"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!"

Over a thousand throwing knives shot toward the little green men at the same time.

In order to plunder the Light of Life skill from them, John’s clones showed no mercy at all.

In an instant, massive damage numbers exploded across the field in waves.

[-4.1M!]

[-4.1M!]

[-4.1M!]

...

Those Life Sprites had never expected John to attack them first.

And from such an absurd range, no less.

Aside from Light of Life, they had no other skills.

Against the throwing knives, they had absolutely no way to fight back.

Under normal circumstances, a player’s damage could never instantly kill them.

These Life Sprites could rely on casting Light of Life on one another, keeping their HP in an effectively infinite state.

Unfortunately, today, they had run into John.

Any random throwing knife from him dealt 4.1 million damage.

And at this moment, a full 9,999 throwing knives had appeared.

Under that explosive damage, the Life Sprites burst apart at the same time, scattering into vast clouds of green light as they died on the spot.

A notification rang beside John’s ear.

[You have slain Life Sprite lv.50. EXP +5,000,000, gold coins +50,000, Fame +50,000!]

[You have obtained S-rank skill: Light of Life!]

The moment the skill entered his possession, John immediately opened his panel to check its attributes.

[Light of Life]

[Effect]: Can be used on three targets whose level is equal to or lower than your own.

If the target’s HP is below 10%, restore it to 60%.

If the target has died and the time since death does not exceed 1 minute, the target can be revived.

...

"As expected, not bad."

John was very satisfied with the skill he had plundered.

Then, with a casual motion, he changed the HP requirement from below 10% to below 50%, and changed the restored HP from 60% to 80%.

He also changed the revival condition from within 1 minute of death to within 10 minutes of death.

With that, the effect of John’s Light of Life was nearly on par with an SSS-rank skill!

At that moment, the treants were still roaring as they swarmed toward John’s clones.

John looked at them coldly and raised the molten staff in his hand.

Without the Life Sprites, these treants were no different from stray dogs by the roadside.

[Dragonfire Fury!]

John lifted his staff high, and an incomparably fierce burst of dragonfire erupted.

In an instant, it swept through the entire lower space.

[-400K!]

[-400K!]

[-400K!]

...

The flames immediately ignited the treants, who were naturally restrained by fire.

Explosive damage numbers spread across their bodies one after another.

In just a few breaths, the entire lower level was filled with treants covered in flames.

They fled in all directions, completely losing any will to resist.

Amid the blazing fire, they slowly turned into charcoal.

John followed the staircase in the center of the lower level, the one that led straight upward.

With every step, his body flickered forward.

His speed was astonishingly fast.

Every time John ascended another ten meters, raging flames would ignite wherever he passed.

By the time he reached the highest point of the lower level, everything within sight below had become a sea of fire.

Thick black smoke filled the entire lower space.

Only after the last treant fell did a notification finally ring beside John’s ear.

[You have slain all ordinary monsters in the lower space of the World Tree. This act has enraged the lower-level BOSS of the World Tree!]

[The lower-level BOSS of the World Tree has awakened!]

The moment the notification fell, the entire lower space suddenly began to tremble violently.

Vast clouds of green mist appeared, extinguishing the fire.

John stood at the highest point, allowing the staircase beneath his feet to shake continuously.

Holding his staff, he coldly watched as the tree walls in every direction slowly split open.

"Human!"

A hoarse, terrifying roar came from within the cracks.

Smack!

A withered hand stretched out and slammed heavily against the tree wall.

Immediately after, an incomparably massive Treant King appeared before John.

Every inch of its skin was covered in thick, heavy bark.

A pair of ashen-white pupils formed from countless tree rings stared fixedly at John.

"You wounded so many of my descendants. You seek death!"

The Treant King roared.

Its information surfaced as well.

[Treant King] lv.60

[HP]: 10,000,000 / 10,000,000

[Defense]: 500,000 / 500,000

[Skills]: Leafborne Salvation, Sylvan Dominion, Springtide Renewal, Worldtree Descent...

[Description]: A Treant King born from a drop of divine blood shed by a heavily wounded god in the upper layer of the World Tree.

It possesses extremely powerful vitality and reproductive ability.

Nearly all life forms in the lower layer of the tree realm were created by it. It is the progenitor of all treants in the world.

...

"Oh, so the Treant King has arrived."

John looked at the furious Treant King, yet remained completely calm.

To him, no matter how thick this Treant King’s HP was, it was still only a slightly harder-to-kill mob.

So what if it had 10 million HP?

How many strikes from his clones could it really withstand?

"Human, you will pay the price for your crimes!"

The Treant King roared.

A burst of green light erupted from its body.

[Sylvan Dominion]!

The next moment, countless vines grew out from the surrounding tree walls.

The entire lower space was covered so densely by vines that not even water could seep through.

Like a gigantic net, they spread toward John.

Once bound by them, one would be forcibly immobilized for half an hour.

With such an enormous range, this skill could practically nail any guild that entered this dungeon firmly in place.

But to John, avoiding it was as easy as drinking water.

With a single Phantom Blink, John easily leapt out of the range of Sylvan Dominion.

In the blink of an eye, he appeared right in front of the Treant King.

John asked indifferently, "How long have you been alive?"

The Treant King froze.

The next instant, an extremely sharp dagger suddenly appeared before its face.

Pfft!

Before the Treant King could react, the dagger had already pierced into its face.

"No matter how long you’ve lived, you’re dying here today."

At the same time, a violent burst of flames erupted in midair.

John raised the staff in his other hand.

Dragonfire instantly swept across the Treant King’s entire body.

[-3.01M!]

The Treant King’s HP instantly dropped by a large chunk.

The burning pain, combined with the stabbing agony from the dagger, drove the Treant King into a frenzy.

Its enormous withered wooden palm slammed toward John’s figure.

"Get away from me!"

The Treant King roared.

Countless leaves burst out from its palm.

Each leaf was as sharp as a blade.

Once struck by them, each cut would deal thousands of points of damage.

But John could not even be bothered to dodge.

He allowed the leaves to slice across his body.

Clang, clang, clang!

They produced crisp metallic collision sounds.

[-0!]

[-0!]

[-0!]

...

John’s HP was not affected in the slightest.

Not only that, his damage reflection triggered instantly.

The Treant King’s HP dropped even further.

[-410K!]

[-410K!]

The Treant King was already becoming dizzy from the beating.

It simply could not understand why it was unable to harm the human before its eyes!

Yet the other party could severely wound it so easily!

Such power was terrifying beyond belief.

The Treant King finally panicked.

"Human, you forced me to do this!"

The next moment, the entire lower space shook violently.

The Treant King’s body instantly collapsed into countless fragments.

They transformed into ancient trees rooted in the tree walls one after another.

[Worldtree Descent!]