The gacha pull plan was a complete failure; [ Howling Pothos ] could only go from the top-tier Three Flowers Gathering plus a proxy to the regular version of Three Flowers Gathering plus my own efforts.
Such a disparity is considerable, and without the Grand Duke's support, the outcome of the struggle between the three forces within him remains uncertain.
This question may seem unimportant, but it actually relates to the strategy for dealing with [ Howling Pothos ].
Half-dragons have high health, making them suitable for close-quarters combat; Blood Corpse possess poison, making them suitable as assassins; and if the half-tree people ultimately win...
Then there's no need to fight; his body will simply become Antiya Lisi's puppet.
With this in mind, [ Howling Pothos ] began to think of a solution.
He didn't want to die like this; a normal ending was never what a perfectionist player like him needed.
A tremor came, and [ Howling Pothos ] vaguely felt the house on his right shake. He instinctively lowered his head, and several long wooden thorns shot out from the cracks in the wall, piercing the spot where his head should have been.
That was close!
[ Howling Pothos ] gasped for breath, realizing that Antiya Lisi was still relentlessly pursuing him.
No, it doesn't seem like they're closely following.
There's no doubt that the archbishop's hatred is currently focused on him, but... has he really caught up with him?
Given Antiya Lisi's abilities, if he were to pursue relentlessly, his attacks would not be so easy to dodge.
[ Howling Pothos ] looked back and saw Antiya Lisi still standing in the open space amidst the ruins in the distance, with a crater left by his own fall from the rooftop beside him.
He didn't want to kill me?
Or is it that he can't go too far from that area?
While dodging Antiya Lisi's occasional attacks, [ Howling Pothos ] carefully observed that the archbishop, now a half-tree-like being, wore tattered robes. Through the ragged hem, [ Howling Pothos ], possessing night vision, finally found the key—
Antiya Lisi's feet were firmly planted on the ground!
His Tree Transformation transformation had reached such a point that his feet had become tree roots, firmly anchored in the soil?
[ Howling Pothos ] recalled the details of the previous battle. Antiya Lisi was still stomping on the ground when he attacked him with earth spikes, which meant that he had not yet fully merged with the ground at that time.
Is it because you stayed in the same area for too long? Or is it because you used too much power in a short period of time, causing a similar side effect?
[ Howling Pothos ] was completely unaware of the reasons for this development, but if Antiya Lisi's true form wasn't so agile, he wasn't without ways to deal with him.
The cost will be slightly higher.
In the center of the battlefield, Antiya Lisi wanted to chase after the half-dragon who had provoked him, but his body involuntarily staggered.
He looked down at his feet and found that his feet had completely transformed into the shape of tree roots, quickly merging with the underground root system after crushing the stone bricks on the ground.
After a brief moment of Antiya Lisi also understood the key point: due to the overuse of his abilities, his body had become Tree Transformation, so when he stepped on the stone bricks and came into contact with the underground root system, the two naturally merged.
He was already in a difficult position to move. Forcibly severing these roots would indeed grant him the ability to move, but it would inevitably reduce his combat effectiveness.
But now that the final battleground has been confirmed to be here, it doesn't seem like there's anything wrong with me staying here and overseeing things.
Although Antiya Lisi was aware of what was happening to his body, he didn't seem to care much about it.
Dying from overuse of power is a matter for later; if you want to dwell on that, you at least have to survive tonight.
As for what needs to be considered now, there is only one thing: combat. And in terms of combat, in this state, he is not afraid of any Middle Tier.
Antiya Lisi wielded absolute dominance in Fir City, partly because he had Spread the roots of his symbiotic plant beneath much of the city.
While not as super-powerful as Ed's Root Network, such a root system is still sufficient to ensure Antiya Lisi's fighting strength within the city.
His symbiotic plant is a rare, toxic woody plant that produces a substance with controllable toxicity. Antiya Lisi usually relies on this substance to formulate rules. His rules are ostensibly addressed to the Treant Hunter, but in reality, they are addressed to his Symbiotic Tree.
Once his Symbiotic Tree senses that a Treant Hunter has violated the rules in his actions, it will actively amplify the toxicity of the substances within the tree-man, thereby causing death.
He should have been able to use this ability to kill that arrogant rebel, but the opponent used Dragon Transformation to counteract his poison and introduced Corpse Poison to balance the two.
If I detonate the toxin now, I can only cripple one of his legs.
But being assimilated by three forces at the same time, he probably won't live much longer.
Just as Antiya Lisi was about to give up on that short-lived enemy, he heard [ Howling Pothos ]'s mocking voice once again:
"Your Excellency, are you alright?"
Antiya Lisi looked towards the edge of the battlefield, towards that ant who looked at him with such arrogance.
His left leg had completely turned into a tree trunk, his entire body and right leg were covered in dragon scales, and the tips of his limbs were faintly black, as if he had been infected with Blood Poison.
"You dare to come back?"
Antiya Lisi asked the question slowly and deliberately, but his attack was not slow at all. In an instant, he released a rain of arrows in the direction of [ Howling Pothos ].
However, [ Howling Pothos ], whose body had grown scales due to its Dragon Transformation, wasn't as afraid this time.
He used his arm armor to protect his head, while his body was left to be struck by the hardwood arrows and dragon scales.
Even with its pain perception shut off, [ Howling Pothos ] could still feel the dull pain, like being constantly hammered, through its body's reactions.
Having withstood the volley of arrows, he shouted to Antiya Lisi:
"What's there to be afraid of? It's not like I can't beat you."
"What a joke! A mere Low Tier, ant-like being dares to attempt..."
Antiya Lisi fell silent.
He sensed a different aura, an aura belonging to a strong person, at least a Middle Tier strong person similar to himself, lingering around the rebel.
Had he been hiding his true strength all along?
Impossible. Strength can be hidden, but fighting style cannot.
Introducing external forces to counteract Tree Transformation is somewhat feasible for Low Tier, but for Middle Tier, it's almost certain death. This is because once someone reaches the Middle Tier, their chosen path is already set, and using such a method will ultimately lead to their demise regardless of the outcome.
But why?
Antiya Lisi, his mind racing, finally spotted the flaw: the source of the Middle Tier power wasn't the rebel, but rather...
A card in his hand.