Chapter 48: Guardian vs. Capturer

When the massive energy prison constructed from dark golden runes was about to close, the boiling in the lake water finally erupted into an outburst of power.The enraged creature abandoned its innate benevolence, revealing the terrifying fangs of its role as "Guardian Deity" to these insignificant mortals attempting to shackle it.

Its enormous head composed of blue starlight sank downward, then lifted explosively with towering waves.

A giant water column formed entirely from highly compressed lake water and pure spiritual energy, resembling a blue war spear, tore through the sky and slammed into one of the three steam boats!

The speed was too fast, so fast that the well-trained cult members aboard had no time to execute any effective evasive maneuvers!

A sound far more massive and dull than all their previous explosions combined erupted violently across the lake surface. The modern vehicle constructed from steel and the most advanced internal combustion engines proved as fragile as a paper boat against the water column filled with fury.

The moment it was struck head-on, terrifying kinetic energy smashed it directly in half. Cult members aboard, along with their precise steam weapons and whaling guns, were thrown into the air amid terrified screams before crashing heavily into the continuously boiling lake water.

With just one strike, an elite capture squad was completely annihilated!

However, the members of the Eternal Serpent were clearly fanatics unafraid of death. Their comrades' gruesome deaths didn't make them retreat—instead, their eyes burned with even more pathological fanaticism!

"The divine might has descended! This is the 'Primordial' testing our faith!" The black-clad leader let out a maddened roar. "Continue! Keep activating the rune resonance! No matter the cost, we must anchor it in the material world! For the great evolution!"

The two surviving steam boats increased power, beginning high-speed circling around the UMA across the violent lake surface in a near-suicidal manner.

Surviving cult members aboard frantically fired their steam weapons in futile harassment while cutting their wrists to smear their blood onto the front ends of the steel chains already shot into the lake!

As their blood merged, the dark golden "Dragon Binding" runes erupted with piercing light once more. The incomplete prison formed from just two chains finally took shape after sacrificing one boat!

A visible energy barrier instantly rose over the lake surface, sealing the great elemental creature and nearly a hundred meters of surrounding water within it!

The UMA's body, originally flowing with starlight between substance and void, emitted sizzling burning sounds upon contacting this runic barrier.

Its physical form became more solid, as if truly being forcibly "pulled" from a higher dimension into their material world!

"Success! We've succeeded!" The black-clad leader's voice overflowed with triumphant joy. "All units! Switch to 'Spirit Breaking' spearheads! Prepare for second capture phase!"

Lin Jie watched everything clearly from the distant fishing boat, fury rising in his heart.

This was the most despicable hunt and desecration against a gentle, friendly great life!

"Sergeant William!" Lin Jie's voice turned icy. "Bring the boat closer. Mr. Alistair, please operate the crane arm. We need to help it."

"What are you planning?" Though equally furious, William's veteran rationality kept him calm. "Direct intervention now would make us enemies to both sides!"

"No." Calculation flashed in Lin Jie's eyes as he raised his left arm bearing the faintly glowing . "We're not directly joining the fight. We'll only do one thing—clear the final obstacle for this 'Divine Punishment.'"

Despite his reservations, William chose to trust this partner who had already created several miracles. He piloted the fishing boat using night and the lake's chaos as cover, approaching the rune-lit battlefield from a tricky angle.

The battlefield had now reached its white-hot phase.

The forcibly "materialized" UMA suffered immense pain and rage, madly churning the water to create waves massive enough to capsize cargo ships, assaulting the runic energy prison.

Though the prison swayed precariously, sustained spiritual infusion from cult members at the cost of their lives kept it stubbornly intact.

The surviving cult members on the two steam boats had already replaced their whaling gun spearheads with more menacing versions.

These spearheads weren't pure metal but carved from obsidian-like crystal, covered in spiral blood-red runes.

This was clearly their true trump card against such "energy body" UMA—the Spirit Breaking spearheads!

"Target, head core! Fire!" The black-clad leader issued the final attack command.

Both whaling guns aimed at the UMA's massive starlight head, ready to unleash the fatal strike!

At this critical moment, Lin Jie—who had been hiding in darkness—finally made his move.

"Now!" he shouted sharply, raising his left arm that had been charged with mental energy to its limit. The Chaos Brass in his palm immediately erupted with a powerful interference field!

His target wasn't the sturdy whaling guns or the mad cultists, but the most precise and fragile structures on the two steam boats—the internal combustion engines providing power and the precision valves regulating the whaling guns' steam pressure!

, activate!

"CRACK—SCREECH—!!!"

As Lin Jie released his ability, the engine sections of the two high-speed maneuvering steam boats suddenly erupted with metallic grinding and jamming noises!

One steam boat's engine belched black smoke and died immediately, losing all power on the lake surface. The other barely kept running, but its stern propeller became extremely unstable, causing the boat to spin uncontrollably in place!

More lethally, the two whaling guns about to fire!

Their steam pressure systems maintained by precision valves instantly went haywire under the interference field. Massive amounts of high-pressure steam leaked from wrong pipes, making the gun bodies creak and groan, threatening to explode at any moment!

This sudden, ghost-like collective mechanical failure stunned all cult members.

Their powerful vehicles representing the union of advanced industry and alchemy had simultaneously become two piles of useless scrap metal!

The imprisoned great elemental creature keenly seized this golden opportunity.

It could feel the power maintaining the energy prison momentarily weakening due to the cultists' panic.

Its massive head strained upward, then slammed against the runic barrier with force enough to churn the entire lakebed!

"BOOM!!"

The arrogant prison that had confined the guardian finally shattered before absolute power!

Freed from its restraints, the enraged Guardian Deity gave the surviving cult members no further chances. Its enormous body flipped in the water, forming a massive whirlpool dozens of meters wide centered around it.

The two powerless steam boats were torn apart. Some cultists, amid despairing screams, were sucked into the whirlpool's center along with shattered deck plating by irresistible gravitational force, then swallowed by the bottomless lake water.

Moments later, the lake surface returned to calm, the earlier heart-pounding hunt seeming like an absurd farce.

Lin Jie collapsed weakly onto the deck, gasping for breath. That single long-range precision "field release" had consumed most of his mental energy.

But looking at the lake surface covered with ship wreckage, a genuine smile spread across his face.

They had succeeded, delivering the most lethal assistance in this lopsided battle.

Just then, the elemental creature that had achieved final victory slowly turned its starlight-composed head toward this fishing boat that had radiated goodwill from beginning to end.