As the earth stinger's tail hook fell, the green light in Shane's vision had already condensed into a solid beam, hurtling toward him at extreme speed.
But in this life-or-death moment, the necromancer's body displayed its natural instincts: calm and rational, without fear interfering with his actions.
Guided by Shane's thoughts, the skeletal warhorse took a massive leap to the side, narrowly evading the beam of light.
Where he had stood just a moment ago, the patch of sand instantly transformed into grayish-brown rock.
“Hiss... Click!”
The earth stinger clicked in frustration at Shane evading its attack. Its massive body kicked up a cloud of dust on the sand, and it raised its tail hook once more.
But this time, its target was no longer Shane, but Ksaz behind him.
Having run for so long, Ksaz's stamina was entirely depleted. His legs felt as heavy as lead, leaving him unable to react to the incoming petrification ray.
“Ksaz!”
Amidst the agonizing screams of his companions, the petrification ray struck his shoulder.
Ksaz's body stiffened. He staggered half a step backward and collapsed to the ground. Watching the petrified patches spread from his shoulder at a visible rate, he did not know what expression to make.
Seeing Ksaz get hit, Shane's eyelids twitched. He immediately summoned four humanoid skeletons holding bone blades and ignited their soul fires.
“Block it.”
After issuing the command, Shane walked toward Ksaz.
Meanwhile, the princess led her guards down the sand slope. Charging at the very front, she moved with agility, longsword in hand, leading the guards in an arc formation to block the path ahead of Shane and the others.
Elon followed closely, tracing strange symbols in the air while chanting under his breath.
With a wave of his hand, a pale green light enveloped the princess and her guards, instantly speeding up their movements.
Seeing the earth stinger pinned down by the skeletons and the princess's squad, Shane, who had reached Ksaz, dismounted.
By now, more than half of Ksaz's body resembled solid rock.
The grayish-brown petrified patches had spread from his shoulder down to his waist. The scales on his skin had lost their luster, his three eyelids were wide open, and his pupils were beginning to dilate—he was on the brink of death.
Shane immediately knelt beside him, quickly assessing the extent of the petrification.
Half of him was already petrified. For now, it was only on the surface, but if it was allowed to spread and petrify his insides, there would be no saving him.
“Petrification magic...”
Shane murmured, his mind racing to recall knowledge regarding petrification.
Petrification magic cast by creatures was mostly a classic elemental conversion curse. The caster forcibly injected a massive amount of earth elements into the target's body, replacing their original biological makeup and turning them from a living organism into an elemental construct.
This was an irreversible transformation, entirely different from traditional mind-based petrification curses.
That kind of petrification merely obstructed the body's life cycle, causing the limbs to stiffen so they only looked like stone. It could easily be cured by boosting vitality or tracing the curse backward.
Therefore, in terms of danger, elemental conversion was far more lethal than a simple curse.
Furthermore, as far as Shane knew, there had never been a successful case of reversing elemental conversion in known magical history.
Taking a deep breath, Shane grasped Ksaz's hand.
Once, he had conducted experiments regarding petrification magic.
Back then, he had attempted to reactivate petrified animal tissue by using death magic to devour the excess earth elements, allowing the original life force to reclaim dominance.
Overall, the experiment had been a success, as most of the petrified animals completed the reversal. Yet, it was also a failure—not a single one of the reversed animals survived.
The risk was immense, and Shane hesitated.
“Hey!”
Seeing the sand scaler's breathing grow weaker, Shane decided to let him make his own choice. “I can save you, but it will be highly dangerous. Do you understand?”
Hearing this, Ksaz's eyes rolled slightly, his dilated pupils seeming to focus for a split second. Then, his chin trembled as he forced out a few stumbled words in extremely broken Imperial tongue: “G-Going to die... anyway... try...”
The other's sheer will to live made the corner of Shane's mouth twitch upward.
Fine, let's try it.
Closing his eyes, Shane began to channel the death magic within his body.
Unlike the gentle, subtle mana he used when stimulating the seabuckthorn or dry bean seeds, this time, he injected a massive amount of magic directly into Ksaz's body.
For a living being who had never cultivated death magic, this was undoubtedly lethal.
Instantly, signs of death began to manifest on Ksaz.
The parts of his body that had not yet petrified, his once-brilliant scales, rapidly lost their luster, and his already dilated pupils expanded to their absolute limit.
“Ksaz!”
The six surrounding sand scalers let out heart-wrenching cries almost simultaneously.
They instinctively tried to rush forward and pull Shane away from Ksaz, but they were blocked by an owl phantom.
“Stop!”
Elon's voice echoed from a distance, carrying an unquestionable authority. “He is saving your companion! Do not interfere!”
The six sand scalers were intimidated. Though anxiety and terror surged in their eyes, they did not dare take another step forward.
After applying another round of buffing spells to the guards, Elon turned his head to look at Shane.
When he saw Ksaz's face, which had completely lost all color of life, his heart skipped a beat.
The necromancer's power was clearly corroding the sand scaler's body. Yet, at the same time, the spread of the petrified patches had been halted.
This made Elon furrow his brows. Suppressing the strange feeling rising in his chest, he muttered to himself, “Don't overthink it. Just trust him for now.”
Meanwhile, facing the guards' fierce assault, the earth stinger began to feel the urge to retreat.
Ultimately, after the princess severed one of its limbs, it chose to flee.
Emitting a highly reluctant low hiss, its body vanished into the sand and dust. For a moment, peace returned to the sea of sand.
“Regroup!”
Under the princess's command, the guards sheathed their swords and began to reorganize. Though everyone was drenched in sweat, not a single one collapsed.
The princess walked quickly toward Shane. When she saw his condition, she could not help but frown.
Shane's hand, which was holding Ksaz's, had also completely petrified, and it looked as though it was slowly spreading. This couldn't help but make her worry.
“Mr. Leynas!”
The princess wanted to step closer to Shane, but Elon stopped her. Giving her a reassuring look, he said, “Do not worry, it has already stabilized. Now, it is likely just a matter of time.”
Hearing Elon say this, the princess finally breathed a sigh of relief, though her gaze still did not drift from Shane.
Just then, Ksaz stirred. To the astonishment of Elon and Alicia, the petrified patches on his body began to gradually recede.
A luster began to emerge once more on his previously dull scales, as if vitality was awakening within his body once again.
“It worked!”
Letting out a low, suppressed shout, Elon's voice was filled with disbelief. He stared unblinkingly at the sand scaler's body, unwilling to miss a single second.
Beside him, Alicia was also slightly surprised, but she was more focused on Shane's petrified hand.
Meanwhile, Ksaz, lying on the ground, had stabilized his breathing, and his three eyelids slowly closed. He appeared to be out of danger.
But just when everyone thought the task was complete, Shane slowly opened his eyes. His dark-brown eyes carried obvious exhaustion, yet they remained exceptionally firm.
He first swept his gaze over the sand scaler, then turned his eyes to Elon, stretching out his other empty hand.
“Help me.”
Rate on N.U.
