Death Train: SSS-level talent right from the start!

"I'll do it."

Zhao Hai stepped out from beside Chen Ye.

He walked to another ancient tree not far away.

That tree was almost twice as thick as the one Su Jin had cut down, requiring four or five adults to encircle it. Its bark was covered with dark, longitudinal cracks, making it look like an old tree that had been growing for hundreds of years or even longer.

Zhao Hai's right arm instantly transformed into metal from his fingertips to his shoulder. He pushed off the ground with both legs and leaped high into the air, a layer of crimson flames igniting on his silver-white right fist.

That was a sign that the skill "Heavenly Fire Falling Star" was being activated.

Zhao Hai slammed his fist into the thick tree trunk.

"boom--!"

Crimson flames exploded on the tree trunk, and the shockwave spread outwards, shaking off the dead leaves of several nearby trees.

The giant tree snapped and crashed to the ground with a dull thud, causing the soil beneath its feet to tremble slightly.

The broken tree trunk crashed heavily to the ground, and the tremors spread outwards.

Zhao Hai landed steadily on the ground and cautiously scanned his surroundings.

No monsters appeared.

No blood mist spurted from the broken end of the tree; instead, a ring of dark-colored, saturated wood core was exposed.

Zhao Hai returned to the group.

Wen Ning rested her chin on her hand and tilted her head: "It seems that not all trees are the same. Some can summon monsters, while others are just ordinary trees."

Su Jin stood beside the broken tree, his gaze sweeping back and forth between the broken section and the various ancient trees around it: "Continue. Cut down a few more and see what the pattern is."

Next, the higher-ranking passengers in the group began cutting down trees.

Lei Xing's fist slammed into the trunk of a tree that would take three people to encircle. The tree split open with a roar, but no blood mist gushed out, and no tree spirit appeared.

Su Jin cut down two more trees. One tree summoned a tree spirit, which she killed on the spot. The other tree simply collapsed without any abnormality.

Jiang Ning stood beside a tree trunk at the back of the crowd, nocked an arrow, and shot three arrows, severing a relatively slender tree. Thick blood mist gushed from the broken ends, and a tree spirit leaped out of the mist, rushing towards him.

Jiang Ning fired two arrows in quick succession, pinning the tree spirit to the ground and ending the battle.

The pale red mist in the forest was slowly but noticeably thickening, and broken branches and fallen leaves were scattered all over the ground, with severed tree stumps lying haphazardly around them.

The damp smell in the air became stronger, with a faint, almost imperceptible, sweet, fishy odor mixed in.

Chen Ye and Gu Qinghuan did not move. As they were the highest level, the purpose of this trial was to wait for the people behind them. The two stood in place to observe the surrounding situation and be ready to deal with any emergencies.

Gu Qinghuan's six silver-white throwing knives hovered beside her, their tips pointing outwards, vibrating with an extremely slight amplitude. Her calm eyes were also observing every unusual movement deep in the forest.

Chen Ye had already grasped the Demon-Slaying Halberd in his hand, the blue light band on the spear slowly flowing through the dark forest as he scanned his surroundings, observing the changes in the blood-red mist.

"Sister Su, this one looks like an elite monster!"

Yang Qing's voice boomed from not far away, clearly tense and urgent.

Immediately following was a dull thud, mixed with the crashing sound of flying gravel.

Chen Ye turned around and looked back.

Yang Qing was staggering backward, her two short swords crossed in her hands, blocking a claw of the monster that pounced out of the blood mist. She took several steps back before she could finally regain her footing.

That monster was noticeably larger than the tree spirit that had appeared earlier.

It was entirely black, with its limbs lying on the ground, and its muscle lines bulging like gnarled tree roots under its black skin.

What is most striking is the dark red pattern covering its surface, with a faint shimmer flowing within the pattern.

The monster let out a low roar, its blood-red vertical pupils locking onto Yang Qing. With a sudden stomp of its four claws, the fallen leaves on the ground exploded, and its body sprang into the air again at an astonishing speed.

Yang Qing had no time to adjust his posture and could only raise his twin swords again to prepare to take the blow head-on.

At that moment, a white blade wave pierced through the air from the side.

The monster abandoned its attack on Yang Qing, its massive body twisting half a circle in mid-air, its arms crossed in front of it to block.

"laugh--!"

Daobo cut a deep, bone-revealing wound on its arms, from which dark red blood seeped and flowed down its black skin.

The monster retreated several steps, its blood-red pupils shifting from Yang Qing to the direction from which the blade wave had come.

Su Jin sheathed his sword and turned around, his gaze quickly sweeping over Yang Qing to confirm she was unharmed, before locking onto the tree demon again: "Yang Qing, step back. This thing is definitely not ordinary."

Chen Ye's gaze lingered on that creature for a moment before he called out, "Brother Hai!"

Zhao Hai understood immediately.

His body shot out almost the instant Chen Ye finished speaking, a silvery metallic sheen spreading upwards from his fingertips, covering his entire right arm.

When he was about five meters away from the monster, Zhao Hai pushed off the ground with his right foot and leaped high into the air.

A crimson flame suddenly erupted from the surface of his right fist, growing brighter and brighter as it soared into the air.

The monster raised its head, its blood-red vertical pupils reflecting the rapidly approaching crimson light.

Before its body could even make a complete dodge maneuver, Zhao Hai was already directly above it.

"A meteor strikes from the heavens!"

Zhao Hai suddenly plummeted from the sky like a meteorite, his right fist, burning with crimson flames, slamming hard into the monster's forehead.

"boom--!"

A crimson flame exploded on the monster's forehead, and crimson light waves spread outwards, the shockwave kicking up fallen leaves and dust from the ground.

The monster's head exploded halfway during the impact, spraying dark red blood in all directions, before its entire body collapsed forward, slamming into the ground with a heavy thud.

The scene fell silent for a moment.

Chen Ye and Gu Qinghuan had already walked quickly over from the front of the crowd.

The people who were cutting down trees stopped what they were doing when they heard the commotion and moved closer to the scene.

Zhao Hai straightened up, shook the dark red liquid off his fist, and glanced at the still slightly twitching monster corpse on the ground: "It was indeed an elite monster. The system kill log shows it as a Treant, worth 200 points per kill."

Su Jin had already walked to Yang Qing's side and quickly glanced at her from head to toe: "Are you alright?"

Yang Qing shook his head, lowered his arm that was holding the knife, and gently moved his numb hand: "Sister Su, I'm fine. I was just shaken, but I've recovered."

Su Jin nodded, relieved, and then asked, "Which tree did you just cut down?"

Yang Qing pointed to a not-so-thick red tree not far away: "That's the one. I originally thought that since this tree looked so thin, it wouldn't produce anything big, but I didn't expect it to actually have an elite-level monster."