Chapter 236: ·Purification, The Foundation of Life

Nolan looked at Finley deeply for a moment before nodding. “Stand back. Leave this to me.”

“I… don’t trust the version of you standing here right now,” Finley said as he retreated to the side of the tunnel, his expression conflicted. “What I trust is Captain Romina’s judgment.” His voice hardened with determination. “If necessary, I’ll do whatever it takes to ensure the survival of our race.”

Nolan laughed softly and stepped backward, giving himself enough room to charge. “Doesn’t matter to me. I don’t really care what you think.”

He rolled his neck, the joints cracking sharply as four enormous wings spread behind him, making him resemble a fusion of angel and demon.

“My hatred for the Nihility Cult passed the point of reconciliation long ago.” Raising Mountain’s Resonance, still blazing with sacred golden flames, he pointed the sword toward the crimson barrier radiating foul corruption. “No matter what kind of power it takes, as long as it can erase those bastards from this world completely, I’ll use it without hesitation.”

The instant his words fell, all four pairs of wings beat violently at once.

Boom! Nolan shot forward like a streak of black light, carrying overwhelming momentum as he slammed directly toward the final crimson curtain blocking the Foundation of Life.

A furious roar exploded through the tunnel.

“Supreme Evil… Breaking Slash!”

Mountain’s Resonance seemed to respond to its master’s resolve, releasing a resonant hum as the holy flames produced through Divine Infusion surged more fiercely than ever before. A massive blade of golden light several meters long erupted from the sword’s edge.

The giant sword cut forward without hesitation.

Combined with the terrifying acceleration from Nolan’s charge, the Supreme Evil-Breaking Slash, a skill usable only five times per day that dealt an additional 120% damage against evil entities, finally unleashed its true power.

Boom!

The sacred golden blade collided violently with the filthy crimson barrier.

Screeeeech!

Dark magic condensed within the barrier screamed under the burning holy flames. Rosm’s painstakingly constructed corruption barrier was forcibly torn open by that single strike, leaving behind a massive gap tall enough for a person to pass through.

But the moment the opening appeared, the surrounding corruption surged toward it, rapidly attempting to regenerate the breach.

Seeing this, Nolan immediately clenched Mountain’s Resonance between his teeth and thrust both hands into the opening without the slightest concern for the corrosive energy devouring the barrier itself.

“Open…!”

His arms, shoulders, and back exploded with force as he physically ripped the regenerating barrier wider apart.

Corrupt energy immediately began eating into his arms, white smoke hissing upward from the contact points. Even with the fifty percent damage reduction granted by Half-Demonization and the protection of his armor, his health still plummeted at an alarming speed.

Breaking through barriers was notoriously difficult. There was even a rare profession known as Barrier Breakers devoted entirely to the study of such things. Most relied on analyzing magical circuits and deciphering barrier ciphers in reverse, methods that demanded tremendous talent and enormous amounts of time. From the perspective of experts in that field, forcibly destroying a barrier through brute strength alone before reaching Origin-level power was virtually impossible.

But Nolan, with his absurdly accelerated growth, intended to shatter every so-called impossibility.

Ignoring the agony tearing through his body, he continued beating his wings furiously and forced the opening even wider before finally squeezing through under Finley’s stunned gaze.

Even so, after completely breaching the barrier, Nolan had lost nearly a quarter of his health. His entire body burned with intense pain.

But it was worth it.

The world before him suddenly opened wide. The Foundation of Life finally revealed itself in its entirety.

This was the first time Nolan had ever personally laid eyes on the legendary Foundation of Life.

Despite its name, there was no flowing water here. Instead, standing before him was an enormous transparent tree. Its trunk was as pure and flawless as crystal, refracting dazzling, dreamlike light beneath the faint illumination surrounding it. The “leaves” crowning the tree existed in a state somewhere between solid and ethereal, like drifting clouds maintaining a loose shape while slowly unfurling and swaying in the air. Simply breathing the pristine life aura filling this place made Nolan feel as though the wounds across his body were rapidly healing.

So this was the true core of Forest Home and the entire Wood Elf race.

Legend said every newborn Wood Elf would consume a fruit-like droplet condensed from the Foundation of Life shortly after birth, receiving nature’s blessing and binding their soul to this sacred tree forever.

It should have been a breathtaking experience, both visually and spiritually.

But something grotesquely out of place ruined the perfection.

Inside the crystal-clear trunk, a twisted black scar writhed continuously like a living centipede embedded deep within the tree itself. As it moved, it slowly expanded, and every pulse distorted the surrounding life energy, causing the great crystal trunk to tremble unnaturally.

“The Mark of Silent Extinction…”

Though Nolan had long known of its existence from the game’s lore, seeing it in person still filled him with instinctive disgust. Some claimed it was a drop of blood from the Formless God itself. Others believed it to be the final crystallization of hatred born from countless souls tortured to death.

Nolan cast those thoughts aside. Whatever it truly was, there was only one thing he intended to do now.

Destroy it completely.

He strode toward the crystal tree.

The chaotic demonic aura surrounding him immediately triggered the Foundation of Life’s instinctive rejection. Ever since he entered, a gentle but powerful force had been pushing against him, and the closer he drew, the stronger the resistance became. But he could not deactivate Half-Demonization yet. The chaotic corruption radiating from The Mark of Silent Extinction was still eroding his body, and only the damage reduction from his demonic state allowed him to withstand it. So Nolan gritted his teeth and continued forward beneath the crushing pressure of both opposing forces.

As the distance closed, blood began leaking simultaneously from his nose and ears. Even the immense resistance granted by Half-Demonization and his powerful Dragonkin physique could not fully withstand the collision between these two extreme powers.

At last, he reached the trunk.

With great difficulty, Nolan pulled out the amorphous water sphere formed from the Fountain of Potential.

“Could you stop pushing me already? I’m trying to help you…”

At this point, the repulsive force from the Foundation of Life felt comparable to the combined strength of two Gold-rank warriors, while the corruption from The Mark of Silent Extinction had become increasingly severe. Black veins had already begun spreading across Nolan’s face.

【Corruption Progress: 69%】

The system notification climbed faster and faster.

Grinding his teeth, Nolan beat his four pairs of wings furiously while his iron boots carved deep grooves into the ground. Then, with a roar, he forced every ounce of strength in his body into his arms and slowly pressed the water sphere toward the roots of the Foundation of Life.

The instant the sphere touched the crystal trunk, something miraculous happened.

Though the tree appeared lifeless, the Fountain of Potential was immediately absorbed into it the moment contact was made.

As the amorphous sphere vanished into the roots, a thin silver line appeared within the crystal trunk and spread upward rapidly like flowing silver blood racing through veins.

Boom!

The entire Foundation of Life erupted with radiant silver light. A violent shockwave burst outward, catching Nolan completely off guard and hurling him violently into the wall behind him.

But Nolan ignored the pain and immediately looked back toward the tree.

The silver lines multiplying within the trunk grew denser and denser until, in the blink of an eye, the once-transparent giant tree had transformed entirely into brilliant silver. The Mark of Silent Extinction embedded deep inside suddenly began writhing violently beneath the silver glow. Though silent, Nolan could practically imagine its screams.

Even the cloud-like leaves transformed, their surfaces taking on the texture of flowing liquid metal polished like mirrors.

When Nolan looked into those mirrored surfaces, he saw not the surrounding chamber, but an endless ocean calm as glass.

He knew immediately what it was.

The Mirror Sea.

Inside the trunk, the Mark of Silent Extinction thrashed madly, desperately searching for some means of escape.

But it was useless.

The “structure” of the Foundation of Life and the “essence” of the Fountain of Potential had achieved temporary Origin Resonance. Under the overwhelming force of purification at the source itself, the Mark of Silent Extinction twisted, shrank, and collapsed continuously.

The mercury-like cloud leaves churned violently as filth and corruption were extracted from within them, dissipating into wisps of black smoke.

Then, one by one, the cloud leaves regained their soft, billowing form. The silver faded away, replaced by gentle golden radiance. The entire canopy transformed into a vast glowing sea of clouds, shedding pure newborn life force throughout the chamber.

At last, after one final violent convulsion, the evil corruption vanished completely.

As the final trace of filth disappeared, the silver energy inside the crystal trunk rapidly contracted toward the center, condensing into a pulsating heart made entirely from pure water elemental crystal. It beat slowly and steadily, and with every pulse, dazzling silver light flowed through the transparent trunk like synchronized lifeblood.

At the exact same moment the Mark of Silent Extinction vanished, the corruption barrier Rosm had erected behind Nolan collapsed and dissolved completely into nothingness.