Wizard: Starting from Escape from the Thorn Garden

Along the way, they encountered several more attacks:

The "Wailing Banshee," formed from countless vengeful spirits, had its mental screams weakened by both Elena's Star Barrier and Kate's Soul-Eating Heart-Stabilizing Balm.

The "Skeleton Spikeworms" lurking beneath the bone powder were eliminated by Sophia's rock armor and Rhodes's molten trampling.

There were also several "Corrupted Shadow Wolves" corrupted by the abyss's aura. They were extremely fast and had poisonous claws and teeth. They were eventually dealt with by a combination of assassination attempts by Kayle and Serena, and restraint by Kate's vines.

In every battle, Kate is like a scavenger and reaper hidden within the team.

His vines always restrain the most threatening targets at crucial moments, and the Spiritual Seeds deliver critical mental interference or finish off the enemy.

Each time he defeated an enemy, the Bloodthirsty Vine would devour a pure stream of malevolent energy, which would nourish the Seed of Origin. This gave him a strange feeling of being overfed in this cold and desolate environment.

As Kate traversed a labyrinthine area composed of massive stacked vertebrae, her Seed of Origin once again detected a faint, unusual energy fluctuation.

The fluctuation originated from deep within the eye sockets of a relatively complete fossilized skull of a giant beast, partially buried in bone powder.

There grew a small, inconspicuous clump of shadow-black vines, with a few tiny black seeds, each the size of a grain of rice, emitting faint spatial fluctuations.

[Target Analysis: Shadow Vine (Wild Variant)]

[Characteristics: The vine itself possesses a slight shadow affinity, allowing it to blend into the environment. The seed contains a slight spatial leap ability; once activated, it allows for short-distance shadow jumps with silent landings and low energy consumption.]

[Value: Can be used to craft Shadow Jump scrolls or potions, or for cultivation optimization.]

"Shadow Vine Seeds?" Kate's heart skipped a beat.

Although this thing has a short jump distance, it has the advantages of low energy consumption, fast activation, and being silent, which may be surprisingly effective in reconnaissance, evasion, or launching a surprise attack.

Without making a sound, he used the vines to sweep away the seeds and put them in his pocket.

Two days later, after defeating a legion of skeletons led by corrupted undead knights entrenched in the deepest part of the rift, the group finally reached the end of the Rift of the Dead.

Before me lay a breathtaking sight.

At the end of the rift valley is not a rock wall, but a huge curtain that seems to connect the sky and the earth.

This curtain is woven from countless twisted, writhing, foul-smelling dark green vines, viscous black mud, and enormous fungal caps radiating an ominous purple light!

The vines were covered with sharp, poisonous thorns and suckers that opened and closed constantly, dripping with slime; bubbles churned in the mud, emitting a strong smell of decay and poison; beneath the fungal caps, visible, shimmering clouds of purple spores drifted about!

The entire curtain exuded a nauseating stench and a strong, soul-corroding aura of decadence!

Just getting close to it makes you feel dizzy, as if your life force is slowly draining away!

This is the boundary of the Corruption Garden—a living "wall" made of abyssal energy pollution, demonic plants, and fungi!

In the center of that chilling "living curtain," in a relatively clean area, one can vaguely see a ten-meter-high arched portal made of pale bones and twisted roots.

Inside the portal lay a deep darkness, billowing with purplish-green mist, emanating spatial fluctuations that led to another world.

That's the entrance to the third level of the Corrupted Garden!

However, what guarded the entrance was not the undead or shadowy creatures one might imagine, but a "mountain".

A "small hill" nearly 20 meters high, made up of dark green moss, grayish-white rocks, and tangled black tree roots!

It lies quietly in front of the entrance, almost blending into its surroundings, exuding a heavy, ancient, and fierce aura.

If it weren't for the chilling alarm from the Seed of Origin and Elena's suddenly grave expression, everyone would have almost mistaken it for part of the environment.

[WARNING! Extremely high energy levels and vital signs detected!]

[Target: Mimic Rock Turtle (Level 4 Peak/Pseudo-Wizard Level)]

[characteristic:

1. Superb mimicry: It blends seamlessly into the environment and is difficult to detect by conventional perception.

2. Terrifying Defense: The carapace is composed of activated rocks, symbiotic moss, and abyssal metallized roots, providing extremely high physical defense and energy resistance.

3. Earth Power: Allows you to manipulate surrounding rocks and soil for attack, defense, or to alter the terrain.

4. Abyssal Corruption: Attacks inflict the Abyssal Corruption effect, eroding energy armor and life essence.

5. Slow but powerful: Slow movement speed, but wide attack range and terrifying power.

6. Spiritual Node: The core spiritual consciousness is hidden within a special crystal deep within the carapace, which is its relative weakness.

[Threat Level: Extremely High! Possesses some characteristics of a formal wizard!]

"A mimicking a rock tortoise... This is troublesome."

Evan's voice was more solemn than ever before.

"Its defense is probably more terrifying than that of the lava behemoth, and its attacks are inflicted with abyssal corrosion, posing a huge threat to our energy armor and life essence."

"To fight or not to fight?" Rhodes' eyes burned with fighting spirit, but looking at the giant tortoise that was like a small mountain, he also felt a bit of pressure.

"The entrance is right behind it; there's no way around it."

Kyle said coldly from the shadows, "It has already discovered us."

As if to confirm Kyle's words, the "hill" moved slightly.

The moss and vines covering the surface receded like a tide, revealing the dark green rock carapace covered with mysterious runes!

A purplish-black, viscous liquid, resembling molten metal, flowed from the crevices of the carapace—Abyssal Corrosion Liquid!

Two enormous eyes, like small lakes, burning with eerie green flames, slowly opened and locked onto the crowd!

A heavy, mountain-like pressure, accompanied by the corrupting aura of the abyss, crashed down!

"roar--!!!"

A deep roar, seemingly from the depths of the earth, resounded! The entire rift valley trembled! Bone dust and rubble fell from the ground!

The mimicking rock tortoise has awakened!

Its head, covered in thick rock armor and shaped like a battering ram, slowly rose and opened its massive maw in the direction of the crowd!

There was no sound, but a thick, foul-smelling, and highly corrosive purplish-black mud torrent, like a filthy river bursting its banks, swept in with the force of destruction!

Wherever it passed, the ground sizzled and hissed as it corroded, billowing out thick black smoke!

Even hard fossilized bones softened and dissolved rapidly!

"Scatter!" Evan shouted sharply!

Everyone instantly dodged to the sides!

"Earth Barrier - Flow Cut-off!" Sofia roared, slamming her fists into the ground!

A thick, gray-white rock dam rose instantly from the ground, attempting to block the mudslide!

*Sizzle sizzle sizzle—!!!*

A terrifying sound of corrosion rang out as the rock embankment was eroded and dissolved by the purplish-black mud at a visible speed!

It only held on for a few seconds before collapsing with a deafening roar! The mudslide slowed down slightly, but it still surged forward with tremendous force!

"Wind Barrier - Freeze!" Evan's Wind Staff flashed.

A solidified blue wind wall instantly materialized!

The wind wall rotates at high speed, attempting to blow away and deflect the mud.

The mud torrent crashed against the wind wall with a dull thud.

Some of the mud was blown away by the strong wind, but more of the viscous mud adhered to the wind wall, causing severe corrosion!

The light from the wind wall quickly dimmed!

"Star Purification - Radiance!" Elena raised the Nebula Crystal high.

A pure, silvery-blue beam of light descended from the sky, illuminating the torrent of mud!

In the area illuminated by the beam of light, the mud made a "sizzling" sound, the purplish-black color faded, and the corrosiveness was greatly reduced, but the range was limited and could not cover the entire area!

"Molten Shield!" Rhode's body surged with fiery battle aura, forming a fiery shield in front of him!

The mud collided with the flames, creating a loud explosion. Some of it was evaporated, but the corrosive energy still penetrated the flames, scorching his fighting spirit!

With the help of the thorns, Kate narrowly avoided being swept away by the main stream of mud, but the splashes of mud landed on the thorn armor and made a "sizzling" sound. The dark gray armor surface was even corroded with white spots!

A chilling, corrosive feeling tried to seep in!

"Such strong corrosiveness!"

Kate's heart skipped a beat, and she immediately increased her mental energy output to maintain the stability of her armor.

The first wave of attacks left everyone in a sorry state.

This giant tortoise has an extremely wide attack range and is highly corrosive.

"Don't just stand there and take the hits! Attack its head or the joints of its limbs!" Evan shouted.

"Rock Spike - Strangulation!" Sofia unleashed her power once more.

Several huge, sharp stone spikes suddenly pierced out from under the giant tortoise's body, fiercely stabbing into its relatively vulnerable abdomen and limb joints!

However, the giant tortoise merely raised its heavy foot slightly before stomping down!

Boom!!!

A terrifying shockwave spread out from its center!

The stone spikes summoned by Sofia were instantly shattered.

The ground undulated like waves, making it difficult for everyone to stand!

"Wind Blade - Cut!"

Aiven condensed several refined wind blades and slashed towards the giant tortoise's head.

Ding Ding Ding!

The wind blade struck the rock armor covering the head, leaving only a shallow white mark, with sparks flying everywhere!

The rock armor's defensive capabilities far exceed expectations!

"Molten Core Fist!"

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Rod rushed to the side of the giant tortoise and slammed a powerful punch into one of its hind legs, which was as thick as a pillar!

boom!!!

Flames exploded! Debris flew everywhere!

A large crater was blasted open in the rock armor of the giant tortoise's hind leg, revealing the purplish-black, metallic-looking muscles inside!

But Rhodes' arms went numb from the recoil, and he staggered backward!

The purplish-black muscles twitched, and began to heal at a speed visible to the naked eye! Abyssal energy flowed!

"Roar!" The giant tortoise seemed to be enraged, its head suddenly turning towards Rhode, its huge mouth opening again!

"Watch out!" Evan and Sophia exclaimed at the same time!

"Shadow Strike - Weakness!" Kyle and Serena appeared like ghosts on either side of the giant skull!

Kyle's shadow gathered into a point of cold light, piercing straight into the giant tortoise's eyes, which were burning with eerie green flames!

Serena's dagger, glowing with a demonic light, pierced towards its relatively vulnerable nostrils!

The giant tortoise reacted incredibly fast! Its eyelids snapped shut!

Ding!Ding!

The shadow threads and daggers struck the thick, rocky eyelids, but to no avail, only sending up a few sparks.

At the same time, it suddenly shook its head!

The immense force created a gale, violently sweeping Kyle and Serena away!

The two nimbly flipped in the air, landing slightly out of breath.

"No way! Its physical defense is too high! Its energy resistance is strong too! And its recovery ability is insane!"

Rod roared, swinging his numb arm.

"Seed of Origin, Weakness Scan! Mental Node Location!" Kate shouted in her mind as she dodged the splashing mud and flying rocks!

At the same time, he tried to resonate with the spatial perception of the moon and shadow and the spatial anchor point he had just obtained, and tried to "see" through the thick rock armor!

Dark golden roots spread wildly in the sea of ​​consciousness!

The icy analytical force field penetrated layers of rock armor and abyssal energy!

[Depth scan in progress...]

[Target energy flow analysis…]

[The source of the mental fluctuations has been identified...]

[Slightly to the left of the center of the carapace, below the third rhomboid plate inlaid with a purplish-black crystal! Approximately two meters deep!]

found it!

"Senior Ai Wen! Senior Sophia!" Kate shouted.

"Its weakness is slightly to the left of the center of its carapace, below the third rhomboid purplish-black crystal! A mental node! Two meters deep!"

Evan and Sophia's eyes flashed with a sharp light!

"Cover Kate!" Evan made the decision instantly.

"Sophia, create an opportunity! Rhodes, draw attention! Kyle, Serena, prepare for a surprise attack! Elena, use the Purifying Field to suppress the corrosion! Kate, prepare 'Thorn Storm'! Target, weak area!"

"Understood!" everyone replied in unison.

"Grip of the Earth - Collapse!" Sophia slammed her fists into the ground in front of the giant tortoise.

The ground softened and collapsed instantly!

This forms a huge quicksand trap.

The giant tortoise's massive body suddenly sank, and its movements were briefly slowed down!

"Hey! Big turtle! Look this way!"

Rhodes roared, his entire body burning with fiery battle aura to its limit, like a burning human torch, and madly rushed towards the giant tortoise's head, unleashing a barrage of Molten Core Explosive Fists!

Although it couldn't cause fatal injuries, the violent explosion and flames successfully attracted most of the giant tortoise's attention!

"roar!"

As expected, the giant tortoise was enraged. It turned its head towards Rhodes, opened its huge mouth, and a terrifying torrent of mud was brewing once again!

"Star Purification - Prison of Light!"

The crystal in Elena's hand burst forth with an unprecedented light!

Several pure silver-blue beams of light descended from the sky, enveloping the giant tortoise's head like a cage!

The beam of light, carrying a powerful purifying force, frantically washed away the mud torrent, greatly weakening its power and corrosiveness!

"Now! Thorn Storm!" Evan, Sophia, and Kate shouted in unison!

hum! ! !

The three energies—the cyan river of wind, the gray-white earth and stone foundation, and the dark gold thorn vines—rose and intertwined once more!

This time, under the pressure of life and death, the three cooperated with unprecedented tacit understanding!

The agility of the wind, the weight of the earth, and the resilience of the vines are perfectly blended.

A terrifying storm domain, covering an area of ​​over twenty meters, incredibly solid, and composed of countless wind blades, stone spikes, and poisonous vines, instantly took shape!

Enveloped the giant tortoise's enormous body!

The storm spun wildly, ripping and crushing everything in its path!

Wind blades slice through rock armor, stones pierce and strike crevices, and poisonous vines entwine and bind, injecting paralyzing toxins!

The giant tortoise let out a painful roar! Its rocky armor rapidly peeled off and shattered in the storm!

The purplish-black abyssal corrosive liquid splashed everywhere, but was partially dispersed by the force of the storm!

"Kyle! Serena!" Evan roared!

Like arrows released from a bow, two shadows, taking advantage of the chaos created by the storm and the moment when the giant tortoise was fighting back against the storm, rushed straight towards the weak point that Kate pointed out—the diamond-shaped plate inlaid with purplish-black crystals on the left side of the center of the carapace!

"Shadow Cutting, Space Penetration, Twin Stars!"

Kyle unleashed both of his attacks! Two shadow threads, condensed to their maximum and imbued with the sharpest spatial properties, pierced fiercely towards the rhomboid armor plate like drills!

"Demon-Slaying Thorn - Annihilation!"

Serena's dagger transformed into a dark streak of light, possessing the magic-piercing properties to penetrate energy defenses, and followed closely behind!

Ding! Click!

With the storm gradually weakening and the two men's long-planned all-out attack, the exceptionally sturdy rhomboid armor plate was finally shattered!

It revealed the purplish-black, metallic-like muscles below, and beneath those muscles, a head-sized spiritual crystal that emitted a ghostly green light and pulsated continuously!

"The node has been exposed!" A sharp glint flashed in Kate's eyes! This was the moment he had been waiting for!

"Seed of the Spiritual Pivot - Refraction of Moonlight - Anchoring of Star Orbits!"

At the flower's stamen, three Ling Shu seeds shot out simultaneously!

This time, the surface of the seed was not only shrouded in pale blue moonlight, but also infused with trace amounts of stardust and the power of spatial anchors!

The three seeds drew three strange and unpredictable arcs in the air, carrying spatial fluctuations, as if guided by an invisible hand, and shot precisely at the exposed mental node!

Just before they were about to hit each other, the three seeds did not collide directly. Instead, they formed a triangle and exploded around the mental node!

Om-! ! !

It wasn't a mental shock, but a powerful mental shockwave with a spatial anchoring effect!

The pale green spiritual crystals were gripped tightly as if by an invisible giant hand!

Its pulse stopped for a moment!

The surrounding space seemed to be forcibly frozen!

The giant tortoise let out a mournful howl that was extremely shrill!

The massive body convulsed violently! The resistance within the storm instantly weakened by more than half!

"Now! Storm Strangulation!"

Evan, Sophia, and Kate unleash their full power!

The power of the thorn storm instantly reached its peak! Countless wind blades, stone spikes, and poisonous vines, as if possessed, fiercely attacked the temporarily anchored and unprotected mental node!

*Snap! Snap!*

A teeth-grinding cracking sound rang out!

The eerie green spiritual crystal was covered with spiderweb-like cracks under the frenzied onslaught of the storm! Finally, it shattered with a deafening roar!

"roar--!!!"

The mimicking rock tortoise let out a deafening, mournful cry!

Its massive body collapsed with a crash, as if its spine had been removed!

It crashed to the ground, sending up a cloud of bone dust!

Its rocky armor quickly lost its luster, the abyssal corrosive liquid also became dull and lifeless, and its enormous life force receded like a tide.

[Successfully killed the Mimic Rock Turtle (Level 4 Peak/Pseudo-Wizard level), earning 100 points. Teamwork kill, points distributed according to contribution. You earned 30 points.]

The battle ended, and everyone was almost completely exhausted.

The outburst just now consumed a huge amount of physical and mental energy.

Kate walked over to the giant tortoise's carcass, her gaze falling on the broken part of its shell.

There, besides the shattered remains of the spiritual crystal, there was an irregular crystal the size of a fist, radiating a warm, earthy yellow luster and immense earth vein energy, as well as several exceptionally tough fragments of carapace with purplish-black metallic luster flowing along their edges.

[Item: Leyline Crystal Core (Essence)]

[Characteristics: Contains pure earth and soil energy, which can greatly enhance earth-based spells/talents, or be used to temper the body, increasing defense and resilience.]

[Item: Abyssal Ironwood Shell (Fragment)]

[Characteristics: An activated wooden armor corroded and metallicized by abyssal energy, possessing extremely high physical defense, strong energy resistance, and slight abyssal corrosion resistance.]

"Senior Sophia, this should be useful to you."

Kate handed the ley line crystal core to Sophia.

When the team assigned him a piece of armor, he proactively chose the one that suited him better—it might be used to reinforce his Thorn Armor.

Sophia took the crystal core, a hint of emotion appearing on her rock-like face:

"Thanks, Kate. We couldn't have won without your precise positioning and final mental anchor."

Evan walked over and patted Kate on the shoulder: "Well done!"

After a short rest, the group treated their injuries and collected their spoils.

Then, they turned their gaze to the archway, which was made of pale bones and twisted roots and was shrouded in swirling purple-green mist.

The entrance to the Corruption Garden is just a stone's throw away.

The air was thick with a decadent and poisonous stench, more than ten times stronger than in the Shadow Corridor.

"Elena?" Evan looked at the prophet.

Elena held the Nebula Crystal, her silver eyes fixed on the depths of the entrance, her brows furrowed.

"The corruption of the abyss... is more severe than anticipated. My star omens... are being severely disrupted within. The light... is being devoured."

Her words instantly made the atmosphere heavy.

Evan took a deep breath, his eyes sharp as knives:

"The Temple of Purification awaits us. Whatever lies inside, we'll break through!"

He was the first to walk toward the entrance that exuded an ominous aura.

Sophia and Rhodes followed closely behind. Kyle and Serena's figures blended into the shadows of the entrance.

Elena was surrounded by starlight, and her purification field was activated to its maximum.

Kate glanced one last time at the dark corridor behind her, feeling the newly acquired spoils in her dimensional bag and the surging power within her. She clenched her fists and stepped resolutely into the churning purple-green poisonous mist.

In an instant, the world spun around, and the environment changed drastically!

The cold, deathly darkness was instantly replaced by a strange environment that was damp, stuffy, and filled with a putrid, sweet smell!

The third level of the Tower of Trials of All Things - The Corrupted Garden!