Chapter 270: Node 3 Activation
“Well, thanks for the appreciation,” I said with a small smile. “But where do we go next? The mountain range… or Dahlia?”
Azalea’s expression shifted, just slightly. The light in her eyes grew more focused as she replied, “The mountain range must be dealt with last. Let me retrieve the fragment that Dahlia is guarding. I need to grow stronger before I face the final one.”
I gave a firm nod, understanding the weight of her words.Then, with a thought, I dismissed Silver, sending him back into the core. I barely had enough Essence left to keep him materialized any longer.
She raised her hand, and with a quiet pulse of power, the pocket space around us folded in on itself.
In moments, we were back on the island—the broken ruins resting quietly under a calm sky. No more Deathmist, no swirling danger. Just silence, as if the land had been holding its breath this entire time.
Azalea looked around briefly, then spoke, “We’ll return here. But first, we need to handle Dahlia’s situation.”
Another wave of her hand, and in the blink of an eye, the world shifted.
I stood once more in front of the familiar temple, the stone steps leading into its depths. I blinked in surprise and turned to her.
“How did you do that?” I asked, the curiosity too strong to hold back.
Azalea chuckled gently, her blue eyes gleaming.
“All the pocket spaces exist within the inner layers of this realm’s spatial web. If you know how, you can move through them like walking past a curtain.”
I frowned slightly. “So… do you control the space of the realm?”
She shook her head, her long hair flowing behind her.
“No.”
That only confused me more. I tilted my head, unsure what she meant.
But she only smiled and said, “Don’t worry. I’ll explain it all later. After all, I promised to hand this realm over to you, didn’t I?”
I nodded slowly.
And together, we stepped into the temple.
Inside the temple, the enormous form of Dahlia lay coiled in deep slumber. Her massive serpent body rested silently, wrapped in an eerie calm.
I stepped in slowly. Azalea floated ahead of me, her glow casting soft reflections across Dahlia’s scales.
Without a word, she reached out and gently placed her palm on Dahlia’s side.
She stood still for a few moments, eyes closed, as if listening. Then, in a quiet voice, she spoke.
“She gave up a part of her soul fragment to bind the Deathmist using law constructs.
That’s how it’s been trapped inside the mountain range all this time. She even created a cycle to keep it weak. Every night, this forest enters a battle between corruption and life… a repeating war to keep it from growing stronger.”
Azalea’s fingers curled slightly as she pulled her hand back. A glowing blue fragment came with it, drifting like a wisp before slowly merging into her chest. Her glow brightened slightly, but her expression remained soft, almost mournful.
“She gave so much,” she whispered, then looked at me with a small, determined smile. “Let’s finish what she started.”
I glanced around the chamber, expecting a door or portal like before—but there was nothing.
“Where’s the way in?” I asked.
Without answering, Azalea raised her hand and made a simple gesture. A shimmering tear appeared in the air—not in the walls, but directly within Dahlia’s massive body.
A jagged seam opened, glowing faintly from within.
She turned to me and nodded once, then stepped inside the tear.
I hesitated only for a moment, then took a deep breath and followed her in.
Inside, the new space felt eerily familiar—almost identical to the one protected by Lily. The trees were twisted and blackened. A heavy wall of Deathmist churned in front of us, thick and almost alive, like it was breathing.
Azalea glanced around and spoke as she floated forward.
“I didn’t have much time to plan after I was injured, so I shaped each of the four pocket spaces to be similar. It was easier that way.”
I gave a small nod, my eyes already fixed on the mist ahead. The corrupted trees loomed around us like silent sentinels, their branches stretched and gnarled. The wall of Deathmist before us rippled—and then parted.
A figure walked out.
The Phantom.
This one was smaller than the last, standing at about fifteen feet tall, but it radiated a concentrated danger. Unlike the previous forms, this one didn’t have normal arms.
Instead, thick chains of Deathmist extended from its shoulders, dragging across the ground behind it with a low metallic scrape.
Azalea turned to me, calm but serious.
“You hold it off. I’ll retrieve the fragment.”
I nodded, clenching my staff tighter.
I took a deep breath and forced my Essence channels open wider, increasing the absorption rate as fast as I could. Energies flooded into me, and with a flap of my wings, I shot forward.
“[Absolute Domain].”
My domain burst outward, locking the Phantom inside its reach. Space twisted subtly around us, my presence now fully anchored in this fight.
I spun midair and brought my staff down hard onto the Phantom’s helmeted head.
CRACK!
It screamed—a terrible, echoing sound that sent vibrations through the mist. The chains trailing behind it suddenly surged, whipping through the air toward me.
I raised my staff and blocked them mid-swing.
BOOM!
The impact echoed through the clearing. The chains cracked apart on contact, and I followed through, slamming the staff into the Phantom’s head again. The blow drove it to its knees, black mist hissing out from its body in bursts.
I landed softly behind it and didn’t hesitate—I grabbed it around the waist from behind, holding it tight.
“Now, Azalea!” I shouted.
She nodded and rushed inside the Deathmist wall.
Then I flapped my wings and shot upward, dragging the Phantom with me. It thrashed in my grip, Deathmist lashing out violently. Its movements were wild and desperate, but I gritted my teeth and held on, tanking the hits.
Slight pain flashed through me as the mist wrapped around my skin, trying to worm into my Essence and corrupt it. My veins lit up faintly as my internal Essence resisted the invasion.
I laughed through the pain.
“Is that all you’ve got?”
The Phantom screamed in rage, thrashing in my grip, trying everything it could to shake me off.
Its chains whipped and spun through the air, slicing at me as I soared higher, but I kept my hold tight.
“I’m going to end this fast,” I muttered, more to myself than to it.
I had just recovered about thirty units of Essence—not much, but maybe enough. I wasn’t about to wait around.
I whispered, “Node 3, activate.”
Ba-dump.
My heart pounded once, then the third rune along my spine lit up like a burning brand. A flood of raw power rushed through my body—every stat surged by fourteen percent. My muscles tensed, tightened, and strengthened instantly. I could feel it in every breath, every beat of my heart.
Another wave of pressure blasted outward from me, shaking the mist around us. My blood pumped at triple its normal speed, carrying Essence deeper into my limbs. I felt like I was on fire—in control, but barely.
Violet steam hissed from my skin, rising like smoke from heated metal. My hair whipped wildly in the air, caught in the sudden storm of power swirling around me.
I couldn’t help it. I grinned.
This was the edge. This was the kind of strength that tilted battles.
The Phantom must’ve sensed the shift, because it stopped struggling for a brief second. But that second was all I needed. I tightened my grip, let my wings flare wide, and pushed Essence into every corner of my body.
Creation is hard, cheer me up!
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