Jared didn’t say a word. His eyes locked onto the glowing runes as unsheathed the Dragonslayer Sword. The blade pulsed with a cold, deadly light. Taking a deep breath, raised it high and slashed down hard.
A powerful wave of sword energy crashed into the wall, kicking up a storm of dust and smoke. But when the dust cleared, the wall was still there, untouched.
Maceo’s eyes went wide. “No way! Jared, your sword’s unbreakable. Why didn’t that leave a mark?”
Jared didn’t answer. His face hardened. He lifted the Dragonslayer Sword again, this time pouring even more power into it. The blade lit up brilliantly as a second wave of sword energy roared toward the wall.
However, the outcome remained the same. The stone wall stood unscathed, like it had swallowed the blow entirely.
“Brute force won’t cut it,” Jared said, sheathing the sword.
His tone dropped. “There’s an arcane array behind this wall. If we can find the core and break it, the wall should disappear on its own.”
Maceo scratched his head, frustrated. “But where exactly is the core? This wall’s huge. We can’t go around knocking on every inch of it.”
Jared closed his eyes and began channeling his spiritual energy. Under the effect of the Focus Technique, his senses sharpened. He tuned into every fluctuation in the air around them, waiting for the slightest shift.
After a few moments, his eyes snapped open and locked onto the lower right corner of the wall. The runes there flickered just a bit faster than the others, as if energy was concentrating in that spot.
“That’s it,” said, pointing. “Right there!”
Without hesitation, Maceo rushed to the corner and threw a heavy punch at it. But the second his fist made contact, a powerful recoil blasted backward. He hit the ground hard with a thud.
“Watch out!” Jared warned, hurrying to help up. “That’s the arcane array’s core. Its defenses are strong.”
The two of them regrouped and cautiously examined the area around the core, looking for a way to disable it.
Jared reached into his chest pocket and pulled out several spiritual stones. He arranged them carefully in a specific pattern, hoping to mess with the energy flow of the arcane array.
As soon as the spiritual stones were in place, the glow of the runes at the core began to intensify. A wave of repelling force burst out at them.
Jared immediately raised his spiritual energy, forming a shield to hold the force back. Gritting his teeth, kept shifting the spiritual stones’ positions, testing different sequences.
Eventually, the runes started to flicker irregularly. A faint tremor spread through the wall. Then, with a deep rumble, the entire stone wall collapsed in a heap of rubble, revealing what lay beyond.
Jared and Maceo stared in shock. They were looking at a celestial gem mine, pulsing with golden light.
The celestial gems came in all sizes, each giving off a powerful celestial energy. The celestial energy was hundreds of times stronger than anything they had encountered outside. The celestial gem mine twisted and wound Its way into the distance, seemingly endless.
“We hit the jackpot, Jared!” Maceo shouted, practically bouncing on his feet, grinning ear to ear.
He darted forward, about to snatch a celestial gem, but Jared stopped short with a hand.
“Careful…” Jared said. “There’s no way a celestial gem mine like this is just sitting here unguarded.”
He cautiously swept his gaze over the mine.
Just then, a cold, mocking laugh echoed out from deep within the mine. “Do you two have a death wish, daring to lay claim to my celestial gem mine?”
As the sinister voice faded, a swarm of devil beasts burst out from the shadows of the mine’s depths.
