CH 21

The Millennium Grudge Tree is a mindless kind of monster.

It started attacking the moment it detected an intruder, especially given that it could feel that said intruder is a major threat.

The giant tree's branches started shaking and those branches were filled with black fruits the size of a person's head. Then, those fruits all started cracking open.

"The heck!"

Zhang Nu was shocked to discover that every single one of those fruits opened up to release a black ghost from within them.

[Grudge Ghost]. Level 1 Normal. This isn't a normal ghost filled with grudges, but something that came from the Grudge Tree and is thus under the Grudge Tree's control. Be careful of its mental attack and self-destruct... Skills: Wail (F rank), self-destruct (F rank).

Those grudge ghosts aren't actually all that strong.

The issue though is that there's way too many of them. In just a few short seconds, hundreds have already been released like they're a swarm of bees from a disturbed beehive.

Based on the appraisal information, grudge ghosts have two ways of attacking.

The first is a mid ranged wail attack. This is a mental attack, which completely ignores physical defense.

The second kind is a self destruct when it latches onto a target. This attack is extremely powerful. If there are enough numbers involved, it is completely capable of being a threat to Zhang Nu.

Given all that, Zhang Nu had realized that he must not allow himself to be surrounded by the grudge ghosts.

Not even he would be able to escape the crowd control effect of hundreds of grudge ghosts wailing at him all at once. That is no small threat to him.

Then, right that moment, countless black roots extended out from around the Grudge Tree like a swarm of snakes.

That's one of the abilities of the Millennium Grudge Tree. Anyone caught by those roots will not only have a hard time moving or escaping, they'll also rapidly have their MP drained away, thus erasing any possibility of resisting.

It was pretty obvious that the Millennium Grudge Tree is an especially dangerous and hard to deal with monster even among Lord level monsters.

Zhang Nu took to the air on his wings. Based on the information he got from his cheat, it's hard to defend against the roots when on the ground, but they're also unable to reach anything that's too high.

Screams and wailing resounded all around.

Countless grudge ghosts joined in the cacophony.

-8!

-9!

-5!

Zhang Nu's HP dropped bit by bit, but thankfully, his stats are naturally high, so he hasn't succumbed to any status effects like daze or confusion for the time being.

Despite the great number of grudge ghosts, they weren't really all that fast.

Thus, Zhang Nu continuously kept on the move so as to avoid being surrounded. Soon enough, he managed to get used to the rhythm of the battle. At that point, he'll be readying his counterattack.

If it was someone else here, they'd probably try to attack the Tree itself.

In actuality though, that's not a good idea.

The Millennium Grudge Tree isn't actually a real tree. Instead, it's a monster shaped like a tree. The tree itself isn't its weak point, and even if it was greatly damaged, it will still quickly regenerate.

The tree itself can be said to be a bait specifically there to draw fire.

The Grudge Tree could continuously absorb energy from the surroundings and the battle itself to fuel its recovery.

With that, the battle will be continuously drawn out, allowing it to exhaust and then kill any enemy, no matter how strong.

"Dragon Flame!"

Zhang Nu released a blazing hot breath and held it up above his horns. Then, he concentrated it into a dense fireball about the size of a man's head.

In his draconian form, the attack's area of effect has shrunk, but its power has increased.

Zhang Nu mentally activated a trigger and the dragon flame fireball fell and exploded among the Grudge Tree's roots, and with an eye-searing flash, the powerful dragon fire expanded and reduced enormous amounts of the roots to ash.

A strange dark red heart was beating steadily In the middle of the countless burnt bones, rocks and roots.

"Found it!"

"That's the heart of the Grudge Tree!"

Zhang Nu had learned via the appraisal message that the lone weakness of the Millennium Grudge Tree was this heart that was hidden among its roots.

The Millennium Grudge Tree had noticed the threat against it.

Thus, it turned berserk. The burnt roots quickly regenerated. At the same time, it released all the grudge ghosts and directed a portion of them to cover up the opening.

"Meaningless resistance!"

Zhang Nu continuously released two more dragon flame attacks.

The first blast instantly vaporized the shield of grudge ghosts, allowing the second blast to strike through the opening. Although the roots were regenerating rapidly, they were of no use at all.

The dragon flame fireball blasted right through the regenerated roots and struck the beating heart, exploding in flames among the roots.

The faces on the tree's trunk all twisted and warped.

They all let out ear-piercing shrieks, blasting out flames from the eyes and mouths. The entire tree exploded inch by inch, and was instantly shattered to pieces.

The grudge ghosts that filled the air also vanished with a scream.

[You've slain a Millennium Grudge Tree. Gold +2500!]

[You've conquered the Mine of Sorrows. You gained a Bronze Treasure Chest!]

In that instant, all was quiet.

That insanity inducing screaming had vanished.

Zhang Nu let out a long breath, he had never realized before just how nice it was to have some peace and quiet.

This particular battle was very short.

It wasn't because the Grudge Tree was weak by any means though.

Without the notice from his cheat, Zhang Nu really wouldn't have had an easy time winning against that thing. It's all thanks to having known where the weakness was, much like how it's much easier beating a game when you had a walkthrough.

After defeating the Millennium Grudge tree, Zhang Nu had completely taken over the mine.

A beautiful bronze chest appeared before him.

That's the reward he got from conquering this area.

Zhang Nu opened up the chest.

[You opened the Bronze Treasure Chest. You gained "Undead Structure Leveling Scroll" x1, "Blueprint: Tower of Grudges" x1, "Gold" x2000!]