flicker, the gnome vanished, reappearing twenty meters away behind a rocky outcrop. Where he had stood a moment before, the stone python’s titanic jaws crashed into the ground, shattering the stone floor. The earth quaked and the cavern groaned as everything collapsed in chaos.

The python pulled its head free, rising again. Its earthy yellow eyes locked onto the gnome in the distance, and it charged in a frenzy.

Damn it—what in the world is that thing?

Startled, the gnome cursed furiously, rubbing his hands together. A blast of violent lightning struck the serpent’s head, halting its charge. The wild current scorched the stone python, smoke billowing from its battered skull, even its tough hide beginning to melt like wax under the scorching heat.

Yet the python, relying on its stony resilience, paid no heed, continuing its rampage.

With no alternative, the gnome leapt away again on a burst of lightning.

“Hegel, what the hell are you doing? Shut down that lightning trap, now!” Landon, at the other end of the corridor, grew ever more frenzied at the cacophony of destruction.

Receiving no answer from his companion, Landon turned, eyes bloodshot with rage, and roared, “Philly, can you get me through?”

The figure behind him, Philly, leaned on his staff and focused his senses, then shook his head. “The terrain is too unstable there, the earth’s energy in disarray—no way to form a stable node!”

Damn it, damn it…

Unable to wait any longer, Landon let out a furious bellow. His body swelled into a three-meter giant, encased in crystalline blue armor of ice. Without hesitation, he plunged headlong into the lightning net.

The raging current tore at him, blue plasma bubbles gnawing hungrily at his icy armor. Shielding his face with both hands, Landon pressed forward—enduring the onslaught by summoning forth an unending tide of frost. He strode through the net with mighty steps.

Before him lay a shattered, twisted passage; the once-intact cavern was now a ruin of devastation. A colossal stone python sprawled on the ground, its thirty-meter length shrouded in thick, acrid smoke. Where its head had been was now a pool of molten lava. A crystalline, earthy yellow core flashed a few times before dimming away.

The gnome was squatting near the serpent’s head, probing at something.

“What happened to the enemies you were supposed to block? Where are those two bastards?” Landon, transformed into a blue giant, howled in fury.

“Aren’t they right there?” the gnome answered, turning to point. “Wait—where did they go?”

Only then did the gnome realize, to his astonishment, that the two charred figures had vanished into thin air!