Chapter 183: The Crack

The Argent Colossi did not stop.

Even as golden vines wrapped their limbs and pale tendrils tried to drag them down, the silver-armored pack kept tearing at the trunk. The Star 4 that had already opened a deep split drove its claws in again and ripped sideways. A long section of pale wood peeled away with a wet, cracking sound. Dark sap poured out in thick streams. The tree’s earlier steady pulse stuttered.

A second Colossus climbed higher and slammed both fists into the same damaged area. Bone plates flared with strain. The split widened. Splinters of the living wood spun through the air and clattered across the blood-slick floor.

The living gate answered with everything it had left.

Golden vines dropped in heavy, overlapping waves. Several of the smaller Colossi were lifted clear off the ground and slammed into the walls or into each other. One Star 2 was constricted so tightly its silver armor began to buckle with sharp, popping noises. It kept fighting until the vines crushed the life from it and dropped the body.

The larger ones refused to break.

The Star 5 tore free of a dense cluster of vines by sheer force, leaving broken golden tendrils hanging from its shoulders. It charged the trunk again and drove its full weight into the growing wound. The impact shook the entire chamber. A deep, jagged crack raced upward through the bone-colored wood, splitting the lower trunk from the point of damage almost halfway to the first major branch.

Sap sprayed in a wide arc. The residual life signature of the tree flickered, weaker and angrier than before.

Lian watched from behind the piled corpses.

“Now,” he said quietly.

Elara and Ryzek moved with him at once.

They left the cover of the bodies and pushed into the shifting gaps between the larger fights. A six-legged hunter lunged from the side. Elara cut it down without slowing. Another pale vine lashed toward Lian’s legs. He severed it and kept going. Ryzek cleared a third path with short, precise bursts of amber energy, forcing two panicked scavengers out of their way.

The route to the cracked trunk was not open.

A wounded Star 3 Colossus, half-wrapped in vines, thrashed directly across their path. Its bloodshot silver eyes locked onto them for a moment. Lian and Elara split left while Ryzek went right. The creature swung a heavy arm that smashed into the floor between them, cracking stone. They did not engage it longer than necessary. Elara scored a deep cut across the back of its knee as she passed. The Colossus staggered, and the vines took the opening to coil tighter around its neck and chest.

They kept moving.

Closer to the trunk the air grew thick with the sharp scent of sap and blood. Broken vines still twitched on the ground. Bodies of hunters and at least one Colossus lay half-buried under torn wood and golden tendrils. The great crack in the trunk was visible now — a dark, jagged opening wide enough for a person to force through if they could reach it.

A golden vine swept low across their path.

Ryzek met it with a concentrated energy spear that punched through its center. The vine recoiled, but two more dropped immediately in its place. Elara cut one. Lian took the other, the impact jarring his already injured shoulder. They pushed through the gap the brief exchange created.

The Star 5 Colossus slammed into the trunk again only meters away from them. The crack widened further with a long, splintering roar of wood. Fresh sap poured down the sides of the opening. The tree’s remaining vines went into a frenzy, attacking everything near the wound without distinction.

One thick golden vine wrapped Lian’s torso from behind and lifted him off the ground.

Elara spun and cut it in two places before it could slam him into the trunk. Lian dropped hard, rolled, and came up moving. Ryzek killed a six-legged hunter that tried to take advantage of the moment, then forced another reaching vine back with a burst of amber light.

They reached the base of the cracked trunk.

The opening was uneven and still bleeding thick sap, but it was real. Dark space showed beyond the split wood. The living gate shuddered under another heavy blow from the Star 5, and the crack shifted wider for a moment.

Lian stepped into the sap and broken wood first.

Elara followed close behind him.

Ryzek came last, still cutting anything that tried to close on them from the chamber floor.

Power Scale / Cultivation Realms (Quick Reminder)

Foundation Realm (Layers 1–9): Body forging, no external Qi.

Circuit Awakening Realm (Early–Peak): First Qi loop, internal bursts.

Core Condensation Realm (Early–Peak): External Qi release, short flight.

Stellar Circuit Realm (1–9 Stars): True flight, Qi armor, energy projection.

Nebula Dominion Realm and higher: Domain control, galaxy-level power, etc

Power Scale Reminder

Lian Yu: Stellar Circuit Star 1.

Elara Voss: Core Condensation Peak

Keep it as reminders