As soon as Jared opened his mouth, the draconic essence entered him and merged with his own. The once-dim essence within him now glowed brightly.
“Brat, I’m going to rip you apart and see how much more treasures you have inside you!” Elgado roared, furious that Jared had. swallowed the draconic essence. But Jared had no time to deal with Elgado as he turned to Skyler and asked, “How many Spirit Connecting Fruits are left?”
“Only one,” Skyler shouted. “Hmph. So what if you’ve already plucked all the Spirit Connecting Fruits? They’ll end up in my hands anyway,” Elgado sneered, charging toward Jared.
Although Jared had regained some of his spiritual energy after swallowing the draconic essence, he still stood little chance against Elgado. However, he knew that if he backed down now, Skyler would be in danger, and the Spirit Connecting Fruits would fall into Elgado’s hands.
Elgado fixed a cold glare on Jared, his intent to capture him alive evident as an arm shot out like the fabric of space and time had been ripped apart. Jared raised his head and let out a battle cry. With bloodshot eyes, he aimed a punch at the arm.
But his efforts were in vain, as his punch made no impact on the arm, despite him putting his full force behind it. Instead, he was immobilized by Elgado’s. terrifying aura, struggling to even move his arm.
“Done!” Skyler’s triumphant voice rang out just as the arm was about to capture him. She had successfully plucked all of the Spirit Connecting Fruits.
Suddenly, the Spirit Connecting Tree began to shake violently, and a massive energy shattered the arm which had appeared out of nowhere.
Then, the branches started to grow and weave, forming a dense canopy that gradually enclosed Jared and Skyler inside a sphere. From a distance, it appeared as if a green ball. made of leaves had formed atop the Spirit Connecting Tree.
Elgado, Emiliano, and Avery were bewildered by the unusual occurrence, wondering why the tree had suddenly taken on this defensive posture.
“Perhaps the Spirit Connecting Tree has entered a defensive mode because all of its Spirit Connecting Fruits have been plucked,” Avery pondered, her brows furrowed.
“Hmph! It’s just made of leaves. One strike should be enough to crush it.” Emiliano sneered and leaped into the air. He then delivered a punch packed full of his formidable martial energy at the green ball.
Boom! With a deafening boom, Emiliano was sent flying backward, while the ball made of leaves remained unscathed. He couldn’t believe his eyes as he stared at the ball in shock, feeling embarrassed.
“I’ll do it,” said Elgado. He waved his hand, summoning a huge black palm that pressed down on the ball. Boom! However, it dissipated into thin air as soon as it came into contact with the sturdy structure. The three outside were left dumbfounded by the event.
Meanwhile, inside the ball, Jared and Skyler listened intently to what was happening. Jared could tell that the trio was attempting to break the ball, judging by the two explosions he heard. Nevertheless, the ball remained completely unscathed. It seemed incredibly sturdy.
“We don’t need to worry about them. Let’s focus on regaining our powers first. I’ll keep two of these Spirit Connecting Fruits, and we can eat the rest. We need to break free as soon as possible. We can’t be trapped here forever,” Jared declared as he tossed two of the fruits. into his Storage Ring.
