Chapter 853 The Power Of Souls

Chapter 853 The Power Of Souls

Following the dragon's roar, another one resounded at the cave entrance, this one less loud but just as ferocious.

That's when Genie, who was still struggling to fight off her last three assailants, saw a white blur suddenly snatch one away, a trail of blood following behind it.

With only two enemies, she quickly overpowered them and finally could take a moment to breathe. Looking around, she noticed the battlefield, which had been a stalemate at best and a loss at worst, was now quickly tilting in their favour.

'Master. Do you need me in the cave?' she asked Astaroth, wondering if she could be more useful there.

'I don't see how anything will change for us at this point. Stay up there. White is here, defending me, but I don't think he needs help. Just make sure I don't get attacked,' Astaroth replied through their link.

She realized there wasn't much for her to do up here, anyway, given the allies she had present. So she chose to go down, even though he had told her not to.

Just to be sure she wasn't leaving a weakness up top, she howled to the skies.

A moment after, a song of howls responded to her.

Genie hadn't been sitting on her ass for the last month, and this was the fruit of her labour.

She and White had hunted down the nearest pack of dire wolves, and with White's new powers, plus her strength ever since training under the guardians of the Ash Elf forest, they subdued the pack, which now served Genie.

She was now a true alpha.

***

Astaroth heard the howls from inside the cave and wondered if more enemies had just shown up. They were already on the fringe as it was.

Even if the situation was tipping in their favour, all it took was the slightest bump, and their counter-offence would collapse.

Leon was practically a dead man standing.

Shegror still hadn't entirely recovered from her previous wounds and spent much of her mana and stamina to do her dragon breath earlier.

Luna was still reforming inside him.

"God dammit! I can't even decide what I do inside my own body! Let go of me! I'm not gambling on unknown power!" he shouted, struggling against the suction and Geminae's pushing.

But it was useless.

His body slammed into the cage, and instantly, his hand rose to touch the bright orb of white.

His body convulsed inside and outside the soul space, as his eyes shone a bright golden light.

A halo the size of a cart wheel appeared behind him, with sigils in a language no one present would understand. In the middle of this halo, a single blueish-white flame flickered, not unlike the one that had been on the orb Astaroth absorbed the first time he met with Aberon.

A pulse of Aether left his body, reaching the sky over his position, forming a bubble atop the forest. And inside this bubble, the souls of the dying monsters suddenly stopped ascending.

In a matter of seconds, all the souls had reversed their path and were heading toward the ground again. But instead of returning to their previous bodies, they sank into the ground, seemingly going toward the same place.

Underground, Astaroth was already gathering the souls that had been closer to him and, with his spare hand, was shoving them into the Evolution Fruit, which had started glowing.

The scent escaping it grew by the second, and White quickly understood it was reaching the cusp.

Astaroth wasn't conscious of his actions and couldn't watch as the timer for expiration ticked away.

Three seconds.

Two.

One.

And right before it ticked its last second away, a notification rang in Astaroth's mind, which he was unaware of.

*Ding!*

You have completed the special event: Ripening the Fruit!

Congratulations, Player Astaroth!

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