"Who would've thought a plant could mutate to this extent... it's absolutely insane..."
In the heart of Antu City, as Guan Tong and the other two approached the main body of the mutated dragonblood tree, Adam craned his neck to look up at the gargantuan canopy that blotted out the sky and sun, his heart thrumming with shock. During this Doomsday Rules period, he'd seen plenty of mutated plants, but none of them could hold a candle to this mutated dragonblood tree.
Guan Tong said, "I heard it's been existing in the rainforest for nearly a thousand years before the Rules were released. It likely mutated right after the Rules came into effect and was already incredibly strong from the start. On top of that, it's been siphoning the entire forest's energy for over twenty days in the rainforest, turning it into the colossus it is now... Can you simulate its Mind Power defense field?"
Adam stared at the colossal tree, furrowing his brow. "I can give it a shot. But I need to make contact with its field first, and analyzing and simulating it with my brain will take time. During that time, I need to stay absolutely focused—I can't afford to be distracted in combat."
"No problem. You focus on the calculations; Uenoshi and I will protect you."
Beside him, Uenoshi nodded in agreement.
Just then, voices came from behind: "Us too!"
Silver Fox, Bai Xuewu, and Yang Ran arrived. Guan Tong glanced at the three newcomers and didn't object. They were all experts; having more hands was a good thing.
"All of you, get close to me."
Once everyone gathered around him, the shadows around him began to spread. The Shadow Domain centered on him expanded, rapidly enveloping everyone within.
Uenoshi pulled out a lighting item to illuminate the darkness, ensuring that Silver Fox and the others weren't limited in their vision.
But even so, all of them felt uncomfortable trapped inside Guan Tong's Shadow Domain. The flowing shadows under the light of the item constantly reminded them of horror movie scenes; even a coward would be terrified just being in such an environment.
Take Bai Xuewu, for instance—she was already feeling uneasy right now. Every time she saw Guan Tong's flowing shadows, she felt a little breathless.
Silver Fox asked at that moment, "Are you trying to block the mutated dragonblood tree's attacks?"
"Yeah, if it can have any effect at all, that's good enough." Guan Tong said.
Besides, everything within the Shadow Domain was under his complete control. If the mutated dragonblood tree launched an attack, any vines that drilled in would be detected by him, rendering their sneak attacks useless.
Just then, the Shadow Domain rippled. Guan Tong warned, "It's launching an attack. Get ready to fight."
Uenoshi, Silver Fox, and the others formed a circle around Adam, while Guan Tong stood at a high vantage point, manipulating the shadows from an omniscient perspective.
"Swish, swish, swish, swish, swish—!"
Countless vines and roots lunged ferociously into the Shadow Domain. Judging by the density of this assault, it was clear the mutated dragonblood tree could sense the threat these people posed and was desperate to kill them.
Guan Tong initially tried to deal with it like any other mutated plant, using sharp Shadow Blades to cut through those vines and roots. But this time, when the Shadow Blades struck, they were immediately stuck by the thick, viscous secretion coating the vines. The impact power of their charge was greatly neutralized, and some Shadow Blades were even trapped inside the secretion, unable to break free.
*What a formidable secretion...*
Guan Tong now understood why Yang Ran, Silver Fox, and the others had been helpless against this mutated dragonblood tree. Forget its field that blocked Mind Power intrusion—the sheer secretion covering its entire body was enough to render the vast majority of attacks useless.
Right now, it wasn't just his attacks that were being blocked; everyone else's were, too.
Silver Fox, with her lightning speed combined with melee weapon items, was usually unstoppable. Her enemies often died before they even knew what hit them.
But now, while her speed was still fast enough to keep up with the vines, her attacks were completely thwarted by the secretion. Her short blade weapon stuck to the vines on impact, almost impossible to pull out.
Yang Ran's flames were the same story. His fire made contact with a few roots and was instantly smothered, failing to exploit the overwhelming advantage fire normally has over plants.
Among the four, only Uenoshi and Bai Xuewu's attacks were effective.
Uenoshi could force gene conversion to petrify the branches and vines. Bai Xuewu, after summoning Snow Traces, equipped with the Power Sword, could break through the secretion's protection with high-speed resonance.
However, even their effective attacks were heavily weakened by the Mind Power defense field, drastically reducing their power.
Only now did Uenoshi realize why Zhang Minglu had suggested using nuclear weapons. Facing a mutated plant of this caliber, if they relied solely on Ascendants, even hundreds or thousands might not be enough.
Worse yet, the more Ascendants who came, the more the situation might deteriorate.
This mutated dragonblood tree fed by sucking blood and devouring corpses with its canopy, draining all energy from humans. It was easy to imagine that the more Ascendants it absorbed, the stronger it would become.
So, the more Ascendants that attacked, the more they might just be delivering a "power-up package" to it, making it even harder to deal with.
At that moment, over a hundred thick vines broke into the Shadow Domain, charging straight at them. The several thousand vines from earlier had already left them struggling to cope; there was no way they could handle this now.
Seeing this, Guan Tong immediately shrunk the Shadow Domain's range while activating the Nano Decomposition ability of his title.
This ability, which had been unstoppable in the past, now failed to instantly decompose those vines, instead falling into a tug-of-war.
When the vines touched the decomposition-imbued shadows, they entered a state of "slow decomposition." First, the secretion coating them was broken down, followed by the tree matter itself.
This sight not only amazed the other four but even surprised Guan Tong himself.
But since his ability could strip away the secretion's protection, the others could now unleash their attacks with less reduction in power.
Without needing verbal communication, the five instantly formed a combat synergy. The vines that broke into the domain had their secretion decomposed first by the nano ability, then the other four launched attacks to destroy the tree matter.
This could temporarily stabilize the situation, but the cost was a rapid drain on Guan Tong's Mind Power.
The Shadow Domain alone consumed a huge amount of Mind Power; activating the Nano Decomposition ability doubled that consumption. If this dragged on, even he wouldn't be able to handle it.
Adam, who was inside the protective circle of the five, was completely focused. Through the force field he'd created, he was in contact with the mutated dragonblood tree, analyzing and attempting to simulate a similar field to the latter's.
Thirty seconds, one minute, one and a half minutes...
With every second that passed, the Mind Power of all five rapidly drained.
Guan Tong went without saying, but the other four had limited reserves to begin with. Under such intense combat, their consumption was alarming; they'd be empty in no time.
Just then, Guan Tong keenly sensed movement underground and immediately warned, "The mutated dragonblood tree is launching an underground attack! Everyone, be careful!"
As he spoke, he was forced to temporarily disable the Nano Decomposition ability. He manipulated the shadows to form several Shadow Pillars on the ground, lifting all four—except for Bai Xuewu, who was protected by her mech—into the air to avoid the underground assault.
Sure enough, just as they rose on the shadow pillars, large clusters of sharp roots burst from underground, writhing upward and trying to impale them from below.
"I've got this!"
Bai Xuewu's mech ignited its boosters, charging toward the direction of the root onslaught. Swinging the Power Sword with both hands, she unleashed a rapid series of slashes.
While large swaths of roots were severed, some slipped through the gaps between her sword strikes and stabbed into the mech.
*Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud!*
Each hit drained a chunk of energy from the mech's defense modules, and Bai Xuewu's already scant Mind Power was quickly running dry.
Uenoshi, Silver Fox, and Yang Ran hurriedly provided support, while Guan Tong defended them from attacks coming from other directions.
This high-pressure battle left everyone gasping for air. Even Guan Tong found it extremely taxing, and he was starting to consider retreating with the group.
If this continued, while he could still protect himself, he couldn't guarantee the safety of the others.
And if he had to choose between these few people and the lives of other Sakura Prayer citizens in the city, he would definitely choose the former, even if the latter's numbers far exceeded them.
"Done!"
Just as Guan Tong was considering backing out, Adam suddenly opened his eyes, having completed the analysis of the mutated dragonblood tree's Mind Power defense field.
Hearing this, Guan Tong immediately manipulated a mass of shadows into an arrow and shot it toward the tree, while saying to Adam, "Wrap your simulated field around that shadow arrow!"
"Got it!"
Adam quickly created a field block similar to the mutated dragonblood tree's defense field, enveloping the flying shadow arrow.
Then, he expanded a large-scale defense field, covering all of them, blocking the relentless, unending barrage of roots and vines.
"You've worked hard. Leave the rest to me—take a breather."
Adam knew they had drained themselves severely protecting him. He still had plenty of Mind Power left, enough to hold the defense field for a while.
Silver Fox and the others were indeed on the verge of exhaustion, both mentally and physically. With Adam's field now taking the brunt of the attacks, the pressure suddenly lifted, and they sat on the shadow pillars, gasping for breath.
Bai Xuewu had also just exited her mech. Her Mind Power was completely spent, but she still had plenty of stamina left. Standing on the shadow pillar, she looked up at Guan Tong, who was even higher above. His entire body was shrouded in shadow, almost merging with the Shadow Domain.
*He really is too strong...*
Even though Bai Xuewu usually didn't care much about the strength of Ascendants, every time she fought alongside Guan Tong, she couldn't help but be awed by his power.
His level of strength completely transcended their dimension. She felt that even all the top Ascendants from the Countermeasures Research Office base combined might not be a match for Guan Tong.
Such an insurmountable gap left her feeling a bit disheartened.
Guan Tong, at this moment, was focused entirely on the shadow arrow. Encased in Adam's simulated field, it shot out of the Shadow Domain and successfully breached the mutated dragonblood tree's Mind Power defense field, entering the tree's interior in an intangible form.
The moment it entered, Guan Tong poured a massive amount of Mind Power into it. In the span of a breath, the small shadow arrow frantically expanded, splitting into countless virtual shadow lines that spread throughout the tree!
Every branch, every root, every vine, and even the enormous canopy—Guan Tong did his best to split off enough shadow lines to fill and occupy everything.
This process was brief, but the Mind Power consumption was insane—so much that even Guan Tong felt a pang of regret.
But at this point, he couldn't afford to worry about that. Just as his reserve Mind Power was about to hit rock bottom, he finally managed to fill the entire mutated dragonblood tree with his shadows.
"Fireworks!"
Substantial-Ins substantial shift!
He deactivated the Shadow Domain, and under the stunned gazes of everyone, the mutated dragonblood tree, which moments ago was an unstoppable predator, suddenly exploded!
The massive trunk, roots, vines, and canopy—every part of it burst apart from the inside out as the solidified shadows expanded. Brownish-red secretion splattered everywhere like scattered petals in a gale.
Just as Guan Tong had said, it was a grand, blooming fireworks display. But this "red fireworks show" didn't leave gunpowder in the air; instead, it mixed a thick scent of blood with the viscous, astringent odor of plants, utterly nauseating.
Guan Tong landed on the ground, feeling a slight blurriness before his eyes. His body was unusually weak.
He knew he'd overexerted his Mind Power.
The reserve Mind Power, already nearly empty, had been completely drained after the final "Substantial-Ins substantial shift" consumption.
This feeling of being completely empty of Mind Power was something he hadn't experienced in so long that his body was having trouble adjusting.
"Troupe Leader, you..."
Uenoshi noticed Guan Tong's weakened state and moved to his side.
Guan Tong shook his head slightly, signaling that he was fine. He'd only depleted his Mind Power—he wasn't injured. He just needed to replenish it later.
"The mutated dragonblood tree is completely dead. You... you actually succeeded."
Zhang Minglu's shocked voice came through the communicator Silver Fox was carrying. Judging by his tone, it was clear he hadn't expected the group to be able to completely eliminate a mutated plant of this caliber.
"All thanks to Adam and Guan Tong," Silver Fox said. She knew very well who deserved the most credit.
"You've all worked hard!" Zhang Minglu said. "I'll send someone to pick you up immediately."
"Yeah."
"Captain, do you guys want to come to the base with us?" Yang Ran asked. "The conditions there are better—you can recover faster!"
His eyes were full of admiration and anticipation as he looked at Guan Tong. The shock this battle had given him was far stronger than during their earlier encounter with the cultists.
Zhang Minglu chimed in, "Guan Tong, if you want to come, you're welcome. The base does have all kinds of professional equipment and recovery items that can help you get back on your feet quickly."
Bai Xuewu and Silver Fox didn't say anything, but their eyes also held a hint of expectation.
However, Guan Tong still refused. "Thanks for the kind offer, but no need."
He, Adam, and even Uenoshi weren't Ascendants affiliated with Beixing, after all. Besides, they still had things to do and no time to slowly recuperate at the Countermeasures Research Office base.