Chapter 391: Arrival (1/2)
Chapter 391: Arrival
Translator: EndlessFantasy TranslationEditor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Countless bolts of lightning looked like they were absorbed by the shade of the tree. From afar, the tree was lit up like a giant beam of light. It was a stunning scene to behold. The light continued to spread throughout the tree until it reached the roots. The terrifying energy made the place a horrifying electric field with arcs of static electricity shooting through the air.
Luo Yuan felt like a magnet. His body released galvanic electric energy, not unlike Electro! But, he did not dare stand there a moment longer. He leaped out of the way and, fortunately, he did not land too close to the electric field. He landed at the edge of the roots where the safe zone was a mere two kilometers away. He ran at full force and left the roots of the tree far behind in less than 10 seconds.
However, he did not stop running as he knew he was not in the clear. The giant tree’s roots ran deep into the Earth, and what was on the surface was just the tip of an iceberg. It was a surprise that the roots burrowed deep into the barren land of hills. He ran for more than 10 minutes until he was almost a hundred kilometers away before he felt it was safe to slow down.
Lush greens growing abundantly was his signal that he was at a safe distance. Apparently, the lifeless lands on the surface were caused by the scorching heat from the lightning roots underground. Once he saw a sign of greens, he knew that the place was completely out of the range of the tree of lightning and that he was out of the danger zone. Under the rain, he quickly climbed up to a giant tree and stood on the highest branch to have a better look of his surroundings. Lightning and thunder burst through the storm clouds that darken the sky. Although he was far away, the mind-boggling giant lightning tree looked like it was right in front of him, emitting blinding rays of light in every direction. It was launching beams light into the sky and looked to be also pulsing energy into the ground. Under the gloomy sky, it seemed like the only source of light in the entire land!
Luo Yuan was stunned and his mind wandered into oblivion. Fortunately, the abnormal thunderstorm was gone as quickly as it appeared. Just a few raindrops scattered the surface before it stopped altogether. A few minutes later, the clouds disappeared and the sun was shining through the area.
The Lightning Tree with its giant shadow appeared again. The leaves were shining and there were lights, occasionally bursting out of them. The tree trunk remained a blinding bright white, but it seemed to be getting much dimmer than it was as it was becoming darker and darker. The high temperature of the energy radiating from the tree caused a fog to rise around it. Soon, the entire tree was shrouded in the fog. From afar, it looked like a tree from a fairy tale. It was unreal.
Suddenly, Luo Yuan realized that the system did not update him on any missions related to the giant tree from the start until that very moment. It was shocking!
The system had never announced a mission to him at all. Based on his past experience, he would have probably received a level seven or level eight mission and seeing that he did not receive any, this only meant that this tree was of level nine or above. Any missions that were level nine and above would be cause for worry. For such level nine creatures, it was beyond his imagination and way above his skill set. Although it was just a tree, he dared not underestimate it.
Its ability to absorb lightning alone implied that it harnessed some terrifyingly powerful energy. Moreover, the detection technique showed that it had a sort of spirituality within it. Although he was interested in the physical characteristics of the giant tree, he was afraid of the consequences if he was to touch it. His ability to predict future outcomes was no help to him in this case. The two-second foresight he had could do nothing against an agile creature like this that attacked as fast as lightning. Two seconds was way too short to make a difference against such plant-based mutated creature with its deadly arcs of static electricity.
Perhaps it would not have done anything if he had only retrieve one of its roots in the beginning. But, with its unpredictable temperament, it could change its mind and obliterate him with some murderous attack. By then everything would be too late, mere seconds of an interval. In the time of the cruel apocalypse, he survived by doing what was necessary, sometimes to terrible ends. But, he would never risk his life or endanger anyone who was with him when he encountered a danger he could not handle. For his time in the Ghost Horse, his thoughts were consumed by the Earth’s Pulse.
…
As Luo Yuan was not in a rush to leave, he decided to take a nap on the tree he was in. It was close to the ocean as the rest of his journey would mostly be by the ocean. Aside from some scattered islands on the ocean that he could find, if he were lucky, there would not be many places for him to land and rest. Thus, he had to recuperate completely before he could fly to Borneo at once. Physical strength was easy to recover, but his Will would take a while each time he used it. He sat quietly in the tree and meditated. Perhaps due to the lightning tree, the mutated creatures here seemed tiny. When it was close to noon, Luo Yuan opened his eyes, well rested. It had been some time since he had an undisturbed moment of peace.
By then, his Will that was drained was completely recovered. He gazed at the lightning tree from his perch up high. It looked like a thunderstorm was coming and the tree was once again ready to absorb its meal of lightning! He sighed and took one last look at the tree, watching it pulse menacingly. He took off the plasma band on his forehead and continued his journey.
After fighting through the thunderstorm created by the Lightning Tree, he arrived at the ocean 20 minutes later! The coast during the apocalypse was not at all what it used to be. All kinds of plants carpeted the sandy beaches and crept their way into the shallow parts of the ocean. From above, Luo Yuan could see the thick roots of trees burrowed deep in the sea water. It was all green, a forest that was 10 kilometers wide, extending deep into the sea. Many seagulls flew on top of the sea-forest, squawking noisily as he flew by.
Large schools of fishes swam vigorously in the water, creating abnormal waves against the tide of the ocean. Further, in the distance, a gigantic whirlpool had formed in the middle of the sea. A 100 meters long giant beast suddenly emerged out of the whirlpool and let out a loud shriek into the sky. The waves crashed and the roar resonated for miles around.
That was the ocean, a terrifying area in the apocalypse! 99% of living beings on earth thrived under the waters on the ocean. Not long since the apocalypse, it was the first place to fall to mutation. The vast ocean became a breeding ground for the mutated creatures almost instantly. The many different conditions underwater created incredibly unpredictable and dangerous beasts. Nobody could imagine what horrifying water demons lurked under the deep blue sea.
Perhaps to humans, it would forever remain a mystery. Humans could only see some of the mutated creatures’ through satellite imagery, but, the dangerous mutated beast lived a long distance away from human civilization. Therefore they were not a threat to human beings at all.
While Luo Yuan was watching in silence, a giant seagull flying by noticed his presence. It folded its wings and dove down from the sky at Luo Yuan like an arrow. It was so fast that there was a sonic boom as it broke the sound barrier! Its speed was pass had surpassed the speed of sound, but it had not even reached its maximum agility.
Within seconds, the seagull was dangerously close to him.
Luo Yuan frowned. Although he too was insanely fast, aerodynamic and was skilled at high-speed attack maneuvers in the air, he had weaknesses. Apart from the obvious one which was the stopping in mid air, he had problems changing directions too.
He gripped his saber tight with not even the slightest hint of fear in his eyes. The bird was nothing compared to the giant golden bird he saw at the lake earlier. The difference was just so apparent that he did not even break a sweat at all. He grinned as he waited for the bird to come close, as he was already poised to kill it!
But then, he released the death grip he had on his saber, as he saw what would happen next. He was shocked!
The seagull flew right through his body!
There was no collision nor was there any contact at all. He was like a shadow, nothing but an illusion that had enticed the bird. The seagull circled him, puzzled and afraid of what had happened. As it looked upon Luo Yuan, it suddenly backed way and shrilled in fear!
Soon after, it fled the place as fast as it could, as if it had seen a ghost. Luo Yuan looked at the space bubble that surrounded him. Upon further scrutiny, he noticed that there was a gentle breeze flowing inside the bubble. He was stunned. In some context, his ability to move through the fourth dimension meant that he could transport himself through the space-time fabric. The inside of the space-time bubble should be independent of the world outside it where these two spaces had no contact between them. In other words, the inside and outside of the space-time bubble could be considered to be two completely different worlds.
Attacks from outside the space-time bubble could not touch him but at the same time, he could not attack from the inside out. Such functions would allow him to avoid obstacles without having to move a muscle. Luo Yuan felt a sense of freedom from the terrors around him. He felt like he had the world in the palm of his hand!