The Bamboo Forest's Counterattack

Plans could not keep up with the changes. Although they had anticipated the lashing of the Bamboo Forest roots and prepared to sever them with axes the moment their shields blocked the impact, things did not go as expected.

The force behind the bamboo root strikes was excessive, reaching the near-limit of what the group could withstand. Furthermore, the sheer volume of roots resulted in an incredibly high frequency of attacks.

Under such high-intensity and high-frequency lashing, the group could only struggle to hold their ground behind their shields, leaving them absolutely no opportunity to draw their axes for a counterattack.

As the leader of this operation and the head of the group, Lin Chenxing had to make a judgment call at this moment and act accordingly.

"Everyone, close in on me!" Lin Chenxing shouted.

Upon receiving Lin Chenxing's instructions, the group braced against the lashing roots and slowly converged toward the center.

"Odd-numbered members, take one step back; the two rows, close in again."

"Odd-numbered members, stow your shields and prepare to use your axes at any moment."

"Even-numbered members, leave a gap between your shields for the others to extend their axes through."

"I will push forward a few more steps to draw the majority of the root attacks. Everyone, be careful as you move."

After relaying the orders, Lin Chenxing took a deep breath, shifted his center of gravity toward his shield, and stepped forward, leaving deep footprints in the ground with every stride.

After advancing just over a meter, the offensive from the Bamboo Forest escalated. A full thirty percent of the roots were drawn to Lin Chenxing, forcing him to stop his advance and shift back to a defensive stance.

With Lin Chenxing going all out, the pressure on the others plummeted. The number of roots each person faced dropped from five percent to just over three percent, and they immediately began shifting their formation according to his orders.

Through the change in formation, the axes finally found their purpose. However, for the members in the front row bearing the brunt of the attacks, the burden was significantly heavier than before. Yet, seeing the pressure Lin Chenxing was shouldering, they no longer felt burdened by their own tasks.

Under the constant hacking of the axes, the bamboo roots began to snap, and once severed, they could no longer reach the area where the group stood.

The Bamboo Forest sensed this, too. It began to retract the severed roots and redirected its focus to attack Lin Chenxing, the target standing at the very front, intending to take him down before unleashing its full might upon the group of "turtles" behind him.

However, human intelligence far exceeds that of plants that have only just begun to awaken. When faced with new situations, humans will always seek new solutions.

Upon noticing the decrease in pressure on the rear, the members in the back began to advance while maintaining their formation.

Once Lin Chenxing rejoined the main group, he was left in the safest position to rest for a moment.

Lin Chenxing's arms continued to tremble uncontrollably even after he stowed his shield, and it took quite a while for him to recover.

Meanwhile, the members in this formation continued to reduce the length and number of the bamboo roots; at this point, less than eighty percent of the original roots remained.

After recovering, Lin Chenxing quickly found an opening and began launching his own attacks at the external roots.

Finally, using this method, the team pushed to the edge of the existing Bamboo Forest.

Reaching this point meant that all the outer bamboo roots had been severed.

At last, it seemed to everyone that these bamboo stalks had no more tricks up their sleeves.

However, faced with the threat of death, these bamboo stalks began their final struggle.

Aside from the bamboo leaves and roots, the only weapons the bamboo had left were their own bodies.

Yet, if the bamboo stalks were to tilt over to attack, the range would be too wide, and in this environment, it would likely be more self-destructive than anything else.

Consequently, before their eyes, the bamboo in the forest began to wither in patches, leaving only a few stalks within a certain range. Only seventeen stalks remained in the entire forest, but these seventeen became even more lush, upright, and verdant, with their leaves beginning to regenerate.

It was observable that these bamboo leaves were vastly different from the previous ones; they had become much thicker, and their edges had grown sharper, glinting under the sunlight.

The stalk closest to the team suddenly bent over, its head sweeping directly toward the entire group. The bamboo leaves stood on edge, intending to shatter every shield the moment they made contact and kill a few people in the process.

But how could the team fail to notice such an obvious move?

Still, there is an advantage to an open scheme: if one wants to eliminate all the bamboo, this hurdle must be crossed.

Because the bamboo's sweep was quite fast, the members of the Third Exploration Team reacted and scrambled to find suitable angles to dodge. However, the range of the sweep was simply too wide, and several members were still grazed by the bamboo leaves.

While dodging, Lin Chenxing and the others finally broke into the blind spot where the bent bamboo could not reach. At the same time, they used the contact between their feet and the ground to constantly judge the situation of the roots below, avoiding ambushes while seizing the chance to sever more of them.

The bamboo's reaction at this moment also exceeded everyone's expectations: the bamboo leaves shed once again, forming a rain of leaves.

This rain of leaves forced everyone to raise their shields again, hoping to rely on their sturdiness to block this wave of attacks.

They did manage to block it, but some leaves managed to pierce through the shields, with tips poking out from the other side.

Another bamboo stalk fell, and the group began preparing to attack the next one.

However, the bamboo did not grant them that opportunity. Seven of the remaining sixteen stalks began to wither, and all their nutrients were distributed among the remaining nine, causing their appearances to change once more.

The branches at the tops of the bamboo stalks began to soften and gradually droop.

Those drooping branches slowly began to lengthen, then started to writhe around the stalks.

Faced with this change, everyone in the Third Exploration Team began to struggle, as they had never expected that simply coming to clear a bamboo forest would be more exhausting than fighting monsters.

The only way forward now was to bite the bullet and meet each move with a counter.

It remained much like before: this time, fifteen people were chosen to focus on blocking the bamboo's attacks, while the remaining six, including Lin Chenxing, began to focus on hacking at the stalks and the roots beneath the ground.

This method was fine for dealing with a single stalk, but this was a bamboo forest that had already presented too many variables.

Just as everyone was going all out, the closest stalk silently shed its leaves, which then shot rapidly toward the Third Exploration Team.

A member caught a glimpse of this and hurriedly shouted, "Watch your backs! Raise shields for defense!"

Some of the members quickly gathered to form a shield wall, blocking all the bamboo leaves on the outside.

However, among those leaves appeared several specialized ones; they were far sharper, and the shields, already riddled with holes, could not possibly hold them back.