Chapter 264: Root Protector (2/2)
In front of us, Lin Yixin suddenly stopped in her tracks and lifted up her sharp ears. Purple pupils staring straight toward the front, she said warily, ”Did anyone feel that? There’s danger up ahead!”
I tensed up a bit myself. Succubi had excellent senses, so I trusted her judgment.
We took a few more steps forward before we heard a strange noise coming from underground. Before we could check out what it was, countless vines burst out of the ground and wrapped around my legs instantly. There were at least a dozen or so tenacious vines all around us, and I couldn’t even move a step!
Beep!
System Notice: You have been attacked by the Root Protector. You are inflicted with Bleed and Root. You will lose 50 HP per second for 60 seconds!
……
”Ah! Lu Chen?!”
He Yi cried out and tried to rush to my side, but she barely managed to take a few steps before she was wrapped in vines as well!
Lin Yixin narrowed her eyes. ”The boss can’t attack unless we’re inside its attack radius, so it has to be somewhere close by! Let’s find it as soon as possible!”
She gripped her Moonlight Sword and tried to circle around He Yi and me, or more specifically the boss's attack radius, but she underestimated just how wide it was. She still got caught despite her best attempts to avoid the vines.
Murong Mingyue and Beiming Xue froze where they stood, but they failed to escape their fates as well. All five of us were trapped by vines a second later!
Everyone was losing 50 HP per second, and this status effect would continue for 60 seconds! This was bad!
……
”What on earth is this Root Protector?” He Yi said angrily, ”How did it get all of us?”
I replied, ”It has to be the boss, the big bad wolf among the Vine Flowers. The disgusting part is that we’re rooted and losing health, we don’t even know where it is!”
”What should we do?” Lin Yixin asked.
”I don’t know… sis, heal anyone who’s low on health…”
”Some of you are too far away from me!”
It was at this moment I noticed that every vine binding my limbs had some sort of durability bar on them. My eyes lit up. Could it be that this skill wasn’t completely immune to player intervention like most boss restriction skills?
I immediately attacked a vine with the Purgatory Sword!
Crack!
Two vines crumbled immediately under my attack. I was right! These vines couldn’t withstand even a basic attack from me!
Excited, I shouted my discovery to everyone. ”The vines have a durability bar! If you cut them all you can free yourself before 60 seconds are up! Quickly, this is an impossible fight unless we drag the boss out of its hidey hole!”
”Ohh!”
Lin Yixin and He Yi immediately obeyed my order. As I expected, one hit was all it took for them to slash the vines apart. They did have pretty good Attack, so it took them little time to free themselves.
Meanwhile, I had slashed apart the vines completely and regained my freedom. I looked around and spotted a particularly dense thicket. Considering that it was the only greenery in the entire stone-riddled valley, I was almost certain that something was up with that thicket. The boss could very well be attacking us from there!
I charged toward the thicket, but I barely managed to take a couple of steps before I was caught by the vines again!
”Holy shit, this is so annoying!”
The vines didn’t just entangle us, they also pressed the barbs on their stems deeply through the gaps of our armors, burrowing into our flesh. It was how it was dealing damage to us; sucking our blood out of our veins like the Old Demon of Black Mountain! So disgusting!
Cutting all the vines down, I ran toward the thicket, locked onto a grassy area and activated Charge! It wasn’t the time to hesitate because the threat of a party wipe was very real if I couldn’t find the boss as quickly as possible!
Whoosh!
The moment I got close, the ground started rumbling. As I thought, I was finally able to activate the boss!
Rumble…
Dust flew everywhere as the ground shook. The earth in front of me cracked as if something was trying to crawl onto the surface. Then, a gigantic creature suddenly burst out of the ground! It was a tree demon with an incredibly thick trunk and vines instead of branches. They danced in the air like a thousand snakes. Seriously, it looked incredibly disgusting!
”It’s finally out. Get ready, everyone!” Lin Yixin tried to use Charge, but she was entangled right before she was about to take off. She groaned in frustration as she began hacking away at the vines again.
I stared at the boss and shared its stats screen in the party channel—
Root Protector (Dark Gold Rank Boss)
Level: 92
Attack: 1050~1120
Defense: 950
HP: 285000
Skills: Group Wrap, Thorn Burst, Root Crush
Introduction: A creature of the earth that has lived long enough to turn demonic. The Root Protector transformed into an evil treant that would kill anything that intrudes upon its territory. Since ancient times, it has guarded Hundred Flower Valley and killed countless adventurers with its sharp thorns and thick roots.
……