Having restored his level to Lv. 5, Zoe activated the Dual Shadow's Stealth ability and concealed himself in the darkness.
Although his level could be raised quickly, Zoe's total mana still had to be accumulated bit by bit through feeding.
Therefore, despite possessing many powerful skills at the moment, his endurance was quite poor; his total mana simply could not withstand heavy consumption.
“I'll send out a clone to scout ahead first.”
While moving in Stealth, Zoe continuously digested the two corpses inside his Shadow Pool, allowing his mana to recover to 300.
He activated [Shadow Clone], spending 200 mana to split off a clone and send it ahead to scout.
With the creation of the clone, Zoe's consciousness was split once again.
At this point, Zoe also felt a slight strain, his mind bearing some of the load.
“So Lv. 1 [Parallel Mind] reaches its limit when managing three threads simultaneously, huh?”
Zoe was currently executing the Digest skill to consume food, controlling the clone, and directing his main body all at the same time.
Focusing on three tasks at once was the absolute limit of Lv. 1 [Parallel Mind].
He remained in Stealth, sneaking through the darkness until his mana had fully recovered.
Now, he wanted to hunt another monster.
However, unlike the Great Hera Forest, the monsters in the Death Swamp were extremely cautious. They rarely attacked lightly, and the moment they sensed danger, they would flee immediately.
He would have to use a lure.
Controlling his clone, Zoe activated Shadow Transformation, turning it into an ordinary, unremarkable slime.
His main body used Stealth to hide in the dark, using the clone as bait to lure the prey out.
At this moment, Zoe was simultaneously training five skills: [Shadow Clone (C-grade)], [Shadow Transformation (C-grade)], [Stealth (E-grade)], [Parallel Mind (D-grade)], and [Shadow Pool (D-grade)].
His max-level [Digest] and [Devour] skills were processing the food in his Shadow Pool at full speed, providing him with a massive amount of fuel to sustain his training.
The skills of the Dual Shadow were simply too convenient to practice!
The slime bouncing around the swamp quickly attracted a predator's attention.
An ordinary-looking tree suddenly sprang to life.
Thick roots burst through the swamp, and sharp branches thrust downward like spears.
This sudden ambush did not startle Zoe at all.
“Before my [Lesser Appraisal Eye], disguises are useless.”
[Treant Lv. 12]
[Mana] 851/851
Zoe's clone agilely dodged the simultaneous attacks from both above and below.
With his powerful dynamic vision, even if it was the treant's full-strength blow, Zoe could still track the trajectory of the attack and rely on his extremely high Agility stat to dodge.
Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh! The wind howled.
A dense shower of wooden needles rained down from the treant's canopy. Propelled by the force of strong winds, they formed a thick needle rain that shot toward Zoe.
The treant's mana instantly dropped by 200; this was clearly quite a powerful attack.
Zoe quickly channeled the remaining mana within his clone's body.
Acid Rain Bullet! Zoe spat out a dense flurry of Acid Rain Bullets to clash against the incoming needle rain in the sky.
As the Acid Rain Bullets collided with the wooden needles, a vast number of the needles were completely dissolved in midair.
However, the treant did not panic; its mana dropped by another 100. What skill did it activate this time?
Recognizing that the treant had stealthily cast a spell, Zoe did not hesitate and immediately tried to leap backward.
But at that moment, he discovered that his body was completely immobilized. What skill was this?
Zoe hurriedly scanned his own body and discovered that countless tiny roots had sprouted inside him in an instant. He quickly looked around. This is...
He finally noticed minute particles mixed into the surrounding mist. These particles were all tiny seeds, blended so perfectly into the Death Swamp's unique mist that they were practically undetectable.
Once they made contact with an enemy's skin, these mana-infused seeds would rapidly germinate and grow.
Swoosh! By the time Zoe understood the mechanism, the treant had already charged in front of him. Sharp, arm-like branches slammed down with crushing force, shattering Zoe's clone into pieces.
Seeing its enemy destroyed, the treant let its guard down. It was about to extend its roots to feed when it noticed Zoe's remains suddenly turning into black mist and dispersing.
Zoe's main body, concealed in the dark, seized this opportunity. Corrosive Gas Slash!
The sharp blade of the Corrosive Gas Slash sliced through the mist, heading straight for the treant's trunk.
The treant hurriedly raised its branches to block. However, the charged Corrosive Gas Slash triggered his [Wall Smasher] talent, heavily boosting the power of his charged strike.
The powerful slash sheared the branches right off into the air, before slicing a massive gash into the trunk.
The treant possessed extremely powerful self-healing abilities. Realizing it had been tricked, it desperately tried to pull back and wait for its wounds to mend.
However, the corrosive gas clung to the wound, constantly eating away at it and completely suppressing the treant's self-healing capabilities.
By now, the treant's intelligence was sufficient to realize how bad the situation was. Only one thought remained in its mind: flee.
Needle Rain! Shaking its canopy, it once again unleashed a barrage of wooden needles toward Zoe.
At the same time, the tiny seeds in the air gathered around Zoe, aiming to restrict his movements and buy enough time for the treant to escape.
However, did a clumsy treant truly think it could escape from the speed of the Dual Shadow?
Zoe spat out the corrosive gas he had just gathered from the air, creating a wind pressure around his body that blew away the invisible seeds floating toward him.
At the same time, a portion of his shadow-composed body stretched out to form a round shield, blocking the needle rain falling from above as he charged at the fleeing treant.
The [Unearther (C-grade)] talent allowed Zoe to better exploit the potential of his skills.
At this moment, he deployed his various skills with masterful ease.
Left with no choice, the treant resorted to its ultimate survival technique—the Seed Casting skill.
When faced with a mortal threat, a treant would scatter a vast number of seeds condensed with life energy into the air. Propelled by strong winds, these seeds would disperse in all directions.
With any luck, one or two of these seeds might take root and grow into new treants.
“Don't even think about it!”
Zoe was not about to let these flying seeds escape. Their rich life energy and dense mana were exceptionally nourishing.
Shadow Pool! Zoe activated [Shadow Pool] alongside [Devour] and [Shadow Transformation]. His body suddenly ballooned as countless tentacles shot up into the sky like a massive web, intercepting every single seed cast by the treant.
Damn it! The weakened treant stamped its roots in desperation, but Zoe showed no mercy.
Dragon Flame Bullet! Spitting out a small Dragon Flame Bullet that cost 100 mana, the blazing flames instantly engulfed the treant.
Under the absolute heat of the Dragon Flame, the naturally fire-weak treant could offer no resistance and was reduced to a heap of charred remains on the spot.
[Killed Treant Lv. 12. Experience +250. Talent [Plunder (B-grade)] triggered, additional Experience +250.]
[Your level has increased to Lv. 7.]
[Agility +1, Intelligence +1, Maximum Mana +10, Free Stat Points +2.]
Staring at the treant's charred remains, Zoe extended a mass of pitch-black shadow to envelope it, channeling his [Plunder] talent with full force.
Plunder did not just provide double Experience; when channeled with full effort, it could also steal an ability from the target.
[Plunder successful. Obtained skill: Pressure Differential Lv. 2 (E-grade) (Temporarily Mastered).]
[Pressure Differential] was a wind-attribute skill that could generate wind pressure to blow back enemies or apply a wind-attribute speed boost to his own attacks.
Although it wasn't the skill Zoe wanted most, it was still decent.
With the plunder complete, Zoe swept the treant's charred remains and seeds into his Shadow Pool.
At the same time, without lingering for a single second, he vanished from the spot, concealing himself within the swamp shadows to recover his mana.
Rate on N.U.
