novelraw Chapter 80: Corrupted Ancient Primordial Tree
Chapter 80: Corrupted Ancient Primordial Tree
In the Shell Slots, the Dancer shell lay there, completely intact.
Lin Xun quickly clicked to possess it.
[You possess the shell of the Corrupted Theater Dancer.]
[Your mount, the Corrupted Three-Headed Lion, is still fleeing madly, but the deafening footsteps behind you are drawing ever closer…]
With hand speed that came from being single for so long, he opened the inventory and clicked the Brass Whistle again.
[You have canceled the summoning of the Corrupted Three-Headed Lion. The lion beneath you dissolves into shimmering starlight, vanishing into the wind.]
[With the summon canceled, the massive inertia from the high-speed run sends you tumbling forward. The Dancer’s nimble form rolls across the ground and seamlessly continues sprinting…]
[The deafening footsteps behind you are right at your heels. Even the stones and dirt kicked up by the colossal treant’s steps splatter against your back…]
He opened the panel and, with lightning speed, slammed down Bloodshadow Step.
[You used Bloodshadow Step, stepping nimbly into a sprinting motion. The shell’s form gradually fades and disappears.]Lin Xun couldn’t be sure if stealth would guarantee escaping the Ancient Primordial Tree’s pursuit.
He stared hard at the game text, terrified of seeing the dreaded ‘You died’.
[Your vision goes black. The colossal tree foot, blotting out the sky, stomps down toward you, ready to crush you into pulp…]
It’s over. This was the end.
Lin Xun watched the text scroll with unwilling eyes.
If only he had switched to the Dancer shell and used the stealth skill earlier, maybe he could’ve rewritten his doomed fate.
[You crane your neck. The enormous tree foot completely blocks your view, descending with thunderous force, ready to flatten you…]
[The Lucky Gold Coin you carry glimmers faintly.]
[The Corrupted Ancient Primordial Tree suddenly stumbles, as if tripping over something unseen.]
[The massive tree foot brushes past your body and crashes to the ground!]
[With a booming crash, the tree foot smashes into the earth. The force of the impact blasts you away, the violent shockwave making you dizzy and nearly causing you to lose your stealth state.]
That was a close call!
The Lucky Gold Coin was seriously amazing. That 1,500 Spirit Essence was so worth it!
After dodging the Ancient Primordial Tree’s stomp, Lin Xun didn’t dare relax.
He knew the real danger was only just beginning.
[The Corrupted Ancient Primordial Tree wobbles, scattering crimson leaves. It gradually steadies itself and starts to look down at its feet to confirm the kill…]
Lin Xun remained in stealth, but he knew it wasn’t safe.
In his mind, he envisioned the next scene. When the Ancient Primordial Tree failed to find his corpse, it wouldn’t simply give up.
If it went berserk and stomped around wildly, the range of those gigantic tree feet would still spell his doom.
Even if he was lucky enough to dodge once, there was no guarantee he could keep dodging.
[The panicked Apostle, do you want to continue fleeing in futile resistance, or sit still and await death with closed eyes?]
The blood-red text trembled endlessly, signaling that the Ancient Primordial Tree was about to realize it hadn’t crushed him yet.
At this critical moment, Lin Xun’s mind grew colder, his thoughts racing.
The cursed game offered two options. Whether fleeing or staying put, both were clearly dead-end choices.
The in-game options were useless now. He had to rely on outside forces.
He quickly opened the inventory, searching for something that could break the stalemate.
His eyes swept across the items, but everything seemed useless here.
[The Corrupted Ancient Primordial Tree lowers its crown, slowly raising its tree foot. Its massive crimson eyes gaze downward…]
No time left!
Lin Xun frowned, thinking hard.
Suddenly.
He spotted an item long forgotten in the corner of the inventory.
That’s it! This thing!
As long as the Ancient Primordial Tree was tricked into believing it had stomped him dead, he could break free of the crisis.
Without hesitation, Lin Xun selected the junk item and clicked discard.
[You dropped Rotted Meat Chunk *5 (Junk) on the ground.]
[The Corrupted Ancient Primordial Tree gazed down with its massive crimson eyes, seeing only a small pile of shredded, blackened flesh on the ground.]
[Its crimson gaze flickered, then it nodded its tree crown in satisfaction and moved its colossal tree feet toward the nearby forest fire you had started…]
Lin Xun finally let out a deep breath.
“Good thing I’m clever.”
Just now, the game text had shown that when the Ancient Primordial Tree was about to stomp on him, the Lucky Gold Coin had activated, letting him narrowly escape death.
Then, thinking quickly, he tossed down the Rotted Meat Chunk he had looted from the Corrupted Scavengers back in the Saint Rance moat.
It worked, the Ancient Primordial Tree mistook the rotten flesh for his crushed corpse.
Sure enough, in this cursed game, even junk could have unexpected uses.
[The Corrupted Ancient Primordial Tree stamped out the forest fire one blaze at a time, then its huge entangled tree feet slowly unraveled, reverting to countless thick roots.]
[It slithered away into the forest depths, bringing along the surviving smaller treants…]
[Do you want to secretly follow them, or continue toward the direction marked on the map?]
You could even track the treants?
Lin Xun’s mind buzzed with visions of potential reward events.
As the saying goes, surviving disaster often leads to unexpected fortune.
After escaping the Ancient Primordial Tree’s deadly pursuit and pulling off such a high-difficulty maneuver, it would be natural for the cursed game to grant some kind of reward.
He still had the map, and the Ancestor Giant’s Tomb wasn’t going anywhere.
But if he didn’t follow the Ancient Primordial Tree now, he might miss a rare reward event.
Although that Ancient Primordial Tree was insanely strong, with Lin Xun’s gambler’s mindset, how could he pass up a fleeting reward opportunity?
He decisively pressed “Secretly Follow.”
[You maintain your stealth state, trailing far behind the treants.]
[With the towering Ancient Primordial Tree as your landmark, you keep your distance, following them quietly through the forest.]
[The treants’ slithering speed is slow. You keep your distance, weaving through the crimson woods, staying on their trail…]
Lin Xun was a bit worried that when the stealth state ended and he renewed the skill, there might be a brief moment of visibility.
If he reappeared right when the treants looked back, he’d likely get hit with a big fat red “noob” mark.
Not daring to be careless, he refreshed his stealth skill immediately when it expired.
Fortunately, no unlucky coincidences happened, for now.
[You keep passing through crimson trees, quietly following the treants…]
Lin Xun had to keep using Bloodshadow Step to maintain stealth, and the Dancer shell jogged alongside the treants in a marathon-like pace.
Before long, the game displayed: [You feel a bit fatigued.]
He opened the inventory, where he still had the herbal items bought from the Blind Merchant last time.
[Corrupted Red Sorrel (Item): A precious herb tainted with Corruption. Can slightly relieve fatigue for devout followers of the Blood Sun.]
He had five of them to relieve fatigue, enough to last through a grueling climb if needed.
Every time the Dancer shell was about to collapse from exhaustion, Lin Xun used one Red Sorrel herb.
After using two of them, the game text finally updated.
[The crimson trees around you become increasingly sparse. In the distance, the massive treants gradually slow their movements.]
[Do you want to go closer and investigate?]
Lin Xun first selected “No,” waited until the stealth state wore off, then reactivated the stealth skill.
This way, he ensured he had as much time as possible to investigate without risking being exposed mid-approach.
[You continue in stealth, stepping silently and moving in quickly…]
[As you approach, the crimson trees around you have disappeared completely.]
[In the distance, you see the Corrupted Forest Treants rooted in place, their humanoid facial features vanished from their trunks as if they had fallen into a deep sleep.]
[The Corrupted Forest Treants are seated in a semi-circle, and at the other end of the semi-circle sits the Corrupted Ancient Primordial Tree.]
[Dozens of treants are rooted here, forming a massive circle. Through the gaps between them, you catch a glimpse of shimmering water, a miniature lake.]
[Changing your angle to keep observing, you spot, at the center of the small lake, a patch of floating soil where a crimson sapling grows.]
[The intense crimson hue looks like dried, blackened blood. The sapling is only as thick as a human wrist, its dark red branches swaying gently in the wind.]
[For a moment, you seem to glimpse a dark red fruit hidden among the sparse branches of the sapling.]
“There’s treasure!”