In that instant, Ashu felt as if the world was plunged into utter darkness. Within that shroud of blackness, blood-red wraiths began to appear one after another, crawling toward him from all directions.
He watched as the hands of the wraiths reached out to seize his body.
Suddenly—
A system notification sounded in his mind.
[Forest Elf · Leia has comprehended: Body of Nature]
[Critical Return! Host has obtained: Dominant Body of Nature!]
A flood of information surged into Ashu's mind. Even as his brain was desperately flooding his system with terror, the data pieced itself together, presenting a concise summary.
[Dominant Body of Nature: Can be used at any time without cost. Upon use, grants complete immunity to all control effects and provides control resistance for 5 seconds. Recharges once per year. Usable 18 times currently.]
This information was like a sliver of light piercing the darkness—impossible not to grasp at instinctively.
Without hesitation, Ashu activated "Dominant Body of Nature."
In an instant—
The wraiths retreated, the darkness dissipated, and the illusion before his eyes vanished. He could even sense his control over Magical Essence returning!
That meant—the sealing spell placed on him had also been neutralized!
Only now did he notice a new skill, "Dominant Body of Nature," had appeared in his mind.
Just moments ago, under the wraith's control skill, his mind had been unable to form conscious thought. As usual, however, the system had automatically organized the skill information for him, making the new ability ready for use—and he had instinctively triggered it.
This "Dominant Body of Nature" originated from Forest Elf Leia. Judging by the skill description, it seemed to be an innate ability elves possessed during their adolescence.
By itself, it only provided resistance to harsh environments, or could be seen as a kind of control resistance. But after the system's tenfold critical hit, it had evolved into "Dominant Body of Nature."
This skill was a blessing in his darkest hour—not only did it dispel the Wraith's Terror, but it also broke the seal on his body.
Now,he no longer needed to wait for Anna to advance to archmage to be freed.
The only regret was that he could use it only 18 times in total for now, because this skill didn't consume Magical Essence, but was a charge-type ability—recharging only once a year.
For elves, with their long lifespans and concept of time, hundreds or even thousands of uses wouldn't be a big deal.
But for a human, 18 times was far too few, and 18 years felt like an eternity.
"Anna, are you alright?" Freed from his restraints, Ashu immediately reached out, shaking Anna, and then turned to Forest Elf. "Leia, how about you? Are you okay?"
After benefiting from Leia and recovering smoothly, it was his turn to lend a hand.
"I'm fine." Anna seemed completely unaffected by the Wraith's Terror. Her spiritual perception talent was simply too strong—giving her innate resistance to this type of ability.
Forest Elf was also unharmed. As soon as she awakened her adolescent talent, she immediately canceled out the negative status effects.
Ashu immediately launched another attack.
Seeing this, Ashu reached into his pocket and pulled out a small white box. Inside, two throwing knives gleamed with a cold, silvery light.
These were a gift from the Kylelaw enforcer.
He instantly channeled his Magical Essence control, levitating the two throwing knives in midair.
"Ashu, your seal is broken?" Anna exclaimed.
"I don't know how, but it suddenly disappeared. Maybe the Kidopriest had to withdraw the power maintaining the seal after running into some infighting," Ashu replied.
"So it really was the Kidopriest here?"
"Yeah, it was him—and some psycho bishop too."
Ashu glossed over the details in a few words and focused his attention on controlling the knives. The Forest Elf's vines packed a punch, but could only inflict surface wounds. Ashu had witnessed firsthand how this monster was created—if its core wasn't destroyed, it would be nearly impossible to kill.
"Whoosh—whoosh—"
The knives danced faster and faster through the air, Ashu's exceptional Magical Essence control directly boosting their speed and precision.
Silver flashed overhead, weaving between the lashing vines to strike at every opening. The knives stabbed mercilessly into the blood-red creature's body, twisting as they drilled in and out.
The monster howled in agony—a chorus of dozens of voices, as if many people were crying out at once, piercing and unnerving.
But Ashu didn't let up—his attacks became even more ruthless.
The Forest Elf's vines served as the main assault, the throwing knives as his support, and finally, a barrage of Water Bullets.
With their teamwork, the blood-red beast let out a guttural groan and collapsed to the ground with a thunderous crash.
The already-ruined palace fell silent, save for the sound of sand trickling ever faster through the crumbling ceiling—soon joined by seeping water.
"This place is about to flood. We need to get out, now."
…
The three of them flew out, emerging by the riverside.
Ashu gazed up at the blue sky and let out a long breath. But he knew this was only the beginning.
He was now completely entangled in this mess—there was no way out.
"Um, ah…"
Suddenly, Forest Elf Leia staggered, clutching her head, her steps faltering. Fortunately, Ashu reacted quickly and caught her before she fell.
Anna explained, "Time's up. The borrowed power is fading away."
Ashu looked at Forest Elf Leia apologetically. "I'm sorry. You used up your lifespan to save me. I swear I'll find a way to make it up to you."
The power from "Forbidden Sacrifice" faded, but the physical changes brought on by burning her lifespan would not revert.
Forest Elf Leia had transformed from a child into an adolescent, and with that, elven youths would awaken new racial gifts.
All in all, if Anna had used the spell, it would have simply wasted a hundred years. But for an elf, after burning a hundred years of life, they also gained a hundred years of evolution ahead of time.
So, for elves, "Forbidden Sacrifice" essentially comes with a kind of rebate mechanism.
"Oh, I'm alright now. My body feels empty, but I recover quickly," Leia said, standing up straight again. Mentally, she was still a child, but now her body had reached adolescence.
"This time, I really owe it to you both. Otherwise, I…"
If it hadn't been for Anna and Leia, Ashu would have truly gone down the path of a cultist by now—offering living sacrifices to Cidi in exchange for one woman after another, each scoring over 90 points.
"Ashu, Cidi's followers can only summon you through a medium, right? Did you see what they used? We need to destroy it," Anna asked.
"I saw it. We already destroyed it. That blood-red monster was originally Carol. They resurrected her, then recycled her corpse to buy themselves time to escape."
Hearing it was Carol, Anna raised her eyebrows—she hadn't expected that woman to be so tenacious.
"That's good. As long as there's no medium, they can't summon you again."
Hearing this…
Ashu looked at Anna, hesitating whether or not to tell her everything.
After some thought, he decided to be honest.
They were all on the same side, and Anna had access to the Witch's Guild's knowledge. Aside from the system, there wasn't much he couldn't sit down and discuss with her.
"In fact, Anna, I was forced to join the Cidi cult," Ashu said plainly.
Anna didn't look surprised. She simply reached her hand into Ashu's shirt, feeling along his back. After confirming that no sigil had been carved into his skin, she breathed a sigh of relief.
"It's alright. You just did what you had to. As long as you don't go around announcing it, no one will find out you're a Cidi follower. As long as you don't continue serving, your connection to Cidi will gradually fade until you break free completely," Anna comforted him.
But at the same time, she knew that from this moment on, the two of them would never be able to escape this area. Ahead lay a den of dragons and tigers—they had no choice but to break through head-on.
"What we know for sure now is that Kidopriest is two-faced. He can pray devoutly before the Divine Mother Goddess's statue, and then turn right around to perform rituals in front of the Cidi idol," Ashu went straight to the point. "The local Cidi bishop at this outpost is aware of this, but not fully. When they heard the commotion, the bishop and Kidopriest reacted in totally different ways. Clearly, Kidopriest was hiding things from the bishop. I'm afraid he's the one actually pulling the strings at this base."
"So, the corrupted mayor must have been acting under Kidopriest's direct orders," Anna said.
Ashu was completely disillusioned with the Holy Cultivator Guild's oversight system.
How could such a major branch, in charge of such a crucial border stronghold, fail to detect what Kidopriest really was?
If it was just humans being corrupted, maybe that could be understood. But what was the Divine Mother Goddess even doing? The double-dealer was practically broadcasting his betrayal for all to see, and She still hadn't sent down divine punishment?
"Anna, is there some kind of secret whistleblower channel in the Holy Cultivator Guild? Maybe a headquarters inspection team or something?"
The Holy Cultivator Guild covered the entire Atras Empire—surely it couldn't be rotten all the way through, right?
There had to be a few genuine believers at headquarters, didn't there?
Once someone reached that level, colluding with a cult just wasn't worth it anymore.
"There is, actually. But the right to use the whistleblower channel is controlled by the archbishop of each Cultivator Guild branch."
"So, in other words, there isn't one at all."