Chapter 155: Advantages and Disadvantages
Leon knew that only while he was airborne could he contend with the Bloodwood Colossus.
This was his only advantage—and the Bloodwood Colossus’s sole weakness.
Even though those serpent-like branches struck with power rivaling a Bone Demon, that was actually the Bloodwood Colossus at its weakest. After all, those attacks were purely physical—brutal and swift, yes, but ultimately, there were ways to counter them. The only real threat was the poisonous mist emanating from the Colossus’s trunk...
But if he landed, the Bloodwood Colossus would become truly invincible. Then, Leon would face a force vast enough to crush everything, a blood-soaked land that had become its own world, and an army of undead trees summoned by the Colossus itself.
As for those razor-sharp roots that could burst from underground at any moment, like phantoms—that was just the Colossus’s bonus trick...
Right now, Leon’s only option was to finish the fight in midair...
In other words, Leon had to make every second count. Once the Lava Dominator’s flaming wings vanished, he’d have to retreat from the Bloodsoil—maybe even from the entire Bloodwood Forest. Otherwise, he’d never shake off the Colossus’s relentless pursuit.
At this moment, Leon was pushing his magical control to the absolute limit. Under his command, the Lava Dominator’s flaming wings seemed almost alive—swift, agile, and several times, they broke through the blockade of dozens of branches against all odds. Leon’s spells landed one after another on the Colossus’s trunk.
Among them, there was even a tier-two extreme spell.
A tier-two extreme spell packed the force of an Archmage—enough to seriously wound even the Bloodwood Colossus under a barrage like this...
After just a few minutes of this back-and-forth, the trunk of the Bloodwood Colossus was already battered with scars—even those python-like branches seemed heavier than before.
On the surface, it looked like Leon had the upper hand.
But Leon knew deep down that this advantage was only temporary...
The fight had already dragged on for nearly five minutes. Leon had pushed his magical control to the limit, even unleashed a tier-two extreme spell—but the damage he’d dealt to the Bloodwood Colossus was far from enough.
He knew the Lava Dominator’s flaming wings would only last ten minutes. If he couldn’t topple the Colossus in the next five, he’d lose his only advantage. When the wings faded, he’d have no choice but to flee—and in the best-case scenario, he’d just have to start all over again.
Leon knew his time was running out...
The colossal body of the Bloodwood Colossus never left that kilometer-wide stretch of Bloodsoil.
That was where the Colossus was born—and it was also the source of its power...
Just like in the distant age of ancient demon gods, when the Earth Demon God Hess stood upon the land, he possessed endless power and an immortal body.
Leon knew perfectly well that as long as the Bloodwood Colossus stayed on that dark red land, his chances of victory were less than ten percent.
"Do I really have to start over?" Time was running out for Leon. The flaming wings would last maybe five more minutes before vanishing for good. His mind raced, but no matter how he turned it over, he couldn’t find a way to lure the Colossus off that blood-soaked ground.
Branch after branch formed an inescapable net, sealing off hundreds of meters in every direction. Leon darted through narrow gaps with the flaming wings, desperately searching for a solution...
Seconds ticked by...
Half of his remaining five minutes were already gone.
During that time, Leon tried several times to lure the Bloodwood Colossus off the blood-soaked ground. But every attempt ended in failure. The Colossus, though an undead plant, was even smarter than a Bone Demon. Of course it knew how vital that land was to its survival.
As the minutes slipped away, Leon felt a creeping sense of despair...
Now, never mind the Colossus refusing to leave the Bloodsoil—even if he somehow came up with a way to lure it, there wasn’t enough time to drag the battlefield a kilometer away.
Unless he possessed the kind of terrifying power found in the Death Garden—enough to conjure a completely independent world out of thin air.
Wait a second...
I've got it! The idea was borderline ridiculous, but in that instant, Leon realized—no, he didn’t have the terrifying power of the Death Garden. He couldn’t conjure an independent world out of nothing.
But he could destroy.
Of course, the risks were huge...
But at this point, Leon couldn’t afford to care.
Escaping the net of branches once again, Leon did something unexpected—he didn’t retaliate. Instead, while the branches were still retracting, he used the flaming wings to hurl himself straight at the Bloodwood Colossus...
To speed up, Leon even used his life-saving Elemental Avatar. With the flaming wings on his back and in avatar form, he could use Flame Blink almost without limit. The fire-element avatar flashed across the sky three times in a row, and Leon appeared right on the Colossus’s trunk.
As a normal human, standing atop a tree hundreds of meters tall, Leon was practically an ant.
The moment his feet touched the Colossus, dozens of branches whipped toward him. Leon didn’t dare linger—he leapt, wreathed in flames, falling toward the Colossus’s roots like a meteor...
When he was less than fifty meters from the ground, Leon suddenly spread his flaming wings, using the Lava Dominator’s spatial power to steady his rapid descent.
Then, Leon channeled a trace of mana into the Wraithwalker.
"Why are you summoning Lord Shaun..." A lazy voice drifted out, but it was quickly replaced by a shriek: "Bloody hell, the Bloodwood Colossus!"
"Yes, you see it—the Bloodwood Colossus..."
"You—you—you... How did you get tangled up with the Bloodwood Colossus?" Lord Shaun’s voice was trembling, nearly hysterical. "Damn it, that’s a level twenty-five undead, equivalent to a tier-five Archmage for you humans! How did you piss off something like that?"
"It’s level twenty-six..." Leon corrected Lord Shaun while dodging branches with the flaming wings. "Maybe even twenty-seven."
"Go to hell!"
"Lord Shaun, have you forgotten? You signed a master-servant contract with me. If I die, you might drop to the level of a mere soulbound artifact."
"Damn it, if I’d known you were this much trouble, I’d never have signed that contract with you—even if it killed me..."
"Alright, enough nonsense. I need your help."
"Help with what?" Lord Shaun’s voice instantly became wary.
"You drained six tier-eighteen mana crystals from me. You must’ve recovered some power by now, right? I need you to create a Soul Cage—to temporarily trap the Colossus’s soul."
"Don’t be ridiculous!" Leon hadn’t even finished speaking before Lord Shaun shrieked, "Impossible! That’s an undead above level twenty-five! With just a bit of mana from those six tier-eighteen crystals, how could I possibly make a Soul Cage that strong?"
"That’s why you need to use your Relic Spirit. Hiding in the Wraithwalker all the time—don’t you think you’re a bit like a turtle?"
"Use my Relic Spirit? Are you insane!" Lord Shaun sounded terrified, like a maiden about to be ravished.
For a moment, he didn’t even care that Leon had just called him a turtle...
The true strength of an Essence Relic lies in its Relic Spirit. If Lord Shaun was willing to use his, he might actually be able to create a Soul Cage strong enough to trap the Colossus’s soul.
But at the same time, using the Relic Spirit was incredibly risky. If it got damaged, the Essence Relic would instantly drop in rank. If the Relic Spirit died, the artifact would become nothing but a mundane object.
Right now, Lord Shaun was at his weakest—barely a fraction of his full power. And against a level twenty-six or twenty-seven Bloodwood Colossus? There was no way he’d risk using his Relic Spirit...
Leon knew all this, so he didn’t bother persuading him. He just said offhandedly, "Then you’d better start praying—the backlash from the master-servant contract might drop you to the level of a Legacy Relic..."
"Damn it..." Lord Shaun cursed.
Forget Legacy Relic...