The scene shifts back to Strange Tree Island.

After safely storing away the Dark Old Tree's root containing pure shadow and decay essence, Lynch wasted no time and immediately set off for his next target—the search for the Monster Tree Heart.

However, unlike his previously composed state, Lynch now carried an unshakeable weight of gravity between his brows, and his speed through the air noticeably quickened, tinged with rare urgency.

The surrounding environment, with its sporadic and chaotic elemental storms, and the ever-present elemental disturbances, felt like tightening ropes around his heart, pressing it heavily.

This kind of method, directly disrupting and altering the underlying structure of element formations, was unheard of in his long wizarding career. It went beyond the scope of an ordinary disaster or experimental accident, resembling more a barbaric alteration of the world's foundational workings.

A terrifying speculation spiraled uncontrollably in his mind, expanding: Since such severe disturbances to the fundamental rules appeared on Strange Tree Island, what about the outside world? Other places in the Blue Realm Wizard Domain? Even in Jade Land or the Ancient Ruins?

Was the entire elemental foundational network the Wizard World relied upon also experiencing similar or even more intense fluctuations and collapse?

Thinking of the potential catastrophes and havoc outside, triggered by elemental chaos, a strong unease gripped his heart.

He urgently wanted to know the situation outside, wondering if Annie, Naliti, and Vanilla were safe.

This anxiety over an unknown disaster set his heart ablaze, focusing only on gathering the materials he needed quickly to leave this troubled place and return to Farlan to confirm the situation.

Amidst these chaotic thoughts, he followed the map's guidance and rapidly arrived at a distinctly different area from the Old Tree Swamp.

Before him lay a desolate, withered forest.

The trees here had peculiar shapes, somewhat similar to a certain locust tree he recognized, with gnarled and twisted branches, yet the whole bore a lifeless, ashen gray color.

The unnerving aspect was that all the trees in this forest had completely withered, not a single leaf remained, just bare, twisted branches stretching like arms towards the chaotic sky.

What caught the eye even more was the clear sight of a dark hole on every tree trunk.

Upon closer inspection, the bark patterns around the holes naturally formed an outline resembling human facial features—two sunken pits like eye sockets, a raised bridge of the nose below, and the dark, deep hole was unmistakably the mouth of these bizarre trees!

They stood silently, thousands of "faces" staring blankly at the intruder, wordlessly conveying a sense of ominousness and strangeness. This was the place where the Monster Tree Heart was born.

Almost the instant Lynch stepped into the range of this withered forest, the silence was shattered!

The countless gaping, mouth-like holes on the withered trees twisted open simultaneously, emitting shrill, hoarse, overlapping roars, full of pure hostility and rage:

"Intruder! Intruder detected!"

"Intruder! Intruder detected!"

"Intruder! Intruder detected!"

The piercing sound waves swept in like tangible sonic attacks, enough to cause mental turbulence in an ordinary Mystical Wizard.

However, Lynch, preoccupied with the external upheaval, had no intention of negotiating with these magic plants. Facing this overwhelming hostility, his gaze turned cold, and without chanting any spell, he simply turned his hand—

"Clang!"

A clear and resonant sword hum echoed through the forest!

The Ifrid's Sword, entwined with dark red and golden flames, was drawn, and the terrifying pressure of the Late Domain burst forth like a suddenly awakened volcano, its scorching and violent aura dispelling most of the sinister cold brought by the forest of Strange Trees!

Lynch moved, transforming into a shadow as he plunged into the deathly forest of eerie trees!

These strange trees of the forest were meticulously cultivated domain-level magic plants by the Farlan Wizards, with strength ranging from Domain Early Stage to Middle Domain. Their vast root systems were deeply embedded into the body of the world species Vadorra, able to manipulate enormous earth and vegetation power, their trunks harder than iron, capable of deploying various entangling, corrosive, and mental shriek attacks. Even an ordinary Domain Wizard would need to be extremely cautious facing even one, taking considerable time to maneuver lest they fall victim to its deceit.

However, Lynch was no ordinary domain!

He was an anomaly who had pushed the challenging laws of space, time, and decay all to the Domain Peak (MAX)!

The battle unfolded as a one-sided onslaught—

Countless black roots like giant pythons burst from the ground, attempting to entangle Lynch's feet, but they crashed against an invisible, distorted barrier several meters around him. The spatial structure of the roots was forcibly misaligned, twisted, even tangled and torn, unable to reach him in the slightest.

A few particularly robust Mid-Domain level strange trees spewed a dark green, corrosive mist capable of eroding domains. The poisonous torrent surged forth, but as it entered Lynch's domain range, its speed plummeted by a hundredfold, as if stuck in an excessively viscous time mire, slow enough to almost halt, allowing Lynch to easily evade.

Lynch wielded Ifrid's Sword, striking not mere flame sword auras, but with dark red edges laced with barely visible decaying currents of air.

Where the sword aura passed, the immensely hard trunks of the strange trees were not chopped down but instantly withered, weathered by ages, decaying silently into clouds of ash, obliterating even their core essence!

He moved like a tiger among sheep, his figure flickering amidst the twisted withered trees, each appearance accompanied by the swing of Ifrid's Sword, or the silent slicing of spatial fissures, or sudden stasis by time membrane, or imperceptible spreading of decay law.

The forest of strange trees, with its defenses and regeneration irritating to peers of the same level, appeared utterly feeble under the compound strikes of the Triple Peak Domain. Their attacks couldn't touch Lynch, and every counter by Lynch efficiently dismantled their structure and vitality.

This was no battle but an immensely effective cleanup.

Like slicing through melon and vegetable, Lynch rampaged ahead, invincible. In moments, the once densely packed, hostile withered forest had been cleared of a vast area, full of ash, remnants, and a few trees frozen in time, trapped mid-attack yet unable to move.

The battle swiftly concluded.

Lynch dug into the tree trunks to excavate the heart-shaped substance within, the Monster Tree Heart.

"3...5...6...8, enough."

Having collected enough Monster Tree Hearts, Lynch stopped the slaughter, knowing that although Farlan permitted his gathering here, he shouldn't excessively exploit it.

Securing the Monster Tree Hearts, Lynch prepared to set off for the next destination.

Yet at that moment, a voice whispered in his ear:

"Come... come to me..."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.