Final Lord

Chapter 206 Corrupted Root Nest
Wang Bufu's leather boots rolled over the scarlet roots, and the moss-like humus emitted a burnt smell under the blind cat's magical bombardment.

"Your efforts are in vain; chaos will inevitably descend..."

Suddenly, the parchment on Wei Yi's sword sheath spontaneously combusted into a bluish-purple fireball, and the rumble of dragging chains echoed from the depths of the cave. The three hundred cave dwellers simultaneously covered their ears, as muffled whispers, like the friction of mycelium, spread along the veins of the rock walls.

"Become nourishment!"

"Become nourishment!"

"My lord!" Shanpao, his poison bullet piercing two writhing roots, rushed to Wang Bufu's side and said urgently, "These roots are shrinking towards the altar!"

"All troops, be careful, do not linger in battle, retreat to the cave entrance."

Wang Bufu immediately ordered his troops to fight and retreat. When all the troops converged at the cave entrance, the entire cave suddenly came to life, and the fleshy rock walls contracted violently like a stomach.

Foul-smelling slime dripped from the top of the stalactites, corroding honeycomb-like holes in the ground. The corpses of priests suddenly convulsed and crawled toward the altar, dark purple mycelium gushing from their seven orifices, weaving into a vine throne in the air.

Chi!

On the wall of flesh and blood, streams of blood-red viscous fluid gushed out, one of which was aimed directly at Wang Bufu.

"Brother! Step back!" Wei Yi slashed through the slime with her twin swords, revealing scarlet energy veins beneath the rock layers torn open by her sword energy!

"That was pure energy that should have belonged to the natural spring, but it was wrapped in dark purple mycelium and transported to the earth's core. So that's how it is; the root of the corruption lies here."

Wang Bufu's eyes were sharp as his gaze swept over the sacrificial array covered by mycelium on the tube wall. He said with absolute certainty:
"The Wujin Cult is most adept at using this method of polluting the energy of order. Two hundred thousand gold coins aren't a purification fee, but rather a tonic for that evil entity. They want to use our money to help them completely corrupt the natural spring. What a dream!"

As if in response to his words, the entire cave suddenly trembled violently, and the ground tilted at a forty-five-degree angle.

"Master, be careful!"

The harpies rapidly ascended, their emerald feathers leaving scorch marks on the violently trembling walls of flesh and blood, yet they remained fiercely protective of Wang Bufu, preventing him from sliding towards the altar.

"My God, what is that?" Shanpao and the cavemen clung tightly to the rock crevices, watching in shock as tens of thousands of dark purple fluorescent spores gushed out from the depths of the earth.

The spore cloud condensed into a gigantic, illusory tree that blotted out the sky, and the repulsive spore face reappeared on the tree trunk.

"Why resist?" With each word uttered by the human face, a burst of pus erupted from the veins in the rock face. "Throw gold coins into my embrace, and you will witness the birth of a new era..."

"Witness your mother's death! Chaotic monsters, they deserve to die!" Wang Bufu suddenly hurled his torch at the man's face and shouted, "Artillery team! Northeast corner rock strata, fire a barrage of poisonous miasma!"

The spore-shaped face constructed by the cunning monster was not its true form. Its true form was hiding behind the fleshy rock wall, intending to launch a sneak attack, but all of this could not escape Wang Bufu's eyes.

The system treats all red-named beings equally; even demigods and monsters must obediently reveal their true forms!
Thirty poison gas bombs struck the designated area with a resounding crash. The dark green poisonous mist instantly penetrated the flesh-and-blood walls, blasting open a five-meter-diameter crater from the inside and shattering all the scarlet flesh-and-blood vines.

A deafening shriek suddenly rang out, shaking down countless stalactites and completely exposing the fleshy roots hidden deep in the rock strata to everyone's eyes.

The core, forged from mycelium and broken metal, was pulsating wildly, its surface inlaid with the gruesome heads of seven priests of the Goldless Cult.

Corrupted Root Nest, Overlord Monster (Level 5)
Attributes:
Life: 3200
Attack: 45 (Root Strangulation) / 36 (Metal Jet)
Attack range: Roots (melee, 5-meter range), Ranged (800 meters)
Defense: 40 (Metallic mycelium layer can absorb an additional 20% of physical damage)

Speed: 5 (The main body moves slowly, but the roots' attack range covers the entire battlefield)

Core special skills:

Metal corrosion parasitism (passive)
It continuously corrodes the surrounding metal and gold coins.

Any unit carrying corrupted metal and corrupted gold coins has a chance to be parasitized by corrupted mycelium when attacked, losing 2% of its maximum health per second until the parasite makes contact.

If the parasitic unit dies, its metal equipment will be transformed into a [Corrupted Metal Golem] (inheriting 50% of the host's attributes).

Root Nest Resonance (Domain)
Corrupting roots continue to spread underground on the battlefield, launching [Root Pierce] on random targets every 10 seconds (dealing 120% of attack power as damage and inflicting the "Bleeding" effect).

If the target is in the spore mist, root damage is increased by 50% and triggers "Parasitic Seed" (which hatches a fern marrow engineer after 5 seconds).

Devour Evolution (Active/90-second cooldown)
Consume a Metal Golem or Corrupted unit to restore health equal to the target's maximum health and permanently increase your own attack by 3 (stacks up to 5 times).

Corruption Sacrifice (Passive)
For every 10 corrupted gold coins (or equivalent metals) present in the vicinity, attack speed increases by 5%, and attack range increases by 10 meters (unlimited).

A data stream instantly appeared before Wang Bufu's eyes. When he saw the descriptions of the [Metal Corruption Parasite] and [Corruption Sacrifice] special abilities, his pupils suddenly contracted.

"Damn it! Retreat! Retreat! All units carrying metal equipment and gold coins, retreat immediately! This thing is disgusting! Even if we win, we'll lose everything!"

Before Wang Bufu could finish speaking, the three cultist parasites holding iron pickaxes in the direction of the altar suddenly froze.

The pickaxe handles in their palms burrowed into their veins as if they were alive, and dark purple lines rapidly climbed up their forearms.

The mountain gun's poison shell decisively pierced the enemy's throat, the splattering putrid pus and blood sizzling on the ground.

"Hiss! Is it corroding this fast?" Wang Bufu's eyes almost popped out of their sockets. He hurriedly shouted, "Weiyi! You mustn't get close! Most of the treasures you have contain metal. It can wipe out our entire fortune in one go."

Not only can Wei Yi not get close, but Wang Bufu can't either. His gold coin bag contains nearly 300,000 gold coins, the Werewolf King's Shield is valued at over ten million, and a bunch of other miscellaneous items.

If it gets corrupted, its attack speed and range will skyrocket! Even a legendary weapon wouldn't be enough for it to win.

"Run! Run! Don't fight underground, let's get out of here first!"

Amidst Wang Bufu's shouts and cries, a large group of soldiers hurriedly followed the cavemen toward the exit, without looking back.

However, the passageway of the flesh cave was now tilted at nearly sixty degrees, making it impossible for Wang Bufu and his group to run fast.

Deep within the flesh cave, the fleshy tentacles of the corrupted root nest have stretched out, and strange murmurs continue to echo.

"Become nourishment! Become nourishment! Give me the gold coins! Become nourishment!"

(End of this chapter)