Chapter 359: The Fountain of Youth (16)
Things really were not going to go that smoothly.
Under everyone’s watchful eyes, the witch’s headless corpse suddenly swelled and burst open, transforming into a twisted, tangled ball of crimson thorns. Like a spider pouncing on its prey, more than a dozen thorn-covered tendrils spread open from both sides before snapping inward with blinding speed, attempting to wrap tightly around the Sacred Tree’s true form on its back.
But the Sacred Tree was not so easily countered, either.
It let out a clear cry. Its long, powerful limbs bent downward as it lowered its center of gravity, then it used the recoil to leap backward, narrowly evading the whipping tendrils before landing steadily on the ground behind it.
Tap.
The instant its body touched down, its limbs pressed against the earth and keenly sensed the faint tremors beneath it. The Sacred Tree’s true form reacted instantly, its long limbs pushing off the ground as it jumped again.
The moment its body became airborne, a sharp crack rang out. In the next instant, a blood-red thorn as thick as a wrist violently burst through the soil. Its razor-sharp thorns reflected a metallic, icy gleam as it lashed toward the airborne Sacred Tree’s true form like a whip.
“Yi—!”
The Sacred Tree’s true form let out another battle-ready cry. The skin around its shoulder blades suddenly split open, and more than a dozen vine-like tentacles thrust outward. Like the long tongues frogs shoot out when hunting, the tentacles shot toward all directions like arrows the instant they emerged.
Some wrapped around the trees at the edge of the clearing, pulling and dragging the airborne Sacred Tree’s true form into a turn, allowing it to evade the thorns erupting from beneath the ground. Others carried the sharp sound of cutting wind as they stabbed straight toward the ball of thorns in front of the staircase.
The thorn ball was changing shape.
The loosely arranged thorn tendrils were tightening inward, gradually outlining a vague humanoid form. On the body composed entirely of thorns, one could faintly make out organs such as eyes, teeth, and internal organs.
The sudden arrival of the vine-like tentacles disrupted the reconstruction. The thorn tendrils that had finally begun to take on a human shape were scattered once more, becoming a chaotic, disordered mass.
“Ahh… Ahhh! Who? Who is it?! My body! My eyes!”
An enraged scream came from within the ball of thorns.
At the witch’s furious roar, a dazzling red light suddenly lit up across the surface of the thorn ball.
Immediately afterward, the sound of rustle, rustle came from all directions. Centered around the witch, countless thorns surged from the bottom of the sphere like a tidal wave. Some attacked the Sacred Tree’s true form suspended in midair; some climbed up the trees and hooked onto the vine-like tentacles protruding from the Sacred Tree’s back; while others wove themselves into an impenetrable net in midair, attempting to trap the Sacred Tree.
“Yi-yi—!”
Sensing the danger, the Sacred Tree’s body instantly elongated. It transformed most of its body into the shape of banyan branches. Its gray-white bark split apart layer by layer, releasing a swarm of aerial roots from within, so dense they resembled a mass of insects.
Thousands upon thousands of roots surged toward the witch’s thorns, and the two sides engaged in an almost frenzied struggle in midair.
In terms of sheer strength, the aerial roots were no match for the thorns. Whenever the two became entangled, the thorns’ sharp points would usually cut into the surface of the aerial roots first, causing a blue-green sap to flow out.
But the witch’s thorns seemed unable to draw strength from this sap the way they could from blood. On the contrary, once the liquid from the aerial roots came into contact with them, new aerial roots would soon sprout across the thorns’ surface. Like dodder growing on a tree, they burrowed through the thorns’ tough outer layer and continuously siphoned energy from the Thorn Witch.
Thus, although the witch’s thorns had the upper hand over the banyan’s aerial roots in the early stages, as the battle progressed, the Sacred Tree’s true form gradually gained the advantage, showing signs of completely suppressing the witch.
To make matters worse, the witch was still suffering from blindness due to the curse of the voodoo doll. Unable to see, she could only rely on her hearing and the vast web of thorns she had spread around her to respond to the Sacred Tree’s attacks.
This gave the Sacred Tree an opportunity to launch a surprise attack.
A gust of wind from somewhere swept through the woods, stirring the branches and leaves all around them with a soft rustle, rustle.
Taking advantage of this brief moment of “heavenly timing,” the Sacred Tree’s true form extended two slender, almost transparent tentacles from its shoulders. One on each side, they aimed their awl-like tips at the witch’s heart, hidden beneath the thorny branches, and thrust toward it with deadly force.
“Get out of the way! Watch her heart!”
Just as the ambush was about to succeed, an anxious male voice suddenly rang out from the side.
Warned by Grant, the outward-expanding tide of thorns abruptly contracted, gathering around the witch’s heart and forming a thick, sturdy shield of thorns.
Clang! Clang!
The next second, the two slender tentacles struck. Their tips slammed against the surface of the thorn shield, producing crisp sounds like metal striking metal.
The attack had failed. The Sacred Tree’s true form withdrew its tentacles and hung suspended in midair, continuing to erode the witch’s thorn shield with its sap. It dodged the witch’s counterattacks while waiting for another opportunity to strike by surprise.
That opportunity came quickly, because Everly made her move.
After the shaman’s iron nail was driven into the voodoo doll, it melted on the spot and disappeared into a pool of congealed blood. Everly no longer needed to worry about the voodoo curse, so she took advantage of the banyan tree’s cover to draw her pistol and aim at Grant’s shoulder.
Bang!
The pistol was fitted with a suppressor, and the shot was drowned out by the sounds of the battle between the Sacred Tree and the witch, making it almost inaudible. But the bullet failed to hit Grant. When it entered the one-meter radius around him, a curved wall of thorns suddenly materialized out of thin air, blocking the shot.
Clearly, the witch had left this wall behind to protect Grant’s life.
Grant did not realize he was under attack until the wall appeared.
He instinctively took several steps backward. Sensing the movement of its protected target, the thorn wall also shifted backward with him.
Everly had plenty of experience using various items. At a glance, she could tell that this kind of protective effect that followed its target was most likely the result of some special item. Defensive items often had one weakness: their effects did not last forever. They were either single-use or required recharging.
Therefore, even though the bullets could not penetrate the thorns, she still refused to give up. She switched to a more powerful semi-automatic rifle, shifted the muzzle slightly to aim at the spot she had shot previously, and fired several more rounds in rapid succession.
Bang, bang, bang, bang!
Throughout it all, Grant kept trying to dodge. But his movements were clumsy, and he did not seem particularly athletic—it was also possible that the side effects of frequently changing bodies had impaired his mobility. In any case, with the way he moved, he was basically a walking target at a shooting range. Tracking him was utterly effortless.
After several bursts of gunfire, just as Everly had expected, the previously indestructible thorn wall began to develop spiderweb-like cracks as it lost a massive amount of energy.
At this point, Grant could no longer spare any attention to relaying information to the blind witch.
Seeing that the barrier was about to fail, he dodged the bullets while frantically throwing out the trump cards he had been saving.
Some were offensive items, but there weren’t many of them. Everly could dodge most of the attacks with her physical abilities alone. For the ones she really couldn’t avoid, she simply ran toward the Sacred Tree’s true form, and the reliable Sacred Tree would conveniently block them for her.
The remaining items were defensive, life-saving ones. Those were even easier to deal with. Everly simply kept up an uninterrupted barrage of attacks to wear down their durability. Once the durability was depleted, the items would naturally become useless.
Everly was strong. She had boarded the island carrying a backpack stuffed to the brim with weapons and ammunition—pistols, grenades, tear gas, flashbangs, and more bullets than she could possibly use up. How could a mere defensive item possibly stand up to a barrage of gunfire?
—My lord, times have changed!
One shot after another, Everly continuously poured her ammunition into Grant. If she hadn’t been worried about accidentally hitting the guards and provoking a counterattack, she would have happily tossed a few grenades his way as well.
Finally, after who knew how many shots, a faint crack rang out. The thorn barrier surrounding Grant shattered completely like glass and vanished.
It wasn’t long before the rest of Grant’s stockpile was depleted as well. He had completely lost the means to fight back and was forced to flee toward the witch through the relentless barrage of gunfire.
Bang! Bang!
Everly gave him no chance to catch his breath. She aimed at Grant’s leg and fired several shots in succession, shredding his left knee.
“Ugh…”
Grant groaned, lost his balance, and dropped to his knees.
The moment he made a sound, the witch, who had been locked in combat with the Sacred Tree, was immediately distracted. The Sacred Tree’s true form seized the opportunity and stabbed one of her internal organs with its transparent tentacle. The wound wasn’t deep, and the witch quickly reacted, using her thorns to sever the tentacle. But it was obvious to the naked eye that the red glow surrounding the Thorn Witch had dimmed considerably, far less brilliant than before.
Sure enough, sparing Grant’s life had been the right decision!
Everly was greatly encouraged. She raised her rifle and aimed at Grant’s shoulder, preparing to fire a few more shots and distract the witch even further.
But Grant was a ruthless one, too.
“Savannie, focus on the fight!” he shouted through gritted teeth, forcing himself to endure the pain. “She’s going to use me to threaten you. As long as you’re alive, I may not die. But if you die, I’ll definitely follow you!”
“Grant!”
The witch was deeply shaken, and the fighting spirit in her heart blazed even more fiercely as a result. In front of the staircase, the red glow around the ball of thorns suddenly flared brilliantly. Savannie, who had already begun to show signs of defeat, actually managed to suppress the Sacred Tree’s true form once again.
Damn you, Grant!
Just as Grant had said, Everly did not dare kill him outright for the time being. The Thorn Witch’s ability was simply too unfair: she grew stronger through pain, and the greatest pain in the world was nothing more than the death of one’s loved ones. The witch was already insane enough as it was, and Everly didn’t dare gamble on how terrifying she might become if Grant died.
Therefore, her plan was to keep Grant alive, use him to force the witch to submit, and kill Grant after taking the witch down.
There was nothing particularly wrong with the plan. Unfortunately, Grant was too clever. He saw through Everly’s intentions at a glance and turned that very fact against her, using it to keep the witch focused on the battle.
In that case, to avoid provoking the witch, Everly could no longer attack him too aggressively. Otherwise, the more she tormented Grant, the more distressed the witch would become over her lover, and the stronger she would grow. Wouldn’t that be helping the Sacred Tree’s true form’s enemy instead?
Having figured out Everly’s intentions and successfully stabilized the witch, Grant took a handkerchief from his coat pocket and clenched it between his teeth to muffle his groans of pain. Then, limping on one leg and dragging a long trail of blood behind him, he leisurely made his way behind the robot guard, using it to conceal his body.
Elegance seemed to have been transformed into blood and infused into his very bones. Even after losing all his trump cards and suffering injuries all over his body, he still showed not the slightest hint of disarray.
Even at a time like this, he still had the leisure to give Everly some “talk therapy,” attempting to persuade her through words to stop attacking and share eternal life with him and Savannie.
“…It was indeed our fault, Savannie’s and mine, for throwing you into the ‘World’ before. If you want to vent your anger, why not consider accepting compensation from Savannie and me? Whether it’s power, wealth, or strength, whatever you want, we can give it to you.”
“You don’t need to worry about Savannie and me retaliating, either—I swear on the honor of the Megan family that as long as you let us go, Savannie and I will forget everything that happened here the moment we leave. We absolutely won’t bother you again… Your summon is incredibly powerful. Maintaining such a formidable existence for an extended period must come at an astonishing cost, right? Is it really worth it, just to kill two people you’ve never even met?”
“The Fountain of Youth doesn’t limit the number of people who can obtain it. Fighting each other to the death here is meaningless in the first place. Why don’t we just coexist peacefully?”
As he spoke, he gazed deeply at Everly with his melancholy yet affectionate blue-gray eyes.
Grant was truly very handsome. When he focused his gaze intently on someone, it was easy to make them feel as though they were the only person in the world to him.
In just a few brief sentences, he had combined the temptation of benefits, a calculated weighing of pros and cons, and an appeal to his own looks. If Everly had merely been an inexperienced young college girl, she might genuinely have been taken in by his honeyed words.
Unfortunately for him, she wasn’t.