The natural energy Moen wielded was entirely different from her sister's fire battle qi; it wasn't ostentatious, nor did it possess world-shaking prestige or destructive power.
However, when facing that wicked skeleton constructed from countless masses of flesh and blood, it displayed extraordinary and incredible efficacy.
“You damned ants! Die!”
Taros's roar echoed throughout the entire underground space, and then his massive soul phantom suddenly exploded, turning into a thick, dense cloud of black mist.
The black mist surged into the sphere through the cracks at an alarming speed. Before the group could launch their next wave of attacks, the massive black skeleton suddenly rose from the ground in a quite eerie posture.
As the skeleton stood, two clusters of pale light erupted within its hollow eye sockets—undoubtedly the flames of fury.
In the next instant, with the skeleton as the center, the dissipating dark energy transformed in mid-air into several giant black snakes, descending upon the four with lightning speed.
“Quick, get behind me... Little Star, what are you doing?!” Before Po Kong could finish speaking, Starlight had already shot out from behind him like an arrow from a bow, quickly condensing a semicircular shield of dark elements in front of them.
Starlight had keenly sensed that the power within these black snakes was fundamentally different from the previous Shadow Spheres; if Po Kong were to meet them head-on with his shield, he would surely suffer heavy injuries.
Fortunately, the surrounding dark elements were still abundant, allowing him to block the snakes' impact with the shield without any mishaps. However, what truly worried him was the situation on Moen's side.
After all, from the initial summoning of the treants to the subsequent Nature's Blessing bestowed upon everyone, Moen had been continuously outputting mana. Even that arrow from just now must have required a vast amount of energy to achieve such an effect.
It was clear from her slightly pale complexion that although she remained calm and composed, she was nearing the brink of mana exhaustion.
At this moment, however, the giant black snakes completely obscured everyone's vision. The dense black mist made it impossible for Starlight to see anything dozens of meters away, leaving him to wait anxiously behind his shield.
Yet only a few seconds later, Starlight sensed something was wrong. The impact on the shield was incredibly weak—this was definitely not the power of a deity, it was even inferior to his own strength!
“Oh no! It's a trick! This attack isn't meant to hurt us; it's just a distraction to buy time!” Starlight shouted urgently, simultaneously hurling several bursts of explosive flames outside the shield.
Sure enough, under the influence of the hot winds from the flames, the forms of the black snakes began to rapidly disintegrate, vanishing completely before long.
Once the magic dissipated, he finally saw Moen and her sister. A faint green light shimmered around them; it was this light that had protected them from the black snakes' attack.
However, Moen had also fallen into a brief state of exhaustion from overusing her mana. She was kneeling on the ground, gasping for air, while her sister stood vigilantly by her side, scanning the surroundings.
By now, the skeleton possessed by Taros had vanished from their sight. The underground space was silent, with only remnants of black mist still drifting in the air.
“Huh? Am I dreaming? That high-and-mighty god actually ran away because of us? Hey! Are you guys okay?!”
Po Kong cautiously observed the surroundings as he walked toward the sisters, shouting in his signature loud voice. But his words were clearly directed at Moen's sister.
Hearing his shout, the girl frowned slightly and looked over with some helplessness, seemingly unwilling to deal with him.
But after a moment's thought, she answered softly, “I'm fine... And my name isn't ‘Hey’! It's Xia Duo!”
At her reply, Po Kong's eyes widened in surprise. He turned to Starlight and whispered, “Hey, hey, hey, Little Star! She said her name is Xia Duo. That's a pretty nice name, isn't it?”
“I mean... you just found out her name. Do you really need to be this excited?” Hearing Po Kong's slightly hyper tone, Starlight could only press his hand to his forehead, feeling somewhat speechless.
“Isn't this a major breakthrough? She's willing to tell me her name—doesn't that mean there's a chance for things to progress further? Sigh, forget it, you wouldn't understand even if I told you!”
Starlight sighed, ignoring Po Kong's self-indulgent fantasies. As he walked forward, he began to meticulously scan the surroundings with his mana perception.
But the result remained the same—the surroundings were empty. Now, in the entire massive underground space, only the towering altar remained standing.
The Ancient God of Darkness Taros, his skeletal shell, the massive pile of bones, and the monsters that were once everywhere had all vanished without a trace, as if they had never existed.
“Could it be that he really ran away?”
Although that seemed to be the case, Starlight still found it hard to believe. How could a being as proud as a god be driven back so easily by such a minor setback? Or perhaps the gods of that era simply didn't care about such things?
While he was lost in thought, the two reached Moen and Xia Duo's side. Along the way, although Po Kong said nothing more, he stared intently at Xia Duo's face. His burning gaze made her feel uncomfortable, causing her to instinctively look away.
Starlight, meanwhile, knelt down and asked after Moen's condition with concern.
“Moen, are you okay? Thanks to your Nature's Blessing, we managed to come out of a fight with an opponent like that without any injuries.”
“I... I'm fine. Just a bit weak, I don't have much strength. I'm just glad everyone is okay.”
Moen lifted her head slightly, looking at Starlight with her beautiful blue eyes and offering a tranquil smile.
Seeing Moen's beautiful smile, Starlight's heart couldn't help but skip a beat.
He didn't know what this feeling meant, but he felt as if a heavy weight had been lifted from his heart, and his whole being felt much lighter.
After confirming the danger had passed, the four of them, who had been in intense combat for a long time, all breathed a sigh of relief. Even the tension in the air dissipated significantly.
The only downside was that the characters on the surrounding walls, no longer supplied with mana, had stopped emitting their piercing crimson light. Instead, they flickered dimly, adding a touch of eeriness to the scene.
Just as Po Kong was wondering how to strike up a conversation with the beauty before him, his gaze inadvertently swept behind Xia Duo. In the next instant, his pupils suddenly constricted to the size of pinpricks.
In the flickering light, the massive black skeleton had appeared silently behind Xia Duo. It raised its sharp bone claws high, without leaking a single trace of its presence.
“Xia Duo! Watch out!”
There was no time to explain. Po Kong instinctively lunged forward, wrapping his arms around the stunned Xia Duo to shield her in his embrace.
A split second later, the two of them were swatted away by the massive bone claw.
Like kites with their strings cut, their bodies were flung dozens of meters by the immense force, slamming heavily onto the steps of the altar.
Hearing Po Kong's shout, Starlight, who was still kneeling on the ground, reacted instantly.
He only saw a flash of red light before a pair of massive bone feet appeared in front of him, carrying a heart-stopping pressure.
The moment he saw that pitch-black skeleton, every hair on Starlight's body stood on end, and a sense of lethal threat surged into his heart.
He didn't even have time to think about what the sound of Po Kong and Xia Duo being sent flying meant. He grabbed Moen, who was still sitting on the ground, quickly bolstered them both with wind elements, and fled frantically to the side.
“The first one...” Taros's deep, cold voice echoed through the dimming underground space.
By then, Starlight had already pulled Moen back over ten meters. It was fortunate they had both been kneeling or sitting; otherwise, that sudden strike alone could have cost them their lives.
“Po Kong! Are you still alive?!”
Starlight stared fixedly at the giant skeleton that had suddenly appeared, shouting anxiously toward the altar.
But in the blink of an eye, Taros's figure vanished from his sight once more. How could such a massive body disappear so silently?
Rate on N.U.
