On the sixth floor, the various experts prepared for roughly a month, and Rosarie and Tulily grew accustomed to their new divine artifacts as well. The first group of ten major experts all remained here on the sixth floor, while only three of the experts in the second group remained. The others had all given up and returned to the fifth floor.
One of the three experts remaining in the second group was Olivier.
Higginson had given up. Clearly, Hayward’s death had negatively impacted him quite a bit. After all, the upcoming seventh, eighth, and ninth floors would not be any less dangerous than the sixth floor.
A month passed in the blink of an eye.
Next to the flowing river of lava, Desri spoke out. “Let’s go!”
Linley, Tulily, Rosarie, Fain, Rutherford, Olivier, and the others all rose to their feet. Everyone had reached their peak condition over the course of this month.
Including Olivier’s group of three, the thirteen experts continued up into the stairway to the next floor.
Necropolis of the Gods, floor seven!
“Whew!”
As soon as the thirteen experts of the Yulan continent entered the seventh floor, they felt a breeze.
“How comfortable.” Linley’s lips had a hint of a smile about them. Compared to the scorching hot environment of the sixth floor, the environment of the seventh floor was much better.
The seventh floor was a desert world, but Linley and the others had entered an oasis amongst the desert. This oasis was extremely large, at least ten square kilometers in size. The thirteen experts carefully inspected their surroundings, all of them on their guard.
“There’s water in the distance.” Bebe saw the lake in the middle of the oasis, and couldn’t help but feel excited.
“Hey? What’s going on with the plants in this place? Why is the grass here so sharp?” Desri frowned as he spoke.
Suddenly…
The ‘oasis’ suddenly moved, and tens of thousands of tendrils of vegetation rose into the sky, as this ‘oasis’ of ten square kilometers in size suddenly enveloped all of the experts within. Linley, as well, was suddenly trapped in this prison of countless blades of grass and leaves.
“Not good.” Linley’s face changed dramatically, and a devilish flash of violet light suddenly flashed out in his hand.
“Ah!” A miserable scream split the air from afar.
In the blink of an eye, another expert had been heavily injured or killed. Who knew which of the thirteen it was?
20
The Magical Beasts in Action
The thick, dense grass had completely surrounded Linley in an airtight seal, and the surrounding grass and leaves were gurgling. The grass tendrils were wildly squeezing down, and in the blink of an eye, the pressure was so great that Linley’s face began to change color.
“The strength of this pressure alone would instantly crush most Saints into meat pulp,” Linley said to himself.
“This plant life form is dozens of times more formidable than the plant life form on the second floor!” Linley didn’t dare to waste any time.
“Break!” Bloodviolet in his hands flashed…
Wherever Bloodviolet passed by, spacetime froze and then folded over itself, and a spatial blade appeared at the blade of the weapon. Although the grass tendrils were tens of times more durable than the vines of the plant life form of the second floor, in front of Bloodviolet, they were still chopped open as easily as pieces of cloth.
“Bang!”
The shattered pieces of grass and tendrils exploded everywhere, and Linley shot out of the prison of dense grass like an arrow.
“Boss, I’m fine!” A tunnel suddenly appeared in another distant ball of grass, and then Bebe, his entire body covered with black light, flew out at high speed.
“Bebe, what technique is this?” Linley felt joy in his heart.
“I’m a Deity-level magical beast, the ‘Godeater Rat’.” Bebe raised his little head proudly, but then Bebe noticed the scene not too far away… a large amount of grass had formed a massive ball, clearly surrounding a person, and within that massive ball of grass, a faint hint of white light could be seen.
“Boss, Desri’s not looking so good.” Bebe instantly recognized that it was Desri who was radiating that white light.
Linley had noticed as well. Without hesitating at all, he immediately flew over there while sending out his spiritual energy to scout the situation inside. He clearly saw that inside… Desri’s body was covered with a faintly glowing armor of light that was protecting his entire body, while many white arrows of light were attacking the grass surrounding him wildly.
Unfortunately, the grass tendrils were simply too durable.
“Swish!” Bloodviolet flew out and multiple rays of violet light flashed past the grass, chopping them apart.
Desri escaped from his prison. Upon seeing it was Linley, he immediately said, “Thanks. That grass monster really was tough. Even my instacast spells of the ninth rank weren’t able to break through it. Without your help, it really would have been problematic.”
A red light suddenly flashed by, and grass flew everywhere. Tulily, wielding that divine artifact, the blood red scimitar, flew out and into the skies. With this scimitar, Tulily was like a tiger who had been given wings. Tulily even roared angrily, “Who is it? Don’t skulk around. If you have any ability, come and fight us openly.”
“Bang!” Yet another ball of grass exploded, and Rutherford, his entire body covered with blue light, escaped from his imprisonment as well.
One expert after another escaped.
However, at present, Olivier’s situation was quite dire.
Just now, surrounded and crushed by those countless tendrils of grass, Olivier didn’t have the chance to react at all. And he suddenly discovered…
All of the blades of grass crushing him suddenly began to grind against him at high speed. These grass tendrils all had extremely sharp edges, and this constant high-speed grinding… made these grass tendrils constantly slice against his body like sharp fangs, or a sawtooth which a farmer might use to plow the earth.
In the blink of an eye, Olivier’s body was sliced open.
“Hrmph.” Olivier’s eyes turned cold.
“Swish!” A brilliant light flashed, and shattered bits of grass flew everywhere.
His long, flowing hair colored both black and white, and with that black icy sword in his hands, Olivier flew into the air. Only, Olivier’s body had a hint of blood on it. Olivier was secretly shocked. “What a fierce saw.”
The thirteen experts floated there in mid-air. Desri looked around him, then let out a sigh of relief. “Fortunately, no one died.”
Olivier glanced at a nearby Saint. This human Saint’s waist already had a huge wound around the waist. “Karossa, that really was quite dangerous. You almost lost your life.”
That man named Karossa let out an exhausted breath as well. “Very nearly. That creature’s ‘teeth’ were simply too fierce. If I had been slightly slower in reacting, those grass tendrils probably would have plunged into my body.”
“Plunged into your body?” Linley and Fain, upon hearing this, couldn’t help but feel shocked.
If the grass tendrils were to enter one’s body, most likely they would ravage the internal organs almost instantly.
“Don’t move.” Desri flew to one of the human experts, executing healing magic on him.
This Karossa was one of the three experts in the second group.
The three experts in that second group consisted of two humans, Karossa and Olivier, and one magical beast, a Blackscale Scorpion King. Blackscale Scorpions were generally beasts of the ninth rank, but this Blackscale Scorpion King had trained to the peak Saint-level, which was quite incredible and rare.
“I hate encountering these plant life forms.” Linley lowered his head, studying the area around him.
The area below was covered in sand. The previous ‘oasis’ had already completely disappeared, leaving behind
only some tendrils of shattered grass. Linley had earlier witnessed with his own eyes those undamaged tendrils of grass sink down into the sand and disappear.
“Let’s go,” Desri said. “If that plant creature doesn’t bother us again, let’s not waste the time to deal with it either. The most important thing right now is to find the entrance to the eighth floor.”
“Let’s go.” Linley and the others all nodded.
The thirteen experts didn’t pay any more attention to that plant creature, quickly flying away and beginning their search in the boundless desert.
“Yet another oasis up ahead,” Fain frowned and shouted loudly.
Linley took a close look. Indeed, in the distance, there was a hazy hint of green. Upon flying a bit closer to it, everyone could clearly see that it was indeed a massive oasis. After the previous experience, however, nobody would be incautious again.
“Let’s not get too close.” Rosarie shook her head. “Let’s stay farther away from it. That monster is very hard to deal with.”
Everyone agreed, and the group intentionally made their way around the oasis. But after Linley’s group flew away in another direction, that green oasis actually sank down into the sand, while the sand itself began to tremble slightly.
The direction the vibrations in the sand were heading to at high speed was, quite coincidentally, the direction in which Linley’s group were flying.
“Hrm?” The Blackscale Scorpion King, at the very back of the line, glanced downwards and then immediately shouted in warning, “Everyone, be careful. That monster is currently hurrying towards us at high speed from below the sand.”
In the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts, magical beasts would often launch ambushes from below. As a Saint-level magical beast, the Blackscale Scorpion was quite familiar with this type of attack.
“That really does seem to be the case.” Linley, Fain, Tulily, and the others all halted in mid-air, staring below.
If one looked carefully, one would be able to see… that on the surface of the sand, there were one or two barely noticeable tendrils of grass. This sort of plant creature could use all of the grass as its ‘eyes’. Wherever the grass could see, it could see as well.
“What should we do?” Linley, Desri, and the others looked at each other.
To kill this plant creature was very troublesome, but how could they just allow it to follow in such a sinister manner?
“Swoosh!” “Swoosh!”
Like two sharp arrows, two long tendrils of green grass suddenly shot out from beneath the sand, wrapping themselves around Desri’s legs in almost the same instant. These two tendrils of grass were as thick as a man’s arm, and there were a large number of smaller blades of grass on top of them as well.
In an instant, they surrounded Desri.
“Swish!”
They suddenly pulled downwards, hard. The two tendrils of grass had shot out at simply too fast a pace. Shooting out, wrapping around, pulling down. In the blink of an eye, Desri was pulled down. Desri let out a furious roar, while at the same time, sending a wild Mindstorm towards the below area.
“Not good.” The faces of Linley and the others changed, and they immediately chased downwards as well.
“Thud…” Desri was pulled directly into the sand, and in the blink of an eye, he disappeared from everyone’s field of vision. The surface of the sand looked so ordinary, as though nothing had happened.
“Go down!” Bebe shouted loudly.
Bebe, the three Six-Eyed Golden Ni-Lions, the Blackscale Scorpion didn’t hesitate at all. The five magical beasts shrank in size rapidly while charging down into the desert. It was very troublesome to dig when one was physically large. Compared to magical beasts, human experts definitely weren’t as fast when they tunneled through the ground.
Fain, Rosarie, Tulily, and the rest of the seven waited there in mid-air, not knowing what to do.
“Right now, we can only place our hopes on Bebe and the others. Hopefully, they’ll be able to rescue Desri.” Linley himself wasn’t able to do anything.
If he entered the sand, first of all, his digging speed would be lowered by half, and he simply wouldn’t be able to chase down the plant creature.
“That grass monster’s tendrils are simply too fast. They move like an expert wielding a sword.” Tulily was frowning. “In a flash, they wrapped around Desri’s legs. In addition, just then, Desri utilized a spiritual attack, but it seemed to not have any effect.”
“It’s impossible for it to have any effect.” Linley shook his head. “That monster’s body was as large as the oasis itself, ten square kilometers. Just now, only its tendrils were revealed. Its main body is most likely many kilometers away from us. Desri wasn’t certain where the monster’s body was. For him to just wildly cast his spiritual energy without knowing where to aim… it would be impressive if he was able to harm it at all.”
Olivier let out a cold sneer. “That Desri was looking to be killed.”
“Why would you say such a thing?” Fain and the others looked unhappily at Olivier.
Olivier glanced at them, then said calmly, “The Necropolis of the Gods has countless creatures here, and the techniques one would use against humans aren’t necessarily suitable. This Desri is just a Grand Magus Saint. When faced with a sudden attack, at most he would be able to instacast a spell. But how powerful could the spells he is capable of instacasting be? Against these sorts of monsters, those spells don’t pose a threat at all. And yet, he still came to the Necropolis of the Gods. Isn’t that looking to be killed?”
“What sort of talk is this?” Rosarie was somewhat unhappy.
“Grand Magus Saints are poor at close combat, but upon reaching the Deity level and upon gaining their divine body, they will naturally have their deficiencies in close combat addressed,” Fain said.
But Linley actually felt that Olivier’s words made some sense. Grand Magus Saints were indeed weak when facing sudden attacks.
“So?” Olivier said calmly, “After becoming a Deity, one will indeed be transformed and gain a divine body! Divine bodies are extremely powerful and suited for close combat.”
Olivier laughed mockingly, “But then, why wait until becoming a Deity? Can’t a Grand Magus Saint, upon reaching the Saint level, spend a little bit of time and effort on his close combat skills. To the likes of Desri, a few hundred years is nothing much.”
“To have a Grand Magus Saint become a Warrior Saint as well? Do you think it’s as easy as that?” Fain frowned as he spoke.
“Enough,” Linley said. “Enough talk. Everyone has their own opinions.”
Linley’s face suddenly had a look of delight on it. “Excellent, that creature has been dragged out.”
“Dragged out?” Everyone was surprised and delighted, immediately looking downwards.
The sand below began to rumble, and then rose up. Finally, with a ‘boom’ sound, sand exploded everywhere, and the first one to fly out was Desri. Desri’s body was covered with bloodstains, and his face was rather pale. Upon seeing Linley and the others, he still let out a chuckle. “That was really dangerous.”
“Boss, we’re coming,” Bebe’s voice rang out.
And then, Bebe also emerged from the sands, while in Bebe’s claws there was a thick tendril of grass, the thickness of a man’s arm. Using the thick tendril of grass, he actually dragged out the monster from below, and an enormous creature appeared in front of everyone.
This was a creature at least ten stories high, and its entire body was covered by thick, earthen yellow tendrils of grass roots, at least the size of a house.
The grass roots surrounding the monster’s body were only a hundred meters long at most. Clearly, all of the longer grass tendrils had already been broken off. Bebe dragged the monster up, while below came the three Six-Eyed Golden Ni-Lions and the Blackscale Scorpion.
“This fellow still wants to flee? Jeeze…” Bebe, holding that tendril in his hands, easily spun the massive creature a few times in mid-a
ir, as though it were a giant windmill. “Boss, I thought it would be very powerful, but I didn’t expect it to be as soft as a persimmon. Boss, how do you want to deal with this monster? Your call.”
The Blackscale Scorpion flew over as well. “This fellow really was nothing special. It only knew those two or three attacks. When we drew near it, it was finished.”
21
The Queen Mother, ‘Lachapalle’
“Don’t kill me,” A gravelly, terrified voice rang out.
The monster, which had been spun around like a windmill, suddenly came to a halt. Bebe dangled it there by one of its tendrils and shouted at it, “What, are you afraid now? Too late! Boss, we’re going to kill this monster anyhow. Lemme just take care of it now.”
Linley nodded slightly, and Desri and the others didn’t say anything. Just then, this monster clearly wanted to kill Desri. How would they so easily spare it?
“Halt!” the huge maw of the monster howled fiercely.
Bebe chortled twice, looking at the monster. “Halt? Are you afraid to die?”
“Bebe, stop wasting your breath on it,” Linley said.
“You can’t kill me. If you kill me, you will all die!” the monster roared in its gravelly voice.
Linley, Desri, Fain, and the others all looked at each other, and then glanced with amusement at this already captured plant life form. Fain laughed loudly, “If we kill you, we’ll all die? Go on and tell us, how will you kill us?”
Only now did the monster let out a sigh of relief. Seeing the attitude of these people, it came to a decision, and it sounded out with its hoarse voice, “If you kill me, I myself will not be able to seek revenge. But… you need to understand that in this seventh floor of the Necropolis of the Gods, I’m not the only one of my kind here, right?”
Linley frowned.
On the sixth floor, they had encountered the Flame Tyrant, and many people had died there. Killing the Flame Tyrant had been an extremely dangerous task. The danger of this seventh floor shouldn’t be lower than that of the sixth. It wouldn’t be as simple as just disposing of this plant creature.
Gods of Yulan: Book 4 of the Coiling Dragon Saga Page 16
