Jungle Battle

'Rank 6!!! What the f**k is up with this jungle?! I haven't even walked for two hours and I'm already encountering the final boss?!! This guy makes Bairus look like a random mummy mob!!'

In the hours that he walked through the jungle, Marcus had encountered several giant insects, amphibious monsters, and colossal reptiles. However, they were all within rank 3 or 4. But the Titanic centipede was on a completely different level.

At this point, all Marcus could do was stand as still as possible, pray not to be found, and wait for the titanic centipede to leave.

The huge myriapod stopped and began to scan its surroundings as if it was looking for something specific. Immediately, the giant centipede stretched its body and pounced on the top of a tree.

A squeal of pain was heard and a few seconds later, the centipede returned to the ground with what appeared to be the car-sized corpse of a lizard.

*Crunch! Munch! Crunch!*

Marcus watched in utter amazement as the Titanic centipede's jaws shredded the lizard's body like a crunchy cereal bar.

*tremble, tremble, tremble, tremble*.

'What the f**k is going on now?!'

But while the centipede was concentrating on its meal, the ground trembled once again and hundreds of roots and vines as thick as a human head started coming out of the ground.

A second later, the vines began to coalesce into a torso and arms of a giant humanoid whose head was a giant carnivorous plant.

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Race: Plant

Species: Carnivorous Treant Lord.

Titles: [Jungle lord][Living calamity]

[Insect Killer][Herbal King].

Rank:?

Level: ??

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'Seriously, where the f**k do these guys come from?! It's so strong I can't even see their rank!'

After his battle against Bairus, Marcus' [Analysis] skill had increased to the point where he could see some of his opponents' statistics. But, the stronger a creature was, the less information he could get.

In fact, this was the first time Marcus couldn't see a creature's rank and this only made it more obvious how strong the Treant lord was.

"Groooaalh!"

The Treant roared and immediately more vines came out of the ground and began to envelop the huge Centipede.

"KYYYYEEEH!"

The Centipede shrieked as it was strangled by the vines surrounding its body and it looked like it wouldn't be able to hold on for long.

*Fsssssssss*

But at that instant, the centipede began to release a purple gas, which came out from all parts of its body and a few seconds later the vines enveloping it began to dry up and wither.

Under the effect of the purple poison, the vines began to gradually weaken and a few moments later the huge centipede was completely freed from its bonds.

"KYYYYEEEH!"

Once free the Titanic centipede did not hesitate and immediately lashed out at the huge mass of weeds.

*FSSSSSS*

When it was only a few feet away, the centipede opened its maw exhaling its corrosive poisonous breath on the trant lord who was quickly covered by a cloud of corrosive purple gas.

When the vines and roots that formed the body of the Treant lord came in contact with the purple cloud they quickly began to wither and dry up.

But contrary to what the centipede expected, the Treant did not die and soon began to regenerate at such a rapid rate that the poison ceased to affect his body.

*FSSSSSssssss…*

Seeing that its venom no longer seemed to have an effect, the huge centipede stopped its attack, but it didn't look like it was going to give up.

*Bzzz... Bzzz...*

At that instant, the air around the titanic centipede began to vibrate, its body changed to a gray color and its texture became rocky. When the skill finally reached its peak, the gigantic centipede lunged at Treant Lord at a speed truly abnormal for a creature of its size.

*Baaam!*

The entire jungle shook as the two colossal monsters collided. The Titanic centipede used its powerful jaws to bite and hurt the Treant's body. The Treant wasn't going to stand still while its prey tore it apart, so it swung its arms and used the vines on its body to attack its adversary.

*BUM BUM BUM*

But no matter how hard they were, Treant lord's blows didn't seem to have any effect on his opponent's body, as if he was trying to break a concrete wall with a rubber hammer. Apparently, the Titanic centipede had used his innate skill to increase his defense, making his body almost indestructible.

*Chomp!

"Groooaalh!"

The centipede used its maw managing to sever Treant lord's right arm, and although the latter began to regenerate in no time, it seemed that the outcome of the battle was more than decided.

Marcus remained hidden in the bushes a few meters away from the two monsters and although he knew that staying there was too risky, the incredible scene unfolding in front of his "eyes" didn't allow him to move his body.

He simply couldn't stop watching, until a system message snapped him out of his trance

...

{Huge amounts of solar energy have been detected in the area}

...

{The user has been affected by solar energy}

...

{Strength, Defense, Agility, and Intelligence stats have been reduced by 30%}

...

'How, if it's not even dawn yet?!'

Marcus was confused. It hadn't been long since it had gotten dark and yet he was already suffering from the negative effects caused by solar energy.

*Weng Weng*

But at that instant, just as the great lord Treant finished regenerating, the air around him started to vibrate and distort. At that moment the herbal creature's chest began to radiate a white light that soon spread throughout his body and then focused on the carnivorous flower on his head.

'Oh sh*t!'

Marcus immediately jumped out of the bush he was in and broke into a run in the opposite direction of where the monsters were. He didn't know why but he had a feeling that if he stayed any longer he would die. And he was not the only one.

Seeing that his opponent was about to use a powerful skill the titanic centipede tried to run away from the battle, but it was too late.

*BOOOOOM!*

A great flash of light covered the jungle, followed by an explosive sound that made everything around it shake like an earthquake. Although the sound was deafening, trees and rocks in the jungle could still be heard being destroyed and pulverized by the shockwave.

*BOOooom... Thud, Thud!*

Gradually, the glow that illuminated the jungle area dimmed, the explosion stopped and was replaced by the sound of nearby trees being blown down, and a few seconds later everything calmed down.

*Aaagh, Sh*t!!It burns me, it burns too much!!*

[HP: 246/625]

Although he managed to escape the impact area, Marcus was hit by the powerful shockwave product of Lord Treant's attack, which caused his body to fly a few yards from its original position and end up with several broken bones. But that was not all.

The Treant lord's destructive beam of light contained enormous amounts of solar energy and as Marcus was undead, the attack had caused severe burns all over his body as well as causing him extremely unbearable pain.

'This is f**king insane!! His attack just grazed me and I already lost more than half of my HP!'

Marcus immediately circulated necrotic energy throughout his body causing his wounds to start healing and slowly his HP started to recover. But perhaps because the damage to his body was mostly from sun damage, his wounds were recovering slower than normal.

Although in his current state it was extremely painful and difficult, Marcus tried to get up from the ground to run away as fast as possible before the Treant lord attacked again.

However, curiosity made Marcus turn around to find out the outcome of the battle between the two colossal monsters. But, when he saw the scene in front of his empty eye sockets, his jaw almost dropped.

The first thing he saw was a path of destruction and devastation that was over 100 meters (109 yards) wide which only got wider and wider as it stretched for several miles along the jungle until it was lost from sight.

The trees that had been hit by the light attack were completely disintegrated, those that were still standing were instantly charred and both the ground and the jungle rocks were melted, turning into magma.

But then Marcus' attention was diverted to the center of the path.

The mighty Titanic centipede failed to escape the terrible attack and now lay there, in the center of the path of destruction, completely charred and it seemed that even the slightest blowing of the wind could crumble it.

'I-impressive, wi-with just one attack... that thing is almost like a living nuclear bomb! It could easily destroy a whole city if he wanted to!'

Marcus thought that after evolving twice he had become strong. But in the face of this powerful being that could destroy a mountain with a single attack, he was still completely powerless.

A vine from the Lord treant began to spread and in one swift motion pierced the chest of the now charred centipede. Unable to withstand the force of the blow, the body of the Titanic centipede crumbled into a pile of black dust.

All that was left of the centipede was a huge shiny brown and purple crystal nearly 2 meters (6.5 ft) tall that the Treant lord's vine was holding.

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Name: Rehi Crystal [Titanic Centipede].

Grade: 5.4

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Durability: 783 /2005

Energy: 18349/25470

Description:

A Rehi crystal from a [Titanic Centipede].

Contains earth energy and poison energy.

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The carnivorous flower of the herbal monster opened up and in one bite ate the huge crystal of the giant centipede, erasing all traces of its existence. But once it finished eating, the Treant's head turned to the direction where Marcus was.

Marcus was petrified and if he still had flesh on his body he would probably be trembling from the fear he felt.

Quickly thousands of thoughts raced through his head, trying to find a way to survive. But, it seemed that no matter what he did, he was screwed. In the face of such overwhelming power, all resistance was useless.

But then, the hundreds of vines and roots that made up the Treant's body began to separate and bury themselves underground. And just like that, the Lord Treant disappeared as suddenly as when he appeared and the jungle was completely silent once again.

'Haha...I guess skeletons are not part of its diet.' Marcus thought jokingly, as he tried to calm down and process everything that had just happened. 'What the f**k am I saying? This doesn't make sense! None of this makes sense!'

****

...

{User has been exposed to solar energy}

...

{Strength, Defense, Agility and Intelligence stats have been reduced by 90%}

...

{The efficiency of all necrotic energy-related skills decayed by 60%}

...

{The skill [Automatic MP recovery] leveled up}

...

{The skill [Energy Sense] leveled up}

...

{The skill [Energy Sense] leveled up}

...

{The skill [Analysis] skill leveled up}

...

{The skill [Marksmanship] leveled up}

…

{The skill [Marksmanship] leveled up}

...

{The skill [Marksmanship] leveled up}

...

{The skill [Acrobatics] leveled up}

...

{The skill [Acrobatics] leveled up}

...

'Ugh... At this rate, I'll die in less than a week... Really, who designed the difficulty level of this place?'

Despite being undead, Marcus was extremely exhausted so he decided to lie down on a nearby tree to protect himself from the sun and recover from his mental fatigue.

After the battle between the two colossal monsters, Marcus continued walking through the jungle for several hours.

Miraculously his luck wasn't too bad and although he encountered a couple of rank 4 monsters, he had managed to slip away unseen.

But, when dawn finally came, Marcus didn't stop and kept moving through the dense jungle.

After the incident, Marcus did not dare to go out at night and even though all his stats were reduced to those of a common skeleton, it was still better than facing the night monsters.

As for the damage caused by sunlight, the floating islands and trees made the jungle full of shadows, so there were enough dark spaces to hide from the sunlight. Also, his plate armor covered much of his body, so as long as Marcus was careful, he wouldn't be burned by the sun's rays.

The first few hours were fairly uneventful.

Marcus had been walking without encountering many monsters, except for some large reptiles and amphibians, but they were all rank 1 so he only had to use a couple of spells and his weapons to kill them.

After a while, it became more evident that the nocturnal jungle monsters were stronger and more dangerous than the diurnal ones who barely reached rank 2.

However, as Marcus progressed, his mana became more and more depleted and under the effects of solar energy, he soon became vulnerable to predator attacks.

The hours passed and soon the sunset came.

In that time, many of Marcus' skills leveled up and he managed to get a total of 69,642 XP points along with a large number of monster cores, which was good enough in itself.

'Just a few thousand more points and I'll be able to level up!.... But for tonight I have to take shelter, then I'll see what to do.' Marcus thought.

While he had certainly made good progress, Marcus couldn't deny the fact that he took a considerable amount of damage as he went along. He had even lost a set of armor and a couple of weapons in the process!

Clearly, he was in no condition to stay out any longer.

It was already getting dark, so Marcus started looking for a place where he could spend the night safe from predators.

*rustling, rustling*

But then, Marcus heard the sound of nearby bushes moving, and not because of the wind. A few moments later, an ant-like creature a little smaller than a pony appeared a few steps away from him