Volume 8: Super Mission—“Life Force vs. Deathly Intent” Chapter 3: The Treant Legion Without Weaknesses

Chapter 3: The Invincible Treant Legion

Hearing this, Li Bin could easily imagine what had happened. Countless sprites, each no larger than a fist, had flown out from the ancient trees, blocking the archers’ vision. The treants then slowly advanced toward the unfortunate marksmen, ensnaring them with their roots and killing them one by one.

“We have to find a way to stop them from releasing those sprites.” Li Bin kept considering every possibility. Just then, San Nei returned, carrying a large bundle of items in his hands.

As soon as he saw San Nei, Li Bin explained the sprites hidden among the treants. San Nei pondered for a long while, but he too could think of no good solution.

By then, Gaya, who had been left far behind by Li Bin and the others, had somehow already returned to the outskirts of Galle City. Under his command, two squads of treants were constantly moving trees into the swamp.

When Li Bin learned of this, he knew they could delay no longer. He had San Nei distribute everything he was carrying between Gru and Little Carter.

“This battle will be yours to lead. Everyone else will move in coordination with you. Remember, you have only one mission: keep firing. Once you kill one treant, immediately shoot another.”

Gru and Little Carter exchanged a glance before nodding.

“We guarantee we’ll complete the mission.”

Afterward, the group left the city through another passage. Once Li Bin and the others had gone some distance, the Sad Melody Man suddenly said to Slime Charge, “Brother, take the remaining Slime Venom Sprayers and Venom-Filled Throwers with you. Perhaps they can save that fellow when necessary.”

Slime Charge merely nodded and left. The Sad Melody Man then turned to Bai Lingyu and the others.

“If you have nothing else to do, please come inside and rest for a while. They won’t be able to attack this place yet.”

After leaving Galle City, Li Bin saw Gaya and his treant army working busily not far ahead. With a wave of his hand, Gru and Little Carter immediately distributed all the supplies San Nei had given them among their subordinates.

What Gru received was a kind of strong-acid coating. Arrows treated with it would remain effective for only about ten minutes, but once they struck a target, they could rapidly corrode a large hole through it. They were the best weapon against heavily armored enemies. However, using them now against treants with extraordinarily high defense was hardly a waste.

Little Carter received fire bombs. These would temporarily replace the poison bombs and frost arrows carried by the corpse witches. After all, fire was far more effective against treants than most other weapons.

Gaya soon noticed Li Bin and the others as well. After hesitating for a moment, he stopped what he was doing and pointed at Li Bin.

“Don’t you have a dwarf among your followers? Send out that short-legged fellow. I’m going to kill him.”

Li Bin burst into loud laughter.

“Why? Because he said you were slow?”

“That has nothing to do with you. Call him out and I’ll let you leave. Otherwise, you can die here with the rest of them.”

As soon as Gaya finished speaking, the treants behind him began running at full speed.

The instant he saw this, Li Bin’s heart sank. These treants were clearly more than three times faster than before. They still could not catch up with the Phantom Undead Archers, but that did not mean their speed could not increase again.

Seeing the situation, Li Bin immediately put his plan into action.

“Ryder, Tader, draw their attention! Gru and Little Carter, begin your attack!”

Ryder and Tader promptly led their troops toward the treants. Gaya decisively shifted his targets to these advanced units, but he regretted the choice almost at once. The Death Knights riding horses and the Bone Dragons flying through the air were far faster than even the treants whose speed had been enhanced.

Gru and Little Carter followed Li Bin’s order without hesitation. Every attack was focused on a single treant. Thus, by the time the treants turned around to pursue Ryder and Tader, one of them had already been shot full of holes.

Seeing this, Gaya shouted repeatedly, “Release the sprites! And use Teleport to turn—”

Watching Gaya’s actions, Li Bin finally understood how the treants had become so fast. Expert-level air magic could naturally cast a Swift Wind upon the treants, greatly increasing their speed.

At that moment, Li Bin saw countless sprites rise from the treants and swarm toward the Phantom Undead Archers. Faced with these tiny creatures, which moved quickly but were of extremely low level, the archers did not know how to respond.

Using arrows against them would be far too wasteful, yet ignoring them would obstruct the archers’ vision. Li Bin could only order the corpse witches to release walls of poisonous gas and use Clouds of Death to exterminate the sprites as quickly as possible.

But by then, the treants had already run far away.

Realizing that something was wrong, Li Bin hurriedly ordered the Bone Dragons and Death Knights to disengage from the treants and run back. He shouted encouragement as they went.

“Run faster! Those treants are slow, and that fellow can use Teleport only twice a day. He won’t waste another use on this!”

Ryder and Tader did their best to lure the treants into charging wildly in every direction. Yet Li Bin was unable to take advantage of this excellent opportunity, because every so often, more sprites would fly out from the treants and disrupt the archers’ attacks.

As the sprites grew more numerous, the ranks of the Phantom Undead Archers began to fall into disorder. Gaya laughed loudly.

“Do you see now? My treant legion has no weaknesses! It will never have any weaknesses!”

Li Bin was already suffering a headache from the ceaselessly multiplying sprites when San Nei suddenly offered a suggestion.

“That Gaya is rather strange. His air magic should allow him to cast Fog Walls, Air Shields, and Arrow Wards, all of which can interfere with long-range attacks. Why does he still need these sprites?”

Li Bin was about to make a sharp remark about how the sprites were being used to confuse their attacks when a new idea suddenly appeared in his mind.

A Fog Wall was an air spell that could envelop an enemy and reduce the accuracy of ranged attacks against them. Its effect was almost identical to the curse spell Confusion.

At that moment, another curse spell of the same level as Confusion came to Li Bin’s mind: Recklessness.

Li Bin believed it was the spell best suited to the situation.