Chapter 225: Gemstones
“What do you mean, it’s done...?” By now, even Salomon, the strongest among them, had grown numb from the endless battle. He could only keep casting spells and fighting, as if nothing else mattered. Even when he heard Leon’s delighted voice, Salomon could only muster a weary question.
But after asking, Salomon sensed something was off. He thought for a moment, then suddenly turned his head. "Done?"
"That’s right. It’s done."
"Thank goodness..." For a moment, Salomon was so relieved that tears welled in his eyes.
As the two spoke, the hundreds of low-level alchemy arrays Leon had left on the tree trunk finally began to operate. Some were designed to sever mana transmission, some to disrupt mana circuits, some to divert mana flow, and others to weaken effects. Intricate and complex, they resembled a machine made of countless tiny parts.
The True Spirit-grade alchemy array atop the ancient tree trunk, once the low-level arrays started running, saw its previously orderly mana flow thrown into chaos. Mana circuits clogged as if blocked by something, and in the blink of an eye, hundreds of mana nodes were rendered useless. Even the ones that remained were drastically weakened, unable to produce their intended effects. In just moments, the entire True Spirit-grade array ground to a halt.
Without the support of the True Spirit-grade array, the dense life force that had nearly become tangible quickly began to dissipate. At first, it only thinned a little, but as the hundreds of low-level arrays continued to operate, the life force faded faster and faster...
The dark, surging beast tide seemed to sense something...
Most of them froze in place, hesitation in their eyes. On one hand, they felt their own strength waning; on the other, they were reluctant to give up prey right before them.
But at this moment, Leon had already freed himself from the inscription of the Alchemical Array, and he was no longer as easygoing as before. With a single point of his Soulbound Staff, Salomon was blasted out of the Mana Harness, and in an instant, a sea of fire spread through the woods.
In a single moment, at least a dozen magical beasts were reduced to charred husks...
"Still not moving?"
At Leon’s icy shout, the tide of magical beasts retreated like floodwaters. By the time Salomon and the others regained their senses, there wasn’t a single living beast left in the woods—just blood and corpses everywhere, remnants of the brutal battle.
"Hubert, go collect the Mana Crystals."
"Master..." Hubert lay on the ground, gasping for breath. After such a fierce fight, the Dragonblood Orc only wanted to collapse and sleep for a week. Hearing Leon instruct him to gather Mana Crystals, his face twisted into a silent, resentful protest.
"Once you’re done collecting, you can take a quarter of them for yourself."
The Dragonblood Orc, who moments ago looked half-dead, sprang to his feet at the prospect of a cut. Not a trace of exhaustion remained.
As expected, when dealing with Highland Orcs, threats and bribes are always the most effective.
"Leon, the camp..." Though the beast tide here had faded, Salomon still looked uneasy about what might be happening on the other side.