Chapter Thirty-Seven: Saving Lives
The cave vortex kept sucking everything in, its violent pulling force sweeping across the entire pit. Outside the pit, Lin Lei and the others stared in stunned silence — Jenkins and his three mid-level gods had been swallowed without the slightest chance to resist. The sight was absolutely terrifying.
Lin Lei fixed his gaze on the cave vortex, his expression growing grim.
Olivia narrowed her eyes slightly and said in a low voice, "Lin Lei, that cave didn't seem to be doing anything just moments ago. The pit was covered with a thick layer of Amethyst before — how did this horrifying, bizarre suction force suddenly appear?"
Lin Lei felt the same chill run through him. "This is the Underworld. To make the space of the Underworld ripple and tremble — I could manage that if I went all out with my 'Phantom Steps.' But this cave created a spatial vortex with nothing but suction force alone. This kind of pulling power…"
A single sword strike that condensed enough force to produce spatial ripples — that was one thing. But this was pure suction generating a vortex that warped space. This force was far too terrifying.
"Even an upper-level god probably couldn't withstand this suction," Lin Lei said silently to himself.
"Hey, Boss, why was the pit filled with so much Amethyst?" Bei Bei asked, puzzled. "And even now, the pit walls are still studded with Amethyst crystals. Where did all of them come from?" Bei Bei and the others had never witnessed the cave erupting with Amethyst.
"We should move farther away from here," Dilia said, biting her lip. "I have a feeling this place is far too strange."
"Agreed. Let's keep our distance."
Lin Lei led Dilia and the others away from the pit, but after moving roughly dozens of meters, they stopped. Lin Lei suddenly turned back toward the pit, frowning. "Huh? The sucking sound has stopped?"
"It really has gone quiet," Bei Bei said, walking directly toward the pit. He then turned his head toward Lin Lei in surprise. "Boss, come look — the cave's suction has stopped. It's calm again."
Lin Lei, Dilia, and Olivia all exchanged puzzled looks and moved closer.
And indeed —
The massive pit was perfectly silent, looking utterly ordinary. If they hadn't witnessed what had just happened, none of them would have suspected any danger.
"It seems like the danger has passed," Dilia observed after a moment.
"Boom~~~" Without warning, as though some terrifying beast had let out a furious roar, a deafening whistling sound erupted. At the same time, countless purple lights shot out in dense clusters from the mouth of the cave — one crystal after another of Amethyst bursting in every direction.
Some soared straight upward, others shot at angles toward the horizon, their purple glow vanishing into the white mist above.
However, quite a few Amethyst crystals burst out at shallow angles and slammed directly into the pit walls. With a sound like metal striking metal, the flying crystals collided with the Amethyst already embedded in the walls, ricocheted, and came to rest at the bottom of the pit.
In just a short while —
The pit was once again blanketed under a thick layer of Amethyst.
This sudden scene left Lin Lei and the others in shock. Soon enough, the realization dawned on them.
"Oh, I get it now!" Bei Bei exclaimed excitedly. "All those mid-level and lower-level gods gathering Amethyst at the edge of the Misty Sea — the crystals must have been flying out from cave mouths just like this one! So many crystals flew out — look at them, dense as rain. The pit's already covered again."
Lin Lei remained silent.
From the Misty Sea all the way into this Amethyst Mountain Range, Lin Lei had come to fully appreciate the staggering gravitational force contained within these mountains. Even upper-level gods struggled against it. Yet these Amethyst crystals could defy that gravity and fly right through it.
What struck him most was that the crystals could even pierce through his Pulsing Guard Armor — and these were crystals that had already lost speed halfway through their trajectory.
"What secret does this Amethyst Mountain Range hold?" Lin Lei wondered, watching the cave mouth erupting continuously. "Whether it's the eruption or the suction, the force is absurdly powerful… If an upper-level god could unleash a burst of power matching this ejection force, they'd be practically invincible."
A powerhouse who could unleash that kind of explosive force — one who could flick a shard of Amethyst and blow an opponent's head apart like a sieve.
"Even gods don't possess that kind of power. But it exists in heaven and earth, in nature itself!" Lin Lei marveled inwardly.
Olivia, Bei Bei, and Dilia were equally awestruck. But just at that moment, an angry roar suddenly rang out from the distance. For Lin Lei and the others, it was a very familiar sound — because it was the roar of an Amethyst magical beast!
"Amethyst beast!" All four of them changed expressions and turned toward the source of the sound.
In the distance, two figures were fleeing desperately, pursued by a powerful Amethyst beast over ten meters long. The beast was roaring, slashing with its claws, snapping with its fangs, and ramming with the horn on its forehead. The two fleeing figures were in wretched shape.
"So it's them," Lin Lei said, surprised.
Those two were none other than the upper-level gods — Galan and Jerald — whom they had encountered when they first arrived in the Amethyst Mountain Range.
At this moment, the brown-haired woman Galan and the silver-haired man Jerald were in a truly sorry state. They had the terrible luck of running into an Amethyst beast. Then again, one could say they were fortunate — they had only encountered one.
"Roar~~" The Amethyst beast suddenly opened its massive maw and lunged at Galan with a savage bite.
Galan let out an angry shout and drove her black flame-wreathed longsword straight into the beast's mouth. Though the Amethyst beast was impervious to ordinary physical attacks, being stabbed in the mouth by a divine artifact still caused it pain.
The beast immediately clamped its jaws shut, dipped its head, and charged headfirst at Galan with the sharp horn on its forehead.
"Clang!" The flaming sword struck the beast's forehead, but only pierced a small way in.
"Auuugh~~" The Amethyst beast grew even more enraged. Its eyes burned like flame as it accelerated its charge toward Galan. "Ssshhh~~" Its horn tore through the air with a piercing shriek — the beast intended to skewer Galan's head with that horn.
Galan's face drained of color.
"Bang!" A war blade materialized out of nowhere and slammed down hard on the Amethyst beast's forehead. The one who struck was Jerald. Gripping Galan's hand, he used the rebound from that blow to flee even faster.