Chapter 202: The Black Forest

Chapter 202: The Black Forest

In the year 1278 of the Starlight Calendar, during the month of Scrolls (August).

The last independent city-state in the Northwest Region fell to the Golem Legion, marking the complete conquest of the Northwest by the Star Alliance.

This marked the first time in a thousand years that the Underworld had a unified ruler.

After the war, the Star Alliance shifted its focus entirely to development, ceasing large-scale military operations and concentrating on the exploration and development of the Underworld.

Su Nan had meticulously prepared a list of materials needed to construct a Wizard's Tower, which he handed over to Carolina and the Red Widow for collection. He was waiting to return from the Black Forest to begin the construction process.

This was a massive undertaking that wouldn't be completed overnight.

Even with ample materials and labor, it would take at least a decade or two to build.

Given the current state of the Starlight Continent, Su Nan estimated that completing the tower within a century would be considered fast.

As the month drew to a close, just three days before the start of the Harvest Month (September), the energy in the Black Key finally reached its full capacity.

The moment the Black Key activated, Su Nan's mind was instantly filled with the image of a dense, eerie forest filled with black trees, and he immediately knew its location.

"It's quite far from the Spider City."

The map of the Underworld was etched in Su Nan's memory. After a brief recollection, he determined the closest city-state to the Black Forest and used the spatial passage in Dragon Forest to reach it, then flew swiftly toward the Black Forest.

Covering over a hundred kilometers in an instant, Su Nan soon found a dark, ominous entrance in a secluded cave.

"A spatial passage, huh."

"It seems the Black Forest is different from the Starlight Tower, existing in a different dimensional space."

Su Nan wasn't surprised.

If the Black Forest existed in the material world, his subordinates would have already found some clues.

He suspected that the Black Forest was either a dimensional space in itself or, like the Starlight Tower, could travel between the material world and other dimensional planes.

The dark spatial passage undoubtedly confirmed that the Black Forest was the former.

After casting defensive spells and activating his Ring of Ultimate Protection, Su Nan stepped into the spatial passage without hesitation.

The world blurred, and when his vision cleared, he found himself in a strange forest.

Everywhere he looked, he saw tall, dark trees.

The trunks were black, the branches were black, and even the leaves were black.

Above his head, a starry sky cast dim light into the forest, making the black trees appear like clawing devils, casting long, eerie shadows on the ground.

The entire forest was filled with ghostly figures, evoking a deep sense of dread.

A faint, almost imperceptible layer of gray mist seemed to hang in the air.

But Su Nan knew it wasn't mist; it was a dense concentration of negative energy particles.

"Such a rich concentration of negative energy particles."

Su Nan marveled.

Unlike positive energy particles, negative energy particles could not strengthen the body and would instead cause damage.

Few people, except for those specializing in necromancy, would actively absorb negative energy particles.

Prolonged exposure to high concentrations of negative energy particles would also harm the body.

"The wizard organization that left this legacy is likely of the evil alignment."

"First-level wizard apprentices and knights below the legendary rank would be corroded into a puddle of pus within a short time if they entered here."

"The requirements for entering this wizard legacy are clearly more stringent than those of the Starlight Tower, and the evaluation methods are likely different."

Su Nan had a vague idea, but he needed to observe further to confirm it.

His mental energy spread out, and after a moment of sensing, he chose a direction with a higher concentration of negative energy particles and began walking.

If his guess was correct, the core of the Black Forest should be in this direction.

The starlight that fell into the forest seemed to take on a dark hue.

The surroundings were deathly silent, with only the sound of Su Nan's footsteps breaking the stillness, making the eerie and dark environment even more oppressive.

Su Nan had initially hoped to find some rare magical plants, but his careful search yielded nothing.

Just as he was about to give up, a flash of bright red caught his eye.

His gaze shifted, and he approached with a bit of caution.

Upon closer inspection, he found a patch of red roses.

The bright red petals were dotted with black or golden stars, and around six-inch-long hollow thorns circled the base, blooming on a pile of ghostly white bones!

Su Nan's nostrils twitched, and he could smell the sweet fragrance in the air, mingled with a faint, meat-like decay.

The shape of the flower, combined with its distinctive scent, allowed Su Nan to quickly identify the creature before him. Without hesitation, he unleashed a Magic Missile, striking first.

The Palace Rose, an evil plant that feeds on corpses, would attack any creature that came near, draining their blood and turning them into new soil for its roots.

Realizing they had been exposed, the Palace Roses immediately unfurled their petals, flapping them like wings. They rose into the air like a swarm of bees, charging at Su Nan with a fierce determination.

Buzzing filled the air, a dull sound like a horde of bees flapping their wings.

More than twenty Magic Missiles took out a significant number of Palace Roses, but many more surrounded Su Nan.

Su Nan remained calm.

A single Palace Rose had the combat strength of a Knight, and in large numbers, they could pose a threat to a Grand Knight. However, that was the extent of their power.

They posed no threat to him.

Four Burning Hands later, Su Nan easily dispatched the remaining Palace Roses.

However, this battle seemed to trigger something, as the surrounding darkness suddenly filled with eerie rustling sounds.

Rumbling echoed from the left, as if a massive boulder was rolling toward him, crushing trees in its path.

In the next moment, a gigantic, spherical mass rolled out of the darkness toward Su Nan.

Under the dim starlight, Su Nan quickly identified the creature.

It was a sphere entirely composed of vines and branches, as large as a building, enveloped in a sickly green cloud of spores. It was clear this was not something to be touched.

"Plague Vine Ball!"

Su Nan's eyebrows raised. This was a third-circle Legendary creature capable of spreading plague. The toxic cloud on its surface was enough to instantly kill a second-circle Legendary Knight.

At the same time, the sound of metal scraping echoed from the front.

Tall, hulking figures emerged from the depths of the forest.

At first glance, these creatures resembled apes clad in black armor, with grotesque, ugly faces. Two tongues dripped with disgusting pus from their mouths, and snakes coiled around their armored arms, extending from their helmets.

"Corrupt Deathlords!"

Su Nan's eyes flickered.

The Corrupt Deathlords were third-circle Legendary undead beings, possessing formidable combat strength and the ability to summon and control other undead creatures.

As the Corrupt Deathlords raised their battle axes and roared, the ground cracked with a series of sharp sounds. Undead creatures, their bodies rotting and bones exposed, emerged from the ground.

More and more creatures appeared from all directions, surging toward Su Nan like a tidal wave.

"Is this the test of the Black Forest?"

Even surrounded by countless monsters, Su Nan remained calm and composed.

With a mere thought, countless puppets appeared around him, marching in unison toward the monsters.

Intense battle erupted instantly!

Roars and explosions shattered the silence of the night!

Hundreds of elite Steel Golems and Adamantine Golems formed a protective ring around Su Nan, cutting through the monsters like a sharp blade, advancing steadily forward.

The density of the monsters surprised Su Nan.

Almost every step forward was accompanied by the death of a monster or a puppet.

From a bird's-eye view, his path was marked by a trail of blood and metal shards.

"Something's not right."

"Even a third-circle Wizard Apprentice couldn't withstand this level of attack. It completely loses the purpose of the test."

Su Nan was puzzled.

Could it be that the Black Forest, unlike the Tower of the Celestial Stars, was not established to recruit talented Wizard Apprentices?

But if not, why would the wizard faction behind the Black Forest leave this legacy of wizardry?

Or perhaps the Black Forest had undergone some kind of change?

Despite his doubts, Su Nan had no intention of stopping. He occasionally cast spells to eliminate any monsters that broke through the defenses.

No matter what, he would reach the core of the Black Forest and find out.

The number of monsters in the Black Forest was ultimately finite.

As time passed, Su Nan clearly felt the number of monsters surrounding him decrease.

He estimated that he had killed at least 1,400 to 1,500 monsters, at the cost of over a hundred golems being destroyed.

However, for the now wealthy and powerful Su Nan, this loss was entirely manageable.

Compared to secret puppets, the materials for steel golems and adamantium golems are much easier to obtain.

Rather than losing a few puppets, he preferred to conserve his strength to face the upcoming challenges.

Moments later, with a mournful cry, the last Corrupt Necroking fell to the massive fist of the adamantium golem.

With that, all the monsters surrounding Su Nan were annihilated, leaving only the dark, ominous trees around him.

"Is it over?" Su Nan's eyes flickered.

At that moment, the trees behind him suddenly shook violently. Several thick roots burst out of the ground, lashing out like whips towards his back!

Thud!

A muffled sound echoed as the roots were stopped by an invisible force field just a few centimeters from Su Nan's body.

Su Nan swung his hand, releasing a bolt of lightning that charred the roots.

Rustle!

The sound of branches shaking rose in waves!

In an instant, all the trees around him began to tremble violently. Countless roots shot out of the ground, densely and fiercely sweeping towards Su Nan and his puppets like a storm.

Crack!

In a split second, several elite steel golems were tightly bound by the roots. As the roots constricted, the metal bodies visibly distorted, emitting a shrill sound before turning into heaps of scrap metal.

Without hesitation, Su Nan unleashed a Blazing Fireball, and the golems around him also released fire spells, instantly reducing the surrounding roots to ashes.

But the next moment, the rustling of branches filled his ears once again.

With Su Nan at the center, all the trees within a hundred meters began to tremble violently, and one after another, roots shot out of the ground, like arrows, hurtling towards him.

The roots that had just been cleared away were now dense once more.

Seeing this, Su Nan couldn't help but frown.

Could it be that all the trees in this forest are monsters capable of manipulating roots?

Although the dim light made it hard to see clearly, Su Nan had been using his mental energy to sense the environment as he moved. He estimated that the number of trees in this forest would not be less than a thousand.

If these trees were all living monsters, things would get complicated.

As Su Nan pondered, the entire forest slowly awoke like a slumbering giant.

The trembling of the trees spread out like waves in all directions.

One by one, the trees awoke, drawing roots from the ground, and their branches lashed out wildly into the sky.

Seeing this, Su Nan wasted no time. He quickly recalled the golems and levitated into the air.

At the same time, a large amount of silver liquid emerged from his pores, quickly enveloping his body and forming a giant, ten-meter-long spike.

Boom!

With a piercing sonic boom, the giant spike shot forward like a bolt of lightning.

As it moved at high speed, it also rotated like a turbine!

Whirl! Whirl! Whirl!

Dense black roots gathered from all sides, lashing out violently, but were shattered into fragments the moment they touched the giant spike.

For a moment, the giant spike acted like a high-speed tank, carving a path through the sea of black roots, leaving a trail of shattered fragments in its wake.

After what seemed like an eternity, Su Nan suddenly felt the pressure in front of him lessen.

He looked around and realized he had broken through the roots and entered a wide open space.

This open area seemed to have some kind of restriction. The roots could only thrash violently at the boundary between the open space and the trees, unable to enter.

Once he was sure the roots posed no further threat, Su Nan retracted the liquid metal and directed his gaze to the center of the open area.

There, a massive, branch-laden black tree stood rooted in the center of the open space.

The tree was estimated to be two to three hundred meters tall, completely black, blending perfectly with the night. It seemed to have the ability to shield mental perception, which is why Su Nan hadn't noticed its presence until he entered the open area.

The black giant tree stood still, its deep, dark color presenting a strange and eerie beauty, creating a stark visual contrast with the desolate surroundings. It was like witnessing a surreal scene, filled with a fantastical aura.

"Dark Magic Tree."

Su Nan murmured to himself.

Combining his previous experiences with the sight of this enormous black tree, his suspicions were confirmed.

He now knew which wizard organization lay behind the Black Forest.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end