Kolo stepped aside half a step, silently watching Yu Lingye's actions.
Yu Lingye raised her hand. The Radiant Ring glowed slightly, and a damaged, glowing scroll fragment appeared in her palm.
As soon as the fragment appeared, the golden light sand inside the tree trunk began to tremble.
Feeling the pulling force in her hand, Yu Lingye opened her palm and aimed it at the center of the trunk.
A swirling breeze stirred around them. Tiny golden specks of light were drawn out from deep within the trunk bit by bit, flowing slowly toward her palm like golden dust.
But the dark red energy did not let go. It wrapped around the golden specks of light like thorns, dragging them back tenaciously.
Some strands of dark red aura even retaliated along the golden light, spreading along Yu Lingye's wrist and toward her body.
Yu Lingye's body shuddered as a sharp, corroding pain crawled up her arm toward her chest.
She suddenly grabbed her wrist with her other hand, using the holiness within her body to suppress it.
Just then, the scene before her eyes suddenly changed.
She saw an endless stream of cargo carriages before the ancient tree.
Some rested by the road marker beneath the tree, some leaned against cargo crates to drink water, and others solemnly hung their wooden plates inscribed with their duties back on their waists.
The scene shifted. Dark red pollutants fell into the ancient tree.
In an instant, mist swallowed the road. The surrounding carriages overturned, and horses were dragged into the mud by roots.
Merchants screamed while clutching their ledgers, cargo crates were dragged to the ancient tree by branches, and blood dripped down the stone path.
Yu Lingye clenched her teeth, cold sweat dripping from her temples.
The dark red aura crawled up her wrist. In a daze, she seemed to see a slender hand actively reaching toward the Decay contamination along her arm.
A familiar yet detestable voice rang dimly in her ear:
“Do not reject the power of Decay. It was meant for you in the first place.”
Yu Lingye snapped her eyes open. Her willpower tore through the ethereal voice as she growled low:
“I don't need you to teach me!”
In the next second, the Corona Band on her wrist suddenly lit up.
Warm holy energy surged from the silver band, spreading along her wrist bone.
Golden-white light suppressed the dark red aura like a sharp flame, forcing the decaying power that was trying to burrow into her body out inch by inch.
Yu Lingye groaned. The pain of being stripped was clearer than the pain of being corroded, as if countless flesh buds were being forcibly ripped from her body.
She stretched out her left hand, and holy energy gathered in her palm, compressing the dark red aura into a ball that thrashed restlessly.
Not far away, Kolo watched the woman in shock. Snatching the Fallen Fragment with her right hand and stripping the Decay contamination with her left, her naturally perked-up ears instantly went rigid.
Under Yu Lingye's astonishing willpower, the golden light sand inside the tree trunk finally broke free of its shackles, turning into a thin stream of light that crashed into the fragment in her right hand.
As the two fragments fused, the light screen before Isolde's eyes expanded once more.
【Obtained Fallen Fragment: Hourglass of Dusk ×2】
【Resonance increased】
【Unlocked fragment ability: Twilight Inscription】
【Effect: Can temporarily store one instance of fatal damage taken for three seconds. The damage will definitely be settled after three seconds.】
【Before settlement, items or skills can be used to reduce, transfer, or negate it.】
【Limit: Can be used once per day.】
[The twilight of dusk—is it death, or is it rebirth?]
Only now did Yu Lingye realize that two fragments could also unlock a skill.
At the same time, the Decay contamination suppressed by her left hand also began to take shape. It writhed unwillingly before being forcibly compressed into a charred, slender root.
The root was only about a finger long, its surface covered in dark red patterns, as if it were still slowly breathing.
The light screen popped up again.
【Obtained Special Item: Decayed Residual Root】
【Status: Bound】
【Description: Stripped Decay residue. Still retains partial devouring and parasitic properties. Specific use unknown.】
[Decayed things will never truly submit; they only wait for the next hunger.]
Before Yu Lingye could react, the 【Decayed Residual Root】 turned into a dark red streak of light and sank into her palm.
Kolo didn't know what exactly she had obtained; she only saw the golden light and dark red aura surge toward Yu Lingye at the same time.
Yet the woman stood in the center, forcibly stripping the two different forces and taking them into her hands.
Kolo furrowed her brows, her expression turning solemn.
The woman before her was indeed dangerous, but she also felt curious about her.
How on earth did she do it?
And what could that Fallen Fragment she obtained be?
Just as Yu Lingye caught her breath, the treant before them shook violently.
The entire trunk let out a painful roar, and branches whipped wildly in all directions.
The roots beneath Yu Lingye's feet exploded, and her body was directly blown back by a massive force.
Almost instinctively, Kolo twisted her body and grabbed Yu Lingye, preventing her from falling into the pile of decaying leaves.
“Hey!” Kolo looked down at her, her tone urgent. “What did you just get? Something's wrong with this broccoli!”
Yu Lingye stabilized herself, looked up at the treant whose power had been stripped, and said softly, “The stored damage... it's time for it to be settled.”
As her voice fell, a slender arrow wound suddenly split open on the treant's chest-like trunk.
Immediately following was a dull thud as a wide axe mark emerged on the side of the trunk, followed by sword marks, burn marks, and dents left by shield bashes.
And the gashes that Kolo had chopped along the way.
One after another, they continuously appeared on the treant's trunk.
Kolo was stunned. “This is...” She stared at those familiar marks, her voice dropping. “...Our attacks from along the way?”
Those arrow wounds, axe marks, sword gashes, and charred burns clearly surfaced on the treant.
It was as if the struggles that had been swallowed along the way were being laid bare before her eyes once more.
Kolo's gaze slowly fell upon the corpses tangled among the branches, her heart filled with a complex mix of emotions, her chest suddenly feeling incredibly tight.
She couldn't explain what she was feeling, nor was she good at using human descriptions.
She thought that if Ryan were still alive to see this, he would probably swear, then boastfully say his arrows hadn't been shot in vain.
But they were all dead.
No matter how many wounds appeared, they couldn't bring back a living person.
But at least, on this monster, at the end of this man-eating trade route, the marks of their past battle had not been in vain.
Large sheets of bark peeled away, and the leaves withered and yellowed.
Branches snapped one by one, crashing to the ground with heavy thuds.
The light screen before Isolde's eyes was flashing frantically.
【Contract-Devouring Treant】
【Health: 5800/5800】
【Delayed damage settling...】
【Health: 4810/5800】
【Health: 2860/5800】
【Health: 1821/5800】
...
The numbers plummeted all the way down.
Finally stopping at 【510/5800】.
“So that's how it is.”
Yu Lingye looked up, gazing at the ancient tree that was finally starting to be genuinely hurt.
“It wasn't that we weren't dealing damage. It's just that the damage was being temporarily stored by it.”
As if completely awakened by the delayed agony, a huge eye suddenly snapped open on the treant's trunk, staring furiously down at Kolo and Yu Lingye.
Its remaining branches whipped the air frantically, and the mist rolled back wildly.
Milo was still huddled in the corner, tightly clutching the decaying hand bone:
“I can't see... Why can't I see...”
Yu Lingye clenched her palm, looking at the Contract-Devouring Treant that had not yet completely collapsed, her voice so soft it was nearly swallowed by the mist.
“Now, it's time to have this Caravan Master settle the final bill.”
Rate on N.U.
