Spirit Pact Hundred Scenes Record

Chapter 25 The Truth About Pollution

The fissure in the ore vein resembled a wound forcibly torn open, its edges jagged and covered with a thick layer of honeycomb-like black crystals. Inside the opening, not a ray of light shone; only cold air, carrying a cloying, putrid stench, billowed from its depths like the breathing of a slumbering beast.

Karen stood at the edge of the rift, clutching the warm, jade-green leaf charm tightly in her palm. The faint life force emanating from the leaf offered a small measure of comfort amidst the thick, dark energy around them, like a small lamp that could be extinguished at any moment. The light clung to his legs, and the cub's golden down still emitted a faint, warm glow in the absolute darkness—a primal release of its light energy, serving both as illumination and a silent resistance against the surrounding polluting energy.

"Ready?" Leah's voice sounded behind her, soft but exceptionally clear in the deathly silence. She had already reversed her grip on the dagger, the blade coated with a special grease given to her by Grom that emitted a faint glow, tracing pale blue lines in the darkness. Her green eyes appeared unusually focused in the light of dawn.

Shadow didn't ask. The black cat had already leaped into the crevice, its deep black form instantly swallowed by darkness. Only the silver light in its eyes, like distant stars, flickered steadily somewhere below, guiding the way.

Karen took a deep breath—a move he immediately regretted, the cold, foul-smelling air stinging his lungs—and then jumped down.

The fall was brief. The rift wasn't a vertical shaft, but a steep slope covered in slippery crystal fragments. He barely managed to control his descent by using both hands and feet, his palms cut by the sharp edges of the crystals, warm blood seeping out and immediately being "absorbed" by the surrounding viscous dark energy, leaving a hollow, stinging sensation.

After gliding for about twenty meters, her feet touched relatively flat ground. Xi Guang jumped out of his arms, staggering a little when she landed, but quickly regained her balance and warily scanned her surroundings.

They arrived at a larger underground space.

This should be a natural cave deep within the mine, once filled with enormous clusters of crystals radiating iridescent light, like an underground starry sky. But now, all the crystals are contaminated.

Black crystals, like malignant tumors, grew from every corner of the cave. They were not neat geometric shapes, but twisted, branching, and intertwined like blood vessels or nerve bundles, their surfaces shimmering with a dark red glow, pulsating rhythmically like the beating of a huge, deformed heart. The air was thick with ozone and a cloying, rotten smell; each breath felt like swallowing cold, viscous liquid.

Most disturbingly, the interiors of those contaminated crystal clusters are what's truly disturbing.

Many crystal clusters contain something.

It's not a mineral, not a fossil, but... a spiritual object.

Karen saw a gigantic moth with crystallized wings, encased in translucent black crystal, poised for flight, but its compound eyes were now just two empty black crystal cavities. She saw a multi-segmented creature, a hybrid of centipede and beetle, its body mostly replaced by black crystal, the remaining limbs twitching slightly. She saw an amorphous, luminous, slimy creature, pierced and fixed from the inside by crystal, displaying every detail of its erosion like a specimen.

They were all still "alive"—at least on a psionic level. Karen could sense their extremely faint but persistent life responses through her spiritual runes. But they were imprisoned, transformed, and turned into part of this polluted structure, providing the final energy for the growth of the black crystals like batteries.

"...They've been eaten..." a trembling thought transmitted through the light, "They're still alive...but they're no longer themselves..."

The cubs' fear surged through the connection like icy water. The Lightwing Lions had an instinctive affinity and protective instinct towards "light" and "life," and seeing these spirits so twisted and imprisoned was an unbearable torture for the Dawn Lions.

A shadowy figure crouched on a relatively clean rock, its silver eyes scanning the terrifying cave. "This is the truth of the contamination," its voice boomed directly into their consciousness, its tone almost cruelly calm. "The black meteorite is not merely matter; it is alive—or rather, a manifestation of some concept of 'living.' It erodes, transforms, and assimilates all high-concentration psionic energy it encounters, making it part of its own structure, nourishment and weapons for expansion."

It raised a paw and pointed it into the depths of the cave.

"These transformed spiritual entities are its 'immune system' and 'digestive organs.' They guard the core, devour intruders, and transfer the captured spiritual energy to the meteorite itself. The closer we get to the core, the stronger the resistance we encounter, and the more... creative the forms it takes."

Leah's face was a little pale, but her hand holding the knife was steady. "The Ancient Tree Elder said there's a 'Guardian of Living Things.' Is it one of these transformed spirits, or something else?"

"Worse still." The shadow's tail swayed gently. "It's something that was 'chosen' by the meteorite and deeply modified. It retains some autonomy, but is now completely loyal to the corruption, an executor of the meteorite's will. The ancient tree's roots were eaten by it."

Karen forced himself to look away from the imprisoned spirits. He closed his eyes and focused his mind on the spirit runes on his wrist. Here, the concentration of polluted energy was terrifyingly high; the runes felt like branding irons immersed in ice water, constantly sending strange sensations of stinging and burning. But this also made his perceptions clearer.

He "saw" the flow of energy.

All the black crystals, all the imprisoned spirits, their dark red energy flowed like blood in veins, following specific paths, ultimately converging in one direction deep within the cave. There lay a vast, chaotic, ever-pulsating energy source—the core of pollution.

At the same time, he also "heard" more.

The silent screams of imprisoned spirits. Sealed within crystals, their consciousness corrupted and eroded, yet their deepest survival instincts still struggle, emitting desperate wails. These wails overlap, forming a continuous background noise that almost tears reason apart.

The cave itself groaned in agony. The vein was alive, at least on a psionic level. It had been hollowed out and transformed from within by black crystals, like a person's bones being replaced by a malignant tumor, enduring indescribable pain every moment.

There is another, more hidden, more dangerous "voice"—a whisper emanating from the growth of the black crystal itself. It is not language, but a regular, psychic pulse, like a heartbeat or breath, constantly repeating a simple command: grow. Expand. Transform. Assimilate.

This pulse is subtly influencing everything around us, including them.

Karen felt her thoughts becoming sluggish, as if veiled by a thin layer. Dark thoughts involuntarily surfaced: If it's so painful, why not give up? Just sink into the darkness, become part of the crystal, and then there's no need to struggle anymore…

"Karen!"

Leah's voice lashed at his consciousness like a whip. He jolted open his eyes, realizing his hand was unconsciously reaching for a black crystal beside him, his fingertips less than an inch from the surface that shimmered with a dark red glow. He immediately pulled his hand back, cold sweat instantly soaking his back.

"The pollution here will corrupt your mind," Shadow warned, his voice stern. "Stay alert, focus on your purpose. Remember what you want to protect—your cubs, your companions, the forest outside, even that dying old tree. Anything that anchors you to yourself."

Karen looked down at Xiguang. The cub was looking at him with worried eyes, conveying a warm and firm message: I'm here.

He nodded, took a deep breath, and forced himself to concentrate. Then he looked into the depths of the cave, towards the direction where the energy was converging.

"The core is over there," he hissed, "but the path... is blocked by something."

Through his spiritual vision, he saw an extremely large and chaotic aggregate of psionic energy coiled along the main path leading to the core. It was not a static crystalline structure, but a living thing—a constantly writhing and changing monster pieced together from black crystals and the remains of various transformed spiritual objects. It had no fixed form, resembling a pool of mud that moved on its own, covered in crystalline spikes and twisted limbs, exuding pure malice and hunger.

That is the guardian.

Even more terrifying, Karen could sense that the guardian seemed to have noticed them as well. Its chaotic energy core slightly turned in their direction, and although it had no eyes, a chilling feeling of being "watched" instantly gripped Karen's spine.

"It's spotted us," Leah whispered, already assuming a fighting stance. "Ready—"

Before the words were even finished, the guardian moved.

It didn't rush over, but rather... "flowed" over.

The enormous, amorphous body spread rapidly along the ground and cave walls like melting tar, leaving a trail of black smoke and crystallization in its wake. Its surface constantly bulged and caved in, forming makeshift mouthparts, tentacles, and spikes, each change accompanied by a teeth-grinding sizzling sound of crystals rubbing together.

Shadow was the first to react. The black cat vanished from its spot in an instant, not by becoming invisible, but by leaping onto the cave ceiling at incredible speed, hanging upside down among the black crystals. Its deep black fur blended into the darkness, with only its silver eyes resembling two cold stars.

"Scatter!" Leah roared, forming hand seals as a spinning wind blade materialized in front of her, slashing at the flowing black substance.

The wind blade sliced ​​into the mushy body, splashing up a cloud of black, viscous fluid. But the wound healed almost instantly, and more crystalline spikes rapidly grew from the cut area, actually making it larger.

"Physical attacks are only so effective!" Leah shouted as she retreated. "It regenerates too fast!"

Karen drew the crossbow Grom had given her, nocked an arrow, but hesitated. Where should she shoot? The monster had no obvious vitals. Dawn growled at her feet, its golden fur standing on end, ready to spew forth flames, but Karen held it back—using psionic energy in this highly polluted environment was like lighting an oil flammable gas tank, potentially triggering a catastrophic chain reaction.

The guardian had already extended to within ten meters of them. Part of its body rose up, coalescing into a thick, barbed crystalline tentacle, which lashed out at Leah like a whip!

Leah nimbly leaped backward, her tentacles slamming into the ground, sending shards of rock and crystal flying. But instead of retracting upon landing, the tentacles burrowed into the ground like plant roots, then suddenly thrust out from beneath where Leah had landed!

"Watch out!" Karen shouted, but it was too late.

Sharp crystalline spikes pierced the ground, heading straight for Lydia's feet. The red-haired girl twisted her body in mid-air with difficulty, the crystalline spikes grazing her calves, cutting through her flesh and causing blood to splatter. She groaned and staggered a few steps as she landed.

The smell of blood seemed to rouse the guardian. It emitted a low, guttural whistle, like countless shards of glass rubbing together, and its entire body surged even more violently, splitting off more tentacles and spikes, like a living thicket of thorns, surrounding the wounded Leah.

Karen's heart pounded. He had to do something, now!

He closed his eyes and poured all his consciousness into the spiritual runes on his wrist.

It's not about attacking, it's not about defending, it's about... "understanding".

He needs to understand the nature of this monster and find its weaknesses.

The spirit runes burned intensely, like red-hot wires branding the skin. A massive, chaotic torrent of information flooded in: the agonizing screams of the forcibly pieced-together spirit remains, the greedy whispers of the growing black crystals, the simple commands issued by the polluted core, and... a faint fragment of memory belonging to the monster's "original form," buried beneath all the noise.

Karen caught the fragment.

He "saw" it three months earlier, before the meteorite fell.

A giant, gentle "Crystal Devourer"—an underground creature that feeds on impurities and inert crystals in mineral veins, helping to purify the flow of psionic energy. Like a gentle giant worm, it slowly moves through the mineral vein tunnels, using its mouthparts to grind and digest the waste that would clog the veins, making it an important scavenger in the mineral vein ecosystem.

Then a meteorite fell, causing a pollution outbreak.

The Crystal Devourer was the first to be affected. It tried to devour the black crystals—it was its instinct to cleanse itself of foreign matter. But the black crystals were not ordinary impurities; they were living pollution. The crystals, in turn, eroded it, invaded its psionic circuits, and altered its instincts, turning "cleansing" into "devouring all ordered psionic energy," and transforming the "gentle cleaner" into a "mad guardian."

It was modified, it was distorted, but its deepest consciousness still struggles in some corner, emitting a faint lament:

I don't want to... hurt... the pain... I can't control it...

Karen opened his eyes and looked at the monster attacking Leah, at its ever-changing, malevolent form. Now he saw more: beneath the black crystals and twisted limbs, the outline of the giant insect's original carapace was faintly visible; amidst its frenzied attacks, there were occasional moments of incongruous stiffness, as if the body was resisting commands; deep within the chaotic energy core, there was still a tiny, yet still present, aura belonging to the original, gentle creature.

That's the breakthrough point.

"Leah!" Karen roared, "Attack its left rear! At the seam of its carapace! That's where its original structure is, and its defenses are weaker!"

Without hesitation, Leah endured the pain in her leg and formed hand seals again. This time, instead of scattered wind blades, she unleashed a highly compressed, rotating airflow drill, accompanied by a piercing whistle, precisely aimed at the location Karen had indicated!

puff!

The air drill pierced the seam of the carapace, causing black liquid and shattered crystal fragments to explode. The guardian let out an even sharper shriek, its entire body convulsing violently, and its attacks on Leah noticeably slowed.

efficient!

But that wasn't enough. The wound was slowly healing, and the monster's attention began to turn to Karen—the human who had seen through its weakness.

More tentacles split off from the main body, like a writhing forest, surging towards Karen and Xiguang.

The shadow's voice suddenly rang in Karen's mind, urgent and clear:

"Resonance Body! Use your spirit runes to resonate with its deepest fragment! Awaken its original consciousness, even if only for a moment! That will create an opportunity!"

Karen gritted her teeth. It was dangerous—connecting her consciousness directly to that corrupted monster was like putting her hand into a meat grinder. But it was her only chance.

He knelt on one knee, his right hand pressed against the ground, the silver spiritual runes on his wrist shining brightly. He directed his thoughts along the ground, along the flowing black matter, upwards like a needle, piercing the faint spiritual light belonging to the original crystal devourer deep within the guardian's energy core.

The moment of contact, excruciating pain!

More intense than ever before, the excruciating pain of his soul being corrupted! Countless frenzied, malicious thoughts poured into his consciousness like molten iron, trying to assimilate and devour him!

Karen screamed in agony, blood seeping from all seven orifices. But he did not back down, desperately guarding the last vestige of clarity in the spiritual rune, using the warm light energy transmitted by the dawn as his final barrier, and then sending his clearest intention to that faint light:

wake up!

Remember who you are!

You protect the mineral vein, not destroy it!

In that instant, all of the guardian's movements completely froze.

Its massive, ever-changing body froze in place, the crystals on its surface ceasing their pulsation. The attacking tentacles drooped limply. Deep within the chaotic energy core, that faint glimmer of light flashed briefly, but clearly enough.

It's now!

"Lia! Shadow!" Karen roared with her last breath, "Attack the core! It's stopped!"

Leah didn't miss this opportunity. She simultaneously formed hand seals, forcibly drawing away and compressing all the surrounding air currents to form a visible, distorted, transparent spear, which she aimed at the Guardian's energy core and unleashed with full force!

Shadow also leaped down from the cave ceiling, its dark figure drawing an arc in the air. At that moment, its claws suddenly swelled with a silver, moon-like, icy edge, stabbing straight at the same point!

boom--!!!

The violent energy explosion turned the entire cave into a ghastly white light.

Karen was thrown by the shockwave and crashed heavily into the cave wall. Her vision went black, and she lost consciousness.

The last remaining sensations were the anxious licking of the dawn light and the even more ominous pulse emanating from the depths of the distant mine.

The core of the pollution... has been alerted.