While these attacks posed little threat to Duma, they were extremely damaging to Marba, and he had to take them seriously.
He had considered attacking Ed's main body directly, bypassing the alchemical golem, but unfortunately, Ed was just too fast.
Willow inscribed all the suitable Psionic Energy Formula as circuits on the surface of the alchemical golem, but there was only one skill she truly taught Ed: short-range instant teleportation.
With a "Flash" ability that doesn't have a cooldown, it's not difficult for Ed to dodge Marba's attacks alone.
Having withstood wave after wave of Disorder with her unwavering physique, Marba looked at Ed, who was suspended in mid-air with his hands seemingly typing on a keyboard, and a mocking expression appeared on her face:
"That little skill of yours can't hurt me."
Ed's lips twitched. He felt that the other person wasn't an actor at all, but rather a delusional teenager lost in his own fantasies. How could someone utter such awkward lines? This kind of person would succeed at anything.
Thinking of this, he chuckled to himself.
"Have you forgotten something?"
Marba looked at the horrific battlefield and felt that he hadn't forgotten anything.
Ed continued to remind him:
"As I just said, I have three things to say."
Marba frowned; he knew what the other person was about to say.
Sure enough, Ed's suggestion reached his ears again:
"But I only mentioned two things and you already couldn't take it anymore, oh dear, this is really..."
Marba, displaying the furious expression befitting a Stained Ones, shouted:
"False God, what else do you have to say?!"
Yes, but not to you.
Ed used the alchemical golem to hold Marba back, while he himself looked towards the Holy Crusaders officers who were struggling in the battle...
Because their health bars had been whittled down to 30% by the players. Although a minor incident in Fir City delayed them by a dozen seconds, the overall situation was not affected in any way.
Is a single player very strong?
They weren't that strong. In the eyes of these Middle Tier officers, killing a player was no different from stepping on an ant, and killing a group of players was just a matter of stepping on them a couple more times. They did it without hesitation.
The problem now is that even when you're stepping on ants, there will always come a time when you run out of energy.
Modern officers have this experience: how many enemies have they killed? Hundreds? Thousands? Probably more.
Given their combat efficiency and the depth of blood reaching their calves, the exact number of enemies they killed is no longer an easily estimated figure.
Their knives had become much duller, and the projectiles they fired were no longer as powerful as they used to be.
Their arms felt heavy, their bodies began to sluggish, and they looked as exhausted as marathon runners.
But the ants continued to bite them relentlessly. Although their attacks were as ridiculous as a child's, when they had to face hundreds of such attacks at the same time, they couldn't help but feel a sense of fear.
The fearless enemy left them physically and mentally exhausted, and the endless stream of enemies filled them with utter despair.
Just then, they suddenly noticed that the enemy in front of them had stopped attacking in unison. Even those who had already brandished their weapons quickly withdrew them. These endless rebels exchanged glances and retreated collectively.
The Holy Crusaders officers couldn't understand this behavior; they didn't know that after the players whittled down the fake health bar to 30%, a notification immediately appeared in front of all players:
Please retreat to the castle gate within thirty seconds.
There really was something hidden!
Many players were immediately intrigued. Was it an Easter egg? An execution? A real-time animation for the second phase?
As they drifted into thought, they maintained their defensive formation and began to retreat little by little.
Meanwhile, the Holy Crusaders officers also sensed that peculiar gaze and diverted some of their attention to Ed in the air.
"Third..."
The boy in the air slowly spoke, and the translucent, dark blue Psionic Energy plant in his left eye socket began to solidify little by little, the deep blue representing mystery turning emerald green once again.
The change in form significantly reduced Ed's Psionic Energy Compatibility. Marba felt the aura emanating from the alchemical golem in front of her lessen, and its movements slowed down.
Ed stood on a branch of the Resurrection Tree in the center of the tree wall, his one eye scanning the Tree Worship Church officers below:
"I know you all have a death wish, but here, dying isn't so simple..."
As soon as he finished speaking, the color in Ed's already emerald green eyes became even more intense, and the Symbiotic Tree in his left eye socket began to grow instantly, quickly transforming from a laurel wreath encircling half of his head into a magnificent crown-like shape.
His body underwent a slight Tree Transformation, and the area around his jawline near his collarbone was tinged with a gradient green, resembling tree bark.
Ed transformed back into a form focused on Plant Compatibility, now able to clearly see all the symbiotic plants within each Holy Crusaders's body.
The roots of those symbiotic plants meander through their muscles, entwine around their bones, and take root in their internal organs. They are fighting fiercely over the invasion of their territory, and the roots of several have even wandered to the vicinity of their hearts, about to tighten.
Ed gently touched the now more noble and magnificent Little Green, and an irresistible aura swept across the entire tree wall barrier.
Everyone except Marba began to tremble involuntarily. Their bodies seemed to be electrified, and they started to twitch uncontrollably, feeling an urge to kneel before the person in front of them.
But they were hardly moved by this. They were here on the orders of Lord Sailesi, and no matter who he was, whether he was a man or a god, they had to carry out his orders.
However, they soon understood why things had turned out this way.
It is not they who want to worship and offer their loyalty, but the Symbiotic Tree within their bodies.
The moment that aura enveloped the barrier, all the Symbiotic Tree ceased their fighting. They caught a glimpse of that being through the eyes of the symbiotic beings, and then, without a shred of backbone, they slid to their knees at lightning speed.
Ed looked at the Holy Crusaders officers below, who were struggling to hold on, without saying a word, but simply extended his right hand and waved slightly.
One officer immediately felt a loosening; the connection between the Symbiotic Tree within him and himself seemed to be weakening.
A vine-like plant peeked out from his collar, twisted a few times in the air, then turned its tip to "look" at its former owner, as if to say, "Run away, run away."
Then, without hesitation, it pulled all its roots out of the priest's body and plunged into the knee-deep water of blood, beginning its swim towards Ed.