Suddenly, a massive black tentacle shot out and grabbed Evan Chu, its grip so strong that his bones creaked. He felt like he was suffocating, struggling to breathe as pain wracked his body.
The abrupt attack caught him completely off guard, but he didn't panic for a second. With a thought, he activated Fireshift; primordial divine fire instantly enveloped his body. As the scorching heat erupted, the tentacle quickly released him.
Freed, Evan finally saw his attacker clearly: it was a giant black tree up ahead, its form twisted and bizarre, with a grotesquely oversized human face on its trunk. The proportions were all wrong, making it look ugly and monstrous.
"What kind of monster is this? It actually attacks people on its own!" Evan whispered to the fake Princess Serena.
"I'm not really sure either. When I first came here, I never ran into anything like this. From the looks of it, it might be the legendary Treant. If that's true, we've really struck gold," the fake Princess Serena replied.
"Struck gold? What do you mean by that?" Evan was confused for a moment. Could this Treant actually be some kind of treasure?
"Of course it's a treasure. If it really is a Treant, then it contains incredibly powerful wood-element energy. That means you could fully break through Woodshift. Honestly, you're kind of an idiot for not realizing it," the fake Princess Serena said.
Evan was shocked. The idea that something so good could happen here was completely unexpected. If he could really break through Woodshift, it would be incredible—getting high-grade wood-element crystals was nearly impossible, and yet here in the Sea Dragon Forbidden Land, he might actually get one. It was a total surprise.
Before Evan could say anything, she continued, "But don't get too excited yet. Treants are incredibly tough—not only are their tentacles deadly, but their defenses are insane. Plus, their recovery is terrifying. You know the wood element's properties, right? If it gets hurt, it can heal almost instantly.
So if you want to kill it, you have to do it in one shot—give it no chance to recover. Otherwise, even if you burn through all your Chaos Divine Power, it won't matter."