Chapter 444: Oasis

“Hey hey hey, you bastard are truly infuriating. Do you actually have a plan? You say we should wait and we wait inexplicably for half a day, then say we shouldn’t wait and immediately get up to move forward? Why am I so~ annoyed!”

Seeing Punk suddenly preparing for battle without a word, although Kane quickly drew his lance and followed, the knight who kept cursing under his breath was clearly displeased with this lack of control.

In fact, for Punk, the target he had been waiting for had already been achieved. Naturally, initiating combat as soon as possible was now the best course of action.

But for Kane, who had been completely in the dark from start to finish, he had been like a true follower knowing nothing. Since Punk held all the intelligence tightly, Kane—who could only stubbornly cling to Punk—had no way to act independently. Thus, he could only choose to follow Punk’s rhythm, waiting or engaging in battle as dictated.

However, Punk’s behavior seemed utterly erratic without knowing its purpose—one moment stopping to wait at the enemy’s lair entrance, then suddenly deciding to stop waiting for no apparent reason. No wonder Kane now appeared irritated, as if he’d been played.

But whether Kane was in a good or bad mood was completely irrelevant to Punk. Ultimately, it came down to one thing—those who possess intelligence hold the power of discourse. With absolute intelligence in his hands, if Kane didn’t want to blindly walk into Sorsend’s trap, he could only obediently follow behind Punk.

And so, accompanied by Kane’s increasingly profane muttering, the mage in black mage robes with red patterns and the knight in gleaming golden armor quickly entered an eerily silent oasis.

According to the information provided by the Filthy Bird, this oasis should be Sorsend’s lair and the location of that ultimate trap.

Now the question arose again: although they knew this was the enemy’s lair, where should they enter? Who knew whether Sorsend’s experimental base was hidden in folded space within this oasis or concealed in spatial crevices using the oasis as an anchor point?

For now, however, Punk and Kane weren’t in a hurry to find the entrance. After all, they had come specifically to cause trouble. A mage and knight couldn’t possibly infiltrate another mage’s lair silently anyway, so Punk and Kane simply didn’t bother hiding their presence.

For these two violent maniacs, if they couldn’t find the main entrance, they might as well blast a hole to enter. What’s wrong with breaking down the door violently aside from being slightly less sophisticated?

With purely provocative intentions, Kane and Punk calmly stepped into this oasis filled with thick grass.

As lush green plants gradually filled their vision, the world within the oasis seemed completely isolated from the outside. Every leaf and flower here appeared vibrant with life, with crystal-clear dewdrops visible on the fresh green leaves. One had to admit that compared to the desolate desert landscape outside, this oasis was like an ocean full of life.

However, this ocean seemed far too strange…After releasing his perception over a wide area, Punk quickly and keenly discovered that beneath the prosperous appearance of this oasis lay an unusual eeriness and lifeless silence.

“This is no ordinary oasis. The elemental fluctuations here have almost vanished, yet the plants maintain a superficial ‘vitality.’ That in itself is utterly absurd.”

Calming his mind to sense the energy characteristics within the oasis, Punk soon detected the unusually faint and peculiar elemental fluctuations. Generally, in a place teeming with life, elemental energy should flow in a balanced and continuous manner, much like a breeze in the air, possessing a fluid nature. It was hard to imagine how a place could sustain such vibrant and prosperous life if its “air” had long been stagnant.

Like Punk, Kane immediately noticed the strangeness of the oasis:

“I’m not particularly sensitive to elements or anything, but even I can tell these plants are seriously abnormal.”

With a forceful thrust, Kane drove his lance deep into a sturdy tree beside him. With just a slight flick of his wrist, leveraging his Master-Level knight strength, he effortlessly uprooted the entire tree.

However, the moment the giant tree was uprooted, accompanied by a loud, grating noise, both Punk’s usually calm expression and Kane’s perpetually irreverent demeanor instantly darkened.

The reason was simple: the tree Kane had uprooted was utterly bizarre!

Its upper half appeared to be an ordinary giant tree, but its lower half… had undergone a drastic mutation!

The root section of the tree had transformed into a mass of wildly writhing, pale-red tentacles! These tentacles, which still faintly resembled roots, thrashed and flailed violently in mid-air. It seemed the tree was enraged by its sudden uprooting and clearly displeased at being held aloft.

“Eww—damn it! What kind of disgusting thing is this? Are trees crossbreeding with beholders these days?”

In the brief moment of shock, Kane noticed the slimy tentacles from the tree’s roots clinging to his lance. Although Kane certainly had no reason to fear a mutated tree that barely reached apprentice-level strength, the mucus-covered tentacles were undeniably repulsive to the fastidious knight.

Without another word, an enraged Kane flung the giant tree away. Only after watching the bizarre plant fly out of the oasis and disappear from sight did the disgruntled knight hurriedly take out a cloth to carefully wipe his lance:

“Damn monster, how dare it defile my lance? Ugh, look at this disgusting slime. My golden lance should only be bathed in blood—what kind of filth is this?”

Despite his frivolous complaints, after meticulously cleaning every trace of mucus from his lance, Kane’s expression grew increasingly serious.Clearly, this mutated tree was highly abnormal. Trees in Faerûn couldn’t possibly have any impure relations with beholders, and this giant tree only deepened the eerie characteristics of this oasis.

Compared to Kane’s seriousness, Punk’s expression had turned utterly frigid.

Using Mage Hand to pick up some mucus from the ground for careful observation, Punk quickly obtained preliminary analysis results.

Dismissing the Mage Hand, Punk explained to Kane with an impassive face:

“The mutation of these trees isn’t actually surprising. The corruption of Abyssal energy is enough to make rocks grow fangs, turning a bunch of roots into tentacles is practically effortless.

However… the most unbelievable thing is that this corruption process appears to have been halted halfway here. The mucus secreted by these trees clearly contains components that inhibit Abyssal energy infection. Frankly speaking, many Apprentice-Level potions can prevent the spread of Abyssal energy, but for a creature to naturally develop the ability to secrete such potions… this involves complex alchemical modifications.”

At this point, Punk paused slightly, and his tone became meaningful:

“I believe we’ve come to the right place. Sorsend’s lair must be here. However… it seems this fellow truly has some expertise regarding the power of the Abyss, and… that chaotic evil Bird of Filth probably withheld quite a lot of information from me!”

(End of Chapter)