Unexpected Gains

In an instant,

one dazzling beam of brilliant golden light after another burst from the girl's chest into the void,

like the first light of dawn breaking,

instantly illuminating the dim space around them.

Then,

the lights rapidly condensed into shape, forming a complex and exquisite polygonal barrier.

Each facet gleamed with a metallic luster, yet carried a warm and sacred aura.

At that moment, the deep purple energy whip also came howling toward Joyce with the power to destroy everything.

Its speed and force were at least third-tier.

However,

when that terrifying energy met the brilliant golden polygonal barrier, it was as though it had struck an insurmountable wall.

The whip lashed viciously against the barrier, producing a deafening roar,

but surprisingly,

that seemingly unstoppable attack failed to shake the barrier in the slightest.

Instead, it merely stirred ring after ring of dark ripples across the barrier's surface,

like the ripples caused by a stone tossed into a tranquil lake—beautiful yet fleeting.

The ripples quickly vanished without a trace, while the barrier itself remained completely unharmed, still standing firmly there and protecting the world behind it.

Faced with this sudden change,

Joyce was not the only one who became frightened and at a loss.

Even the Mature Woman Minister standing opposite her, holding the Deep Purple Whip, showed a flicker of surprise and momentary clarity:

"Could it be... Rhine?"

Then,

as the fissure suddenly widened,

the mysterious woman in black fitted high-end workwear could no longer maintain her balance as the building structure collapsed, and she fell straight down,

and based on the Miner's analysis from her experience accumulated over the past one or two years of mining,

that woman had most likely fallen into the framework between the lowest Great Mining Area and the second Hatching Layer,

because