Chapter 216: Chapter 107: The Exploding Jade Magic Ring Tree
RUMBLE...
Outside, the roiling Jade steam waves grew increasingly violent.
The Steam Spirit Realm trembled and shook with ever-greater intensity.
Inside the Steam Ceremony Tower.
Zorn was meticulously examining the rich rewards he had reaped from pilfering the "Jade Steam Spirit Country."
"Source Essence Spirit Fruits" were exceptional treasures for raising one’s Level.
They were also a necessary resource for those at the Upper Rank Level, the Holy Crown, and even the Legendary Realm.
Normal Transcendents required massive amounts of Essence after reaching Level 11 and advancing to the Upper Rank Level.
Once they had condensed a Holy Crown and reached Level 16,
it was basically impossible to level up further without exploring the Star Tier for resources.
For a Holy Crown within a single World, the most likely way to level up was to wage war and seize resources from other kingdoms.
To this end, some powerful Worlds would even launch Plane wars against other Worlds to acquire resources.
This was the case for normal Sequences.
To say nothing of a special World-level Boss Sequence like Zorn’s.
’These Source Essence Spirit Fruits can advance my Sequence progress by quite a bit. They should be enough for about 60% of Level 7.’
’Combined with my own resources, I should be able to touch the threshold of Level 8 in about half a year.’
’And these Spirit Rune Stones can be used to raise my Witchcraft Levels.’
’Although this batch of Runes isn’t as good as the resources I got from the Divine Kingdom before, it’s still a considerable amount. If I use them sparingly, when I advance to Level 8 or Level 9 and obtain a powerful Divine Kingdom Forbidden Curse, I can upgrade it immediately.’
’If... if the ancient Star Realm Miracle Master’s Miracle Gate opens, and I can obtain a Middle Rank Level Ancient God Curse from within, I could also save these resources to strengthen that Middle Rank Level Ancient God Curse then.’
Although Zorn had other ways to obtain a "Middle Rank Level" Ancient God Curse,
the Ancient God Curse within the Miracle Gate was absolutely a top-tier, one-of-a-kind existence among Middle Rank Level Ancient God Curses.
Zorn shook his head, dismissing the thought.
The Miracle Gate wasn’t guaranteed to open.
’There’s no need to hold on to these resources I have now. I should just use them when I need to.’
The Holy Relic World was like a key, or rather, the central hub governing the trajectory of the World.
As the powers of mysterious Transcendence and the steam tide pushed the entire World’s progress forward,
many hidden existences would reawaken one by one.
As time passed, Zorn would be able to acquire many powerful resources.
Investing a batch of "Spirit Rune Stone" resources,
Zorn quickly raised his Holy Judgment: Arrow of Concealed Sin to Level 1.
This Divine Kingdom Forbidden Curse, an arrow that could be charged up, possessed astonishing power.
It was an excellent method for sniping enemies from a distance.
After securely stowing away this batch of resources,
Zorn began to once again garrison the Steam Consciousness Tower, taking up his important duty as a Tower Guardian.
However, this time was slightly different than before.
While Zorn guarded the tower, attacking the various creatures manifested from the infiltrating Jade Grey Mist, he also began to study the "Curse Linkage" of an Evil Spirit Wizard.
When his Level was low, Zorn had needed to focus on leveling up to avoid a sudden, violent death.
But now that his Level had reached a certain height and he had sufficient ability to protect himself, he needed to spend some time refining and polishing his "Curse Linkage."
"Curse Linkage" was a path that Wizards advancing to the Middle Rank Level had to research and explore on their own.
Once a linkage underwent a qualitative change, it could produce an effect far greater than the sum of the two individual Witchcrafts.
For the current Zorn,
using an Ancient God Curse as the core and linking it with other Forbidden Curses would yield the best effect.
Tarktos’ Hand was one of the Ancient God Curses Zorn was more familiar with.
However, the Skills of an Evil Spirit Wizard itself were still very different from those of a Player.
’The power of a World-level Boss’s Witchcraft far exceeds that of a Player.’
’The more remnants of Egunus’s flesh and blood I devour, the greater this advantage will become.’
’And my deep mastery of Witchcraft is not something a Player can compare to.’
’As long as I pursue Ascetic Practice, I can achieve even deeper control over my Witchcraft.’
Through gradual exploration,
a golden silhouette of a Fighting Master faintly appeared behind Zorn, with Holy Armor draped over its golden form.
Then, this golden silhouette of the Fighting Master slowly drew the Holy Judgment: Arrow of Concealed Sin.
Star Trace Gang Qi was also faintly infused into it.
"VMMMM!"
The released Curse Arrow instantly crossed a great distance.
A relatively powerful Jade Grey Mist Demon Lord was roaring as it attacked the Old Wizard’s Steam Tower. In an instant, the golden Arrow pierced through its head.
The Jade Demon Lord’s head exploded, and its body began to disintegrate.
The other Tower Guardians couldn’t help but shoot a few extra glances Zorn’s way.
’Hmm... this power is quite impressive.’
’Not only does it have Curse Linkage, but it’s also fused with the power of a Fighting Master.’
’And there’s clearly still significant room for improvement.’
Time flew by during the confrontation in the Spirit Realm.
More than three days passed in a flash.
...
Inside the Steam Tower.
Zorn casually drank a potion to restore his Energy.
Feeling his "Evil Energy" slowly recovering,
Zorn surveyed the entire Steam Spirit Realm, and his brow furrowed slightly as his gaze fell upon the other Steam Towers.
Thanks to his powerful World-level Boss Sequence framework,
Zorn’s own recovery ability far surpassed that of other Extraordinary Sequencers.
Faced with this grueling battle that had lasted for more than three days, almost four,
the others were frantically chugging potions or using other means to restore their Energy.
Zorn, however, only needed to take a normal potion that accelerated Source Energy convergence to maintain his condition.
And after several days of confrontation in the Spirit Realm,
the barrier of the Steam Spirit Realm now existed in name only.
The Jade Grey Mist had completely poured into the Steam Spirit Realm.
The entire Spirit Realm had already transformed into a cruel, apocalyptic Purgatory battlefield.
Every Steam Ceremony Tower was fighting on its own.
Within the Jade Grey Mist, all sorts of grotesque creatures continuously emerged.
Demon Element creatures were especially numerous among them.
These creatures manifested from the Jade Grey Mist.
They launched Purgatory Black Flame attacks, used Skills, or carried out pure Spiritual Attacks.
They relentlessly assaulted the Steam Towers.
To say nothing of the other towers,
Zorn’s own tower, a modest 13-story Steam Ceremony Tower, was constantly bombarded by Black Flame Fireballs, Fire Rain, Arrows, or other Energy Attacks.
All the towers in the entire Spirit Realm were now completely surrounded by Jade monsters.
The Old Wizard’s tower, which everyone had been able to help defend before, had completely collapsed yesterday.
The Wizard’s Demon Element monsters swarmed in, tearing the collapsed Steam Tower to shreds.
The entire Steam Spirit Realm had entered a white-hot stage of confrontation.
Zorn’s counterattacks were still quite powerful.
If the monsters’ attacks weren’t too fierce,
Zorn would slowly bombard them with Destruction Magic Balls.
His Destruction Magic Ball was already Level Three, and coupled with his Boss Level template,
its power went without saying.
A single Destruction Magic Ball could wipe out a large swath of them.
If the enemies’ assault became more ferocious,
Zorn would unleash his "Elemental Arm" to continuously smash and kill them.
Even for a World-level Boss, the continuous fighting over the past two days had made Zorn feel a bit of pressure.
As for the others...
Judging from the increasingly dim Spiritual Energy fluctuations of their Steam Towers, every single one of them was under immense pressure.
The counterattacks from the various Tower Guardians were now far from being as strong and vigorous as before.
Fortunately, among the Garrisons, there were some with extremely strong defensive capabilities.
For example,
the now Level Seven "Zorn Corick."
Whenever a large number of Demon Element creatures appeared in the Spirit Realm,
Zorn would unleash all of the several hundred Double-Ringed · Destruction Magic Balls he had been slowly stockpiling in the Black Mist, carrying out high-efficiency slaughter over the largest possible area.
When monsters were densely packed, unleashing a Group Attack Spell always had the best effect.
Even in a tower defense, strategy was essential.
Lady Sun could also guide crimson sunlight into the Steam Spirit Realm, incinerating and killing numerous Demon Element creatures.
Besides Zorn and Lady Sun,
there was a Wizard from an Exotic Realm who rather surprised Zorn.
He was a Level 9 Rift Mage from an Exotic Realm.
Whenever the Demon Element monsters were densely packed,
he would release a wide-area "Void Fissure." These Sequence Fissures would continuously slice through the Demon Element creatures.
This type of large-scale attack was even more efficient than the bombardment of Zorn’s Destruction Magic Balls.
This Level 9 Rift Mage was indeed extremely powerful.
The three of them joined forces, taking turns to fight.
This was the only reason the Steam Spirit Realm had been able to hold on until now.
Just as Zorn was absorbing Energy and converting it into Evil Energy, while also stocking up more Destruction Magic Balls in the Calamity Black Mist,
"RUMBLE..."
A Jade wave, several times more massive than before, came crashing down, blotting out the sky.
Zorn gazed into the distance and could faintly see the silhouette of a towering, massive Tree of the Magic Ring.
He could even sense several figures moving within it.
’The enemy is about to launch an all-out assault!’
Zorn’s heart tensed.
’This final assault is happening much earlier than planned.’
’And not only is it empowered by the Tree of the Magic Ring, but those several shadows are also present. It’s obvious the Jade Apostles have discovered that their resources were stolen.’
’That’s why they’ve joined forces in a rage, intending to destroy the Steam Spirit Realm in one fell swoop.’
’The power of the Jade Magic Ring Tree is surging. Now is the time!’
Zorn narrowed his eyes, a cold light flickering within them.
Several days ago, when he had stolen the resources from within the Jade Magic Ring Tree, he had already planted a huge bomb inside it.
And he had even used the Jade Realm’s own methods to do it.
Detonating it at this moment, when the power of the Magic Ring was surging, would definitely cause devastating losses to those who resonated with the Tree of the Magic Ring.
As the thought crossed his mind, Zorn quickly used the nearby ritual to guide it.
At the same time,
the other Tower Guardians in the Spirit Realm also sensed the overwhelming momentum of this new wave of enemies.
They all immediately employed their own methods to continuously strengthen the defensive power of their Steam Ceremony Towers.
"RUMBLE..."
Just as this unprecedented Jade wave bore down on the battered and broken Steam Spirit Realm,
"BOOM—CRACK—CRACK—"
a bizarre, grotesque explosion echoed from deep within the wave.
The Jade Magic Ring Tree, visible within the wave’s silhouette, began to shake violently.
CRACK—CRACK—
Some branches even fell off.
And the silhouettes of the Jade Apostles who were with the Jade Magic Ring Tree all began to twist and contort.
Howls of misery mixed with rage rose and fell, like rolling peals of thunder.
The many people on the receiving end of the attack felt it with particular clarity.
Immediately after,
RUMBLE...
the Jade wave swept down, blanketing everything.
The others didn’t know what had happened,
but Zorn knew very well.
The Jade Magic Ring Tree within the Jade Steam Spirit Country had exploded!
All of the Jade Apostles were caught in the blast.
Those arrogant Apostles from the Ancient Divine Kingdom had come to the Holy Relic World like big fish entering a small pond.
They simply couldn’t believe that someone in this World would dare to plot against their Jade Magic Ring Tree.
They didn’t even have anyone specifically garrisoning the Jade Magic Ring Tree.
This was what had given Zorn the opportunity to strike.
Now!
They were paying a terrible price for it.
A terrible price that they would find unbearable!
