Explosion!

With that tap of his hand, mana started to fluctuate wildly around his body. The air itself seemed to have trembled a bit as it happened.

"HAHAHAHAHA…"

Seemingly unaffected by the changes being caused by him, Emertius let out a wild and carefree laugh, like a child playing his favorite game when suddenly, his chest caved in.

He curled his body into a ball while wheezing when that happened and… exploded.

BOOOOOM!!!!

The moment before it was about to happen, a black shield that shared similar characteristics as the new elemental mana that Ryne gained an affinity with propped forth.

It was invisible to the naked eye but Ryne was able to sense an extraordinary amount of dark elemental particles around him. Since he had nothing to compare it with, he wasn't able to ascertain how solid it was. Still, with that shield up, he had an illusion that as long as the world itself didn't collapse on him, he and his master would remain safe inside.