Normally, a Wizard Apprentice using Plant Growth could control three to five vines at most. Even then, they would have to be fully focused; the slightest distraction would cause the vines to spiral out of control.
For Ethan to manifest dozens at once, casually harvesting herbs as if he were out for a stroll, was essentially using a cantrip as if it were an extension of his own limbs.
But he could do it.
His learning speed, which exceeded one hundred, allowed him to thoroughly understand the operational logic of every node in the spell.
With his 91% wood-element affinity, the wood-element energy particles obeyed his every command. Combined with the 50% consumption reduction from the Archmage passive and his affinity passive, the results were extraordinary.
The three factors stacked together to produce the effect seen now.
As he pushed through a dense thicket of shrubs, the vegetation ahead suddenly thinned out.
Ethan didn't stop, sending his vines out ahead of him.
Then, he heard a low growl.
Behind the thicket was a relatively open clearing, roughly the size of two basketball courts.
Several dead trees lay scattered across the center, their trunks carpeted in dark green moss.
At the edge of the clearing, an exceptionally large Gray-Mane Wolf stood atop a jagged rock, its eerie green eyes fixed directly on Ethan.
Behind it, a dense crowd of gray-brown figures emerged from the shadows of the trees.
One, ten, thirty, fifty...
Ethan's gaze swept over them. Gray-Mane Wolves.
The one standing on the rock was clearly the Wolf King. It stood nearly two meters tall at the shoulder, and the mane around its neck was a strange grayish-white, looking as if it had been bleached.
Over a hundred and thirty of them.
The Gray-Mane Wolves began to surround him from three sides.
They slowly tightened the circle, their green eyes staring in unison as low whimpers escaped their throats.
The Wolf King remained motionless on the rock, merely tilting its head slightly as if evaluating the two-legged beast that had trespassed into its territory.
Ethan stared back at it.
Then, he smiled.
He spread the fingers of his right hand, and a pale green light suddenly flared.
The Wolf King's pupils constricted, and it opened its maw to let out an attacking howl.
It was too late.
The ground exploded.
Not figuratively—it literally burst apart.
Over a dozen wooden spikes, each as thick as a man's arm, erupted from the earth simultaneously. With Ethan as the center, they fanned out in all directions.
The speed at which the spikes broke the soil was staggering. Carrying dirt and gravel with them, they drove through the soft bellies of the Gray-Mane Wolves, piercing through their chests and emerging from their backs.
In an instant, seven or eight wolves were pinned to the spot, their limbs dangling off the ground as blood slid down the wooden spikes.
The Wolf King's howl finally broke through, sharp and ear-piercing.
The remaining Gray-Mane Wolves moved at once.
They pounced from three directions, their speed so great they left afterimages.
Ethan flipped his right hand.
The ground exploded again.
Dozens of spikes shot out in a crisscross pattern, forming a circular wooden barrier.
The lunging wolves couldn't stop their momentum and slammed directly into them.
The sound of wood tearing through flesh echoed through the clearing.
Warm wolf blood sprayed across the spikes, staining the dark brown wood a deep crimson.
Some wolves were impaled through the chest, others through the abdomen, and some had spikes driven through their jaws and into their skulls, killing them instantly.
The numbers on the system interface began to climb rapidly.
Ethan moved his hand once more.
A third wave of spikes.
The wolves trying to flank him didn't even get close before the ground beneath them cracked open.
Spikes bored out from beneath the layer of leaf litter, accurately piercing their bellies.
The belly was the softest part of a Gray-Mane Wolf's body, with thin fur and shallow muscle; the spikes went through with almost no resistance.
Before long, the pack descended into chaos.
They were indeed smarter than the Human-Faced Wolves; they knew how to flank, how to coordinate, and how to attack from blind spots.
But because they were smart, they were capable of fear.
In just a few breaths, the clearing was carpeted with the corpses of their kin. The smell of blood was thick and pungent. The surviving wolves began to hesitate, their charge visibly slowing.
Standing on the rock, a flicker of terror passed through the Wolf King's green eyes.
It let out a short, sharp howl.
The remaining twenty or thirty wolves reacted as if they had been granted a divine reprieve, turning tail to flee.
Ethan raised an eyebrow.
Running?
He raised his right hand and made a clenching motion.
The wooden spikes still embedded in the ground suddenly shattered.
A rain of wooden splinters chased down the retreating wolves from behind.
The shards buried themselves in hind legs, backs, and necks; some even pierced directly through skulls.
The Gray-Mane Wolves collapsed with agonized howls, struggling to stand, but the wooden shards left their muscles completely unresponsive.
The Wolf King let out a furious roar and leapt down from the rock, charging straight for Ethan.
Its speed was on a completely different level compared to the others. Its two-meter-tall frame was like a heavy chariot in full charge, every step shaking the ground and sending dead leaves flying.
Seeing this, the other wounded wolves let out mournful cries and turned back to follow their leader in a final charge.
Ethan watched the gray blur approaching and gave a light flick of his index finger.
The ground beneath the Wolf King suddenly heaved.
A Giant Wood Spike, far thicker than any of the previous ones, erupted from the earth. It was half a meter in diameter, its surface covered in a rough, bark-like texture.
The massive timber shot up at a forty-five-degree angle, striking the Wolf King squarely in the chest.
The Wolf King's charge was cut short violently.
Its furious roar turned into a pathetic whimper.
The Giant Wood Spike continued to rise, lifting the massive creature off the ground and suspending it in mid-air. The Wolf King's limbs flailed wildly in the empty air, its green eyes filled with pure terror.
Ethan made a downward stroking motion with his finger.
The tip of the Giant Wood Spike suddenly split, sprouting two thinner branches. They wrapped around the Wolf King's neck from both sides, meeting at the back of its neck where they intertwined and tightened.
The Wolf King was strangled so hard its eyeballs bulged. Its tongue was forced out the side of its mouth, and its throat produced only raspy, wheezing gasps. Its limbs thrashed frantically, claws raking the air, but there was nothing to grip.
The branches tightened further, crushing the Wolf King's neck to half its original thickness. Bone began to emit fine, snapping sounds as the muscle beneath the fur was deformed by the pressure.
Ten breaths later, the Wolf King's struggles ceased.
Its massive body hung from the top of the wooden spike, limbs dangling limply, its green eyes losing their luster.
【Life Energy +185. Current Life Energy: 2421.】
Ethan lowered his hand and scanned the field of corpses.
Over a hundred and thirty Gray-Mane Wolves, plus a Wolf King, all finished right here.
The clearing was soaked in blood. The mixture of leaf litter, soil, and wolf blood felt sticky underfoot.
He walked over to the Wolf King's corpse, grabbed the grayish-white mane, and stowed it directly into his ring.
As for the rest?
Useless. He left them where they lay.
Ethan pulled back his hand and was about to continue forward when a thought struck him, and he stopped.
"Wait... the corpses, plus the Spirit-Refreshing Potion... could I do something big with this?"
To a Wizard Apprentice, the Spirit-Refreshing Potion was a meditation aid.
But to a magical beast, that thing had a completely different meaning.
Rate on N.U.
