Trapped inside the massive sphere of verdant green branches and leaves, Jorah, though temporarily safe from the high-temperature "magma," was on the verge of a mental breakdown.
"Drain… drain its life force… how am I supposed to do that… I don't know how…" he muttered despairingly, hands tightly gripping his messy brown hair.
He could clearly feel that the plants enveloping him were being scorched by the terrifying heat from below. Their life force was rapidly draining away, and the once-vibrant green branches and leaves were beginning to turn yellow and wither. This "sanctuary" he had created with his own hands was slowly disintegrating. Before long, he would fall again, back into that terrible "sea of fire."
At this critical juncture, Cassian, down below, moved!
He slowly raised his hand, facing the churning "sea of magma" that radiated terrifying heat.
The intense heat distorted the air around him. The water vapor he had previously created was instantly evaporated upon appearing in this high temperature, unable to inflict any substantial damage on the berserk mother tree.
But… this extremely dense water vapor, evaporated by the high heat, had increased the conductivity of the area to an unprecedented degree!
In Cassian's eyes, the gentle, ocean-like deep blue was gone, replaced by a deeper, more dangerous color, like the thunderclouds of an impending storm!
Silvery-blue electric light once again danced and condensed at his fingertips!
Two abilities!
Only now, forced into a corner and under immense pressure, did the newly rescued soldiers and researchers finally realize! Their eyes widened in disbelief, staring at the man who had always been so gentle and refined, like a team commander. He actually… possessed both water and lightning, two completely different, powerful abilities!
This completely subverted their understanding of the ability system!
As Cassian unleashed his lightning ability without reservation, thick chains of silvery-blue lightning, like living pythons, spread out crazily in all directions with him at the center!
These lightning chains didn't strike the ground directly as before. Instead, they combined with the high-density water vapor in the air, forming a massive "high-voltage power grid" that covered the entire core area!
"ZZZRRRAAACCKKKKK—!!!"
The deafening sound of the electric current echoed throughout the entire forest!
The terrifyingly high temperature, which had been continuously rising, finally had its momentum halted under the suppression of this inescapable "high-voltage power grid"!
And the plant branches and vines, which had turned golden-red and were radiating high heat, convulsed and spasmed violently the moment they came into contact with this "high-voltage power grid," as if they had encountered a natural predator. They no longer thrashed about madly as before, their offensive momentum clearly curbed!
Cassian, by his own power, had actually managed to temporarily suppress this terrifying, completely berserk "mother tree"!
Although the "high-voltage power grid" Cassian created had temporarily suppressed the mother tree's rampage, everyone knew this was merely… a stalemate.
Cassian's face had also begun to turn pale. Clearly, maintaining such a large-scale, high-intensity lightning field was a massive drain on him as well.
The lightning continued to intensify, madly drawing in the surrounding water vapor to form an even denser fog. Zephyr's ice domain countered the mother tree's high temperature, while Cassian's lightning domain provided overall suppression. The clash of these two forces even kicked up a small gale in the center of the clearing!
Everyone's hair whipped wildly in the wind, their clothes flapping loudly.
But even so, they were still unable to inflict a fatal blow on the mother tree. Seraph's fire, Elara's spatial blades, Zephyr's wind blades… they did everything they could, but they could only continuously sever the golden-red branches and vines extending from the "magma," slowing the mother tree's attacks, but unable to harm its core.
Elara's spatial blades extended further and further. She continuously tried to bypass the wildly dancing vines and directly attack the mother tree's true roots hidden underground.
But the mother tree's perception range was simply too vast. In this "domain" of its own creation, not the slightest movement could escape its notice. Every time Elara's spatial blades attempted to probe deep underground, they were precisely intercepted and entangled by countless, even tougher roots surging up from the depths.
Although Elara had succeeded in severing many of the mother tree's more slender roots, for a root system vast enough to cover the entire forest, this damage was merely a drop in the ocean, completely insignificant.
How on earth can we… find its core? Or, find a weakness for a fatal blow?
Elara's brow was tightly furrowed, her mind racing, searching for a way to break the deadlock.
Time ticked by, second by second.
In mid-air, the green sphere beneath Jorah was finally about to give way. The branches and leaves enveloping him were turning yellow and brittle at a visible rate. Even as he continuously poured his remaining meager powers into it, he couldn't reverse the inevitable decline.
Despair, like icy seawater, once again engulfed Jorah completely.
Just then, a golden-red vine, temporarily out of control after being struck by Cassian's lightning and now whipping wildly through the air, happened to sweep past just above his head!
In that instant, without any thought, driven by the most primitive instinct for survival, Jorah shot out his hand and grabbed desperately onto the vine passing over him!
From the perspective of the others on the ground, it looked as though the green sphere had suddenly disintegrated, and Jorah, inside it, had been sent flying by the thrashing vine!
However, the moment his hand made contact with that golden-red vine, an unprecedented, intense craving, like an erupting volcano, burst forth from the depths of his heart!
It was… a craving for life! A craving for power!
An unprecedented, intense will to survive—the same will that had, in the early days of the apocalypse, made him unconsciously generate that massive "cocoon," allowing him to miraculously survive the siege of countless undead.
But this time, that will to survive, for the first time, gave rise to a powerful, overwhelming urge to "plunder"!
The strange, intense pull he had felt from the bottom of his heart since stepping into this forest was, in this moment, infinitely amplified!
"Give it to me… Give it to me…"
His light brown eyes, which had previously held a touch of cowardice and confusion, slowly began to be tinged with a withered, decaying green, like dying leaves!
His hand, like an iron clamp, gripped the mother tree's branch with all its might!
A powerful wave of energy, completely different from his previous gentle, life-giving power, one filled with the intent to plunder and devour, erupted from his body!