Chapter 140: Chapter 140: Slaying the Ancient Tree Bloodvine, Heavy Casualties

“Despicable human, you can’t run away!”

“Die, you’re all going to die!”

…

Below, the mutated Dark Warlords roared and waved their spears at the people in the air.

Some even threw their spears directly.

But these monsters were all close combat fighters. They couldn’t threaten the people in the air at all.

George paid no attention to the useless rage of the monsters below. He looked at Elise and asked, “Can you find where the Bloodmist core is?”

At this moment, Elise looked around at the moving Bloodmist and was momentarily stuck.

At first, it was okay. The ground had reference points, so she could find where the Bloodmist had started.

But now, everything was covered in thick Bloodmist. Visibility was less than ten meters. There was no reference point at all.

“It should be in this direction,” she said hesitantly, pointing to a direction, unsure.

“Let’s go!”

George didn’t doubt her at all. He flew forward first in that direction.

The others followed closely.

Lilia and Eliex weren’t idle. They kept casting holy light magic, blasting the Bloodmist below.

“Ho ho…”

Roars echoed. Occasionally, mutated Dark Warlords were killed.

George didn’t stop them. He moved quickly through the Bloodmist.

At first, he was worried about flying monsters. But as time passed, he found that there were only mutated Dark Warlords here, no other monsters.

So George wasn’t worried anymore. He increased his speed a little.

“Master, this way,” Elise flew low through the Bloodmist, barely finding the position.

The group followed her direction and kept moving.

But they still couldn’t find the Bloodvine.

They had been wandering in the Bloodmist for half an hour.

Ares’s face grew darker. He had already guessed that Elise was lost in the Bloodmist and didn’t know where the core was.

“Don’t waste time. You should leave. Staying here might bring unknown dangers,” he said again.

George, however, frowned and looked painful. “It should be close now.”

The pain in his forehead, from the demon mark, was stronger.

Ares looked at him, but didn’t say anything else.

Suddenly, the Bloodmist stirred. Something came sweeping up from below.

It was a Bloodvine!

“Finally found it!” Ares’s eyes lit up. His heart settled. He could feel that this Bloodvine wasn’t as strong as the ones outside the Sovereign City.

His sword energy hummed. A few flashes of cold light appeared. The Bloodvine hadn’t even reached them before being cut into pieces and falling into the Bloodmist, disappearing.

“Right in front of us!” Lilia suddenly said. She had found the source of the evil energy.

Ares flashed forward and flew down quickly.

“Follow me!” George was afraid Ares might be in danger. He led Constantine and the others to follow quickly.

The Bloodmist moved. More Bloodvines appeared, coming at them.

“Remember, don’t let these Bloodvines hurt you,” George warned.

Last time, Ares had been careless and got cut by a Bloodvine. He had cut off his own arm.

George didn’t want his team to suffer the same fate.

Luckily, these Bloodvines weren’t strong. George felt he could handle them.

But the Bloodmist was much more active than the one that had appeared in the Sovereign City before.

Maybe it had something to do with the monsters inside the Bloodmist.

Last time, the Bloodmist outside the Sovereign City had only the Bloodvine, no other monsters.

Plop plop! Cold light flashed. A few Bloodvines were smashed.

Ares moved forward without hesitation. Even the mutated Dark Warlords that appeared couldn’t stop him with one hit.

A vacuum area appeared around the group.

George was protected in the center, with no danger at all.

“Found it!” Ares’s surprised voice came. He had found the real Bloodvine.

It was a small tree, about the thickness of an arm. It wasn’t very tall, and its trunk was wrapped with several Bloodvines.

This small tree seemed to have just grown.

But Ares didn’t care. Dozens of sword beams roared, cutting toward the tree and vines.

A painful scream echoed. The trunk and vines were cut in half, and red liquid poured out of the cuts. It moved like a snake on the ground, writhing in pain.

Then, several flames rose, burning the vines to ash.

With the small tree and Bloodvines dead, the Bloodmist quickly disappeared, sinking into the ground. The area around them became clear again.

Just like before, when they killed the Bloodvine, the ground dropped a Jade Elixir and a red Bloodvine.

But this Bloodvine was thinner, only as thick as a little finger. The strength in the Jade Elixir was not as strong as before.

“Agreed, the loot belongs to us,” Eliex didn’t care. He happily put the Jade Elixir and Bloodvine into his bag.

“Be careful, don’t make a mistake at the last step,” Ares was on high alert, especially watching the ground, thinking back to the last time.

“Roar!”

“Kill!”

“Despicable humans! You dare hurt the ancient tree, you will all die!”

This time, nothing strange happened. But the mutated Dark Warlords around them rushed forward.

The tree was dead, the Bloodmist was gone, but these Dark Warlords were still mutated.

George warned, “Be careful, don’t let these guys hurt you.”

“Don’t worry, Lord. These guys can’t hurt me,” Constantine said confidently. He swung his War Hammer and charged into the Dark Warlord crowd.

With each swing, over a dozen Dark Warlords flew backward. They couldn’t get close.

George was surprised. This guy had reached level 60. His power had improved a lot.

But it was a good thing.

Golden Flame Dragon and Lilia also showed strong power.

It seemed 60 was a big difference.

George was curious but didn’t think too much.

“Kid, you’re definitely first on the scoreboard this time. Don’t waste time. Go back and fix the teleportation array first,” Ares said as he easily killed a few Dark Warlords rushing at him.

He had to go back and take charge.

The Bloodmist was gone. The danger was over. They could fix the teleportation array. As for the infected monsters here, the army would take care of them.

“Okay,” George nodded in agreement. “Constantine, don’t chase. Let’s go back to the square.”

Constantine and the others were still excited, but they came back to George’s side, and they all rushed toward the passage.

With Ares, a War God, around, these monsters were easy to kill.

…

The group walked away.

In the bushes nearby, a person stepped out. He watched George’s back disappearing and frowned.

It was Kent.

“Damn, the Bloodmist didn’t trap these guys,” he gritted his teeth, watching George leave with anger.

Kent hesitated for a moment, then turned and walked into the deep forest.

He knew that if this happened, the higher-ups would check if all the students were infected with Blood Poison.

He couldn’t be exposed.

Kent wandered through the forest. Many mutated Dark Warlords passed by him, not even looking at him.

As if they saw him as one of them.

…

George and the others returned to the square. The Bloodmist was gone. The area around them was in ruins. Soldiers and students had been injured.

Especially the students. Their losses were the worst.

Ares looked serious. These new ones were all top students of this class — the core strength of the Human Federation. It was unthinkable that something like this would happen in the secret realm.

“Lilia, help me check — are the injured students infected?” He looked at the injured students and asked hurriedly.

Lilia sighed and said, “They’re already infected.”

Ares took a deep breath. He had suspected this, but it was still hard to accept.

There were too many injured students — over half of them.

“Everyone, gather!” He couldn’t afford to feel sad. He gave the order immediately, “All injured students, step forward. Soldiers, check them. If the injury isn’t fatal, especially if it’s on the arms or legs, cut it off right away. Soldiers, execute!”

“What? You want to cut off my arm? I’m just injured, I don’t want to be crippled!”

“You’re going too far. First, this weird Bloodmist, now you want us to be crippled? What are you trying to do?”

The crowd exploded again, with angry voices and shouts.

The higher-ups had been trying to hide the Bloodmist issue to avoid panic. Only a few people knew the truth.

“Silence!” Ares shouted. His powerful aura spread out, and his serious face silenced everyone.

He didn’t hide anything. He explained in simple words about the Bloodmist and the Blood Poison infection.

“Time is valuable. If you don’t want to die, the injured people step forward and get treated.” Ares said again.

This time, the crowd fell silent. They looked at each other, and soon, some students with injuries on their arms or legs — not on the vital parts — stepped forward.

Ares didn’t hesitate. He ordered the soldiers to cut off the wounds.

It was better to be crippled than to die.

But many students with injuries on vital parts hid in the group, too afraid to step forward. Their wounds couldn’t be cut off. If Ares was telling the truth, they’d die for sure. So they stayed hidden as long as they could.

George noticed a few of them acting strangely, but he didn’t say anything. When they left the secret realm, Lilia would check everyone again.

He scanned the crowd and quickly found Lily.

“George, I’m not hurt.”

Lily had a pale face, but she smiled.

George sighed in relief. Then he found Liam and others. The good news was they were all okay. But Noah had been killed by a monster.

They fell silent, their faces full of sadness.

George had a good impression of Noah.

Noah was an SSR-tier Shadow Assassin. He was quiet, but he always took care of Emily and others.

It was a shame. A real genius.

George felt sorry and a bit confused. Why had Bloodmist appeared here?

He found Eliex and asked, “Eliex, I remember you said Bloodmist comes from a lot of monster deaths, with piles of corpses. But there aren’t that many monster bodies here, right?”

Eliex shook his head. He was also confused and didn’t know how to explain.

“Actually, it’s not just from monster corpses. The seeds of the ancient Bloodvine can also create Bloodmist,” Lilia walked over and said quietly.

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