Chapter 628 - 471: Staring into the Abyss (Part 2)
Chapter 628: Chapter 471: Staring into the Abyss (Part 2)
Besides the crevices in the mire that served as hiding spots for ghostfires, this stretch of swamp was also littered with the bones of many unidentifiable beasts.
It drew near a bone that looked like a femur. The moment the yellow ghostfire approached, the signs of age and decay on the leg bone, caused by its long immersion in the swamp, unexpectedly vanished completely.
It transformed into a slender, flawlessly white leg bone. The bone was long and thin with a uniform density, but it was riddled with breaks and flaws left by the decay.
A moment later, it was burned to ash by the ghostfire’s core flame.
But from within the ash, an incredibly faint wisp of Life Force slipped out and shot directly into its core.
These beings subsisted on Death Energy, and Life Force was its antithesis. Contact with it would reduce their Death Energy, which meant a decrease in their power.
However, after that sliver of Life Force entered its body, it was immediately absorbed by the vortex. After a single rotation, it emerged and unexpectedly merged into the small, crackling flame within.
The little flame, which had previously been nothing but crackling heat, now possessed an imperceptible trace of life.
Moreover, infused with that sliver of life, the flame seemed to grow much stronger. Not only did it burn on its own, but its Fire Element Energy also flowed through the ghostfire’s main body, washing over its pale yellow, smoky form.
Under this cleansing flow, the pale yellow ghostfire’s body, originally the size of a fist, shrank by half. But the power within its core became much purer.
It leaped up and spun in place. It was faster than before, and it seemed to have better control over the small flame within its core.
The local host of ghostfires, fearing the Fire Element Energy within it, had all gone into hiding. So, it began to search for more beast bones.
This vast section of the swamp—though only a corner of the whole, immeasurably large marshland—was already the size of a riverbank that could hold a village.
Within this stagnant mire, a lone, pale yellow ghostfire bobbed and weaved through the air.
Dead branches and rotten leaves, corroded by Death Energy, were piled everywhere. After a long search, it finally found another piece of a beast’s skeleton beneath a huge, rotting tree stump.
It was impossible to tell what animal this bone came from. It was only a single joint, yet it was absurdly large. The ghostfire drew out the Fire Element Energy from the small flame within and directed it at the massive bone. A long time passed before it managed to burn just a tenth of the joint to ash.
From this tenth of the ash, a wisp of life essence—even stronger than the one from the broken leg bone—shot out and bored into the ghostfire’s core.
This time, however, the essence of life brought it no benefit. Instead, a flaw appeared in its once-pure yellow form.
The life essence devoured the Death Energy.
A corner of its ghostly form was eroded by the life essence. It frantically tried to expel that sliver of life from its body, but found itself powerless to do so.
Just then, the small flame flared to life.
It unleashed a burst of Fire Element Energy in pursuit of that wisp of life essence. After a long chase, during which half of its ghostly form was consumed, the Fire Element Energy finally caught up to the stray wisp.
The Fire Element Energy wrapped around the wisp of life essence, relentlessly dragging it toward the vortex. Finally, after the small flame had expended more than half of its power, the wisp was pulled into the vortex. After one rotation, it was converted and returned to the small flame as a part of its Fire Element Energy.
The small flame returned to its original size, but with half of its own body destroyed, the ghostfire could only retreat into a suitable patch of mire to hide, taking the rest of the bone joint with it.
’This failure was only because my body is still too weak. I can’t absorb too much life essence. If I were just a little stronger...’
Now that its body was damaged, the four other yellow ghostfires it had driven off earlier emerged from their hiding places, stirring restlessly.
’When I was at full strength, I could have instantly obliterated one of them and won a decisive victory. But with half my body gone, I’m not so sure.’
’Caution is the key to survival.’
’To restore my body, it seems I’ll have to wait for the right moment to devour and absorb other ghostfires.’
Deep within the Land of Deathly Silence, in a region where a palace had been carved from the body of a colossal beast, a man sat upon a high throne of Bonescorch, shrouded in a dense cloud of black Death Energy.
Below him stood a bewitching woman. Her allure seemed to emanate from her very bones; she had a curvaceous, tantalizing figure and fair skin, but her face was hidden behind a skull mask.
"Gus, have you found Archie’s true body yet?"
The woman called Gus lowered her head. "No. A year ago, after he brought the human woman’s corpse in here, one of my subordinates saw him leap into the abyss with the body. They were both annihilated."