Chapter 13. The Tree Demon's Secret Realm, Part 8: Fierce Battle...
In the tent at night, Lin Xiaoxiao removed her prosthetic leg and sat on the small bed. Her expression was still somewhat blank, and her eyes were unfocused, clearly indicating that she was in a state of daydreaming.
Her mind was now a complete mess, her consciousness seemed to be immersed in a huge noise, and everything around her seemed to be crushed into tiny, buzzing pieces, making her thoughts chaotic and scattered.
This situation arose after they saw that strange big tree.
It's been going on for a while now, starting from a barely noticeable little bit, and it's gotten so bad that it's interfering with my thoughts.
After washing up, with his hair still slightly damp, Xiao Weizhi lifted the tent flap and stepped inside. He saw this scene as soon as he entered. His brow furrowed slightly, and he asked in a low voice, "What's wrong?"
It was this short sentence that snapped Lin Xiaoxiao out of her daze.
Her face was a little pale, and her once-moist lips looked like dry, chapped rose petals, as if they had lost their sap. She instinctively covered them up, saying, "It's nothing."
After she finished speaking, she picked up a pillow and lay down with her head down.
Seeing her lie down, Xiao Weizhi silently turned off the alchemy lamp, cutting off all light sources.
Time passed slowly, and Lin Xiaoxiao, trapped in a nightmare, kept tossing and turning on the small bed, which made a soft creaking sound. Beads of cold sweat appeared on her forehead, and her face showed a hint of pain.
She was in a daze in her dream, and there was a voice saying, "Here you come," "Come quickly, come find me," "I'm waiting for you," and so on.
Xiao Weizhi, who had been lying down for some time, sighed helplessly, suddenly opened his eyes and sat up, reaching for the aromatherapy diffuser by the bedside.
I took it in my hand and lit the aromatherapy lamp wick with a lighter.
When the faint fragrance once again filled the small, enclosed space of the tent, Lin Xiaoxiao's expression of struggle lessened considerably, and she stopped tossing and turning, sleeping much more peacefully.
The next morning, everyone was full of energy, except for Lin Xiaoxiao, who looked listless, as if she hadn't slept well all night.
Cheng Cheng asked worriedly, "What's wrong with Xiaoxiao? Is she feeling unwell?"
Lin Xiaoxiao chuckled and shook her head: "No, I had a dream all night, but I forgot what it was about."
That's absolutely true.
When she woke up, all she remembered was having a very long dream, but she couldn't recall any of the details.
Chen Yijin, carrying a large metal pot that was half his height, greeted everyone warmly: "Breakfast is ready, come and eat."
Hearing Chen Yijin's call, the companions who were tidying up the tent put down what they were doing and walked towards the dining table, laughing and joking.
After the meal, all members of the Dragon Fang Squad tacitly began to change into their professional attire, accessories, props, and equipment, equipping themselves with everything that could enhance their appearance.
Even Xiao Weizhi changed out of his purple-black robe and into a more magnificent white-gold robe, wearing a mage hat with an exquisite pendant on top and a gorgeous necklace on his chest... making him look even more refined and noble.
After all, what we're about to encounter today might be the biggest boss in this secret realm. If we don't take it seriously, we might fail and fall in this secret realm.
After getting ready, the group boarded the flying car and headed straight for the location of the big tree.
Just before stepping onto the lawn, Xiao Weizhi turned to Lin Xiaoxiao and said in a deep voice, "Today you must stay close to me and keep a distance of no more than 50 centimeters from me."
Otherwise, if something happens, he won't be able to save her at all.
Lin Xiaoxiao nodded obediently, walked closer, and reached out to grab his belt.
Xiao Weizhi felt the familiar tugging at her waist and felt somewhat helpless. Was this woman a primary school student? She always had to tug at the hem of her clothes.
But he didn't let Lin Xiaoxiao let go; instead, he subconsciously slowed down so that she could keep up.
The moment Li Junxuan stepped onto the lawn, carrying a 3m x 8m shield, everything that had been as serene as a painting began to twist and change. Everything that came into view shed its original illusion and distorted into a large group of ferocious monsters.
Xiao Weizhi's eyes radiated a cold, chilling aura, yet beneath them burned a fierce fighting spirit and ambition.
He commanded in a deep voice: "Junxuan, push forward; Huihui, you and Chen Feng, go and engage the monsters; Wang Hao, take your positions and don't rush forward impulsively; Jiang Tao, find an opportunity to flank from the side; Yijin, you stand behind Wang Hao to cover the rear; Cheng Cheng, stay in your positions."
"Received!!" they said in unison. *7
With the team members working in perfect harmony, they slowly advanced, getting closer and closer to the big tree, and could clearly see the golden interior faintly visible through the trunk.
Strangely, the tree remained motionless, as if it were an ordinary tree without any intelligence.
[Congratulations to the Dragon Fang Squad for defeating the Level 22 Bronze-level BOSS - Big Mouth Flower Fairy]
[Congratulations to the Dragon Fang Squad for defeating the level 39 Bronze-rank BOSS - Serene Flower Fairy]
[Congratulations to the Dragon Fang Squad for defeating the level 48 Bronze-rank BOSS - the Deceptive Grass Demon]
...
Hundreds of kill notifications kept flooding the screen.
Before them lay an endless array of monstrous beasts, still relentlessly attacking and besieging them.
Wang Hao wiped the sweat from his brow, panting and cursing, "Did we stir up trouble? Is this ever going to end?"
Liu Huihui, wielding a greatsword taller than a person, swung it and chopped off the head of a humanoid flower demon. He said helplessly, "Can't you save your energy? You've been chattering away the whole way, aren't you tired?"
Jiang Tao's figure appeared and disappeared intermittently, quickly flashing back and forth among the monster bosses. Each swing of his dagger caused a huge wound on the monsters.
When he flashed back into the team, he heard Wang Hao's complaint and added with a sneer, "There are thousands more waiting behind, what's the rush?"
Chen Feng parried a monster's fist attack with his longsword, pushed the monster away, and then swung his sword back to slash at the monster's neck.
Every time Xiao Weizhi waved his staff, more than a dozen powerful fire-type skills would fall into the group of monster bosses, creating a large explosion radius.
Cheng Cheng stood beside Lin Xiaoxiao, his eyes fixed on his teammates' status, always able to accurately provide healing, mana restoration, buffs, and other skills.
Even Chen Yijin was desperately throwing alchemical potions to block the monsters that were trying to bypass him.
In this tense and terrifying scene, Lin Xiaoxiao stood behind Xiao Weizhi, her small hands tightly gripping his belt, staring blankly at the big tree in front of her, as if she were captivated by his spirit.
The closer she got, the more she felt that the big tree was greeting her.
Li Junxuan, carrying a large shield, withstood the attacks of over a hundred demonic beasts. Perhaps due to the excessive number of attacks, the shield in his hand began to show obvious cracks.
His expression twisted, looking somewhat ferocious: "Boss, I can't take it anymore, I can't hold on much longer."
Upon hearing this, Xiao Weizhi immediately took out several skill scrolls from his spatial ring and quickly tore them apart.
In an instant, several huge, blood-red magic circles appeared out of thin air, floating several meters in the air, enveloping most of the demonic beasts beneath them.
After a few minutes of preparation, the [Forbidden Lightning Spell - Heaven-Shaking Thunder Sea] was officially activated, and a barrage of lightning bolts crashed down, engulfing all the surrounding monsters in a dense lightning storm.
Half an hour later, as the forbidden spell disappeared, there were very few monsters left in front of them.
When the last monster was slain, its towering body was split in two and fell backward. Suddenly, the canopy of the once-silent tree began to sway without wind, and the swaying intensified.
A blurry, gigantic human face twisted and appeared in the middle of the tree trunk. Once it took shape, it let out a huge roar: "Ah-ang—"
This roar echoed throughout the entire secret realm, making it clear to everyone there that the biggest boss had appeared.
In the Rising Sun Squad, thousands of kilometers away from the Dragon Fang Squad—
Upon hearing this, Chen Zhuoran couldn't help but curse inwardly. He then coldly commanded, "Don't conserve mana, increase your output, quickly eliminate these monsters, and head to the final boss immediately."
Countless teams did the same thing as the Rising Sun Squad. Some teams that were on their way even changed direction and headed towards the location of the final boss, trying to find an opportunity to get a share of the loot.
At the same time, all teams in the secret realm received a special notification:
[Level 120 (Silver) - Evergreen Treant has entered a state of rage]
As the Evergreen Tree Demon roared, Lin Xiaoxiao's eyes widened in astonishment. She heard the demon shout: "Intruder, you deserve to die!"
Then a special notification rang in her ears:
Congratulations on acquiring the skill: Hearing the Voice of All Things.
[The Voice of All Things: All intelligent beings can hear the voices of their own hearts. Possessing this skill might allow you to become good friends with various intelligent beings?]
Lin Xiaoxiao looked astonished. Why could she directly obtain a skill? Normally, there are only three ways to obtain a skill: leveling up to the next major advancement (for example, Lin Xiaoxiao completed the third advancement quest and obtained a skill from an experience chest), learning it through a skill book, or being taught by someone else.
I've never heard of anyone getting skills out of thin air.
While Lin Xiaoxiao was still in a daze, the entire Dragon Fang team had already changed their battle positions, and countless skills were unleashed from their hands, heading straight for the BOSS.
Xiao Weizhi waved his hand and threw out hundreds of forbidden spell scrolls in succession, forming a dense array of colorful magic circles aimed at the Evergreen Tree Demon.
Amidst the deafening roar of bombing, Lin Xiaoxiao could vaguely hear it howling:
'Damn intruders, damn it, damn it!'
'Eliminate, eliminate them all'
...
As the Evergreen Tree Spirit's canopy shook wildly, many golden specks of light fell directly to the ground like rain, and a large group of plant monster BOSSes appeared out of thin air on the ground once again.
Now, everyone's faces turned extremely grim. So this is how the previous BOSS groups came about—a special product of the Evergreen Tree Spirit?
Xiao Weizhi pulled out another bunch of scrolls and threw them at the big boss.
A barrage of forbidden spells rained down, interspersed with attacks from the entire Dragon Fang Squad.
Time passed second by second, and everyone's faces turned pale from the continuous exertion. Wang Hao had started drinking the drowsiness-replenishing potion half an hour ago.
The team's potions were all made by alchemists of the Grandmaster level or above, which Xiao Weizhi had found. Compared to those potions of mediocre quality that also had side effects, these potions were perfect except for being expensive (ps: one potion is 100ml and costs 100,000 gold coins).
After annihilating more than a dozen waves of mini-boss monsters, the Evergreen Tree Demon, perhaps realizing it had no way to eliminate these invaders, finally couldn't sit still any longer.
Its leaves transformed into sharp blades, swarming towards the team's location.
Xiao Weizhi quickly raised his staff and swung it more than a dozen times, creating a series of heavy shields that protected his companions.
Li Junxuan worked seamlessly together, casting several alien shields over Xiao Weizhi's skill.
The group was surrounded in the very center, listening to the clanging and jingling sounds.
Liu Huihui's hands glowed continuously as he activated his skills. Whenever the alien shield was destroyed, he would replenish it. He said with a hint of helplessness, "My mana is in a bit of a danger."
Cheng Cheng waved his staff, which was half the height of a person, and used a skill to restore Liu Huihui's precarious mana. Then, Liu Huihui's mana was depleted again, and Cheng Cheng replenished it, forming a cycle.
Xiao Weizhi rubbed his temples helplessly: "Chen Feng, Cheng Cheng, find the right opportunity to use your combo skills; the rest of you, if you're low on mana, drink mana potions. Time is running out, we have to take down this BOSS quickly."
If this drags on any longer, other teams might try to steal the spot at any time.
No sooner had these words been spoken than the entire squad was struck by a massive impact, sent flying like balls. It turned out that the evergreen tree spirit, seeing that the leaf array couldn't harm them, had bent down a large bunch of branches and used a physical attack.
Xiao Weizhi turned around and picked up Lin Xiaoxiao around the waist. He quickly made several hand gestures with his left hand, then his body floated lightly and his toes touched the ground repeatedly. He retreated more than a hundred meters before he regained his balance.
A moment later, a semi-transparent giant appeared out of thin air and repeatedly swung his fists at the BOSS. Each punch landed on the tree trunk and splashed out a lot of golden liquid, as if it were the blood of the tree demon BOSS.
After a day and a night of fighting, facing death multiple times, and with each member of the group bearing injuries to varying degrees, they finally managed to wear down the BOSS.
[Congratulations to the Dragon Fang Squad for defeating the level 120 Extreme Silver Rank BOSS – Evergreen Treant]
Congratulations to the Dragon Fang Team for obtaining the core of this secret realm!
[Core Attributes: Herbaceous, Long-term...]
[Experience gained: 78654564984...]
...
A series of notifications sounded, and the Dragon Fang team couldn't help but cheer, except for Lin Xiaoxiao, whose gaze remained fixed on the direction where the BOSS fell.
As the BOSS fell, she clearly heard its mournful cry: 'God, it's unfair, it's unfair!!'
And after it fell, a large mass of golden light burst out from the BOSS's body, floating in the air and remaining condensed.
Xiao Weizhi noticed that Lin Xiaoxiao's gaze was fixed on the top of the BOSS's corpse. Her face was pale, and she asked in confusion as she breathed heavily, "Is the air nice?"
Lin Xiaoxiao looked up in surprise, pointing at the golden light: "You can't see it?"
Following the direction Lin Xiaoxiao pointed, Xiao Weizhi narrowed his eyes slightly, observed carefully for a while, and then turned his head: "What is that?"
Lin Xiaoxiao's heart raced, as if she realized something was amiss, and she replied softly, "Hmm, I think I saw a small flying insect."
Xiao Weizhi glanced at her irritably; she seemed to have the leisure to watch the little flying insects.
Just as the Dragon Fang team was happily collecting supplies...
When the Rising Sun Squad arrived in their flying car, they saw that the BOSS had already been defeated, and their faces were as black as the bottom of a pot.
A note from the author:
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