Chapter 279: The Attack Showed No Signs Of Stopping

A massive crater stretched around me, its edges scorched and cracked from the impact. Dust and debris floated through the air as I groaned, forcing my body to move. Every joint ached, my muscles burning from the hit.

I rolled onto my back and muttered, “It tricked me…”

The blow hadn’t come from the Phantom’s main body. That fist—it was formed from the Deathmist I had blasted away earlier when my staff hit its head. I’d been too focused on the towering form above, and ignored the scattered mist swirling around.

It used my own attack against me.

I exhaled hard, jaw clenched as I pushed myself to my feet. Pain rippled through my limbs, but I stayed up. Above, the Phantom swung its massive sword again. Azalea flew backward in a sharp arc, barely dodging the blade’s sweep.

My mind raced. If this kept going, we’d be stuck in a loop—fighting endlessly while the Phantom used its endless Deathmist to rebuild itself again and again.

No. I couldn’t let that happen.

I pulled up my status screen, eyes scanning through the long list of skills and abilities. So many options—but only one idea began to take shape.

A dangerous one. Risky. But final.

I took a slow, deep breath and tightened my grip around the staff.

“Node 3, activate.”

A jolt ran through my spine as the third rune lit up. Power surged through me like a storm breaking its dam. My muscles strained, bones hummed, and every stat I had roared upward, pushing my body to the limit.

My legs bent. Wings flared wide. And with a sharp burst, I launched off the ground straight toward the towering giant.

One of my Psynapse fractures focused entirely on my Domain. The space around me responded, the runes floating in my mind shifting rapidly to match my intent. My vision blurred from the strain—I was demanding far more than usual—but the enhanced Psynapse under Node 3 held.

The runes locked into a new configuration.

“[Garden of Death].”

A cube of sealed space appeared around the giant’s torso, locking it within. Then, the first hundred five petal flowers bloomed—violet Essence flowers forming in a slow spiral around its chest. My Domain wasn’t large enough to bind the entire body, so I concentrated everything on the torso.

I poured one entire Psynapse fracture into maintaining the Domain, reinforcing the lock and forcing more flowers to bloom. With every beat of my heart, a hundred more violet flowers bloomed across the sealed area.

The phantom let out a guttural scream, thrashing inside the space as the petals wrapped tighter. Still, I didn’t stop. My Essence started plummeting fast.

The moment I sensed that, I aimed the staff straight at the phantom’s chest.

“[Singularity Beam].”

Essence drained from my core in a violent rush. Three glowing violet rings formed at the staff’s tip, spinning faster and faster until—suddenly—they collapsed into a single violet dot.

Then silence.

A hair-thin beam of violet light shot forward. It pierced the phantom’s chest instantly, drilling through the Deathmist like it wasn’t even there.

There was no sound. No blast. Just… disappearance.

A clean hole formed in the middle of the chest. And then, it began to collapse inward. The Deathmist didn’t explode—it folded in on itself, being erased.

I quickly refocused my second Psynapse fracture on reinforcing the space lock around the torso. The phantom wailed again, a sound so deep it felt like the world itself shook.

I clenched my jaw and triggered the final act.

“Explode.”

Every violet flower exploded at once.

BOOM!!!

A wave of violet Essence ripped through the confined space. The blast consumed the phantom’s torso, tearing apart its form and scattering thick Deathmist everywhere.

Despite the explosion, the singularity remained stable—quietly devouring the loose Deathmist, consuming it like it was never there to begin with. My domain shook under the pressure, but it held.

Then the ground split open beneath the phantom. Giant roots burst out, wrapping tightly around its legs. Azalea had returned to the battle, binding the giant from below with her blooming force.

I hovered in the air, chest rising and falling with each breath. But then, I felt it—the third node deactivated on its own. My back loosened as the surge of power drained away. My stats dropped sharply, and I immediately knew why.

The generator core was empty. There was no more Essence left to keep the node running.

Below, the roots gripping the giant’s legs began sprouting flowers. They bloomed quickly—too quickly—and then detonated one after the other, sending ripples of force through the phantom’s body and scattering Deathmist in large chunks.

Now, the battle had shifted into a brutal test of endurance. A war of attrition.

I maintained full focus on keeping the sealed space intact around the giant’s torso. It strained and screamed, trying to free itself, while Azalea kept producing more and more roots that clawed and climbed up its towering form like vines scaling a fortress wall.

It couldn’t break free yet, but I knew the truth—it was only a matter of time. The moment the sealed space failed would be the moment everything fell apart.

But I had one card left to play.

I glanced at the talent panel, my eyes locking onto the number that mattered most:

Progress: 1773 / 1800

Only 27 more units of Essence until the Generator talent leveled up.

My core worked overtime, slowly building the reserve back. The number ticked upward… 1774… 1775…

Suddenly, the Deathmist inside the sealed space churned violently. A claw formed—massive and jagged—and it slammed into the cube of space.

BOOM!!

The impact rattled my mind. Pain lanced through my head, the strain of maintaining the sealed space intensifying. I held on, gritting my teeth.

The claw dissolved.

Then, without warning, it formed again and charged the seal a second time. Another boom. More pressure.

My eyes flicked to Azalea. She looked up, meeting my gaze. No words were spoken, but we both understood—the seal wouldn’t hold much longer.

She made the call.

The roots binding the legs stopped moving. Then, with a single pulse of her will, they exploded in a violent storm of Essence.

I acted instantly.

That Essence had to be erased before the phantom absorbed it.

“[Space Lock],” I called out, shifting the focus of a Psynapse fracture.

A new layer of space wrapped around the phantom’s lower half, locking its dismembered legs and preventing them from returning to the core body.

Azalea didn’t stop. With blazing eyes and clenched fists, she unleashed a barrage of life force attacks into the sealed cube, slamming the Deathmist inside with everything she had.

I steadied my breath.

Just a few more Essence units…

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