Chapter 2199: Quickly Clearing the Level

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

The narrow passage ahead was so cramped that they couldn’t see its end.

How many snakes lurked along this path?

Who could endure this?

Relying solely on their beam weapons, it was uncertain how long it would take to clear out this swarm of snakes!

As the group felt at a loss, their eyes shifted to Fang Heng, who had been personally brought by Elder Osman.

Perhaps he had some solution?

Ana’s throat tightened, about to ask, when suddenly her pupils contracted.

What was that?

Just then, Fang Heng stood still in place, took out a mask from his backpack, and put it on.

Hiss, hiss…

The next moment, a series of rapidly rotating magic arrays appeared around Fang Heng!

Dark red life forms emerged from the magic arrays, swiftly darting towards the passage in the canyon ahead!

Lickers!?

Ana was startled.

Snakes hidden in the canyon were triggered and swiftly emerged from the cracks in the rocks, lunging towards the intruders!

Their venomous fangs viciously tore into the Lickers.

[Hint: The player’s zombie clone (Licker form) suffered a bite attack, receiving 1220 points of damage, and was affected by violent poison…]

[Hint: The player’s undying body effect is activated, clearing the player’s violent poison effect.]

The violent poison effect!

Affected by the violent poison effect, the Licker’s body emitted a faint purple hue. However, the undying body effect automatically dispelled negative statuses, clearing the violent poison effect every 0.5 seconds.

The Licker’s state returned to its original condition.

It appeared as if the color of the Licker’s body surface kept changing.

Fang Heng quickly scanned the game hints.

The violent poison effect can be stacked. Initially, even players with lower levels could endure it, but once it accumulated hundreds of times, even boss creatures couldn’t withstand it. Moreover, the snakes had the advantage of terrain, hiding in the cracks of the rocks, making them difficult to defend against.

Handling it as an ordinary player would indeed require some effort.

Unfortunately, the violent poison effect was countered by his undying body effect.

The group of Lickers quickly invaded the canyon, even climbing along the canyon cliffs, clearing out the snakes hiding in the cracks along the way.

Ana and the others were shocked and realized who the leader of the team was. They dared not make any moves and quietly followed behind Fang Heng.

“Let’s go.”

Fang Heng said, taking steps toward the depths of the canyon.

Ana and the others looked at each other, bolstered their beam weapons, and followed.

Entering deeper into the canyon area, following the passage cleared by the Lickers, the terrain gradually opened up ahead.

They hastened their pace and jogged forward for more than ten minutes, leaving the canyon area behind.

Ahead, a portion of the trunk and branches of a giant-sized sacred tree stood tall.

The group of Lickers seemed to have found something and gathered beneath the sacred tree.

Fang Heng looked ahead, under the towering sacred tree, where an area shrouded in faint mist lay.

A vast number of roots emerged from the ground, intertwining to form a fortress-like structure beneath the sacred tree.

The entrance to this structure was naturally formed by several particularly thick roots, which bent and twisted to converge into a peculiar irregular archway.

Fang Heng frowned as he saw this, and a word popped into his mind.

“A maze…”

Fang Heng murmured to himself.

Ana and her companions followed along, gazing at the entrance arch of the maze ahead.

“This is troublesome,” Ana said, her face showing a serious expression as she looked at the passages of the maze ahead. “It seems to be a root maze. Similar mazes are said to exist outside the Elders Council, each with its own unique structure. Rushing in could lead to being trapped inside, making it extremely difficult to find an exit in a short amount of time.”

“And this maze seems even larger,” another person said cautiously, glancing inside the maze. They seemed wary of the snakes they had encountered earlier. “We don’t know if there are any dangers inside.”

Fang Heng released his perception.

The mist shrouding the maze had a consuming effect on his perception, quickly devouring the perception he released.

His perception could only spread out a short distance.

Relying solely on perception, he couldn’t explore the entire maze.

Ana and her companions looked troubled.

Without knowing if there were any aggressive creatures inside the maze, even if there weren’t any, navigating through the maze relied entirely on luck. Finding an exit would require considerable effort.

“Let’s go. Don’t waste time. Let’s go inside and take a look… Get ready with the ropes, don’t get lost in…” Ana was saying when her eyelids suddenly twitched.

“Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!”

The Licker group, which had been gathered under the sacred tree, suddenly moved again, rushing towards the root maze.

Ana quickly stepped back several steps to give way to the Licker group.

Turning their heads, everyone looked at Fang Heng with a hint of confusion in their eyes.

Was he planning to use the Lickers to explore the maze?

Fang Heng remained silent, his expression appearing indifferent.

Similar mazes were indeed quite effective against ordinary players. However, dealing with him…

There was still a lot lacking.

As his mental strength gradually increased, as long as he concentrated his elite mental power, he could still perceive the Lickers within a close range of a certain area.

Fang Heng used his mental strength to perceive the positions of the Lickers and attempted to construct a flat map of the maze in his mind.

Huh?

Fang Heng let out a soft exclamation.

It was still a three-dimensional maze.

The maze was constructed within the roots of the sacred tree, with winding and twisting passages and numerous forked intersections.

Forcing a breakthrough in the maze significantly raised the difficulty.

“Interesting…”

Fang Heng frowned, simply closed his eyes, and concentrated his spirit to reconstruct a three-dimensional map of the maze in his mind.

Ana and the others glanced at each other.

Seeing Fang Heng concentrating with closed eyes, they didn’t dare to speak and disturb him, just stood quietly on the side, waiting.

Found it!

Twenty minutes later, Fang Heng suddenly opened his eyes.

With over five hundred Lickers, combined with their high-speed movement and climbing abilities, they quickly explored most of the maze area, and successfully found the maze exit.

“Let’s go, follow me,” Fang Heng said, stepping directly into the maze area.

So fast?

Did he really find it?

Ana glanced cautiously at Fang Heng and hurriedly followed.

At this point, Fang Heng had already constructed most of the three-dimensional map of the root maze in his mind. Without any hesitation at the intersections, he quickly headed towards the shortest passage leading to the exit.

Ana and the others were a bit puzzled.

So fast?

Did he not need any thought?

After darting through the maze for over ten minutes, they saw the light shining from the maze exit ahead.

Having passed through the root maze, the group found themselves still within the inner region of the sacred tree’s roots.

Ahead, a massive stone wall blocked their path.

Flames of green fire burned on either side of the wall, while the surface was engraved with chaotic runes akin to talismans.

“Hmm… a magic array, perhaps?”

Fang Heng murmured to himself, stepping forward to inspect the runic inscriptions on the wall, his eyes once again showing a thoughtful expression..