Through just these two attacks, it had managed to determine that the enemy had some ability to turn his spells invisible. It was only when the spells detonated that the podling would know when it was hit.
Concealing spells?
The podling had never heard of such an ability, but it was undoubtedly a terrifying threat to itself!
The podling could only do its best to chase Greem away before using poison mist to extinguish the fires again. In just this brief exchange, the podling’s massive body was covered in even more black marks.
Glowing green sap seeped out of its damaged stem, filling the hall with a pungent smell.
The pain from the burning had inflicted tremendous agony and suffering to the podling. Its slender vines and green mouths whipped around the hall, smashing at the ground and the walls over and over. Yet, that annoying and tiny rat simply drifted around the room with his Fire Teleportation, causing all of its attacks to miss.
All of his servants, other than Fahssn, had already been reduced to ashes by the wild flame shockwaves. None of them were of any help.
The podling was indeed very powerful. However, its weaknesses were also undeniable!
Immobile and vulnerable to fire.
As a powerful advanced Fourth Grade magical being, the podling wasn’t fearful of ordinary flames as other swamp creatures would be. Its green body that shimmered with a metallic gleam was as tough as refined steel. Yet, it couldn’t defend itself at all against that fearsome golden fire.
Magic Penetration. The damned fire adept must have mastered a law relating to magic penetration. Why else would mere flames be able to harm it?
That was it! The fire adept must have also mastered a law to turn his fire spells invisible. That was what troubled the podling the most!
Whenever the fire adept appeared, there would be a barrage of fireballs, along with one or two potent, invisible spells.
It forced the podling to swing its entire body and lash with all its vines and branches whenever it saw Greem attack. It had to form a dense, impenetrable defensive line. If it were fortunate enough, its wildly whipping vines and branches would be able to trigger the invisible spell before it landed on its body. That would significantly reduce the amount of fire damage that its stem had to suffer.
After several fruitless attempts lunging at Greem, Fahssn flew into a rage.
He shouted in anger, and the Fungal Giant’s feet suddenly rooted themselves into the stone floor. Its right tentacle then swelled in size and length, wildly extending and growing forward like monster vines.
Greem couldn’t dodge in time, and his leg became entangled.
He lifted his staff, and a dozen fireballs kept the podling at bay. Meanwhile, he rapidly transformed into a flame giant, his entire body engulfed in a layer of exploding golden flames.
Fahssn’s tentacle was now wrapped around a thick pillar of fire that was a dozen meters tall.
Even as his tentacle continued to crush Greem’s legs, the flames were also inflicting damage to him.
Some of the vines on the tentacle appendage had just started to wither and turn to ash when new vines grew out and wrapped around Greem’s body once more. At the same time, the vines continuously tore and dug into Greem’s body, seemingly searching for any gaps they could tunnel into.
An overwhelming surge of golden fires rushed out of Greem’s body. If it weren’t for Fahssn’s robust regeneration, his right arm would have already been reduced to ashes.
While Greem wildly attacked Fahssn with fire spells, several green spots also started appearing on his body. They were the effect of the enemy’s terrifying poison!
As expected of Fourth Grade creatures. The poison it used was so potent it could even contaminate elementium fire. If Greem’s current biological construction of elementium fire wasn’t completely distinct from that of a human’s physiology, he might have already died of the poison!
While the two powers continued to clash, the fire and poison devoured and neutralized each other on Greem and Fahssn’s bodies. It was inflicting tremendous elementium damage.
No Fourth Grade would have so easily employed a suicidal, self-damaging attack as this.
However, as a servant of the podling, Fahssn had placed the safety of the podling over his own life!
While Fahssn entangled Greem, the podling shook its body. Several branches intertwined to form a fearsome palm that crashed down from above. Fortunately, Greem sensed it coming and barely dodged out of the way.
In the end, Greem was left with nowhere to run. He had no choice but to detonate his body, leaving behind the parts that were entangled by Fahssn while he fled with the rest and rematerialized in the distance.
Even though he had managed to escape Fahssn this way, Greem had also lost nearly 7% of his fire body.
This 7% power would have been recovered in a few minutes with the Heart of Principles’ aid under ordinary conditions. However, Greem was now engaged in an intense and dangerous battle. Where was he supposed to find the time to regain this 7% loss to his power?
Dong! A muffled boom rang out.
The podling’s giant palm crashed down. The parts of Greem’s body that were left behind were crushed to a bloody paste along with Fahssn’s right arm. The fearsome force shockwave rippled outwards as the 7% of Greem’s power was extinguished in an instant.
When Greem’s subsequently rematerialized, it was evident that the layer of golden flames around him had thinned slightly.
The podling was undoubtedly the happiest to have been able to achieve this outcome with Fahssn’s sacrifice.
However, it had no idea that the moment Greem cut off his tail and escaped, the shadow he projected on the floor had also vanished without a trace. That shadow had silently merged into Fahssn’s shadow.
The three violent waves of power from Fahssn, the podling, and Greem reverberated and echoed in the hall, affecting Fahssn’s spiritual senses. Otherwise, as a Fourth Grade, he would never have missed even the smallest of energy fluctuations within a hundred meters of himself.
Moreover, Fahssn was only a Third Grade sporeperson who had taken control of a Fourth Grade Fungal Giant.
This parasitic takeover had provided him with powerful regeneration and the unique powers of the Fungal Giant, but he still could not compare to an actual Fourth Grade.
At the very least, Fahssn’s Spirit was only at the level of a Third Grade!
Having lost a portion of his power, Greem could not attack as recklessly as he had before.
He started to move around, dodging the podling’s myriad attacks while evading Fahssn’s unusual entangling vines. Every time he appeared, he would only have a minimal amount of time to launch an offensive.
The slightest hesitation or pause would cause him to become entangled by Fahssn and struck by the podling.
Apart from physical attacks, the podling was also steadily spreading out parasitic spores that could not be seen with the naked eye. Unfortunately, such attacks could not escape the Chip’s scans. A simple defensive fire spell kept all those spores at bay.
All spores were afraid of fire. As long as they approached Greem, the spores were incinerated by an invisible barrier of fire. They could not even touch his sleeve.
The attacks of these parasitic spores had failed–when they had always worked before–and the podling had no choice but to resort to clumsy physical attacks.
The two forces continued to battle violently in the narrow space, not concerned with how their attacks would devastate their surroundings. This reckless fighting brought about unimaginable calamity to the sacred land.
The ground quaked and the rocks crumbled.
The entire underground space was collapsing violently. Giant boulders fell from above as tunnels and passages were buried under the stones. The sacred land was gradually being reduced to ruins from the fighting, devouring thousands of sporepeople lives in the process.
The three Fourth Grades continued battling in the Spore Hall, unconcer
ned with the changes outside. They were trying their best to inflict as much damage as they could on their enemy.
Finally, being forced to avoid a falling boulder, Greem was once again restrained by Fahssn’s wildly growing vine hands.
Upon seeing such an excellent opportunity, the podling immediately waved its thick stem and smashed at Greem at howling speed, with no concern about accidentally injuring Fahssn.
Greem suddenly lifted his head and smiled at the palm swinging at him.
Chapter 1215 - Desperation Seeps In
A subtle energy flux appeared momentarily before vanishing!
If they hadn’t all been Fourth Grade powerhouses, the three fighters would have easily ignored this unusual energy flux amidst the chaos of the battle.
This energy flux was subtle, yet sinister, and carried with it a terrifyingly overwhelming aura.
What was truly horrifying wasn’t this flux of energy, but its source!
At the same instant that the shadow energy erupted, a tall, blurry figure emerged from Fahssn’s shadow. The sharp, blade-like claws in his hands stabbed in and out of the Fungal Giant’s body.
As the claws continued to slash, waves of fearsome shadow power erupted inside the Giant’s body. These miniature energy explosions not only inflicted even more severe damage to the Giant’s flesh but further corrupted most of his core organs with shadow energy.
The shadowy figure circled Fahssn rapidly, his claws continuously weaving and stabbing. In just the blink of an eye, hundreds of wounds had appeared on the Fungal Giant’s body. Shadow energy continued to explode in these wounds. Blood as black as ink seeped out of the gashes, along with pieces of organs.
Fahssn, who was using his entire body to restrict Greem, had now become the perfect target. He could not even retaliate.
He roared furiously, his free arm extending into several separate appendages that lashed at the mysterious enemy. Unfortunately, his slow and clumsy movements could not catch up to the opponent’s phantasmal form.
The howling, whipping vines landed on bare ground, pulverizing the stone ground and reducing it to dust.
As Fahssn resisted, the black figure quickly closed the distance, appearing behind Fahssn’s actual body. The claw pierced his brain with a simple stab, and a tremendous surge of shadow energy instantly shredded his mind and mental consciousness.
The Third Grade sporeperson that was parasitizing the Fourth Grade Fungal Giant let out a tragic cry. His soul aura instantly vanished in front of everyone’s eyes.
Greem had successfully assassinated Fahssn with the help of Shadow Demon by using himself as bait. However, at the same time, he’d endured a terrifying strike from the podling.
The Shield of Holy Light, created by Sodden’s Holy Ring, was smashed to sparks by the podling’s ‘palm’ made out of countless entangling vines. The multiple Lava Shields and dozens of Inferno Shields he tried to create were also smashed to pieces by the podling before they could fully manifest.
Even as strong as it was, the podling’s strike was momentarily stalled after smashing through so many layers of magical defenses. Greem took full advantage of this window of opportunity. He used the violent recoil from a blast of fire to retreat out of the radius of impact.
An earthshaking impact rang out!
Greem’s scrambling figure was blown forward by the vicious shockwave. He couldn’t help but stumble away. The defenses he barely managed to conjure in time trembled as the loose rocks and stone from the impact shot at him. Blinding sparks and terrifying cracks could be seen on the fire shields around him.
Three-meter-thick green vines lashed out of the smoke and dust. Greem could only teleport away without any hesitation, just dodging the ferocious attack in time.
His figure reappeared in another place. An odd snapping sound could immediately be heard as three mouths charged out of the smoke and snapped at him like a hydra.
Greem lifted his hand, and a barrage of Blazing Fireballs flew at the enemy. The explosion managed to keep the three green mouths at bay. Before he could regain his balance, he felt a vicious wind against his back. Another giant vine was whipping towards him.
Dammit! Dammit! Dammit! This podling’s way too huge!
When it went berserk, every single part of its body was a weapon.
The entire room was full of dancing whips, each about two to three meters thick and covered in scary thorns that seemed to have a metallic sheen. Being hit by such a vine, even without considering the podling’s own 46 points of Strength, was already a threat to Greem.
Apart from the vines, the arm-like, agile branches and mouth-like leaves were all massive threats. The mouths could spew out a terrifying poison mist and constantly salivated.
Their saliva sizzled when it landed on the ground. White smoke would rise, melting a small hole into the stone.
Poison attacks, acid attacks, multi-attacks.
This podling seemed to have gone mad. It used its slender, soft, and agile stem to its fullest potential, whipping about and unleashing a torrent of attacks at Greem.
Greem was forced to teleport around the hall constantly. He could not stay in any spot for more than three seconds. Otherwise, terrifying roots would pierce out from beneath the ground, thick vines would crash down from above, and bone-chilling mouths would snap at him, forcefully crushing all his magical defenses to pieces.
Greem had also tried to cover himself in his invisible flames and hide.
Unfortunately, before he could even escape, he would be revealed by a breath of poison mist.
These flames would collide and clash with the poison mist. The poison mist evaporated each time, but Greem’s cloak of fire would also be contaminated green!
However, while the podling was wildly trying to kill Greem, Shadow Demon once again appeared. He was standing right before the podling’s stem, exposed above the pile of skeletons.
Fire erupted as a blinding light flashed in the hall.
Shadow Demon appeared out of the shadows and quickly arrived atop the skeleton pile. The sharp blade in his hand penetrated the podling’s defensive forcefield and pierced into the seven-meter-thick stem.
The stem ruptured, and green sap splattered everywhere. Terrifying acid coated Shadow Demon’s entire body.
Poison attacks were ineffective.
And acid attacks had to burn through Shadow Demon’s incredible resistance.
With his resistance, the acid would have to continue burning for three hours before it could corrode his metal body. That was more than enough time for Shadow Demon to kill any enemy of his.
The podling’s reaction at having been attacked was unusually extreme.
It twisted its body back, and eight green mouths lunged at Shadow Demon from every direction, their sharp teeth grinding as they snapped forward.
Shadow Demon had no choice but to run after two rounds of attacks.
He might be a magical machine with excellent physical defense and magic resistance, but even he might not be able to survive multiple attacks from the podling at close distance.
When Shadow Demon retreated to the shadows, and the podling’s attacks missed, a series of fireballs landed on the podling’s body.
Dong! Dong! Dong!
A violent chain of explosions blasted the podling’s stem and ruptured it even further. Green sap splattered across the ground. The flames had even ignited one of the branches. The green mouth on the end of the branch struggled in agony and let out a scream resembling that of a baby’s wail.
However, no amount of screaming could save its life. The green mouth turned into a pile of ashes as it wailed.
“You damned bastards. I will kill you.”
The podling was the one caught between two enemies now.
Shadow Demon and Greem were both incredibly slippery and cunning.
When the podling tried to chase after Greem, Shadow Demon would sneak close to its body and inflict devastating damage. When the podling attempted to chase after Shadow Demon,
Greem would use his terrifying might to hurl an endless stream of violent spells.
Attacks from two powerful Fourth Grades. Either one of them was enough to injure the podling badly.
The podling’s greatest weakness was the fact that it was rooted and unable to move freely. It could only tiresomely chase after the two enemies, without the freedom to choose its own battlefield.
In the end, driven to a rage by the constant harassment of Greem and Shadow Demon, the podling finally went berserk.
It twisted and lashed out with its vines and branches, chasing off the two enemies that buzzed around him like annoying flies. It then pulled its roots out of the pile of skeletons with much difficulty, causing the entire hall to rumble and shake as it did so.
Due to how much of a hurry it was in, the podling had no time to extract its roots slowly. It was basically cutting off and leaving behind the majority of its body in doing so. As the bones rolled off of the skeleton pile, the sound of snapping roots could be heard.
Pungent, green sap flowed from the severed roots, staining the pile of skeletons a sickly green color. The bones that were covered in this sap started to soften and collapse like a bad cake before turning into a puddle of disgusting green liquid.
The moment the podling pulled out its roots, the skeleton pile completely collapsed, revealing the strange well hidden deep below. The water in the small well was extremely clear and gave off an unusual, overwhelming sense of unending lifeforce.
The tens of thousands of the podling’s roots had been wrapped around the well and further covered in the skeletons of thousands of swamp creatures. That was why the aura of the well had not leaked out and been detected by anyone.
However, when the podling finally uprooted itself in a desperate attempt to attack the enemy, Greem finally discovered the existence of the well.
Primal Water.
So the Primal Water was there!
According to Emelia’s information, there was certainly Primal Water in the Podling Cave. However, Greem had found no signs of the Primal Water in all his probing and fighting earlier.
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