Wizard: Starting with Dealing with Magical Plants

Chapter 276 Survival by a Stroke of Luck

The rubble and sharp rock edges on the steep slope kept scraping against his body. Luo Lin felt a burning pain all over his back, arms, and legs, and the wounds from the explosion were bleeding profusely.

But he dared not pause for a moment; adrenaline and the instinct for survival drove him to rush downhill at an almost insane speed.

Behind them, the dark golden light clung to them like a leech, relentlessly pursuing them.

The energy beams hissed as they struck the surrounding rocks, leaving scorched craters and scattering rock fragments.

Ellie was further ahead. She was not as strong as Rowling and had more scrapes on her body, but she gritted her teeth and desperately rushed down. She almost slipped several times, but managed to keep her balance.

Bahamut's harassment had some effect.

One Arbiter was disrupted in its aim by several consecutive dives, and the deflected beam even nearly hit another companion, causing a brief disruption to the data stream.

But soon, these mechanical units adapted to this level of interference, and one of them used a light blade to sweep the airspace, forcing Baha to climb up in a sorry state and dare not approach easily again.

Below the steep slope lies an even more chaotic area of ​​boulders, where countless massive black rocks, like building blocks carelessly discarded by giants, are piled up haphazardly, forming numerous narrow crevices and dark corners.

"Get inside!" Rowling yelled at Ellie, and at the same time, he spotted a wider crevice in the rock and pounced inside!

Hearing the shouts, Ellie scrambled into a crevice in another pile of stones nearby.

The four Arbiters instantly lost their target and hovered above the boulder area.

The crimson electronic eyes blinked, scanning the complex structure below.

Instead of immediately landing to search, they raised their arms, and the tips of their light blades began to gather an even more dazzling dark golden light, seemingly preparing to bombard the area with energy and turn the area and its hiders into dust!

Luo Lin, nestled in the crevice, felt a chill run down his spine. These iron lumps were utterly unreasonable!

Just as he was preparing to risk his life to rush out and try to draw away the firepower.

Boom!!!

In the center of the basin, the residual energy of the calamity beast that had been stirred up seemed to have accumulated to a critical point, erupting in a second wave.

An even more violent impact!

This time, it's not just simple smoke and turbulence.

Several massive, destructive energy torrents, a mixture of dark red, pale green, and pitch black, suddenly spewed from the eye sockets and mouths of the largest calamity beast skeletons, sweeping towards the Arbiters in the sky like out-of-control giant pythons!

These torrents of energy contain pure chaos, corruption, and destructive will, which directly clashes with the pure order and destructive energy within the Arbiters!

The hovering Arbiters immediately changed targets, wielding their arm blades to unleash equally condensed dark golden beams of light, meeting the torrents of energy head-on!

Boom boom boom boom!!!

A deafening roar of energy collisions echoed through the basin!

Dark gold and a jumble of destructive colors intertwine, annihilate, and explode wildly!

The shockwave ripped up the scorched earth below, sending countless pebbles flying like cannonballs!

Chaos, utter chaos!

Whether it was the lingering will of the calamity beast or the logic of the Arbiter, both seemed to be disrupted at this moment by the sudden energy conflict that far exceeded expectations.

The four Arbiters that were preparing to bombard the area above the megalithic zone were also forced to interrupt their attack, diverting their energy to deal with the indiscriminate sweeping destructive energy aftershocks.

The time has come!

Rolin burst out of the crevice in the rock, not rushing towards Ellie, but instead sprinting towards the deeper part of the boulder field, the area with the most complex terrain and the densest concentration of boulders!

At the same time, he conveyed a clear instruction to Bach through a mental connection.

Find Ellie and lead her further east, hiding her as much as possible!

Bahaga cried out, turned around without hesitation, and like a black lightning bolt, disappeared into the crevice where Ellie was hiding.

Roland, on the other hand, did everything in his power to expose himself and attract the judge's attention!

He deliberately stepped on the loose stones, making a sound, and even used his star power to leave a faint energy trace behind him.

Sure enough, despite being busy dealing with the aftermath of the energy surge, the Arbiters' main logical judgment remained focused on the recovery targets and unauthorized contacts.

Rolin's deliberate exposure immediately attracted the attention of two of the Arbiters. They withstood the impact of several energy fragments and chased after Rolin again.

The other two seemed to have received new instructions and began attempting to move towards the edge of the basin, seemingly trying to escape the increasingly unstable center of this energy storm.

Roland darted through the giant rock forest, using the complex terrain and the massive rocks for cover to outmaneuver the Arbiter who was pursuing him.

He dared not run in a straight line, constantly changing direction, sometimes squeezing into narrow crevices, sometimes leaping out from the shadow of the boulder.

Although the Arbiter is fast, it is difficult to fully utilize its speed in such extremely complex terrain, especially since it also has to be distracted by the chaotic energy aftershocks that sweep by from time to time.

The chase lasted for nearly fifteen minutes.

Rowling felt he was nearing his limit.

Blood loss, coupled with the exhaustion of his physical and mental strength, caused his vision to blur and his steps to become unsteady.

The pursuers behind them, however, were like tireless machines, still relentlessly chasing after them.

No way! If this continues, we'll be caught up sooner or later!

We must find a way to get rid of them completely, or—solve them!

Rowling's gaze swept around.

This is the side of the megalithic area closer to the center of the basin, where the chaotic energy storms are even more intense.

Not far away, a section of a calamity beast's rib, tens of meters high and seemingly broken by a tremendous force, was leaning precariously, constantly emitting thick black smoke and pale green energy sparks, appearing extremely unstable.

A crazy idea rose in Rowling's mind.

He abruptly changed direction, no longer dodging, but using his last bit of strength to charge towards that huge, unstable rib of the calamity beast!

The adjudicator behind them was in hot pursuit.

Just as Rolin reached below his ribs, he suddenly stopped, turned around, and faced the two Arbiters rushing towards him, a mocking smile on his face.

He raised his right hand, and the dark gold mark on his wrist was now flashing and burning intensely like a red-hot branding iron.

Then, he poured all the remaining star power he possessed, which carried the sedimentation properties of the [Quiet Dust Star], along with a trace of stable rhythm borrowed from the milky white pebble, into the mark, and then suddenly used his mental power to detonate it fiercely towards the huge rib of the calamity beast!

What was ignited was not energy, but a cold, ordered fluctuation signal contained within the mark, originating from the same source as the Arbiter.

He transformed himself into a temporary beacon of powerful order!

"Come on! Let's see if your order is stronger, or the chaos here is stronger!"

The mark was forcibly stimulated, bursting forth with an unprecedentedly intense dark golden light and fluctuations in order!

This fluctuation, like a lighthouse in the night, instantly attracted the attention of all the chaotic energy around it.

Those massive, extremely unstable ribs seemed to be utterly enraged by this provocative signal of order!

The remaining will of the calamity beast within it let out a silent roar, and the pale green energy sparks suddenly contracted inward, then exploded like a volcanic eruption.

A torrent of destructive energy, over five meters in diameter and a mixture of ghastly green, pitch black, and dark red, surged forth from the broken ribs like a giant spear of vengeance, hurtling straight toward Rolin's location.

Or rather, bombard the beacon that is emitting strong fluctuations in order!

The first to be hit were the two Arbiters who had just rushed forward and were about to slash down.

Data streams flashed wildly in their scarlet electronic eyes, instantly determining that the threat level of this energy torrent was far greater than before!

Almost instinctively, they abandoned their attack on Rolin and concentrated all their energy on the metal wings on their arms and backs, crossing them in front of them to create a solid, dark gold diamond-shaped energy shield in an attempt to withstand the attack!

boom!!!!!!

A devastating surge of energy slammed into the shield!

The dark golden shield flashed, twisted, and deformed wildly!

The arbiters were propelled backward by the enormous impact, their metal feet carving deep trenches into the ground!

The shield lasted for less than two seconds before it shattered under the strain and exploded!

The remaining torrent of energy slammed into the two Arbiters!

scoff!

Amidst the sickening sounds of twisting metal and annihilating energy, the two Arbiters were sent flying backward, crashing heavily into the pile of boulders behind them.

Large areas of their smooth, dark gold shells were charred, melted, and twisted; one side of their metal wings was broken off; the light blades on their arms dimmed and went out; their scarlet electronic eyes flickered violently a few times before going completely dark; and they lay motionless among the rocks.

Meanwhile, at the epicenter of the explosion, in the final moments before the energy torrent erupted, Rolin used his last bit of strength and star power to activate a top-tier, one-time-use [Phase Shift Amulet] given to him by Master Veranika!

At the critical moment, his body became like an illusory image. The destructive torrent passed through his body, but it seemed to pass through the air without causing any real damage.

But the amulet's energy was also instantly exhausted. His body solidified again and was violently thrown away by the blast wave. Like a kite with a broken string, he fell into a pile of soft soil mixed with scorched earth and ash not far away. Everything went black and he completely lost consciousness.

The energy storm in the center of the basin was still ongoing, but without the stimulation of Rolin as a beacon of order, its intensity began to slowly decrease.

The remaining five Arbiters also appeared to have suffered varying degrees of damage in the chaos, their crimson electronic eyes flashing as if they were conducting some kind of complex internal data exchange and logic reset.

After a long while, one of the Arbiters, whose appearance was relatively intact, turned its head towards the direction where Rolin was unconscious, and the electronic eye locked onto him.

"Target: Unauthorized contact, with weak vital signs, in a near-death state."

"Secondary targets: carriers and symbiotes of benign rule imprints, weak signal, location unknown."

"Environmental threat level: High, and continuing to rise."

"Arbiter unit damage rate: Over 40%".

"Logical judgment: Continuing to execute the cleanup procedure is too risky, with a success rate of less than 15%."

"In accordance with the supplementary provisions of the Emergency Recovery Protocol for High-Level Heritage, the backup plan is activated: record the current coordinates and event information, mark the target as a high-priority item for delayed processing, temporarily evacuate, and wait for the environment to stabilize or for intervention by a higher-authority unit."

"Evacuate."

The cold, electronic voice echoed among the remaining judges.

Immediately, the tattered metal wings on the backs of the five still-functioning Arbiters unfolded again, and the dark golden energy flow became dim and unstable. They wobbled as they rose into the air, ignoring the unconscious Rolin and the missing Rainbow Feather Sparrow and Ellie, and flew away rapidly in the opposite direction from the basin's energy storm, quickly disappearing into the murky sky.

In the basin, only the remnants of the calamity beast's skeletons, the wailing of the turbulent energy currents, and Rolin lying in the ash pit, his fate unknown.