Chapter 342: When enemies meet, they are particularly...moved

All things in Ionia are spiritual, and the forests are imbued with magic, so wildfires never form naturally.

The Ionians believe in balance and protecting nature, and there are very few crazy people who would set fire to the mountains.

Therefore, such a tragic scene of everything burning to death had rarely appeared in Ionia before, and no Ionian wanted to see it happen. But now...

"Bastards!" The shameless evil deeds of the Noxians had the effect of mocking the entire map.

Even the "old abbot" Shen couldn't help but go on a killing spree, let alone others.

Kenan's eyes flashed with lightning and lightning flashed around him. In an instant, he turned into a lightning phantom and rushed straight into the enemy camp.

Master Yi also rose up into the air, and became one with the sword, like a sharp and deadly invisible sword beam, breaking through the air and slashing towards him.

Even the little girl Akali wielded her crossbow and rushed into the enemy camp with murderous intent, using her immature but deadly martial arts.

…

The Noxian soldiers were just aiming at the forest out of boredom. The next second, they saw the cold light of a sword slashing down, the flash of lightning, and the sword energy coming in all directions...

What followed was a cry of fear, panicked roars, and the strange sound of lightning burning flesh and swords tearing through human bodies.

And this sound did not last long.

The mission of this Noxian team is just to set fires, and they are certainly not elite troops with strong combat power.

In fact, setting fire to the mountains would disrupt the balance and cause indiscriminate invasion of evil spirits, so this act itself was somewhat dangerous.

Therefore, the Noxian soldiers sent to perform this kind of mission were originally worthless third-line cannon fodder.

Of course, they themselves don't know it.

But now they understood. Facing the powerful fighting force of the Order of the Balance, the soldiers had almost no ability to fight back.

The battle soon ended in chaos, and the insane arson and shelling finally stopped.

But this is just the beginning of the trouble.

The fire has already started raging and has engulfed the forests all over the mountains.

Thousands of lives were hopelessly annihilated in the flames, and the power of darkness quickly gathered in the spiritual realm invisible to mortals.

"Everyone be careful, the mutation is about to begin!" Shen didn't even bother to wipe the blood off his steel sword, and raised the soul-slaying soul blade again.

He no longer cared about his anger at this moment, but his eyes still couldn't hide the solemnity.

The evil spirit has already hatched in another world.

And the source of its power is not just the trees burned by the Noxians this time.

This is just the spark that ignites the powder keg.

It was the war and killing that had taken place in the southern part of Shangzan Province over the past year or so. The infinite dark energy created by this chaos had silently nurtured it.

When this "black cloud" floated here and allowed Shen to observe it, it had already expanded to become extremely powerful.

And now, it has been completely ignited in this raging fire——

The balance between the two worlds, the invisible barrier between the spiritual realm and the material realm, finally collapsed and broke under the huge waves like a dam that could not bear the flood.

"Such a strong aura..." Master Yi swallowed nervously.

At this moment, he could also sense the abnormality in the spiritual realm.

No, this can't be called abnormal. It should be called horrible.

It feels like the alchemical gas tank in Zaun exploded and you happened to be standing next to it.

It’s just that the poison gas is tangible, while the terrifying energy that overflows from the spiritual realm is intangible.

However, it soon became tangible.

“The trees are alive?!” Master Yi has been living in the idyllic Wuji Village, and this is the first time he has seen this bizarre scene, which is not uncommon in Ionia in recent years.

He saw that the dead trees and branches that were burned by the fire were twisting and squirming like zombies, and then straightening their bodies in the embers of the sky.

And those flowers, plants and trees that had not yet been burned by the fire and still had vibrant life quickly withered and died in an invisible dead air.

Died, and then "alive" again.

Those dead tree trunks, branches, vines, flowers and plants are all growing wildly in a grotesque and twisted posture.

The huge tree trunk twisted violently, coiling to form a giant. The roots of bushes and grass broke through the ground and crawled onto its body to form pieces of skin, and the soil and gravel formed muscles. Dark vines crawled and intertwined on the surface of the creature, like rhythmic blood vessels.

It is extremely huge, perhaps dozens of meters tall.

Standing in front of everyone, he looked like a hill made of dead wood and rotten vines.

But this "mountain" is alive.

This kind of monster is called "tree spirit" or "forest spirit" by the Ionians - of course, to be more precise, it should be a corrupted forest spirit.

Its image and positioning are closer to the evil spirit that a tree turns into after death, so it is more appropriate to call it a "tree demon".

"Don't just stand there, get moving!" Kenan shouted, and rushed out in the flash of lightning.

His short stature as a Yodel seemed as small as a squirrel in front of the huge tree spirit.

But this is actually an advantage.

The tree spirit sensed the approach of the "electric squirrel" and waved its thousands of tentacles made of vines and branches, striking down on Kennen with overwhelming force.

Kenan, however, relied on his nimble and petite body and the acceleration of lightning magic to maneuver and dodge flexibly among the huge tentacles that were falling down.

Only when he was close to the tree spirit's feet did he leap into the air and suddenly soared high into the sky:

"Secret Profound Meaning! Ten Thousand Thunder Prison Induction!"

Endless power of thunder and lightning erupted from Kenan's body, releasing a deadly lightning storm in all directions.

It was as if a spherical firework formed by lightning exploded in the sky, and the huge ball of lightning swallowed up half of the tree spirit's body, causing the huge beast to howl in pain.

At this time, Shen also took action.

He leaped forward quickly and charged forward. Although the soul blade was not in his hand, it was floating behind him like a loyal comrade, guarding him.

The vine tentacles that surrounded Shen from all directions tried to stop his attack, but all they saw was the soul blade that was surrounding Shen's body, shining brightly.

As the light flashed, the Soul Blade released a powerful defensive barrier, blocking all invading enemies outside the light curtain.

"Wait for me!" Master Yi also took action.

He flew up to catch up with Shen's pace, rubbing against the Soul Blade's defensive barrier, and rushed to the front of the tree spirit together with him.

Yi used all his strength to perform his Wuji secret technique, pouring all the magical energy absorbed from the spiritual realm into the sword blade, causing the blade to continue to "grow" and actually grow a magical sword light several meters long.

"Alpha Raid!"

Master Yi raised the "ten-meter-long sword" high and chopped at the giant beast in front of him with all his strength.

Shinya used the sword-controlling technique to control the soul blade, causing it to pierce the tree spirit's head that was shining with demonic light.

“Ahhhh——” the tree spirit howled miserably in pain.

And this made it even crazier.

The twisted branches that made up its body were now surging like huge waves, whistling towards everyone who approached it.

But Shen, Kennen, Master Yi, and the followers of the Balance...

Even Akali, who was so weak that she could only give the giant beast a pedicure, rushed towards it without caring about her own life.

…

After a fierce battle, the giant beast fell down with a howl.

The thousands of branches and vines that made up its body broke free and collapsed in an instant, turning into a pool of lifeless dead branches and leaves on the ground.

“Win, win?” Master Yi breathed a sigh of relief: “Huh…”

"It doesn't seem that powerful?" He sighed in a very ignorant manner as he looked at the tree spirit that had turned into a bunch of dead branches.

But Kenan said seriously: "No, this is just the beginning."

"Huh?" Master Yi was slightly stunned.

Hasn’t the evil spirit been chopped to death? Why is it just beginning?

"No, the spirit never died. You only killed its incarnation in the material realm," Kenan explained. "As long as the corrupted spirit inhabits another realm, the twisted monster can continue to reshape its material body."

"Just like this—"

Master Yi followed Kennen's instructions and took a closer look:

Sure enough, the huge tree spirit he had just killed was moving and "breathing" again.

The dead branches and rotten vines that spread out from its body gradually regained their vitality and began to wriggle like maggots towards the tree spirit's body.

It is obvious that this monster is gradually coming back to life.

"This..." Master Yi felt a tingling sensation on his scalp.

How can we fight this thing if it can't be killed?!

"That's up to us," Shen said, "Methods from the material realm will never be able to kill an evil spirit."

"So, we have to go to the spiritual realm now and destroy that 'source'."

As he spoke, Shen raised his soul blade and created a purple gate of light in the air.

This door connected to another world. He just took a step forward and completely disappeared into the material world.

"Leave the battle in the spiritual realm to us."

Kennen, along with several highly skilled masters of the Balance, cast a spell and prepared to follow Shen into the spiritual realm.

Only Master Yi and a group of young disciples from the Sect of Balance were left.

They are either outsiders who don't know the secret art of balance, or they are juniors with shallow cultivation, none of them have the ability to enter the spiritual realm to fight.

Naturally, they could not participate in the subsequent battles.

"Then what should we do?" Yi asked quickly.

It looks like it will take some time for that monster to be resurrected.

Are they going to stay here and guard the corpse for the rest of the time, waiting for the monster to resurrect?

"No." Kenan shook his head: "You have more important tasks to accomplish in the material realm."

"What?" Yi asked.

"Put out the fire." Kenan pointed to the fire that covered the entire mountain.

The fire has only burned one hilltop now, but the fire is still spreading in all directions at an increasingly severe rate.

Here, mountains are connected to mountains, and dense forests stretch for hundreds of miles in all directions.

"If the fire gets out of control and burns down the entire forest..."

"Then the nearby cities may become dead areas in the future."

"In this case, what's the point of getting rid of the evil spirit?" Kenan said solemnly: "The billions of souls that died in the fire will soon condense into a stronger and more terrifying evil spirit in the spiritual realm."

"In this way, our battle today is completely failed."

That's why Kenan said that their work in the material realm is more important than fighting evil spirits.

Although it sounds like they are just putting out a fire, in fact, what they want to save is this vast land and billions of lives.

"I understand. Let us take care of this matter." Master Yi nodded solemnly.

He watched Kennen and several other Masters of Balance escape into the spiritual realm, then turned back to look at the raging fire, and then...

The lofty ambition that had just risen in his heart immediately turned into solemnity.

"This fire..." It's really too big.

In the short few minutes that they stopped the Noxian soldiers from setting fire and eliminated the corrupted tree spirits, the fire had spread from the bottom of the mountain to the top, almost covering the entire hillside.

The flames shot up into the sky, illuminating half of the sky red. The waves of fire were like wild beasts released from their cages, greedily biting all the creatures around them.

The fire spread so quickly that it seemed almost impossible to stop it from growing.

"Goddess Janna, please give me strength!" Master Yi could only seek help from the goddess.

The sword master put down his sword and focused his whole heart on controlling the strong wind.

He tried hard to control this huge storm and single-handedly changed the wind direction of the entire fire scene.

The fire, which was originally spreading wildly with the wind, now encountered strong headwinds blowing from all directions.

The wind hit the fire head-on, temporarily curbing its crazy spread.

At this time, the members of the Church of Balance also began to take action.

Because the number of wildfires caused by wars has increased significantly in recent years, and large-scale wildfires will almost inevitably lead to the breakdown of balance and the invasion of evil spirits...

Therefore, while performing their main job of "exorcism", the Order of the Balance also gradually honed the professional skills of the forest fire brigade.

Their method of dealing with wildfires is simple, but also very effective:

"Hurry up, cut down the trees outside the fire scene and dig a barrier!"

The members of the Church of Balance turned into woodcutters, rushed into the mountains and forests to find a suitable location, and tried their best to chop down the big trees.

Although they only have a pair of hands and a very primitive tool like a machete, the good news is...

These members of the Hengjing sect, who have been practicing martial arts since childhood, are actually more efficient at chopping trees with knives than with excavators.

A stronger disciple could chop down several large trees in succession with just one swing of his sword.

The heavy tree trunks fell to the ground, and a little girl like Akali could easily carry them and carry them away quickly.

The fire was temporarily suppressed by the strong wind summoned by Master Yi.

A wide isolation zone was quickly formed thanks to the efforts of the followers of the Balance Church.

The situation seems to be improving.

But……

"Not enough, not enough." Master Yi's forehead was covered with cold sweat.

Although he is powerful and can bear a huge amount of divine power, at this moment, he is just one person after all.

To contain such a large-scale fire with a strong wind would consume too much mental energy. He simply couldn't hold on for long.

Even if there is a headwind, the fire will still spread outwards slowly, just at a slower speed.

The wider the fire wave spreads and the larger the fire area, the stronger the wind Master Yi needs and the higher the consumption of his mental energy.

"Hurry up! You guys!"

In desperation, Master Yi could only hold on while yelling at Akali and others on the ground.

"Hold on a little longer, Yi!" Akali could only shout at him in a hoarse voice to encourage him.

There is no way. The fire is too big.

Even if there are enough people from the Church of Balance, and each of them is a human excavator, this isolation zone cannot be dug out in a short time.

"Okay, I'll hold on for a while..."

Master Yi used all his strength to try to maintain the strong wind that could suppress the fire.

Sweat soaked his forehead, and the excessive amount of spellcasting made his eyes filled with ferocious bloodshot.

He exerted his willpower to the extreme... In this world, human willpower can sometimes create miracles, and mortals can even use it to defeat the stars.

But unfortunately, Master Yi failed to create a miracle this time.

He had lasted long enough, far longer than he should have.

However, this was not enough. The containment zone was not completed and the fire was still spreading.

Gradually, Master Yi realized that he had reached his limit.

"What should I do..." Master Yi was a little desperate.

He was thinking whether to pray to the goddess -

Levi told them that if they had an extremely urgent situation, they could pray to the goddess Janna for help.

As long as you explain the cause of the matter clearly and report your exact location, you will have the opportunity to immediately receive "trans-temporal and spatial support" from Zaun.

But the prerequisite is that the situation must be "extremely urgent" and must be close to the level of the massacre at Yipu River Port.

If the situation is not serious enough, your prayers will most likely not be answered.

After all, Levi himself can't dive into the abyss, so he has to ask Tam for extra-temporal support.

But the king of rivers also has a temper.

Just because he occasionally runs errands for Levi, it doesn't mean that he is really Levi's employee.

Mr. Tam has to go and take care of any little thing that happens to anyone, and he can be really cruel when he gets angry.

"The current situation...should be considered 'extremely urgent', right?"

Master Yi was still struggling in his heart as to whether or not to use this precious opportunity to pray for help.

And at this moment, when he was exhausted and could no longer control the strong wind, and the fire spread rapidly in all directions again;

Just when Akali and the followers of the Kinkou were in despair...

The strong wind started blowing again.

The fire was contained again.