LGHTNOVELBOOK Chapter 150: The Second Wooden House
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"Statue Staring Lake".
This was the name Chen Lun had unilaterally given to it, briefly referred to as Staring Lake.
Or Carved Lake, which wouldn't be wrong either.
Anyway, it was just for convenience in description; he believed that Maggie probably wouldn't mind such details.
The water of the lake was ice-cold, like the chilling waters of deep winter. The bottom of the lake was pitch-dark, and nothing was visible. Chen Lun was guided solely by directions as he swam into the depths.
Splash!
He passed through the darkness and surfaced, his head breaking the water.
Water splashed everywhere, and beneath his wet hair was a face full of surprise.
'This time... did I emerge from a fountain?'
Chen Lun looked around and realized he was in a decrepit fountain. The ivory-white marble was full of cracks and overflowing with water.
He turned his head and saw, next to him at the center of the fountain, a cylindrical spiral of small steps on which stood a stone sculpture of a bare-bottomed child, perched above his head, holding a water spout aimed right at him.
With just a call of "Water, come," it could splash his face.
"..."
Chen Lun flicked his finger, and the water spout shattered in response.
He walked unhurriedly out of the fountain as if nothing had happened. A breeze blew by, and the droplets on his body vanished, leaving no trace of the fountain as if it had never existed, disappearing in the blink of an eye.
Only dark soil and some weeds remained in its place.
Chen Lun retracted his gaze, not particularly concerned about these details and not intending to waste time. He walked straight up to a tree.
His Silver Staff clicked and transformed into a Silver Sword.
He raised his hand and swung a horizontal slash that cut a tall tree in half at the trunk.
Clang—!
Rumbling... Thud!!
The tree fell to one side and crashed heavily to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust and dirt.
Chen Lun glanced at the cross-section of the tree trunk and then immediately sprinted in a certain direction. An Agility exceeding the threshold of fifty points at the lower Sequence allowed him to run at high speed through dense woods without hitting any trees.
His figure was like a nimble fish, weaving through the Gloomy "Sea of Trees".
Sounds of a great disturbance quickly followed from behind, along with a slight tremor of the ground.
Chen Lun continued running forward without looking back; he knew what had appeared behind him was similar to the situation from the first time he came to the Immortal Realm and kicked over a tree.
It was a type of corrupted creature known as a "Wasteland Giant," reacting to the fall of the tree.
This was one of the fixed phenomena existing in the Immortal Realm, a pattern he had figured out during his previous deep explorations.
One was that destroying trees would attract the attack of "Wasteland Giants." The more severe the destruction, the more numerous they were, and their attack frequency and accuracy on the destroyer would also increase.
The reason Chen Lun slashed a tree was due to another pattern.
Two, the Gloomy Forest had no landmarks, and the dense branches and foliage blocked the sunlight, making it difficult to tell directions. However, the annual rings of the trees could be used to judge.
But this judgment didn't adhere to common sense.
According to common sense, the degree of spacing in the tree rings can differentiate north from south; sparse rings indicate the south, dense rings the north. This is because the south side receives full sunlight, causing the trees to grow more robust on that side and thus spreading the rings further apart. The north side tends to be less developed, and the rings are packed tighter.
But this was the Immortal Realm, a land of absurdity and strangeness. The common sense of the real world might not apply here...
Hence, Chen Lun didn't use the tree rings to judge north and south but simply as a directional guide. The pattern of the tree rings, sparse moving towards dense, acted like an arrow.
During his previous two deep explorations, Chen Lun had found a small hut that seemed to be on the lakeside by following these "annual ring arrows."
"Phew..."
He ran for a while, and the commotion behind him decreased until it disappeared.
The specific strength of "Wasteland Giants" was unknown, but they would not be lower than Sequence Six. During his previous explorations while figuring out the pattern, Chen Lun had witnessed its gigantic arm and palm, as well as the strange berries growing on it several times, which triggered his Supernatural Knowledge prompts more than once.
The collection progress of the Nature Faction Sequence Six - Berry Picker went from 1/10 to 1/4. But that was the end of it. No matter how Chen Lun observed afterward, aside from losing Sanity points, there was no other benefit, so he stopped bothering to stare at that ugly palm.
After running for about fifteen to twenty minutes, Chen Lun suddenly stopped in his tracks.
In his field of view ahead, among the dense shadows of the trees, he could faintly make out the silhouette of a yellow-brown wooden house in the distance.
'Here we are, this is the place...' Chen Lun thought to himself, then heightened his alertness.
'Last time, it was here that I encountered those few corrupted creatures...'
He advanced cautiously.
Suddenly, his expression darkened.
A black smoke slowly drifted out from behind a tree not far ahead, and as the smoke twisted, a pitch-black head emerged from behind the tree.
A pair of red eyes filled with malice and chaos stared intently at Chen Lun.
"He" walked out slowly from behind the tree.
It was a humanoid creature, but its body exuded black smoke that made it only faintly visible, dressed in extremely worn farmer's overalls with a straw hat on its head.
In its hand was a Lumberjack Axe, and it was walking toward Chen Lun.
'These corrupted creatures are called "Woodcutters," yet they do not really chop down the trees of the Gloomy Forest; instead, they only target living beings to cut down... treating living beings as if they were wood to be chopped.'
'It's surprising though that this type of corrupted creature is still lingering here... No, it should rather be the uniqueness of this area.'
Chen Lun recalled the information he had seen through the Peeping Eye of Fate.
His Silver Staff whipped out, transforming into a Silver Sword.
'This guy's strength is probably around Sequence Seven... and it's immune to physical damage, quite troublesome to deal with. But if there's only one of them, it's worth attempting to kill it!'
The last time he encountered three "Woodcutters" at the same time; because it was their first encounter and he was unfamiliar with their immunity to physical damage, he suffered some setbacks and retreated temporarily.
Of course, the situation was different now.
Whoosh!
Flame spewed from his gloves, coating the Silver Sword in orange-red.
Roaring—!
Chen Lun pushed off the ground, vanishing from his spot, and a trail of fire swept out, landing before the Woodcutter.
Schlick!!
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The burning Silver Sword cleaved open the opponent's chest, as the flames scorched the Woodcutter's body.
But the opponent seemed to have no reaction. Both hands gripped the Lumberjack Axe, striking heavily towards Chen Lun.
Whoosh whoosh!!
Black smoke accompanied by afterimages; the axe fell on empty space, for Chen Lun had already dodged.
The Woodcutter lifted his head, his two red eyes tightly following Chen Lun's figure. Then, he took a step back and hid his entire body behind a large tree.
The next second, he seemed to travel through space, striding out from behind another tree next to Chen Lun.
Raising the Lumberjack Axe, he struck down from above.
Whoosh whoosh!!
'Not this move again, it's truly impossible to guard against...!'
Chen Lun silently exclaimed in astonishment.
The Silver Sword in his hand transformed into a Silver Shield, raised to block the blow, clashing with a clang.
Immediately thereafter, Chen Lun pushed with his hand, flames spiraled out, striking heavily on the Woodcutter's chest.
Boom!!
The opponent was blown away, the Supernatural Flame clinging to its body, continuing to burn it.
The slash wounds Chen Lun had previously inflicted with the Silver Sword had been covered by the black smoke emitted by the enemy and healed in a few breaths. Only the damage done by the flames proved too much for the black smoke to handle.
The Woodcutter's upper body caught fire, yet he climbed up from the ground as if it was nothing.
He exuded black smoke, which at first glance seemed a result of the Supernatural Flames.
He hefted the axe, violently chopping down on a nearby tree.
Right after, a gust of wind passed by Chen Lun's ear.
His "Spiritual Intuition" issued a premonition, his neck twisting sharply, head tilting to the side. The next second, the Lumberjack Axe whizzed past his cheek.
Whoosh!!
Narrowly avoiding it by a hair's breadth!
'Using trees as nodal media for bodily transit and attack transfer...?'
Chen Lun thought to himself.
Last time he hadn't experienced the Woodcutter's tactics, which caught him by surprise.
'Such attacks are too difficult to predict... If not for "Spiritual Intuition," they would be very hard to dodge.'
Chen Lun flicked his hand, and the staff turned back into a Silver Sword form.
He took a step forward, ready to charge, only to see the Woodcutter raise his axe again, violently chopping toward another tree.
Chen Lun was on guard against the trees around him, watching for the axe that might strike at any moment when he heard a loud crash.
Crack!!
Chen Lun turned his head and his eyes widened.
'What happened to not cutting down the trees?!'
His heart skipped a beat.
Contrary to the information from the Peeping Eye of Fate, the Woodcutter had chopped down that tree with a single swing of his axe!
Not only that, he raised the axe high again and brought it down once more.
But this time, the heavy sound came from beside Chen Lun.
Crack!!
A huge tree close by was chopped in half and immediately came crashing down with a thunderous roar.
The Woodcutter had used his ability to cut down the trees near Chen Lun from a distance!
As this large tree fell, a sliver of light appeared in the sky but was quickly blocked again, followed by the arrival of an enormous hand.
It came smashing towards Chen Lun with force!
Boom!!
Chen Lun's feet stomped hard on the ground, propelling him towards the depths of the forest.
Behind him, the earth trembled, and stones flew everywhere, some hitting his back and causing a slight pain.
'Did the Woodcutter deliberately draw the Giant over...?'
As the woods were too dense to spread wings for flight, Chen Lun could only run forward madly towards the cottage.
In the process, two puffs of black smoke appeared on his sides.
Two Woodcutters, wearing straw hats and dressed like farmers, carrying axes, approached.
'It's the same as last time!'
Chen Lun cursed under his breath.
He ignored them and continued rushing towards the cottage.
This time he wasn't planning on retreating but chose to take a look inside the cottage.
The "Wasteland Giant" above didn't continue to chase him, but the three Woodcutters used the trees to zip right to his side, swinging their axes towards him.
Whoosh! Whoosh whoosh!!
Chen Lun deployed the "Great Serpent Form," using his agile body to dodge left and right.
While dodging, he also retaliated with flames, attaching them to the Silver Staff to strike at the Woodcutters' trunks and arms, or shooting out sheets of Flame to push back their attacks, catching his breath for a moment.
Fighting while running, Chen Lun quickly reached the cottage's entrance.
As he drew closer, he became more certain that it was the lakeside cottage... It looked exactly the same outwardly, even the decorations above the door hadn't changed.
The three Woodcutters were extremely relentless, taking many attacks infused with Supernatural Flame from Chen Lun, yet still they did not fall. Their bodies ablaze, they continually chased right beside him, tirelessly swinging their axes.
Thump!
Chen Lun burst open the Great Gate of the cottage, rushing inside.
Whew—
The black smoke behind him instantly dissipated.
All was quiet once again.