Wizard: Starting from Escape from the Thorn Garden

The three-way joint team completed their final preparations in the petrified forest on the edge of the Royal Court Basin. Potions were distributed, spells were pre-cast, energy was adjusted to its optimal state, and weapons gleamed with a cold, poisoned light.

The air was heavy as lead, with only the faint rustling sound of thorns crawling on the humus, like the silence before a war drum.

"Begin!" Evan's voice pierced the silence like a sharp sword.

Act One: The Storm Approaches, the Abyss Awakens

Chloe Starspeak was the first to strike. She held up the Nebula Crystal, her silver hair moving without wind, and starlight surging around her.

"Wrath of the Stars - Ignite!"

A condensed, almost tangible, silver-blue beam of light, like a falling comet, tore through the dim sky and struck precisely the massive trunk of the Corrupted Ancient Tree Lord, which was perched before the bone altar!

The beam of light did not attack directly, but spread out like mercury the moment it touched the lord's rock armor covered with pus and eyeballs!

Chi Chi Chi -!

A piercing burning sound rang out! In the area covered by starlight, the purplish-black patterns contaminated by the abyss fluctuated and boiled violently!

It was like pouring cold water into boiling oil! Large swaths of the abyssal slime flowing across the lord's surface evaporated instantly, revealing the charred, cracked, and regenerated rock beneath!

"roar--!!!"

A deafening roar, a mixture of pain and rage, echoed throughout the withered royal court!

The Corrupted Ancient Tree Lord has awakened!

Its trunk, which resembled a rotting dragon, suddenly rose up, and the eyes of countless creatures embedded in the cracks of the rock armor instantly became bloodshot, burning with an even more eerie green flame!

A more violent and evil pressure than before swept in like a tsunami!

"The target has been enraged! Star Tide Barrier activated! Purifying Field to suppress Abyssal Corruption!" Alphonse roared, his Pearl Staff blazing with light!

Elena, Chloe, and Alphonse joined forces, and the Star Tide Purification Barrier instantly expanded and solidified!

A silvery-blue halo, like a giant eggshell, enveloped the allied forces, struggling to resist the overwhelming pressure from the abyss and the mental pollution!

The barrier surface rippled violently, emitting a hissing corrosion sound.

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

Om-! ! !

The three energies—cyan raging winds, gray-white earthen foundations, and dark gold thorny tidal wave—instantly rose, intertwined, and merged!

A terrifying storm domain, covering an area of ​​over thirty meters and composed of countless high-speed rotating wind blades, sharp protruding stone spikes, and entangled poisonous vines, instantly took shape, enveloping the corrupted ancient tree lord who had just awakened and had not yet fully adjusted its posture!

The storm is wreaking havoc!

The wind blades sliced ​​through the lord's thick rock armor, sparks flying and leaving deep marks; stone spikes precisely pierced the gaps in the rock armor or the relatively vulnerable joints.

Poison Ivy, like a greedy python, coils around those waving, active roots and tendrils, frantically injecting nerve-paralyzing toxins!

The lord roared even more furiously, and the eyes of the creatures on its body suddenly glowed with an eerie light!

"Abyss Gaze - Despair Impact!"

hum!

An invisible, superimposed mental shockwave slammed into the Star Tide Barrier like a heavy hammer!

The barrier shook violently, its silver-blue light flickering erratically!

Even though the barrier was weakened, those inside it felt as if their brains had been hit by a heavy hammer, their vision went black, and their mental energy was sluggish!

Elena groaned, a trickle of blood spilling from the corner of her mouth, as she did her best to maintain the barrier.

At the same time, hundreds of activated roots, like giant pythons awakening, tore through the dark red fungal carpet, lashing out at the storm domain and barrier with a shrill whistle that tore through the air and a purplish-black corrosive slime!

Dozens of giant vine pythons also swooped down from the sky, their predatory mouthparts opening to spew out thick, highly acidic mucus!

"Earth Barrier, Mountain Guardians!" Sofia roared, slamming her fists into the ground!

Several thick, grayish-white rock walls instantly rose from the ground, blocking the path of the piercing roots!

"Molten fire burns the city!" Rhodes roared, standing shoulder to shoulder with the Tide Guardians of the Temple of Tides!

The raging flames and the surging water energy intertwined to form a destructive torrent of water and fire, which swept towards the spraying acidic slime and the swooping vines!

Chi Chi Chi -!

Corrosion and purification, incineration and impact clashed violently! Explosions rang out one after another!

Kyle, Serena, Dark Star, and Dark Current, four shadowy figures, moved like phantoms along the edge of the storm, their shadow threads, daggers, and magic-piercing spikes precisely cutting and stabbing the roots and vines that tried to bypass the frontal defenses and attack the storm's core or barrier nodes!

Kate, meanwhile, is fully focused on controlling the Shadow of Thorns!

Fifteen puppets, like the most loyal assassins, darted through the chaotic battlefield.

Several thorn shadows carrying high concentrations of paralyzing toxins rushed towards the relatively slender vine tendrils of the lord like suicide bombs, detonating the poison sacs!

A pale purple, paralyzing mist instantly filled the air, noticeably slowing the movements of the vines!

The others carried purification bombs, which, guided precisely by Kate's Seed of Origin, burrowed into the cracks in the creep beneath the lord and detonated near several of the main supporting roots!

hum!

A weak purifying shockwave spread out. Although it could not purify the abyssal roots, it successfully disrupted their energy flow, weakening the force of the roots' strikes slightly!

The thorn storm fluctuated violently under the lord's frantic struggle and counterattack, but the three gritted their teeth and frantically exerted their mental energy to barely maintain it!

"Now! Target the spittoon!" A fierce glint flashed in Evan's eyes!

In the instant that the lord was momentarily out of balance due to the paralysis of its vines and the disturbance of its roots, the huge crack at the top of its trunk, like a volcano, opened in fury, and viscous, purplish-black abyssal energy surged within it, clearly brewing a terrifying corrosive spew!

"Storm - Strangulation! Concentrate fire!" Evan, Sophia, and Kate simultaneously focused the storm's strangulation power on a single point—the massive rift!

Countless wind blades, stone spikes, and poisonous vines surged wildly into the crack, like sharks smelling blood!

Puff puff!

The attack hit! The relatively fragile tissue inside the rift was torn apart! The surging abyssal energy was forcibly disrupted!

The lord let out an unprecedented howl of pain! The impending vomit was forcibly interrupted!

The purplish-black energy flowed out from the crack, even triggering a small-scale energy backlash, causing the lord's massive body to tremble violently!

"We did it! It's been badly damaged!" Rhodes roared excitedly!

However, the cold, primal message from the Seed of Origin exploded in Kate's mind:

[Warning! High-intensity abyssal energy backflow detected! Source: From the direction of the Bone Altar! The deep connection between the Lord and the altar has not been severed! Energy replenishing! Injuries healing rapidly!]

The thick darkness that enveloped the altar surged violently, and a torrent of condensed, tangible purplish-black energy, like an umbilical cord, crossed space and instantly injected into the lord's injured body!

Its wound began to heal at a speed visible to the naked eye!

The charred areas on its body, burned by starlight, were quickly covered by newly formed rock armor flowing with abyssal slime!

The paralyzed vines and disturbed roots have also regained their ferocity!

"Damn it! The altar is powering it!" Evan's expression changed drastically. "We have to sever its connection with the altar! Otherwise, we can't outlast it!"

"My star power cannot penetrate that darkness!" Chloe's silver eyes flashed with starlight, tinged with helplessness. "That darkness is an extension of the will of the abyss, an anchor to a higher level of space!"

"Tidal purification cannot reach the source connection!" Alphonse's expression also turned grim.