Chapter 34: Brush the light of dust in the world

Yet, as she felt the spiritual energy radiating from the person holding her, and saw the black, thorn-like markings spreading across their neck, she was instantly stunned.

“Me, Melo… You, why did you…”

“What?”

“Miss, you… ngh…”

Melo’s words were cut short, her speech interrupted by the excruciating pain wracking her body.

Even if she could endure such agony, there was, after all, a limit to her resilience.

Earlier, upon leaving the safe zone, the high-density psionic field outside had stimulated an uncontrolled turbulence of spiritual energy within her body.

While an ordinary person might only feel physical weakness and sluggish spiritual energy activation, for Melo, burdened with the ‘Kiss of Thorns’ punishment, it was tantamount to passively activating the curse itself, naturally triggering the ‘Kiss of Thorns’ directly.

Now, even with her own control over the flow of spiritual energy, while it didn’t cause her to instantly lose mobility as before, the excruciating pain was nonetheless unavoidable.

Melina glanced behind them.

Though the Void Trooper remained unseen, the tremors in the ground relentlessly pursued them.

Faintly, she could discern distant trees toppling one by one.

The Void Trooper had clearly locked onto their position.

Yet, what continued to astonish Melina was still the matter of Melo.

“Why are you able to use spiritual energy?”

Indeed!

How could Melo, now a Spirit Race member, wield spiritual energy on her own, without relying on her as a Spirit Master?

This defied all common sense!

Melo could not help but offer a wry smile.

“I… I don’t know either.

Ever since Radiance died, I found that even as a Spirit Race member, I could still use spiritual energy.

Perhaps… even now, Radiance accompanies me in another form.”

‘That couldn’t be it.’

Melina didn’t refute Melo, but inwardly, she felt the situation couldn’t be so idealistic.

After all, Melo was the only Spirit Race member in the entire world capable of independently wielding spiritual energy; no other Spirit Race member, not even the Spirit Kings, had ever been known to achieve such a feat.

Currently, the two Spirit Kings of the Spirit Race, Skyblade and Blazingsun, though the strongest of their kind, still required a medium to unleash their formidable, unrivaled power.

Skyblade had formed a contract with a human, while Blazingsun was rumored to have formed a pact with the Spirit Race’s Mother Tree of Life, guarding it year-round.

Whether the latter was true or false remained unknown, as it was merely the most widely circulated rumor among the populace.

This clearly demonstrated that Spirit Race members were indeed incapable of wielding spiritual energy on their own.

Yet, Melo had become that singular exception!

But!

On another level, Melo was also a unique anomaly!

She was the only known case where, during her lifetime, her resonance rate with her Companion Spirit Weapon reached 1000%.

After her death, her contracted Companion Spirit Weapon somehow sacrificed itself, allowing Melo to be reborn in her Spirit Race body.

Regarding the latter, even Melo herself couldn’t precisely explain the reason.

Perhaps only Radiance, at that time, truly knew what had transpired.

Unfortunately, Radiance was gone, and humanity had likely lost an opportunity to grasp an even more formidable power.

When all was said and done, this possibility was, in the end, far more plausible than any idealistic notion.

A 1000% resonance rate required one death, followed by the Companion Spirit Weapon sacrificing its life, and then using its own body to resurrect the Spirit Master.

Judging by Melo’s past experiences, it seemed that humanity could only gain the ability to use spiritual energy without relying on a [Psionic Armament] by fulfilling these stringent conditions.

It remained unclear if the ‘Kiss of Thorns’ punishment was also one of these conditions.

“ROAR!!!!”

A furious roar jolted Melina’s thoughts back to the present.

‘This is no time for idle speculation…’

Melina quickly pressed her earpiece.

“Wynn, where are you?

Which way should we go now?

Melo can’t hold on much longer; that thing is catching up!”

BOOM!

With a deafening crash, the ground erupted in an even more violent tremor than before.

Simultaneously, an even more intense surge of spiritual energy erupted from Melo’s body!

She stomped fiercely on the ground, and, clutching Melina tightly, shot forward with sudden, explosive speed!

“Whoa!”

Melina let out a startled cry, only to hear a second colossal crash erupting behind them!

And then, she finally beheld the true form of the Void Trooper that had been relentlessly pursuing them!

Its colossal body, like a small mountain, could effortlessly snap giant trees that four or five people couldn’t encircle, simply by swinging its massive arm.

Such a monstrous creature had just slammed down from above!

That deafening crash was precisely the sound of it shattering the ground as it leaped!

Fortunately, Melo had sensed it in time, exploding with speed to evade the impact.

But with that burst of power, the ‘Kiss of Thorns’ on Melo’s body spread even more rapidly!

Now, Melo’s eyes were crimson, and her elegant, mature face was crisscrossed with bulging veins and pulsating blood vessels.

Her jaw was clenched so tightly that she had bitten her teeth until they bled.

Melina could not begin to imagine the agony Melo was enduring.

‘Perhaps… just like outside the safe zone earlier, she was now enduring everything, pushing past her limits, solely to… ensure their survival.’

“Wynn, Wynn, please hurry!

I beg you…”

Melina knew she was utterly powerless at this moment, able to do nothing but plead for help from their sole remaining teammate still in the arena.

“I’m here!”

The next second, a shadowy figure materialized instantly behind them!

His slight figure stood before the Void Trooper’s mountain of flesh, akin to a mantis trying to stop a chariot (TL Note: A Chinese idiom, ‘tángbì dāngchē,’ meaning to overrate one’s strength in an attempt to stop an overwhelmingly superior force).

Yet, he remained steadfastly in its path.

“Shadow Abyss.”

His voice was as calm as ever.

Yet, his resolute body pressed forward, undaunted!

The Shadow Abyss in his hand, a tiny dagger no more than a toothpick before the Void Trooper, now emanated a chilling and resolute aura.

“Let’s go!”

With a 27% resonance rate.

It was a battle with no chance of victory.

Yet, Wynn charged forward without a hint of hesitation.

Melo decisively halted, no longer running.

“Ngh…”

At this moment, excruciating pain wracked her entire body.

It felt as if every bone in her body was being repeatedly crushed by a steamroller.

It felt as if endless ants were tearing and crawling through her veins.

It felt as if…

Those black thorn patterns had become tangible, sharp, cruel thorns scraping and flaying her alive.

“Miss, please… get away.”

It was excruciatingly difficult for her to utter even a single word, yet she still exerted all her strength to urge her Spirit Master away from this place.

For she was about to fight.

To protect the young man who had protected them.

“Melo, I can help too!”

CRACK—

A somewhat rough repellent force sent Melina’s body flying away.

The black thorns were now creeping towards the dark rose at her heart.

Melo didn’t know what would happen once the five points of black markings connected with the heart of the rose.

She only knew that if she didn’t seize this opportunity, with Wynn distracting it, to completely deal with the Void Trooper, she would die, her Miss would die, and all of them would perish.

Dazzling golden radiance descended from the heavens, piercing through the dense tree canopy, and converged in her hand.

The familiar Golden Knight’s longsword materialized in her grasp.

This was… her first time fighting with her own power since Radiance had sacrificed herself and she had become a Spirit Race member.

Resonating with herself, her resonance rate surged!

20%

30%

40%

50%

100%

The spiritual energy emanating from Melo continued to intensify!

In the distance, Wynn had already engaged the Void Trooper.

He was, after all, far too weak; against the Void Trooper, he was like a mere insect.

But he was an annoying insect.

Cleverly, he avoided a direct confrontation with the Void Trooper, not even attempting to wound its thick-skinned, robust body.

He was like a bothersome fly, or an irritating mosquito.

The dagger flitted back and forth before the Void Trooper’s six eyes, creating the impression that he could blind it at any moment.

The Void Trooper possessed little intellect, understanding only slaughter and destruction.

It naturally couldn’t gauge the true disparity in strength between itself and this tiny insect.

It merely instinctively sought to protect its eyes.

This, precisely, allowed Wynn to keep at bay an opponent far beyond his ability to defeat, even if such a situation couldn’t last for long.

But it was enough!

He could already feel the increasingly formidable spiritual energy surging from not far behind him!

Melo wore form-fitting knight’s attire, white with golden trim.

Her snow-white hair, bound in a high ponytail, danced wildly in the wind, agitated by the surging spiritual energy.

Her golden eyes radiated resolute determination!

She gripped the golden hilt with both hands, and the blade glistened brightly!

However, the dark curse had also crept onto her face.

At this moment, she resembled a suffering queen—sorrowful, yet equally unyielding!

200%!

Under the suppression of the ‘Kiss of Thorns,’ her spiritual energy uncontrollably surged to 200%.

Then, with a furious roar—

“Wynn!”

Hearing this, Wynn in the distance instantly withdrew!

The shadowy figure slipped through the Void Trooper’s fingers, vanishing in a blink, quickly circling back to Melina’s side.

Wynn and Melina, along with the dagger Shadow Abyss, now gazed dumbfounded at that most dazzling back.

“Is that… the Radiant Knight?”

They both exclaimed simultaneously.

Now rid of the annoying insect, the Void Trooper’s attention was finally drawn to Melo.

“Whoa?”

It let out a confused growl, unable to comprehend why such a terrifying aura wasn’t emanating from those massive metal lumps, but instead from such a small being.

However… the inherent savagery and ferocity within its very bones plunged its already limited cognitive abilities back into a chaotic bloodlust!

It let out another frenzied roar, spreading its massive arms as it lunged towards Melo!

It was going to crush that dangerous insect!

That insect… capable of killing it!

Compared to the Void Trooper’s frenzied, grotesque form, Melo at this moment was exceptionally calm.

Endless radiance converged in the sword held in her hand.

She watched the colossal body hurtling towards her, her crimson lips parting slightly as she softly uttered a holy incantation—

“Light that purifies the dust of the world.”

The next second, brilliant light energy engulfed everything before her!

Giant trees pulverized, and the Void Trooper’s colossal body dissipated into specks of ash.

Heavenly light poured down, and the Golden Knight’s longsword once again dissolved into flecked points of light.

Melo’s body swayed once, then collapsed.

“Melo!”

Before she could even touch the ground, Melina caught her, holding her tightly in her embrace.

Beneath the pale golden heavenly light, the black thorn patterns now covered her entire body.

They appeared like chains of sin, imprisoning a saintly savior.