Wei Ni's heart was filled with despair.
By the time the Tree Fiend had wrapped him up completely, he had already accepted his fate.
I'm going to die here today.
He pressed all ten fingers hard against the strings, ready to unleash the final strike of his life.
Suddenly, a spoken incantation rang out behind him without warning:
"YO~"
The power of Wordspirit descended at once.
Wei Ni froze.
Such a short incantation—who—
In the blink of an eye, the Tree Fiend let go of its tangled roots and branches and leaped aside. It grabbed the huge stone mill in the plaza and roared, "Go to hell!"
Pale, bony branches hoisted the enormous mill, which would have taken several people to encircle, high into the air, then twisted it with all their might until it crumbled to pieces.
Wei Ni stared for a moment, then suddenly came to his senses.
"Now's my chance!"
He barked.
This is my last chance!
His hands became a blur as he played a rapid series of murderous notes on the Ancient Zither.
In an instant, strands of razor-sharp threads drifted from the zither, crisscrossing and reflecting across the Tree Fiend's body.
Swish, swish, swish, swish!
Bound by the threads, the Tree Fiend could no longer move.
The strands sank into its body, swiftly carving fine slashes into it.
Decisive Formation · Fiend Restraining Slash!
"No... why..."
As if waking from a dream, the Tree Fiend moaned in confusion.
The next instant,
its body, made entirely of pale, bony branches, collapsed with a crash, scattering into fragments of bone.
The Tree Fiend was dead!
Wei Ni's legs gave way, and he dropped to his knees with a thud, gasping for breath.
His hands trembled uncontrollably, bright red blood dripping quickly from his fingertips—
At the