Chapter 228: ·Nolan vs. Rosm

At Ailindel’s declaration, the gigantic wings formed from pure wind elements suddenly spread wide and beat once.

“Be stilled!”

BOOM—! An unimaginable wave of wind pressure erupted upward from beneath the hall, transforming into a towering blue-white tornado that pierced the heavens.

Above the dome, the flesh vines Rosm had spawned and the swarming clouds of Fetid Swarm were forced to confront the raging tempest head-on. 

The blue-white storm and crimson tide collided violently in midair. At first, neither side gave way. Wind pressure, blood vines, and insect swarms formed a sharply divided boundary across the sky.

But Rosm had stolen part of the Foundation of Life’s authority. His strength had already been close to the Origin realm to begin with, and now he possessed an almost inexhaustible reserve of energy. Meanwhile, Ailindel’s battle-spirit armament had only recovered ten percent.

“Heh… hehehe…” A grotesque grin stretched across Rosm’s rotten face. “Hero of the Moon Elves, is this all the power you possess?!”

The moment he finished speaking, the crimson torrent suddenly pressed downward another step.

The radiance of Ailindel’s pure white armor began visibly dimming.

On Nolan’s system interface, the countdown beneath Ailindel’s status bar—Remaining War Spirit Armament Time—was rapidly approaching zero.

5… 4… 3…

No more waiting.

Gritting his teeth, Nolan cast aside every distracting thought and released his spiritual power without reservation, connecting directly with Ailindel in the air.

“Ailin! Catch!”

At the same instant, he unleashed more than two hundred thousand stored experience points in a flood toward her.

The tearing pain in his brain struck again, nearly making his legs buckle. But Nolan had endured this once before. Prepared this time, he clenched his teeth and held firm. It was manageable.

The instant that enormous surge of power entered Ailindel’s body, something unexpected happened.

Nolan felt his consciousness drawn forward by a gentle yet overwhelming force. Space itself seemed to vanish as his soul touched Ailindel’s directly. His actions triggered a direct resonance of spiritual power between them, linking their souls together in silence.

Deep within her heart, Ailindel had long since regarded the man who had saved her again and again, who had brought her countless moments of shock and emotion, as the one irreplaceable partner in her life. That complete acceptance and trust was precisely why Nolan’s almost reckless transfer of power had triggered such an exceedingly rare phenomenon of soul resonance. He could clearly feel the immense trust Ailindel placed in him, along with her complete reliance.

And within Ailindel’s perception, she touched the admiration, cherishing affection, and tenderness hidden deep inside Nolan’s soul.

For a brief moment, the two felt utterly open to one another, without the slightest barrier between them, whether physical or emotional.

With the replenishment of that immense power, Ailindel’s nearly exhausted soul essence roared back to life.

“Get… back!”

With a sharp cry, the wings of wind behind her burst with dazzling radiance as the blue-white storm pressure surged violently.

The situation reversed instantly. The pressure of Swift Wind Stillness intensified without end, forcing the crimson corruption backward with unstoppable momentum. The twenty-one massive flesh vines were slammed flat against the dome beneath the terrifying wind pressure, unable to move in the slightest. As for the Fetid Swarm, they were torn apart and annihilated outright within the raging currents of wind, leaving not even scraps behind.

At that very moment, a rapid succession of piercing sounds rang out from below.

Romina, having barely recovered, drew her giant bow into a perfect full moon as arrows shot forth like meteors.

Rainstorm Volley!

Driven by Romina burning every last ounce of her strength, the ranger’s signature technique surpassed its previous limits. Twenty-four arrows infused with immense natural power streaked upward with emerald trails, each one striking precisely at the roots of the blood vines where they connected to the walls.

Ailindel’s battle instincts shone brilliantly in that instant.

Ordinarily, Swift Wind Stillness would unleash countless wind blades after pinning enemies beneath overwhelming pressure. But through exquisite control of the wind element, she had deliberately removed the cutting blades entirely, focusing all of the technique’s power into pure pressure instead. Even the relatively narrow blood vines could not escape the crushing force, creating the perfect opening for Romina.

And Romina understood her intentions immediately. Rather than targeting the vines’ weaker sections, she aimed for their tougher roots instead, pinning them firmly to the walls despite their violent struggles and completely preventing them from snapping off and regenerating.

Romina had surpassed her previous record in a single breath. She only stopped after the final arrow because her quiver was empty. Her arms dropped weakly to her sides as her body swayed, only for Nolan to catch her immediately.

At the same time, Ailindel exhausted the last of her strength. Her body went limp as she fell from the air.

Nolan wrapped one arm around Romina while extending the other to catch the falling Moon Elf knight securely in his embrace. 

It was a perfect princess carry.

“Well done.” 

Looking at the two breathtakingly beautiful elf women in his arms, both pale from exhaustion, Nolan finally smiled in relief.

“Leave the rest to me.”

He gently set Ailindel down beside Romina.

The yellow-brown barrier formed by Guardian’s Battle still stood firm. The maddened Wood Elf puppets continued slamming against it uselessly, unable to break through in the slightest. 

The shield should hold a little longer.

Nolan raised his head, locking onto Rosm, now fully exposed atop the dome with his blood vines pinned in place.

“Stance Release!”

Mountain’s Resonance instantly shifted back into its swift longsword form.

Nolan bent his knees and lowered his center of gravity before shooting upward like an arrow released from its bowstring.

The tip of his blade pointed directly at Rosm’s rotting face.

Radiant Sun Charge!

“You bastard!” Rosm shrieked furiously and opened his festering mouth wide, spewing forth a torrent of foul, viscous corruption.

The stream struck Nolan head-on with tremendous force. A violent impact slammed into him, knocking his charge off course and sending him flying past Rosm’s body. It was the first time he had ever failed to hit his target with Radiant Sun Charge.

But that was not a problem at all.

Just before crashing into the opposite wall, Nolan slammed his left foot downward. Clack! Hooks sprang from the soles of his boots and dug deep into the wooden structure of the dome. Twisting his waist, he flipped smoothly through the air and came to a stable stop. Upside down on the ceiling.

System notifications flooded his vision.

【You are being corroded by “Rotting Ancient Wood,” losing 10 HP per second…】

【“Sacred Body” activated. You are immune to this effect.】

【You are immune to this effect.】

…

Rosm’s proud corrosion accomplished absolutely nothing except generating a screen full of “Immune” notifications.

Nolan grinned at Rosm, who was hanging nearby from the dome as well. “Enjoying the view up here? Joy shared alone is joy halved. Come dance with me.”

Rosm might have been insane, but he was not stupid. He immediately abandoned any meaningless offensive.

Allowing a warrior to close in to this distance was extremely dangerous for a caster like him.

And by now, he had realized something else: this human knight was far stronger than the power level he displayed. Strange abilities emerged from him endlessly, making him the worst kind of enemy to deal with.

“I heard about you from Romina.”

Deep within Rosm’s eyes, blue spiritual light flared brilliantly. As he spoke, the mental power he had honed over countless years silently pierced toward Nolan’s mind like an invisible drill.

“You want to revive that pathetic Elfin Kingdom?”

His tone turned almost sorrowful, as though lamenting the world itself.

“To be honest, I don’t understand you. With your strength, there are far simpler and more direct paths you could take. Why not burn this rotten world to ashes and establish a new order of your own? What’s so great about the Elfin Kingdom anyway? A pack of outdated, cowardly fools lying to themselves. Why bother doing something so thankless?”

Even after rising from the lowest levels of the Rus Empire, Rosm’s words still carried contempt and disdain toward the neighboring kingdom of Elfin.

Nolan felt sharp pain stabbing through his mind, but the smile on his face only widened further. “That’s exactly why it’s worth doing.” He looked at Rosm as though staring at trash. “A loser like you, who wants the whole world buried alongside him the moment life gets difficult, could never understand that.”

“You’re courting death!”

Rosm was not merely trading insults. The mental power he had cultivated for years was actively trying to invade Nolan’s mind.

Words were merely the sophisticated part of the technique. Rosm had always preferred attacking from both angles at once. If persuasion failed, he would simply crush the opponent’s brain directly.

The invisible mental force suddenly condensed into form, transforming into a massive drill that slammed violently toward Nolan’s sea of consciousness!