The Stargazing Witch & The Dungeon Planet

Chapter 133: The Light of the Heart

“What do you mean?” Al-Roo replied to my statement. 

“Already forgetting the first lesson?” From my bag, I grabbed numerous mana crystals as my supply began to dwindle and forcibly absorbed them into my soul. I was still consuming the mana from the ones in my stomach that were granting me a small passive income of mana. 

Eating any more wouldn’t work, as I don’t think my stomach would be able to handle that. Generally, eating mana crystals wasn’t a good idea, but doing so was slightly more efficient for me since my mana was wanting to leak away. 

To prevent a large waste of the mana, I directed the majority of it to the [Scored Extinction] orb I held in my hand.

Sand moved faster, revitalised by the awakening of the world. The ratio of golden sand was also clearly more visible in the tidal waves. 

I taunted, “Need to be faster than that.” I formed a [Solar Bomb] beneath my feet and catapulted my body into the sky. “Also, thanks for giving me more room to move in.”

To deny my comment, sand from above circled the ceiling like a myriad of vipers ready to bite.

“Catch!” I threw down my [Scored Extinction], and Al-Roo immediately moved down to dodge and had numerous walls of sand ready to defend. The unstable, large amount of mana within the attack was hard not to notice. 

Gotcha.

The orb flew but curved before hitting the shield and slammed right into the wall near where Al-Roo had started this fight.. 

BOOM!!!

A hurricane of fire engulfed the whole area, even shattering my Starlight coat and the Starlight arrows and hammer that had been left stuck in the walls. They collapsed into shards, but those shards still lay on the ground. 

The flames ate at everything, attacking the wall and Al-Roo’s shield, not that he could notice everything the walls were targeting since his vision was blocked by his own sand.

Just over here!

I jumped in as the torrent of flames dispersed. The flames had destroyed segments of the sand and ate at the walls Al-Roo created, but more importantly, they had completely destroyed the wall of stone I threw the [Scored Extinction] orb at and created a very large tunnel.

I ran through creating more [Starlight Arrows] and stabbed them into the walls, partially hidden. 

Al-Roo’s sand walls parted as he tried to see where I was. “You were definitely faking it earlier. Only a Chosen can have that much power.”

I didn’t immediately reply, and he looked around, trying to see where I was. Then, in a panic, he noticed the massive hole in the wall. 

In an urgent dash, he rode the waves of sand chasing after me. 

Found it! 

Within an ancient stone structure stood a sanctuary, and in the middle was a bright orb of pulsing blue light.

…The core of a dead world huh… 

Looking at it, it certainly didn’t look the greatest. The pulse of mana was less of a display of power and more a pained attempt at breathing. 

I felt Al-Roo quickly approaching me. I looked around to see him enraged. Massive golden weapons of sand formed around him, each made with the sharpest of edges.

“Oh, I wonder what that is!” I said, but I knew exactly what I was looking at.

This is the densest core of mana I’ve ever seen.

Even if it was supposed to be the heart of a dying world, it still surpassed everything I had ever seen. Nothing of this size came close. The only thing that did was massive complexes powering the largest of countries, but they were gigantic facilities with the mana converted into a form that allowed for long-distance travel. Not something safe for human consumption.

While I continued to stare at it. Someone wasn’t happy with me noticing it. 

Al-Roo shouted, “You will not destroy this world!” 

The world itself was folding around me. 

“Rude!” I summoned forth a few [Solar Bombs]. Each one exploded after another, sending everything in the area flying wildly. 

I grabbed the core, but it was stuck in place. “Bloody stars!” Despite its size, moving seemed basically impossible. Al-Roo’s desperate yell meant he clearly knew I could fuck something up, which likely meant destroy the core, but that wouldn’t exactly be good for me at the moment either. 

Mana from the core exploded in shock waves that instantly tore apart my newest coating of Starlight and even cut into portions of my armour, not enough to reach my skin, but the waves of intense mana were deadly even after a quick burst. 

It is going to take more than that to stop me!

My goal from the start hadn’t changed 

(“ Don’t ”)

Espr warned.

(“ Even at your top condition, your body wouldn’t be able to handle that much mana ”)

…

(“ But it is good you managed to collect it; now I can safely extract you from this world ”)

Espr. 

I replied.

You know, I am not giving up that easily. 

(“ Ceella! ”)

Wires of Starlight emerged from my body and wrapped around the core. “Not the ideal situation, but I just gotta make the best of it!” I used my magic to tear open my bag, and the remaining potions and crystal fell to the floor.

Connecting my body with strains of Starlight to the core and the potions and stones on the ground, an influx of mana began exploding violently in the area I was standing.

Err!

It wasn't flowing into my body yet, but the mere act of leaving the core was destructive. “This will be slightly dangerous, but I will just have to roll with it.”

The stone and sand from the walls to the ceiling folded to try and swallow me, and Al-Roo was charging in with his weapons. Far from the most ideal situation, my body was already collapsing physically again. [Primal Guardian Lord] would reverse to a point, but I couldn’t use it yet; the level gap was already too tight. I had to save it until the right moment. Making the situation worse, I had tied myself to a single spot in a world where everything could be used to kill me. 

Return!

Starlight shards from the shattered weapons and the arrows from the walls flew out towards Al-Roo.

Ting!

He swung his weapons to deflect some of the attacks, but a number of the shards and arrows stabbed into him.

On the opposite end. The mana surging through the wires in and out of me strengthened the wires to the point they were nearly unbreakable due to attacks that generated heat, which was perfect for me.

[Scorched Extinction]!

I used the [Solar Orb] to rapidly create another [Scorched Extinction] orb and immediately denoted it. 

BOOM!

The explosion of fire screamed in all directions, fighting against the land itself. The flames burned me as their heat was beginning to cook me from within my armour. My natural resistance to fire and heat had faded slightly since my injuries, not to mention that standing next to one of these attacks was never a good idea even before. 

I repurposed my floating shields to create a barrier around me, but even they broke under the stress. 

Sand weapons still flew towards me. Quickly, I created a Starlight sword and shield and parried the attacks. Still, the onslaught of them was never-ending. The attack speed had increased dramatically since the world awoke. 

I groaned, “GEEE,” as the mana flowed into my body.

“I’m not sure what you are doing, but I cannot allow it.” The golden sand fully coated Al-Roo’s body, and he charged towards them in full set armour with a giant blade in hand. This action didn’t stop the waves of sand and the weapons from attacking me. 

In constant retaliation that drained my mana supply, I used multiple [Scorched Extinction] back-to-back, enhancing one to dangerous levels [Solar Force]. While doing so, I jumped around my small area, deflecting the smaller attacks that were launched at me.

Fire constantly exploded through the fire, creating an ever-repeating eruption. 

Finally, the large flow of mana began entering my body.

(“ Stop it! ”)

Al-Roo entered close quarters, and we duelled in the sand. “I should’ve taken you down when you first came to this world.”

“You didn’t have a chance then, and you don’t have it now!” Flames began being emitted from my body uncontrollably.

Al-Roo pressed on, using the world around us to attack me from all angles while I countered by simply exploding everything in my path. My connection to the core had begun to strengthen by the flow of the mana through my wires, and the Starlight was glowing ominously bright.

In our duet, he vanished, with no [Star Mapping] to instantly track where he went. I was lost for a moment too long. Suddenly he appeared from the sand as his great sword, covered in golden sand slashed down my side. 

“ERGH!”

I held on, and flames burst from my body as I used a pinpoint high-powered [Scorched Extinction] on us.

“ARHH.” Al-Roo was sent flying, and my armour had cracked open, and I could feel my flesh splitting apart.

Al-Roo stood up and froze. “What… have you done to yourself?” His eyes, now uncovered from the sand, widened as he stared at me.

Through the holes in my armour, he could see my flesh and muscles splitting apart and thousands of Starlight strings trying to pull them back together as the flesh pulsed. My blood was glowing unnaturally, and my organs were basically leaking the stuff. 

My voice cracked, “What is needed.”