Chapter 1192 Ice Cocoon
"Arghhhh!"
"Ummm... Are you sure she is alright?" Zorda asked, his voice filled with suspicion as he looked at the scene before him.
"She is fine... I think," Elysia responded, though her voice held no confidence.
Zorda's mouth twitched when he heard Elysia's hesitant answer and glanced at her with a speechless expression.
"Arghh!" Valery's pained scream pierced the air once more, and although Zorda could no longer feel pain after becoming a shadow undead, the sight of her suffering made him shudder.
"Just what is happening to her?" Zorda asked, his voice betraying his unease.
"Her core is evolving," Elysia answered with a frown on her face as she observed Valery, who was wrapped tightly in the dense vines of the Tree of Life. "Normally, this shouldn't be a problem, but there is something wrong with her core."
"Of course, something is wrong with her core," Zorda replied in a matter-of-fact tone. "Have you forgotten what Master told us about her identity?"
"I haven't forgotten, but I didn't expect her core to react like this during evolution," Elysia said in an irritated voice as she walked toward the Tree of Life.
Like the World Tree, which can help Dryads evolve from S-rank to Rank One without the aid of a source pill, the Tree of Life also has the ability to assist in core evolution.
Elysia had intended to use the Tree of Life to strengthen Earth and those who had the potential to become core evolvers.
The process of evolving a core from S-rank to Rank One was always painful, as the evolution fundamentally altered a person's body and even transformed their race. But Valery's situation was far from normal.
At first, Elysia had dismissed Valery's agonized cries, assuming the pain was simply part of the process. But as time went on, it became clear that something was seriously wrong.
Valery's core appeared to be missing an essential component, causing her evolution to stall halfway.
This incomplete evolution trapped her in an agonizing limbo, her body stuck between two forms as it too was caught in the process of transformation.
"Damn it! I thought helping her evolve her core would better prepare her for the upcoming battle, but I never imagined there would be such a severe issue with her core," Elysia muttered anxiously.
Stopping just in front of the Tree of Life, she commanded the tree to stop injecting energy into Valery's body, halting the evolution.
As the Tree of Life retracted its energy, the vines entangling Valery retreated as well, allowing her to collapse to the ground, her body convulsing in pain.
"How are you feeling?" Elysia asked, crouching down to check Valery's condition.
Valery's eyes remained tightly shut, and her breaths were shallow and ragged. Yet, even in her exhausted state, she found the strength to respond.
"I feel so good that I can murder you a hundred times without regret," Valery growled, her voice laced with cold sarcasm. freёnovelkiss.com
Elysia's mouth twitched slightly at the biting remark.
"I only wanted to help you evolve your core to Rank One. I had no idea this would happen." She said, her tone more serious now as she observed Valery carefully.
Despite the struggle, now that the Tree of the Life had stopped supplying the energy, Valery's half-evolved core was beginning to stabilize, and in a few hours, it would likely return to normal.
Even though Valery's condition was improving, Elysia couldn't shake the frown from her face because she still hadn't identified the core issue, and without solving the underlying problem, it would be impossible for Valery to fully evolve and become a Rank One Core Evolver.
As Valery's core stabilized and the pain subsided to a tolerable level, she took a deep breath before speaking in a low voice.
"Bit*h! Tell me honestly, are you sure this tree isn't malfunctioning?"
Elysia rolled her eyes and was about to say there was absolutely nothing wrong with the Tree of Life, but when she considered that this was the first time she had used it, her confidence wavered, and she remained silent.
"Fu*k you," Valery spat angrily, frustrated by Elysia's silence and continued to curse her.
At first, Elysia tried to ignore the insult, but after several minutes of continuous swearing, she finally lost her patience and began to curse Valery back.
Zorda watched in silence as the two women engaged in a battle of curses, hurling insults at each other as if there were no tomorrow.
After several long minutes, they both finally calmed down, though they continued to glare at each other with venomous looks.
"If I could beat you, I would flush you down a toilet," Valery said darkly, her voice dripping with malice.
Elysia, ever the mature one ignored the threat and instead used her light element to create a bubble around Valery's face, effectively silencing her.
Feeling satisfied with her petty revenge, Elysia turned her attention back to the Tree of Life and patiently waited for the other S-rankers of Earth to arrive.
Once they had gathered, she resumed the process of using the Tree of Life to help them evolve their cores. Unlike with Valery, the rest of the S-rankers successfully evolved into Rank One Core Evolvers without issue.
"So, there is nothing wrong with the Tree of Life after all," Elysia muttered under her breath, heaving a sigh of relief.
She glanced over at Valery, ready to gloat and prove that the tree was working perfectly fine. But when she saw Valery's condition, her expression immediately darkened.
In an instant, she appeared at Valery's side, panic lacing her voice as she asked.
"What's happening to you?"
A powerful surge of cold energy was emanating from Valery's body, freezing everything around her.
Even though Elysia was a Rank Four Core Evolver, the freezing energy was so intense that it caused her hands to frost over when she touched Valery.
Valery didn't respond to Elysia's frantic question, appearing to have lost consciousness.
Elysia tried to stop the flow of cold energy using her abilities, but to her dismay, she found that the energy was coming directly from Valery's half-evolved core and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't stop it.
Within seconds, the cold energy completely enveloped Valery and trapped her in a solid, ice-like cocoon, sealing her off from the outside world.
