Chapter 265: Tree of Life |
"I'm going to die, I'm going to die, I'm going to die, I'm going to die, I'm going to die..."
Brewing Cat shivered uncontrollably. She had never seen such a terrifying enemy; even Work Three Rest Four in her true form was completely powerless to fight back.
Her teeth chattered violently. The most terrifying part was that to unlock Work Three Rest Four's true form, she had turned herself into a useless burden. For the duration of the debuff, she was no different from a cripple.
This feeling of impending death stripped away her usual calm demeanor, leaving her hands and feet icy cold.
I Love a Sword was also gasping for breath, his heart racing wildly as sweat drenched his entire body.
The zombie covered in red fur floated without its feet touching the ground. When it approached them earlier, there was no Baleful Yin Energy; instead, the surrounding air became dry and scorching hot. This clearly indicated it had reached the level of a Flying Zombie and was gradually developing the characteristics of a Drought Demon.
He had experienced similar Eastern zombie and ghost-type Scripts before, and back then, he had learned about the different ranks of Zombies from his "master."
The lowest rank was the White Zombie. For example, the tomb raiders who turned into Zombies in the Red-Clad Female Ghost's tomb fell into this category. They were afraid of light and fire. An ordinary man with a bit of courage could easily deal with them using a hoe or a machete. If one had evil-warding items like glutinous rice, black dog blood, or chicken blood on hand, even women and children would have no reason to fear them.
When a White Zombie shed its white fur and grew black fur, it evolved into a Black Zombie. At this stage, they became formidable Zombies, immune to even chicken blood and black dog blood.
The broadsword-wielding zombie that Work Three Rest Four and Brewing Cat encountered earlier was roughly at the level of a Hopping Zombie.
A Hopping Zombie was already an incredibly powerful existence. Creating one almost always required corpse-refining techniques supplemented by the Yin energy of Fengshui.
But floating above the dust without touching the ground... that was something only a Flying Zombie could achieve. While a Hopping Zombie was still an evil creature that could be dealt with, a Flying Zombie was an existence that defied the heavens. The red fur growing on its body, combined with the scorching heat that was the complete opposite of a normal zombie's cold aura, proved that this monster had surpassed the Flying Zombie realm. It was on the verge of becoming a Drought Demon, capable of leaving a thousand miles of scorched earth in its wake...
Against a standard Flying Zombie, their chances of escaping alive would be less than ten percent. Let alone facing this Half-Step Drought Demon right before their eyes...
Encountering such a monster meant certain death.
Their only sliver of hope lay in the fact that they were Players of Paradise.
They did not need to kill the red-furred Flying Zombie, or even shake it off. As long as they could find the exit and escape from this tomb, they would survive!
Because of this, everyone gave it their all, blindly charging forward purely to escape, and managing to somehow maneuver around the red-furred Flying Zombie a few times.
However, this brief breathing room was only bought by consuming precious items. Scattered Fireflies had used a one-time Skill Card, unleashing an explosive blast of fire with a terrifying aura to collapse the tunnel behind them.
But the red-furred Flying Zombie forcefully smashed a path through the rock layer using nothing but its physical body. Just as it was about to grab I Love a Sword, its sharp nails closed on empty air, pinching a straw Substitute Doll instead, while I Love a Sword teleported a short distance forward.
The transformed Work Three Rest Four released blood from her severed arm. Her current form could manipulate blood, and she used it to briefly bind the red-furred Flying Zombie while relying on her regenerative abilities to regrow her arm.
Although this red-furred Flying Zombie was terrifyingly strong, it had never seen such bizarre abilities before. For a moment, it failed to catch anyone—or perhaps it was simply being cautious, choosing to observe them a little longer.
Yet the exit was nowhere to be found. If this dragged on any longer, they would soon run out of tricks and die without a burial place.
Scattered Fireflies grew increasingly frantic. Glancing at the Fungal Organism on her shoulder, panic was clearly written all over her face.
At that moment, her foot suddenly stepped on something. Looking down, she was badly startled—it was a headless zombie.
On the path ahead, zombie corpses lay scattered about. Some had their heads completely severed, while others bore heavy scorch marks.
The pungent smell of sulfur mingled with the stench of rotting corpses filled the air. Suddenly, the red-furred Flying Zombie caught up again. Just like when it first appeared, it crossed an immense distance in an instant, this time appearing directly in front of Work Three Rest Four.
A bloody hole burst open on Work Three Rest Four's chest. The Flying Zombie had crushed her heart in its grasp. Blood sprayed everywhere as her Health plummeted to twenty percent in an instant.
If she had not been in her "true form," that single strike would have killed her outright.
With its hand still wedged inside her body, the Flying Zombie hoisted her massive frame into the air as effortlessly as lifting a feather.
She reached out and seized the Flying Zombie's neck, trying to snap it. Her strength attribute had already reached fifty points, yet even so, the creature's neck did not budge an inch. It showed zero intention of dodging, as if her attacks couldn't even break its defense.
Brewing Cat, who was riding on her back, tumbled to the ground, losing another three percent of her Health. The girl in the white dress felt a bone-piercing chill, trembling all over as she sensed the imminent approach of death.
Meanwhile, I Love a Sword and Scattered Fireflies did not pause for the two of them, simply continuing their desperate flight forward.
'I'm dead, I'm dead, I'm dead, I'm dead, I'm dead...'
In the minds of both Brewing Cat and Work Three Rest Four, only these words remained.
Because the duration of the "true form" had less than twenty seconds left.
They had become the team's sacrifices, and it was entirely unknown if the other three would even make it out alive.
The difficulty of this Script was simply too high. There was absolutely no conceivable way to defeat this Flying Zombie. They clearly hadn't made any mistakes during the Script. If they just needed to clear it... If they merely wanted to survive and clear the Script, it shouldn't have been this difficult...
'Where exactly... did things go wrong?'
'Could this really be an unavoidable death trap?'
Right at that moment, the sound of hoofbeats reached their ears.
The healing speed of Work Three Rest Four's regeneration could no longer keep up with the rapid drain of her Health. For the first time in her true form, her vision blurred. Yet, just as her focus was fading, she suddenly spotted a zombie corpse lying at a corner. That armor... It belonged to the broadsword-wielding zombie they had been fighting earlier before it abruptly abandoned them and ran off.
The zombie's head had been lopped off, and its armor had been completely shredded to pieces by something.
'Who killed this zombie?'
This question popped into Work Three Rest Four's mind. She didn't understand what had happened, but then the silhouette of a beast emerged in the firelight, causing Scattered Fireflies and I Love a Sword to freeze in their tracks.
A tall, majestic deer appeared before her eyes. There seemed to be two figures riding on its back, though her vision was too blurry to make out who they were.
All she saw was the deer charging toward her position. The red-furred Flying Zombie turned its head just as a brilliant flash of light was unleashed, followed immediately by an ear-piercing shriek.
Within this wide and towering tunnel, a massive wild boar glowing with a fluorescent light appeared out of thin air and slammed heavily into the Flying Zombie.
Astonishingly, the wild boar sent the Flying Zombie flying backwards. It smashed into the wall, leaving behind a web of spreading cracks.
At the same time, a burst of green light shone outward, enveloping both Work Three Rest Four and Brewing Cat.
The final second of the "true form" ended, and Work Three Rest Four reverted back to her human state. The anemia debuff on Brewing Cat vanished alongside it, and the green light instantly restored both of their near-empty Health bars back to full.
It was an emerald-green phantom of a tree radiating boundless vitality. The illusory projection pierced straight through the tomb, seemingly growing all the way past Bagong Mountain.
The Skill Card "Tree of Life" could directly restore all characters within its range to full Health. Its surging vitality even brought a comforting warmth to the utterly despondent pair.
"Mister, I gained an extra status effect. I think... I think it's the effect of the Tree of Life."
"So this Skill Card even has synergy with the Blood of God? Not a bad deal at all."
A relaxed, unbothered conversation drifted into their ears. Looking up, they saw Bai Mu and a blonde little girl wearing a Cloak sitting on the back of the towering deer.
At that moment, Work Three Rest Four finally understood who had killed the broadsword-wielding zombie. Slung across Bai Mu's back was that Jet-Black Great Saber, radiating a baleful black aura.
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