Chapter 966: Felling a Tree
Donald was well aware that Lin Li had something that was important to the Brilliance Shrine, but he knew that Archbishop Martin was not a reckless man. He would not think of using force to fight against that Sanctuary powerhouse. Hence, Donald could totally imagine that although Archbishop Martin wouldn’t bend his back to Lin Li, he would still be kissing his feet.
This would definitely disrupt the harmony within the expedition. How am I going to deal with my disadvantaged position? Donald felt a headache thinking about it.
Yet, the present situation did not give Donald the luxury of time to contemplate the matter. The horde of Corpse Dragons had made a comeback after Lin Li left. Donald could only put this thought at the back of his mind, and focus on proving the worth of his team in this battle. He would not want to be disowned by the other two teams.
Lin Li’s departure brought away the Holy Light that previously deterred the horde of Corpse Dragons. Sensing that the uncomfortable light had disappeared, the dragons regained their menace, and charged towards the expedition. This time, the team was unlike before. They did not allow themselves to be passively beaten. The mages from the Tower of Dusk grabbed the chance to whip up all sorts of powerful spells, launching them at Corpse Dragons like a storm.
At the same time, Connoris, Basel, and the other Legendary powerhouses from the Tower of Dusk flew up the sky, and dealt with the dragons with their most powerful combat skills. Connoris challenged three Corpse Dragons with his Eternal Frost Blade. His formidable perfect body was not a little disadvantaged by the direct confrontation.
Although the abilities of Basel, Lord of Nightmares, Crimson Dragon, and Demon Gordon were not as freaky as those of Connoris, their combat skills were not to be trifled with. They might not be capable of confronting the hundreds of Legendary dragons head-on, but were able to create confusion within the horde.
Ujfalusi and Norfeller stopped dealing with the remaining Vampires, and joined the team to battle against the dragons. After all, the horde of Corpse Dragons was a much larger threat to the expedition in comparison to the defeated Vampires. They knew they could hand those Vampires to the people from the Rotterdam and Brilliance Shrine.
At the same time, the Dracolich twins received Lin Li’s order through Gloomy Dark. They stopped resisting the Undead army of the Greater Demons, and returned to the expedition like bolts of lightning to delay the Corpse Dragons. They brought the Death and Poison Domain to the team, and turned many Corpse Dragons green.
The Death Knights rose to the air with the help of their Shapeshifters. They formed the Infinite-kill Formation above the expedition, and surrounded a few Corpse Dragons maliciously. As half of the team of Death Knights had already progressed to become Retribution Knights, the power of the Infinite-kill Formation had also been raised by a dozen times. Although the Corpse Dragons were in level-22 and 23, they could not overcome the Infinite-kill Formation at all.
Archbishop Martin knew Lin Li’s plan when he saw the situation. He passed the authority to command the Holy Light Knights and priests to Jeremiah, and brought a few Legendary-level priests to join the battle in the sky. After being baptized by the Holy Light, Archbishop Martin and the rest started to cast spells that manifested the Holy Light. Although the Immortal King had transformed those Corpse Dragons to be almost immune to the Purge Spell, the trace of Holy Light within the Purge Spell made it seem like they were casting Holy Light Magic on them.
The world created by the Immortal King was based on the laws that originated from the debris of the stars. The debris of the stars present in the Holy Light Magic was like a direct attack on the basic laws. This was even more powerful than transforming the laws. This was equivalent to having dictatorship over the world. Archbishop Martin and the rest were like apostles who had been endowed with power by their sovereign. Although that power was very minimal, it was enough to sanction the Undead creatures with the Holy Light.
Despite being hesitant when he saw the intense battle in the sky, Donald gritted his teeth and flew up with his Legendary-level mages. His initial plan was to stay on the ground to fight the low-level Undead creatures. After all, it was too dangerous to fight Legendary-level Corpse Dragons. However, how could he prove his worth if he didn’t put himself out there?
As the Legendary powerhouses left, the expedition on the ground was once again surrounded by the Undead army. The Skeletal Warriors, Skeletal Mages, Vampires, Great Demons, and many Undead beasts surrounded the team, and launched waves of merciless attacks.
It was fortunate that the Rotterdam and Brilliance Shrine left Kanber and Jeremiah to take charge of the situation on the ground. They were at the peak of the Legendary-level, and although the danger was real even with them in command, they were just able to hold their teams against the Undead army.
Just like Archbishop Martin and his team, the Brilliance Shrine had the Holy Light within their spells after their abilities were enhanced. They recovered their ability to resist the Undead creatures with their Purge Spell, and were dealing with lower-level creatures between level-10 and level-20.
Of course, the team with the most solid performance was the mages from the Tower of Dusk. Although they could not match up to the real Legendary-level mages, their Net Array gave them the ability not only to work together, but also separately. That was not in the ability of the Legendary-level mages. The mages from the Tower of Dusk could come together to cast the Legendary-level spells with the highest level, and cast huge amounts of middle-level Legendary spells to create a magic storm at the same time. They could even rain low-level spells over the entire domain.
Hence, although they were surrounded by the attacks from uncountable Undead creatures, they had an empty area around them. Any Undead creature that trespassed in that region would immediately be engulfed by a tremendous amount of magic.
After the departure of the many Legendary powerhouses, the expedition could only maintain the deadlock with the Undead army. However, there was no need for them to progress. The most important thing for them to do at this point in time was to defend and protect their own lives.
It was the same with the battle in the air. The most important job was not to kill the Corpse Dragons, but to help Lin Li keep them here. However, while the Legendary-level powerhouses from the expedition had the advantage at the start for catching the Corpse Dragons unprepared, the power of the hundreds of Corpse Dragons brought these mages into the state of passive defense very quickly.
Although Connoris was at the peak of the Legendary-realm, and had the tenacious perfect body, he had to remain passive against two, three dragons no matter how reluctant he was. It was imaginable for the rest. Norfeller had to use a speed as swift as lightning to move within the horde. It was not easy to slay the dragons, either. His role was leaning more towards being a firefighter.
At this time, Lin Li had gotten nearer to the Undead tree to get a better look at it. To Lin Li, the Undead tree was like one that reached into the sky. Its luscious crown covered the sky like a seal. The thorns on the trunk were like vertices of mountains, and they were surrounded by grayish-black fog.
However, just when Lin Li was about to fly towards the tree to get a closer look, shadows fell from the tree crown. He could recognize many different types of Abyssal Demons, including the Mostu Demons from the 61st level, the Khumn Demons from the 70th level, and the Fire Demons without fire… All of these demons had something in common. All of them emitted an Undead aura. It was obvious that they had been converted to Demonic Liches by the Immortal King.
Although there were only dozens of them, they were all in level-23 and 24. Lin Li was not afraid of these Demonic Liches, but he was very clear about the situation of the expedition thanks to updates from Ujfalusi and Norfeller. There was no time for him to wrestle with these Demonic Liches.
“Xiao Hua, help me deal with them!” Lin Li lifted his arms and flashed out the Ring of Dream Garden without hesitation.
At this time, Lin Li could not help but secretly rejoice. The modified Dragon Crystal had helped to enhance Xiao Hua’s powers tremendously. If not for that, Lin Li would really need to waste his time with these creatures.
Lin Li’s summons brought Xiao Hua out of the Dream Garden. Xiao Hua brought along a magic storm made up of Legendary-level spells as he charged towards the bunch of Demonic Liches. The dragon that was at the peak of level-24 had the ability to challenge normal Sanctuary powerhouses with his never-ending mana and massive powers to cast Legendary spells instantaneously.
The Demonic Liches were not pleased with Xiao Hua’s welcome gift. They activated their magical defense and readied themselves for the battle. Unlike the Skeletal Warriors who had no concept of life and death, these were high-level Undead creatures. They could sense the formidable energy within Xiao Hua’s magic storm.
Lin Li was not worried when left the Liches to Xiao Hua as he flew towards the Undead tree. He thought that there shouldn’t be any more obstacles this time, but this thought vanished as soon as it appeared in his mind. Something came towards Lin Li, and he had to dodge to the side.
There was a gigantic vine that swooped in the air like a streak of lightning that came with thunder. The speed and force it was moving at seemed to have the ability to break apart any space. If it were to land on a human, it might whip him into powder.
This was not the end. Lin Li felt that something was amiss as soon as he dodged that vine. He put on the Space Robe and shifted his body to various locations speedily. There were more vines bursting from the ground that chased after Lin Li. They created a cacophony in the air.
Very quickly, the ground was covered with the whip-like vines. They were like a nest of snakes that danced crazily to wipe Lin Li’s shadows out. In the process, that powerful force created cracks in the space. It continued to compress the space that Lin Li could escape to.
At this time, Lin Li realized that those were not vines. Those were the roots of the Undead tree. It was obvious that this tree had its consciousness, and knew how to protect its territory.
BOOM!
Lin Li created a Light and Darkness Sword, and slashed at the roots that chased after him. Yet, the powerful wave only managed to cut off a dozen roots before it was shattered by them. Those roots had already transcended the abilities of common plants. Each of the roots had tremendous Space Power and formidable destructive power.
Lin Li had never imagined an Undead tree would have Sanctuary-level powers. With its level-26 or 27 abilities, the tree was even more powerful than him. Lin Li felt that he had hit an iron plate. He could not go near the trunk of the Undead tree, and had to stay a distance away from it due to its merciless roots.
Lin Li inquired about the situation of the expedition using his mental strength. He could not help but feel anxious after ascertaining that the team would definitely not last for long. Their enemies were too formidable. As much as he was not bothered by the lives of the people from the Rotterdam and Brilliance Shrine, Lin Li would never not consider his followers the same.
It would not matter to the strength of the entire force no matter how many lives this mission claimed from the Rotterdam and Brilliance Shrine. This was not the same for the Tower of Dusk. After all, its foundation was not solid enough. The team of mages made up more than half of the elites from the Tower of Dusk. Lin Li couldn’t afford to lose them.
Lin Li was absolutely positive that this tree was the key for them to leave this world. While he could not be sure how it could help, he knew that getting rid of it was the first step. If not, even if he were to find a passageway out of here, even the Legendary powerhouses might not be able to follow him out.
But the question was: how the hell was he supposed to get rid of this tree? Although Lin Li was a Sanctuary powerhouse, he did not have the confidence that he had the power to fell such a formidable tree. He could not possibly use an ax to cut down the tree like a lumberjack.