Rocky realized he had no chance of beating the Druid head-on. The forest itself was the Druid’s weapon, and Rocky was too weak to face it directly.

His only hope to beat him was to find the Druid’s source tree, the heart of its power and then destroy the tree, as according to his knowledge about druids, no matter how much he hurt them, within forests where they could simply replace their damaged parts with more dried twigs and trees, the druids moving body was nearly immortal and fighting it head-on was pointless unless he had a way to incinerate the moving body to ashes, which he did not.

Recalling his lessons back at the university, Rocky knew what to look for when searching for a druid’s source tree….. he needed to basically search for old looking trees that were unusually large or those that seemed unnaturally vibrant.

“A Druid’s life tree stands out. Look for signs of unnatural flourishing, and you’ll find their heart.” The voice of Professor Fae rang in his head as he recalled his lesson on druids using his perfect memory.

However, while he did have the knowledge on how to recognise the source tree, it wasn’t like the Druid in front of him was too keen on letting him walk a single step to search for that tree, as the second that Rocky tried to get away from the Druid, it immediately used nature magic to try trap Rocky amongst a web of vines and branches.

Rocky’s mind raced as he formulated a plan. He knew that he couldn’t beat the Druid in direct combat, but if played the role of being an opportunistic scum, he could use the Druid’s love for the forest against it.

Knowing full well that the Druid would prioritize saving the forest over attacking him in case of a forest fire breaking out, Rocky decided to use [ Fire Wall ] to try to cause a fire outbreak to start, as [ Fire Wall], although a defensive spell, was the only fire spell that he knew.

With a deep breath, Rocky cast [Fire Wall], igniting a nearby tree. Flames licked up the bark, spreading rapidly as the dry leaves caught fire.

Almost immediately, the Druid’s focus on trying to bind and trap Rocky wavered as Rocky saw the Druid’s eyes widen in alarm, as it immediately began trying to control the fire.

Seizing the opportunity, Rocky dashed through the forest, setting fires left and right.

Each [Fire Wall] spell ignited more trees, and soon the entire forest around him erupted in chaos.

The Druid, chasing after him got torn between putting out the fires and stopping Rocky, as while it could easily deal with Rocky alone if he was focused on fighting against it fairly, it couldn’t deal with both an escaping Rocky and a burning forest at once.

Rocky’s heart pounded as he searched for the source tree. He darted between burning trees, his eyes scanning for anything that stood out. The Druid’s furious shouts echoed through the forest, but Rocky pressed on, knowing this was his only chance.

Finally, he spotted it—a tree larger than the others, its bark glowing with an unnatural vitality that looked completely unlike the surrounding trees as it seemed to pulse with a faint, ethereal light.

‘This could be it…’ Rocky thought, running towards it as he tightened his grip on his fang swords.

As Rocky approached that tree, the Druid’s anger intensified, as for a moment it stopped trying to put out fires and turned all its attention towards Rocky as a sudden wave of attacks hit him.

*Slash*

*Slash*

*Sword Projection*

*Dodge*

*Slash*

Slicing through all the incoming flurry of vines and tree branches, Rocky tried to press onwards, as the sudden anger of the druid only confirmed his suspicion that this had to be its life tree.

Without hesitation, Rocky summoned all his strength and unleashed his strongest attacks on the tree’s base.

[ Double Boulder Splitting Slash ]

The twin blades bit into the bark, and with each strike, the tree shuddered.

This attack while enough to even split apart boulders the size of a two storey apartment, were not enough to split apart the tree as while Rocky managed to slide a few inches deep into the ancient wood, he could shockingly not carve his way through the wood, forcing him to repeat the strike twice.

The Druid’s anguished cries filled the air, but Rocky didn’t stop. He knew he had to finish this.

With a second powerful swing, Rocky used the move [ Twin Boulder Splitting Slash ] yet again, as this time his sword finally managed to cut through the tree’s base cleanly.

The mighty tree groaned and toppled, crashing to the ground with a deafening roar.

*CRASH*

The forest fell silent, and the Druid collapsed, its life force extinguished along with the tree as its body quickly began to rot and disintegrate.

In the end, it was the druids own attachment to the forest which had became his chains of downfall, as if it was not so obsessed with saving its surroundings, defeating Rocky would be as easy as blinking for it, however, his compulsion to save it’s fellow trees was what got it killed.

Breathing heavily, Rocky stepped back, his body trembling with exhaustion.

He had done it!

He had defeated the Druid, not with brute strength, but with cunning and determination as he felt extremely proud of this accomplishment.

‘Fu**, what the hell is this Origin Realm…. Why is the road to the test center so abnormally hard?

If the road itself is so hard then how hard is the test going to be?’ Rocky wondered, as he crashed flat on his back and looked at the purple sky above shining through the dense forest canopy.

The Origin Realm ‘Vorithra Slyithen’ was undoubtedly a tough place to be in and the challenges it posed to one’s life were serious as well.

———-

/// A/N – New month and new PS and GT Targets.

For this month, for every 300 PS there will be a bonus chapter and it will be 100 for GT. ///

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep