Above the mage!

Chapter 458 Murder Vine
The last time I felt this chill down my spine was when I was on my way to the Snowfield Guardians' headquarters and was ambushed by Ryan at night.

Will this be a disaster or a tragedy?

it is not important.

Because there is no essential difference.

Gao De's heart was pounding violently in his chest cavity, an instinctive physiological response when the body senses danger.

He understood that he had to respond promptly to this premonition.

Although Gaode does not know what the impending disaster and suffering will be like.

But based on the experience from last time, there is no doubt that this carriage can no longer stay, and its original course of action must be changed.

Without any hesitation, he lifted the curtain, not forgetting to carry the bag of magic tree seeds, and jumped down from the carriage.

Before the driver could react to what was happening, he saw Gao De suddenly get out of the car. He was about to ask a question, but no sound came out of his open mouth.

Suddenly, a damp, fishy, ​​and sweet smell filled the air, as if there were rotting seaweed mixed with the smell of rust.

As Gaode detached from the carriage and landed, a strange scraping sound came from the bottom of the carriage, like countless shells rubbing against metal.

Then, the wooden planks of the carriage groaned under the strain.

On the walls of the vehicle, spiderweb-like white mycelium was spreading at a visible speed, and wherever it passed, the wood quickly decayed into grayish-white powder.

These mycelia, like greedy silver snakes, frantically devour everything in their path.

The white mycelium spread extremely quickly, enveloping the coachman as well.

The coachman had no chance to struggle, and before he could even show a look of terror, all the blood in his body was instantly drained.

As his blood was drained, his skin quickly dried up and wrinkled, his muscles atrophied, and in an instant he became a dried-up corpse.

The horses nearby neighed in terror and thrashed about with their hooves, but to no avail.

Several black vines had already emerged, coiling around the horse's body like snakes.

The horse's neighing instantly weakened, quickly died down, and finally collapsed to the ground, leaving only a wrinkled skin.

Upon closer inspection, Gaode noticed that many vines were sprouting from the cracks in the floor where the carriage had been.

The vines, covered in a sticky sap, throbbed and twitched like venomous snakes.

"Killer Ivy!"

Gao De's pupils contracted slightly as he recognized the monster's origin.

Is the killer vine a carnivorous plant, or perhaps a terrestrial organism?

Its true form is a plant, and it is extremely dangerous. It grows stronger by entangled with and absorbing nutrients from living organisms.

They are not native plants of the Mage plane, but rather come from the ley line plane.

Although the Killer Vine can kill, it has no intelligence or rationality. It will violently lash any creature that passes by, regardless of the size of the target, whether the target is aware of it, or whether the target is a deadly threat.

Therefore, it is more like a plant than a living organism.

However, there is still no strict definition for how to classify it; calling it a plant or an earth vein organism is reasonable.

A mature killer vine consists of a main vine and many branches.

These branches have clusters of tentacles covered with sharp spines, and each tentacle has a sucker-like mouthpart at its tip. It uses these mouthparts to absorb nutrients from the body.

After absorbing enough nutrients, the Killer Vine will also produce small berries that look like wild strawberries. These small berries are very unpalatable and have a bitter taste.

However, some theories suggest that the taste of the berries depends on the type of nutrients the Killer Ivy absorbs, with the most ferocious Killer Ivy rumored to produce the most delicious fruit.

Information about the Killer Vine flashed through Gao De's mind in an instant. Of course, his thinking speed was extremely fast, so there wasn't even a moment's delay.

The next moment, the thick tendrils of the killer vine shot towards Gao De like an arrow released from a bow.

The vines whistled through the air, their purple sap splashing onto the ground as they sped along, leaving the stone slabs scorched with black marks.

The rank of the Killer Vine is not fixed; it mainly depends on its growth years and the amount of nutrients it absorbs during its growth process, ranging from the weakest first rank to the fourth rank.

The moment he stepped out of the carriage, Gao De activated Mandora's Eye.

Using the [Insight] ability, the speed at which the suddenly appearing killer vine was moving was accurately determined, and a preliminary conclusion was drawn about its rank based on its speed.

It definitely surpasses the second tier and reaches the third tier.

As for whether it is the middle or late stage, Mandora's Eye cannot make an accurate analysis at the moment. More information is needed to build a more accurate data model.

As a newcomer to the Second Ring Road, Gao De, a master of the third-tier Killing Vine, dared not be negligent in the slightest.

In fact, even without Mandora's Eye, he had already raised his vigilance to the highest level—if this killer vine could trigger the disaster and pain prediction function of the [Ninja Body], it couldn't possibly be just a second-tier plant.

Gao De's thoughts raced.

The space around him rippled faintly, and after a pause of about the time it takes to draw a sword, the [North Wind], exuding a chilling aura, appeared in Gao De's hand.

[Equipment Sharing].

For a second-ring mage, the only way to survive or even turn the tables on a third-tier killing vine, at least under the current circumstances, is to rely on external objects and methods of a higher tier.

The only weapons he currently possesses that can be considered super-tier, besides the combination of Storm Soul's possession and Qi control, are the True Ice Magic Weapon [North Wind].

This once-class-seventh-tier extraordinary equipment, even though its power has weakened over time, still possesses power of at least the fourth tier and the original form of a seventh-tier extraordinary equipment.

Faced with the attacks of third-tier ley line creatures, his defensive spells would shatter like glass at the slightest touch.

Therefore, there is only one way: attack!

Head-to-head.

Although the Killer Vine is powerful, it has a fatal weakness: it has no intelligence and will only frantically whip around creatures according to its instincts, regardless of whether the other party poses a fatal threat to it.

The biting cold of the North Wind is something that any normal living being knows to avoid.

But the killer vine won't.

The thick vines surged straight forward.

Gao De didn't hold back either. A powerful surge of magic energy emanated from his right hand, which was gripping the sword. The energy flowed down his palm and onto the [North Wind] sword, causing its azure blade to flash with a magical light.

Upgraded casting, [Heavy Blade+]!
With the blessing of magic, the momentum and density of [North Wind] were enhanced.

Whoosh!
It's too late to say.

The sound of the vines was like a high-pitched string being plucked.

Gao De, however, simply turned slightly to the side at the perfect moment, dodging the vine's sharp thorns.

For the Killer Ivy, the vines are its hands, and they are exceptionally flexible.

Therefore, under normal circumstances, dodging is useless; it will immediately return and continue its entanglement and attack.

After all, it was a "hand," not an arrow.

In the instant he turned to the side, a sword light transformed into a straight line and slashed down diagonally.

The sword blade made direct contact with the resilient tendrils of the Killer Vine.

It was not able to cut it off directly.

But Gaode wasn't alarmed at all.

The strength of the North Wind lies not in the sharpness of its blade, but in its ice.

As a True Ice Magic Weapon, in addition to its inherent level 7 sturdiness, it also comes with level 4 freezing damage and level 5 cold effect.

At the first stage, Gaode Maps couldn't fully utilize the power of the "North Wind" feature.

Now a second-ring mage, the quality of his magic has been further enhanced, allowing him to begin to show his prowess with [North Wind]. This was the first time Gao De had felt so powerful.

He recklessly unleashed his magic power into the North Wind.

The sixty-one lines on the jade crystal began to fade away rapidly, one by one.

The power of this sword strike was even beyond Gao De's own imagination.

Crack!

The purple sap on the vine's surface froze instantly into sharp ice spikes, and countless tiny ice cracks spread wildly from the point of contact, extending towards the main body of the killer vine.

The killer vine's resilience was beyond imagination. Even though the blade had already cut into the vine and released an extremely cold aura, it still twisted wildly with its powerful vitality, trying to shred the blade.

However, as a former Tier 7 extraordinary equipment, the [North Wind] itself possesses a Tier 7 sturdiness effect.

What is meant by Level 7 Fortitude? It means that only spells of level 7 or higher can damage the [North Wind] itself.

The mere Killer Vine naturally doesn't possess that ability.

The ice layer was still spreading rapidly, but during this process, Gaode felt a noticeable but not particularly strong resistance.

Forced by this resistance, [North Wind] suddenly emitted a powerful suction force, extracting 30% of the magic power from his jade crystal in one go, causing nearly twenty patterns to instantly become dull and lifeless.

In return, a wisp of azure sword light shone from the [North Wind] sword.

Crackling sounds!

The resistance was instantly dissipated.

The ice began to grow at a visible rate, freezing the air in its path.

The thorns on the vines froze into crystals, and the purple sap in the sucker-like mouthparts turned into icicles.

In the blink of an eye, the ice layer had already extended to the main trunk of the Killer Vine, and then rapidly spread along the main trunk towards the entire Killer Vine.

At the opportune moment, under the long-awaited effect of Mandora's Eye of Insight, a complete model was established by observing the energy flow of the Killer Vine just now fighting against the North Wind, and a precise result was fed back to Gaode.

"Early stage of the third tier".

This is the rank of the killer vine before us.

Among plants like the Killer Ivy, this rank is neither high nor low, but for Gao De, it should actually be considered something that could kill him.

But that's just what should be said.

On the completely frozen surface of the Killer Vine, ice crystals continued to spread like a spider web, and those vines that once swung wildly had now become translucent ice sculptures.

The entire killer vine emitted a cracking sound as if it could no longer bear the weight, as if countless mirrors were shattering simultaneously.

On the main stem, fine cracks began to appear in the ice layer, trapping the purple sap within and forming eerie ice patterns.

Suddenly, the fine cracks spread rapidly. At the same time, a huge crack appeared in the ice layer on the main trunk of the Killer Vine, extending from the bottom to the top, and the entire Killer Vine began to shake violently.

There was a bang.

The Killer Vine ice sculpture shattered completely, and countless ice shards mixed with purple sap fragments flew in all directions, like ice blades, carving deep marks on the ground.

Fortunately, the buildings on both sides of the street seemed to have been severely damaged by the cyclone and had not yet been repaired, so there was no one around and no one was injured.

Gao De noticed that a new entry for "Killer Vine" had appeared in Feng Lingyueying's Origin section. He then slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air, and his tense heart relaxed a little.

But only a little.

He was currently in the city of Auckland. How could a killer vine, which had no intelligence, was difficult to move, and lacked the ability to hide, suddenly appear in such a place?

Without a doubt, it was definitely man-made, with a mastermind behind it all.

Since there is a mastermind behind this, dealing with this killer vine does not mean that the matter is resolved.

The mastermind behind this might have a backup plan. His sword strike just now looked incredibly powerful, but it also consumed a tremendous amount of energy, draining half of the mana stored in his magic crystal.

Danger could reappear at any moment, but his internal magical power is less than half full.

This makes Gaode feel very insecure.

He looked around warily, aware that there might still be lurking dangers.

As a result, everything went smoothly and no further incidents occurred.

Perhaps this is the only method the mastermind has, or perhaps the mastermind thought that taking down Gaode with a third-tier killer vine was a sure thing and had no backup plan.

In short, after a brief moment of calm, figures flashed across the street at the end.

Using the far-sighted ability of Mandora's Eye, God recognized him as the guardian mage of Auckland.

They noticed the commotion and rushed over.

Upon seeing this, Gao De's mind stirred slightly, and ripples spread once more.

The next moment, the [North Wind] in his hand had disappeared.

"What's going on?!" There were seven guard mages who rushed over. They were a squad. Although the leader's mage level was not clear, according to convention, he should be a third-ring mage.

When the leading monk arrived at the scene, he was slightly surprised to see Gao De, who was wearing a warrant officer's sea sentry uniform, and the messy scene. He asked in an extremely polite tone.

"I am Gao De. I was invited to attend the Auckland Honorary Mage title conferment ceremony tomorrow. I don't know what happened, but I was attacked by a Killer Vine on the way." Gao De pointed to the Killer Vine "corpse" that was broken into pieces and briefly explained the whole story.

"You've seen it too, that's it. But then again, how could such a dangerous plant appear in the heart of Auckland?" he asked knowingly.

"It really shouldn't have happened." Upon hearing Gao De's identity and learning the details of the incident, the leading monk's face darkened.

Gao De, who is about to be conferred the title of Honorary Mage, is attacked by Killer Vine in the city.

This is considered a serious accident.

“The appearance of the Killing Vine is most likely man-made,” the leading mage said, not giving a definitive answer. He clasped his hands in a fist salute to Gao De and said, “Mage Gao De, we are sorry to have startled you. We will report the situation immediately and give you a result as soon as possible.”

Gao De didn't make things difficult for them, saying, "Then we'll have to trouble you."

“These ‘evidence’ may need to be left to us first,” the leading monk said, pointing to the pieces of the murderous vine remains.

"no problem."

After receiving an affirmative answer, the leading monk led his men to clean up the scene.

“Could you please send someone to the Leon family to explain the situation?” Gao De added.

He was fine, but the coachman and the horse with the bloodline of the earth vein creature had both died. He definitely needed to explain the situation to Adrian.

The guardian mage readily agreed and quickly sent someone to relay the message to his other colleagues.

Soon, a dozen or so guarding mages arrived and began to deal with the scene.

Seeing that he couldn't get involved, Gao De took his leave.

His mood was somewhat heavy.

He was certain that the Killer Vine attack was not an accident, but a meticulously planned attack.

The fact that the opponent immediately unleashed a third-tier killing vine demonstrates the meticulousness of their methods and actions.

The Killing Vine has no intelligence, so there is no possibility of it exposing the mastermind. However, for a third-tier Killing Vine to kill him, who had just advanced to the second ring, would be an easy task, even without intelligence.

This is a near-perfect method.

Although he managed to thwart the attack without serious injury.

But if the mastermind is still around, they could strike again.

This time, the third-tier Killing Vine failed, so next time it will definitely use even more ruthless methods.

There's no reason to guard against thieves for a thousand days.
(End of this chapter)