God-Tier Extraction Talent: Reincarnated in a Game-like World!

Chapter 577: No Mana or Qi

The grand stone archway leading to the core chamber was wider than any corridor they had passed so far, but the sheer weight of the atmosphere made it feel like a suffocating cage.

Here, the remnants of the exploration forces had finally converged.

The surviving members of the Martial Palace stood on the left, their pristine white robes now torn, scorched, and heavily stained with dried blood.

Liang stood at their front, his hand resting on his sword hilt, but his knuckles were white and his breathing was shallow. Beside him, Evelyn’s sharp eyes darted across the other groups, her lips pressed into a thin, nervous line as she tried to ignore the cold sweat dripping down her neck.

On the right was Broken Dawn. Cassie and Bunny stood at the front, and just behind them was Sophie.

The vice leader of Broken Dawn was pale, her breathing faint, and her skin still flickered with weak, residual veins of dark green light. Ragnarok99 stood guard in front of them, his massive greatsword planted deeply into a crack in the stone floor. His jaw was clenched so hard that a vein throbbed violently on his temple.

Olympus, led by Ares and Jack, had also arrived, though their proud demeanor was entirely gone.

Aria’s heavy, gem encrusted jewelry no longer gave off its brilliant, radiant glow. Instead, the precious stones were dull, as if the light inside them was being actively choked out by the heavy, stale air of the chamber. Ares’ eyes were locked on the dark void beyond the archway, his body rigid, his fingers twitching against his spear.

"We can’t stay here," ChaosCleric muttered, his voice echoing nervously in the heavy, tense quiet. He was standing near IceQueen, his staff held defensively, though the glowing orb at its tip was barely a flicker. "The moment we stepped within ten meters of this archway, my mana pool started dropping. It’s not a normal drain. It feels like something is physically reaching into my chest and ripping the energy out of my pores."

IceQueen did not answer, but her face was grim. She lifted her right hand, attempting to summon a simple ice shard to test the air, but the cold mana shattered into harmless, lukewarm vapor before it could even form in her palm. Her brow furrowed in frustration.

"The spiritual pressure is too high," Liang said, his voice carrying a rare, strained roughness. "My qi circulation is being dragged downward. It is not just blocked... it is flowing into the floor itself, as if the stone is thirsty."

Ragnarok99 snorted, though his own forehead was beaded with heavy sweat. "My active skills are completely greyed out. The system is giving me a constant ’Environmental Suppression: Extreme’ error. We are being stripped of our stats. Right now, I feel like I’m wearing a suit of lead."

"Is this Supposed to happen?" Ares asked coldly, his gaze shifting toward Liang with a sharp, accusatory glare. "Your Martial Palace promised rewards and ancient knowledge. This is no reward. This is a slaughterhouse. We are being weakened to the level of normal, powerless humans."

"The Martial Palace does not lie," Evelyn spat back, though her voice lacked its usual conviction. She was shivering, her hands clutched against her arms. "We are experiencing the same thing you are. Do you think we would sacrifice our own disciples just to trap you?"

"Maybe your emperor didn’t tell you the whole truth," Ragnarok99 growled. "But someone here knew exactly what would happen when we reached this gate."

Before the argument could escalate, a sound echoed from the darkness beyond the archway.

Scraaaaape.

The sound was low, heavy, and metallic. It vibrated through the stone floor, traveling up their boots and sending a sudden, icy shiver through their chests.

Scraaaaape.

The entire chamber fell into an absolute, terrifying silence. Nobody spoke. Nobody moved. Even the cold wind blowing from the dark void seemed to freeze in place.

It was the unmistakable sound of a massive metal blade dragging against the ancient, uneven stone floor. It was slow, rhythmic, and entirely devoid of hurry. It was the sound of a predator that knew its prey was trapped in a cage with nowhere to run.

From the dark, swirling mist of the core chamber, a silhouette slowly emerged.

This figure was several feet tall, standing like a mini giant. Its massive body was encased in thick, overlapping plates of dark, unpolished iron armor that bore no scratches, rust, or battle damage, only ancient, glowing engravings of Tianlan runes. A tattered, dark crimson cape hung from its broad shoulders, dragging in the dust behind it.

But it was the face that made several disciples gasp in horror. Beneath the shadow of its heavy iron visor, a pair of cold, merciless crimson eyes glowed with the intensity of burning coals, locked onto the intruders.

In its right hand, the giant held a massive, double bladed battle axe. The blade of the axe was as wide as a grown man’s torso, its curved edges gleaming with a dull, silver sharpness.

As the giant walked, it did not bother to lift the weapon. It simply let the heavy axe drag behind it, leaving a deep, scratched groove in the ancient stone floor.

Scraaaaape.

"What... what is that thing?" a Martial Palace disciple whispered, his voice cracking with pure, unadulterated terror. He took a frantic step backward, but his knees buckled under the crushing spiritual pressure, and he fell heavily onto his hands and knees, panting as if he had run a marathon.

"The final guardian," Liang whispered. His eyes widened, his pupils contracting as the pressure radiating from the giant hit them.

It wasn’t just physical pressure. The giant itself was a walking anchor for the Core Suppressing Spike. The closer it got, the faster their remaining energy evaporated.

"My mana is completely gone," Samantha the necromancer gasped, clutching her chest as her staff slipped from her numb fingers and clattered to the floor. "I can’t... I can’t even feel my class skills anymore. It’s like my system interface is dying."

"Me too," Cassie said, her voice shaking with panic. "Even our raw physical stats... I can barely lift my arms. It feels like my strength has been cut by eighty percent!"

As for Sophie, she didn’t say a word. She simply clenched her fist. Maybe she should have listened to the others and left when she had regained consciousness. The only reason she had pushed forward was because that was what Gabriel would have done.

She didn’t want to return as a failure to him. All she wanted to do was prove that she deserved this position as vice leader.

...who would have thought this ego would be their death?

What was worse, because of her fight against the cardinal, she was absolutely useless here.