Chapter 569 - 567: It’s Hopeless, Just Wait for Death

Swish!

Lana returned to the center of the node, gritting her teeth as she resisted the impact surging out from the pollution, layer after layer.

The entire Array node was bursting with light, trying to suppress the assault of the pollution tide.

Yet such a simple artificial Array was fundamentally incapable of resisting the raging pollution tide.

Within Lana’s sensing, the nodes laid out by other squads were losing contact one after another, which meant those nodes had already been breached, and those areas had been completely swallowed by pollution.

Lana was still desperately holding on.

At this moment, a complex-patterned Array surfaced from the secondary node that Hilia had set up, slowly linking itself into the entire control Array.

The next instant, Lana felt the pressure on her suddenly lessen a great deal.

She looked in astonishment at that node, which was flickering with a stable glow, disbelief showing in her eyes.

"What a stable node."

The Array patterns in that node were extremely stable, as if they were completely unaffected by the impact of the pollution tide.

In contrast, the other nodes were flickering wildly, hanging on the brink of shattering at any moment.

The distant nodes had already shattered; the closer ones, with the support from Hilia’s node, could barely hold on.

But they probably wouldn’t last much longer.

Lana clenched her teeth and persisted, shouting to the other teammates, "Don’t just stand there, hurry up and ask where they are now!"

When the situation in the polluted area changed, she had already told the others to send an emergency call to the Purification Squad, the team Elina was with.

It wasn’t only Lana who sent an emergency call; the elf squads in other regions also chose to do so. They quickly received a response saying they were rushing here at full speed and telling them to hold on.

"Captain Lana, they just sent word, they need two hours to get here."

"Two hours..."

Lana’s face turned pale.

She could feel that after the impact of the pollution tide had weakened, it was slowly growing stronger again.

She didn’t know whether it was actually getting stronger, or whether the node Hilia had set up was weakening.

Either way, it wasn’t good news.

Under her sensing, the rate at which the other nodes shattered had slowed, but nodes were still breaking apart every moment.

There were a total of around twenty nodes, each with a Tier Three Mage acting as its artificial Magic Crystal, and now, barely half an hour into the impact, half of the nodes had already vanished without a trace.

Lana already had no time to care what was happening to those nodes that had gone out of contact.

She was gritting her teeth and holding on, her Magic Power running at full speed.

The blessing of the Elf Forest allowed every elf who had left their aura within it to establish a link with the Elf Forest.

As long as they were within the range of the Elf Forest, their Magic Power recovery speed would greatly increase.

However, feeling the Magic Power rapidly draining from her body, Lana was a bit pessimistic; she didn’t know if she could hold out for two hours, hold out until the Purification Squad arrived.

The others saw Lana’s condition and volunteered, "Captain, how about we go inside and help you too?"

Lana refused through clenched teeth: "Don’t come in. You’re only Tier Two, your Magic Power level is way too low. If you come in you’ll be drained in an instant, and it’ll just distract me."

"All right then, good luck, Captain, we believe you can do it!"

Thankfully, although one of the four teammates liked to suspect others and doubt anyone they didn’t know, when it came to Lana they still trusted her and didn’t deliberately rush inside to cause trouble.

Lana saw the four of them outside, looking like they wanted to help but didn’t know how, and said helplessly, "You can go check the Array patterns that have shattered, see what’s going on over there. If possible, try to patch them up... forget it, don’t fix them. If you get touched by this pollution, it won’t be easy to heal."

"This pollution is simply the nemesis of elves. Damn Dark Elves, if I catch any, I’ll definitely have them executed in public!" the female elf said through gritted teeth.

These pollutants contained dense life elements, highly compatible with elves, which made them more susceptible to being invaded by the pollution than ordinary people.

Their resistance was even lower than that of normal humans.

The four split up and went to check the other secondary nodes.

They also came to the node Hilia had set up; seeing that intact node, they all showed expressions of disbelief.

But there was no time for them to marvel at it now, so they hurriedly ran off.

Lana was immersed in resisting the pollution tide’s impact again and again.

The surges came one wave after another, making her feel like her body was being slammed back and forth nonstop, the pain unbearable.

"I can do this!" Lana gritted her teeth, silently shouting in her heart, "For my little sister!"

The nodes of the other teams she sensed disappeared one after another, and gradually, Lana felt like all the nodes were gone.

It was as if the whole world held only her alone, rising and falling under the pounding of the tide, wave after wave.

She didn’t know how long had passed; Lana felt muddle-headed, hanging on purely by a single shred of will.

Of course, in truth it was the micro-Array Hilia had set up that was working, protecting her so she wasn’t struck by the pollution.

Apart from here, everywhere else had long since been submerged by pollution.

Just when Lana felt she was about to reach her limit, a surge of pure nature and holy radiance washed over her.

This strange power enveloped Lana, pulling her out of her dazed state.

Lana raised her head and saw that the surroundings had already been flooded by pollution; only her node and the one Hilia had set up were still glowing.

She looked to the side and saw a group of people slowly making their way toward her through the pounding pollution tide.

Lana recognized someone familiar.

"Elina!"

Hope flared violently in her heart, and she shouted out loud.

Elina looked at her, and her voice carried over:

"You’ve worked hard, Lana. You can rest now."

Those words were like a softener, slowly relaxing the taut strings in Lana’s heart. She collapsed at once, caught by an elf with quick reflexes.

Elina came over and raised a life barrier here, then looked down at the fainted Lana, utterly astonished.

"She actually managed to hold out for so long? Is she really that strong?"

The elderly elf standing beside Elina looked toward the still steadily glowing node, curiosity in his eyes.

That node was like a reef forever fixed on the shore; no matter how the tide battered it, it remained rock-solid and unmoving.

"Who set up this node? It’s this strong?"

Elina glanced over, frowning slightly.

She kept feeling it looked familiar, but couldn’t place where that sense of familiarity came from.

She looked at the unconscious Lana and shook her head slightly.

Forget it, she’d ask her when she woke up.

"Elder, please send her back. A talent this good mustn’t be tainted by filth."

The Elf Elder nodded and asked, "How is it? Can you deal with the corruption here?"

Elina looked at the surging, tumultuous pollution tide and said helplessly, "What do you think? Even though I’ve received the blessing of the Gods and successfully cultivated Life-faction Magic that can strip pollution away from life elements, it still has a limit. This place is like someone sliced open the Elf Forest’s aorta. I can’t fix it; it’s done for. Better everyone pack up and leave as soon as possible."

"What... what nonsense are you spouting!"