CHAPTER 738: 580 HUMANOID TREE MONSTER

"Da——da——da——da——"

In the excessively silent corridor, the footsteps of two people were so clear, so distinct that they even produced echoes.

Reiger and Liz were following behind the little fairy and the Three-legged Crow, stepping forward one step at a time.

Above their heads, the orb of light continued to emit brightness, illuminating the path beneath their feet.

However, this stretch of the road seemed somewhat difficult to navigate.

"It’s so hot..."

Liz, for some reason, had broken out in a sweat, fanning her coat collar continuously.

Reiger accidentally caught a glimpse of the beautiful sight below her collar and felt as if he almost burst into flames as well.

"The temperature inside this maze is really high, and it seems to get higher the deeper we go."

Reiger took off his coat and undid his collar to feel a bit cooler.

Seeing this, Liz hurriedly imitated him, similarly taking off her coat and loosening her collar, exposing a generous glimpse of spring, making Reiger unsure where to rest his eyes.

"Why is it so hot here?"

Liz, completely oblivious to her own allure, tilted her head and voiced such a doubt.

"Who knows," Reiger took a deep breath, saying, "Maybe there’s some kind of heat source emitting high temperatures here, or perhaps we’ve unknowingly walked under a desert."

At this point, Reiger was completely unable to determine exactly where he was.

The temple maze was enormous and lengthy. He and Liz had been inside it for two hours, and yet they were still navigating the maze without having seen anything outside its corridors.

Because of his skill and courage, Reiger had activated two kinds of Guiding Magic, but mostly he followed the Three-legged Crow, taking the shortest path toward the maze’s core.

However, even taking the shortest route, they still hadn’t escaped the maze. What was in front of them was a uniform series of maze corridors, and several branch paths emerged when they reached the end, completely disorienting them.

"I really doubt how those who came here before us managed to get out of such a maze?"

Such a thought occurred to Reiger.

Then, he unexpectedly learned the answer to this question from Liz’s mouth.

"They probably used a magical item called a Return Magic Crystal," Liz stated. "It’s a magic tool that can reveal the traces left behind by its user within twenty-four hours. Although not very precious or rare, it is quite useful in certain situations, which makes it popular in the market among people who wander all year round."

"I see," Reiger said, enlightened, and somewhat surprised as he looked at Liz. "How do you know that?"

"Marilyn told me," Liz said with an embarrassed smile. "Marilyn taught me a lot, especially knowledge needed for traveling."

It seemed, that maid had taken quite the care for her younger sister.

Reiger silently thought to himself.

"Hm?"

Suddenly, Reiger stopped in his tracks.

"Master?"

Liz instinctively stopped as well and looked at Reiger in confusion.

Reiger, however, did not look at Liz but fixed his gaze ahead, causing Liz to also follow his line of sight.

On seeing what was in front, Liz was shocked.

"Whimper... whimper..."

In the midst of faint crying sounds, a girl appeared in the corner of the maze corridor, leaning against the wall, covering her face and weeping.

Her feet were bright red, seeping blood that stained the floor red.

Clearly, the girl was injured, and it seemed as if her companions had abandoned her, helplessly crying there, eliciting a profound sense of pity.

"Are you, are you alright?"

On seeing this scene, Liz’s sympathy was immediately stirred, and she instinctively wanted to rush over.

But Liz had barely taken two steps before Reiger pulled her back.

"Don’t go," he said with a calm, even somewhat heartless voice.

"But, but why?"

Liz was immediately stumped.

"She’s not human."

Reiger stated succinctly.

"Not, not human?"

Liz did not understand.

"Whimper... whimper..."

The injured girl began to sob louder, as if to emphasize her helplessness, her pain, almost overwhelming one’s sense of pity.

What a pity that the creature didn’t know that in front of Reiger’s transparent world, its true form was already seen through.

In Reiger’s transparent world, the girl had no organs, no bones, not even blood vessels or flesh—just a layer of skin.

How could she be human?

This is clearly a demon creature!

Moreover, Liz was so drawn by the girl’s crying that she neglected to notice a detail that Reiger did.

That was the scattered bones, chunks and pieces, around the body of the girl.

Those were human bones.

Human breastbones, leg bones, hand bones, skulls, and finger bones, etc., were all strewn around the girl like trophies of war.

Not only was this a demon creature, but it was also a man-eating one!

"Maximum Enhance·Fireball."

Thus, without another word, Reiger unleashed his magic, producing a massive fireball at his fingertips and launched it.

"————"

In that instant, the girl’s crying ceased abruptly.

She lowered her hands from her face, revealing a completely featureless visage.

That face made Liz gasp in shock, feeling a chill in her heart and a tremble in her soul.

"Bang!"

At the same moment, the girl sprung from the ground; the earth beneath her surged, and numerous roots burst forth, with a tree emerging from the wall behind her.

The girl’s back was connected to these roots from the tree, as if being controlled by it like a puppet, or rather, one of the tree’s branches had taken the shape of the girl to lure prey closer.

"Bang!!"

The huge fireball smashed violently into the tree, only to be blocked by a wooden shield made from the creature’s flailing branches, bursting into a shower of sparks.

The edges of the branches were instantly licked by the fire, lighting up in flames, but the fire was swiftly extinguished, leaving only some scorched marks on the branches in the end.

"Quite a Humanoid Tree Monster!"

Reiger narrowed his eyes, letting out this remark.

Humanoid Tree Monster.

This was a notoriously famous demon creature.

The reason for its notoriety was its ability to mimic humans.

Its branches could take on the appearance of any creature it had seen, thereby attracting that creature’s kind. Upon the prey approaching with no guard up, the monster would penetrate their body with its branches and consume their flesh and blood, a truly evil, bloody, and cunning demon.

In the wild, it’s unknown how many people have been beguiled by the Humanoid Tree Monster’s ability to mimic living beings, dropping their guard and approaching it without a second thought, only to meet a gruesome end at its hands.

Many people both despised and feared this demon, which ultimately led to it being recognized as one of the last creatures anyone would want to encounter in the wild.

Now, this kind of demon had appeared before Reiger and Liz.

Liz also recognized the Humanoid Tree Monster, and recalling the rumors of those who had perished at its hands, her face turned deathly pale in an instant.

Just now, if Reiger hadn’t stopped her, might she have ended up like those people, her body penetrated by the monster’s branches and her flesh and blood drained away without any defense?

The mere thought of that fate sent shivers down Liz’s spine.

"Triple Enhancement Maximum Enhance·Fireball."

At this point, Reiger once again cast a spell, sending out three huge fireballs in rapid succession, bombarding the tree creature’s wooden shield.

The onslaught of fireballs set the shield ablaze, but it didn’t burn up completely; it merely left scorch marks on the surface and had no further effect.

"There’s something off about this Humanoid Tree Monster."

Reiger noted this anomaly.

Although the Humanoid Tree Monster was a creature feared by many, its own strength wasn’t very formidable; which is why it had evolved the deceptive ability to tempt hunters close, to compensate for its inadequate power to hunt on its own.

Moreover, since the Humanoid Tree Monster was a tree, it should be vulnerable to fire. Once it was attacked by flames, it usually wouldn’t take much to destroy it.

Typically, the strongest a mature Humanoid Tree Monster could get wouldn’t surpass a proper Swordsman. A Swordsman’s strength was enough to subdue it, and even those not ranked as Swordsmen but proficient in fire attack could defeat it with ease.

But the creature in front of them was clearly abnormal; not only did it not show the expected fear of fire, but its defensive power was astonishingly robust. Even after taking so many of Reiger’s fireballs, it only ended up with blackened branches, which was simply unreasonable.

"Boom!"

The Humanoid Tree Monster, oblivious to the shift in perception Reiger had of it, reacted immediately after withstanding the barrage of his fireballs.

With a booming sound, the ground fractured inch by inch as thick roots emerged from the earth one after another, filling the entire maze corridor like frenzied pythons and advancing towards Reiger and Liz by squeezing the walls, the earth, and the air itself.

"Maximum Enhance·Wall."

Reiger pressed a hand to the ground, and the earth in front of him heaved, raising a wall of dirt to meet the surging roots head-on.

"Thud——"

The all-crushing roots collided with the stone wall, causing a muffled impact that made the wall tremble fiercely, then immediately cracked the wall wide open.

"Triple Enhancement Maximum Enhance·Cleave."

Seeing this, a flash of cold light appeared in Reiger’s eyes as he suddenly unleashed three strikes that cut through space itself.

In an instant, the invisible slashes cut through the wall and roots alike, severing everything in their path, causing countless roots to fall to the ground as severed limbs.

"Splat!"

Soon after, the large body of the Humanoid Tree Monster was hit by the spatial blades, splitting apart on the spot.