Wizard: Starting from Escape from the Thorn Garden

Chapter 97 Drills and Combat

He looked at Evan: "Senior Evan, I'm entrusting the team cohesion and new tactical drills to you. We'll set off in three days to find our first target."

"No problem!" Evan said confidently. "In these three days, we'll get into top shape and practice the new tactics until we're completely proficient!"

For the next three days, the Forest Whisper Inn in Emerald City seemed to transform into a miniature war fortress.

The room was filled with dull thuds and the rumble of rocks scraping against each other. She was repeatedly practicing maintaining the stability of the rock armor barrier under simulated mental impact and trying to use the leyline resonance potion for explosive defense.

Kyle and Serena's room was like a ghostly realm, with flickering light and shadow.

They used advanced stealth dust to practice extreme stealth and assassination in confined spaces, paralyzing agents were carefully applied to specially made flying needles and daggers, and spatial stabilizing crystals were used to precisely locate jump points in areas of weak spatial interference created by Elena.

Elena's room was filled with starlight. She sat cross-legged, with a nebula crystal floating above her head, its silvery light flowing.

She attempted to expand the Stellar Field to its limit, while simultaneously simulating the Wailing Lord's mental pollution waveband and channeling the power of the Stellar Resonance Potion to strengthen her resistance.

The mental protection scroll is placed within easy reach, ready to be activated at any time.

Evan practiced on a relatively open, active lawn behind the inn. Wind elements swirled and roared around him, sometimes condensing into wind shackles to bind enemies, and sometimes transforming into sharp wind blades that cut through the air.

He constantly tried to integrate the power of the "Eye of the Hurricane" rune into wind control, creating a small-scale, powerful wind pressure vortex for controlling the field and dispelling it.

Kate, on the other hand, secluded herself in her room.

Three azure seeds of the Void Vine floated before him, slowly rotating under the influence of the moon's essence, emitting profound spatial fluctuations.

The Seed of Origin operates at full power, its cold analytical force field guiding the fragments of spatial rules contained within the seed, integrating their characteristics into the spatial framework of the Reincarnation Nursery.

He could feel his spatial perception range slowly but steadily expanding, and the trajectory of the flickering space became more elusive and unpredictable.

Meanwhile, the Shadow of Thorns was disassembled and strengthened, with more complex purification runes etched on its outer shell. The core driving energy was infused with the faint light of morning dew, further enhancing its resistance to and lethality against undead death energy.

Three days passed in the blink of an eye.

On the morning of the fourth day, the six members of the Green Peak Alliance gathered again in the hotel lobby.

Everyone's aura was more concentrated and sharper than it had been three days ago.

Sofia's rock armor shimmered with a blend of dark gold and earthy yellow, giving it an even greater sense of weight and solidity.

Kyle and Serena's figures seemed to blend into the shadows of the background, their presence almost imperceptible.

Elena's silver eyes shone even brighter, and she was surrounded by a faint starlight.

A gentle breeze swirled around Evan, exuding a calm and composed air of someone in complete control.

Kate was the most reserved of them all, but when the light swept across him, the space seemed to freeze for a moment.

"How are you feeling?" Evan asked in a deep voice.

"Ready to fight at any time!" Sophia clenched her fist, and the rock armor clanged.

"Everything is ready." Kyle's voice was cold and concise.

Serena nodded silently.

"The starlight is clear." Elena pointed the nebula crystal in her hand towards the northwest of the city-state. "About 150 kilometers to the northwest, deep within the Rotten Swamp," she detected a highly condensed core of death energy, accompanied by intense mental pollution fluctuations. The energy level—approaching or even surpassing the previous Wailing Lord. A large number of undead creatures are gathered nearby, and the energy reaction is intense.

"The Decaying Swamp—" Evan frowned slightly. "It's a notoriously dangerous place in the Eternal Wasteland, shrouded in poisonous miasma, with complex terrain, and its undead creatures are mostly zombies, decaying beings, and highly venomous vengeful spirits. Mental pollution—looks like another troublesome lord."

"Target confirmed." Kate's voice was calm and even. "Lord of the Decaying Swamp. Let's go."

Without further ado, the six left the inn, activated the Undead Stealth effect of the Alliance Amulet, and transformed into several afterimages blending into the environment, speeding towards the decaying swamp in the northwest.

The decaying swamp was even more repulsive than the Valley of Bones. A thick, grayish-green miasma shrouded the entire area like a viscous curtain.

Beneath their feet lay bottomless, bubbling black silt, reeking of rotting corpses.

The twisted, sap-covered, withered trees resembled dying giants, their branches entwined with highly poisonous vines that emitted a fluorescent glow. The air was thick with dizzying fumes and low, venomous murmurs.

Guided by Elena's astral field, they avoided several obvious poisonous pools and areas teeming with undead, and crept deeper into the swamp.

The closer you get to the core area, the denser the poisonous miasma becomes, and the stronger the aura of the undead grows. Rotting zombies stagger through the mud, emitting a foul stench; rotten mud monsters made of mud and bones tumble in the swamp; translucent vengeful spirits, emanating a green poisonous mist, drift among the withered trees, emitting piercing screams.

"Watch out, there's a large undead energy node ahead!" Elena warned in a low voice. The Nebula Crystal shimmered, and a gentle starlight field spread out, slightly dispersing the thick poisonous miasma and resisting the pervasive mental pollution.

Ahead, a relatively open "island" made of black, hard silt came into view.

In the center of the island stands a massive "mountain of flesh" composed of countless bones, rotting flesh, and writhing silt.

The mountain of flesh was ten meters high, its surface covered with holes from which pus flowed and a huge mouth that opened and closed constantly, revealing sharp white teeth.

Countless tentacles made of silt and bones waved around the mountain of flesh, emitting a suffocating stench and a terrifying pressure of death!

Around the mountain of flesh, hundreds of rotting zombies, rotten mud monsters, and highly poisonous vengeful spirits swarmed in densely packed groups!

They stood like the most loyal guards, protecting that disgusting entity in the center.

[Target: Lord of the Rotten Swamp (Pseudo-Wizard Level)]

[Characteristics: Extremely high physical defense (Mud Skeleton Armor), attacks inflict poison, corrosion, and mental pollution; can summon corrupted mud monsters; core is a highly condensed heart of decay.]

[Threat Assessment: Extremely High! Enhanced by the environment (swamp), numerous minions, and high area-of-effect lethality.]

"That's it." Evan's eyes sharpened. "Proceed according to plan. Sophia, frontal barrier. Kelserina, clear the spellcasting wraiths and energy nodes. Elena, maintain the force field at all costs to resist contamination. Kate, locate the core and prepare for the fatal blow."

"Rock Wall - Immovable Barrier!" Sofia roared, slamming her fists into the ground.

Boom!

A gray-white rock wall, several meters thick and five meters high, suddenly rose from the ground, blocking the surging horde of zombies and several streams of toxic sludge.

The barrier's surface, with its flowing dark gold patterns, withstood the impact.

"Shadow Strike - Venomous Fang!" Kyle and Serena vanished instantly.

The next moment, several vengeful spirits floating above the mountain of flesh, which were gathering spheres of highly toxic energy, suddenly froze.

At their core, shadowy daggers coated with paralyzing poison were inserted at some unknown time, and the energy spheres instantly dissipated.

Meanwhile, several spatial stabilizing crystals were silently thrown into several mud nodes near the base of the flesh mountain, which were emanating a dense aura of death. The crystals exploded, forming a weak interference field that disrupted the flow of energy in the mud.

"Star Protection - Purification Domain" Elena's silver eyes shone brightly, and the Nebula Crystal burst forth with unprecedented light.

A thick, star-studded hemispherical force field instantly enveloped the entire team, forcibly dispelling the dense poisonous miasma, and greatly weakening the mental pollution murmurs permeating the air, as if hitting an impenetrable wall.

Starlight swirled across the surface of the force field, constantly purifying the toxic and deathly gases that had been eroding it.

"Wind Control - Eye of the Hurricane" Aiven's Wind Staff strikes rapidly.

Several condensed cyan wind strands entangled a few large corrupted mud monsters that were trying to bypass the barrier, pulling them back violently. At the same time, he activated a "Hurricane's Eye" rune.

hum!

A powerful vortex of wind pressure, about ten meters in diameter, suddenly formed from the densest area of ​​the undead servants.

The violent airflow instantly swept dozens of zombies and vengeful spirits into the air, tearing and slamming them violently, disrupting their formation in an instant.

The Lord of the Rotten Swamp was thoroughly enraged.

"Gurgle—!!!"

The mountain of flesh writhed violently, emitting a deafening roar like boiling mud.

Several thick, muddy tentacles covered with skeletal spikes lashed out at Sofia's rocky ramparts with a piercing shriek that tore through the air.

At the same time, dozens of holes on the surface of the flesh mountain suddenly opened, spraying out dark green, deadly, foul-smelling, highly toxic pus, which covered the stellar force field like a torrential rain.

Even more terrifying, a visible, deep green wave of mental pollution, mixed with a nauseating, decaying will, spread outwards like a tide.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The mud tentacles slammed violently against the rocky wall, producing a deafening roar.

The barrier trembled violently, the surface rocks cracked, and the dark gold patterns flashed wildly.

Sophia groaned, a trickle of blood spilling from the corner of her mouth, but her eyes were fierce, and her feet seemed to be rooted to the ground, holding on tightly. She immediately took out a can of ley line resonance potion and drank it down. The rock armor on her body shone brightly, and the cracks quickly healed.

Chi Chi Chi -!

The highly toxic pus struck the stellar force field, producing a violent corrosive sound. The starlight fluctuated wildly, and large patches of dark green corrosion marks appeared on the surface of the force field.

Elena's face paled, and she frantically channeled her mental energy, causing the Nebula Crystal to shine even brighter as it continuously purified the poison.

Without hesitation, she tore open a scroll of mental protection. A layer of pale golden light membrane merged into the force field, greatly enhancing her ability to resist mental pollution.

A deep green ripple of mental pollution swept across, and even with the double weakening effect of the stellar force field and the mental scroll, everyone still felt a strong sense of dizziness and nausea, as if their souls were about to be corrupted.

Evan's risk control system experienced a slight disruption, and Kelserina's figure swayed slightly in the shadows.

"Kate!" Evan roared, his voice still clear amidst the chaos of the battlefield.

Just as the Lord of the Rotten Swamp launched its attack, with the old power gone and the new power yet to be generated, its massive body exposed its core area due to the movement. It was a dark green ball of light that was pulsating violently and covered by thick silt and bones!

Kate moved.

"Revolving Nursery"

Buzz!

An invisible force field instantly expanded from Kate's center, covering an area of ​​nearly 100 meters in front of her.

Within the domain, the space instantly became viscous and stable, and the speed of the tentacles waved by the Lord of the Rotten Swamp and the pus he spewed was visibly slowed down.

Its spreading ripples of spiritual pollution were also greatly neutralized and weakened by the life and spatial energy flowing within the domain.

"Spatial Blink - Warp Dash"

Kate disappeared from the spot.

The next moment, it appeared directly in front of the exposed dark green core of the Lord of the Rotten Swamp, less than five meters away.

The Lord of the Rotten Swamp seemed to sense a deadly threat. The dark green light at its core flickered wildly, and the surrounding silt and bones surged violently, attempting to close in and protect itself.

Several of the closest tentacles also coiled back frantically, whipping towards Kate with a bloody gust of wind.

"Shadow of Thorns"

Several thorn shadows that had been lurking nearby instantly activated their self-destruct program.

Boom boom boom!

Several bursts of energy, a mixture of purifying energy and scorching light, exploded near the tentacles and core. Although they could not cause serious damage, the intense energy shock and intense light instantly disrupted the Lord of the Rotten Swamp's perception and movements.

The retracting tentacles suddenly stopped.

"Seed of the Spiritual Pivot - Mental Explosion"

A silver seed, imbued with moonlight and life energy, shot out silently, precisely striking a wriggling, lesion resembling a spiritual node near the core of the Lord of the Rotten Swamp.

hum!

A highly concentrated spiritual impact erupted!

The Lord of the Rotten Swamp's massive body stiffened abruptly, and the pulse of its core became momentarily disordered.

"Now! Bloodthirsty Poison Ivy!"

Kate's eyes flashed with a fierce light, and the Bloodthirsty Vine pattern on her right arm erupted with an unprecedented interweaving of dark gold and scarlet light.

Several monstrous vines, solidified as solid as metal, covered with metallic thorny shells, and with their tips wreathed in highly compressed demon-slaying purple light and spatial tearing energy, pierced fiercely at the dark green core, whose defenses had been greatly weakened by interference, like a spear of judgment from hell.

The vines grew at an extreme speed, ignoring the barriers of spatial distance with the support of the Reincarnation Nursery.

puff!puff!puff!

The tough mud and skeletal armor were pierced like paper by the highly condensed demon-slaying purple light and spatial tearing energy.

The vines pierced precisely into the violently pulsating dark green core.

The nerve-paralyzing toxin was injected frantically, and the violent bloodthirsty and predatory instincts mixed with the energy of spatial annihilation, erupting and raging wildly inside the core.

"Awoooo ...

The Lord of the Rotten Swamp let out an unprecedented, agonizing roar filled with despair.

The massive mountain of flesh convulsed and writhed violently, a dark green light emanating from within, and countless cracks spreading outwards.

Terrifying death energy and highly toxic pus gushed out uncontrollably.

The surrounding undead servants instantly descended into chaos. Without the lord's will to govern them, they became violent and disorderly, even starting to attack each other.

"Success!" Evan's eyes blazed with ecstatic joy. "Sophia, hold steady. Kelserina, free hunt. Elena, maintain the force field, begin the harvest!"

Sophia's pressure eased dramatically, and the rocky barrier stood as solid as a rock. Kelserina moved like a ghost through the chaotic horde of undead, her shadow daggers precisely reaping the heads of high-value undead caught in the chaos.

Elena maintained the astral field, providing a final refuge for everyone. Evan, on the other hand, wielded wind blades like the Grim Reaper's scythe, efficiently clearing away the swarms of undead.

Kate hovered silently in mid-air, the Reincarnation Nursery Domain slowly closing in. He looked down at the Lord of the Rotten Swamp, which was collapsing like a mountain, and felt the immense death energy emanating from its core being devoured and transformed by the Blood-Devouring Vine, nourishing the life core of the Reincarnation Nursery.