Satyr Chief

The continuous charging left the mounts beneath them showing signs of fatigue; their breathing grew heavy, and their running pace slowed significantly.

Big Black, beneath Kalei, was so exhausted that his tongue lolled out, white foam gathered at the corners of his mouth, and his limbs trembled slightly—he had clearly reached his limit.

Seeing the state of the mounts, Arenia had no choice but to lead the team to a halt and set up a defensive perimeter on the spot.

As soon as they stopped, the Corrupted Furbolg swarmed in from all directions, their rotting claws scraping against the ground with ear-piercing sounds, their turbid eyes fixed hungrily on the group.

Trapped in the center, Kalei looked at these Corrupted Furbolg, a sense of intense crisis surging in his heart.

He knew that if he could not find a way to deal with these Corrupted Furbolg, he and everyone here would face total annihilation.

He scouted the strength of these Corrupted Furbolg and discovered they were generally between level twenty and thirty. Their individual strength was not high, and ordinary arrows or blade strikes could inflict damage, but their true terror lay in their near-immortal nature.

This trait meant that even if their heads were severed, as long as their bodies remained, they would struggle to continue their assault.

Kalei knew these Corrupted Furbolg were only immortal because the Satyr leader hidden in the shadows was continuously channeling energy to them through the corrupted Magic Tree in the center of the cave.

Therefore, the best way to break the Furbolg's immortality was to directly sever the Magic Tree's energy supply.

Unfortunately, this Magic Tree was controlled by the Satyr leader. Just moments ago, Kalei had secretly attempted to wrestle control from the Satyr leader using his mental power, but he failed and nearly suffered a backlash from the nightmare energy; he had to find another way.

After much thought, Kalei hit upon the only remaining solution: using an external force to awaken the Magic Tree from its slumber, thereby breaking its connection to the Emerald Dream.

And the only one capable of such an "external awakening" was the immensely strong Ugo.

However, this fellow had been tied down by those two Nightmare Warrior units and could not break free.

What could be done?

Kalei took a moment to glance at the nearby battlefield. He saw that although Ugo was suppressing the two Nightmare Warrior units with his sheer strength, it was unclear how long it would take to completely defeat them while they were bolstered by nightmare power.

After weighing his options, he resorted to a taunt, shouting, "Chief Ugo, the greatest descendant of Ursoc, there is no time left! Has the power granted to you by your ancestors reached its limit?"

Hearing Kalei's cry, Ugo did not feel anger, for he had been asking himself the same question: had the power granted by his ancestors truly reached its limit?

He looked at the dense mass of Corrupted Furbolg, at Wumu's smug mockery, and at the precarious situation facing Ulu and Una. An inexplicable emotion rose within him, and memories of his ancestor, Ursoc, seemed to surface in his mind from the void.

Ugo, who had begun to feel weary, suddenly roared toward the heavens. He then lifted a foot and slammed it heavily onto the ground, bellowing, "In the name of the ancestor, feel the power of Ursoc!"

As his foot struck the earth, a massive, mountain-like phantom suddenly appeared above his head. This giant phantom seemed to perceive that his descendant was suffering; he roared in fury, lifted his foot in unison with Ugo, and stomped heavily onto the ground.

With a thunderous "boom," almost everyone in the cave, including Kalei, felt a violent tremor ripple through the ground. This vibration was not just felt beneath their feet; it surged into their souls, causing them to fall into a state of involuntary dizziness.

In that moment, four words flashed simultaneously through everyone's consciousness: War Stomp!

This powerful skill, imbued with the strength of the earth, was the signature ability of the Tauren chieftains of the Kalimdor Continent. No one expected a Furbolg to possess it, let alone with such astonishing power.

By the time Kalei and the others recovered from their dizziness, they found that almost all combat had ceased. The two Nightmare Warrior units and the old bear Wumu had perished under Ugo's furious claws during their stun, their dark red blood and viscera scattered across the floor.

The immortal nightmare Furbolg had also lost their nightmare power because the tremor had awakened the sleeping Magic Tree, and they collapsed one after another.

The group stood frozen in place for a moment, barely able to believe they had achieved victory.

It was not until Luna and the others tentatively kicked the corpses of the Corrupted Furbolg at their feet, confirming that the creatures had truly lost all signs of life, that the group erupted into excited cheers.

But just as they prepared to head over to celebrate the victory with Ugo, a sharp, coarse voice echoed through the cave once more.

"Hahahaha, you fools, you don't think you've won just like that, do you? Now, let me show you the power my master has bestowed upon me!"

The group looked toward the sound and saw that, at some point, the Satyr leader had dragged his wounded body onto the Magic Tree.

At this moment, the Magic Tree was twisting and changing at a speed visible to the naked eye, quickly transforming into a giant treant forty to fifty meters tall. The treant looked similar to an Ancient of War, but its movements appeared more agile.

Under the control of the Satyr leader, the giant treant quickly launched an attack on the group.

Facing such a massive enemy, the group was completely unable to contend with it; even the powerful Ugo could not withstand a single punch from this thing.

For a time, everyone had to scramble to dodge, and the atmosphere of victory vanished in an instant.

Fortunately, while the treant's power was immense, its massive size made it somewhat slow relative to the people, which gave them a chance to evade.

Seeing that the treant's attacks were missing, the Satyr leader changed tactics, manipulating the Magic Tree to unleash twisted spells upon the group using corrupted natural energy.

Twisted thorns and vines erupted relentlessly from beneath their feet, attempting to restrict their movement.

Seeing the group falling into crisis once again, Jinli frantically swung her twin blades to sever the surrounding thorns, shouting, "Kalei, we have no way to handle this big guy! It's all up to you, little one!"

Ugo was also nearby, struggling somewhat clumsily with the vines, and said, "Wizard, I have shown my courage; please bring forth your wisdom."

Kalei dodged an attack and shouted, "I don't have a foolproof plan yet, but I have to take a gamble!"

Jinli asked, "What kind of gamble? Let's hear it."

Kalei replied, "Right now, this Magic Tree is under the Satyr leader's control. It is impossible to directly guide natural energy to purify it."

"However, I have discovered that the Magic Tree's consciousness has not vanished; it is merely sealed within the ancient tree's body."

"I can use natural energy to wrestle control of the ancient tree from the Satyr leader and then attempt to release its original consciousness. But with my current energy, it is difficult to overcome the Satyr leader unless you help me."

Arenia, riding her Stag, galloped to his side and gasped, "Kalei, how can we help you?"

Kalei said, "To fully confront the Satyr leader, I must sit in meditation and gather energy."

"During this process, you must find a way to distract the Satyr leader while ensuring I am not disturbed, otherwise I will likely suffer a backlash from the nightmare power."

Arenia thought for a moment and said loudly, "There is no time to overthink this. I propose that I lead my sisters and Jinli to attack the Satyr leader. Chief Ugo, how about you three protect Kalei?"

Ugo patted his chest and said, "I will give it my all."

Ulu and Una, who had been following closely behind him, also made the same gesture.

Arenia said, "Very well, sisters, follow me. The time to punish the traitors has come!" Arenia took the lead, guiding the five ladies as they braved the risk of being struck down by the Magic Tree to rush back onto the battlefield.

Seeing the six of them spring into action, Kalei felt he could not let them down. He suppressed the panic in his heart, dismounted from the exhausted Big Black, and found a clean, flat spot to sit and begin his meditation.

Ugo stood before him with Ulu and Una, saying in a muffled voice, "Wizard, carry out your plan. I swear in the name of my ancestors that as long as I have not fallen, I will not allow any force to disturb you."

Hearing this, Kalei felt his heart settle significantly. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and gradually cleared his mind, beginning to guide the thin natural energy in the surroundings until he slowly entered a state of deep meditation.

The Satyr leader, who had been staying atop the Magic Tree, saw the movements on Kalei's side and quickly understood his intentions.

He laughed loudly, "Haha, you fools, you despicable pointy-ears, you actually want to fight me for control of the Ancient Tree? You don't think I'd give you the chance, do you? Go to hell!"

The Satyr leader manipulated the Magic Tree to walk toward Kalei, but before it had taken many steps, the attacks from Arenia and her group arrived.

To complete their mission, Arenia and her group unleashed their full power from the start, using magic arrows to launch a frontal assault on the Satyr leader.

The Satyr leader hid within the Magic Tree, surrounded by layers of trunks; ordinary arrows could not penetrate the wood to cause him any harm, but the power of the magic arrows was enough to threaten him.

The Satyr leader cursed, "Go to hell, you pointy-ears!" He then manipulated the Magic Tree to block all the magic arrows and continued to charge toward Kalei.

Unexpectedly, relying on their superior mobility, Arenia and her group moved to the other side of the Magic Tree and continued to fire their magic arrows, forcing the Satyr leader to take defensive measures once again.

Having his advance obstructed several times in this manner thoroughly enraged the Satyr leader, forcing him to abandon his assault on Kalei and turn to launch a fierce counterattack against Arenia and her group.