Chapter 168: Ambushed

Marcus stepped forward and attempted to pass through the swirling, cloud-like exit. He expected the familiar sensation of transition, the brief distortion of space that accompanied teleportation.

But nothing happened. He remained exactly where he was. A system notification appeared in front of him.

[The exit of the Mist Veil Palace is damaged and cannot be used.]

’Damaged?’ Marcus frowned. ’Great. So how exactly am I supposed to get out? Even if I complete the quest and obtain the Dragon’s Crest and the Dragon-Horse Lyre, what then? Am I just supposed to live here now?’

Refusing to accept it at face value, he charged at the white energy shield that encased the palace. The moment he made contact, it felt like slamming into a solid steel wall. The barrier did not so much as ripple. Ever since the Wyvern Saint Knight Lyanna sealed the palace, this exit had been the only way in or out.

He activated Insight and focused it on the damaged exit, hoping the skill would reveal some hidden detail. If it could detect traps and concealed monsters, perhaps it could uncover the truth here as well.

Mist Veil Palace Exit: When the Wyvern Saint Knight Lyanna sealed the Mist Veil Palace using the Boundary Stone Needle, she was injured and could not fully control the artifact. This caused a deviation in the seal, damaging the exit. The exit can only be used after finding the Boundary Stone Needle and repairing it.

Marcus stared at the description in disbelief.

’What kind of nonsense is this? If I manage to find the Boundary Stone Needle, why would I bother repairing the exit? I could just break the entire seal and leave whenever I want.’

Still, the message made one thing clear. His task had just grown more complicated. Not only did he need to complete the Dragon’s Crest quest, he now had to locate the Boundary Stone Needle as well.

He could only hope Lyanna’s injuries had been severe enough that she had not ventured too deeply into the palace before sealing it. If she had managed to explore thoroughly before sealing it, then whatever lay ahead would be far more dangerous than he had anticipated.

With no other choice, he began moving deeper into the palace grounds.

The Mist Veil Palace was divided into three sections. He was currently in the outer area. Beyond that lay the courtyard, and beyond the courtyard stood the inner palace itself. The faint outlines of distant structures were barely visible through the ever-present mist, giving the entire place an unreal, dreamlike quality.

Before long, he encountered a dense grove of strange, man-sized trees. Their trunks were twisted and black, their bark rough and knotted like old scars. Thick branches covered in dark leaves writhed and swayed continuously, even though there was no wind. They crowded the path forward, forming a living barricade.

There was nothing natural about them.

He cast Insight.

—

Blacklake Bloodwood.

Level: 35

Health: 5000

A carnivorous tree that grows by the shores of Blacklake. It uses long, vine-like branches to viciously strike its enemies or entangle them, draining their blood until death.

The cultists of the Mist Veil Palace originally attempted to summon level 50 Man-Eating Demon Flowers from Blacklake but lacked the power and mistakenly summoned these Bloodwoods instead. Deeming them too weak, the cultists discarded them here.

Skills:

Branch Flurry: Lashes out with long branches, whipping opponents like vines.

Vine Entanglement: Shoots out vines to bind an opponent. On a successful hit, reduces movement speed by 30 percent, with a 5 percent chance to completely immobilize the target for three seconds.

—

’Trash mobs,’ Marcus concluded after reading through the information. Aside from their relatively high health pool, they seemed unimpressive. No wonder the cultists had treated them like failed experiments and dumped them here.

’Perfect. They would make excellent test subjects.’

With a low battle cry, Marcus drew the Bat Dragon Cloud Sword and charged into the grove, his pets moving in formation behind him.

The moment the blade flashed, he felt the difference. The mythic sword was astonishingly responsive, light yet powerful, each swing flowing into the next with effortless precision. Blade shadows layered over one another in rapid succession, and the damage numbers that rose were even more satisfying. His normal attacks were striking for roughly fifteen hundred damage each, nearly double his previous output, and the critical hits came with startling frequency. Almost every third strike flared with amplified damage.

He was not even using active skills.

Against these Bloodwoods, he could easily fight alone.

Although the trees were aggressive, they were scattered throughout the grove and appeared rooted in place. Marcus had to move from one to the next, cutting them down individually. It quickly became tedious. His area-of-effect skill, Hundred Phantom Strike, was nearly useless in this situation, preventing him from unleashing his full combat potential. Even the Shadow-Stained Gryphon King’s sweeping attacks felt excessive for enemies that could not cluster.

He carved a steady path toward the center of the grove. The level thirty-five Bloodwoods provided respectable experience, but the process was inefficient. Through gaps in the trees, he could faintly see the palace courtyard in the distance. Larger silhouettes moved there, pacing slowly across open ground. His attention drifted toward them.

That was when the situation changed. The Bloodwoods nearest to him began to move.

Five or six of the closest trees uprooted themselves with heavy, creaking sounds and advanced toward him. Their movement was slow but deliberate. Vine-like branches lashed through the air as they closed in.

’They can move?’

Marcus felt a flicker of irritation. ’So I ran around like an idiot for nothing. If I had known this, I would have just used Taunt from the start and gathered them together for a clean sweep.’

His Insight skill clearly still had room for growth. The information it provided was accurate, but incomplete.

Before the Bloodwoods even reached him, their elongated vines shot forward. They did not attack haphazardly. Instead, their strikes came almost simultaneously, carefully timed. These creatures were not mindless plants, they were coordinating.

’Interesting,’ Marcus thought. ’So you do have some brains.’

He raised the divine Adamant Shield and met the assault head-on. Defense was his strongest suit, and with his current equipment, he felt nearly untouchable. Each Branch Flurry struck for only around sixty damage. Even combined, five or six trees posed no real threat to him.

’Monsters at this level probably cannot even break my defense,’ he thought with quiet confidence.

He was about to activate Taunt and draw in even more of them when the Bloodwoods abruptly shifted tactics. Instead of continuing their barrage, they all triggered Vine Entanglement at the same time.

Vines shot forward from every direction. They were not trying to wear him down, it looked like they were trying to pin him in place.

Marcus’s eyes narrowed. ’What are you planning?’ It made little sense for them to abandon damage in favor of control unless…

A prickle of unease crept up his spine. Right then the air around him shimmered.

Out of thin air, faint white figures materialized within the mist. Their forms were indistinct, their features blurred as if sculpted from fog. They floated silently above the ground, hands raised as they chanted in low, overlapping voices. Moments later, they hurled compact, cloud-like projectiles toward him.

There were other monsters here.

They had been hidden behind the Bloodwoods, concealed by stealth, and they were ranged attackers.

’It’s a trap.’

The realization hit him at the same time the first projectiles struck. He had underestimated this place.

The Bloodwoods had deliberately presented themselves as crude, slow targets, encouraging him to relax. While he focused on testing his new equipment and complaining about efficiency, the true threat had positioned itself quietly in the background.

With the vines restricting his movement, the ranged monsters unleashed their ambush.

Damage numbers exploded across his vision.

-80, -70, Miss, -90, Miss…

His high Luck and Agility allowed him to evade a portion of the incoming attacks, but roughly two-thirds of the twenty or so projectiles still connected. In a matter of seconds, nearly half his health vanished.

If he had been an ordinary level thirty player, the burst would have ended him instantly. Only his inflated stats, massive health pool, and absurd defense allowed him to survive the initial volley.

’Impressive,’ Marcus admitted inwardly as he steadied himself. No wonder the Mist Veil Palace earned its reputation as a place of no return. Any typical level thirty player would have been annihilated by that perfectly coordinated ambush. Even someone who survived the first wave would find themselves immobilized, surrounded, and pressured by relentless follow-up attacks..

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