Above the mage!

Chapter 584 Two Elemental Seeds

Gao De hesitated for only a moment before taking a step toward the direction where the energy network was converging.

He made this decision for two reasons. First, the structure of this energy network was too special; anyone could see that something unusual was hidden in the center.

Perhaps it is the necromantic elemental species that Elena is looking for, or even related to the secrets of this underground space.

Secondly, he was currently in unfamiliar darkness, and aimless wandering would only increase the danger.

Heading toward the center of the energy network, there is at least one clear goal.

Of course, he was also aware of the risks involved.

Since the center of the energy network can gather so much earth elemental energy and negative energy, it is highly likely that it harbors great danger.

It could be a powerful, unknown creature, or it could be some kind of unstable energy source.

But to gain something, you have to take some risks.

This is inevitable.

As Gaode took a step, he slightly raised his hand, and four pale blue lights appeared at his fingertips, slowly rising to form four light sources.

Four light sources float in the shape of torches.

With a slight thought, he dispersed the four beams of light.

One group cleared the way in front, while two groups remained on guard to the left and right of the body.

Another group hovered five feet above their heads, avoiding any sudden danger from above.

Magic trick, [light magic].

The pale blue light dispelled the thick darkness, illuminating the path beneath his feet and slightly easing Gao De's unease.

In this desolate underground space, light at least brings a sense of security.

After walking only ten steps, Gao De discovered that this underground space was far more complex than he had imagined.

Suddenly, a dozen or so dark passages appeared ahead, like the entrance to a maze, each seemingly bottomless.
However, with Mandora's magic eye observing the energy flow direction of the "Net Under the Stone," it's like providing Gaode Maps with a navigation system.

So, faced with more than a dozen entrances, Gaode didn't stop at all and went straight into one of them.

They hadn't gone far down this path when they came to another fork in the road, consisting of three or four passages.

Of course, Gaode continued walking and chose one of the passages to enter.

This was repeated more than ten times.

With the help of the light from the [Dancing Light] spell, Gao De walked slowly through the dark passage.

Because they were unsure of the specific situation and whether there was any danger, Gaode navigated very cautiously and slowly, and remained quiet throughout.

The closer one gets to the center of the "Net Under the Stone," the more imperceptible the surrounding earth elemental energy becomes.

It didn't become thinner; rather, it was because the negative energy became increasingly concentrated, suppressing the earth element energy to an imperceptible level.

Gao De pursed his lips, thinking to himself that the undead elemental species Elena had mentioned might actually exist.

Otherwise, he really couldn't think of anything that could emit such a strong negative energy, and even completely suppress the equally strong earth element energy.

As we approached Gaode Maps, I looked up again and noticed that the previously scattered lines on my forehead had now clearly converged.

This means that he is about to reach the center of this "net under the stone".

Gao De moved even lighter, making almost no sound, while simultaneously casting a [Shield] spell and donning [Mage Armor].

—The closer you are to the center, the closer the danger may be.

After turning a corner, a fork in the road consisting of seven lanes came into view again on Gaode Maps.

But this time, Gaode Maps stopped.

He looked ahead, his pupils contracted slightly before returning to normal, a helpless smile appearing on his face as he muttered to himself, "It seems like enemies are destined to meet, doesn't it?"

In the middle of the fork in the road, a huge creature was perched there.

It was the Cave Queen Spider.

Its shell was covered with cracks, and dark green blood seeped from the cracks, congealing into black lumps.

He clearly sustained serious injuries during the fall.

It lacked the [Feather Fall] spell to mitigate the impact of its fall, and could only rely on constantly spitting out spider silk to adhere to the rocks for cushioning. In the end, it still broke two of its spider legs upon landing.

At this moment, the two broken legs hung limply at his sides, and traces of rock scraping remained on his carapace.

Therefore, the Cave Spider Queen chose to rest and recover at the crash site without moving, but unexpectedly, she was encountered by Gao De, who had been searching for her all the way.

As a creature that lives in dark burrows, the Burrow Spider Queen possesses a level of dark vision far exceeding that of ordinary humans.

The moment Gao De stepped into the passage, those two rows of ruby-like compound eyes had already locked onto him.

A dead skinny camel is bigger than a horse.

Moreover, the Cave Spider Queen is an elite ley line creature at the late third tier, a being that even Elena has to be wary of.

This is more than just a camel; it could probably be called an elephant.

Even if it were just two legs broken, or even six legs broken, Gaode wouldn't be able to fight against it alone.

At this moment, without Elena's help and without the spiderlings to make the queen hesitate, encountering the other party in this situation would almost certainly mean certain death.

The Spider Queen clearly wasn't going to engage in any polite small talk with Gao De.

It will never forget the humiliation of this human threatening it with its own offspring.

The burrowing spider queen's scarlet compound eyes were fixed on Gao De. Without any foreplay, the spinnerets on her abdomen suddenly started spinning at high speed.

Silvery-white spider silk shot out like arrows, heading straight for Gao De.

"Why bother?" Gao De was not flustered at all when he saw this situation; he just sighed helplessly.

Regardless of whether he can escape the pursuit of the Cave Spider Queen, she is currently blocking the only way to the "Stone Web," and to get through, he must deal with her.

Therefore, Gaode Maps actually has no other choice.

Since we have no other choice, let's just do it.

A typical second-ring mage would be utterly powerless against a late-stage third-tier elite Spider Queen, left only to struggle in vain.

But Gaode is different.

He has far too many trump cards and tricks up his sleeve.

A resolute glint flashed in Gao De's eyes, and his right hand reached into his robes as if into a stone chamber.

This time, however, there was no sudden rescue from Elena, nor any unexpected interruption that made him withdraw his hand.

Therefore, in the next instant, a translucent bottle appeared in his hand.

Extraordinary artifact: Spell Bottle!

It is also Gaode's most powerful trump card at present.

Through the translucent glass bottle, one can clearly see a faint orange-red light swirling within.

It was a pillar of flame, slowly rotating inside the bottle, its orange-red flames enveloped in a layer of holy golden light. Gao De gripped the spell bottle tightly, feeling a warm touch on his fingertips. The flames within seemed to sense something, surging even more violently.

Faced with the spider silk about to descend upon him and the overwhelming stench, he channeled his spiritual energy into the spell bottle.

Suddenly, a blinding orange-red light shone from the transparent bottle, and the originally miniature pillar of flame inside the bottle instantly swelled.

"Release!" Gao De thought to himself.

The energy in the spell bottle exploded instantly!
A scorching beam of light shot out from the bottle's mouth.

It first effortlessly burned the oncoming spider web to ashes, then shot it directly at the burrowing spider queen in the center of the fork in the road.

The pillar of light rapidly expanded in mid-air, transforming into a sacred fire pillar forty feet tall and ten feet in radius.

Like a flaming spear falling from heaven, it crashed heavily into the Cave Queen with a whistling sound.

The outer layer of the sacred flame pillar is a blazing orange-red flame, while the inner layer is enveloped in a holy golden light.

Flames and light intertwined, forming an impenetrable energy barrier that completely enveloped the Cave Queen.

The Cave Spider Queen had clearly never seen such terrifying magic before.

The moment it was enveloped by the pillar of sacred fire, it immediately let out an extremely shrill scream.

The originally sturdy dark purple carapace became vulnerable under the scorching flames, turning into dust as easily as paper.

The dark green blood seeped out and was immediately evaporated into wisps of black smoke.

Even more deadly is the radiant energy within the Sacred Flame Pillar; its holy golden light corrodes its body like strong acid.

Its soft tissue beneath its carapace melted away at a visible rate, and its scarlet compound eyes instantly lost their luster under the impact of the radiant energy.

It struggled, its six spider legs kicking wildly at the ground, trying to escape the range of the sacred fire pillar.

But the flames destroyed its body and life in an instant.

The original violent aura dissipated at an alarming speed, and the hiss turned into a weak whimper.

The Cave Spider Queen didn't even last a breath before turning into dust.

However, the sacred flame pillar lasted for about three breaths before slowly dissipating.

As the orange-red flames and holy golden light gradually faded, only a small patch of ashes remained where the Cave Queen had been.

Because the spell that Gao De cast was a fifth-circle Evocation spell called [Flame Strike]!
That was a fifth-circle spell that he had specifically asked Sarah to store before he left the Blue Flame Islands.

After Gao De released the spell, the bottle returned to its empty state. The spell bottle, which had become transparent, was put back into his pocket. Looking at the empty ground, he couldn't help but feel a little emotional.

"Loss of blood!"

A powerful fifth-ring spell, used to deal with a late-stage Tier 3 Cave Spider Queen.

To be honest, it's somewhat like using a cannon to kill a mosquito.

Moreover, because the power of the fifth-ring spell was so strong, the Cave Spider Queen, who was at the late stage of the third tier, was turned to ashes, leaving him with no spoils of war.

This is a Tier 3 ley line creature; the materials on it should be worth at least two thousand gold coin.

But it's good that I'm alive.

The spell bottle has become empty and can no longer be used as a trump card in the short term.

However, he was unsure of the situation at the center of the "net under the stone" and whether he would encounter any further dangers, so he needed to be even more careful.

Gao De adjusted his breathing, cast [Wild Agility+], summoned Boeing, and allowed Boeing to enter the possessed state in advance before cautiously stepping over the "remains" of the Cave Spider Queen and taking big strides towards the next passage.

At this moment, the energy network above became increasingly clear, with the earth-yellow earth element energy and the blackish-purple negative energy flowing slowly through the veins like two intertwined giant snakes.

About fifteen minutes later, the passage ahead suddenly opened up.

"About to arrive."

At the end of the passage not far away, a light of earthy yellow and blackish purple appeared.

The warm, earthy yellow light and the cold, dark purple light intertwined and entwined, like two nebulae devouring each other, standing out starkly in the pitch-black underground space.

Seeing this, Gaode knew perfectly well that he was about to reach the end of his journey.

He quickly traversed the short distance and arrived at the end of the passage.

As he stood on the platform at the end of the passage and took in the view before him, his breathing unconsciously slowed.

This is an underground dome area far larger than any space before, with a diameter of over two hundred feet and a dome so high that its top cannot be seen.

Countless streams of earthy yellow energy flowed from the energy network of the dome and rock walls, converging towards the center of the space like rivers flowing into the sea.

At the center of the convergence, a fist-sized, earthy-yellow, or rather amber-colored sphere of light floats.

The sphere of light was not perfectly round; its surface had grooves like the texture of the earth, and it emanated a faint, earthy yellow halo, emitting a pure and profound energy fluctuation.

But at this moment, the amber-colored sphere of light was flickering on and off.

Because directly above the amber-colored sphere of light, there was also a layer of dark purple cocoon of light!
The cocoon of light resembled stretched ink, exhibiting a semi-transparent texture. Countless tiny blackish-purple threads could be vaguely seen inside, like greedy tentacles, tightly entwining the amber-colored sphere of light below.

Even more alarming is that the cocoon of light continues to draw power from the surrounding earthy-yellow energy streams.

Whenever the ochre-colored energy gets close, it will be entangled and dragged by the threads on the surface of the cocoon of light, and instantly dyed purplish-black, becoming part of the cocoon of light.

The amber-colored sphere below, having had its energy plundered by the dark purple cocoon above, had lost its original full glow and its surface was covered with spiderweb-like cracks.

Like a candle flame about to burn out, each energy pulse seemed weak and powerless, as if it would be extinguished at any moment.

The ochre-colored energy stream, like a loyal guardian, continuously transformed into finer threads, tightening around the dark purple cocoon of light, attempting to tear it apart and annihilate it.

The cocoon of light was incredibly tough, remaining unharmed no matter how the silk threads were pulled. In fact, it would even corrode and break the silk threads, causing the yellowish-brown energy to dissipate as wisps of black smoke.

“This is…” Gao De’s gaze was fixed on the twin light bodies in the center.

“It’s an elemental species.” A female voice suddenly came from the darkness on the right, breaking the silence of the space.

Gao De was startled at first, then realized that the female voice sounded very familiar.

"Elena?" he exclaimed in surprise. "You're here too?!"

A ripple flashed in the darkness, and Elena's figure slowly appeared.

“I fell right at the edge of this dome area, much earlier than you,” she explained calmly, her gaze never leaving the central luminous object.

She had been there all along, but the moment Gao De entered this space, all his attention was drawn to the central sphere of light, so he didn't immediately notice Elena's presence.

Well, this is the helplessness in the heart of a person of high moral character.

He navigated through a maze-like passageway and even encountered the Cave Spider Queen blocking his way, forcing him to use his trump card, the Spell Bottle, to successfully "pass the test".

Elena, however, landed directly at the finish line in one go.

But now is not the time to lament this.

"Two elemental species?!" Gao De stared at the amber-colored sphere of light and the blackish-purple cocoon in the center.

“That’s right.” Elena finally turned her gaze to him, her eyes filled with undisguised excitement and amazement:

"The dark purple cocoon of light above is the necromantic elemental I'm looking for, and the amber-colored orb below is the native earth elemental of Blackrock Canyon."

(End of this chapter)