Elena's mind snapped back into the present, and her eyes darkened as she continued forward.
-
They had nearly reached the central platform.
Behind her, she could still hear the screams of her companions as they were crushed to death one after another by the World Tree.
Her feet continued to grip the roots beneath her, propelling her forwards.
She refused to look back.
Woosh! An attack swept in from the side, but one of her companions blocked it, only to be thrown off in her place. Woosh! Another massive root tried to crush her, but someone else held it up long enough for Elena to escape—Boom! They were crushed!
Every step she took used the path of bones forged from her companion's sacrifices.
She was far from the strongest figure in the United Army, and she knew it. She was propelled forward with their hope and trust alone.
The elites of the United Army carved a path forward—
And she could feel the resolve in every step they took!
Her boots echoed with ripples of golden light.
She couldn't see who survived, nor who had fallen, but she knew it was all inevitable. She believed they all trusted her to end this, and she would take that trust to the end!
By the time she finally reached the central platform, she was alone…
The battle ahead was still raging, but the battlefield behind her had begun to turn quiet.
Elena's eyes flashed with a radiant golden light.
She finally stepped onto the central platform.
'Let's do this—!'
-
Her body erupted with power as her bright eyes opened wide.
She took a step, her cloak fluttering in the wind.
The light from the battle reflected off her small frame, but her dark silhouette was suddenly illuminated by an even brighter light from behind. Her arrival was immediately followed by a long pause, then the deafening roar as magic artillery fired from the distance.
Boom! Boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-boom—Ka-ka-ka-ka! BOOM! Woosh—!
The 'sky' behind her back lit up with light.
Hundreds of sparks ignited together, each one forming a devastating comet-like projectile that twisted forward like a storm of falling stars. Boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-boom! The Magitech Artillery crashed into the platform just ahead of her, falling mere moments after it appeared!
Swoosh!
The world erupted into a violent bloom of arcane fire, sending shockwaves across the platform.
The blast kicked back her hair and stung her cheeks.
It struck the barrier, concentrating enough to break through, and bombarded the battle soon after. Countless shards of stone and shell were scattered throughout the world.
Elena blurred, shooting forward! Swoosh!
She synchronized her charge with the final volley of artillery, diving through the final aftershock, and rushing into the smoke and fire.
The path ahead had been cleared, and now it was her turn to reach the target!
There was no turning back now.
Elena accelerated again, collapsing the remaining distance between her and the Ant Queen.
She tore through the curtain of smoke like a bolt of lightning.
Woosh!
Her speed was a blur, pulling the world behind.
Then—
She saw it!
The Ant Queen, no, not only that…
She was close now, close enough to finally feel 'it' clearly.
The 'third will', the 'third player' on this battlefield!
There!
The Crystal Core, crushing down above the Ant Queen's head, beat with a terrifying aura. It had retracted itself so tightly that only someone as close as Elena could sense it, but she felt it immediately when she was within range!
The consciousness inside that Supreme Grade Spirit Stone was not natural!
It was the true cause behind the Second Calamity!
Not the Duskwood Project, not the Ant Queen, not the World Tree, no, it was this thing! It was undoubtedly artificial! And undoubtedly put there by someone!
Elena's eyes widened as a controlled fury flickered like fire in her heart.
Killing the Ant Queen alone would change nothing. It would not stop the corruption, not stop the world tree, and not stop the calamity! No, not at all! She had already seen this mistake once! They had to sever the connection between the Ant Queen and the Crystal Core, then escape as everything collapsed!
She had known this for a long time, far before the second calamity in this lifetime.
The moment she stepped within range, the consciousness inside the Crystal Core 'turned' towards her...
Its oppressive gaze fell directly onto her body…
BOOM!
The pressure was unbelievably immense! It pressed down on her bones like an invisible hand, threatening to crush her from the inside out.
Elena's eyes became bloodshot as her bones cracked.
Despite the pain, despite the pressure, for the first time in days—
Elena grinned widely!
—?
From far behind, past the central platform, past the raging armies, past the twisting roots and broken bridges, far back into the tunnel where the United Army had first appeared…
Hooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong!
A blinding light ignited!
The world shook in response!
For a single moment, that sun-like radiance illuminated the entire cavern.
—!
The response was instant.
The Crystal Core, 'momentarily distracted' by Elena's approach, or at least, the consciousness dwelling within it, flickered 'fully' to life in a heartbeat!
BOOM!
It exploded with a devastating momentum, far exceeding everything from before!
Immediately, Elena felt her legs buckle, nearly shattering!
Its earlier dormant state was nothing compared to this. The facade it had been displaying shattered completely. Its true nature erupted as the aura of a seventh-tier existence exploded into the world for the first time in the Cross Continent's history!
The aura bled out and covered the entire region!
Even the roots of the Corrupted World Tree recoiled in fear!
Thousands of paper-thin shields wrapped around the central platform, and even more surrounded the crystal core itself. This happened in an instant, as if it were a mere blink! The transparent layers multiplied so quickly that they turned opaque, forming a dense shell of overlapping barriers.
They didn't stop!
At the same time, the colossal roots, which moments ago had been crushing massive stones and flailing them through the cavern, instinctively withdrew. They snapped back at a terrifying speed, retreating from the awakened core at a speed that should be impossible for something of its size.
Everything happened in seconds.
It was so little time that the Ant Army didn't even have time to react.
This was a clear display of how little the Crystal Core and World Tree regarded the situation, with neither of them taking it seriously in the slightest.
Elena's eyes flashed with madness.
"Come—!" She roared!
Following her roar, a beam of radiant light blotted out the chamber, blinding everything with an unblockable ray of sunlight!
Fooooush!
The temperature rose violently!
The walls started to melt!
Those operating the 'weapon' were incinerated instantly!
A necessary sacrifice!
In a single moment, a miniature sun was created!
Molten metal flowed like water, stone evaporated into dust, and the black water that filled parts of the cavern boiled into nothingness, evaporated by the light element that was uncontrollably flooding everything in the area! The environmental restraints that had been built into everything shook with violent tremors, struggling to maintain order under the overwhelming heat.
Crack! They broke!
BOOM!
The 'Mobile Sun Spear' had fired at full power, penetrating the surroundings with an unstoppable force. This was Elena's trump card! She had taken it from the northern forest, it was left behind after that disaster one thousand years ago!
The world was illuminated by a bright light, followed by a deafening sound!
SHROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!
Everything shook!
The beam was so fast that the world seemed to be hit before it even saw the attack. Its power was unfathomable, like a direct strike from the sun itself.
The cavern turned white.
This blinding void lasted only for a moment, but it felt like hours!
Only once the white wave began to settle did the Ant Queen's scream finally reach them, catching up to the destruction that had already occurred.
Hoooong!
Everything shook uncontrollably.
The heat had turned the entire chamber into a volcanic void, quickly boiling the air!
Swoosh!
Elena burst through the veil of light, wrapped in a golden shell!
- Time slowed down
The cocoon of light that wrapped around Elena flickered and dissolved like melting wings, unfolding and fanning out behind her like eight golden tails. This was an 'Angel Shell' artifact that she traded with the people from the Church of Light. This artifact was particularly strong against the light element, allowing her to tank one single attack!
Swoosh!
She shot out from above the Ant Queen's head, diving towards the exposed crystal like a red comet streaking across the sun!
The Ant Queen's eyes, already half blind, snapped open!
Elena twisted in the air, swinging down her daggers—! Another wave of red light rippled out from her hands, speeding up her final strike.
The Ant Queen screamed, its instincts flaring as its end approached. She was unaware of why exactly she would scream, it was more of an impulse than anything else, but the slow sickle had finally arrived at its neck. She had been waiting for so long! Finally! She had already lost her mind. Her current body was unaware of anything but pain and suffering.
While bathed in the light of the sun—
Her final cry was filled with one last 'thought'…
'A tiny ant slipping into the earth, helplessly swallowed by soil and mud, dragged into the darkness alone, frightened and ignorant, then bottled by a small child walking past.'
The daggers dropped.
Elena felt a tear slip from her eye.
She already knew.
She knew a long time ago…
But it didn't matter.
Fate was unfair.
Her dagger aimed for the core. Destroying it would end the Second Calamity, but it would also kill the World Tree, along with the Ant Queen, and everything else beneath it.
'I understand… I tried… but.'
'…'
'I'm…'
Swoosh!
She drove her daggers down, or rather, the sealed power hidden within them, into the exposed heart of the Crystal Core, triggering an explosion.
There was no turning back now…
The world froze for a moment—
Then time snapped back to normal!
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM—!
The core detonated, releasing a massive surge of blinding light and spiritual energy that engulfed everything, mixing with the impossibly dense light element, and devouring the corruption, underground space, and root system. Everything disappeared!
Elena mumbled, her voice disappearing with the light—
"I'm Sorry."
—! Then, everything went white!
The world fell silent.
- Sight vanished.
- Sound vanished.
Even time seemed to freeze in place…
* * *
When the dust finally settled, Elena was the first to recover...
Her eyes shot open.
She pushed against the massive slab of stone that was pinning her down and grimaced. Her muscles trembled as she forced it aside, letting it crash down with a dull thud. Boom!
She groaned, massaging her throbbing foot, clearly twisted.
Her vision returned first, but her hearing did not.
Her ears still rang with a dull, agonizing static.
She pulled herself out of the rubble.
—!
As she did, a chill crawled down her spine.
The battlefield had become a wasteland of keratin and crystallized fragments, the black roots had turned gray, brittle, and cracked apart like dried bones on a massive scale, and the chamber walls were half distorted, warped by the impossible heat, and transformed into stretching ruins that deformed with time.
Everything around her was trembling.
Everything seemed over…
Even so—
Elena couldn't calm herself down.
Her legs shook as she slowly raised her head.
And there—
Suspended high in the void…
A figure stood alone!
'He' stepped on the air like an Immortal.
He had a humanoid silhouette, but he was definitely not human.
It was an Ant, no, a member of the Insect Clan, and a very high-level one at that!
He stood there in the silence, looking down at her...
His body was wrapped in a simple brown cloak, but his face was clearly visible beneath the hood. His form was similar to Petra's bipedal ants, but far sharper. The ridges, spines, and angular plates unique to an ant were all preserved in perfect detail across his humanoid silhouette, unlike Petra's Ants, who were more minimalistic and rounded by design.
Elena froze.
Her eyes trembled as she looked at the old ant.