"Master, why are there so many willow trees here? Aren't willow trees usually growing by the river?"

"Susu, what you said makes sense. Look how short these willows are, they're not even as tall as the willows by the river. I guess they're malnourished on the mountain, which is why they don't grow tall."

It was rare for anyone to speak at this moment, and Dante, who had been suppressing his emotions for a long time, also made a couple of jokes to liven up the dead silence.

At that moment, I wasn't focusing on the trees that hadn't shown any abnormalities yet. I simply assumed that these willows were some special varieties, since there are so many plants and there are quite a few unusual ones.

I don't know if these cypress trees possess some intelligence or if we were just incredibly lucky. After entering this forest full of demons, we miraculously didn't touch a single branch.

Those branches were like a large net weaving a way for us to enter, and the branches seemed to be deliberately avoiding us, letting us into its heart.

However, we were still completely unaware of this at that moment. After walking for a while, Dante was the first to notice something amiss with the trees.

It was quite a coincidence, actually. Dante happened to need to urinate and wanted to find a secluded spot to relieve himself.

This is a cypress grove, and there just happened to be a cypress tree in front of Dante. In the spirit of making use of waste, Dante decided to use his urine to fertilize the tree.

At first, the urine hit the tree roots precisely, and nothing seemed amiss.

But the urination will eventually be finished, and just as he was about to finish, Dante, like most men, involuntarily shuddered.

This perfectly normal physiological reaction can cause the urine stream to deviate from its original trajectory.

By sheer coincidence, the warm urine landed right on a few drooping branches. Perhaps the branches are very sensitive to temperature and vibration, and the combination of these two factors...

The branches seemed to come alive, first secreting a sticky substance. Just as Dante turned around, countless branches, like writhing snakes, coiled around his ankles.

At first, Dante didn't think much of it, assuming it was just some vines in the forest that had tripped him up. But just as he reached out to untangle himself, the moment he looked down, Dante screamed in terror.

"Good heavens, sir. What the hell is this?!"

As soon as Dante finished speaking, the branches began to exert their force. The branches, which had been slowly wrapping around him, suddenly locked onto Dante's ankles and pulled him toward the trunk.

The sudden crisis caused Dante's mind to go blank, and he even forgot to draw the sword at his waist.

When he realized what was happening, his limbs and torso were already firmly locked in a spread-eagle position by several tree branches, like the cross binding Jesus, fixing Dante to the tree trunk.

At this moment, Dante wanted to shout, but the branches seemed to know this instinct of animals. While they were entangling Dante, one branch directly locked Dante's neck.

Now Dante was having trouble even breathing, let alone calling for help.

Dante's limbs were locked and immobilized by tree branches, making it impossible for him to grab a knife. Now, his throat was also firmly locked by another tree branch.

Dante's face was flushed red from the blood rushing to his head. Due to the lack of oxygen, waves of dizziness were washing over him, and all Dante could manage were low whimpers.

It's over! It's completely over. Did the gentleman hear my cries? Could they have already come over? Could they have found this place?

At this moment, countless questions arose in Dante's mind—hope, despair, and resentment. A myriad of emotions flashed across Dante's face like a revolving lantern.

Dante felt his consciousness sinking into a bottomless lake, his eyelids growing heavy, like two stone doors about to close.

"Click! Click! Click!"

As several sounds of a knife slicing through tree branches and snapping rang out, a familiar voice vaguely reached Dante's ears.

"Dante! Dante! Wake up, wake up!"

As he felt his body shaking violently, this extremely uncomfortable sensation made Dante take a few deep breaths before slowly opening his eyes.

Suddenly, two familiar figures appeared before him.

"Master, Dante has woken up!"

Su Su, supporting Dante, exclaimed happily.

At this moment, my Niper machete flashed up and down, mercilessly slicing through every branch that came at me.

I shouted as I chopped at the branches that were whipping at me.

"Susu, take Dante away from those trees. Quickly get out the tinderbox I made for you and use the sap from the sap tree to deal with it, hurry!"

At that moment, the severed branches were writhing on the ground, and the sound that Mingbai made from somewhere was actually the hissing sound of a venomous snake flicking its tongue.

The branches attacked more fiercely, but fortunately my eyes had been trained to notice fifty points of change at the same time.

The speed at which the branches attacked was not yet beyond the range of my eyesight.

However, this wishful thinking was quickly shattered, as it wasn't just that triggering the branch would cause the tree to launch an attack.

Now, the few cypress trees nearby that are touched by the branches seem to be injected with fresh blood, stretching out their branches and attacking me along with the previous cypress tree.

"Damn! These trees actually know how to cooperate."

I cursed under my breath, my Nepalese kukri already flashing in the air, but it was all for naught.

There were so many branches that even when I strained my eyes to see, my eyes were practically crossed, and still, a large number of branches were coming at me.

"Master, move aside, I'm coming!"

Just then, Su Su's voice came. I had been waiting for this moment for a long time, so I didn't hesitate and quickly cut off several branches that were entangled with me.

He then rolled to the side, leaving the area of ​​attack range of the Dark Cypress.

Seeing that I had landed, the branches realized that their advantage was even greater, and immediately a large number of dark branches pressed down on my body.

But this time I chose to entrust my back to Su Su.

At this moment, Su Su's tinderbox was already burning brightly. Su Su took a sip of sap from the sap tree, puffed out her cheeks, and aimed it at the flame above the tinderbox, gathering her strength to spray it out.

"call!"

A whooshing sound rang out, and a fire dragon instantly covered a large number of dancing Nether Cypress branches.

As the flames shot out, the accelerant inside immediately enveloped the tree branch, causing it to burn fiercely.

The roar of the cypress tree intensified, its countless branches writhing in agony in the air, trying to extinguish the raging fire above.

But this combustion accelerant, known as natural gasoline, is not something it can easily get rid of.

The flames immediately turned the branches yellow and withered, and with a crackling sound, a large number of branches were burned into piles of charcoal.

I was just thinking of retreating when, presumably sensing the change in the situation, all the Nether Cypress trees seemed to come back to life as if by telepathy, waving their branches to block both the front and back exits.