Wizard: Starting with Dealing with Magical Plants

Chapter 260 The Source of the Monster Tide

The canyon is not very deep, but it is winding and its width varies greatly.

The valley floor was filled with pebbles of varying sizes and dried-up streams.

At this moment, in the middle and later sections of the canyon, many rock walls have collapsed, revealing several dark cracks of varying lengths, the widest of which can be several meters wide.

The crack's edges were irregular, emitting a dim, unstable halo of grayish-white and dark red light. It was this halo that illuminated part of the valley floor and brought with it that unsettling energy fluctuation.

The rocks near the cracks are eroded and brittle, with fragments of rock breaking off from time to time.

Around the cracks where the energy fluctuations were strongest, some more distorted and more energetic monsters gathered on the ground.

Unlike those restlessly rushing outwards at the valley entrance, they seem to be absorbing the energy overflowing from the cracks.

Or are they drawn to the cracks and linger there?

Roland's gaze finally settled on the deepest and largest crack in the canyon.

The crack opened on a nearly vertical rock wall, nearly ten meters wide and with no visible top. The energy fluctuations surging from inside were the strongest, and the colors were more mixed, including grayish-white, dark red, and even a very faint bluish-white similar to the residual radiation from the Purifier.

It seems that the crux of the problem lies there.

The energy disturbances generated by the purification of the throat of the dead tore apart or activated the already fragile geological structure here, opening cracks leading to certain energy disorder layers or small alternate dimensions underground.

The chaotic energy emanating from these cracks polluted and stimulated the monsters that originally lived there, causing mutations and uprisings.

To solve this, you either need to completely destroy or seal these cracks, or purify the source of energy leaking from them.

The latter is obviously more difficult, while the former—perhaps worth trying.

Roland estimated the distance and route. He would descend the rock face, cross the valley floor, and reach the deepest main fissure, needing to avoid or clear at least three smaller fissures and the surrounding monsters along the way.

As he was planning his course of action, suddenly, the main fissure deep in the canyon flickered violently without warning!

A chaotic energy pulse, several times stronger than before, erupted from the crack like an invisible wave, instantly sweeping across the entire canyon!

The monsters lingering at the bottom of the valley were swept by the energy pulse, and they all let out painful howls. Their bodies twisted and swelled violently, their eyes shone with a bright crimson light, and their aura suddenly became violent!

Instead of quietly absorbing energy, they began to attack and bite each other, or aimlessly ram their bodies against the rock walls, as if they had completely lost their minds!

Even more troublesome, several rock walls near the main fissure groaned under the impact of this intense energy pulse, causing the fissure to widen further, more rocks to fall, and the entire canyon to begin to tremble slightly!

"Oh no!" Luo Lin's heart tightened.

The instability of the cracks has worsened!

At this rate, it could soon trigger large-scale landslides or even worse, spatial collapses!

We must act immediately!

Without further hesitation, he slid down the rock face quickly.

When you are still more than ten meters away from the bottom of the valley, find a relatively flat area with fewer monsters and jump down!

The impact was cushioned by the power of [Silent Dust Star], which landed silently.

As soon as he landed, several monsters nearby, driven mad by the energy pulse and resembling enlarged scorpions with pustules on their shells, spotted him and charged at him, waving their pincers and venomous tails!

Roland's eyes turned cold, and instead of retreating, he advanced, charging towards the demon!

At the very moment of imminent contact, the body slid and twisted with incredible flexibility, precisely avoiding the pincers' attack and the venomous tail's stab. At the same time, the right hand, with fingers like a knife, flashed with a condensed silver light and pierced into the soft part beneath the monster's carapace with lightning speed!

puff!

As the starlight flowed in, the demon's body stiffened and went limp.

Without stopping, Rolin moved among the monsters like a butterfly flitting among flowers. Every move was precise and deadly, using the most energy-efficient and effective close-quarters combat techniques, combined with the pinpoint kills of [Spiral Seiya].

In less than five breaths, all the demons collapsed to the ground.

Without pausing, he immediately rushed toward the nearest smaller crack.

The crack was about two meters wide and constantly emitted grayish-white mist, which had a pungent sulfur smell and a slight corrosiveness.

Beside the crack, several wolf-like monsters, provoked and banging their heads against the rocks, pounced on Rolin with bloodshot eyes as soon as they saw him approach.

Rowling used the same trick again, quickly eliminating them.

Then he stopped in front of the crack and examined it carefully.

The inside of the crack is bottomless and filled with chaotic energy; forcibly destroying it could trigger an uncontrollable energy explosion.

He attempted to inject a wisp of the power of [Quiet Dust Star] into the edge of the crack, trying to stabilize the surrounding energy structure with its settling properties.

As the starlight seeped in, the restless grayish-white halo at the edge of the crack did indeed calm down slightly, and the overflowing mist also thinned out a bit.

efficient!

However, the power of [Quiet Dust Star] is ultimately limited. Faced with this continuous surge of energy, it can only provide temporary relief, not eradicate the problem.

It seems the key lies in the main crack.

Only by eliminating the largest energy source will these small cracks gradually lose their support and close, or become easier to manage.

Without further delay, Luo Lin continued his advance into the depths of the canyon.

The further you go in, the denser and more ferocious the monsters become.

The effects of the energy pulse continued, and these monsters completely lost their minds. Apart from a few tearing each other apart, most of them instinctively moved towards the direction of the strongest energy fluctuations, like a tide.

That is, the main fissure surges out, and then they crowd, collide, and roar there, forming a chaotic and aggressive living barrier.

Rowling frowned.

Forcing its way through is not impossible, but it would consume too much energy and could cause even more violent disturbances, or even prematurely trigger further collapse of the main rift.

He looked up at the rock face.

Rock climbing in the past?

However, the rock face where the main fissure is located is almost vertical, and the fissure itself is emitting turbulent energy flows, making climbing extremely risky.

As the light swept across the valley floor, he suddenly noticed a narrow crevice near the corner of the rock wall, half-hidden by a huge boulder, that seemed to lead underground.

The gap was very small, barely allowing one person to squeeze through sideways, and its location was well-hidden, so the monsters didn't seem to notice it.

Perhaps it's a shortcut, or at least it can bypass some of the monsters.

Without hesitation, Rolin quickly eliminated the few scattered monsters nearby before heading to the crevice.

The inside of the crevice was pitch black, with a faint airflow emanating from it, carrying a stronger smell of sulfur and a strange, faint mineral scent.

The detectors are basically malfunctioning here, so we have to rely on our own judgment.

Without hesitation, Luo Lin squeezed in sideways.

The crevice was longer than expected and twisted downwards.

The stone walls were damp and cold, with water droplets falling from time to time.

After walking for about several dozen meters, a faint light appeared ahead, along with the sound of flowing water.

Luo Lin quickened his pace, turned a corner, and suddenly the view opened up before him.

At the end of the crevice, there is a small underground cavern.

Some stalactites with a faint phosphorescence hung from the top of the cave, illuminating a small, steaming, dark red pool of water below.

Scattered around the pool were some oddly colored fragments of minerals that looked like a mixture of metal and rock.

There is a geothermal spring and a rare mineral vein here?

No wonder monsters are attracted to it; chaotic energy may also have a catalytic or contaminating effect on minerals.

Roland had no interest in examining the ore; his gaze was drawn to an entrance to a cave on the other side of the karst cave, opposite the pool.

The opening wasn't large, but you could vaguely hear the chaotic roars of monsters outside, and a chaotic flow of energy was pouring in from the opening.

That place likely leads directly to the vicinity of the main rift!

He walked around the pool and came to the entrance of the cave.

Sure enough, outside the cave entrance was deep in the canyon, and the angle was perfect, right on a protruding rock platform about twenty meters below the main fissure!

From here, the main fissure looks like a hideous scar on the earth, constantly spewing out mixed energy flows. The rock wall near the fissure has turned an unstable dark red, with lava-like substances dripping down continuously.

At the bottom of the valley ahead of the crevice, hundreds of ferocious monsters of various forms were densely packed together. They trampled and bit each other, roaring meaninglessly at the crevice, forming a death zone that made one's scalp crawl.

The platform is currently safe; no monsters can climb up.

Lorin lay on the edge of the platform, carefully observing the structure and energy flow patterns of the main crack.

The energy eruption from the fissure is not continuous and stable, but rather pulsates regularly, like a heartbeat.

Each violent pulsation unleashes an even stronger energy pulse, stimulating the monsters and exacerbating the instability of the rock wall.

Between two strong pulses, there is a relatively calm period of about thirty to forty breaths.

With the energy eruption intensity reduced, the monsters' ferocity will also decrease slightly.

To seal or destroy a crack, one must seize a relatively calm period and find the weak point in the crack's energy structure.

Luo Lin pushed his perception to its limit, and the power of [Quiet Dust Star] slowly extended, like the most sensitive probe, attempting to analyze the energy composition of the crack.

Chaos, death, corruption—these are the main themes.

But within this, Luo Lin also detected a faint trace of order, which shared the same origin as the Moon Silver Flower's spiritual imprint but was severely distorted and polluted, as well as—an even fainter but extremely pure and cold "purification" radiation.

really!

The residual energy from the purification by the Throat of the Dead reacted strangely with the already fragile geological structure and some remaining fragments of ancient experiments, tearing open this unstable crack that continues to emanate mixed energy.

Destroying it by brute force alone is extremely risky and could trigger a massive explosion of mixed energy.

Perhaps—we could take advantage of the conflict between energies?

A bold idea took shape in Rowling's mind.