Chapter 871: Struggle
Translator: Sean888888 Editor: TheAlliance
The quantum leap ability of the Ents was, in actual fact, a nature-type spell. The Ents just turned this spell into a natural talent, just like the way fire elementals were born with fire resistance, but this can also be achieved with high-level Arcane arts.
When it came to nature-type spells, there was another race who were not at all inferior to the Ents!
A slender figure suddenly appeared next to the human mage! The Leaping Ent saw the slender figure quietly raise her hand towards him, an ordinary-looking ring on her finger shining dazzlingly bright!
This Leaping Ent stiffened amidst the brilliance, as he felt the power of nature in the surrounding disappearing in an instant! How could he leap, then? A fish that can perform all kinds of difficult moves like the Thomas salto in water would be useless without water.
The Ent was prepared to step elegantly into the void, but when the light shined, he immediately stiffened because he had nothing to use to make the leap. He fell to the ground and ate a mouthful of mud. The Ent had no hands to help it maintain balance so it's extremely difficult for him to get up again.
The Leaping Ent felt a great sense of crisis. With his will, poisonous insects swarmed out from the two tree nests on his shoulders that were already extremely tilted by now. In that critical moment, Franklin completed the chant for the Rank 3 'Great Fireball' spell. This was the most effective offensive spell in the early stages of the Evocation school of magic. In addition to that, Franklin had casted 'Maximize Spell' beforehand, which increased the power of the 'Great Fireball' significantly but also prolonged the casting time.
A huge fireball with a diameter of more than three meters was hurled towards the Ent with a heavy, low-pitched buzz. The edge of the fireball actually glowed white hot. One could imagine how high its temperature was. Let alone getting hit by it, even the leaves that were five meters away from the fireball wilted and fell down with burnt edges.
If leaves with moisture in them suffered such fate, imagine how fiercely the dry wings of the insects burned. If one were to observe the scene from afar, they would see a Leaping Ent who was trapped in a cobweb trying to escape with a quantum leap, but fell to the ground after failing miserably. But from the nests on his shoulders, two swarms of poisonous insects instantly flew out and gathered in the air like a dark cloud. Then, a huge fireball approached and the dark cloud dispersed, and fell like rain. After that...the fireball reached its target and a devastating explosion occurred!
The 'Great Fireball' was the most powerful spell before the appearance of high rank spells. Franklin had also applied 'Maximize Spell' to increase its power by 25%.
Besides that, targets trapped by the 'Web' spell would also take an extra 25% of fire damage.
Leaping Ents were the more fragile species among the Ents to begin with. In addition to that, they were also weak to fire. All these factors accumulated to result in a horrible ending for the Ent!
A loud boom reverberated!
The gigantic fireball erupted into a large mushroom cloud. An area dozens of meters around the Ent burned in a sea of blazing flames. Massive heat waves evaporated the moisture of the fertile soil to form a transparent glass-like material on the surface. Sheyan had to take 7 or 8 steps back from the heat while protecting his face with his hands.
Everyone thought that the dust had settled, but the Leaping Ent was still not dead! He jumped out of the flames as his whole body emitted crackling noises while he burned. He croaked and squeaked and screamed and rolled away on the ground.
He did not seem to have any other means of attacking besides using the insects. Therefore, the natural selection during his path of evolution should be primarily focused on features to increase his mobility, and secondarily, on strengthening his survivability. His bark kept secreting out a gel-like substance that would extinguish the fire wherever it flowed. His running speed was also really fast. It wouldn't be long before he rushed out from the burning area.
But at that moment, the string of a bow lightly hummed. The Leaping Ent fell to the ground, then ran for a few more steps before he suddenly paused. His legs loosened into roots which deeply engraved themselves into the earth as he turned into a charred tree. Next, a seemingly vibrant green spot of light flew out from the tree, then scattered in the air, vanishing without a trace.
A silent arrow from Melody denied the Leaping Ent his last chance for survival. It also disrupted Treebeard's subsequent follow-up move!
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For ten minutes, Sheyan ran hard with Reef supporting him even though his lungs felt like they were stuffed with burning coals.
Although Sheyan had meticulously planned beforehand to let Party Ace's members come pick him up, he could never have expected Treebeard to go berserk and transform into a giant Ent. Every step Treebeard took was equivalent to the distance they traveled in five minutes!
Fires still raged everywhere in the forest of Fangorn. In fact, the situation was so severe that almost half the forest was being threatened by fire. Thick smoke covered the sky. Despite that, the raging Treebeard kept his attention firmly on Sheyan.
In order to rescue Sheyan as fast as possible, Reef and co. penetrated deeply into the interior of the Fangorn Forest under the cover of natural spells. It had now become the deadliest place.
Sheyan's only chance was to flee to Isen River next to the forest of Fangorn and get into the water. In the water, the huge size of Treebeard would become his biggest disadvantage.
Sheyan's HP slowly recovered under Melody's 'Rejuvenation' spell. After he recovered nearly 50% of his HP, he suddenly stopped and turned back to face the giant Ent that was chasing after them with large steps. He fiercely bared his teeth, his eyes fierce, as he said, "Stop running. We won't make it. In the jungle, there's no way we can outrun the Ent!"
Sheyan pulled Melody close and gave her a deep kiss, then he embraced Reef and Franklin. He gritted his teeth and said, "I have a way to buy us some time. If it doesn't work, then we can only fight to the death!"
What happened next gave Treebeard a headache. Among the group of bugs he's chasing, a single person separated from the team and ran in a different direction. The aura of the Golden Fruit was strong on the person.
The problem was, this little bug fled towards the north while the others fled towards the east.
Treebeard hesitated for a bit, then decided to chase after the little bug with the distinct aura of the Golden Fruit. After wasting some time, Treebeard managed to catch up to him. The Ent stepped on him but the guy simply burst like a bubble.
Because he's merely an illusion.
Sheyan asked Franklin to produce an illusion of himself and let the illusion run away while carrying one Golden Fruit.
Because the Golden Fruit was not put into the personal space, Treebeard could naturally sense it more clearly. It caused him to make the wrong choice.
When Treebeard retrieved the Golden Fruit, he refused to wait until it fully matured. He immediately absorbed it, then further pulled in dozens of big trees to enlarge his body. He became even fiercer and his roar got louder as it rang through the sky.
Currently, there were two Golden Fruits remaining in Sheyan's possession. Reef and Franklin, being contestants, could not absorb them, but Melody and Ferrell might be able to. This was especially true in the case of Mr. Ferrell. In fact, the Ent could sense the aura drifting from the Golden Fruit absorbed by Sheyan. He kept looking at Sheyan in envy.
Sheyan was already seeing red. Regardless of whether they could survive this, he had no intention of spitting out the things that had entered his hands! He threw one Golden Fruit to Mr. Ferrell, and another to Melody.
Mr. Ferrell swallowed the fruit without hesitation. He rubbed his belly in satisfaction. And that was it. The aura of the Golden Fruit completely disappeared in his stomach.
Senyan observed for a long time but found no changes in the Ent. He couldn't help but ask Mr. Ferrell about it. Mr. Ferrell looked at him like he was looking at an idiot. "Mr. Protector, this is the strongest and purest power of Treebeard. How could I possibly consume it all right away? I naturally covered up its aura first."
Melody held the fruit in her left hand. The glow from the Ring of Air was enough to hide the Golden Fruit. She also had to slowly grind away at the power in the fruit.
Sheyan looked towards the giant figure of Treebeard who was once again approaching them. He took a deep breath, then inexplicably rushed towards the giant Ent! While he was charging, Franklin waved his staff and once again created a vivid illusion of Sheyan. The illusion even copied the faint aura of the Golden Fruit on Sheyan's body.
The two Sheyan were separated by a distance of about five hundred meters. They both made suicidal charges towards Treebeard like moths rushing to a flame!