The clearing was dead silent.

The four Level One Wizards looked at each other, none of them the first to speak.

The Wizard from the Withered Council was the first to move.

He slowly raised his bone-white Magic Staff, pointing its tip at Ian. His voice was as hoarse as grinding sand. "Which faction are you with?"

Ian didn’t answer. His right hand hung naturally at his side, a faint purple glow flickering at his fingertips.

The Ring of Overlapping Peaks on his left wrist began to glow faintly.

"CAW!" Gaga poked half its head out from a Shadow, its mismatched eyes warily staring at the other three.

The Elf frowned and raised a hand, signaling for his companion to remain calm.

"Don’t be tense. We’re also here on a reconnaissance mission."

His voice was cool and clear, carrying the unique lilt of an Elf. "Something is wrong with this forest. It’s too risky to operate alone."

The Sea Race Wizard moved silently to the flank, his pale blue eyes scanning the flow of Energy around Ian, as if assessing his strength.

"Lone Wanderer," Ian finally said.

"Withered Council. Hector." The Grey-robed Wizard lowered his Magic Staff, but his gaze remained cold and sinister.

"Jade Forest. Legolas." The Elf gave a slight nod.

"Tide People. Xi." The Sea Race member’s reply was brief, his voice like water flowing over Rock.

The atmosphere did not ease after the simple introductions.

All four of them knew that this temporary partnership was only to face a greater danger. Their vigilance toward one another wouldn’t lessen in the slightest.

Hector’s Death Qi, Legolas’s natural Perception, and Xi’s Water Element Affinity were all silently probing Ian’s depths.

Ian was observing them as well.

’Wizards from the Withered Council excel at Death and Dark Witchcraft, making them feel right at home in an environment filled with negative energy.’

’The Elf is sensitive to Life Energy and can detect anomalies in advance.’

’The Sea Race... Why is he in a forest?’

"The Tide People excel in aquatic combat. What brings you to the Withered Forest?" Ian asked, looking at Xi.

Xi’s pale blue face was expressionless.

"The mission requires it. Besides... water can sense the flow of the Earth Vein. Something underground in this forest is ’breathing’."

’Breathing?’

A flicker of understanding crossed Ian’s eyes.

He had also vaguely sensed it before—the mycelial carpet underfoot would rise and fall with a slight, regular rhythm. He had assumed it was just fluctuations in the corrupting energy.

"It is indeed rhythmic," Legolas chimed in, a faint green halo appearing at his fingertips as he pressed them to the ground.

"Like a heartbeat, but very slow. About once every ten minutes."

Hector sneered. "I don’t care what it is. We find the source, clean it up, get our Merit Points, and leave."

Despite his words, he showed no intention of leaving on his own.

Clearly, even a Wizard from the Withered Council found this place treacherous.

"We can cooperate temporarily," Ian said calmly.

"But let’s get the terms straight. If we run into danger, it’s every man for himself. As for spoils, whoever gets the kill keeps the loot. For joint kills, we’ll divide it based on contribution."

"Reasonable," Legolas nodded.

Xi gave his silent consent.

Hector snorted, which was his way of agreeing.

Having formed a fragile alliance, the four continued deeper into the forest.

Ian took the left flank, Hector the right, while Legolas stayed in the center to use his Perception, and Xi scouted ahead.

The Sea Race Wizard was indeed light on his feet, leaving almost no tracks on the mycelial carpet. He would occasionally crouch to touch the ground, sensing the flow of the Earth Vein.

"Three hundred meters ahead, the Energy concentration increases sharply," Xi suddenly stopped and said in a low voice. "Something’s not right."

At almost the same instant, Legolas drew his bow, nocking a verdant Energy Arrow that materialized on the string.

"Underground. Ten o’clock. Three life signs... no, three corruption signatures."

Hector slammed his Magic Staff on the ground, and a ring of grey-white ripples expanded outward.

A hoarse shriek erupted from beneath the mycelial carpet!

Three monsters covered in pustules, crawling on backward-jointed limbs, burst from the ground.

They had humanoid silhouettes, but their heads split open into four petals, revealing dense rows of sharp teeth dripping with a dark purple slime.

They were incredibly fast, lunging forward in a triangular formation!

"Rotwalkers," Hector said, his tone laced with disgust.

"Deeply corrupted mutants. High physical resistance, weak to Purification Attacks."

Before he finished speaking, Legolas had already loosed his arrow!

The verdant arrow struck the chest of the monster on the left, instantly exploding into countless vines that wrapped around it.

But the monster shrieked and tore the vines apart. Pus erupted from the wound, completely corroding the vines away!

Xi drew his twin Short Blades, his body flowing like water as he glided toward the monster on the right. The blades carved a strange arc, aiming straight for its joints.

CLANG!

The tips of his blades were blocked by a layer of Bone Armor, sending sparks flying.

"Its defense is strong," Xi said, retreating with a slight frown.

The monster in the middle lunged straight for Hector.

The Withered Wizard sneered and waved his bone-white Magic Staff. "Touch of Decay."

A greyish-black ray struck the monster.

The monster’s charge slowed abruptly. Its skin shriveled and cracked at a visible rate, and its pustules burst one after another, yet it still crawled forward tenaciously.

"Its Life Force has been enhanced by the corruption," Hector said, his expression turning grim.

Just then, Ian moved.

He didn’t use Frost Ash Beam.

Instead, he raised his hand, activating his Bloodline Purification Technique at full power and unleashing its Spirit Devourer trait!

An invisible vortex enveloped the three monsters.

They all froze simultaneously, letting out shrill screams from their split heads, as if their very Souls were being torn apart!

Wisps of dark purple corrupting energy were forcibly extracted, flowing into the area around Ian.

The monsters’ movements grew slower and slower. The pustules on their bodies rapidly deflated, and they finally collapsed to the ground, turning into three piles of Ashes and leaving behind three Abyssal Crystals.

The entire process took less than three breaths’ time.

The clearing fell silent once more.

Ian walked forward and picked up two of the crystals. "Based on contribution, I’m taking two."

Hector’s eyes were gloomy as he stared at Ian. "A Devouring type of Witchcraft? Since when did a Wild Wizard have such a technique?"

Legolas and Xi also looked wary.

The ability to directly extract corrupting energy and use it for oneself was terrifying in a place like the Withered Forest.

It could weaken enemies while providing a limitless source of power.

"A personal fortunate encounter," Ian replied flatly, with no intention of explaining further.

In truth, he had held back. He had acted to intimidate the other three so they wouldn’t cause him trouble.

’I only used half of Spirit Devourer’s effect just now. If I had unleashed its full power...’

"Let’s keep moving," Hector broke the silence. "But... I hope you don’t use that ability on your ’teammates’." 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

"The feeling’s mutual," Ian said calmly.

The four set out again, but the distance between them had unconsciously widened by a few steps.

’Trust?’

’In a place like this, it’s a luxury.’

They ventured about another kilometer deeper.

The dead trees around them began to change. Dark red veins appeared on their trunks, pulsating like blood vessels.

The color of the mycelial carpet also shifted from grayish-white to dark red. It was sticky to the touch, like stepping on flesh.

The whispers in the air grew clearer. If one listened closely, they could make out countless repeated fragments:

"Come back... return... become one..."

Xi stopped abruptly, crouched down, and pressed his palm to the ground.

Pale blue ripples spread from his palm, seeping beneath the mycelial carpet.

After a few breaths, he snapped his head up, his expression unusually grim.

"There’s a huge cavern underground, at least five hundred meters in diameter... It’s filled with this mycelial carpet, and..."

He paused, lowering his voice.

"There’s a heart... and it’s beating."

Legolas closed his eyes to perceive, then snapped them open. "Not just one. There are many, but their rhythm is synchronized, as if they’re a single entity."

The bone-white Gemstone at the tip of Hector’s Magic Staff lit up, Death Qi spreading out to probe for life signs.

Suddenly, his expression changed.

"Get back!"

Too late.

The entire mycelial carpet underfoot began to writhe violently, like a living carpet of flesh and blood!

Innumerable pale arms burst from the ground—not three or five, but hundreds, even thousands!

At the same time, the surrounding dead trees all split open. The dark red veins on their trunks burst, spraying a blood-red mist!

Wherever the mist passed, the air distorted. Even the flow of Energy was being corrupted and assimilated!

"It’s a trap!" Legolas fired his bow in rapid succession, the verdant arrows exploding into a barrier that temporarily blocked the mist.

Xi danced with his twin blades, forming a curtain of water that severed the lunging arms.

Hector unleashed a greyish-black Domain of death, corroding any approaching arms into ash.

Ian fully activated his three-layered Shield, expanding the Spirit Devourer vortex to its limit to frantically draw in the surrounding corrupting energy.

But there were too many arms, and the mist was too thick.

Even more terrifying, after the arms were severed, the mycelial carpet would quickly "reclaim" them and grow new ones.

"We can’t keep this up!" Xi shouted. "Something underground is controlling this! We have to find the core!"

"How are we supposed to find it?!" Hector used a Touch of Decay to clear a patch of arms, but the gap was filled in an instant.

A sharp glint appeared in Ian’s eyes as he prepared to cast Frost Ash Beam.

BOOM!

Fifty meters ahead, the mycelial carpet exploded, revealing a large hole!

Within the hole, a dark red, three-meter-wide tumor covered in blood vessels was exposed, pulsating with a slow, powerful rhythm.

With each pulse, it sprayed out a puff of bloody mist, and the surrounding mycelial carpet and arms became more active.

"The core!" Legolas already had an arrow aimed at the tumor.

Hector raised his Magic Staff high, gathering Death Energy.

Xi shot forward like a bolt of lightning, lunging straight for it.

But at that very moment.

The tumor suddenly split open, forming a seam.

From within the seam, a giant, pure black eye was revealed.

The eye swiveled, its gaze sweeping over the four of them.

Then, a low, overlapping whisper that sounded like countless voices blended together echoed directly in all of their minds:

"Welcome... to... my world."