As the carriage drew closer, the scene ahead came into Leilin's view.
In the middle of the road, a massive ancient tree had taken root.
Green branches extended outward in every direction, forming an enormous canopy, with strands of vines hanging down from it.
On the great trunk, there was a pair of eyes and a mouth, giving it the appearance of a human face—though the eyes glowed an eerie green.
And fluttering about the branches were small creatures with tiny wings: green-skinned, vaguely humanoid in shape, and completely naked.
"A Sugol Treant!" Leilin exclaimed, then gave a bitter smile. "Didn't they say the area around the Academy had been cleared out? How is this thing still here?"
"Apprentice of the Black Bone Forest Academy?" The great tree spoke, and the other winged creatures turned their gaze toward him.
"I'm just a lowly apprentice preparing to leave. Would you mind clearing the road? I can pay a price!"
Leilin made one last effort.
"Any creature that dares leave the Dark Night Forest shall only die!"
The treant's voice rattled Leilin's eardrums painfully. At the same time, a green vine descended, and hanging from it was a human corpse—desiccated from head to toe, still clad in the Apprentice Grey Robe of the Black Bone Forest Academy.
"Big brother! Stay and play with us!"
One of the small spirits atop the treant fluttered down and spoke to Leilin in a sweet little girl's voice. The sound was so enchanting that Leilin felt himself growing drowsy, as if this voice belonged to the most important person in his entire world. A thought crept into his heart—staying here might not be so bad after all.
"Warning! Warning! The host is under charm influence!" The Chip's alert pulled Leilin out of the illusion.
"It actually tried to charm me!" Anger flashed across Leilin's face.
"Chip! What are the scan results?"
"Sugol Treant: Strength 5, Agility 0.5, Constitution 9.8, Spirit 3.5. Possessed skills: Blood Drain, Vine."
"Green Tree Spirit: Strength 0.9, Agility 2.5, Constitution 1.5, Spirit 3.1. Possessed skills: Charm Creature."
"Rumor has it that Green Tree Spirits and treants share a symbiotic relationship. Typically, the spirits lure creatures into the treant's attack range, and then the treant makes the kill!"
The Chip's prompt chimed in.
"The treant's Strength and Constitution are too high, and its body is far too large to go around!" Leilin's expression turned calm. "Looks like fighting is the only option."
"You're first! How dare you try to charm me!"
"Vital point identified. Wind speed calculated. Trajectory adjusted!"
Leilin suddenly raised his arm, revealing a concealed Crossbow, and pulled the trigger.
Whoosh! A black streak sliced through the air and struck the Green Tree Spirit squarely in the chest.
The bolt lodged in the spirit's right breast. Tears welled up in the creature's eyes as green liquid—resembling tree sap—poured from the wound and dripped to the ground.
"Tiris! That human just killed Tiris!" From within the treetop canopy came the panicked, hate-filled cries of the other Green Tree Spirits.
"You dare kill my daughter?!" The treant let out a furious roar and lashed a massive vine at Leilin.
"Hya!" Leilin whipped the horses backward, dodging the vine whip.
"According to the Chip's calculations, the treant's vines have a maximum attack range of only twenty meters! Its movement speed is extremely slow—that's its greatest weakness!"
Leilin drew the Cross Sword from his belt, secured the carriage, and stepped down.
"I only asked to leave peacefully. Since you won't listen to reason, then we settle this with force!"
"You killed my precious Tiris! I'll turn you into a dried husk and hang you on my body for a hundred years!!"
The treant's underground roots burst from the soil, and it rose upright like a human, charging after Leilin.
"That speed? Are you joking?" Leilin laughed, and with a flash of green light from his body, he charged at the treant.
A verdant vine shadow lashed toward Leilin. He rolled on the spot and dodged.
Crack!! The green vine smashed into the ground like a whip, gouging out a huge crater.
Leilin swung his Cross Sword horizontally at the vine. The silver-white blade bit into the wood but left only a shallow mark.
A tremendous jolt of counterforce surged through Leilin's arm. Behind him, several more dark shadows appeared.
"Attack detected from the rear. Optimal response: turn fifty degrees right and jump!" the Chip's prompt rang out.
Leilin deflected one vine with his sword, then pivoted right and leaped aside, narrowly avoiding the ambush from behind.
"Father! Let us help you!"
About seven or eight Green Tree Spirits dove down with wings spread, clutching tiny bows that looked like toys. But when Leilin noticed the dark green liquid coating the arrows, his expression changed.
"Poison!"
He pulled a purple potion vial from his belt pouch and hurled it hard toward the cluster of spirits.
Crash! The glass shattered, and a plume of purple smoke rose, taking the shape of a harpy. The creature opened its mouth and unleashed a piercing shriek!
"Banshee's Wail Potion! That cost me twenty Magic Stones!" Leilin clamped his hands over his ears. Even though he had been prepared, the sound was excruciating. As for the Green Tree Spirits, they had already collapsed to the ground.
Using potions to replicate magical effects—that was the standard way an apothecary fought in battle. At Leilin's current level, he couldn't craft a Banshee's Wail Potion on his own; he had purchased this one from his mentor Guofate.
Such potions were not only expensive but also single-use. Every one spent was one fewer in reserve, and Leilin's heart ached at the sight.
While the treant and the Green Tree Spirits were still reeling from the Banshee's Wail, Leilin dashed forward, his Cross Sword flashing.
Several Green Tree Spirits were cut cleanly in half.
"Those spirits seem to have unusual eardrum structures—they can absorb more sound waves, but that also makes them especially vulnerable to the Banshee's Wail!"
Leilin's eyes lit up. He stomped on a few more stunned spirits lying on the ground.
"Oh no! Juliss, Dylia…"
The treant, with its high Constitution, recovered from the Banshee's Wail almost immediately. Seeing Leilin slaughtering its children, it roared in fury, sending more vines crashing down while carefully withdrawing the surviving Green Tree Spirits into the safety of the canopy.
"That human's magic is sinister. Stay inside!" the great tree rumbled.
"Now's my chance!" Leilin's eyes gleamed as he rapidly chanted an incantation.
"Acid Splash!"
A sphere of green liquid appeared. Guided by Leilin's will, it dodged the vines and struck the treant's left eye dead-on.
Sizzle!! White steam billowed upward as green ichor oozed from the wound, accompanied by the treant's anguished scream.
When the steam cleared, the treant's left eye was completely gone, replaced by a charred, cavernous pit.
"I'll kill you!! I'll kill you!! Hank is going to kill you!!"
The treant thrashed its trunk wildly, whipping every vine in its reach into a tangled web.
"Who are you talking about?" Leilin had already reached the base of the trunk by now. The enormous canopy blotted out the sky entirely, casting a vast, mottled shadow on the ground below.
While the treant bellowed, Leilin had circled to its roots.
"Die!!"
The treant roared as countless vines fused together, forming a gigantic green hand that clawed toward Leilin.
"Goodbye!" Leilin smiled faintly, tossed more than a dozen crimson potion vials at the base of the trunk, and sprinted away.
Boom!! Intense flames erupted, engulfing the entire treant, followed by violent explosions and billowing black smoke.
"Using ten Explosive Potions at once—the effect is even better than expected. Against a plant-type creature like this treant, it's especially devastating!"
Though Leilin ran at full speed, the shockwave of heat from behind still grazed him, curling the ends of his hair.
"Aaargh!" The treant screamed and wailed as it crashed to the ground, its body still burning fiercely.
The Green Tree Spirits nesting in the canopy were hit first, charred to blackened husks in an instant.
"Target has lost all signs of life!" the Chip reported.
Leilin nodded, went back to the carriage, and guided it around the treant's smoldering remains.
Gazing at the charred segments of trunk and the scorched corpses of Green Tree Spirits scattered about, Leilin suddenly felt an impulse. He stepped forward and collected some cellular samples and residual material.
"Just one battle, and I've burned through half my stored potions! Still, even a Third-rank Apprentice would struggle against a treant-and-spirit combo. Ending it this way isn't bad at all!"
Fearing pursuit, Leilin drove the carriage at a breakneck pace, pushing the three horses until they foamed at the mouth, racing across the plain like the wind until they vanished over the horizon.
Half an hour later, a grey owl fluttered down and alighted on a nearby branch.
"Hank is dead!" the owl spoke in a human voice.
"I know, I know!" A face suddenly materialized in the bark of the branch beside it. "It was a Second-rank Apprentice. Shall I give chase?"
"The plan is about to begin soon! That stupid treant had it coming, dying out there like that!" The owl pecked at its feathers.
"I'll be leaving first!" The owl spread its wings and soared into the sky.
The face was silent for a moment, then broke into an eerily human smile. "He may have been merely a servant, but anyone who dares kill what's mine will pay the price."
The branch reached out toward where the treant had fallen. The great fire had long since burned out, leaving only heaps of charred wood and the blackened remains of Green Tree Spirits.
Suddenly, one of the corpses stirred—it was still alive.
This particular Green Tree Spirit had been burned almost beyond recognition. Without treatment, it would lose its remaining spark of life at any moment.
The branch lifted the spirit and held it before the face. "Want revenge?"
"Yes… For Tiris's… sake,
"Haha… Excellent!" the face laughed heartily. "As it happens, I have a vial of a failed experiment left over from last time. It will do nicely on you!"
The black bark suddenly split open, swallowing the Green Tree Spirit whole…