Chapter 1433: Every Victim Was Smiling

Elira hurried behind Ethan.

Seraphine looked at him curiously, wondering how he had sensed the danger in advance.

Ethan didn’t explain.

The white barrier around them suddenly vanished.

One second later, it reappeared.

In that single unprotected second, the dark blue soil crept several inches closer to the beach. Once the barrier returned, it stopped again.

Ethan studied the blue mud near his feet, his expression turning grave.

Elira hid behind him, frightened, as the Divine Sovereign Moth’s wings slowly spread. An eye opened on the surface of one wing, watching the shifting soil alongside her.

"Master..."

Elira lowered her voice and pulled the hand she’d reached out back to her chest.

"What is that?"

Ethan glanced at her but didn’t answer right away.

He tossed the white energy sphere in his palm beyond the barrier. It sailed across the beach and into the dark blue forest, lighting up row after row of stained trees along the way.

Ethan shook his head.

"I don’t know either."

He got up and walked over to Seraphine. Several times, he almost asked her something, but the question never left his mouth.

Seraphine had already guessed what he wanted to know.

She had examined the soil as well, but she couldn’t identify the source of its power. All she could do was shake her head.

As the two stood in silence, a golden light descended from above.

Andona folded her wings and landed beside Ethan.

"I can’t tell what it is either."

She looked down at the constantly writhing dark blue soil, Divine Power flowing through her golden eyes.

"But there’s human blood inside it."

Ethan’s expression changed at once.

Andona continued sensing the traces left in the soil.

"And every one of those people was smiling before they died."

She paused to make sure her judgment was correct.

"They weren’t forced to pretend, and their minds weren’t clouded."

"Those smiles were genuine."

Andona raised a hand.

Divine Power condensed above her palm into a small, hollow golden sphere. It passed through the barrier and flew into the forest. The bottom opened on its own, scooping up a clump of dark blue soil.

The golden sphere returned to the beach and deposited the sample on the ground inside the barrier.

A massive explosion came from deep in the forest.

The energy sphere Ethan had thrown earlier had finally detonated.

White light expanded between the trees. The blast hurled soil and shattered roots high into the air, sending dark blue clods raining toward the beach.

Andona turned her wrist.

A round divine shield formed in front of her. She flew into the sky with it, and the golden barrier expanded until it became an enormous dome covering the entire beach.

Its golden shadow fell across the sand.

The incoming clods slammed into the barrier and stopped. Golden flames ignited wherever they touched, burning through the dark blue soil.

Shrill screams came from within the mud.

The voices were thin and chaotic, as though countless beings were suffering under the divine flames at once.

Ethan looked up at the busy Andona, a little embarrassed.

If he’d known it would cause this much trouble, he wouldn’t have thrown that energy sphere into the forest.

His attention soon returned to the ground.

The soil Andona had brought back had retreated into a corner of the barrier and curled itself into a tiny lump, too afraid to approach anyone.

Seraphine had collected a sample of her own.

That piece of dark blue soil had it much worse.

First, she sliced it in half with Light Force to examine its internal structure. Then she completely enveloped one half in Primordial Death Energy.

She wanted to see whether the soil could recover on its own.

Instead of repairing itself, it only trembled harder.

Ethan watched Seraphine continue her examination and didn’t have the heart to spoil her fun.

White energy covered his hand.

He reached into the Primordial Death Energy, rescued the piece of soil that had shrunk to nearly the size of a grain, and studied it in his palm.

No unusual patterns.

No distinct organs.

Only dark blue matter slowly flowing across its surface.

"Doesn’t look like anything special."

Ethan turned to Elira.

"Want to try?"

She had still been hiding behind him. The instant she heard that, she retreated to the center of the barrier, shaking her head as fast as she could.

The eye on the Divine Sovereign Moth’s wing closed as well, making its refusal perfectly clear.

Since she wasn’t interested, Ethan carried the mud to the water.

He bent down, pulled a crab from the wet sand, and placed it in his palm. The dark blue mud lay beside it, only a few fingers’ width away.

The crab tried to escape the moment it landed.

Its eight legs skittered rapidly, and both claws opened in warning.

Ethan had no choice but to form a transparent barrier over his palm, sealing the crab and the mud inside a small enclosed space.

With nowhere to run, the crab huddled in a corner.

The trembling mud went still.

It slowly stretched out and crept along the lines of Ethan’s palm toward the crab. Every so often, it stopped and raised a tiny feeler toward Ethan. Only after confirming that he wasn’t going to stop it would it continue.

The distance between them steadily narrowed.

At last, the dark blue mud ran out of patience.

It sprang from Ethan’s palm and lunged straight at the crab.

Realizing it had nowhere left to retreat, the crab raised both claws and snapped them at the incoming mud.

Crack.

One claw caught the mud and crushed it flat through the middle. The other immediately swung in for another attack.

Ethan watched the fight, his expression growing increasingly strange.

Could this thing really not beat a crab?

The dark blue mud didn’t disappoint him.

Its trapped body split into two pieces, dropping to either side of the crab. Avoiding the claws in front, both halves clung to the underside of its shell and burrowed inward.

The crab couldn’t turn around in time.

The two clumps slipped through gaps in its shell and entered its body.

The crab began to thrash.

Its legs repeatedly struck the transparent barrier, while its claws flailed wildly against Ethan’s palm. Inside it, the dark blue mud attached itself to the crab and rapidly drained its blood and other nutrients.

The crab’s movements slowed.

A moment later, its hard shell split open from within.

Bang!

The shell burst into several pieces, and dark blue mud sprayed out. It had grown far larger than before and quickly filled the small space Ethan had created.

Even the remaining shell didn’t go to waste.

The mud spread over the fragments, broke the shell down piece by piece, and devoured it as well.

Ethan stared at the dark blue substance expanding in his palm. He added another layer to the barrier, then placed the entire sealed space on the ground.

Seraphine’s voice came from behind him.

"One crab made it grow that much."

She looked down at the mud inside the barrier.

"What would happen if it consumed an entire human?"

Seraphine’s sudden appearance made Ethan’s shoulders jerk.

He took a deep breath and turned to her helplessly.

"You’re right. It does grow incredibly fast."

Ethan pressed a hand to his chest.

"But could you not appear like that next time? It’s terrifying."

Seraphine tilted her head.

She had only been curious.

What was wrong with that?

She tossed the remainder of her sample toward Ethan.

The dark blue clump stopped in front of his face, several tiny feelers emerging from its surface. They stretched forward tentatively, trying to touch his skin.

Ethan had no intention of letting that happen.

White light flared around his right hand.

He punched, shattering the mud on the spot.

Tiny clumps scattered across the ground, but none of them died. Each piece continued to writhe slowly, struggling to gather back in the center.

Seraphine raised a hand and brought Light Force down with her palm.

White light covered the ground.

Every dark blue fragment stopped moving, then dissolved into wisps of blue smoke that drifted toward the forest on the sea breeze.

The smoke passed between the trees and moved toward the church.