“I’m not sure.” Aphrodite stood up, shook her head, her expression grave.
“But whatever caused all this is definitely no small matter. And…” she paused, her gaze drifting deeper into the forest.
“The concentration of the Corruption here is even higher than before we fell. The source of the beast tide must be nearby.”
“Then let’s hurry and deal with it, the sooner we finish, the sooner we can head back.”
“Mm.” Aphrodite nodded and took the lead willingly.
As the Corruption’s concentration surged sharply, the air grew thick and icy, each breath tinged with an inexplicable metallic stench.
The surrounding trees twisted more violently, their leaves turning an unhealthy, withered gray.
Aphrodite was even more certain she had found the right direction.
At the same time, to prevent Alice from being further eroded by the high concentration of Corruption, she quietly activated the Radiance she had replenished in the cave moments ago, forming a thin, faint golden barrier in front of them, barely holding back the all-pervasive invasion.
“Hey, don’t you feel… it’s getting colder?” Alice rubbed her arms and edged closer to Aphrodite.
“Yeah, the source of the Corruption is right ahead.” Aphrodite’s eyes locked onto the front.
There, it looked as if a small storm had passed, trees radiating outward, fallen and broken, with the ground in the center deeply sunken.
They cautiously crossed the chaotic woodland and arrived at the spot Aphrodite sensed as the center.
At the bottom of the hollow floated a… black sphere.
About as tall as two people, it was pitch black all over, its surface not smooth but writhing and rolling like thick crude oil, continuously emitting a nauseating, extremely dense aura of Corruption.
This aura spread like tangible tides, wave after wave, the absolute source and core causing the forest’s mutation and the beast tide’s outbreak!
The space around the sphere seemed to warp slightly, light greedily swallowed, forming a blurry shadowed zone.
Like a beating heart, each pulse sent out even stronger waves of evil energy.
“Ugh…” Alice only caught a glimpse before her stomach churned violently, nausea forcing her to cover her mouth.
“What the hell is this thing?! So disgusting! A hundred times worse than that headless creature earlier!”
Without a doubt, this terrifyingly ominous black sphere, continuously polluting its surroundings, was the absolute origin of the forest’s pervasive Corruption and the uncontrollable rampage of the beasts.
Beyond that, it was also…
“This is… the source of the beast tide.” Aphrodite said slowly as she stepped closer to the massive black sphere.
“Hey! What are you doing?!” Alice’s face instantly changed, and she sprinted forward, grabbing Aphrodite’s arm, “Don’t go near it! That thing looks dangerous! Are you crazy?!”
Aphrodite stopped and looked back at Alice.
She gently patted the back of Alice’s hand gripping her arm.
“It’s okay, trust me.”
“No way…” Alice blurted out but suddenly stopped mid-sentence, realizing how inappropriate that sounded, she corrected herself, “…This is too risky! We don’t even know what it is!”
“I know it’s dangerous.”
“But that’s exactly why we’re here, to solve this problem. If we don’t dare even get close, how can we find a way to stop it?”
“Trust me, okay?”
Alice froze. She glanced at Aphrodite, then at the terrifying black sphere, her mind swirling with doubt.
Yes, their mission was to solve this trouble; logically, she shouldn’t be stopping this ‘big liar.’
But seeing the ‘big liar’ walk toward such a dangerous core, her heart couldn’t help but worry…
Finally, Alice loosened her fingers one by one from Aphrodite’s arm.
“…You better not be lying to me, big liar.”
Alice took a step back, eyes fixed on Aphrodite and the sphere, ready to leap in at any moment.
Aphrodite gave her a slight nod, then took a deep breath and turned again, walking step by step toward the massive black sphere.
As for the words about solving the problem, those were all lies.
If she hadn’t said that, the silly girl probably wouldn’t have let go so easily.
As for the real reason for approaching the sphere—there was something she absolutely had to confirm herself.
The closer she got, the stronger the familiar feeling from the depths of her soul became.
At last, Aphrodite stopped right in front of the sphere, only a step away from the writhing black surface.
The suffocating Corruption force pressed down on her like a solid weight, but the Radiance within her did not violently reject it like it did with Alice.
Instead, a strange resonance quietly stirred.
Aphrodite slowly raised her hand and gently pressed her palm against the cold, viscous, seemingly living surface of the sphere.
The instant she touched it!
A wave of Corruption power, sharing the same root as her soul’s essence, surged into her perception like a broken dam flooding the plains!
This power… was hers!
No, more precisely, it belonged to the former “Bachros.” It was once part of him.
But how could her power be here? Condensed into such a terrifying source of pollution?
Could it be… she had really been here before? And had left this thing behind?
But why… why didn’t she remember any of it?
Was the missing memory exactly the part that involved this place? Or could it be…
As countless questions tangled in her mind—
A familiar, nauseatingly foul stench suddenly burst out from the dense forest behind and to the side!
It was the Headless Tentacle Monster! It had tracked them all the way here! And its target wasn’t only Aphrodite and Alice—it was guarding that black sphere!
Aphrodite’s pupils contracted sharply, her body instinctively trying to dodge, but her movements couldn’t keep up with her mind!
The slippery, deadly tentacles shot out like venomous snakes, faster than before, aiming straight for the back of her heart!
“Watch out!”
Alice reacted instantly! At the monster’s appearance, her nerves tensed fully.
At the exact moment the stench wind blew in, she violently shoved Aphrodite away!
The two of them tumbled to the ground in a mess, narrowly avoiding the lethal strike.
The tentacle brushed past Aphrodite’s clothes, slamming heavily into the ground where they had just stood, leaving a smoking, corroded pit only a few meters from the black sphere!
Alice quickly flipped over and stood before Aphrodite, her gaze sharp and fixed on the terrifying monster that appeared once again.
The creature was unusually furious now, the tentacles thrashing wildly where its neck had been severed, the grotesque mouth on its torso emitting silent roars—clearly enraged by their proximity to the black sphere!
Despite the disgust she still felt for its ugly, repulsive form, now there was more rage—old grudges and new!
“You disgusting thing, you actually dared to follow us here!” Alice’s voice burned with barely contained fury.
“I was just wondering how to repay the last grudge! Perfect timing—old scores and new ones, all settled today!” She spat the words out and instinctively reached behind her—for her dagger.
But her hand grasped only empty air.
Alice’s expression instantly froze.
She suddenly remembered—her dagger had slipped away during the last battle when the monster’s slime had paralyzed her!
Damn it! No weapon!
Just as she was stunned, the enraged monster struck again!
Several slimy tentacles whipped through the air like whips, sharper and faster than ever! Their target was Alice and the Aphrodite she was shielding!
Without a weapon to block, Alice grit her teeth and wildly unleashed her Radiance into her arms, crossing them in front of her to endure the blow!
“Bang!”
A dull impact sounded.
Alice groaned, the immense force carving two shallow grooves into the earth beneath her feet, her arms burning with pain and numbness, the Radiance flickering violently.
Even worse, the slime splattered onto her arms!
“Ugh!” Alice’s body stiffened as if her bones had been pulled out, collapsing heavily to the ground, losing mobility again!
Alice versus an unknown monster—once again, a crushing defeat.
“…” Aphrodite stared at the sprawled Alice, utterly at a loss for words.
At the same time, she immediately summoned the bit of strength she had just restored in the cave—thanks to the lingering Radiance in the tunnels, her power was indeed more full than before.
Invisible energy swiftly lifted the paralyzed Alice, suspending her at Aphrodite’s side.
Aphrodite looked at the monster, now even more ferocious in guarding the sphere, then glanced at her motionless “Protector,” and couldn’t help but scream inwardly.
Who exactly is the Protector?!
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