Ian hid behind a tree, observing for a full quarter of an hour.

The trajectory of the flowing mist, the frequency of the Soul-Devouring Tree Demons’ fleshy tumors pulsing, the weakest point in their Spiritual Force Field... he pieced together and analyzed every detail in his mind.

’The Spiritual Force Fields of the five Tree Demons overlap completely, covering the entire clearing.’

His gaze was calm. ’There are no blind spots. The moment I step inside, I’ll be discovered.’

The white bones entwined in their roots were proof—every intruder who had tried to sneak in had, without exception, become fertilizer.

Mira’s intelligence was correct. The power of these Soul-Devouring Tree Demons was indeed comparable to that of top-tier High Level Apprentices. And with all five acting in unison, their Spiritual Attacks would stack and amplify.

’Since I can’t sneak in...’

Ian slowly straightened up, the corner of his dark gray robe swaying gently in the mist.

’Then I’ll just kill them.’

He stopped concealing his aura and stepped out from behind the tree, walking toward the clearing step by step.

The moment his first step landed within the range of the Spiritual Force Field...

BWOOM!

The fleshy tumors atop all five Soul-Devouring Tree Demons contracted violently at once!

Slits suddenly ripped open, revealing five enormous, bloodshot, ghastly white eyes!

The eyes had no pupils, only a murky white void, yet Ian could clearly feel five cold, viscous streams of Spiritual Power lock onto him in an instant.

Immediately after, a silent shriek exploded in his mind!

It wasn’t a sound, but a Spiritual Shock that acted directly on the Soul, like five red-hot iron spikes being driven into his temples simultaneously!

The surrounding mist roiled violently, and the silhouettes of the ancient trees began to twist and stretch.

Countless mad ramblings and bloodcurdling screams echoed in his ears as illusions of a sea of blood and a mountain of corpses appeared before his eyes...

For any ordinary High Level Apprentice, this one wave of impact would have been enough to shatter their spirit and reduce them to a mindless husk.

But Ian merely furrowed his brow.

Within his Sea of Spirit, an array of twenty-seven Will Runes lit up in unison as his Vaporized Spiritual Power surged like the tide.

More importantly, the crimson "Spirit Devourer" Rune began to spin wildly!

The shockwave invading his Sea of Spirit was like a wave crashing into a black hole—it was torn apart, Devoured, and disintegrated by the formless Suction emanating from the Rune.

The moment those illusions and ramblings touched the "Spirit Devourer" Rune, they melted away like snow meeting lava, swiftly dissolving into nothing.

Ian could even feel the "Spirit Devourer" Rune grow slightly warm after Devouring the Spiritual Shocks. It then fed back slivers of pure Spiritual Energy, nourishing his Sea of Spirit.

’Just as I thought... the Limit-Breaking [Bloodline Purification Technique] is the perfect counter to this type of Spiritual Attack.’

He didn’t break his stride, continuing forward.

The five Soul-Devouring Tree Demons seemed to have been enraged.

A bloody light flared in the giant eyes on their tumors. Their roots tore out of the ground, the entangled white bones clattering—CLACK CLACK CLACK—as they whipped toward Ian like the tentacles of a living creature!

Each root was as thick as an arm and covered in barbs, kicking up a shrill, whistling wind as it swung through the air.

The roots were imbued with a powerful spiritual corruption; a single lash would not only tear flesh from bone but also cause one’s Soul to suffer Erosion.

Ian’s eyes turned cold.

He raised his right hand, pressing his index and middle fingers together.

An icy-blue light gathered and compressed at his fingertips. The air temperature plummeted, and the mist condensed into fine ice crystals that rustled as they fell.

FZZT...!

Two extremely thin, icy-blue rays fired instantly!

No Spell, no gesture, only pure killing intent.

The first ray struck the whipping root of the foremost Tree Demon.

An extreme cold erupted!

The thick root was instantly covered in a heavy layer of frost that spread rapidly outward from the point of impact.

CRACK...

The root’s internal structure was disintegrated by the extreme cold, rendering it as fragile as glass.

At the same time, Ian raised his left hand, unleashing a brilliant white [Scorching Beam]!

BOOM!

Ice and fire wove together.

The frozen root exploded violently under the intense heat, shattering into countless frost-coated fragments that flew in all directions.

The second [Secondary Frost Freeze Beam] precisely struck the center of that Tree Demon’s main trunk.

VMMMM...

The tumor atop the Tree Demon trembled violently, the bloody light in its giant eye flickering madly as it tried to release an even stronger Spiritual Shock.

But the icy-blue ray had already pierced its defenses.

A terrifying, extreme cold erupted from within!

On the surface of the Tree Demon’s gray trunk, a thick layer of ice formed at a visible speed. The ice spread rapidly upward to cover the tumor and downward to freeze the roots.

In just two seconds, the six-meter-tall Soul-Devouring Tree Demon was turned into a giant ice sculpture.

The ghastly white eye on its tumor was still fixed in a furious glare, but it was now completely frozen within the ice.

Ian didn’t stop.

His footwork shifted, his figure moving like a phantom along the edge of the clearing, evading the encirclement of the other four Tree Demons’ roots.

In his Sea of Spirit, the "Spirit Devourer" Rune continued to operate, Devouring and converting the ceaseless barrage of Spiritual Shocks.

His right hand jabbed forward repeatedly.

FZZT! FZZT! FZZT!

Three [Secondary Frost Freeze Beams] shot out almost simultaneously!

The icy-blue trajectories crisscrossed in the mist, precisely striking the vitals of three Tree Demons.

One was struck in the tumor on its top, the extreme cold instantly freezing its spiritual organs. The bloody light in its giant eye extinguished.

Another was pierced through the center of its trunk; ice spread outward from within, and the movement of its roots came to an abrupt halt.

The last one tried to block with its roots, but the beam pierced right through them and plunged into the main trunk with undiminished force.

CRACK... CRACK...

The sounds of freezing followed one after another.

One by one, the three Tree Demons turned into ice sculptures, frozen in place in their attacking stances.

Only the last and largest Tree Demon remained.

This Tree Demon seemed to sense the danger. The giant eye on its tumor contracted sharply, and all its roots stopped attacking, instead plunging wildly into the ground.

It was drawing Energy from the earth!

The honeycomb-like pores on its trunk spewed a grayish-black mist, which carried an even denser psychic babble, like tens of millions of Insects crawling by one’s ears.

The ambient temperature dropped further. The ice crystals condensing in the air turned dark gray and carried a corrosive aura.

’A last-ditch struggle.’

Ian remained expressionless, raising both hands at once.

On his left index finger, a brilliant white [Scorching Beam] coalesced, the high temperature distorting the surrounding air.

On his right index and middle fingers, an icy-blue [Secondary Frost Freeze Beam] was compressed to its limit, its chill causing a white frost to form on the ground beneath his feet.

Two Limit-Breaking Runes vibrated in unison within his Sea of Spirit, the energies of ice and fire reaching a balance at his fingertips.

"Go."

The two beams, one of ice and one of fire, shot out in a spiral!

They didn’t cancel each other out in flight. Instead, under Ian’s exquisite control, their energy frequencies achieved a strange resonance.

The icy blue and brilliant white intertwined, forming a spiral pillar of light that tore through the mist, shooting straight toward the last Tree Demon!

The Tree Demon pulled its roots from the ground, weaving them into a shield before it. The grayish-black mist formed a viscous protective layer over the shield’s surface.

But it was useless!

The moment the spiral pillar of light struck the shield...

BOOOM!!!

The Ice and Fire Energy erupted and catalyzed each other simultaneously, producing a destructive force far greater than a simple sum of their parts!

The extreme cold froze the shield’s structure, and the intense heat immediately detonated it from within.

With a tremendous roar, the shield of woven roots exploded into a shower of fragments, and the grayish-black mist was blasted away by the shockwave.

The pillar of light, its force undiminished, pierced the shield and slammed viciously into the Tree Demon’s main trunk!

HSSS...!

A bowl-sized hole was bored through the Tree Demon’s trunk. One half of the edge was charred black, while the other was coated in thick ice.

The wood around the hole disintegrated rapidly as the Ice and Fire Energy spread wildly along its internal channels.

The tumor on top swelled violently, the bloody light in its giant eye flashing as it let out a silent, agonized wail.

But it was too late.

Ice spread outward from the hole as fire burned from within. In just three seconds, the entire Tree Demon had completely disintegrated from the inside out.

CRUMBLE...

The main trunk shattered into countless chunks of mixed char and frost. The tumor burst, spraying a mass of crimson pus that sizzled—TSSS TSSS—as it corroded the ground upon landing.

The last Tree Demon was dead!