Wizard: Starting from Escape from the Thorn Garden

Chapter 88 Shattered Corridor

Kate continued on, and after walking up a spiral staircase made of dead, unknown wood, he suddenly felt as if he had entered another world.

The air was no longer just deathly silent, but also filled with subtle, crackling sounds, like shattering glass.

The scene in the field of vision often appears briefly distorted and doubled, which is a visual reflection of the instability of the spatial structure.

Finally, a huge ruin made up of countless broken black crystalline rocks appeared before them.

These crystalline rocks appear to have been torn apart by an invisible, immense force, standing jaggedly and forming countless narrow passages and deep fissures.

Within the rift, dark void energy flickered like a venomous snake, emanating a chilling suction and a cutting sensation. This was the Shattered Corridor.

Kate immediately activated the stealth effect of the Shadowthorn Ring, while the Seed of Origin was running at full power, and the spatial perception of the Time-Space Nursery scanned the area in front of her like a radar.

[WARNING! High-density unstable spatial fissures detected!]

[A cluster of biological organisms exhibiting strong spatial energy responses has been detected!]

[Target: Void Leap (Mid-Tier 4) 12]

[characteristic:

1. Spatial Affinity: Proficient in short-distance spatial jumps (cooldown approximately 3-5 seconds), allowing instantaneous passage through small rifts.

2. Void Claw: The claw blade contains void energy, and the attack has the property of cutting space, ignoring some physical defense.

3. Rift Resonance: Can briefly generate small spatial rifts, creating unstable spatial traps or interfering with transmission.

4. Cluster awareness: Connected by subtle spatial fluctuations, it possesses a high degree of collaborative combat capability.

Threat Assessment: Extremely High! Highly mobile, with unpredictable attacks; the threat of swarm attacks is significantly amplified.

Twelve strangely shaped creatures appeared and disappeared in the shadows of the crystal rock.

They resemble enlarged, translucent spiders, but their bodies are composed of constantly twisting shadows, and the ends of their eight segments, which shimmer with a ghostly blue light, are sharp claws, like fragments of space.

They have no obvious head, only a constantly pulsating, eerie blue core in the center of their torso that emits spatial fluctuations.

"This is indeed troublesome." Kate's eyes were serious.

These Voidwalkers are practically assassins born for this environment.

Just as he was observing, a Void Leap Spirit seemed to sense the subtle disturbance in space, and its azure core flashed!

"Buzz!"

Its figure vanished instantly.

Almost at the same instant she disappeared, a palm-sized crack suddenly appeared in the space less than five meters to Kate's left, and a dark blue claw, with a cold glint that seemed to tear through space, silently pierced out.

The speed is extremely fast.

Kate reacted even faster, "Void Refraction!"

The pale silver halo covering his entire body instantly became dazzling, and his figure became blurry and distorted in place.

The claws pierced through the afterimage, creating only a slight ripple in space.

"Spatial Anchoring." Without hesitation, Kate locked onto that area and activated her ability.

hum!

An invisible, stabilizing force field descends.

The Void Leaping Spirit, which had just completed its leap and was retracting into the rift, suddenly froze, as if it had fallen into an invisible quagmire.

"Bloodthirsty Poison Ivy - Pierce!"

Several dark gold thorny vines, like venomous snakes that had been waiting for a long time, burst out of the ground in an instant, carrying nerve-paralyzing toxins and the slowing effect of spatial anchoring, and accurately pierced the relatively vulnerable core connection of the leaping spirit's body.

puff!puff!puff!

The tip of the vine pierced deep, injecting toxins rapidly.

"hiss--!"

A sharp screech, as if space itself were being torn apart, rang out. The Void Spirit struggled violently, but its movements were stiff, and its azure core flickered erratically.

However, its encounter instantly activated the entire cluster.

The remaining eleven Void Leap Spirit Azure Cores flashed simultaneously. They no longer attempted to assassinate individuals, but instead scattered instantly and launched spatial jumps at the same time.

The entire shattered corridor seemed to come alive!

From all directions, above and below, countless tiny spatial rifts instantly opened, and eerie blue claws shot out from all angles and without any pattern, like a torrential rain.

What's more troublesome is that these fissures themselves are constantly being generated and annihilated, creating chaotic spatial turbulence that severely interferes with Kate's perception and movement.

"Hmph!" Kate snorted coldly, and the Time-Space Nursery was operating at full capacity.

"Tranquility Domain - Overload!" In the sea of ​​consciousness, the illusory image of the Tranquility Lotus shone brightly.

A clearer force field, imbued with the stabilizing will of space, spread out from him, forcefully smoothing out the spatial ripples within a ten-meter radius, significantly reducing the speed and extent of the crack formation.

At the same time, he exerted force with his feet, unleashing "Thorn Strike - Burst!"

Dark golden energy thorns wrapped around his legs, unleashing astonishing speed.

Kate's figure moved at high speed through the crystal ruins, leaving behind afterimages. Each "Void Refraction" narrowly avoided a fatal claw attack.

"Shadow of Thorns - Spatial Interference - Paralysis Trap!"

The cores of the eight lurking Thorn Shadows lit up, releasing special spatial fluctuation beacons that interfered with the spatial perception and jumping accuracy of the Leap Spirits.

At the same time, they spray highly concentrated paralyzing toxic fog at pre-set nodes on the ground, forming small-scale stun zones.

The battle instantly intensified.

Kate was dancing on the edge of a knife; every move she made was fraught with danger.

His spatial abilities were brought to their fullest potential: sensing early warnings, deflecting to avoid fatal attacks, anchoring and restricting targets, and blinking to adjust his position.

The Spiritual Pivot Seed was precisely fired, detonating within the Leaping Spirits and causing temporary mental confusion and spatial perception interference.

The Bloodthirsty Vine became the main source of damage. With the aid of spatial anchoring and paralyzing toxins, the vines, like the tentacles of death, precisely wrapped around and pierced the temporarily restricted Void Leap Spirits, frantically devouring their azure cores containing spatial energy.

[Kill Voidwalker (Mid-Tier 4) 1, Points +5]

[Kill Voidwalker (Mid-Tier 4) 1, Points +5]

[Kill Voidwalker (Mid-Tier 4) 1, Points +5]

Combat information kept flooding Kate's senses.

Points are steadily increasing, but the consumption is also considerable.

With mental energy pouring out like a flood, maintaining the overloaded operation of the spacetime nursery was no easy task.

As the last leaping spirit was pierced through the core by several vines and turned into dissipating specks of pale blue light, Kate also breathed a little heavily.

The surrounding spatial rifts slowly smoothed out, leaving only fragments of crystal rock scattered on the ground and a few wisps of lingering paralyzing poisonous mist.

[Battle over. Successfully defeated Voidwalker (Mid-Level 4), gaining 60 points.]

"A good result."

Kate felt a sense of satisfaction emanating from the Bloodthirsty Vine within her body. As she devoured these cores containing spatial energy, the dark golden luster of the vines seemed to intensify.

He carefully examined the battlefield. The Seed of Origin scanned the gradually dissipating fragments of the azure core, hoping to find some useful materials.

Suddenly, the scanning wave stopped at an inconspicuous corner, half-hidden by a huge crystal rock.

[Abnormal energy residue detected — faint life signs have disappeared — spatial fluctuations — man-made artifact detected!]

Kate's heart skipped a beat, and she immediately stepped forward.

Pushing aside the shattered crystals and a thick layer of bone ash, a relatively "fresh" wizard apprentice's corpse was revealed.

The corpse was dressed in a standard dark gray apprentice robe, with a torn, twisted vine-like emblem on its chest—the Thorn Garden.

The corpse had long been corroded beyond recognition by death energy, but the fatal wound clearly came from its back—a deep claw mark that revealed the bone, with remnants of the azure spatial cutting energy that originated from the same source as the Void Leap Spirit.

He was clearly killed by a sneak attack.

Kate's gaze fell on the corpse's tightly clenched right hand and waist.

His right hand was tightly gripping a palm-sized, jet-black metal disc with silver speckled patterns on its surface.

A specially made leather pouch hung from his waist, emanating a faint but pure spatial fluctuation.

Kate carefully removed the disc and the leather pouch.

[Item: Void Prism]

[Status: Minor damage (core functions intact)]

[characteristic:

1. Spatial Refraction Enhancement: Can be actively activated to form a temporary spatial prism shield in front of the user, greatly enhancing the refraction and deflection effects against spatial cutting, energy beams and other attacks (approximately 40% increase), but less effective against physical attacks.

2. Weak spatial anchoring: When activated, it can weakly stabilize the spatial structure within a small area (radius of 3 meters), reducing the probability of spatial jumps and crack generation.

3. Energy consumption: Medium (requires mental energy or spatial attribute magic stones to operate).

[Value: High! An excellent single-target defensive and spatial disruption artifact.]

Kate was delighted; this was a fine magical artifact, perfectly compensating for his weakness in defense. He immediately put it away.

Opening the pouch revealed several shimmering fragments of spatial crystals, as well as a strange crystal about the size of a thumb, dark purple in color, with liquid starlight slowly rotating inside, constantly emitting faint spatial fluctuations!

[Item: Unknown Space Crystal Fragment (Dark Purple)]

[characteristic:

1. High-level spatial energy aggregation: Contains pure spatial energy of unknown nature.

2. Slight spatial coordinate fluctuations: It seems to have a slight resonance with a specific spatial node, but the coordinate information is incomplete.

3. Energy inertia: It is difficult to be stimulated or absorbed by conventional means.

4. Structural stability: Extremely high resistance to physical and energy disturbances.

[Value: Unknown. May involve spatial teleportation, coordinate positioning, or special spatial structures. In-depth analysis is recommended.]

"Coordinate fluctuations?" Kate stroked the cold, strangely textured crystal fragment, lost in thought.

Perhaps this is the key to some secret realm or ruin? He carefully put away the mysterious dark purple crystal, along with the spatial crystal fragment, into his dimensional bag.

After clearing the battlefield and making sure nothing was missed, Kate took a mental recovery potion and continued on her way.

After traveling another 10 kilometers or so, the Seed of Origin once again indicated an abnormal energy reaction ahead.

Kate slowed his pace, his thorny armor passively activating, the metallic thorns covering his entire body humming subtly under the radiation of spatial turbulence. He cautiously approached the nearest ruins of a bone tower, his Seed of Origin operating at full power, analyzing the chaotic spatial folds and energy flows ahead.

Suddenly, a relatively "calm" patch of skeletal ground a dozen meters to his left began to undulate without warning.

It wasn't physical creep, but rather the instantaneous distortion and collapse of the spatial structure of that area.

Three bizarrely shaped creatures "leaped" out from the spatial collapse point!

They are not made of physical skeletons, but rather resemble some kind of energy-based organisms.

The main body is a suspended, constantly rotating, eerie blue energy core, from which extend several limbs made of unstable spatial energy, resembling liquid tentacles. It has no head or facial features, only two flickering scarlet points of light at the core, radiating pure malice and a greedy appetite for spatial fluctuations.

[Target: Undead Predator (Level 4 Mid-Game) 3]

[characteristic:

1. Spatial Affinity·Rift Shuttle: Allows for unstable spatial jumps over short distances (<50 meters) (short cooldown, unpredictable trajectory).

2. Rift Creation: Consumes energy to create a small, temporary spatial rift on yourself or near the target, releasing spatial turbulence to cut through.

3. Energy Core Devouring: The attack has the property of spatial annihilation, which has a strong destructive power against energy shields/cores.

4. Cluster instinct: They usually act together in groups of 3-5, working together to create spatial traps.

[Threat Assessment: High! Extremely mobile, attacks involve spatial cutting, posing a significant threat to shields/cores, and difficult to lock onto in swarm operations.]

Kate's pupils contracted!

These three predators were clearly attracted by the faint spatial ripples he caused when he approached! The moment they appeared, the crimson light spots at the cores of two of them locked onto him, and the rotating energy cores suddenly accelerated.

"Buzz—!"

The two predators simultaneously launched a spatial jump, their figures blurring and disappearing instantly.

The third one suddenly thrust an energy tentacle into the ground.

"Sizzle—!"

At the same time, two narrow spatial rifts, with edges shimmering with a cold blue light, appeared in the space beneath Kate's feet and a meter to her right.

The violent spatial turbulence erupted like a high-pressure water jet, carrying terrifying cutting force.

"Void Refraction!"

Kate reacted with lightning speed; the instant the crack formed, the illusory image of the Lotus of Tranquility in her mental sea flashed.

The pale silver halo covering his entire body instantly became dazzling, and his body left several overlapping afterimages in place.

"Pfft! Pfft!"

Two spatial turbulences pierced through the afterimage, carving deep, bottomless ravines into the hard, skeletal ground behind it.

Almost the instant Kate's true form appeared through the refraction, the two leaping predators appeared on his left and right sides.

They did not launch physical attacks, but instead aimed their energy tentacles at Kate like javelins, with energy highly concentrated at their core!

"Crack Creation!"

"Swoosh! Swoosh!"

Two new, smaller spatial rifts instantly formed on either side of Kate's body.

A deadly blue turbulent current shot straight in, forming a deadly triangular strangulation formation with the not-yet-fully-closed crack below.

There is no way to avoid it.

"Spatial anchoring! Anchor it now!"

A fierce glint flashed in Kate's eyes, and his mental energy surged. He no longer tried to dodge, but instead pressed his hands down hard into the air on both sides.

The lotus of tranquility in the sea of ​​consciousness burst forth with a dazzling silver light.

hum!

A powerful spatial stabilization law descended instantly, forcibly reinforcing and anchoring the spatial structure within a five-meter radius of Kate.

The cracks created by the two predators were like ripples on water after a stone was thrown in; they were forcibly smoothed out and annihilated as soon as they appeared, and the spatial turbulence that had been spraying halfway came to an abrupt halt.

The rotation of the two predator energy cores suddenly stopped, and the scarlet light flashed violently, clearly indicating that they had suffered a spatial backlash.

"Shadow of Thorns - Binding Pierce!"

Kate's mind raced!

Five thorny shadows, lurking in the nearby shadows, shot out from the gaps in the bones like venomous snakes emerging from their holes.

Instead of attacking the predator itself, they precisely wrapped their tough metal bodies around the roots of the two energy tentacles that the predator was using to create cracks, which were slowed down by the backlash.

Meanwhile, the metal spikes at the core of the Shadow of Thorns, enhanced by the properties of Golden Thorns, fiercely pierced the energy tentacles.

"Hiss—!" An invisible spiritual shriek was emitted.

The two predators emitted silent waves of pain! Their energy tentacles, extensions of their power, were instantly disrupted when pierced and entangled.

"die!"

Kate seized the fleeting opportunity and initiated a space jump.

His figure vanished instantly, reappearing behind the third predator that was creating cracks in the ground in an attempt to disrupt the attack.

"Bloodthirsty Poison Ivy - Energy-Devouring Strangulation"

Several solid vines, wrapped with dark gold thorns and with pale purple poisonous light swirling around their tips, burst out of the ground and instantly coiled around the predator's rotating blue energy core like giant pythons.

The nerve-paralyzing toxins on the vines were injected frantically, and even more terrifyingly, Kate guided the Bloodthirsty Vine's predatory instincts, unleashing its full power to devour.

"Sizzle—!"

Like cold water dripping into hot oil, the Bloodthirsty Vine greedily absorbed the pure spatial energy and undead death energy mixture from the Predator's core.

The azure energy core dimmed and shrank at a visible speed.

Upon seeing this, the other two predators, whose tentacles were entangled by the thorns, unleashed a frenzied surge of crimson light, desperately trying to break free from the rescue.

"Seed of the Spiritual Pivot - Spiritual Explosion!"

Kate was prepared.

Two silver seeds, wreathed in pale blue moonlight, shot out silently, striking precisely near the cores of the two struggling predators and exploding with a deafening roar.

hum!

A highly concentrated mental shock erupted within their chaotic core.

"Pfft! Pfft!"

The cores of the two predators exploded instantly like popped balloons, scattering fragments of dark blue energy that were greedily drawn in and devoured by the Bloodthirsty Vine.

The one that was strangled by Kate's vines had its core completely extinguished, turning into a wisp of green smoke and dissipating.

[Successfully killed a Level 4 Mid-Game Undead Predator (3), earning 15 points.]

Having gained a few more points, Kate finally left the area filled with spatial rifts and continued walking into the distance.