Chapter 162: Clash

"Really, I can't take it?"

Eve felt very uncomfortable.

Plucking a feather from a passing goose is a traditional virtue of the Najiade Sect; having expended effort yet taking nothing at all truly goes against her aesthetics.

"Stop talking nonsense. You go back and find a place to hide first; I'll go find someone to investigate the formation."

Rod tapped her head.

The Najiade cannot be seen in the light; others must not know she has a relationship with me.

If those rebel Najiade in the Death Desert were to revolt, it would be troublesome.

"Don't! How about just taking one-half? One-third works too, or should I do it for you again?"

She said urgently.

After speaking, she even extended a long, tender pink tongue, circled it in mid-air, curled it into a fancy trick, and kept wriggling.

"I haven't even used my true skills yet, you know."

"Where did you learn such strange things?"

This fellow had clearly had no experience with such matters before this.

"There are far more good things in the tomb than you imagine; among them, I once found a human and Najiade training manual..."

"Give it to me."

"I won't give it. What I mean is I've already lost it, but the contents of the manual are all in my head."

Eve realized she had let the cat out of the bag and hurriedly tried to make amends.

Hmph, hmph.

As mother said, men must be handled properly.

Revealing all one's skills at once will only make him grow tired of you sooner.

Watch me squeeze every bit of value out of you, then toss you aside like a rag.

As for that enslavement spell... although it looks quite high-level, surely there must be a way for us, the natural contract-breakers—land Najiade?

Rod did not know what the other party was thinking.

He was slightly more interested in the contents of the manual.

Just as he was about to use the Nu Yi Zhou to force her to hand it over, a ripple of magic power appeared within his perception range.

"Someone is coming..."

"What do you say? Should we kill them?"

Eve became serious; she took out several Mei Mo Fa rings and put them on.

"Try to capture them alive; find the person behind them, Tally."

Regarding Fried Argyle, it has always been merely an intuitive guess with no real evidence; proof is still needed.

If the guess is wrong, it won't be fun, as the opponent is always someone from the Argyle family.

Hearing her master's call, the succubus immediately received the order and cast a spell to drag both of them into the shadows.

For a moment, their presence dropped to the absolute minimum.

Very quickly.

The ripple of magic power drifted out from that small hole.

That visible speck of spores, countless red dots densely packed, mixed with drifting poison fog.

The spores gathered rapidly, and with the surge of magic power, formed a mushroom man beside the formation.

This person was none other than the mushroom man Toru.

He muttered discontentedly, "All they do is paint pies in the sky," and "Stupid things that don't understand the benefits of spores."

Squatting on the ground to inspect the formation.

Then, he began carving new spell formulas onto the ram skull and those lizard-man hard scales.

Suddenly, he paused.

He looked in shock toward the direction of the side tunnel.

"The sealing ritual... where is it?"

Immediately, his expression changed; with a splash, he turned back into spores and tried to drill into the small hole he had come from.

However, a shadow suddenly rose up, sealing the small hole completely.

Toru's 【Spore Transformation】, though toxic, possessed neither strong penetration nor physical attack power; it was purely a movement spell for escape.

Naturally, it could not break through this shadow.

The mass of spores, terrified, retreated and tried to fly into the side tunnel.

How could Rod let him have his way?

When the mushroom man appeared, it was basically confirmed that Fried was behind this.

He leaped out from the shadows, with pink-purple resentful flames rising all over his body, instantly sealing off the tunnel.

Mushroom men naturally have weak fire resistance, let alone facing 【Resentful Painful Hate Fire】, which is a special attack against all attributes.

Under the scorching resentment, Toru immediately lost the ability to maintain 【Spore Transformation】 and revealed his true form.

"Who? A Fire Spirit?"

He said in panic.

Seeing Rod covered in flames, he mistakenly thought he belonged to another race.

Mushroom men possess innate spiritual arts, the vast majority of which are related to spores; encountering a high-level Fire Spirit that is their natural counter in such a closed environment was, one can imagine, extremely uncomfortable.

But Toru clearly did not intend to surrender without a fight.

He chanted a spell and quickly cast a high-level 【Flame Dispersion】.

A gust of magical wind whipped fiercely toward him.

Pfft!

The resentment fire on Rod's body actually extinguished by more than half.

Revealing his true human form.

"Human? Hmph!"

He raised his hand and triggered another 【Acid Splash】.

Green acid shot onto Rod's body, making a sizzling sound.

Toru saw through the trick.

The human's clothes were corroded, but his body remained completely unharmed.

"Immune?"

Rod drew the 【Sacrificial Sword】, simply twisted off the bent part, turning it into a broken sword.

The space in the pit was narrow; the short broken sword was just right.

A 【Scream Slash Wave】 flew over.

However, the incomplete one-handed sword greatly reduced its power, failing even to break the opponent's magical shield.

"Ah..."

"Haha!"

Toru laughed loudly, judging the opponent to be a noob.

He slammed his staff hard against the ground.

The Pain Spores and Hallucinogenic Spores he unleashed immediately swept over.

Speaking of which.

The mushroom people's spores were not actually spells in the traditional sense, but a special type of spore naturally produced by a living organism.

These spores were not generated through magical power or incantations, but were a natural reaction of the mushroom people's bodies.

The Hallucinogenic Spores were fine; they were blocked by his extremely high mental resistance.

But the Pain Spores landed squarely on him, producing a slight sensation of pain.

"Interesting... What is this formation used for?"

"Human, you are truly tough!"

Seeing his methods still ineffective, Toru couldn't help but grow anxious.

He raised his hand.

A sphere formed from gathered spores slowly materialized in his palm.

It contained a massive amount of unstable magical energy.

【Spore Bomb】!

Using such a spell in this tunnel?

Rod immediately guessed the opponent intended to use it to collapse the tunnel and bury them, while he himself would escape using the mushroom people's spore transformation.

Although the Rat People's Stabilizing Space Green Orb was present, he couldn't let the opponent run wild.

His right hand flashed with lightning without warning.

The 【Giant Form Slash】 spiritual blade completed in an instant, then vanished in the next instant.

The magical shield shattered.

At the same time, the mushroom person's right hand, covered in fungal colonies, fell to the ground.

"Hm?"

Toru hadn't reacted yet, staring blankly and emitting a sound of confusion.

Then he realized the human had already arrived beside him.

And had picked up that 【Spore Bomb】, swallowing it in one gulp.

"You..."

Boom! A muffled explosion.

Rod let out a satisfied burp; the 【Basic Dragon Breath】 spiritual technique had modified his internal organs, greatly enhancing his tolerance.

"As fuel for Dragon Breath, this Spore Bomb is actually quite good."

The probing was over.

He was too lazy to chat with this mushroom person.

The pinkish-purple resentment fire on his left forearm surged, completing the 【Resentment Shakes Heaven】 transformation.

The forearm was covered by a layer of fierce and domineering yellow-black armor.

The gust of wind from 【Flame Dispersion】 attacked again.

But this time it had absolutely no effect.

His left hand thrust forward fiercely, instantly breaking the newly raised magical shield and stabbing straight into the mushroom person's abdomen.

Looking at the opponent's terrified and pained expression.

Rod grinned.

"I ask one more time, what is this formation?"

(End of Chapter)