Chapter 131: Out of Energy
I frowned. That... was a problem. A big one.
Without red sun energy, I couldn't use any of my runes. No more enhanced strength, no more instant movement, no more leaf storms. Just good old-fashioned qi enhancements and whatever I could manage with the Primordial Wood Arts.
I glanced behind me at the grey wasteland her void attack had created, then at the ring of withering trees around us, and finally at the healthy forest beyond.
The living trees were barely visible from here, even an injured Peak Qi Condensation Stage 6 beast that could fly would catch up to me before I could get there. The trees might as well have been on the other side of the sect for all the good it did me.
The queen hovered between me and the nearest living tree. Despite her injuries, her eyes gleamed as she maintained her position. The void energy leaking from her wounds began to coalesce around her stinger, gathering power for another attack.
This was no accident, I realized. She'd deliberately positioned herself between me and the living forest. Each of her attacks seemed precise in retrospect, calculated not just to hit me but to destroy any remaining patches of vegetation I might try to use.
She had been systematically cutting off my options, creating a dead zone where my most reliable technique was nearly useless. A good tactic.
"Your options are limited," Azure observed. "Without healthy vegetation to work with, the Primordial Wood Arts—"
"I know," I cut him off, ducking as she shot forward with a void-infused strike. "I need to get her away from here. Back towards the living forest."