The cave was dark and damp, the air thick with a strange, oppressive energy.
Gu Qing and the others piloted their mechs into the first cluster of monsters. The moment they stepped in, roars and snarls erupted ahead as a horde poured out from the ground and cracks in the stone.
“No matter how much we hit them, they just won’t stop!” Raine shouted, swinging his mech’s claw-blade and severing the head of a charging monster. “Where the hell are these things coming from?!”
Gu Qing furrowed his brows, releasing his consciousness to pierce through the layers of rock. His eyes sharpened, voice low and serious: “There’s something underground… they’re being birthed.”
“Birthed?!” Ace looked around, pale. “But we’re completely surrounded! There’s no way down!”
“Stick close to me,” Gu Qing commanded coldly. “We’ll carve our own path.”
With that, he drew his sword, unleashing countless sword auras that shredded the surrounding monsters into pieces. Forming a hand seal, a sigil rose from the ground, glowing and collapsing the terrain beneath them. The team’s mechs descended into the depths of the cave.
They stabilized amid rubble and dust. Before them stood a colossal black tree, sprawling through the entire cavern. Its twisted branches resembled skeletal limbs, roots piercing the stone and spreading into surrounding mineral veins, forming a cursed web that covered the whole cave.
Every tremor seemed to devour the last remnants of sanity from the air.
Its bark, segmented like an insect’s shell, pulsed slowly, as if breathing.
More terrifying, the thick roots were frenziedly devouring energy stones, while the fruits hanging from the branches throbbed faintly, like unborn hearts twitching among the limbs.
Thud. One fruit fell, cracking open, and a monster, wreathed in dark energy, crawled out.
“It’s absorbing energy to reproduce!” shouted the little celestial entity in their minds. “This is a production-type monster incubator ahhhhh!”
Monsters surged like a tide, as if defending the black tree.
Gu Qing’s expression hardened. “I’ll destroy that tree. Hold the line!”
Before he finished speaking, he surged forward, sword auras cutting through the monster horde like a rainbow arc.
“Gu Qing!” Ace called out, but could only watch him disappear into the black mist.
“Hold the formation!” Raine roared. “No monster gets past us!”
The battle reached a fever pitch. Blood and steel clashed, energy explosions reverberating through the cave.
One teammate’s mech was torn apart, on the verge of being overrun. Ace raised his rifle—
“Energy depleted.” A warning beep sounded.
He froze for a moment, then remembered the psychic energy control training Gu Qing had taught him. Gritting his teeth, he abandoned the gun and guided the mech with psychic force. A bright light burst from his forehead, forming a radiant sword in his mech’s hands.
Time seemed to freeze at that moment. For the first time, he had fully, steadily, manifested a sword of his own.
“Haah—!”
The sword cut down, severing a monster’s head. Ace panted heavily, staring at the radiant blade, heart shaking—it was his power.
“My god… what is that?” Raine whispered, staring at the sword in Ace’s hands.
The next instant, Ace charged into the horde. His mind filled with Gu Qing’s image, protecting everyone. This time, he resolved to use his own strength—to prove he could protect others.
Blood boiled in his chest as he shouted, voice ringing with conviction: “This time, I’ll hold the line for you!”
The radiant sword cut, again and again. The monsters instinctively recoiled, as if the blade itself instilled fear.
“Hold them off! Buy time for Landae!” Raine yelled.
Fire flared, determination surged. At this moment, they were no longer trapped prey—they had chosen to fight back.
Gu Qing’s sword cut through several monsters’ skulls, black blood splattering on his mech’s armor, yet he didn’t falter. He pressed forward to the cavern’s depths, arriving at the nightmarish black tree.
The black tree sprawled like a mountain in the center of the rocky wall, roots clinging to surrounding stones, continuously siphoning energy from the mineral veins with a strange sucking sound. Its bark, charred and cracked like open mouths, bore countless round black fruits, each quivering like an uncontrolled heart.
In their consciousness, the little celestial entity screamed in alarm, silver light bursting forth: “This… this is a strategic-level disaster! Cut it down now ahhhh!”
Gu Qing’s expression hardened. Standing before the malevolent shadow, he gripped his sword. His consciousness swept over the black tree, sensing the energy flows rooted deep underground, branches and veins forming a central nervous system of a massive organism.
In the next instant, the tree shuddered violently. Thousands of tendrils shot upward with a screech, lashing toward him like tentacles!
Gu Qing’s eyes darkened. Sword auras exploded. Spiritual energy surged in his silver mech as he met the attack head-on.
Activating the mech’s core fully, sword arrays appeared around him, golden light swirling, sword auras cascading like waterfalls, forming a domain of blades.
One step forward, his consciousness transformed into unparalleled will, sword pointing at the tree!
“Slash!”
Thousands of sword shadows cut through the air, slicing into the black tree. Layers of bark and the energy-transporting main veins inside were severed. The tree let out a shriek that split the heavens; the entire cave trembled!
Roots thrashed wildly, countless monsters pouring out to stop him.
Gu Qing pressed forward relentlessly, each sword strike annihilating a wave of monsters. Like a war god emerging from a storm, his gaze locked on the twitching core of the tree, his momentum only growing.
“I’ll destroy your roots… and your source,” he murmured.
Meanwhile, Ace’s mech erupted with astonishing attacks on the other side of the battlefield.
The silver-white mech leapt like a shadow under the moon, gliding over the scorched battlefield. Ace Mel held his sword, eyes reflecting the roar of a thousand beasts, yet cold as a star.
The radiant sword in his hand was no longer just a weapon—it flowed with pure light. A sweep of the blade shattered the battlefield like a broken galaxy, scattering thousands of light fragments. His steps were light and precise, each strike a deadly dance on the war-torn ground.
Diving from the left flank, a flip, the sword arcing like a rainbow in the air, waves of sword energy severed several monsters mid-stride. Twisting his wrist, the blade condensed into a silver point, piercing the eye of a giant beast. A muffled “thump” and psychic energy pierced its mind, and the creature collapsed.
Monsters surged from all sides, yet he moved like a willow in the wind, sliding, turning, flipping, stomping. Every motion was elegant; every strike precise and swift.
A horizontal crescent of death cut through the battlefield, leaving only severed limbs and shattered corpses. Ace became one with his radiant sword—one blade, a cold light spanning ten thousand miles; one dance, cutting down a hundred enemies.
“The light sword moves like a phantom… my god, he’s cleared that monster group all by himself!”
“What are you waiting for?! Follow him! He’s charging ahead; we’re not scared anymore!”
The long-suppressed soldiers finally regained courage. Seeing Ace moving effortlessly through the horde, performing a deadly and beautiful dance of slaughter, their fear evaporated instantly.
Raine and the other soldiers regained their fighting spirit, forming ranks again to press forward, coordinating with Ace to sweep the battlefield.
Once considered weak and in need of protection, Ace now stood on the frontline. He was a warrior, a sword, a light.
Ace Mel, for the first time, fully wielding his own power on the battlefield, tore through the bonds of fate and carved a path toward the future.