Chapter 88: Rest well

Ryan let out a wild, pained yell from the dirt, his teeth clenching hard as he forced his battered body to stand straight up against the heavy stone pillars. The blood from his torn left arm was soaking completely through his cheap leather armor, but his mana was flaring at an absolute, dangerous velocity.

"Tom! Let’s finish this monstrosity!" Ryan shouted, his voice ringing clearly inside the sealed boundaries of the purple runic pyramid.

He raised his short blade with his remaining good hand, his eyes wide open as he unleashed his absolute limit.

"Wind God: Shu’s Scepter!"

The activation of his ultimate skill instantly warped the entire atmospheric pressure inside the Tomb of Neher. A massive, violent vortex of razor sharp howling wind erupted from his blade, creating a colossal gale force funnel that tore up the loose mud, shattered stone blocks, and rotted roots from the ground, directing the entire destructive mass straight toward the Swamp Thallophyte.

Mina moved with instantaneous efficiency, rushing across the slick mud to completely cover Lina’s unconscious form with her own body, protecting the passed out healer from the flying debris and intense wind pressure of the vortex.

Julian did not waste a single frame of motion posturing. He immediately unleashed his Crimson Void Talent, his hands moving in a rapid sequence as he collapsed the physical space entirely all around the beast’s flanks. The dark red pockets of absolute gravitational compression locked down every single escape angle, ensuring the ancient hybrid had absolutely no way to run or dodge while Ryan’s ultimate wind attack quickly approached it.

[ INITIALIZING SPECIAL GRADE TALENT: ENDLESS ADAPTATION ]

* Protocol: Evolutionary Override Required.

* Process Speed: Constrained by Host Low Base Mana.

[ PROGRESS BAR: 75% ]

* Current Action: Decoding complete musculoskeletal blueprint of the hybrid entity.

Thomas looked back at his battered friend, a rare smile appearing on his calm face before he leaped directly into action. Without a single second of hesitation, his entire physical vessel dissolved back into a cloud of thick white gas. Utilizing his full body transformation, he sneakily approached the trapped monster, weaving his weightless form completely through the raging outer currents of the howling vortex. Under his eyelids, the system flared to life to indicate the decoding bar had reached seventy-five percent, but Thomas ignored the notification completely and pushed forward. He knew within his sharp intellect that he had only one single shot to end this nightmare once and for all, and that window was right now.

Ryan’s ultimate strike connected squarely with the beast. The Swamp Thallophyte bellowed in absolute agony as the sharp wind blades of Shu’s Scepter began systematically shredding through its remaining moss hide and calcified green bone armor. But its painful cries were completely drowned out by the deafening roar of the vortex that the Tomb of Neher held sealed inside its walls.

Julian then moved to attack as well, his silver armour clanking as he hurled himself straight into the line of fire with his polished steel sword drawn. His primary target was the creature’s multi jointed legs to permanently finish its mobility. Just like Thomas, Julian went directly into the dangerous, spinning vortex, using his mana shielding technique to shield his body from the friction. He delivered multiple devastating slashes in a rapid, seamless sequence to the creature’s legs, the heavy steel blade cutting through the plant fibers until the massive hybrid finally dropped heavily to its knees against the wet dirt.

That is exactly when the grey fog shaped like a human hand phased cleanly through the center of the creature’s chest armor.

Right inside the monster, Thomas’s body shifted back to being human, his linen shirt and tattered pants materializing out of the white vapors except for his right hand, which remained deeply embedded inside the creature’s skeletal cage.

Thomas looked calmly into the flat, armored skull of the thrashing hybrid and said flatly, "Rest well."

His right hand then instantly transformed, the cellular density of his Diamond Skin flaring to absolute life beneath the monster’s scaly bone hide. The hyper dense, reflective armor integrated from Gerald rapidly expanded directly inside the beast’s internal circulation circuits, turning his fist into an unyielding block of solid diamond.

BOOM!

The massive internal expansion violently ruptured the Swamp Thallophyte from the inside out. A loud, wet explosion of cracking green bone and stringy plant tissue ripped through the monster’s upper torso, causing its remaining life force to flatline completely. The ancient hybrid stiffened for a final fraction of a second before its massive, frame collapsed forward onto the moss covered stone blocks, entirely dead.

The fight was over, and the rune spell slowly fell apart lettng the grey fog in. Thomas and Julian were standing the middle of a mud crater that had been caused by Ran’s attack. Lina was still out, and all of them were running very low on mana. It was so low that if another powerful creature were to attack them they would die.

"Well down children."

A heavy pressure fell upon them and Thomas immediately recognized the voice, it was the voice of the Deacon. And when Thomas forced himself to look in the direction where the voice was coming from he saw them, standing atop a tree branch gazing at them. Deacon Eider tilted his hooded head, his hands resting inside the folds of his spotless golden cloak. He let out a soft, hollow breath that echoed the marshland, his creepy, ever present smile never wavering behind the shadow of his golden hood

"You managed to defeat such a powerful beast, all thanks to the lord of light." he said. "And you, what was that rune spell you just used? It is not documented in the church’s sorcery registry."

Julian shook his head at them.

"Of course it isn’t, or are you unaware that every elite high-blood family has it’s own secrets?"Julian responded.

Deacon Eider nodded.

"Ah, I see. Forget I asked, now Thomas I know we had given you a time fram but we received word from the Pope that you are to either answer us right now or you are to perish here."

Thomas’s eyes widened, his mana reserves were so low he could not even try to run and even if his reserves were full where would he run off to? Julian clenched his jaw and Ryan could only glare at the divine agents with unbridled fury.

"Why are you so confident that you can kill me?" Thomas asked.

Deacon Eider’s smile deepened.

"Is that your answer, child?"

"Yes, I refuse your offer. In fact you can take that offer and shove it up the Pope’s ass for all I care!!!"

There was silence and then Deacon Seth finally spoke.

"Ah, so death it is."