Chapter 183. Demons and Monsters (7) Rescuing the Taro Spirit

     Ye Mo saw willow tree spirits, butterfly orchid spirits, oil bird spirits, and taro spirit among them.

     They belonged to relatively powerful spirits or spirit clans. There were also some small spirits hidden in the forest, observing the battle closely just like her.

     Different from magical beasts and dinosaurs, this was a battle between intelligent beings, and their actions could be analyzed through the lens of human reasoning.  

     However compared to 21st century humans, despite their generally longer lifespans, with some plant spirits having lived for millennia since first gaining sentience, they were still kindergarten students in terms of strategy, having grown accustomed to settling matters through brute strength alone.  

     When the battle between the banyan tree spirit and the peach tree spirit showed signs of gradually calming down, Ye Mo had already used a spatial array to teleport to the underground chamber near several willow tree spirits.  

     Since the position wasn’t perfect, she carefully dug a path upward from below and adjusted the spatial coordinates and array upward a short distance.  

     Then, Ye Mo took out a piece of wood-attributed spirit jade from her space. The vibrant aura of life filled the entire chamber, and the rich wood-attributed spiritual energy could not be completely blocked by the loose earth and stones, gradually drifting up toward the surface.  

     Swish— The nearest willow tree spirit was naturally the first to notice. Its willow branches were one of its primary weapons, and hundreds of them lashed downward almost simultaneously, striking the ground with violent force.  

     Crack! Boom! Thud!

     Dust and debris flew as the earth split under the assault.  

     The willow branches of the tree spirit were somewhat similar to the banyan tree spirit’s aerial roots in form, but their attack methods were fundamentally different. The willow branches acted more like whips—they could tear apart the surface but couldn’t penetrate deep underground like the roots could.  

     Because of this, Ye Mo only needed to retreat back into the underground chamber, avoiding both the falling debris and the faint woody scent emanating from the willow tree’s roots.  

     Sure enough, the peach tree spirit, camphor tree spirit, moth orchid spirit, and oilbird spirit surrounding the willow tree spirit launched a flurry of diverse attacks, successfully disrupting its next move.  

     Though ambushed, the willow tree spirit instinctively twisted its whipping branches into a spiraling defense, barely managing to protect itself.  

     Before long, a new dynamic took shape.  

     Above ground, the banyan tree spirit, willow tree spirit, moth orchid spirit, oilbird spirit, and peach blossom spirit were locked in a chaotic struggle. The oilbirds—herbivorous nightjars with metal- and wood-based attributes—were the only animal spirits attacking so far.  

     Underground, the banyan spirit and the taro spirit mutually restrained each other, and neither could gain the upper hand for the time being.

     The taro spirit is different from other plants; they can show only a small, mobile, and resilient head on the surface, with their main activity taking place underground.

     Its main offensive weapons are the fruits and roots of plants. The fruits can release nerve-paralyzing toxins, excessive absorption of it can affect the trunk of the banyan tree spirit through its fibrous roots, reducing their growth. 

     Moreover, the yam spirit’s fruits can detach freely and launch attacks in all directions. Their root systems are naturally very thick and well-developed, possessing terrifying strangulation power.

     Ye Mo was 500 meters away from the roots of a taro spirit, when she caught a faint whiff of fragrance. Her mind grew hazy for two seconds, nearly exposing herself because of the scent, and she immediately held her breath.

     She added an extra layer of respiratory defense gear—equipment she had prepared for herself after the doomsday supermarket dungeon. She also had ear protection for both ears, though it wasn’t needed for now.

     As the banyan spirit and taro spirit were fighting their way close to her, Ye Mo put the wood-elemental spirit jade back into her space. In the blink of an eye, she shifted to another underground chamber dozens of miles away.

     ?

     The wood-elemental spirit jade was gone.

     The underground chamber, roughly the same size, was empty. The two wood-elemental spirit stones in the center reminded the banyan spirit of the first time it was injured, inevitably slowing its movements and successfully allowing the taro spirit to gain the initiative and entwine the two wood-elemental spirit stones.

     ??

     No explosion?

     The banyan spirit was a little puzzled, watching the taro spirit joyfully absorb the wood-elemental spiritual energy. It instantly became jealous, and the surrounding aerial roots began to move, attacking the taro spirit.

     Of course, there was still an explosion.

     The entire passage exploded—unless it retreated above ground, the banyan tree spirit had no way to avoid it. Even the cheapest weapons in the inventory were set off in the blast.  

     It couldn’t kill them, but it could hurt them. It could cause them harm during the fight.

     Ye Mo waited for the perfect moment, both above and below ground, before pressing the detonation switch. BOOM—BOOM— The deafening explosions roared like thunder.  

     This time, it was even fiercer and longer-lasting than before.  

     Since the taro demon’s main strength lay underground, about 70% of it was near the blast’s epicenter. Even its primary roots were ruptured, oozing a pale purple sap—it suffered the worst damage.  

     The banyan demon wasn’t faring much better. Its wounds from last time hadn’t fully healed, and now many of its fibrous roots were severed. On top of that, the taro spirit nerve-paralyzing toxins was taking effect.

     Meanwhile, above ground, Ye Mo noticed that some of the surrounding monster tribes spectating from the forest began to flee due to the thunderous explosions.

     Secondly, the Willow Tree Spirit, Butterfly Orchid Spirit, and Peach Tree Spirit in the center of the ground all mostly sank. Their roots and trunks were affected by the explosion wave close to the ground, and the Taro Spirit’s paralyzing neurotoxin added fuel to the fire.

     The Peach Tree Spirit, with the lowest defense, had all its roots and branches blown away. Its mental illusion attack was also dulled due to the Taro Spirit’s toxin leakage, thus exposing its weaknesses.

     The Willow Tree Spirit had strong physical defense, but its mental defense was even lower than the Peach Tree Spirit’s. The Taro Spirit’s mental toxin affected them even more than the explosion, making their swaying willow branches slow to evade.

     The Butterfly Orchid Spirit fared better than the other two. It purplish-red flowers had high physical and mental defense, and were also her only offensive weapon. Therefore, the entire group of plants spirit was within the explosion range, sinking along with the ground.

     The Oilbird demons were the only race least affected. At the moment of the explosion, they had already flown high up, and after the flying sand and stones, they fell straight down again.

     Most of the attacks targeted the Peach Tree Spirit and Taro Spirit, whose situations were the worst, while a smaller portion of attacks went towards the equally injured and trapped Banyan Tree Spirit, Willow Tree Spirit, and Butterfly Orchid Spirit.

     Not only the Oilbird demons, but also a flock of Raven Demons flew out from the forest. Like the Oilbird Spirits, they attacked the heavily wounded plant spirits.

     Two sides each formed their battle lines, and the fight was about to break out again.

     …

     This time, the stalemate didn’t last long.

     After all, every race harbored ulterior motives and was definitely not a reliable teammate. While relying on each other, they also guarded against each other, even resorting to underhanded tactics and betrayal.

     Seeing that only a single Taro Spirit plant containing its inner core and one Peach Tree Spirit remaining – Ye Mo made her move at the critical moment.  

     She had tunneled her way up from underground, crawling through the passage she dug.  

     Then, a humanoid figure, completely covered from head to toe—not even her eyes visible—suddenly appeared in the monsters’ line of sight. Many of the creatures’ eyes widened in unison.  

     The monsters were stunned:   Human? A human living underground? What is that thing in her hand?

     When only half of Ye Mo’s body was outside, she swung the Sword of Mozi, aiming a strike at the legs of three Oilbird Spirits. Bang, one leg was severed halfway, and blood instantly spurted out. Another was also injured by the sword, only the one farthest from the blade flew high up, dodging the attack.

     “Ah—Who?”

     While the Oilbird Spirit screamed, Ye Mo’s hand reached towards the two dying Taro Spirits. The moment she touched the main roots of the two Taro Spirits, they disappeared and appeared in her life space.

     The life space’s storage is different from ordinary space; it cannot be entered with a glance, or rather, Ye Mo’s mental power was not yet strong enough to collect living things with a look.

     And living Taro Spirits were clearly more valuable than dead ones.

     Note: The sweet potato spirit are not demons and are not counted among the half-demon kin, so the system gives no notification.

     Ye Mo glanced at the life space: … Alive, not dead, already at the limit of storing life.

     The various spirits had already reacted, but their attacks were delayed by another second due to the disappearance of the Taro Spirits. In this second, Ye Mo had completely and flawlessly vanished into the hole in the ground.

     The Willow Tree Spirit wanted to track Ye Mo, but firstly it was wary of the unknown explosion, and secondly, there were too many enemies. It had no extra movements and could only watch the human disappear into the black hole.

     It was at this very moment that two more Taro Spirits and two Peach Tree Spirits, taking advantage of the focus not being on them, used all their strength for a final strike.

     They abandoned the battlefield and escaped to freedom.

     “!!!”

     The spirits and demons began to fight each other, their target being the other’s inner core. Some even forgot their initial goal of the wood-elemental spirit jade underground, their only target being the other races.

     In fact, Ye Mo was not far from the battle, within a hundred meters directly beneath their feet.

     When the first Peach Tree Spirit died, the Raven Demons flock and the Oilbird Demons flock began to fight. After several of its feathers were broken, the leading Raven Demons finally reached the Peach Tree Spirit lying on the ground with its sharp beak.

     Just as it was about to pierce the dead Peach Tree Spirit’s trunk and devour its inner core,

     The Peach Tree on the ground suddenly vanished. Not only the trunk disappeared, but the leaves and flowers also vanished completely.

     “@%#*&#@!”

     Everyone thought of the underground human from just now, because the way this Peach Tree Spirit disappeared was exactly the same as the Taro Spirits just now. Damn human!

     Ye Mo received more than her fair share of creative curses from this world’s demons and spirits, a symphony of underworld profanity.  

     Rage can indeed make intelligent creatures lose their minds. The bird-like demons actually started digging holes in the ground with their sharp beaks and claws, only to be jointly entangled by the recovered Banyan Tree Spirit and Butterfly Orchid Spirit. The trapped birds, robbed of their freedom, were swiftly doomed.  

     It didn’t take long for the victors to claim their lives.

     While the Butterfly Orchid Spirit and Banyan Tree Spirit confronted each other, Ye Mo retrieved the Raven Spirits into her belt space.

     “@%#*&#@!”

     She treated the multiplied interdimensional curses as compliments on her guerrilla tactics. If they’re this mad, it means it’s working.

     In the subsequent fighting, as long as there were dead spirits or demons, even with timely precautions, Ye Mo’s inner core collection rate was over 90%. The space was truly a powerful tool for “reaping the benefits without lifting a finger.”

     The spirits and demons went from furious to unwilling, but there was nothing they could do.

     Then, the first to give up seemed to be the Banyan Tree Spirit that had arrived first.

     Compared to when it first arrived, about four-fifths of the Banyan Tree Spirit’s “a single tree becomes a forest” had been lost, and it would need a considerable amount of time to fully recover.

     After the banyan forest left, the field of vision widened considerably.

     One after another, except for the dead, the living Demon and spirits left, and the forest regained its tranquility, apart from the messy battlefield.

     Or so it seemed

     Ye Mo, who had been closely monitoring the battle the entire time, opened her eyes—her gaze blazing with fighting spirit. Gripping Mozi’s sword tightly, she darted toward a pitch-black tunnel. Pushing off the walls with her feet, she shot upward in a series of swift, nimble leaps.