Chapter 318: Elemental Vault (3).

Normally, Cain would have been preparing himself for a swift death. However, he could tell that the Primordial devil of Chaos, or what was left of it couldn't kill them immediately not because it didn't want to, but because it was not very possible at the moment.

Still, that didn't mean it couldn't crush them to pieces with the gradually increasing pressure it was exerting. Cain could feel his lungs collapsing and his spine cracking under the intense pressure.

The energy in the cave was becoming even more haywire. Deep rumbling sounds came from the depths of the mountain as the energy began violently rolling through the entire mountain.

Cain didn't know if he could wrestle with a Primordial devil. However, he knew for sure that if he didn't do something, they would end up dead very quickly...

Cain gritted his teeth as he stared down into the lake, where he could easily see the eye of the Primordial devil,

"Let's see who wins, bastard!"

Blood poured down his mouth as he poured his mana into the shattering mana core. The mana shard was already covered with an entire network of web-like cracks. He could tell that it could be destroyed at any moment.

And still, it continued dragging even more and more energy from the surroundings. The magic circle surrounding the gem had now become more compact than before. It was about only about the width of a palm, so Cain could easily grasp it in his hands if he wanted to.

Cain's mind spun,

'The energy streams are just too dense. They require a strong vessel to support them.'

A strong vessel...

A strong vessel...

A nasty grin appeared on his face. For a moment, a very brief moment, an idea, as insane as it was, appeared in his mind. However, it was burned into his memory as soon as it appeared.

'Is it a risk worth taking?'

Before the thought could be completed, he was already taking action. He had decided...

He was going to gamble and risk it all. He was rolling the dice and leaving the rest to fate.

"Burning Spirit: Spatial Enchantment."

Cain clasped the shattering mana core with his palms as he activated his skill. The space around him began to distort. There were no flames around him. Rather, light began to bend and twist around him, making it seem like he was standing there and somewhere far away at the same time.

{The host can now influence the properties of space, condensing, or enlarging it temporarily at will...}

As soon as Cain saw the notification the grin on his face widened. His gamble had paid off. Normally, this skill wouldn't be very overpowered. It was a useful utility skill that would allow him to condense space, as well as enlarge it. It was useful, but not to a very great extent.

In this particular scenario, it couldn't have been more needed. The moment he understood the ability the spatial enchantment of the {Burning Spirit} gave to him, he didn't hesitate to use it.

The mana core in his hands began to twinkle brightly. Something strange was happening within it. Its properties were changing.

The speed at which the mana core sucked energy suddenly increased exponentially. It even managed to surpass that of the remnants of the Primordial devil of Chaos.

All this was thanks to the spatial enchantment of {Burning Spirit}, and Cain's abnormal mana pool. By pouring as much mana as he could into the mana core, he was able to use the spatial energy within the mana core to expand the space within the mana core, increasing its volume forcibly.

As such, the energy finally had more room to occupy. However, he could only keep the skill active so long as he had mana. But it consumed a lot of his mana, which meant not for long.

That meant that the mission was now riding on the back of Evangeline. The faster she retrieved the heart, the faster they would be able to leave.

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Although Cain could feel the pressure from the Primordial devil of Chaos, Evangeline felt the being of it. She pushed the blood within the lake apart, creating two walls of blood on either side of her as she walked through on relatively dry ground.

She moved forward at a snail's pace as well. Sweat formed on her forehead as she wiped her nose. Looking at her hand, she found that it was stained with blood.

Evangeline was also testing the limits of her abilities. She had currently coated her organs with blood elemental energy to prevent them from collapsing under the pressure that continued to increase steadily over time.

If not for her abnormally large mana pool, she would have died long ago. Although Cain's magic was strong, his strengths lay in his ability to understand the inner workings of a spell, as well as create new spells and skills. He could also see the effects that spells, skills, magic circles, and the like could have on the spiritual world.

Evangeline's strengths lay in her abnormal control over her mana, as well as her insane magic stats and her immensely deep mana pool. Cain had a lot of mana for a being that was not even Tier 1. However, Evangeline's mana pool was almost twice as deep as Cain's, while her magic stats were significantly greater than his.

Her spells and skills were innovative, unique, and hard to deal with. But her true danger was her immense mana. And it was only because of this she could survive the onslaught got as long as she did. However, even she had a limit. A limit she was getting closer to very fast...

Despite the danger, her eyes showed that she was unbothered. There was nary a change on her face as she continued pushing on, the soles of her feet digging into the lake bed that was still moist with blood.

A deep rumble came from the depths of the mountains again as the force pressing down on them increased once again. Evangeline's snail's pace reduced even further.

Cain watched from the sidelines, the worry on his face spreading further and further.

'This is bad. Should I go help her?' Although Cain was going through hell of his own, the entire mission resting on the back of Evangeline meant he had to make sure nothing bad happened to her until she accomplished her goal.

The next second, Cain's eyes turned as wide as saucers. Cain watched as the blood elemental mana that had been feeding into the mana core in his hands suddenly shifted toward Evangeline. Even the blood mana that was being pulled by the Primordial devil of Chaos was redirected toward her.

In Cain's eyes, She was suddenly surrounded by a turbulent sea of blood. Cain's face paled immediately.

A deep breath escaped from her lips as she turned toward the gigantic eye within the now-empty basin of the blood lake since she had pushed all the blood to the far ends of the lake.

The eye glared back at her. Suddenly, the walls of blood on both sides began closing in slowly. This meant that the Primordial devil of Chaos was taking control of them once again.

Still, Evangeline stood unbothered. Suddenly, her ruby-red lips that had become a bit pale parted as she spoke under her breath,

"Ah, how the mighty have fallen... Once a great being capable of crushing planets and stars with its bare hands."

Evangeline's eyes glowed brightly as she continued,

"Now, you struggle with futility against an insignificant being. Pitiful."

Stretching her hands forward, she clasped them together such that her thumbs were pointed up, and her middle, and index fingers were pointed forward, while the other two were clasped together and folded in...

"Allow me to remind you of your origin, Devil..."

Evangeline's words were dripping with venom as she spoke. Her naturally raspy voice only made it even more terrifying to hear.

Cain watched as the ocean of blood began to coagulate and contract. In the blink of an eye, it had become as small as a droplet of water. However, that didn't seem to be enough, as her eyes flashed all of a sudden and her fingertips were cut open by an invincible blade.

What dropped out of the wound wasn't blood. Rather, it was a single drop of very concentrated devil essence. Cain's surprise increased even further. The only other creature he had seen with this much purity of devil essence was the {Phantasma}. Even then, the creature didn't seem to be capable of controlling it as well as Evangeline could

The two drops began to combine. Time seemed to stop for a while as their surfaces collided.

Then, all that could be heard were the words of a spell spoken like a curse,

"Blood Manipulation: Blood of Black Rendition..."

The sound of an object breaking the sound barrier was heard as an arrow of blood exploded out of the hand sign Evangeline had formed.

Her fingers were immediately blown away. However, the arrow of blood continued unimpeded.

Devil Essence was so scary because of its most insidious property of being able to overpower almost all other forms of energy in a tug-of-war. A small amount of Devil essence could be compared to a large amount of mana when it came to simple force. It also had the latent characteristic of boosting the power of an attack beyond its original limits.

That was why Cain used it to execute the {Abyssal Crimson Dragon Blade Techniques}. Even then, he normally used a very small amount of devil essence. Even {Hell's Nexus} didn't consume half of the amount Evangeline had poured into the skill.

Evangeline had managed to push beyond what was capable of a Tier 0 being. Normally, harming the body of a Primordial devil would be impossible for a Tier 6 being, not to mention a Tier 0 being.

However, the Primordial devil was very vulnerable. So vulnerable, that the amount of output Evangeline had would cause it harm. Even if it was for a short time.

As soon as the arrow of black blood slammed into the eye of the Primordial devil, a roar slammed into their ears, causing their eardrums to almost rupture. At the same time, the force pushing down on them dissipated.

Without wasting a single breath, Evangeline activated a speed boost and completed the remnants of her journey. Standing befire the huge throne, she saw that the skeleton was far bigger than she had initially thought. It was even bigger than the Four-headed {Chaos Trolls}.

Still, with a single jump, she was able to climb onto the throne and reach its ribs. She took one look at the bones and quickly turned her attention to the heart still oulsing within the ribs.

Resting one hand on the white bones, she put her entire arm into the skeleton. Her hands were small enough that the gaps in the ribs were big enough for it to fit.

The false heart of the Chaos devil floated in the empty space within its hollow chest. As soon as Evangeline made contact with the heart, it turned into a beam of light and shot forward, burrowing into her chest.

A look of confusion appeared in her face. However, that faded away as her eyes glazed over and she lost consciousness...

Cain on the other side of the lake couldn't see all this. Instead, all he was able to see was that Evangeline had collapsed a second after she had made contact with the skeleton.

His eyes turned wide as he exclaimed out loud,

"Shit!"