Free Web NovelChapter 190: Chapter 188: Chaos
Inside, it was nothing like the neat and orderly Magic Potion Garden they had imagined.
Instead, it was a vibrant yet strangely unsettling jungle.
The light was dim. Peering up through the gaps in the branches, the sky was the color of dusk.
The ground was covered in a thick layer of brightly colored moss and fallen leaves.
The air was so humid you could wring water from it, and the scent of potions wafted from all directions.
The most conspicuous things were the plants.
On the ground ahead, a vast, dense patch of dark red vines slithered like snakes.
Their tips sported sucker-like maws that emitted a soft HISS, dripping transparent mucus to the ground. DRIP. DRIP.
Ian’s gaze hardened. "This is Bloodthirsty Demon Vine."
Just as the group spread out to observe their surroundings, disaster struck!
To their left, a dozen vines as thick as bowls burst violently from the earth!
They slithered like giant pythons, their maws gaping wide as they shot out like lightning to ensnare the nearest Shadow Moon Wizards.
"Get back!" Hogan roared, throwing a punch.
A blast of earthy-yellow energy from his fist shattered two Demon Vines, splattering sap everywhere.
But on the other side, a Wizard from a mid-sized organization reacted a moment too late, and a Demon Vine wrapped around his ankle.
"Ah!" he cried out, dragged to the ground by immense force.
The Demon Vine’s maw immediately dug into his calf and began to suck frantically.
His leg rapidly shriveled. His nearby companions frantically attacked in a rescue attempt, and the scene descended into chaos.
Ian’s attention wasn’t on the Demon Vines at all. His eyes were fixed on the ground.
The leaves were rippling like waves, and something was rapidly approaching from beneath them.
Suddenly, dozens of brightly colored mushrooms, standing half as tall as a man, shot up from the ground.
Their caps were covered in dense black dots that looked like tiny eyes.
At the base of their stems grew several small, white, human-like feet.
PATTER! PATTER!
Their slender little feet pattered rapidly as they charged the intruders, shouting.
"Intruders have broken in! Kill them! We must protect the Master’s treasure to the death!"
Instantly, with a great RUSTLE, more small mushrooms burst from the dead leaves on the ground.
"They’re Fear Mushrooms! Don’t look directly at their caps!" someone cried out in alarm.
As the Fear Mushrooms neared the group, the eye-like black dots on their caps suddenly glowed with an eerie purple light.
Several Wizards caught in the purple light abruptly froze.
Expressions of extreme terror appeared on their faces as they began swinging their weapons wildly, even attacking their own companions.
The battle erupted in an instant.
Almost simultaneously, several enormous, sunflower-like golden flower heads in the distance turned toward the group.
Within their petals, one could faintly see pale human faces with tightly shut eyes.
The sleeping faces suddenly snapped open their eyes and "looked" over.
From the flowers’ centers, long, multicolored tongues shot out with a WHIP-CRACK.
They flew as fast as arrows, whistling through the air as they shot toward the crowd!
THWACK! A Deep Red Wizard was struck in the shoulder by a tongue.
It wasn’t a piercing wound, but the area instantly went numb and turned black, clearly the result of a potent poison.
He let out a pained scream and staggered backward.
This barrage of attacks completely shattered the group’s formation, forcing everyone to fight for themselves.
Members of different factions were mixed together, forced to fend off Demons while also guarding against friendly fire or betrayal from their supposed "allies."
Amidst the whistle of various Witchcraft spells, the high-pitched wails of the mushrooms could be heard.
"Ah! My leg’s broken! Get your stinky foot off me!"
"Waaah! My hat is gone..."
While the group was busy fending off the Demon Vines, mushrooms, and Sunflowers, seven or eight translucent, blurry humanoid shadows silently appeared in the dim light overhead.
They had no facial features—only two black, hollow eye sockets that emitted a faint whimper only a Soul could perceive.
Ancient Vengeful Spirits.
One of them drifted over a gray-robed Wizard and abruptly opened its invisible "mouth."
"Aaaah..."
A shriek sharp enough to pierce the very Soul erupted!
The gray-robed Wizard reeled as if from a heavy blow, clutching his head and howling in agony as black blood trickled from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.
His spellcasting was instantly interrupted. Two Demon Vines seized the opportunity to wrap around him and drag him into the depths, leaving behind only a short, desperate scream.
Soul Attacks—formless, intangible, and the most difficult to defend against!
Panic began to escalate.
These Vengeful Spirits drifted erratically, specifically targeting Wizards who were alone or in the middle of casting spells.
One Soul-piercing shriek after another echoed through the dim jungle, each one signifying that another person had been gravely injured or incapacitated.
"Spread out! Don’t bunch up!"
Hogan roared, smashing a Demon Vine with one punch before waving his hand to erect an earthen wall, temporarily blocking the purple light from a patch of Fear Mushrooms.
But under the successive blows, the group had already lost all semblance of formation.
Everyone broke off in directions they deemed safe, and the distance between individuals quickly grew.
Two Bloodthirsty Demon Vines snaked toward Ian.
With a simple shift of his feet, he easily dodged them, simultaneously pointing with his right index finger.
A [Frost Ash Beam] precisely struck the base of the Demon Vine. Extreme cold spread, instantly freezing it solid like an icicle, which he then shattered with a kick.
A Wizard from the Deep Red Royal Court, affected by the Fear Mushrooms’ purple light, charged Ian with reddened eyes, brandishing a flaming longsword.
Ian didn’t even spare him a glance. With a flicker of his body, he activated [Invisibility Technique] and vanished on the spot.
At the same time, a subtle beam of energy wrapped around the man’s leg.
The Deep Red Wizard’s sword sliced through empty air. He froze for a moment, then his body shuddered.
A Sunflower’s tongue, shooting from the side, pierced through his shoulder. He screamed and tried to run.
Another Frost Ash Beam froze him for an instant, and he was immediately ensnared by a nearby Demon Vine and dragged into the depths of the jungle.
"No..." The Deep Red Wizard’s scream rapidly faded into the distance.
Ian deactivated his invisibility, reappearing beside one of the Sunflowers.
With a flip of his hand, a [Gravity Collapse Ball] materialized. He gently pressed it against the Sunflower’s thick stem.
With a soft POP, the Collapse Ball vanished.
Starting from the stem, a large chunk of the Sunflower—along with the dead man’s face within it—was silently "erased," and the top half of the flower head crashed to the ground.
Gaga materialized on his shoulder. It activated its [Omen Eye], scanning a Vengeful Spirit that was unleashing a soul-piercing shriek at a Shadow Moon Wizard.
The Vengeful Spirit’s body stiffened. Its shriek cut off, and it seemed to become dazed.
Ian seized the opportunity, mobilizing a sliver of faint golden Spiritual Power from the core of his Sea of Spirit. He concentrated it in his eyes and "looked" at the Vengeful Spirit.
TCHH!
A small hole appeared in the Vengeful Spirit’s translucent body.
It let out an even more mournful whimper before its entire body dissipated like smoke.
His [Crystal Energy Barrier] remained active, with thirty-six Floating Crystal Guards circling him, blocking any attacks that occasionally slipped through.
On Ian’s left wrist, a simple Bronze Bracelet also glowed faintly.
It was the [Ring of Overlapping Peaks], ready to be activated for even stronger protection at a moment’s notice.
He continued clearing away the approaching Magic Plants and Vengeful Spirits while observing his surroundings.
The intruders had been completely scattered, each either locked in a bitter struggle or trying to find a way out of the bizarre Magic Potion Jungle.
Hogan, Catherine, and the other powerful individuals were also tied down by a large number of Demons, unable to break free.
Ian identified a direction with relatively few Demons and began moving swiftly, staying low to the ground.
His Floating Crystal Guards cleared the path ahead, knocking aside any vines and mushrooms in his way.
He wound his way past several clumps of giant pitcher plants spewing poison gas and avoided a patch of purple moss that shot out corrosive spores.
He then used a [Frost Ash Beam] to freeze several bizarre worms that had burrowed up from the ground—they looked like earthworms but had mouths full of sharp teeth.
Finally, he shook off most of the pursuing Demons and arrived in a relatively quiet area.
This was deep within the Magic Potion Garden, and the light was even dimmer.
A peculiar, pleasant fragrance filled the air, completely different from the sickly sweet, decaying scent of the outer areas.
Before him was a small clearing.
In the center of the clearing, the soil was a rare silver-gray.
And in that silvery soil, a single small tree grew.
The tree was not tall, only about a meter, and its entire form glowed with a soft, gentle light.
It looked as if it were carved from exquisite Mithril, yet it possessed the vibrant texture of a living plant.
The trunk was slender and its branches sparse, but each leaf was like the purest crystal, its veins distinct, with a faint silver halo flowing slowly within.
The tree had no flowers, but five fruits hung from its sparse branches.
The fruits were also silver, each about the size of a pigeon’s egg, with a smooth surface.
One could faintly see that inside them, fine, star-like points of silver light constantly flickered and swirled.
An indescribable aura, one that seemed to contain a kind of bloodline Power, emanated from the small silver tree and its fruit.
Ian’s heart began to beat a little faster, uncontrollably.
He could feel his [Furnace Body Tempering Skill] resonating faintly with this aura.
’This thing... is far from ordinary.’
He approached cautiously, his Spiritual Power highly focused, remaining vigilant for any potential traps or Guardians.
Just as he was a hundred meters from the small silver tree, something happened!
In the shadows behind him, the air silently distorted.
A gray-black figure flashed into existence like a phantom.
A pale, withered hand with jet-black fingernails, wrapped in an intense aura of deathly stillness and cold, silently pressed toward his back!
The hairs on the back of Ian’s neck stood on end.
He had no time to turn. The [Crystal Energy Barrier] activated instinctively.
Thirty-six Floating Crystal Guards instantly dissolved, merging into the thick, translucent Shield behind him.
BANG!
The pale hand pressed against the shield wall.
The movement was slight, but the force behind it was astonishing.
KRAK! Spiderweb-like cracks spread across the shield’s surface.
A cold, deathly Energy slithered through the cracks like a venomous snake.
Ian used the force of the blow to lunge forward, rolling as he hit the ground. When he got up, he was already facing his attacker.
It was a man in a gray robe.
His hood was down, revealing a pale, gaunt face with deeply sunken eyes.
He looked to be in his forties, but the deadness in his eyes made him seem as if he had just climbed out of a coffin.
"Not a bad reaction," the gray-robed man said, his voice hoarse, like sandpaper on iron.
He shook his hand, and a few wisps of black smoke dissipated from his fingertips.
"Crystal Witchcraft... I’ve been waiting a long time for you, Ian Marcus."
Ian didn’t answer. He kept his eyes fixed on the man, his peripheral vision flicking toward the small silver tree.
The moment they had clashed, the small tree had already burrowed into the ground and vanished.
"From the Withered Council?" Ian asked, slowly shuffling sideways.
"Curse of the Dead Squad. I’m the captain, Samael."
The gray-robed man sneered, his eyes filled with contempt. "You killed those three pieces of trash from Cold Crow."
It was a statement, not a question.
Ian’s heart sank. ’It really is someone from that squad, and the captain at that.’
’Peak of Liquefaction, and one who specializes in Death Witchcraft with extensive combat experience.’
’What a pain.’
"Do all you people from the Withered Council like to stab people in the back?"
Afraid of damaging the subterranean tree, Ian continued to back away, trying to lure Samael away from the area.
Seeing that Ian seemed somewhat distracted, Samael’s gaze turned frigid.
"The process is irrelevant; only the result matters. I can smell it on you... the aura of the [Eye of the Gazer]. Hand it over, and I’ll grant you a swift death."
He took two steps forward as he spoke, closing in on Ian.
Ian stopped, his expression growing dangerous. He first carefully extended his Perception to see if anyone else was nearby.
Just then, Gaga sent a telepathic confirmation: there was no one else nearby.
With his mind made up, Ian raised his left hand, palm facing up.
"You want it?"
A wisp of crystalline light flashed on his fingertips and vanished. "Come and take it."
Samael’s pupils contracted violently.
"The aura of the Eye of the Gazer?!"
His hoarse voice cracked with sharp shock, which then morphed into an even more intense greed.
"You... you actually absorbed the core! Haha... Good! Excellent! If I Devour you, my Spiritual Power might even touch upon Crystalization ahead of schedule!"
Ian froze for a moment, then his killing intent surged.
"Devour me?"
