Once she flew out of the passage, Lan Qingyou poked her head out slightly to scout the situation.
She found that the treants that had previously blocked the entrance had all returned to their original positions, looking no different from ordinary trees in the countryside on a spring day.
Good, good. So they have an automatic return mode.
Although it would be a bit of a hassle, this was actually for the best. At least she wouldn't have to face the awkward situation of being surrounded the moment she stepped out.
Starting off in second gear, Lan Qingyou crushed an agility rune for herself. With a whoosh, she flew toward the nearest War Treant. Then, before it could even react, she swiveled and sped toward another.
This was what gamers called mob gathering, though Lan Qingyou was putting herself in a bit of danger by doing it this way.
After all, the War Treants' attack speed was quite fast. Flying at such high speeds, one mistake could lead to a total wreck.
Rumble—
Disturbed by Lan Qingyou, the War Treants uprooted themselves one after another. They gave chase, lashing out with their branches as they went.
It was difficult to cluster dozens of trees together.
Although they were all coming for her, the sheer volume of attacks—with each tree having over a dozen branches—put immense pressure on Lan Qingyou, making her feel like she was playing a bullet hell game.
Crack! Snap!
After dodging two attacks, Lan Qingyou jerked her broom and shifted into third gear, surging upward into the sky.
Too many. There were just too many.
Behind her, hundreds of branches whistled through the air toward her. Every time she dodged, she could feel the air being torn apart around her.
In moments like these, even her constant temperature clothes couldn't help much; cold sweat was pouring out of her.
Oh, wait—the constant temperature effect had seemingly stopped working since she entered the cave, and the same went for the magic tent.
Fortunately, the temperature in here was much higher than outside, so even with the cold sweat, she wasn't likely to catch a cold.
"Whew—"
Once she reached an altitude where the War Treants couldn't reach her, Lan Qingyou let out a sigh of relief.
That feeling of weaving through a barrage of attacks was truly exhilarating, if a bit taxing on her life expectancy.
If she hadn't used an agility rune to significantly boost her speed, she would have certainly been in for a sound thrashing.
Even so, the hem of her robe had been caught by an attack.
And that was only because of the Basic Defense Enchantment.
Lan Qingyou raised her hand to inspect the shredded hem. It looked like she would have to ask Ruan Qingyi to mend it once she got back.
After checking her clothes, she looked down at the War Treants below.
The dozens of treants huddled together, branches thrashing wildly, looked like a swarm of ants crawling over each other in a cramped space. The sight made Lan Qingyou’s skin crawl.
They were gathered enough.
Not wanting to look any longer, Lan Qingyou took out the cards she had prepared. She checked her escape route, climbed to a height of about a hundred meters, and dropped a large Explosion Potion. Then, she floored it toward the passage in third gear.
A hundred meters was roughly the height of a thirty-three-story building, which meant she only had a few seconds to get away.
Since she wasn't entirely sure just how powerful the thing was, it was better to be safe and leave as early as possible.
Boom!
Just as Lan Qingyou was about to reach the mouth of the passage, a massive explosion erupted behind her. Immediately after, she felt a powerful kick of acceleration against her back.
"Ugh!"
Whoosh—
As she reached the passage, the violent gale shoved her straight inside, causing her to lose her balance in the process.
Close!
She had come within a hair's breadth of a faceplant.
Luckily, Steel Wool flew out and bit onto her clothes, pulling her up just enough. Otherwise, it would have been hard to say.
"That was close... Thanks, Steel Wool."
Lan Qingyou patted Steel Wool’s big pompadour and smiled as she thanked it.
"Ji!"
Steel Wool held its head high and squinted its eyes, looking very proud of itself.
"Zhi!"
Seeing Lan Qingyou praise Steel Wool, little Spoon also came over to join the fun. Lan Qingyou took the opportunity to pet the little rat as well.
Truth be told, she had never petted the little guy before. Now that she did, it felt quite different from Steel Wool—a bit more soft and fleshy.
Oh, now wasn't the time for petting rats.
Tucking Spoon into her bosom, Lan Qingyou took Steel Wool to the edge of the passage and peeked out to observe.
"Oh..."
With just one glance, Lan Qingyou was stunned by the sight before her once again.
The previous scene of spring-like tranquility was gone, replaced by a landscape where a fifth of the entire area had been turned into scorched earth.
Moreover, because the dozens of treants had been set ablaze and were running around in a frenzy, the scorched area was still expanding.
"A beautiful paradise turned into a hellscape. Is this a distortion of humanity or a decay of morality?"
Lan Qingyou made this grand statement without the slightest bit of self-awareness.
She had thought of using fire the moment she saw the description saying the treants were easy to deal with.
Stats and levels were one thing.
But this world still followed certain natural laws, specifically the concept of 'counters.'
Just as she had used ice to deal with the sludge monsters before, fire was something that plant-type monsters absolutely dreaded.
Did Lan Qingyou feel any remorse for turning this place into a hell?
To be honest, not at all.
She didn't need to dwell on clichés like the law of the jungle or survival of the fittest.
She simply felt that she was a witch—the Witch of the High Tower.
What did The Tower represent in tarot cards?
It represented destruction, and a destruction that had no positive meaning whether it was upright or reversed.
You either destroyed the enemy, or you destroyed yourself.
The only way to survive and live well was to destroy every enemy standing in her path.
Therefore, delivering the hammer of destruction to the enemy was the only thing she could do.
Besides, there was treasure here.
She didn't know exactly what the treasure was, but as long as it was a treasure, it would surely make her life more comfortable.
Whoosh— Whoosh— Boom—
One by one, the War Treants struggled in the raging flames before collapsing. Some were burned to charcoal and crumbled on their own.
Only after all these walking torches had fallen silent and motionless did Lan Qingyou slowly fly out.
Although these upscaled Explosion Potions weren't as fierce as the Explosive Flame Potions, a hundred and twenty seconds of burning had been enough to finish them off.
It seemed she didn't even need to use something as powerful as the Explosive Flame Potion.
To prevent any of them from suddenly reviving and attacking her, Lan Qingyou flew quickly past the treants' corpses.
"Zhi zhi!!!"
As Lan Qingyou cautiously flew past the corpses, heading toward the stone house at the highest point, Spoon began to cry out again.
This time, its cries were more urgent than ever before.
"What is it? Is there something there?"
Lan Qingyou looked around alertly, fearing another ambush.
Zip!
Spoon jumped straight down, rushed to one of the treant corpses, and began digging with its little claws.
It moved so fast that Lan Qingyou didn't even have time to stop it.
Rate on N.U.
