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As Noah''s party kept devastating everything while slowly approaching the immense castle several kilometers away, their group spread far and wide and fought any monsters that came in front of them with utmost ferocity.
However, after killing hundreds of monsters, a Hidden Boss was triggered, the ursed Tree King.
Referring to the entity that inhabits the castle as his "Lord" he acted like a loyal subordinate, proud of his own strength and showcasing utmost power, managing to overpower Adamantine after a few hits!
Angered by how she ravaged his kin, he intended to end her with a series of whip attacks using his special ability, Soul Fire Whip, which was able to deal direct damage into a foe''s soul!
However, it wasn''t as if others were not able to notice what was going on, and Iris was the first toe, confronting the powerful Hidden Boss with her Blue-coloredher mes, which seemed to be able to easily dissipate the ursed Tree King''s purple-colored Soul mes!
BOOOOM!!!
The ursed Tree King felt shocked as his powerful Soul Fire Whip was destroyed by the blue mes!
The Soul mes were his special Ability and Magic, the one he had been born with thousands of years ago, which he had trained since then.
Through his entire life, he had never faced someone that could actually make it dissipate like this!
However, after he and his lord alongside their vast territory were suddenly trapped in a strange space-time disturbance, invaders from another world emerged, which he intended to destroy and survive…
Perhaps if he had confronted conventional Hunters, he would have been able to easily crush them… but against Noah and his subordinates… an easy victory was impossible.
"This… Impossible! My Soul Fire has no match! How…?!" asked the ursed Tree King, seeing his Soul Fire being destroyed so easily actually shocked him deeply!
After fighting with it for thousands of years, he grew way too confident on it!
To think that this day was the fateful day he would finally meet someone with a me simr to his…
"Do you think I would let you kill my dog in front of me?" asked Iris, ncing from above, as she floated while being shrouded in blue mes. Atop her head, there were tworge fox-like ears and nine fox-like tails growing from her back. Her arms were coated in this phantasmal will-o-wisp, shaped asrge ws, and her nails extended sharply while secreting a deadly venom.
Her gleaming crimson eyes shined brightly and eerily, ncing at the ursed Tree King from above as if she were ncing an insolent animal…
The ursed Tree King recognized her gaze immediately, as he had fought against many armies in the past and had taken the life of many Demons, he knew the different expressions of cold-hearted people.
But this gaze… was like that of someone that didn''t even recognize him as a foe!
What was this?
Didn''t he just almost killed herpanion?
How could he not be seen as a threat?
Deep within his old soul, the ursed Tree King felt boiling anger!
His crimson eyes began to sh, zing with purple Soul Fire, as his arms grew sharper and more malefic!
However, instead of roaring in anger, heughed as he smiled while frowning, the wrinkles all over his face made him look even more intimidating!
"Gahahaha! Good! It wouldn''t be worth it if you weren''t strong! Let me tell you that I have taken the lives of over 20 Demon Generals in the past in the name of my Lord Beelzebub!" he said, as his bark was shrouded in purple mes, and his humanoid-like body gained more mass and became even tougher!
Iris nce at him rather expressionlessly, as Adamantine finished healing herself and jumped to her side.
"Mistress, he''s strong!" said Adamantine, mildly concerned.
"I know… Let''s give my love a good show, alright, Ada?" asked Iris.
"Yes!" said Adamantine, while waving her shadow tails.
"(She recovered incredibly quickly! Just a few seconds ago I had her to my mercy…! And the one that arrived didn''t actually do anything to help her… Just how fast do they regenerate? These beings are truly like the Blood Demons!)" thought the ursed Tree King, as he decided to fight ad surprise them with an unpredictable move!
"Soul mes Tower!"
The ursed Tree King pushed his roots into the ground, as he unleashed Soul mes into it and then generate an enormous tower of purple mes right below Iris and Adamantine a second after!
BOOOM!
Iris and Adamantine were not able to react in time due to his unexpected attack, and they were consumed by the mes!
"Hah! This one never fails to surprise the young folk…!"ughed the ursed Tree King, he seemed to be experienced in taking away the life of arrogant younglings.
sh!
As the mes dissipated, the ursed Tree King''s smile dissipated immediately after.
Arge sphere of blue mes remained within it, as Iris and Adamantine survived the powerful attack like nothing!
"I knew it, my Phantasmal mes seem to be able to do well against this purple fire…" analyzed Iris, as she suddenly generated dozens of weapon projectiles in the form of long des made of phantom blue mes, shing towards the ursed Tree King!
FLASH! FLASH! FLASH! FLASH!
"Unfazed…! This woman is ridiculous!" thought the ursed Tree King, as he waved hisrge hands and generated several projectiles made of his own hardened ck bark, shaped as giant spears of wood!
FLASH! FLASH! FLASH! FLASH!
Both projectiles meet in midair, crashing against each other into cloud explosions!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Iris smiled, as she decided to use this opportunity to infuse a lot of mana into her body, darting towards the ursed Tree King with great speed!
FLASH!
The ursed Tree King, however, predicted her move andughed.
"I knew you would try to do that! Soul me ck Spear!"
Combining his incredibly hard, ck-colored bark with his soul mes, the enormous ancient tree monster unleashed a gigantic, building-sized spearing directly out of his very body, targeting it towards Iris!
"You may be able to dissipate my Soul mes, but not my bark!"
As the enormous spear reached Iris, the ursed Tree King already imagined her getting impaled by it to death!
However, Iris waved her ws.
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