Chapter 2716: Trembling

The outskirts of the capital city, this is an ancient and prosperous city, and at this moment it is noon, the sun is somewhat scorching, the pedestrians on the streets are bustling.

A girl with her golden hair tied up, wearing an apprentice mage's robe, is running swiftly on the street, the flagstone-paved street is very flat, even though it rained last night, the flagstones show no signs of being overturned, the closer something is to daily life, the more it reflects a nation's strength, largely because the empire is clearly in a phase of prosperity.

Mage apprentice Pepe Ni, under the scorching sun, after passing through a small alley, finally arrived at the designated location.

Stopping her steps, Pepe Ni no longer cared about the ladylike demeanor often mentioned by her etiquette teacher, she braced her hands on her knees, panting heavily, sweat made her hair stick to her face, her lungs felt like they were about to explode, when she inhaled deeply, even a faint sweet taste appeared in her throat.

"Pepe Ni, you are late by a quarter of an hour, you made everyone wait for you a quarter of an hour, wasting everyone's quarter of an hour of life."

An old man with white hair and beard, wearing a white court mage's robe, spoke, his expression stern, his attire immaculate, he is a rigid and strict court mage.

"Sorry, my servant forgot..."

"Excuses."

"I am late, I deserve to die, I should be thrown into endless purgatory."

The redness on Mage apprentice Pepe Ni's face was about to spread to the base of her neck, if only her instructor were present it would be fine, but there are still five other mage apprentices around, being scolded in this situation, she wished she could find a crack in the ground to crawl into.

"Stop talking nonsense, and you all, keep up, after entering the library, you only have a quarter of an hour, so put away your petty thoughts, when we pass the Ring-Seal Tree later, you can observe it from afar, that is the strongest sealing spell, it is a miraculous art."

After the court mage finished speaking, the six mage apprentices present all showed delighted expressions, they had only heard of the Ring-Seal Tree, even though that giant tree is very tall, it is usually not visible, even if standing on top of a building to look afar, it is the same, due to the spell blocking the view.

A group of seven people walked quickly along the forest path, soon arriving at the west side of the library, the court mage walking in front stopped, gazing at the distant giant tree.

The trunk of this giant tree is several meters thick, the canopy's branches and leaves are lush green, in its middle section, there are large amounts of silver patterns, each pattern is palm-width, overlapping each other.

Eight armored guards stood straight beneath the giant tree, further out, there are hundreds of soldiers stationed, hidden sentries in the surroundings are even more numerous.

Moreover, the area within a five-kilometer radius is a restricted zone, if it weren't for the court mage's extensive connections, he would have no qualifications to enter here.

Even if one entered, one could only gaze at the 'Ring-Seal Tree' from a few hundred meters away, approaching within 500 meters results in immediate execution, even high and mid-level imperial officials coming here are treated the same.

"Instructor, what is this strange smell."

Mage apprentice Pepe Ni wrinkled her nose, a stench mixed with sweat odor was stimulating her sense of smell.

"Strange smell?"

The court mage sniffed, detected no odor, yet he furrowed his brow, over a decade ago, he was a participant on the battlefield.

"What kind of strange smell."

Hearing the court mage's question, Pepe Ni inevitably felt some nervousness in her heart, she sniffed again, almost vomiting.

"There is a rotten smell, very faint, but very pungent..."

"Like the smell of spoiled fruit? Also a very faint sweat odor?"

"Yes yes, that's the smell, instructor, did you also smell it..."

Before Pepe Ni finished speaking, a shockwave came from her side, the pressure of the spell enveloped her.

"Guards, gray beastmen have infiltrated!!"

The court mage, disregarding decorum, tore open his throat and shouted loudly, this immediately alerted the soldiers near the Ring-Seal Tree.

"Hah~"

A magic apprentice beside the court mage grinned, he raised his hand, his index finger suddenly split open, a grayish-white index finger with sharp claws, which burst the original human index finger.

This magic apprentice was a disguise by the gray beastmen, his hands stabbed into his own chest, he pulled hard to both sides.

With a puff, blood and organs splattered, spatial fluctuations appeared, a single gray arm protruded, in an instant, over a hundred gray beastmen emerged.

'Battle Might·Wheel Turn.'

A soldier wielding a long spear, wearing scale armor, appeared at some point in the center of the gray beastmen.

The lance in the soldier's hand rotated, a large vortex appeared, sucking in and shredding all the gray beastmen within.

This soldier, who had retreated from the battlefield, had no flashy techniques, all his spear skills were used to kill enemies, how to kill more enemies as quickly as possible is his sole consideration.

Blood and shattered limbs fell, the soldier stood on the ground covered in flesh and blood, his sharp eyes scanned the surroundings, sensing every rustle of wind and grass.

Drip, drip~

As if liquid were dripping, upon hearing this sound, the soldier opened his mouth at the same time, sweeping his spear horizontally.

"Ah!!"

A sharp female howl spread, turning into layers of sound waves spreading outward, a ghost hiding in the air appeared, if one looks at her body above the waist, she is a beauty, as for below the waist, better not to look.

The soldier is very experienced, many of his comrades on the battlefield had their eardrums shattered by the ghost's howl, but as long as he opens his mouth and reduces the frequency of eardrum vibration, he can avoid deafness.

With a swish, a spear light flashed, the ghost floating in midair was cut into two pieces.

The court mage in the distance also opened his mouth, as for the several magic apprentices behind him, except Pepe Ni and two youths, all the others collapsed, bleeding from seven orifices and dead, the court mage could not protect everyone.

The soldier struck the ground with his long lance, the bloodstain on the lance tip was shaken off, this kind of thing, he is somewhat accustomed to it,

The soldier just turned his head to look at the Ring-Seal Tree, the scene before him made his cheek twitch, all the soldiers froze in place, a formidable figure has arrived.

An extremely beautiful ghost hid into the air, before disappearing, she glanced at the Ring-Seal Tree, whether this attempt succeeds depends on Ze Wu's performance, he is of the Ancient Tree Clan.

Crack crack crack~

Dark-colored branches twisted and coiled, finally forming a giant wooden hand, which slapped onto the trunk of the Ring-Seal Tree, beginning to erode.

Boom!

A heavy hammer swung, it was a guard who had recovered, he was only affected for 0.2 seconds.

"Again, they come over a dozen times each month, do these gray beastmen not find it annoying."

The soldier holding the hammer, quickly came to the front of the Ring-Seal Tree, seeing only a trace of damage on the trunk, he breathed a sigh of relief, such damage, the Ring-Seal Tree can recover on its own in a few seconds.

"Jiaba, this time it's your turn to clean up the corpses."

"Understood, you continue the watch, what are those big shots in the capital thinking, still allowing outsiders to come here."

Soldier Captain Jiaba glanced at the court mage, the court mage gave an embarrassed light cough, coming here, he has ulterior motives, he wants to see how the spell on the Ring-Seal Tree operates, but this time he has gotten himself into big trouble.

"Trouble taken care of."

The court mage looked at the several corpses behind him, a wave of dizziness in his mind, these are all noble offspring.

"Later, someone will come to interrogate you, but most gray beastmen usually drop down from above, even if you don't come, they will think of other methods, so don't worry too much."

The squad leader, Jia Ba, smiled faintly—this was just worldly wisdom; forming a good connection with this old court mage might come in handy later, and if the mage turned out to be suspicious, a spy sent by the Chaos Legion, he could still pump him for information. Either way, he had nothing to lose.

Thud!

A loud boom echoed, and Squad Leader Jia Ba immediately shifted his gaze toward the ring-sealed tree. The minor damage on it from before had now bulged outward in a large patch, as if something inside had suffered a heavy blow.

Thud!!

The ground trembled, and dust on the surrounding surface was shaken up to at least half a meter high.

Staring at the ring-sealed tree, Squad Leader Jia Ba's pupils contracted to their limit, his grip on the lance trembling.

Thud!!!

Like an earthquake, the front trunk of the ring-sealed tree shattered, fragments flying outward—one of them whizzed past Apprentice Mage Pepe Ni's cheek, leaving a thin line of blood on her fair skin. Since the beginning, she had been frozen in place, forgetting to flee.

Blood energy burst from the rupture in the ring-sealed tree, and the entire tree instantly became covered in cracks.

"Huu~"

A breath sounded from the hollow in the ring-sealed tree, white vapor rising, the tree plunged into darkness, and a pair of eyes glowing with red light stood out starkly in the blackness.