Life Crystal

"Mary, burn down this entire forest!"

"Yes, Captain."

A smile curled across Mary's lips. She swung her wand sharply, and terrifying flames instantly flared to life. Who knew what kind of monsters lurked within that forest? Rather than fighting on the enemy's home ground, they preferred creating their own.

Crimson flames wildly scorched the trees along the outskirts. After barely half a minute, the entire forest began to tremble. Giant trees over ten meters tall uprooted themselves and transformed into Treants.

"Damn humans, you dare destroy the forest!"

"Enemies of nature."

Hundreds of Treants charged into the sea of fire like an army. Flames were easily crushed beneath their enormous bodies, and when the two sides were only a few hundred meters apart, the Treants raised their arms and formed sharp wooden spears.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

In an instant, a dark mass of wooden spears tore through the sky and flew toward Aik's group like a torrential downpour.

"Ulag, stop them!" Aik roared. He raised his longsword before him and charged forward without looking back. "Mary, Ross, support us!"

"Unfallen Fortress!"

Ulag's iron-tower-like body instantly rushed forward. He slammed his tower shield into the ground, and with a roar, earth-yellow battle aura erupted from his entire body. Shields formed from battle aura tightly protected everyone behind him.

"Stamina Enhancement, Defense Enhancement, Attack Enhancement, Speed Enhancement, Life Link."

Behind them, the bard Ross played his seven-stringed harp. Streaks of multicolored light flew out and landed on his companions. Their auras visibly surged at once. As an advanced bard, he might not have been much in direct combat, but his support abilities were enough to rival those of an advanced priest.

"Sinkhole Spell!"

Mary was not idle either. Her eyes remained fixed on the front. When the Treant army came within a hundred meters, she waved her wand, and the earth let out a rumble. The Treants at the front instantly fell into traps beneath their feet.

"Earth Spike Spell."

With another wave of her wand, sharp stone spikes several meters long instantly struck the Treants that had fallen into the pits. Even if they could not pierce the Treants' bodies, they trapped them all within the pits.

"Grease Spell."

"Flame Storm."

A magical duet, a skill exclusive to advanced mages. Flammable grease instantly coated the bottoms of the pits, and the flames that followed ignited crimson light. Under the terrifying heat, the Treants were burned into charcoal.

The instant charging Aik neared the flames, a path instantly opened before him. Without the slightest hesitation, he drew strength into his leg and stomped the ground. A pit several meters deep exploded beneath his feet, and his body shot more than ten meters into the air.

"Frost Sword Dance!"

In midair, Aik's battle aura erupted. Terrifying cold condensed into frost around his body, and the greatsword in his hand swung wildly. Dense Frost Slashes rained down upon the Treants below.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

As the ground thundered madly, countless Treants were sliced apart by the slashes, their bodies frozen solid. The Treants caught by the chill at the edges slowed down, and whenever that happened, a ghost would suddenly appear, the dagger in his hand flashing with deadly cold light.

Slashes carrying soul attacks easily cleared away the afterimage-like Treants.

Hundreds of lv3 Treants were completely wiped out by Aik and the others in the blink of an eye.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

Heavy footsteps came from deep within the forest. A thirty-meter-tall Treant with six arms, each holding a different weapon, appeared before Aik. When it saw the corpses of the dead Treants, an incomparably furious expression appeared on its face.

"It's grown so large already!"

Deep within the Seventh Layer, Luo Ao watched as ripples spread across the surface of the orb when the Giant Tree Guardian appeared. He had not expected the Giant Tree Guardian to have grown to thirty meters after not seeing it for some time. When Luo Ao had first created the Giant Tree Guardian, it had not even been ten meters tall.

Level: lv6

Opening the panel, Luo Ao glanced at the Giant Tree Guardian's current level. It had risen two levels from the beginning, so it was no wonder it had grown so much.

[Earth Resonance]

At the core of the Fourth Layer, the Giant Tree Guardian immediately locked onto the mage Mary at the very back. Its terrifying body stepped forward fiercely, and the earth beneath its feet seemed to come alive, heaving up waves several meters high.

Then mud climbed over its body, forming a thick layer of stone armor around the Giant Tree Guardian. Amid the rumbling of the earth, the Giant Tree Guardian charged forward like a rampaging beast.

"Hah!"

Aik crouched low and planted his stance. With one slash, he split apart the wave of earth rushing toward him. His eyes fixed on the Giant Tree Guardian charging toward him like a siege beast. His battle aura erupted, and frost condensed beneath his feet.

"Frost Slash."

Boom!

At the instant of impact, the terrifying force blasted a pit beneath Aik's feet and sent him uncontrollably sliding back dozens of meters. Even as an advanced warrior, he still found it difficult to withstand the Colossal Strength of the Giant Tree Guardian, which stood over thirty meters tall.

"Human, die!"

The Giant Tree Guardian looked at the little ant blocking its path. Its six arms rose sharply and, accompanied by a shrill howl, smashed down at Aik.

"Covering Charge."

Just as Aik was about to be unable to hold on, a burly figure flashed out from behind him. The tower shield in his hand steadily blocked the Giant Tree Guardian's attack.

"Get—out of my way!"

The muscles in his arms bulged fiercely, and veins stood out beneath his skin. The shield in his hand actually began to rise little by little. With Ulag's low roar, he directly shoved the Giant Tree Guardian away.

"Backstrike."

"Flame Burst Spell."

"Attack Power Enhancement."

Seizing the opportunity, Mary and the other two attacked without mercy. The Ghost Assassin appeared behind the Giant Tree Guardian, daggers in both hands. Bolstered by Ross, his arms whipped up a series of afterimages, and in just a few seconds, he hollowed out the Giant Tree Guardian's back.

The fatal attack that reached its soul made the Giant Tree Guardian let out a painful howl. Fireballs the size of human heads shot into its mouth, and the violent explosions blasted half its trunk apart.

"It's over!"

At that moment, Aik's figure flashed to the Giant Tree Guardian's side. Layers of frost condensed over the greatsword in his hand, its surface gleaming with bone-piercing cold light.

Boom!

A few seconds later, the Giant Tree Guardian's upper body crashed heavily to the ground. Its tough tree body was covered in bone-chilling frost, and at the center of its trunk, a fist-sized emerald crystal emitted dense life energy.

"Life Crystal!"

Joy appeared on Aik's face. This was an extremely rare treasure. The immense life force condensed within it made it invaluable, whether for refining potions or crafting magical equipment.

Do not underestimate such a small piece. The life potion refined from it could extend one's lifespan by thirty years.

It was a rare material that only Treants over a thousand years old could produce within the Forest of Life, where the Elves lived.