The air was filled with a pungent burnt smell, along with a strange odor resembling ionized air.
A considerable stretch of the forest had been burned away. Some entity carrying tremendous heat had run rampant here, destroying hundreds or thousands of ancient trees with its scorching temperature and leaving behind a charred trail that still smoked and radiated heat. As far as the eye could see, tree trunks reduced to charcoal lay scattered across the ground, alongside explosion craters of varying depths and patches of fire still smoldering in every corner, not yet fully extinguished. A thick layer of ash covered the scorched earth like gray-black snow.
At the edge of this scorched land, Black Pine Forest was writhing as it healed. The giant trees and bushes broken by the shock wave rustled as they regrew at a visible speed. However, their healing was clearly being obstructed. Only the vegetation at the edge of the scorched earth could grow normally. In the places completely burned by the flames, there was not the slightest sign of plant life reviving.
The powerful life cycle of Black Pine Forest had actually been impeded by the power of the Gorgon Abyss. The Empire had spent hundreds of years "digging" a Greenway through the edge of Black Pine Forest, yet a Gorgon Demon of lord rank had effortlessly and permanently burned away a section deep within the forest.
This left even Kaim, the Broken Sword Knight who knew the Gorgon Demons quite well, utterly astonished.
Looking at the still-smoking scorched land before him, which showed almost no signs of healing, the dark-skinned warrior wore an incredulous expression. "I've been away from here for a long time... These burned black pines still haven't regrown?"
"Is that really so unusual?" Hao Ren raised his eyebrows. He had