The Witcher: Start with the Lord Marrying a Wife.

Chapter 578 Spacetime Vortex
In an instant, a huge silver-white light exploded, spreading in layers like ripples, and this wave of light kept breaking and reforming, swirling and rolling in indescribably complex totems.

The massive energy wave triggered an anomaly: the spatial rift instantly began to spiral and coil—it was the legendary "time vortex"!
David and Liliana seemed to be tightly bound by an invisible scroll, and a strong attraction instantly pushed them to the edge of the vortex.

The churning storm whipped up countless dust particles, pebbles, and even broken debris, sending them flying. They felt as if every inch of their skin was being torn apart, and if they relaxed even slightly, they would shatter and vanish into nothingness!

The two supported each other, struggling in the eye of the storm, each breath feeling like dancing on a knife's edge.

Sweat dripped down David's forehead and cheeks, mirroring the intense life force that had gathered from the struggle. He realized that he could not give up now, because they carried not only their personal fates, but also the key to the future survival of all races!
"Liliana, hold on!" he shouted, while focusing all his mental energy on regulating the life runes within his body, using all his spiritual power to build a tough barrier to resist the vortex's erosion, and at the same time trying to awaken the ancient support power coming from the World Tree's hidden roots.

But the force of this chaotic tearing apart was beyond imagination; even the runes were shaking and swaying frequently in the storm…

Although Liliana looked tired, her eyes were resolute. "I won't let you face this alone." Her fingers trembled slightly, but she firmly gripped David's arms. The two seemed to have become an immortal shield, relying on each other to resist the impact of the torrent of time.

The air grew thick and oppressive, carrying with it an indescribable sense of instability.

Time itself seems to have lost its linear order at this moment, with only fragmented and indistinct images of the past and future intertwined. Some details are perplexing, some scenes are painful, and infinite secrets await deciphering within the chaos...

"'Time-Eroding Worm'..." David was suddenly jolted awake. The name pierced his soul like a cold blade. It represented a terrifying existence or mechanism that could devour and corrupt the fundamental structure of time and disrupt the laws of time flow!

This is precisely why the stellar crisis has escalated to the point of being out of control!
Just as the two were struggling against the onslaught of fate, roots of the earth stretched out from all directions, as thick as tendrils. They quickly intertwined and expanded to form a dazzling chain of life, illuminating a clear path in the eye of the storm and building a temporary shelter for the two.

David gripped his staff tightly, his muscles taut and nearly snapped from resisting the spatial distortion. He and Liliana were each other’s only support, struggling desperately on the edge of that vortex that was tearing apart the will of living beings.

Liliana radiated a faint green glow, as if she were the only pure core in this chaotic vortex that was not corrupted or contaminated.

She frowned slightly, but still stared intently at the center of the sundial, as if deeply attracted by that mysterious power.

David watched her resolute yet slightly trembling figure, and a protective instinct rose in his heart, making him even more determined not to let any darkness engulf her.

Suddenly, a twisted and exceptionally sharp "fragment of time" shot wildly from the void.

This is no ordinary wreckage, but a fractured space that has been eroded to the extreme by the distortion and corrosion of time and space, possessing a destructive tearing force like a sharp serrated blade.

It swept through the air, approaching swiftly like a ferocious beast opening its withered, gaping maw.

David quickly dodged to the side, but the distorted fragments of time seemed to be consciously tracking his every move. He could feel every molecule in the air constantly changing, constantly breaking down and reforming.

In that instant, a bizarre image flashed through my mind—

A colossal beast is undergoing the cruel decay brought about by the passage of time.

At first, it was covered in thick, dark green vine armor and was enormous and majestic in size;
However, as time went by, its vines gradually withered, cracked, and continued to peel off and fall off;
Muscle atrophy and bones revealing a dull grayish-white hue;

Finally, only the skeletal form, covered in eerie runes and radiating a chilling aura, floated in the void like a ghost of time—

This is the "Bone of Time," a large undead monster that is said to slumber beneath ancient ruins and is driven by a curse to devour the primordial energy of time.

Suddenly, the "fragments of time" abruptly shrank into small "time fragments" that glowed with a ghostly green light and floated erratically, seemingly containing the power of endless years. They spread outwards like possessed demons, silently devouring the surrounding life rhythms and material structures.

David suddenly realized: if he couldn't control those rampant and erratic time fluctuations, this catastrophe would be impossible to stop.

He must rely on his own perceptions and the rhythm of life within his body to resonate with the surrounding World Tree network, constructing a stable anchor point within his sea of ​​consciousness to curb the ever-expanding turbulent erosion from the root!

At the eye of the storm, he closed his eyes and focused his mind to the extreme.

All the surrounding scenery gradually blurred and faded away, leaving only the leaping, flashing, intertwined, and winding earth runes and life energy ripples deep in the sea of ​​consciousness.

He began to carefully sketch, and a simple yet crucial small model slowly took shape.

That is a stable point, a small system model that is like an anchor chain tightly wrapped around each other and binds the energy stripes within a fixed area, protecting them from the disturbance of external chaos.

However, this model is too crude to support the entire vortex in the long term; it can only temporarily limit the local area to buy precious time for survival.

Sensing the fragility of his own model, David's expression turned solemn, yet he was forced to release more mental fluctuations to strengthen it.

He knew that although this step was superficial, it was an indispensable cornerstone for breaking through the "seventh ring bottleneck" and understanding higher-level laws!

Just as he was concentrating on adjusting the mental array, a violent shock suddenly struck. The small, rampaging "time fragments" suddenly erupted with an even stronger destructive aura due to some inexplicable chain reaction. Their fluorescent light rolled like a tide, tearing small wounds into the surrounding void.

These wounds, like springs drawing power from the very source of destiny, have triggered localized dimensional tremors, making it difficult for the entire war zone to recover.

David had beads of sweat on his forehead, but his eyes remained bright and alert.

He gritted his teeth, channeling all his remaining strength into the shield construction, while shouting to Liliana, "We must hold on! As long as the anchor point remains stable, there is still hope!"

Liliana smiled and replied, "Your resilience is my greatest strength."

The chaos of the spacetime vortex finally erupted in an unprecedented way. The silver-haired elf elder, with his life's cultivation and unwavering faith, transformed into a blazing ray of light and rushed into the core of the stardial.

The violent energy collision was like a doomsday judgment, instantly twisting and tearing apart the surrounding space for dozens of feet. Fragments of flesh and magical remnants intertwined and scattered, and countless fallen beings and guardians perished in this explosion.

The explosion's light was interspersed with flickering, distorted light—the aftershocks of the stardial's fierce battle against the corrupted forces.

The air was scorched to a pale blue-gray, while a thick, ancient life force permeated the air, standing out vividly in this place where destruction and rebirth intertwined. David gripped his staff tightly, feeling the flow of runes within his body become increasingly acute due to the energy vibrations.

He stared at the empty, desolate area ahead, his heart pounding with tension, yet filled with a strange sense of anticipation—a rare glimmer of hope after the crisis.

Liliana leaned against him, their breathing calmed down, and their eyes met with a mixture of resilience and reluctance after going through so much.

They knew that the illusion was about to fade, and a truly new chapter was about to begin.

Just then, a faint yet exceptionally clear fluctuation emanated from the depths of the ruins, piercing through the cracks in the dilapidated space, like a faint green light illuminating a lost path in the dark night.

David quickly focused his mind to the limit, relying on the spacetime anchoring model he had previously constructed, which was not yet completely collapsed, and used its fragile but precious information flow to lock onto the source of the fluctuation.

His gaze shifted, and within an invisible grid woven from scattered rubble and broken runes, a fragmented, yet still faintly glowing, irregularly shaped stone caught his attention—

That was a fragment of the stardial's core!
Unlike the surrounding gray ruins, it retains a faint, shimmering green glow, as soft yet firm as the morning light.

"Grab it!" he urged himself in a low voice, while reaching out his arm to try to touch the small core debris that floated between the spatial fault lines, torn apart by the chaotic storm yet still tenaciously existing.

The touch of the fingertips was cool and trembling, but as the palm gradually covered its surface, a familiar and reassuring rhythm of earth life surged into the body, as invigorating as reconnecting to the deepest veins of the mother tree.

Liliana also reached out and joined David in gripping the remaining artifact.

Their hearts were connected, and at this moment they seemed to resonate across a thousand years with the firm oath of the ancient guardians: "The responsibility of protection is an undying legacy."

The illusions began to fade slowly, and the once lifelike figures, who had experienced fierce battles, gradually faded and disappeared, leaving only a wisp of withered leaf gently swaying in the wind as it blew across the ruins.

The once bustling, war-torn land has returned to silence, leaving only the warm breath brought by the earth's roots gently caressing the soil, and the new hope reflected on the warm and bright screen of the World Tree projection in the distance.

David opened his eyes and saw the vast earth projected onto the real world, and Liliana lying quietly beside him, exhausted but peacefully awake.

He carefully held the artifact fragment he had just "picked up" in both hands—

Although it is no longer complete, the constant and ever-pulsating power signals in its veins tell them that this precious legacy has ultimately laid a solid foundation for the future and is not completely lost!
He moved his fingers slightly, sensing the increasingly close and smooth connection between his bloodline and the rhythm of life—a gift and protection bestowed upon him by the World Tree.

At this moment, standing on this land projected into reality, he was no longer merely an observer, but truly integrated into this ancient fabric.

Liliana lay quietly beside him, her face pale yet radiating an indescribable glow. Her life force surged like a tide, yet carried a hint of ethereal uncertainty, as if it might dissipate from her body at any moment.

Her slightly trembling breaths were soft yet firm, each exhale seemingly a struggle to balance the fluctuations caused by the unknown changes within her body.

David turned to look at her, his bright silver-grey eyes now holding a complex mix of emotions—joy mixed with worry.

He understood that Liliana was undergoing some kind of profound transformation beyond the mundane realm. This might be related to the mysterious side effects left over from this ancient memory trial, or it might foreshadow the revelation of a deeper entanglement of fate in the future.

In the distance, the earth's roots seemed to sense the widespread tremors caused by the explosion at the stardial's core. As they writhed and grew, they emitted a deep and resonant echo, like the heartbeat emanating from the depths of the mother tree, stirring up ripples in the quiet morning.

Those thick branches intertwine into a net, constantly expanding and spreading, tightly wrapping all things around them in its vast life network, yet revealing an unprecedented unease and restlessness.

The air suddenly became heavy and oppressive, and a strong sense of presence, seemingly emanating from beyond the ancient heavens, quietly descended.

As the clouds rolled, a huge shadow slowly enveloped the sky, as if it covered half of the world, cutting the sunlight into dim and cold hues, causing fear and chill to rise in the hearts of all living beings.

A powerful, resonant dragon roar, shaking the very depths of the soul and piercing the void of heaven and earth, suddenly resounded:

"Outsider! What have you done to the Sacred Tree?!"

The voice carried boundless majesty and rage, shaking the surroundings like thunder. Each syllable seemed to contain the laws of heaven and earth, pressing down on all living beings with invisible pressure that made it hard for them to breathe.

“Don’t panic.” Liliana’s voice was low and firm. She grasped David’s wrist and conveyed her unwavering belief in a soft voice, “We have stepped into a higher level. As long as we have faith, we can endure anything.”

It was a giant dragon nearly a hundred meters long, its scales shimmering with starlight. It slowly descended onto an open area outside the World Tree projection.

Each flap of its wings stirred up a howling wind, causing the withered leaves and dust on the ground to swirl and fly.

It exudes a cold and solemn aura, and each scale is like a piece of starlight, shining with a deep and mysterious light in the morning light.

This is the Bronze Dragon Chronos, the guardian dragon of the Eternal Forest. His name, like an ancient legend that has been etched into the river of time, has left an indelible mark on the history of the Elven race.

After Cronus landed, his enormous body pressed down on the earth and the air, and the surrounding plants seemed to tremble slightly under his oppressive force.

It slowly folded its wings, scrutinizing the human before it—David—with its eyes, which were as blue as the abyss of the universe and intertwined with flashing green flames, and Liliana beside it, who exuded an unusual life force yet also contained a fragile aura.

The air suddenly froze, and an invisible pressure surged in like a tidal wave, making it almost impossible for the surrounding creatures to breathe.

David felt every cell in his body being pushed to its limit by this invisible force. He gripped his staff tightly, not daring to relax in the slightest.

Liliana, on the other hand, seemed to be stirred by some complex emotions in Kronos's scrutinizing gaze. Her body trembled slightly, but she remained standing firm and did not back down.

(End of this chapter)