Chapter 200: First the Rock Monsters, Now a Tree Giant?
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
It seemed there was more than meets the eyes to the Beinz Blood Lake than Hao Ren had thought.
The closed ecosystem, the massive life form beneath the Gnarled Grove, and the mysterious power hidden in the blood-red lake; all the legends had authentic origins, Hao Ren thought. It was mysterious as well as captivating.
"In your opinion what kind of species is the Gnarled Grove? Is it a plant?" Hao Ren browsed through the holograms before he stopped and stared at the picture of the Gnarled Grove. A chill ran down his spine as he looked at the huge root system. It shocked him to think that he was standing on an ancient and mysterious living thing. He was just like a speck of dust on this massive being.
"It's a confirmed plant." The MDT dialled up its scanning resolution and the image quality was enhanced. "Although it's rare to have life evolve into such scale, it did have a precedent. The universe is a big place, anything can happen. For tree spirits, the roots of the mother tree can grow and cover the entire planet. What you see now is just a form of cytomegalic plant. What's puzzling is, no one knows why it exists here. I've run a simulation of the evolution process of this planet; such a giant plant could not have adapted to the environment even tens of thousand years ago. It shouldn't exist on this planet. It doesn't match the pattern of evolution."
Biology was like Chinese arithmetic to Hao Ren, so he did not give it much thought. He just stared at one of the giant trees, lamenting. He touched the bark, which was coarse and dark in colour as he imagined himself interacting with a miraculous life form, thousands of years old. It was 100 kilometres across. Regrettably, it was just a bunch of roots; how good it would have been if it could talk. Hao Ren wanted to know what actually happened when the world was destroyed 10,000 years ago.
As Hao Ren was in deep thought, something suddenly unnerved him.
He got to his feet and cautiously looked around. He had a feeling that something was watching him, and that it was not a pair of normal eyes. He felt like he was being scanned from head to toe. The MDT immediately rose to the air when it noticed Hao Ren's abnormal reaction. "What happened?"
"Nothing. Probably just my imagination." Hao Ren shook his head as he was confused. "I felt like someone was looking at us."
"No one is nearby. If there is, I'll alert you." The MDT hovered back into its port. "Let's rejoin the group. I'm afraid the mercenary maiden actually thinks that you have DI."
Hao Ren was confused.
As he rejoined the group, Hao Ren was met with a worried-looking Becky. Before he could say anything to her, Becky started to yell. "Why were you gone so long? Don't you realise it's dangerous?"
Never did Hao Ren expect the mercenary to be so worried about him. He awkwardly explained, "I was just taking a leak. I didn't see any monster though."
"I was wondering about that too. It seems so much calmer than the last time." Becky frowned in bewilderment. "When I was here a few months back, I didn't bump into any monsters but, I could hear them. But today, it's just quiet...unlike what the bishop said."
"God knows what happened. But I'd rather not bump into one." Nangong Wuyue took a deep breath of the moisture-filled air before she hurried everyone to keep going. "Let's go, let's go. We should just keep going and maybe we'll be able to see the Blood Lake before sunset."
The group continued on their journey. Vivian quietly came up to Hao Ren. "What did you find?"
"You'll see when we get back," Hao Ren pointed at the pot (the MDT) secretly. "The underground scenery is spectacular."
Everyone did not say a word as they hustled through the forest. There were no monsters. There were no legendary carnivores or plant-beast hybrids. The supposedly evil Gnarled Grove was just like any other forest—harmless. Pretty much most of their journey, the biggest carnivore Hao Ren had seen was the hyperactive husky...
But a sense of uneasiness made Becky nervous. The atmosphere should not have been so quiet. She knew the forest should not have been so calm. She would have felt more at ease if monsters of flesh and blood came out in the open and fought with her. The unusually quiet situation only meant one thing: something was brewing in the forest.
"Halt." Vivian suddenly stopped the group. "Something's ahead!"
Becky was relieved: the long-awaited little monster finally showed up.
Everyone instantly switched into battle mode—Becky drew out her enchanted sword, Vivian spread her wings and was in the air, Lily grinded her fire and ice claws, making steam while Nangong Wuyue squatted down on the ground, covering her head with her hands. Everyone had their own style.
As everyone held their breath, a series of heavy footsteps was suddenly heard, coming from the south of the road.
The footsteps were also accompanied by something much smaller, running alongside it.
Hao Ren moved to the front of the group with his shield activated. Soon, a large group of shadows appeared from the forest.
Just as Becky had described, these were some strangely gnarled creatures. They were black, two-metre-tall mutated beasts. It was hard to tell what species they were. They looked like elongated meatballs. About six pairs of what looked like bound feet, could be seen, and not only that, the creatures resembled deformed squids living on the land. These black and strange creatures had no facial organs or heads. A pair of tentacles, full of sharp teeth hung from each of their upper bodies, and the tentacles swung violently as they ran. These things had such a distorted and disgusting appearance that it would have made people's stomach turn. There were now 20 or so such beasts, coming towards Hao Ren like they were in a shopping rush!
Despite his prior mental preparations, Hao Ren shivered involuntarily upon seeing these ugly and strange creatures. Meanwhile, Lily's tail had puffed up. "What are these things?"
"These are flesh beasts. They'll eat anything!" Becky's sword was burning with flame. "Just don't get bitten, their teeth—"
Before Becky could finish her sentence, another bigger creature appeared from afar and stunned her.
As a matter of fact...it was a tree, it was a tree-like giant.
The giant, which was almost 10 metres tall, looked like an old, towering tree with four limbs. The forked roots and two branches were its legs and arms respectively. Its full bark looked like a face. It was the one that produced the heavy and earth-shattering footsteps as it ran behind the flesh beasts.
The flesh beasts were just being chased by the giant, and they were moving towards Hao Ren's direction.
Everyone knew going against these things head-to-head was a bad idea. However, as they were about to run, they discovered something worse: it was unclear whether the flesh beasts were being purposely cornered or they were also hungry, looking for dinner. They were in their direction!
Hao Ren was stunned. "Have we offended the Night Elves? First the rock monsters, now tree giants?"
To further power up her combat strength, Becky cast a few more magic spells on herself. She then wielded the flaming, enchanted sword and charged towards the flesh beasts. "Let's fight and talk later!"
Gnashing his teeth, Hao Ren powered-on his full-body shield and went against the nearest flesh beast. "Bastards!"
Even though his act of ridicule did not any effects , he would still insist on shouting it every time he charged at his enemy—it boosted his sense of protection.
Meanwhile, Y'zaks lunged forward and dealt with the formidable "guardian tree" head-on.