Chapter 1225: Chapter 1225: Save A Demon Night Woman
Between these two massive dead trees was an enormous whirlpool of mysterious, fluorescent silver.
“We need to go into that whirlpool. But be careful. The Deadwood Gate will attack you!” Vivian warned, taking the lead.
Just as she finished her sentence, the two gigantic trees began to shake ominously.
The entire party saw how the seemingly dead trees literally came to life as they whipped their branches violently towards them.
Vivian wasn't kidding when she said that the gate would attack them.
There was no time to waste, however, and the group decided to forge ahead with Vivian in the lead. The moment they got in range, the trees' branches suddenly whipped towards them violently.
Whoosh!
The branches glowed a mysterious deep green light, signifying the power of the Life Law! The force contained within those branches was unfathomable as the attacks caused even space to tremble.
“Be careful!”
Vivian reminded them. They were mere small flies in the face of these formidable trees and just one swat would be enough to turn them into a pile of blood and dead flesh.
Whoosh!
One of the tree branches targeted and lashed out towards Zen.
He was calm and simply lowered his body to dodge the oncoming branch.
However, just as he dodged, three more branches came for him!
Fortunately, his Cloud-chasing Skill was enough to help him dash through the gaps among the branches. There was still no need to bust out the Eight Smoky Melodies since he could still keep up with this level of attacks from the trees with ease.
However, the others weren't so capable. The Demon Night archer let out a muffled cry after being struck by one of the branches.
Pak!
The force from the attack was too strong and immediately knocked her unconscious.
However, before she could fall to the ground, three more branches extended from one of the trees and wrapped around her body.
Vivian's eyes froze when she saw the branches starting to pull their unconscious party member into the tree's trunk. “Save her!”
Two other Demon Night warriors were quick to heed her call. They too wanted to save the unfortunate warrior from the branches.
However, just as they charged forward, ten branches swatted them away and forcibly pushed them back a couple of feet.
There was just no going about it. The trees were just too strong.
It was a really glum situation that they were in. They came here because they wanted to rescue their companions trapped inside, but before they could even enter the Deadwood Gate, they were going to lose a member of the group. ṚαŊ𝖔βΕ𝘚
Dying in the Illusion Battlefield wasn't really a great deal since no one here died for real, but losing a member meant that their strength would be reduced.
“Alas!”
The Demon Night members heard someone sigh.
They turned their heads and saw a person rush past them, rapidly sprinting towards the captured woman.
“Thad! Come back here!” Vivian yelled after him. “Do you have a death wish?”
The dead trees' multiple branches all varied in length. It was common sense that the closer one was to the trees, the more branches one would have to deal with.
That was why everyone tried to stay in the middle path straight towards the whirlpool to avoid most of the branches.
These two dead trees might look dead, but they were both very much sentient. Since their prey deliberately avoided their branches, then they would just have to lure them closer. Using the woman as bait, they knew that it was only a matter of time before one of her teammates tried to rescue her.
It wasn't the first time they had resorted to such a strategy. There had been another group of Demon Night warriors who also tried to enter the Deadwood Gate. One of them got caught by the branches and the others naturally tried to save him. Needless to say, the entire group was shortly annihilated by the branches once they got too close. All of them lost half of their Illusion Points and were sent back to the city.
It wasn't wise for the entire party to converge and try to save the woman altogether at once. That was the reason Vivian had ordered the others to save her instead of leading everyone headfirst into the rescue mission. That was going to be an extremely stupid decision.
However, she never expected Zen to also be stupid and rush headfirst towards the tree.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Fifty to sixty branches went for Zen all at once.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
The others could only watch at the edge of their seats as Zen also got caught by the branches. It was inevitable since there was only just one of Zen but so many of the trees' branches. He was bound to get caught.
An enormous wooden cocoon quickly formed and wrapped around the victims' bodies as it was slowly absorbed into a dead tree's trunk.
“That idiot! Why did he foolishly rush forward like that?” a Demon Night member said.
“He's a nice guy but he may be a bit dumb.”
“He's of little use anyway. It's best to get rid of him now or else he'll be a burden to us in the future. I don't think he has that many Illusion Points, so it wouldn't be too much of a waste if he died.”
However, unlike them, Vivian's gaze remained on the half-absorbed cocoon. She had a feeling Zen wasn't going to die so easily just because of this.
When she first met Zen, she had already known that he was someone extraordinary. She couldn't accurately measure his true strength but she felt that he was at least at Amber's level, though probably not as strong as Aurora.
'Is that idiot really going to die?'
Vivian couldn't help but doubt just for a second. Just as her faith was tested, she heard a muffled delicate sound, similar to a chorale of voices.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
It seemed to be coming from the enormous wooden cocoon.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
The more cracks that appeared, the louder the sounds came though they had no idea just what was going on and what these sounds truly were.
Boom!
There was a loud explosion and a flash of bright light as the wooden cocoon finally shattered.
Just as Vivian predicted, a couple of branches wouldn't be enough to kill Zen as he appeared with the woman in his arms.
Vivian was so awed by this scene that she almost forgot to dodge the branch that was coming for her.
'Amazing! He's amazing!'
she thought to herself.
These branches looked brittle and dead, but the power of the Life Law imbued them with incredible strength and tenacity. Blades and swords couldn't cut through them; fire and water had no effect on them. Even normal divine weapons had a hard time slashing through them.
The wooden cocoon that was previously wrapped around Zen and the woman was made of layers upon layers of extremely hardy branches. It would've been impossible to break through it. Not even Aurora could've freed herself if she were the one in there.
So how was Zen able to? And he did it in just a few seconds too. Just who was he?
It wasn't just Vivian, but the other Demon Night warriors were also rendered speechless by Zen's display of awe-inspiring strength and ability.
They were just talking about how he was a possible dead weight to the group three seconds ago, but now he pulled a stunt like this and surprised all of them.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Zen's face was calm and serene as he held the woman in his arms.
However, the trees weren't yet done as multiple branches came for him once again. There was no need to dodge though; all he needed to do was punch them.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
Each strike of his fist shattered the branches that tried to come for him.
With just his strength alone, Zen knew he could absolutely tear apart these two enormous dead tree spirits with his bare hands.
It was only the fact that these trees formed the frame of the Deadwood Gate that restrained him from doing so. He didn't want the gate to disappear just because the trees proved to be too troublesome.
"Forward!
Let's go!" Vivian yelled through the chaos. It was at that moment that she knew she had chosen the right person. Zen's strength was even far greater than she had imagined.
That meant Aurora and Amber's predicaments had a high possibility of being solved.
However, something lingered at the back of her mind.
Zen wasn't a member of the Demon Night. What if he led the humans and took over the Deadwood Gate? That was a possibility that Vivian had to watch out for.
The Deadwood Gate was a great place to gather Illusion Points. Both Aurora and Amber were able to enter the top three thousand in this world just by using this gate.
But Vivian knew there was no going about it now. She had already brought Zen here and had no choice but to let him do as he pleased.
Since he was willing to go out of his way and rescue their team member, then that might mean that he was truly a good person. Vivian could only pray he wouldn't turn himself against them in the end.