Chapter 156: The Eyes Have Seen It All

Chapter 156: The Eyes Have Seen It All



In the dilapidated Mother Tree Cult's temple hall...

Due to Rain's impressive display of power when he killed the Malevolent Knight, even the two Temple Knights, who were somewhat skeptical of Rain's words, refrained from questioning him. Their stunned expressions seemed to say, 'Although Rain, your strength is formidable, don't talk nonsense!'

Meanwhile, Rudolf, the church elder, also doubted Rain's warning. After all, the scroll he had just torn open contained a high-level divine spell called 'Sword of Judgment.' As a professional within the church, he was well aware of its immense power.

Once unleashed, this spell not only dealt an instant, powerful, and penetrating strike to the enemy, but the surging energy from the 'Sword of Judgment' would also linger at the wound, causing continuous damage.

In simpler terms, it was a strike that could kill you even if you didn't die instantly; the continuous blood loss would finish you off!

But the next moment, Rudolf's mouth gaped in shock, his warning cut short. The two Temple Knights were suddenly swept away by the Flesh Tree Spirit's tail, which resembled a giant python, sending them flying over ten meters high.

A loud 'crack' was heard, followed by the sound of breaking bones as they soared through the air.

Rain couldn't help but sigh.

Alas!

A favorable situation had turned into an unfavorable one!

Moreover, these two knights were likely out of commission, leaving Rain as the only close-quarters fighter. As for Ragle, she hadn't reached the extraordinary level yet, and even handling the Flesh Tree Spirit's tendrils would be challenging.

"Divine Spell: Holy Force Levitation!"

"Divine Spell: Radiant Healing!"

Rudolf, holding a book, aimed at the two Temple Knights in mid-air and quickly cast healing spells.

Rudolf cast two consecutive divine spells, but this exhausted the remaining mental energy he had left.

The high-level 'Sword of Judgment' had immense power, but it also drained Rudolf's mental energy. Even as the church elder, he was struggling to cope.

The two Temple Knights, aided by 'Holy Force Levitation,' descended gently like falling leaves.

Rudolf and Ragle hurried to check on the knights' injuries.

Unfortunately, the weaker knight was beyond help, his organs and bones turned into a bloody pulp by the Flesh Tree Spirit's attack.

The other, more powerful knight, managed to survive, and with the aid of 'Radiant Healing,' he began to recover his damaged organs. Still, he was unable to fight for the time being.

Within seconds, the situation reversed.

Rudolf and Ragle looked up at Rain, who stood nearby.

It seemed that Rain was the only one capable of interfering with the Flesh Tree Spirit.

Facing the gradually healing Flesh Tree Spirit, Rain knew he couldn't wait any longer and had to take the initiative.

After all, the Flesh Tree Spirit was still severely injured, and Rain needed to continuously inflict substantial damage.

Only then could he disrupt its self-healing and find an opportunity to strike at its weakness.

"Breaking Limit!"

Rain, wielding the Pale Blue Greatsword, fearlessly charged towards the countless blood-red tendrils that filled the air.

"Swish, swish, swish!"

Upon engaging, Rain realized the Flesh Tree Spirit's strength was truly formidable, no, it was super strong! Even in its injured state, the tendrils' attacks were powerful and heavy, and these blood-red tendrils of varying sizes were incredibly resilient.

Every swing of Rain's sword felt like chopping through rubber tires, making it extremely difficult to sever them.

Fortunately, his Pale Blue Greatsword was forged with Star Iron and Luminous Stone, for otherwise, even with the 'Breaking Limit' boost, cutting through these tendrils would have been a challenge.

Imagine if the Flesh Tree Spirit hadn't been injured and was in its prime—its tendrils would likely be more numerous, stronger, and more resilient.

In that case, Rain's task would have been much more difficult!

Facing such a formidable foe, Rain immediately activated 'Breaking Limit,' boosting his attributes by over 60%.

Especially his agility, which increased significantly from 16 to 26 points, allowing him to move with incredible speed. This agility was crucial in the dangerous battle, enabling Rain to stand his ground amidst the hundreds of blood-red tendrils that surrounded him.

These tendrils, varying in size and speed, attacked from all directions—some stabbing with pointed ends, others sweeping horizontally, and some drawing downward.

Fortunately, Rain had already reached level 6 in Grizzly Sword Technique.

Since reaching this level, Rain felt he had entered a new realm of mastery, as Hamilton had described it.

So, relying on 'Breaking Limit' and his proficient level of swordsmanship, Rain barely managed to withstand the onslaught of the Flesh Tendrils.

However, Rain soon realized that his current level of swordsmanship was still not enough. Many of the tendril attacks were too fast for him to purely rely on his swordsmanship to block, so he could only dodge through high-speed movement!

This led to a crucial problem—Rain's stamina was being consumed at an alarming rate!

Based on the current rate of consumption, Rain estimated that he could only maintain the 'Breaking Limit' state for about a minute. Even with the remaining three attribute points, it was a drop in the bucket, unable to support him for long.

After a moment's thought, Rain quickly made a decision.

He immediately added a skill point to the Grizzly Sword Technique, and the skill level increased from Level 6 (345/3000) to Level 7 (345/5000).

Instantly, fragments of the Grizzly Sword Technique training flashed into Rain's mind, and the skill was implanted into his muscle memory.

Rain felt as if he had been practicing the Grizzly Sword Technique for years.

At this point, Rain had a deeper understanding of the Grizzly Sword Technique, and although it was still at the proficient level, there was noticeable improvement.

At this moment, a majestic eagle flew above the dilapidated temple.

Its sharp eyes first glanced at the temple below, showing a human-like expression of surprise. The next moment, it seemed to have heard the intense battle sounds and energy fluctuations from within the temple.

The eagle peered through a gap in the collapsed temple, quietly observing the interior.

The eagle was, of course, the black-haired elf.

Soon, with her innate Dark Vision, she saw the battle situation inside the hall.

"As expected, Flesh Tree Spirits and the Mother Tree Cult are back in action?"

If Rain were here, he would have certainly discerned from the elf's tone that she held no favor for the Mother Tree Cult.

"Hmm? Where are the people from the church?"

"There was a strong divine power fluctuation just now, and from its nature, it seems to be the power of the Goddess of Monsoon and the Sea."

The elf continued her search, and soon spotted Rudolf and the others in a dim corner of the hall.

"Oh, they're injured?"

"I thought I'd get to see a good show."

The elf seemed hesitant about whether to join the battle.

It wasn't due to other reasons, but because the church considered them, the Druids, as heretics. So, they avoided appearing before church personnel.

"Never mind, I'll help them when this young knight is about to collapse." The elf muttered to herself after some deliberation.

---

At this moment, in the dimly lit temple hall, Rain's movements with the Pale Blue Great Sword were extremely swift, and his techniques flowed smoothly. It was like watching a waltz of strength and beauty in fast-forward, four times the normal speed!

With the Pale Blue Great Sword's 'Exorcism' effect and the increased speed from 'Breaking Limit', Rain's sword became a laser-like sphere of light, moving left and right, fast and slow. Wherever it passed, tendrils of various sizes broke and fell.

Even when these tendrils were cut, they didn't immediately lose their vitality. They continued to twist and bend in the air and on the ground.

Occasionally, the Flesh Tree Spirit would strike with a tendril the size of a basin, and Rain would immediately dodge the white-glowing sword sphere.

With the added skill points, Rain's endurance time increased significantly. What was once only a minute now lasted at least two minutes, or even longer.

This scene left Rudolf, Ragle, and the remaining Temple Knight dumbfounded. Although they had witnessed Rain's defeat of the Malevolent Knight, knowing his prowess in both hammer and sword techniques, they hadn't expected Rain to be this powerful!

It was as if Rain was single-handedly fighting the Flesh Tree Spirit! A lone force turning the tide!

A single person who had turned the situation around!

However, soon, Rudolf's eyebrows furrowed.

"This won't do. With so many Flesh Tree Spirits, Rain's stamina will likely be exhausted first!"

"Yes, he's already activated Breaking Limit but dares not use his Extraordinary trait, probably fearing his stamina will be depleted too soon, causing him to drop out of the Breaking Limit state."

"And once he slows down, Rain's done, that huge tendril attack, not a human body, can withstand!" The injured Temple Knight also saw this, his expression growing more grim.

In the eyes of Rudolf and the Temple Knight, Rain's current situation was almost a dead end.

Because even if Rain had strong stamina, at most, he could maintain the 'Breaking Limit' state for about two minutes.

But what about after two minutes?

After two minutes, what then?

After two minutes, Rain's strength would wane, and the Flesh Tree Spirit's massive tendrils would overwhelm him.

"Machini, perhaps it's time for that one move." Rudolf spoke solemnly, his eyes fixed on the injured Temple Knight, Machini.

Machini's face turned solemn, and he immediately struck his chest with his iron-gloved right hand, saying resolutely, "Dean, returning to the embrace of the Goddess is my heart's desire! Sacrificing myself to purge the world of evil is my honor!"

"Well done, Machini!"

Rudolf patted the shoulder of the only remaining young Temple Knight, sighing inwardly.

It had come to this after all!

The Church had underestimated the intelligence from the Night Song Forest.

But upon closer thought, this seemed inevitable.

Recently, the manpower in the Church was too stretched thin, and the situation around Maistre County was becoming increasingly strange, with various mysterious incidents erupting simultaneously. The Church simply couldn't gather enough people.

However, before returning to the embrace of the Goddess, they would take down the Flesh Tree Spirit as well!

Just as the young Temple Knight named Machini was about to cast a secret spell, Rudolf stopped him, saying, "Let Rain eliminate some of the tendrils to create the best combat conditions. Once he's exhausted, we'll take over!"

"In that case, we'll have a better chance of defeating the Flesh Tree Spirit."

Machini nodded heavily.

Meanwhile, Ragle, standing beside them, wore a solemn expression. She tightly pursed her lips, gripping the Blood-Patterned Steel Shield, her fingers so tightly clenched that the knuckles turned white.

This was the second time she felt this sense of powerlessness!

Seeing her teammates struggle while she was unable to help was truly agonizing.

She vowed that if she survived this incident, she would participate in the Life and Death Trial.

The gazes of the three were fixed on the swiftly moving sword blade, a ball of light. Once the ball of light stopped, it would be the moment for Machini and Rudolf to unleash their ultimate finishing move.

At the top of the temple hall, a pair of sharp eagle eyes watched Rain, their expression shifting from initial indifference to awe.

Time passed, minute by minute.

One minute...

Two minutes...

"Hmm?" Rudolf and the young knight Machini exchanged glances.

"How can Rain endure for so long? This is taking too long!" Machini couldn't help but exclaim.

Seeing their surprise, the somber Ragle seemed to recall something, and a rare smile appeared on her face. She said, "Rain has great endurance. Sometimes I practice with him all day, and I'm exhausted by the end of it!"

"I'm certain Rain's stamina is extraordinary. He's not like ordinary people."

Upon hearing this, Rudolf and Machini exchanged puzzled glances.

Endurance?

You two practice, and you're exhausted, yet he's still full of energy?

Can I say I don't believe it?

I've never heard of someone being exhausted while the other isn't.

Besides, you're not an ordinary woman; you're a barbarian maiden! Can't even your stamina withstand it? They thought.

But Ragle seemed unaware that her words had caused a misunderstanding among her companions.

Her beautiful eyes were entirely focused on Rain.

Although she had just heard about the desperate final move, she still intended to rush forward and use her shield to help Rain withstand the attack if his situation turned dire.

Even if she could only withstand it for a moment, she wouldn't hesitate to charge forward!

At this moment, Rain's stamina was approaching its limit, but he remained calm.

Because he had a trump card!

He could recover by spending skill points!

He hesitated, considering how to allocate his skill points.

In the current situation, he had three options for spending skill points.

First, he could increase his stamina, which was the most enduring option. Second, he could increase his agility, making him faster and safer. Lastly, he could allocate points to mental power.

As for why there was an option to allocate points to mental power, it was to prepare for attacking the main body of the Flesh Tree Spirit.

After such a fierce battle, they wouldn't just think of 'trimming the tendrils' and retreat, would they?

Of course, they had to find a way to defeat the opponent!

Just then, a thought suddenly occurred to Rain.

Since the Flesh Tree Spirit was called a tree spirit, was it possible that it was afraid of flames?

If he could get close to its main body, he could attack it with the two fire-based spells he mastered: 'Scorching Touch' and 'Heat Field'.

However, currently, the opponent moved swiftly and attacked with tremendous power, leaving Rain with very limited time to cast spells.

Additionally, even if he successfully cast the 'Scorching Touch' spell, if the duration was too short, it wouldn't inflict significant damage on the opponent.

This had been verified during his previous encounter with Adams.

Otherwise, Adams' body should have been directly carbonized under the two-thousand-degree heat.

Therefore, considering this, increasing the power of the spells was crucial.

But how to increase the power of the spells? Regarding this question, the only solution Rain currently had was to enhance his mental power.

Thinking while fighting, Rain quickly made a decision—allocate points to mental power!

Although allocating points to stamina, agility, or mental power couldn't guarantee that he would definitely defeat the Flesh Tree Spirit,

But with a little more Mental Power, the power of his witchcraft would increase, which meant that his chances of killing the Flesh Tree Spirit would be higher.

As Rain's Mental Power increased from 20 to 21, he instantly felt a surge of heat flow from his heart, rapidly spreading to his limbs.

This immediately filled Rain with vitality, and the exhaustion and fatigue he felt after using 'Breaking Limit' disappeared.

At that moment, Rain's mind flashed with the famous prose poem "The Seagull" by the great writer Gorky from his previous life.

"This is the brave seagull, soaring proudly in the raging sea, amidst the lightning."

"This is the voice of the victorious prophet!"

"Let the storm come with greater fury!"

Rain looked at the dense, flesh-like roots approaching from all angles, resembling the storm the seagull faced, and Rain himself was like that brave and tiny seagull.

He was about to face the raging storm and the mighty waves.

The next second, in the eyes of the three spectators, including the eagle, they saw that Rain, who had already shown signs of fatigue and was about to collapse, suddenly seemed to be affected by a time-reversing divine spell. He returned to the state he was in three minutes ago when he first activated 'Breaking Limit'.

At this moment, Rain brandished his greatsword, and his sword technique once again stabilized.

He continued to shave the Flesh Tree Spirit like a razor, just as he had done at the beginning of the battle, with a sense of power and fluidity.

Young Temple Knight Machini, who witnessed this, had his mouth wide open, his eyes widened in disbelief.

Even the experienced Dean Rudolf was no better than Machini.

He stared at Rain, who seemed to have been wound up again, with an expression of disbelief.

Only Ragle's expression was slightly more normal, as she had seen Rain's endurance during their previous training sessions. Still, she was still a bit surprised this time.

Ragle glanced at the two people beside her, with an expression that seemed to say, 'I told you Rain was enduring, but you didn't believe me.'

After a few seconds, Dean Rudolf and Temple Knight Machini finally closed their gaping mouths and swallowed, turning to look at Ragle beside them.

Feeling a bit embarrassed, the two immediately turned to look at each other, seeing the same shock and disbelief in each other's eyes.

Little girl, you said Rain was enduring, but this is too much!

Dean Rudolf's face twitched a few times. Although he remained silent, he was screaming inside.

The eagle at the top of the hall had just been about to fly down to help, but as it spread its wings, the situation stabilized again.

At that moment, the sharp eagle eyes also revealed a confused expression.

Rain, on the other hand, was fighting more smoothly and easily. This was because the level 7 Grizzly Sword Technique memory fragment he had just infused was now fully absorbed after the practical battle. At the same time, Rain had some new ideas about skill point usage.

It seemed that for seemingly basic skills like sword and hammer techniques, once they reached a higher level, the benefits of adding points were not lower than adding points to rare skills.

Seeing their teammate Rain performing so well, Dean Rudolf and Temple Knight Machini were not foolish enough to rush into battle and use their ultimate moves against the Flesh Tree Spirit.

After all, it was better to stay alive.

So, time passed, and another two minutes went by. In total, six minutes had elapsed.

Dean Rudolf and Temple Knight Machini were now completely stunned.

It was as if a class of several dozen students were running a kilometer together, and at the beginning, they suddenly saw a male student sprinting at a 100-meter dash pace.

Almost everyone thought that the student could only maintain this speed for half a lap at most.

But he sprinted 400 meters at a 100-meter dash pace, and then continued to sprint at that speed.

Rain, who was once again approaching his physical limit, glanced at his status panel and silently recited as his Mental Power increased from 21 to 22.

He felt another surge of heat flow from his heart, rapidly spreading to his limbs, giving him a sense of 'full-body resurrection'.

His body was filled with vitality again, and the exhaustion disappeared, allowing him to continue fighting the Flesh Tree Spirit for another 'three hundred rounds'.

Rain's seemingly 'perpetual motion' state finally caught the attention of the Flesh Tree Spirit.

Because although the Flesh Tree Spirit had many flesh-like tendrils, it couldn't withstand Rain's relentless shaving. Rain had already shaved off large patches of flesh from the several-meter-long body of the Flesh Tree Spirit.

In other words, as long as Rain could maintain his current state for a few more minutes, he would shave the Flesh Tree Spirit into a 'wooden stake'.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end