Chapter 43: The Battle with the Great Grey Once More

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“Eek!”

Just as Guo Hanxue was sinking into despair, her ears suddenly twitched. She looked up in disbelief and saw the roots left on the ground slowly pulling themselves free. The effort tore apart many of their fine rootlets, but the willow roots paid no heed. After wrenching themselves loose, they actually began scuttling away on their roots like a gigantic squid!

“Don’t let it get away!” Guo Hanxue screamed.

She had expended all her energy and even used one of her precious ancient arrows. There was no way someone as vindictive as her would let the true culprit escape!

Jiang Yi’s eyes lit up. The thing was still alive. Its upper half had reverted to an ordinary tree, yet its roots could run. Anyone who claimed there was nothing inside those roots would have to kill him first before he believed it!

If this had been the willow tree in its former state, Jiang Yi might have been afraid. But now that only a lone tree stump remained, how could he possibly let it go?

He caught up in a few strides and brought his black blade down several times, severing all the thick roots attached to its body.

The enormous stump crashed to the ground. After rolling several times, it was pinned beneath Jiang Yi’s foot.

By then, Qingdou had helped Guo Hanxue over as well. Seeing Jiang Yi staring strangely at the wood beneath his foot, he asked, “Is it over?”

Guo Hanxue was extremely concerned about that too.

Jiang Yi looked curiously at the wood and shook his head. “Not yet. It’s still alive.”

The three of them surrounded the motionless stump and felt it all over, each wearing an odd expression. To the touch, it was clearly ordinary wood, yet through their fingers they could sense a constant flow of vitality within it.

As though it were truly frightened, every time Jiang Yi touched it, the thick bark covering the trunk seemed to tremble.

Qingdou walked around it once. “Jiang Yi, why don’t we split it open and take a look? If it’s still alive and we let it escape, it might recover.”

Jiang Yi nodded. He had no doubt that a plant which had developed intelligence would possess an astonishing ability to regenerate.

He told the others to step back, then began dissecting the stump. First, he shaved away its bark. The sap flowing from the clean wood was faintly red, and it even carried the smell of blood.

When Jiang Yi began slicing away the trunk layer by layer, the entire stump started shaking violently. Only after he had whittled it down by a considerable amount did Guo Hanxue suddenly stop him. Pointing excitedly at a red wooden sphere embedded in the heartwood, she cried, “Look! Could that be its corpse core? I can feel energy coming from it.”

Jiang Yi lowered his head. Sure enough, half of a round bead made of wood had been exposed in the trunk. He had struck it moments earlier, yet it had not suffered the slightest damage; he had merely revealed it.

Since Guo Hanxue said she could sense energy from it, this had to be the core.

Jiang Yi, already exhausted from chopping, felt a surge of delight. He drove his blade into the wood around the bead, then levered it out with all his strength. The egg-sized wooden sphere rolled onto the ground—but before it could touch down, it transformed into a streak of white light and shot into Jiang Yi’s body!

With the wooden bead gone, the enormous stump suddenly convulsed several times. Then, as though all its moisture had been drained away, it gradually withered.

Guo Hanxue and Qingdou were stunned by the strange nature of Jiang Yi’s abilities, but they were even more eager to see what he would obtain this time.

Qingdou in particular had grown tired of standing helplessly behind the others during every battle. That was completely contrary to the spirit of the swordsman he believed himself to be!

Yet he was disappointed almost immediately. This time, what Jiang Yi produced was a bottle of green potion.

Jiang Yi stared strangely at the potion in his hand, the Body-Recovery Potion, unsure how to describe his mixed feelings of delight and dismay...

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“Body-Recovery Potion: Instantly restores physical strength to its optimal state until the potion’s effects wear off. Note: Do not drink if your energy is already excessive, or you may find yourself unable to sleep!”

After the red and blue potions, had another potion for restoring stamina appeared?

This thing was extremely useful. But when Jiang Yi thought of Qingdou’s repeatedly disappointed gaze, the potion in his hand suddenly seemed far less appealing...

After briefly explaining the new potion’s effects to the other two, Jiang Yi put it away. It would be immensely useful at a critical moment.

Guo Hanxue was not interested in the potion. After all, she was an archer; what she consumed most was energy within her body, not physical strength.

Qingdou, however, was visibly tempted. As a swordsman, what could be more attractive than medicine capable of rapidly restoring his combat power when he was on the verge of exhaustion?

The three of them realized that this trip had ultimately been fruitless and could only head back. Although Jiang Yi had not obtained the healing potion he wanted, the day’s gains were still considerable.

To begin with, he had leveled up. Not only had his speed increased tremendously, but more importantly, his defense had reached nine points—practically the upper limit for an ordinary human being. Without that improvement, the mutated willow’s earlier attack could never have left him with only a few bloody welts.

Qingdou, who had thought they would return disappointed once again, suddenly stiffened as they reached the woods outside the gymnasium. Seeing that the two ahead had not reacted at all, he warned them in a low voice, “Careful. There’s an ambush here!”

Jiang Yi and Guo Hanxue immediately stopped talking and drew their weapons. The silence had become so oppressive that they, too, sensed something wrong.

It was far too quiet.

There were not even any distant zombie roars.

Jiang Yi held his black blade across his chest, his eyes sweeping through the woods ahead. The place seemed vaguely familiar. Then he noticed a large, chaotic pool of blood near his feet and suddenly realized where they were.

This was the place where he and Guo Hanxue had previously encountered the mutated zombie and the mutated beast Big Gray.

Almost instantly, Jiang Yi understood what was exerting such enormous pressure on the three of them.

Qingdou suddenly pointed toward a patch of darkness in the woods. “President Guo, fire over there!”

Guo Hanxue could not see anything, but her understanding of Qingdou made her trust him without question. She drew her bow and loosed an arrow.

The violet arrow carried no energy, yet it was still as swift as lightning, vanishing into the woods in an instant.

“Thud!”

A muffled sound came from ahead, and the shadowy trees trembled.

Qingdou warned sharply, “Careful. It’s coming out!”

Jiang Yi narrowed his eyes. His right hand seemed to ache even now. His gaze locked with that of the enormous creature emerging from the shadows...

A huge gray dog, as large as a yellow ox, slowly stepped out of the woods. Muscles rippled beneath its hide. Half of one ear was missing from its massive head, but what drew the eye most was the filthy, empty socket on one side of its face. Dried blood had glued the eyelid shut, while a shriveled eyeball dangled before its face from a thin strand of blood vessel.

Guo Hanxue sucked in a breath. Of course she knew what this was. Without thinking, she looked toward Jiang Yi.

She had no idea what decision he would make this time.

The Jiang Yi whom Guo Hanxue was watching in secret remained perfectly calm. He simply stared fixedly at Big Gray.

The beast stopped in front of them, a violet arrow clutched between its teeth. With a casual toss of its head, it spat the arrow aside.

Guo Hanxue’s beautiful eyes widened. She had not infused the arrow with energy, but it had still been fired from her bow. How could a beast have caught it in midair?

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How was that possible...?

Big Gray did not care who had fired the “branch.” From the moment it appeared, its gaze had remained fixed on Jiang Yi. Hatred burned fiercely in its single eye.

Yet it did not attack recklessly. Instead, its gaze finally shifted to Qingdou.

If its eyes showed anger when it looked at Jiang Yi, then toward Qingdou they held caution and solemn wariness.

Then it noticed that Qingdou’s arm was injured.

Its single eye suddenly gleamed. Its fangs bared themselves, and it charged toward Qingdou with a roar!

Qingdou’s body tensed. He drew his blade with his right hand and hacked at Big Gray’s neck.

Big Gray’s four legs shifted nimbly. Its enormous body halted with astonishing agility, twisting aside to avoid Qingdou’s blade. Its massive jaws then snapped toward him.

Jiang Yi cursed and drew his blade, striking in an instant. His tremendous speed carried a fierce blade wind straight toward Big Gray’s hind leg.

A cunning glint flashed through Big Gray’s eye.

It had been forcing Qingdou backward, leaving him unable to defend himself. Then, without warning, the beast spun around and rose onto its hind legs, swiping at Jiang Yi with paws as large as human hands.

Jiang Yi’s full-powered slash, made to save Qingdou, missed. He was at his weakest in that instant. His vision went black, and he saw Big Gray hurling its several-hundred-pound body toward him.

He hurriedly rolled aside, but how could Big Gray let its greatest enemy escape?

Its first pounce having missed, the beast leaped into the air again, its enormous body crashing straight down toward Jiang Yi.

Jiang Yi rolled and avoided Big Gray’s two consecutive attacks. Then his vision went black, and a thick, powerful tail swept him away.

Jiang Yi hit the ground. Big Gray immediately pressed him down, opening its enormous jaws to bite through his neck.

“Whoosh!”

At the critical moment, an arrow from Guo Hanxue shot straight toward its only remaining eye.

Big Gray had already suffered once from such an attack. It would never again fail to protect its eye. Sensing the danger, it decisively abandoned the killing blow. It jerked its head up, and the sharp violet arrow grazed past the bridge of its nose.

A thin line of blood seeped through its gray fur. Big Gray bared its teeth in Guo Hanxue’s direction.

Guo Hanxue had not expected Big Gray to evade her arrows twice. At its warning, she instinctively retreated. This time, she drew two violet arrows and nocked them together, pulling the bowstring back with all her strength.

“Whoosh! Whoosh!”

Both arrows flew at once with a shriek.

Big Gray hurriedly leaped backward, while Jiang Yi, who had been pinned beneath it, seized the opportunity to roll free.

Seeing the clothing pierced across his chest, Jiang Yi’s expression grew grim.

Qingdou had once again engaged Big Gray.

The beast seemed deeply wary of him. Rather than attack, it mostly circled him, probing without committing.

But Qingdou’s left hand was badly injured, and he was at a severe disadvantage against a canine beast renowned for its agility. Fortunately, Guo Hanxue was supporting him from the side. Every so often, one of her arrows would interrupt a lethal strike Big Gray was about to launch at Qingdou.

Jiang Yi saw the situation clearly. Things were extremely unfavorable for them.

Qingdou was merely an ordinary man, and now he was injured. Guo Hanxue had also exhausted much of her energy during the earlier battle. Otherwise, with her greatly enhanced strength, Big Gray would never have been allowed to run rampant like this.

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