Boom!
Despite its efforts, the purple knight was swatted against the cave wall, slamming into it so hard it left a human-shaped crater.
“What the—! What just happened?”
Lan Qingyou watched the scene in shock.
It had happened too fast.
So fast that she didn't even know what had sent the purple knight flying.
But that didn't matter.
Because a second later, she saw the attacker...
It was a behemoth nearly thirty meters tall.
It had skin like bark and tentacles that resembled branches.
Well...
Essentially, it was a treant.
But this treant was arguably a bit too oversized.
Boom, boom, boom—
While Lan Qingyou was still reeling, the surrounding objects that had initially looked like ordinary trees began to uproot themselves one by one.
Before she knew it, she was surrounded by a dozen lively, aggressive treants.
More were even rushing over from the distance.
【War Treant (?)】
【Health Points: ???】
【Mana Points: ???】
【Skills: (???) (???)】
【Description: ???】
...
A single glance was all it took to leave an experienced alchemist like Lan Qingyou speechless.
If her identification failed, it meant they were at least C-grade, or perhaps even B-grade or A-grade beings.
Seeing the treants closing in, Lan Qingyou’s eyes darted around. She immediately ordered her golems to attack the nearest one.
Thud! Thud!
One golem after another was swatted away by the War Treant, but Lan Qingyou’s expression remained unchanged as she continued to command them to charge.
Sizzle— Thud!
Under the cover of the golems' charge, a Blade-roller seized an opportunity. With a roar of its chainsaw, it sliced off one of the treant's whip-like branches.
Whoosh!
Instantly, Lan Qingyou, who had been watching the battle intently, accelerated to full speed. She flew toward the fallen branch—which was as thick as a human arm—and quickly sealed it into a card. Then, she rapidly recalled the golems that had been knocked away before finally retrieving the ones holding the front line.
Once everyone was accounted for, Lan Qingyou retreated swiftly back into the passage.
“Damn it.”
Looking out from the passage at the treants slowly pacing toward the darkness from the illuminated area, Lan Qingyou couldn't help but mutter a curse.
Fortunately, the enemies were too massive to enter such a narrow tunnel; otherwise, Lan Qingyou would have been in for a desperate pursuit.
Still, she didn't let her guard down.
She waited inside the tunnel entrance for over half an hour. Only after confirming that the treants could only pace aimlessly at the mouth of the cave did she feel relieved enough to retreat further back, returning to the open space from before.
Setting up her tent, Lan Qingyou went inside and pulled out a card to send a message to Shang Chuan.
To be honest, if she didn't have the communication cards, she probably would have waited until she had expanded her herb bag to a larger capacity before making a move.
After all, when venturing out, logistics and support were the most critical factors.
The Tower: “Check the identification results for this thing.”
The Moon: “This is...”
The Tower: “Just got it from a treant monster. Its level is quite high.”
The Moon: “Leave it to me.”
Shang Chuan went to identify it immediately. In less than half a minute, the results were back.
【War Treant Branch (C)】
【Uses: Weapon crafting, potion making.】
【Description: A part of a War Treant's body. It possesses immense toughness and high attack speed, but its own defense is exceptionally low.】
As expected, it was C-grade.
This was going to be tricky.
Lan Qingyou frowned as she read the message from Shang Chuan.
She then took stock of her golems.
Out of forty golems, twenty-one were severely damaged, and most of those were the humanoid ones.
Lan Qingyou looked them over; she doubted these damaged golems could be restored anytime soon.
Even if she had other spare parts for replacements, those were parts that had already been rejected during the initial screening process.
Calling them 'defective' would be an understatement.
The twenty-one she had assembled in the first place were already made from usable scrap. What good could be left in the remaining pile?
“Sigh...”
Feeling the weight of the loss, Lan Qingyou sighed and began to brainstorm ways to deal with these C-grade treants.
This wasn't some game where one could easily fight above their level.
It wasn't that it was impossible, but rather that the D-grade golems she currently possessed weren't up to the task.
Lan Qingyou even began to wonder if there was a flaw in the grading system.
Her golems were D-grade, only one rank lower than the treants. Yet, in a group assault, over twenty of them had been put out of commission.
She had originally intended for the golems to be her primary means of offense. Now it seemed that while they might hold their own against equals, they certainly couldn't handle higher-level threats.
At most, they could serve as a distraction while providing her with some defensive utility or reaction time, much like they had today.
They weren't useless, but they weren't a cure-all either.
Though she felt frustrated, Lan Qingyou felt more fortunate than anything.
Her previous string of victories had almost deluded her into thinking golems were invincible. After all, if even Steel Wool could control a Blade-roller to drive off a pack of unknown enemies, didn't that prove their power?
But the treants' assault was a wake-up call. Three strikes were all it took to shatter her delusions of invincibility; she was just an ordinary person after all.
It was lucky that she had learned this lesson from monsters.
If she had encountered ruthless humans, they might have exploited this gap in her strength to crush her.
Humans understood humans best; Lan Qingyou didn't think she was being alarmist.
So, the question remained.
How was she going to deal with those treants?
Think! Use your brain! Think carefully!
First, the treants were tall—at least twenty meters high, based on what she saw.
Then there was their attack speed. Even the combination of her fastest purple knight and the Horned Lion couldn't necessarily dodge their attacks. Their agility was clearly superior to the purple knight's.
Those were their strengths.
Their weaknesses were also obvious: their movement speed was slow. At the very least, they were several grades slower than her Magic Broom.
It was by exploiting this that she had managed to command the Blade-roller to saw off a piece for identification.
The description said the treant's defense was fragile.
However, she had seen the attack just now. Although the Blade-roller seemed to saw off the branch in one go, its own hand-saw had been ruined in the process.
Without replacing the chain, its combat effectiveness would be greatly reduced.
How could a defense of that hardness be described as 'fragile'?
For a moment, Lan Qingyou thought she had misread it, or that the identification was wrong.
It couldn't be a hallucination...
Wait... fragile!?
Of course! Why didn't I think of that?
Suddenly striking upon an idea, Lan Qingyou immediately messaged Shang Chuan, intending to order some specific items.
Although it was late at night, Shang Chuan hadn't gone to sleep yet because of the branch Lan Qingyou had sent for identification. He was just lying in bed, ready to drift off.
When Lan Qingyou's message arrived, he read it, then climbed out of bed and used his magic desk to send the order to the factories under his command.
Rate on N.U.
