novelraw Chapter 81: The Polluted Lake of Life
Chapter 81: The Polluted Lake of Life
“There’s treasure!”
The small sapling encircled by the treants in the center of the lake was no ordinary thing. The fruit growing on that sapling was definitely a highly valuable reward.
Lin Xun’s eyes gleamed as he stared at the game text.
[Hesitant Apostle, what will you do?]
[1. You’ve already been hunted once, and you’ve clearly lost the courage to fight. Silently mutter, ‘I didn’t see anything, I didn’t see anything,’ and turn around to leave.]
[2. The treants are asleep anyway; stay invisible, swagger right into their encirclement, swim into the middle of the lake, and pick the mysterious fruit from the sapling.]
[3. Sneak behind the small treants while invisible, use the Hidden Blade to silently eliminate them. Hm? Worried about the big treant? Maybe your Lucky Gold Coin will come through again.]
Lin Xun looked at the three options in front of him, the corners of his mouth twitching, lines of frustration appearing on his forehead.
Whichever way he looked at it, these three options all screamed “death trap.”
Helpless, he could only use the process of elimination again.The first option was to flee, which obviously wouldn’t yield any reward, so that could be ignored.
The second option was to stay invisible and recklessly charge in to grab the fruit.
Although the text indicated that the treants seemed to be asleep, and he was still cloaked in invisibility, barging directly into the circle of treants to snatch the fruit likely meant he would get discovered and die a not so peaceful death.
Eliminating both of those options left only the third.
That was to use the Hidden Blade’s special effect to take out the small treants one by one.
But no matter how Lin Xun looked at it, he couldn’t bring himself to choose the third option.
For one reason: his gut instinct told him this option was also a death sentence.
Knowing how this hellish game operated, even if the small treants didn’t notice Lin Xun’s assassinations, there was still the big one to worry about, the Corrupted Ancient Primordial Tree.
If he accidentally alerted the Ancient Primordial Tree, he probably wouldn’t even make it to the lake before being crushed into a pulp.
Lin Xun furrowed his brow and began thinking carefully.
What if he dove straight into the lake and used the Subspecies Sea Dragon Pearl to submerge beneath the water? Would that prevent the Ancient Primordial Tree from attacking him?
But after thinking it over, he felt that was unlikely.
All the Ancient Primordial Tree had to do was extend its thick vines into the lake, and he would still end up dead.
Lin Xun opened his inventory, checking his items one by one.
Suddenly, his eyes landed on a particular item, and his eyes lit up.
It was the item he had been using frequently as of late, the Brass Whistle.
He could first sneak up while invisible, and if he managed to silently take out the small treants, that would be ideal.
If he didn’t alert the treants, he would proceed as planned by diving into the lake. Even if he died after picking the fruit, it would be worth it.
But if he ended up alerting them, he would stay invisible and summon the Three-Headed Lion.
Letting the Three-Headed Lion run away would draw the treants’ attention, allowing him to swim into the lake and grab the mysterious fruit.
Compared to the second option, if he could eliminate the small treants, his chances of successfully picking the fruit would be much higher.
He just hoped that if he was discovered, the treants’ intelligence would be low enough to fall for the diversion.
After careful deliberation, Lin Xun felt this plan had the highest chance of success.
Without further hesitation, he reactivated invisibility and selected the third option to deal with the small treants first.
[You remain invisible and silently creep into the treants’ encirclement.]
[Dozens of treants have their backs to you, rooted in the soil by the lake as they absorb nutrients.]
[You tiptoe closer, approaching the back of a lucky Corrupted Forest Treant.]
[Holding your breath and focusing, you listen closely. The treant’s heart, hidden within its trunk, beats slowly and powerfully.]
[You have located its weak point. The Hidden Blade on your left arm springs out with a sharp glint…]
[You suddenly stab the blade into the treant’s back, striking directly at the beating heart, twisting your left arm to rip it apart.]
[You have defeated the Corrupted Forest Treant. Experience points slightly increased.]
[The treant’s branches and leaves slowly droop. Its death was silent and did not alert the other treants.]
[Thanks to the special effect of your Shell Equipment Widowmaker – Hidden Blade, you remain invisible after successfully performing a fatal strike.]
[Do you want to continue assassinating the Corrupted Forest Treants?]
It seemed these treants were sluggish in their reactions, and sneak attacks could proceed smoothly.
Lin Xun pressed “Yes.”
[You tiptoe sideways, approaching the back of the next Corrupted Forest Treant.]
—
Lin Xun eliminated the small treants one by one, mentally keeping count.
The Dancer’s experience points kept climbing. Before long, a notification popped up announcing a Shell Level increase.
[Power surges within your Shell. The Shell Level of the Corrupted Theater Dancer has increased. Current Shell Level: 15.]
Lin Xun became even more enthusiastic, taking out treant after treant as if he were harvesting leeks.
[Power surges within your Shell. The Shell Level of the Corrupted Theater Dancer has increased. Current Shell Level: 16.]
Just as he finished off the sixty-seventh treant and the Dancer Shell leveled up again to 16, the game text finally changed.
[The Corrupted Forest Treants around the Polluted Lake of Life have been completely cleared out by you.]
[Do you want to quietly slip into the lake?]
Lin Xun frowned and carefully examined the text.
Polluted Lake of Life. Just hearing the name made it obvious that this was not ordinary water.
The Subspecies Sea Dragon Pearl allowed him to breathe underwater, but it did not provide full protection from the water’s source.
Would diving into the lake carry risks like contamination, or would he just die outright?
After all the hardships he had endured to reach this place, there was no way he was dying and getting sent back to the Resting Page before claiming his reward.
Who knew if he would ever get another chance to come here again?
Just then, the game text suddenly jumped.
[On the opposite shore of the lake, the Corrupted Ancient Primordial Tree suddenly raised all its branches straight up, like a person’s hair bristling in fury. Human-like facial features rapidly appeared on its trunk…]
The big treant had apparently realized that all the small treants had been wiped out and was waking up to avenge its offspring.
No time to think.
Lin Xun gritted his teeth, hurriedly opened his inventory, and clicked on the Brass Whistle.
[You remain invisible and blow the Brass Whistle.]
[With a crisp whistle, you summon the fierce and massive Corrupted Three-Headed Lion.]
[You can issue simple combat commands to the Corrupted Three-Headed Lion.]
Without hesitation, Lin Xun clicked on the ‘Retreat’ command.
[On the opposite shore of the lake, the human-like facial features on the Corrupted Ancient Primordial Tree have fully appeared.]
[A scarlet glow of boundless rage shines from the tree hollow that serves as its eyes. From its mouth-like hollow comes a thunderous roar.]
[It tears countless thick vines out of the ground. With a rumble, flinging clumps of wet soil, the vines wrap together to form two massive tree legs.]
[The Corrupted Three-Headed Lion looked at you while you were invisible, tilting its three heads slightly. A complicated look flashed through its six eyes.]
[The Three-Headed Lion let out a low roar and turned to flee at full speed.]
[The Corrupted Ancient Primordial Tree stepped forward with its enormous tree legs, striding across the entire Polluted Lake of Life in a single bound, chasing after the poor fleeing beast…]
“Plan successful!”
Lin Xun grinned and silently prayed that the little lion would hold out a bit longer.
He quickly clicked on the option to dive into the lake.
[You remain invisible and leap into the Polluted Lake of Life…]
—
[T/N: Gonna take a break on the 21/06/2025, need to rest up the heat is getting to me.]