Chapter 289: Cut the tree, cut the Tree of Life

Before Ang could react, a tall figure rushed over, the long sword pointed on the vine, the energy burst fiercely, and the vine was twisted into powder.

Dragon hunter Gailade followed unharmed, wrapped in fighting spirit, waving her long sword, like a heavy tank crushing a path.

Without looking back, Gailade rushed into the white mist. Not long after, a series of screams rang out in the white mist.

This Gailade, who said she couldn't rush over before, turned out that her "couldn't rush over" meant she couldn't rush over with others.

Ang followed, and soon saw the creatures that made the screams. Those were some tall mantis-like humanoid insect monsters. The appearance of this insect monster was very similar to those encountered in the underground of the Dark City, just much taller.

However, at this moment, they were already headless, limbs separated, flesh and blood blurred.

A large number of insects rushed to the remains of these monsters, gnawing frantically. However, white fungal hyphae grew on the surface of the insects themselves, and as they gnawed, they died one after another.

Rushing through the white mist, finally came to the foot of the Tree of Life.

Gailade held the long sword upside down, looking up at the Tree of Life, only to see that the trunk of the Tree of Life had been entangled by that kind of black metal-like vine.

The vine grew from the ground, entangled on the trunk of the Tree of Life, and was struggling to climb up, more and more entangled, denser and denser. At the stump position, it had almost been wrapped up by this vine.

On these vines, Ang sensed a strange will.

Insect God Matis?

That will also fell on Ang, seemingly observing Ang. As for Gailade, she had been ignored by it. 【289

This was not a wise thing to do, because what it ignored was a Dragon Hunter.

Gailade lunged forward, wielding her longsword to hack at the vines.

These vines, flashing with a metallic luster, looked incredibly hard, but under Gailade's longsword, they were easily shredded into pieces.

Her longsword didn't look like ordinary goods; with a light swing, it emitted a buzzing sound and vibrated at high speed.

Gailade wielded the longsword, shredding all the way; wherever she passed, wood chips flew and vines were severed; after a few breaths, a large patch of the metal-like vines had been forcibly cut off by her.

Matis couldn't help but wield the vines to stab at her.

She pointed back with her hand, the force penetrating through the sword, shredding the stabbing vines into pieces.

But there were too many vines; as soon as she shredded one, two more swung over; after shredding those two, four more swung over; even the large patch of vines she had cut off were growing back rapidly, soon recovering as before, with no trace of Gailade's hacking visible at all.

Gailade looked up at the tree trunk, panting in despair; with the growth rate of these vines, even if she were exhausted to death, it would be impossible to clear them all.

The Dragon Hunter was incredibly powerful, but facing a wall-like mass of vines, she had a feeling of having nowhere to start.

"My lord, what should we do?" Gailade turned her head and asked Ang.

Ang tilted his head; he didn't know what to do either, because he hadn't expected Matis to exist in the form of vines; for vines, is insecticide useful?

Ang took out a bag of insecticide and threw it hard at the vines; the outer packaging burst, sprinkling the powdered insecticide onto the vines.

Matis's will fell upon Ang, and then onto the place where the insecticide was sprinkled, its emotions somewhat blank.

It seems... it had no effect.

"Don't worry about me, save the forest." The voice of the Tree of Life sounded in the air, slow and leisurely, just like chatting.

Negris hurriedly shouted: "Old Tree Head, how are you? Are you okay? How do we get this thing off you?"

The Tree of Life's slow voice sounded: "It can't be removed; I was careless, thinking it was just a parasitic vine; there are too many things growing on me, so I didn't pay attention; unknowingly, it has already merged with my trunk, and it even used a strange kind of insect to parasitize all the insects on me."

"Sigh, who would have thought that the insects crawling on me every day were all parasitized; after you reminded me, I went to check and discovered it, but it was already too late; those parasitized living things all became its egg incubators, instantly erupting with tens of billions of insects."

"I used a barrier to shroud a diameter of one hundred kilometers; they can't escape for the time being; don't let them spread, otherwise they will gnaw the forest clean."

Negris gasped: "Hiss, a one-hundred-kilometer barrier? But shouldn't you take care of yourself first? With you here, there is an Elf Forest."

Other people's barriers can trap three or five people, which is already quite good; the farm barrier is already a top-tier creation, and it's only about three thousand mu in range; the Tree of Life just casually creates a barrier of one hundred kilometers?

How many mu is a one-hundred-kilometer diameter?

Such a huge barrier, the Tree of Life supported it with its own strength; however, no matter how powerful the strength, it could not eliminate the insects parasitizing it; unknowingly, Matis's vines had already merged with the Tree of Life.

This fusion was carried out silently; the Tree of Life could not monitor the changes on its body at all times; there were too many creatures living on it, from fungi to insects to elves, tens of billions of individuals, so how would it notice one parasitic vine?

Parasitic vines, and even most vines, rely on other plants to grow; this is a common symbiotic relationship in the forest; how would it care about one well-behaved parasitic vine?

Who knew that this vine was not a vine at all, and most of those insects were also parasitized.

Now that it thinks back, its blight was very likely due to these vines and insects; they excessively consumed its life force; because insect ash happened to restrain them, it was alleviated.

If Ang hadn't discovered the clues and let them continue to parasitize, one day, they would have sucked it dry again and it would have contracted the blight once more.

The Tree of Life is just a bit slow in feeling because its body is too large; when it concentrates, nothing on its body can escape its perception, but unfortunately, it was too late; the vines had already completely merged with its body, and it was no longer something that could be separated by ordinary methods.

Everyone could feel a sense of relief coming from the Tree of Life: "It's not that; the forest is the forest, the home of ten thousand living things, and I am one of them, just a bit sturdier."

"Birth, aging, sickness, and death are part of life, and I am no exception; there will always be that day of death; only when a big tree falls will the grass at its feet grow more lushly."

"In this world, there is not only one Tree of Life; I am not a lonely living thing; there will be younger lives, continuing to grow along with them."

Gailade's eyes instantly turned red; the word "accompany" struck her heart; indeed, the Tree of Life didn't pay much attention to them usually, but in the growth of all elves, they felt the care of the Tree of Life at every moment; although it didn't speak, it was always accompanying everyone.

But the Tree of Life's words had a sense of leaving everyone; could the enemy really be so powerful that there was no other way?

Before Gailade could feel sad, Negris was already scolding; it didn't buy the Tree of Life's act at all: "What part of nature, phew, if insects gnaw the forest clean, can that also be considered part of nature? Then why don't you remove the barrier and let them gnaw their way out?"

Matis felt the same way: "Yeah, yeah, why not?"

"I've long been annoyed by this act of yours; when elves pick your fruit and don't let the seeds flow out, you say it's part of nature; when insects gnaw on you, you also say it's part of nature; then if the forest turns into a desert and insects, fish, birds, and beasts go extinct, that can also be part of nature; why don't you just let nature take its course?"

Negris was cursing, completely unaware that Gailade's expression had changed drastically, and she was plunged into huge shock.

From childhood to adulthood, the education she received was that she must not let the seeds of the Tree of Life flow out, to prevent other species from also possessing the Tree of Life; for her, this was already a matter of course, a heaven-sent creed.

Ang grew a World Tree, and the elves went through a long period of psychological construction, coupled with the Tree of Life's illness, before they had to accept this reality, but the seeds were still not allowed to flow out.

But Negris's words made her suddenly realize a problem: did they ask for the Tree of Life's willingness when they did this?

No, no elf had ever asked, and they hadn't even thought about this problem; by what right did they decide whether the seeds of the Tree of Life could flow out?

Thinking of this, Gailade suddenly remembered the sentence Kailandai'er had been muttering recently: The Tree of Life doesn't like elves; now she understood why the Tree of Life didn't like elves; who would like a species that prevents it from sowing seeds?

"Oh my god, what have we done?" Gailade murmured in a daze.

Negris continued to shout: "I'm telling you, I've lived for over ten thousand years; among the guys I knew before I died, you're the only one left alive; you must not die, live well for me; we'll find a way to save you, just cooperate well; we have a God of Planting, specifically for transforming nature."

After finishing, without waiting for the slow reply of the Tree of Life, it directly asked Ang: "What to do, is there any way to save it?"

Ang pointed with his big hand: "Cut it down."

"What? Cut the vines? There are too many, can you cut them all?" Negris asked.

"No, cut the tree," Ang said.

After saying that, Ang stepped down a footprint and then stretched his hands toward the Tree of Life.

While the Fast Death Aura was activated, a row of Explosive Fireballs swept over, booming onto the Tree of Life.

The vines wrapped around the trunk bore the brunt, and debris flew from the explosions.

Gailade was anxious and shouted loudly: "Lord Ang, no..."

Before she could finish, the voice of the Tree of Life suddenly sounded in her ears: "Listen to him..."

Gailade had a lump in her throat, her face flushed red, and it took a lot of effort to suppress it.

Listen to Ang? Even if Ang is taking action against the Tree of Life, should she listen to him?

But this order was issued by the Tree of Life itself; if the Tree of Life is the god of the elves, then this is an oracle; should she disobey it?

Gailade fell into a paradox: if a god tells you to be obedient and cut it down, should you obey?

Thirteen level-two Explosive Fireballs per second boomed onto the trunk like a chain of fire; the vines were swept and broken in batches, and they couldn't grow fast enough.

After sweeping away the vines, the Explosive Fireballs swept directly onto the trunk of the Tree of Life, sending wood chips flying, and soon a large hole was swept out.

"You're for real? You're really going to cut down the Tree of Life!?" Negris couldn't help but shout; it had wanted to say Ang was bluffing, but then it thought, Ang didn't have that many thoughts; he probably really wanted to cut the tree.

The vines had already merged with the Tree of Life; not cutting down the Tree of Life meant it was impossible to eliminate the vines, so from another angle, Ang's approach was reasonable.

Now it was Matis's turn to be anxious; it wielded the vines and stabbed at Ang.

Ang turned his eyes, locking onto the vines, preparing to adjust the Explosive Fireballs.

Just at this moment, a sword light slashed over, shredding the thick vines; Gailade stood in front of Ang, gritting her teeth and saying: "Dragon Hunter, Gailadelia, follows your orders, Lord Ang."

In that paradox, Gailade chose to obey the oracle.

Negris noticed the expression on her face and couldn't help but ask: "Are you having a hard time?"

Gailade said with a blushing face: "I don't know why, but I suddenly feel hungry."

Negris glanced at the footprint on the ground; of course she'd feel hungry; within the range of the aura, a few minutes was equivalent to a day.

Ang took the time to take out a few pieces of sugared dried beet and threw them to Gailade; after a few bites, Gailade's eyes widened suddenly.

The insects in the entire forest suddenly went crazy; some were gnawing on flowers, plants, and trees, some were gnawing on birds, beasts, insects, and fish, some were crashing into the protective shield, and some were gnawing on the corpses of their own kind on the ground.

But with an invisible fluctuation, all the insects adjusted their direction and surged toward the Tree of Life like crazy.

Having almost gnawed the inside of the barrier clean, the number of insects became incredibly huge, surging like a tsunami.

The white mist had quietly dissipated at some point, and the insects surged to the foot of the tree unimpeded, surging into the range of the Fast Death Aura.

As they flew, the insects fell to the ground one after another; large swaths of insects died without warning after flying a certain distance.

"What's going on, what's going on? My children, why are they suddenly dying?" Matis called out in a panic.

Eventually, there were some newborn insects whose lifespan was just enough to support them flying through the range of the Fast Death Aura and pouncing on Ang.

Ang opened his mouth without looking back, and the soul impact began to be released rhythmically.

The Bone Priest had used this move before to deal with He Mo Er's insects; Ang's soul was many times stronger than the Bone Priest's; under the soul impact, these tiny insects exploded in swaths.

The swarming insects couldn't withstand the Fast Death Aura and soul impact, the wielding vines couldn't break through Gailade's longsword, and the continuous Explosive Fireballs boomed onto the trunk; now the question is, will Ang sweep the Tree of Life down first, or will he exhaust his magic power first?

This question lasted until the Tree of Life caught fire, turning into a giant torch standing between heaven and earth.