Chapter 276 ·Mother Tree Egg

Chapter 276: Mother Tree Egg! Creating an Abyssal Retainer! (Please Vote!)

The Core Hall.

Hang Yu noticed the players' actions.

Naturally, he also saw Madam Zou, the hidden minor boss of Old Wan.

If she had merely been an ordinary Corrupted being, she would not have attracted Hang Yu's attention. However, after seeing the scene unfold, he was momentarily stunned, somewhat surprised, and even delighted.

This Madam Zou was no ordinary Corrupted being!

The so-called Corrupted beings were, in essence, Abyss citizens.

Judging from Madam Zou's current state, she more closely resembled an Abyss monster or an Abyss demon. Corrupted beings of this type were much rarer than ordinary Corrupted beings, and the conditions required for their formation were far more demanding.

There was no way to know why Madam Zou had become like this.

But one thing was certain—

this was a rare monster.

There was a chance it would drop rare loot.

…………

At this moment.

Under the watchful eyes of Raise a Cup to the Moon, Arthur King, and the others.

The Sea of Corruption Flowers underwent a bizarre transformation.

Countless stems converged toward the center, forming an enormous monster.

Its lower half was a gigantic tree covered with fleshy tumors and tentacles. Several flowers bloomed at its crown, while its middle section was covered with giant, beautiful female faces.

The combination was utterly mismatched.

Extremely bizarre.

【Old Wan Flower Mother: Madam Zou】, Level 27 Lord Unit... Introduction: Once the aunt of Zhang Xiu, Madam Zou was slain by the chaos of battle during the Battle of the Yu River. Filled with resentment, she awakened from the Abyssal Nightmare and, under the influence of the Abyss Mother Tree, transformed into her current form.

Three Thousand Zhang with One Pee Against the Wind said, “That's Madam Zou?”

Warrior Like the Wind complained, “Don't tell me there isn't a single native female NPC in this game who actually looks normal?”

Gungnir asked, “Why does its name have a prefix?”

This target seemed rather special.

The expressions of the Calamity Legion members became serious.

Although they had expected Madam Zou to be somewhat stronger than ordinary Corrupted beings, they had never imagined she would be a Level 27 Lord. Judging from the aura she emitted, she was probably already approaching the level of a first-rate Lord.

Fortunately, she was still far from being an Overlord unit.

Otherwise, twenty third-order members of the Calamity Legion would have stood no chance.

“We only have one opportunity. We can only win this battle!”

Raise a Cup to the Moon said, “So we absolutely cannot hold anything back. We have to fight with everything we've got!”

Arthur King replied, “Don't worry. For the honor of Ragnarok, we'll definitely give it our all!”

After the Old Wan Flower Mother awakened, resentment and fury filled every face upon her body.

She then let out a shrill scream, and countless intertwined roots burst forth from the surrounding ground.

At the tips of these root-tentacles bloomed fleshy flower buds.

Formation light radiated from within them, and Mothman-like Flower Servants flew out.

“Damn it! This thing keeps summoning adds!”

“Attack!”

Raise a Cup to the Moon fired an Earth Dragon Arrow like a meteor, striking the Flower Mother.

-102 (Critical Hit!)

Raise a Cup to the Moon's expression changed slightly.

Even with a critical hit, it had only dealt this much damage?

He considered his attack power to be quite high.

Although he was using an ordinary second-order green Earth Dragon Arrow, it had already been enhanced to +6.

Combined with his skills, very few current players could withstand such an arrow.

Ordinary third-order elite monsters would either die or be severely wounded.

Yet the Old Wan Flower Mother was not threatened in the slightest.

The damage was practically negligible.

Everyone watched as the section of the Flower Mother's body shattered by the Earth Dragon Arrow rapidly regenerated before their eyes.

At the same time, she continued summoning more and more tentacle flower buds nearby.

At this rate, within only a few minutes, dozens or even hundreds of Flower Servants would appear.

Already, more than a dozen moth-like Flower Servants had emerged from those tentacle flower buds.

Although they were elite monsters, they were also Level 23 and 24 third-order elites.

Once their numbers exceeded ten, they would become an enormous threat.

“Attack!”

“Don't let them get close!”

Blind Swordsman of the Immortal Dragon Soul, and Battousai of Ragnarok, both attacked the nearest targets.

“Swift Shadow Assault!”

“Grand Whirlwind Slash!”

The two of them unleashed completely different skills.

Blind Swordsman used the famous Swift Shadow Assault.

The cultivation method for this skill was no longer a secret within the territory.

First, combine Gale Step and Shadow Sneak Step to create Swift Shadow Step.

Then combine Swift Shadow Step with Flash Shadow Step to create Swift Shadow Assault.

Because it wasn't especially difficult to cultivate, many Ranger players had mastered it.

So the appearance of the skill itself wasn't surprising.

What truly surprised everyone was that Blind Swordsman was a Warrior player, yet he had mastered a skill like Swift Shadow Assault.

That was no easy feat.

It wasn't difficult to see that Blind Swordsman of the Immortal Dragon Soul, like Salted Fish Thrust from Wings of Freedom, was technically a Warrior, yet followed a high-speed, high-agility build instead of becoming a brute-force Warrior.

As for the Japanese player Battousai, his Grand Whirlwind Slash was a blue-quality skill he had personally created by combining Charged Gathering Slash with Charged Whirlwind Slash.

Blind Swordsman transformed into four or five afterimages, rapidly charging forward to kill a Flower Servant.

Battousai, meanwhile, spent three seconds charging his attack before unleashing a massive crescent-shaped blade aura from afar.

Another Flower Servant was split cleanly in half.

“This islander has some real skill!”

Blind Swordsman gave Battousai another glance.

The other Immortal Dragon Soul players were equally surprised by Battousai's strength.

After all, the skill he used had never before appeared within the Calamity Legion.

Being capable of killing a third-order elite monster with a single slash even if it required prior charging and was merely a burst skill was enough to demonstrate that his combat power was not to be underestimated.

Likewise, the Ragnarok Legion was equally surprised by the Immortal Dragon Soul's strength.

Blind Swordsman wasn't especially famous throughout the Calamity Legion, yet the strength he displayed was at the very least no weaker than Hua Mulan of the Divine Feather Palace.

His future growth potential might even rival the first-tier players.

Clearly, he was an exceptionally low-profile expert.

And who knew how many more hidden experts like him there were?

The Calamity Legion truly hid countless dragons and crouching tigers!

The others also joined the battle.

Several more Flower Servants were killed.

Although this Calamity Legion squad was quite powerful, the Flower Mother summoned monsters even faster.

Arthur King said, “This won't work. If this keeps up, we'll definitely be wiped out!”

Raise a Cup to the Moon quickly analyzed the situation and reached a conclusion.

“I understand now. The Flower Mother has extremely high physical damage immunity, while the Flower Servants absorb spell damage. If we want to win, we have to divide our roles.”

“Warriors and Rangers deal with the Flower Servants.”

“All Warlocks focus entirely on attacking the Flower Mother.”

“That's the correct strategy.”

If Warriors and Rangers attacked the Flower Mother, their damage wouldn't even outpace her regeneration.

On the other hand, if Warlocks attacked the Old Wan Flower Servants, most spells would simply be absorbed, making those monsters even stronger.

Arthur King said, “But this boss summons Flower Servants far too quickly!”

Raise a Cup to the Moon replied, “Leave that to me!”

As he spoke, Raise a Cup to the Moon drew the Demon Night Greatbow.

A second-order Earth Dragon Arrow shot forth with a whistle.

He activated Arrow Guidance, causing the arrow to fly in a curved trajectory, destroying two flower bud tentacles in succession.

Once the supporting tentacles were destroyed, the flower bud formations immediately became ineffective.

Raise a Cup to the Moon continuously drew and fired.

One powerful arrow after another flew through the air.

Combined with his exceptional archery skills, he rapidly destroyed one tentacle after another.

As a result, the Old Wan Flower Mother's summoning ability was effectively suppressed.

Seeing this, everyone's spirits were greatly lifted.

“Attack!”

“We're out of time!”

“Use fire-element attacks!”

“Fire works best against the boss!”

Dark Lucifer unleashed Chain Explosive Flames, while Three Thousand Zhang with One Pee Against the Wind launched Explosive Fire Spear.

The two attacks struck the Old Wan Flower Mother one after another.

-732!

-653!

Both attacks dealt respectable damage.

Not only that, the burning flames continued dealing sustained damage, while effectively suppressing the Flower Mother's regeneration.

-50!

-70!

-65!

……

With both legions working together, the Old Wan Flower Mother's Health Bar rapidly declined.

Within moments, less than half remained.

They could win!

Just as everyone's morale surged, the Old Wan Flower Mother suddenly changed tactics.

She summoned several unfamiliar types of tentacles, one of which bloomed into a dark purple fleshy flower bud.

“Watch out! This boss has more tricks!”

Seeing this, Raise a Cup to the Moon immediately used Rapid Fire, destroying four flower bud tentacles in succession.

However, two remained standing.

The next moment, the black flower buds opened, activating formations that instantly transformed the surrounding Abyss energy into countless black bolts of lightning, which violently struck down toward everyone present.

-574!

Caught completely off guard, Raise a Cup to the Moon was struck by a lightning bolt and suffered considerable damage.

Fortunately, his excellent equipment and high defense prevented him from being killed or crippled instantly.

The other players weren't nearly as fortunate.

Deer Girl, Ragnarok's Monk healer, and a third-order Warlock from the Immortal Dragon Soul were both struck, taking two thousand points of critical damage and dying instantly.

“This is bad!”

“Everyone hold steady!”

It wasn't just lightning attacks.

The Old Wan Flower Mother continued activating more and more offensive formations, including fire, frost, storms, and many others.

Raise a Cup to the Moon summoned his mount to increase his mobility, allowing him to dodge the constantly falling lightning.

He could no longer worry about conserving resources.

He immediately took out another precious third-order arrow.

With a single shot, he destroyed six or seven formations, barely stabilizing the situation before it spiraled out of control.

Just then, an urgent message appeared in the game chat.

“Wang Yue, Arthur, how's your progress?”

“Dian Wei seems to have discovered you. He's heading toward your location now. We're doing everything we can to stall him, but we probably won't last much longer!”

“You have to hurry!”

“……”

Raise a Cup to the Moon and Arthur King's expressions both became grim.

“Arthur, there's no more time to hesitate. We have to bet everything on this. Success or death!”

Arthur King replied,

“Alright! Cover me!”

As he spoke, he summoned his Black Dragon Spirit Steed.

Then he activated Explosive Flame Charge, instantly surging forward in blazing flames, charging directly at the Flower Mother.

The Flower Mother immediately responded.

Dozens of tentacle flower buds simultaneously rose around her, preparing to form powerful formations to repel the Calamity Legion's assault.

“Break!”

Raise a Cup to the Moon drew his bow.

Using a third-order Earth Dragon Arrow, he activated a skill called Demonburst Arrow.

This was a new skill that had appeared after the Demon Night Greatbow had been upgraded to blue quality.

The moment the Earth Dragon Arrow flew into the cluster of tentacles, it immediately transformed into an explosion of energy.

In an instant, every tentacle was destroyed.

Raise a Cup to the Moon's face twitched in pain.

Demonburst Arrow was currently his strongest offensive technique.

But it came at an enormous cost.

Arrows were consumable items, but they weren't impossible to recover.

Normally, their durability merely decreased.

As long as they were repaired, they could still be reused.

However, the Demonburst Arrow skill detonated the fired arrow itself.

The stronger the arrow, the more devastating the explosion.

But the detonated arrow would disappear forever.

With Raise a Cup to the Moon's strength, using Demonburst Arrow with a third-order Earth Dragon Arrow could even kill a weaker third-order Commander.

This was originally his ultimate trump card.

Yet now, he had used it merely to clear obstacles.

The price was truly enormous.

Thanks to Raise a Cup to the Moon's cover, Arthur King successfully approached the Old Wan Flower Mother on horseback.

The warhorse let out a powerful neigh, circling rapidly around the Flower Mother's massive body while continuously breathing black flames.

The Black Dragon Spirit Steed was the finest mount in the territory.

It was also a symbol of top-tier players.

Currently, only around two hundred players within the territory possessed such mounts.

Arthur King was naturally one of them.

He had also spent considerable resources to upgrade the warhorse to third order, making the mount itself quite formidable.

The Dragon Steed's breath continuously dealt damage to the Flower Mother.

Arthur King condensed blazing, violent sword qi within the Flame Skeleton Sword, then swung it fiercely.

The vibrating sword qi, mixed with flames, surged forward like waves, crashing into the Old Wan Flower Mother.

“Blazing Flame Wave Sword!”

This was yet another signature technique created by Arthur King.

He had combined the green skill Vibrating Sword Qi with the green skill Raging Tiger Blade, ultimately creating this blue-quality skill.

Its defining feature was imbuing sword qi with fire, then releasing it in wave after wave.

Although its attack range was relatively short, its damage and area of effect were exceptionally powerful.

Arthur King rode his third-order warhorse, continuously unleashing Blazing Flame Waves against the boss, while the other Warlocks hurriedly launched fire-element attacks.

-1321!

-542!

-642!

……

The Old Wan Flower Mother's Health Bar rapidly declined.

Before long, she entered a near-death state.

“Just a little more!”

“We're almost there!”

“Hang on!”

At this point, the battle had reached its fiercest and most critical stage.

After enduring the environmental effects for so long, the players had very little Health remaining.

The Old Wan Flower Mother was also on the verge of defeat!

At this crucial moment, the Flower Mother suddenly let out an even more horrifying shriek.

Her already charred body rapidly withered and shrank, instantly summoning hundreds—

no,

thousands—

of tentacle flower buds.

“This is bad! It's making a last desperate counterattack!”

“Kill it now!”

“Finish it!”

There were simply too many tentacles this time.

Even Raise a Cup to the Moon couldn't destroy them all simultaneously.

Every single tentacle grew a black flower bud.

Every one of them formed a formation.

In an instant, thousands upon thousands of lightning bolts condensed into existence.

Arthur King had already used Blazing Flame Wave Sword eight consecutive times.

The energy surrounding the Flame Skeleton Sword finally dissipated.

His Mana was completely exhausted.

Boom!

A deafening explosion rang out.

Several hundred lightning bolts struck first around the Flower Mother.

Arthur King was directly hit, suffering several thousand cumulative damage and dying instantly.

The lightning then spread outward in expanding circles.

Too fast!

The frontline players had no time to react.

They were instantly reduced to charred corpses within the sweeping sea of lightning.

Raise a Cup to the Moon, standing at the very rear due to his extreme attack range, could only watch helplessly as every single teammate fell within the lightning.

Were they going to lose?

No!

There was still hope!

The boss was already at her limit!

Raise a Cup to the Moon opened his Eye of Malevolence, locked onto the Old Wan Flower Mother within the sea of lightning,  and drew his bow one final time, firing his last third-order Earth Dragon Arrow.

The next moment, Raise a Cup to the Moon was also killed by a lightning bolt.

However, at the very instant he died, the powerful arrow he had fired pierced straight through the lightning and struck the Old Wan Flower Mother.

-343!

The damage wasn't high.

But the instant the arrow struck, the Earth Dragon Arrow, enhanced with Demonburst Arrow, detonated violently.

Terrifying energy engulfed the already nearly carbonized Mother Tree.

Normally, the Old Wan Flower Mother possessed the ability to absorb and negate this type of damage.

But now, her body had already become little more than charred carbon.

That immunity had naturally weakened dramatically.

-4632 (Critical Hit!)

The Old Wan Flower Mother was blown apart in the terrifying explosion, shattering into countless blackened fragments of charcoal.

At the same time, a green loot orb dropped.

Success!

Although they had been completely wiped out, the players had ultimately succeeded in destroying the target.

Meanwhile, the battle raging elsewhere was no less intense.

The elite players from Wings of Freedom, the Divine Feather Palace, the Hall of War Gods, and others, charged one after another toward Dian Wei and the various Abyss forces, determined to ensure the formation was destroyed.

This seemingly suicidal act, like a mantis trying to stop a chariot, bought precious time for Ragnarok and the Immortal Dragon Soul.

It was precisely because of this that they were able to successfully eliminate the Old Wan Flower Mother transformed from Madam Zou.

…………

The Core Hall.

When Hang Yu saw Raise a Cup to the Moon and Arthur King successfully defeat the Old Wan Flower Mother, Madam Zou, he nodded in satisfaction.

Compared with the other three major legions, these two had started relatively late.

Yet now, whether Arthur King or Raise a Cup to the Moon, both had already developed the ability to stand on their own.

Barring any unforeseen events, their future achievements would certainly not be low.

By successfully killing Madam Zou, they had created the conditions necessary for surrounding and eliminating Dian Wei.

This accomplishment would significantly raise both legions' prestige within the Calamity Legion.

The elite members of both legions had all been wiped out.

Many pieces of loot remained unrecovered.

Unlike other summoning monsters, the Old Wan Flower Mother, Madam Zou, summoned physical Flower Servants, all of which dropped Essence and loot.

Hang Yu unceremoniously collected every bit of Essence dropped during the battle.

Among them, the Old Wan Flower Mother Madam Zou's drops particularly caught Hang Yu's attention.

【You examined the loot. Abyss Essence +1,400,000, Abyss Demon Crystals +10,000, Mother Tree Egg +1, Abyss Tree Bark +531, Abyss Tree Root +501, Madam Zou Soul Stone +15, Advanced Corrupted Gem +100!】

The tree bark, tree roots, and Corrupted Gems weren't especially noteworthy.

Although they were high-quality materials, they were still ordinary crafting materials.

The Madam Zou Soul Stones and the Mother Tree Egg, however, were something special.

Soul Stone materials were primarily used in equipment forging, giving equipment a certain chance to gain additional skills.

They were extremely rare.

And extremely valuable.

As for the Mother Tree Egg?

It was a unique material.

Not every material in the Abyss Plane could be replicated infinitely.

Some unique materials could only ever drop once.

For example, the Three-Headed Evil Dragon Zhuying could respawn endlessly.

Yet the Soul of Zhuying could only ever drop once.

In truth, many monsters possessed unique drops.

They simply had extraordinarily low drop rates, and every one of them was immensely valuable.

【Mother Tree Egg】 (Unique), Third-Order Rare Material, High-Grade Green Quality... Introduction: After sufficient souls are infused into it, it may be incubated through the Territory Core to create a loyal retainer possessing Abyssal characteristics. This retainer will inherit the knowledge contained within those souls, along with part of their Destiny and Aptitude.

The description was somewhat vague.

But it wasn't difficult to understand.

Simply put, it was a summoning item.

It could summon a special retainer unit.

This unit had a certain chance to possess exceptionally good Aptitude, or even Destiny talents.

“Interesting!”

Although Hang Yu had graduated with honors from the Lord Academy, he had never before seen an item like this.

That alone demonstrated just how unimaginably rare it was within the Abyss.

Without hesitation,  he took the Soul Stones and the Mother Tree Egg.

He decided to use this special Mother Tree Egg immediately.

First, the Mother Tree Egg required a sufficient quantity of souls before it could hatch.

As for obtaining and infusing souls, that wasn't particularly difficult.

There were many methods.

The key was ensuring the souls were of sufficient quality.

Hang Yu possessed many soul materials.

However, those were merely ordinary souls.

Using them to hatch an Abyssal Retainer would be meaningless.

He decided to use the Soul Stones in his possession.

Soul Stones were themselves materials containing souls.

He had just recovered fifteen Madam Zou Soul Stones.

Although the Mother Tree Egg could hatch using any soul material, since this egg originated from Madam Zou, using her own soul would undoubtedly provide the best compatibility.

With that thought, he infused all fifteen Madam Zou Soul Stones into the Mother Tree Egg.

After the Mother Tree Egg absorbed the soul essences contained within all fifteen Soul Stones, the silhouette of a graceful woman with skin as smooth as jade rapidly condensed within the egg.

“Still not enough!”

The territory still possessed other Soul Stone materials.

The Mother Tree Egg was a green-quality material.

Therefore, the souls used to nurture it could not exceed green quality.

Hang Yu had once possessed Guan Yu Soul Stones, but those were blue quality.

The Mother Tree Egg simply couldn't withstand materials of that rank.

Besides, the Guan Yu Soul Stones had already been consumed while forging the Yellow Heaven Demonic Dragon Set.

At present, he still had ten Zhang Bao Soul Stones and sixty Zhang Xiu Soul Stones.

The former were second-order green Soul Stones.

The latter were third-order green Soul Stones.

In terms of Destiny, Zhang Bao was undoubtedly stronger.

If the retainer could inherit even a portion of the Earth General's Destiny, its future potential would likely increase significantly.

As for Aptitude, Zhang Xiu was probably superior.

If it could inherit even part of the Northern Spear King's Aptitude,

its combat ability

would greatly improve.

Hang Yu first infused the ten Zhang Bao Soul Stones into the egg.

After the Mother Tree Egg absorbed them, its aura became noticeably stronger.

It was already very close to full maturity.

But it still wasn't enough.

He then began feeding it Zhang Xiu Soul Stones one after another.

One.

Two.

……

When the fifth Zhang Xiu Soul Stone was used, the strange giant egg finally underwent a transformation.

At the same time, Hang Yu received a notification from the Will of the Stars.

【You have successfully created an "Abyssal Retainer." Would you like to bestow a name upon this retainer?】

Even Hang Yu had never before heard of creating retainers this way.

This retainer had been created from the souls of Madam Zou of Wan City, the Spear King Zhang Xiu, and the Earth General Zhang Bao.

In a sense, it could be regarded as their reincarnation, or perhaps their descendant.

Two people having a child wasn't unusual.

Three people having a child was rather strange.

What exactly was this?

Abyssal crossbreeding?

It could only be said that absolutely anything outrageous could happen in the Abyss.

As for the name?

Although she had been nurtured from three different soul essences, the Mother Tree Egg originated from Madam Zou, and Madam Zou's soul accounted for the largest portion.

She would undoubtedly inherit the most from Madam Zou.

Naturally, she could be regarded as Madam Zou's reincarnation.

After thinking for a moment, Hang Yu said, “Rounding things off, since she's Madam Zou's reincarnation and was born in Wan City, let's call her Zou Wan.”

【Name bestowed successfully... Hatch immediately? Hatching this retainer requires 100,000 Demon Crystals!】

“That's expensive.”

Hang Yu frowned slightly.

However, considering that this retainer might possess Aptitude or even Destiny equal to those of famous ministers or legendary generals, and could eventually become an important Hero Unit within the territory, the cost wasn't unreasonable.

With that thought, Hang Yu no longer hesitated.

He immediately made his decision.

“Hatch it immediately!”

(PS: Another New Year's Day has arrived! Happy New Year, everyone! While everyone else is out celebrating and enjoying themselves, this author is once again spending New Year's Eve writing chapters. Shamelessly asking for a wave of January monthly tickets!)