CHAPTER 97: PARASITE

Harry was planning to kill the beast silently like an assassin while it was distracted, fighting Gracie.

On the other side, the battle was taking an interesting turn.

Gracie’s subordinates provided cover, shielding her from incoming attacks.

She rushed toward the core of the tree, but the overwhelming difference in numbers continued to be a problem.

Her feet suddenly got stuck in the mud, freezing her movements. Then the mud flared—burning with fire.

Gracie, feeling the searing heat, flickered far away in the distance.

But the others couldn’t dodge the attack as easily. They didn’t possess the skill to move that fast. Yet, that was the beauty of elements—everyone had something unique.

Gracie had already signaled Tyler to bring all the remaining students, since the tree was no longer trying to control everyone. And it couldn’t, because Gracie would once again use her element to render the control useless.

The safest bet for the tree was to possess a limited number of powerful students, controlling them with such force that even Gracie couldn’t influence them.

The students who arrived used ice, water, sand—every element—to extinguish the flames. Healers quickly moved in to treat the burned students.

With overwhelming force, the five thousand students crushed the five hundred controlled ones in a matter of moments.

"Keep them alive. Don’t kill them," Tyler shouted.

Many students were surprised by this order, but they obeyed, restraining their opponents instead of killing them.

Gracie smiled at Tyler’s words. She knew he wasn’t being merciful—he was just tactical and logical.

If they killed the controlled students, the beast would simply possess a new batch.

But unfortunately, they couldn’t stop it either way. The students who were restrained from attacking fell lifeless, and new ones from the crowd began fighting each other.

The previously controlled students collapsed—their bodies shifting from vitality to fragility. Their body mass decreased, and their cultivation energy exploded, dragging nearby students to death’s door.

After the initial blasts, students kept their distance to avoid further casualties.

Amid the chaos, Gracie sliced a man’s neck, then dodged a falling spear strike and punched another man in the gut, causing heavy injuries.

She finally took a deep breath, seeing the ground clear before her. No more obstacles. She ignored the fallen bodies and ran toward the tree.

Gritting her teeth she closed in distance as fast as she can, She needed to kill the beast if she wanted to stop the tragedy.

Harry had already reached the back of the tree and readied his long black sword. It was encased in Qi and soul energy. He was prepared to kill the tree in a single strike—giving it no chance to retaliate.

He saw Gracie unleashing a barrage of soul pulses at the tree.

It had no means to defend itself, and they struck cleanly at the main stem.

But it didn’t do much—the tree had high resistance to soul attacks.

Meanwhile, a group of controlled students had already stepped between the tree and Gracie.

Gracie gave up on mercy. She flickered forward, zapping through their bodies. When she emerged, a red object lay in her bloodied hand. It beat with each second—expanding and contorting.

Harry felt sick to his stomach. It was a heart—the heart of the person she passed through. The body collapsed—this time truly lifeless.

"Huh? What was that?" Gracie murmured, pondering.

She flickered through another student, but this time, instead of a heart, she held a blue root.

Dodging another attack, she noticed the root turning pale yellow—indicating it was dying.

As she backed off, a sword slashed across her body—barely missing. She realized the controlled person had returned to his original self. But his legs shook, barely able to support him, and he fell to the ground.

Harry grew tense—the time on his active skill was about to run out.

Then Gracie walked forward, her hands moving gently, caressing the wind. The fire vanished. Time seemed to freeze—not literally, but the cold was enough to freeze lava. A howling wind followed, carrying sharpness that sliced through flesh like paper.

Harry shuddered at the display of such power. For the first time, he truly considered Gracie his equal.

But with the current gap in power, he was no match.

He could still compete with her physical strength, but higher-level cultivation brought multiple advantages. One of them being a much larger reserve of elemental essence.

He watched as twenty students were frozen, burned, then slashed—finally sealed in ice.

With all distractions cleared, Gracie cast another wave of chaotic elemental power—fire, ice, wind, water—all mixing in violent harmony.

Sensing the moment, Harry stepped out from the shadows to strike.

But just as he was about to attack, a tiny blue root—brighter and brimming with more energy than anything he’d seen—emerged from beneath the tree. It was barely palm-sized, with two tiny legs sprinting at full speed. It glanced behind nervously, checking if Gracie had noticed.

Then it smacked into a wall and fell backward.

It rubbed its head, letting out a small sound.

Looking up, it realized it hadn’t hit a wall—but a human leg.

Harry stepped back, then picked it up by the legs, its body dangling in the air.

He was confident—he had already used Inspect on it.

[Dreamthorn: Elemental Master - Level 9

A parasite. Unable to use any form of attack unless controlling someone or something.]

"Big boy, me go. I saved you once... now help," a voice echoed in Harry’s head.

"You can still talk?" Harry was surprised.

"Go... run... let me go... run..." the voice repeated in his head.

Harry was about to kill it when something clicked in his mind.

But before he could act, the tree split neatly in half. Massive branches—once sheltering the settlement—began crashing down, threatening to destroy everything.

Students rushed to escape, but it was no use. Not that the falling branches would truly harm them, and even if it did harm then there were healers to deal with that.

Gracie ran past the collapsing tree.

"Stop!" she shouted, seeing someone disappear into shadows.