Chapter 156 Obtained
The surrounding Magi watched with bated breaths as Adam walked toward the attack range of the mangrove tree. The way the youth carried himself in such a goofy and carefree manner, one would think that he would stand no chance.
However, the Magi had clearly seen with their trained eyes how effortlessly and skillfully Adam had taken care of the elven Magus.
Those simple moves showcased by the youth were extremely difficult to accomplish. They could only wonder how talented Adam must be, and more importantly, how much effort he must have put in to pull off something like that.
The human Magus who had earlier spoken to Adam, reached out to him as he saw the latter about to enter the attack range of the mangrove tree.
"Wait, kid, it's dangerous!"
Perhaps it was because he was impressed by the strength displayed by the youth, or perhaps it was because they were of the same race, the Magus couldn't help but warn him once again.
Adam, who by now had already stepped inside the attack range, turned around to look at the Magus. His lips curled up into a smirk. "Don't worry. I'm strong."
However, the Magus wasn't at all impressed by the youth's bravado. Instead, his expression sank when he saw a thick root of the mangrove tree approach the youth. "Watch out—"
But the words soon got stuck in his mouth when he saw the roots swing at nothing but empty air.
Adam had already disappeared from the spot!
Not only the human Magus, but even the rest of the Magi present were completely dumbstruck. They couldn't see through Adam's movements at all. The latter's speed was so great that it appeared that he had teleported.
Adam appeared a few meters away, green ribbons of wind swirling around his feet.
Rank 1 Spell: Westerly Ride!
The moment he reappeared, two more thick wines came launching at him. Seeing this, Adam simply scoffed and disappeared once again, effectively dodging the mangrove tree's attacks.
Every time, he disappeared and reappeared, he would move a few meters closer to the tree. And the closer he was to the tree, the more number of roots he had to deal with.
Suddenly, Adam's eyes narrowed as he saw half a dozen thick roots lashing out at him at extremely tricky angles, making it very difficult for him to dodge them.
The tree seems to have developed a considerable amount of intelligence to be able to launch such a coordinated attack, the youth thought to himself.
With no way to move forward, Adam could only retreat while dodging the roots by a hair's breadth. He was forced to step out of the tree's attack range. Now, he was back to square one.
However, he wasn't disheartened in the least.
While the rest of the Magi stood there in a daze, completely stunned by Adam's ghost-like movements, he had already taken out a pair of black gauntlets from his earring and put them on.
Earlier while he was evading those roots, Adam had realized that the mangrove tree had already augmented them with its mana. This was precisely the reason why those two Magi were so easily impaled.
If Adam were to let the roots come in contact with his body, he wouldn't come out unscathed.
He once again moved forward, a plan of attack quickly forming in his mind. He entered the tree's attack range once again and easily dodged the roots. By now, the teenager had a rough idea of the attack patterns of the roots.
With his Sphere of Resonance activated, Adam skillfully moved past the roots and finally reached the spot where he was forced to retreat last time.
Once again seeing the roots come at him from unpredictable angles, Adam didn't retreat this time. His face turned solemn and he augmented his gauntlets with a layer of mana.
With fluid, water-like movements, the youth deflected the roots to his sides, forcing them to go past him and penetrate the muddy forest floor.
Seeing this, the Magi were even more shocked! They could clearly see that Adam hadn't even put up much strength to receive the tree's attacks. He had simply redirected the attacks while using the least amount of movement and strength necessary.
They were completely enamored seeing such a display of skills by a Magus who was so much younger than them. The Magi couldn't help but come to admire and respect the teenager's prowess.
Adam, on the other hand, had his full attention on the incoming attacks that seemed to be increasing in number with every step he took.
His dark pupils darted around at great speed as they accurately observed the trajectories of the roots. His mind running on overdrive, predicting the attack patterns, and subsequently coming up with countermeasures.
Now, more than ten roots were attacking him alone, whereas the rest of the roots of the mangrove tree were on standby in case the other Magi also decided to attack.
From this, one could tell that the tree had a considerably high level of survival instinct!
Adam increased the output of mana and augmented his gauntlets with another layer. Now, he was at a very crucial point where he could no longer deflect all the attacks coming at him.
He had to take drastic measures or his hard work up to now would be wasted.
Seeing the menacing, crimson roots about to assault him, Adam's eyes narrowed. He expertly parried the nearest root, however, instead of deflecting it on either side of him, he redirected it into stabbing another incoming root.
And just like that, two roots had been instantly immobilized!
"No way!"
"Did he just…"
"A-Amazing!"
The Magi watching Adam single-handedly fight the mangrove tree didn't think that they'd be any more surprised by him than they had already been. But they were severely wrong. And this was just the beginning.
Adam continued to take calm, steady, and confident steps forward. He borrowed the power of the tree's roots to deal damage to the other roots. Every root attack that came his way was masterfully redirected toward other incoming roots, instantly rendering them useless.
The mangrove tree finally realized that Adam posed a much bigger threat than the rest of the Magi combined. It then mobilized all of its roots into attacking the youth and killing him once and for all.
However, it was already too late.
Adam was already a few meters away from the tree now. He positioned himself calmly and gathered a large amount of mana in his hands. He applied the principles of the Hand of Doom to his next move.
Mana swirled around his black gauntlets as he grabbed two incoming roots and redirected them. However, this time the roots did not attack other roots. Instead, they ended up stabbing straight through the mangrove tree's trunk.
BAM!
The moment the two roots penetrated the center of the tree's trunk, the other roots that were about to attack Adam instantly stopped in their tracks and lifelessly fell to the ground.
Adam breathed a sigh of relief as a drop of sweat trickled down his forehead. "That was taxing."
But when his gaze landed on the area where the two roots had pierced the tree trunk, his lips curled up into a victorious smile. "But it was all worth it."
Under the dumbfounded gazes of the Magi present, Adam calmly walked toward the mangrove tree and put his hand inside the trunk.
Then, he took out a crystal-like object which was blue in color and resembled a heart. Sensing the pure and abundant mana radiating from the object, Adam grinned.
"Core of the 100-year-old Mystic Mangrove Tree obtained!"
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