"Watch out!" Albert shouted.
The next moment, the one-ring-level cursed creature leaped onto the wall above Locke's head, its right hand morphing into a black-glowing scythe as it aimed to strike the Great Green Owl Banana on Locke's back.
Below the three of them flowed a river of strong acid—if knocked down, they would fall directly into it.
Albert swiftly executed the 0.9-ring [Blade Bamboo Sword Dance Technique], cleanly bisecting the terrifying monster vertically and then horizontally, splitting it into four equal parts.
The Blade Bamboo Sword Dance Technique moved with incredible speed at the moment of attack, surpassing both the assault and movement speed of this mutated ghoul.
Yet, even after being quartered, the monster showed no signs of death. Instead, each remaining upper half of its body sprouted a black-glowing flesh scythe from one hand, lunging toward Locke and Albert.
"Wizards... die..."
In this critical moment, Albert yelled, "Locke, dodge quickly!"
Sisyphus cried out, "Throw me out to distract it, Locke!"
Locke furrowed his brow. Most people would panic in such chaos, likely making mistakes.
But he felt not a trace of panic; instead, his mind grew calmer, his thoughts as still as an ancient well, completely unaffected by emotion.
His pupils subtly shifted into golden vertical slits.
'Abandoning them won't save me either. This ghoul's vitality and physical functions have been greatly enhanced by the Curse Erosion Spore. And it's filled with hatred for all wizards—it's not just hunting us, but any wizard it encounters,' Locke quickly reasoned. 'Wait, no matter how enhanced it is, its foundation should still be Curse Magic.'
'The Curse Erosion Spore is merely a carrier vessel; the high-level geometric curse formation pattern inside it is what truly matters.'
Locke immediately summoned the Perseus Eye Lichen Shield from his Astral Ring and cast the 0.5-ring [Moss Shield]. Instantly, green halos enveloped the surface of the shield, forming concentric rings of emerald light.
These green halos were the spell radiance emitted by the [Moss Shield]'s spell model. Under the influence of this 0.5-ring spell, the Perseus Eye Shield positioned itself between the monster and Locke's group.
Clang!
Screech!
The monster's flesh scythes scraped against the surface of the Perseus Lichen Eye Shield, sparking magical flares and carving two deep gouges into it.
However, the impact from the scythes, formed by the Curse Erosion Spore, quickly activated the eye patterns within Perseus' Eye, causing them to glow and emit a crystalline green wave.
Magic rebound!
Boom!
In an instant, the monster let out an unprecedented scream. "Wizards... hateful wizards..."
"I despise you, I resent you..."
"One day, I will kill all of you..."
Under the magical rebound of the Perseus Eye Lichen Shield, the flesh of this ghoul modified by curse erosion spores began to collapse, decomposing bit by bit to reveal the dense black mycelium of the curse erosion spores inside its body.
Beneath the magical rebound of the Perseus Eye Lichen Shield, the creature's flesh seemed unable to hold together any longer, while the mycelium of the curse erosion spores barely clung to its remaining cellular structure, haphazardly binding the cells together.
In this bizarre turn of events, the creature's body swelled up, transforming into a fleshy sphere covered in writhing meaty tentacles.
These fleshy tentacles around the sphere whipped about like flagella, still pursuing Locke and the others, though this time at a much slower pace—unable to keep up with Locke's Plant Mimicry Technique: Raptor Transformation.
Locke even had the leisure to pause, glance back at the monster, and remark, "The Perseus Eye Lichen still possesses sufficient counterattack power against such creatures."
"After all, the Perseus Eye Lichen previously acquired broad-spectrum resistance to common curses of the Blood Curse Court through the Magic Plant Curse, along with corresponding magical counterattack capabilities."That monster's body seems to have been shattered by my Perseus Eye Lichen, plunging it into collapse and a state of complete loss of control." As a result, its movement speed has slowed drastically, making it utterly incapable of catching up to me."
Locke frowned as he watched the curse corroder modified body behind him—even after transforming into a fleshy sphere, it still flailed its whip-like meaty tentacles in a futile attempt to pursue him.
The curse creatures created by high-level curse masters were truly repulsive.
If they actually managed to develop some abomination using curse erosion spores, wouldn't battlefields become littered with such horrors?
Fortunately, the Perseus Eye Lichen he had cultivated earlier performed excellently, perfectly rebounding the curse energy from that monster just now.
Despite all variations, the essence remains unchanged—no matter how the curse formulas alter or what vessel carries the curse energy, it's all ultimately curse magic that can be rebounded using the Perseus Eye Lichen!
Checking his Perseus Eye Lichen, Locke found the lichen already half-destroyed, likely usable only one more time.
He needed to quickly develop supporting spells for the Perseus Eye Lichen.
Moreover, he could use this as foundation to develop a fundamental spell model framework capable of continuous iteration, preparing for future defensive magic plants in the Perseus Eye Lichen series after his advancement to First Circle Wizard.
Albert and Sisyphus breathed sighs of relief upon seeing they had escaped danger.
"Finally rid of that damned thing," Albert said, raising an eyebrow as he observed the Perseus Eye Lichen hovering around Locke, rotating midair. "Locke, where did you obtain this rare defensive magic plant? Its defensive effect against curse magic is remarkably effective—it even rebounded a failed creation made by a first-circle high-level curse master."
"I've never encountered such a powerful defensive magic plant before."
"You certainly possess an abundance of rare magic plants. Your resources are truly substantial."
Sisyphus also rarely interjected, "That's right, Mr. Locke."
"I've never seen this type of defensive magic plant before. Could it be an unknown wild magic plant you discovered somewhere? But no, there are clear signs of magical modification on it. It doesn't seem wild, more like... something created in a laboratory."
Locke looked at the two of them with surprise, feeling somewhat puzzled, "Oh, I cultivated this myself."
"It wasn't obtained from anywhere else. This magic plant isn't particularly rare either—I can mass-produce this type of magic plant!"
"In the future, I'll be selling it at the Lijin Secret Language shop. If you want it, you can purchase it there. By the way, this is also my entry for the Custom Magic Plant Competition. If it places in the top three and secures an Academy Centralized Procurement order, you won't even need to buy it. You could directly obtain this magic plant at the frontline based on military merits."
Locke looked at the two with a puzzled expression. "What? In your eyes, this counts as a rare magic plant?"
"This can be considered rare?"
Both Albert and Sisyphus were momentarily at a loss for words.
Sisyphus smiled wryly, "Sometimes, I really feel like people like me don't have much in common with geniuses like you."
Albert added, "Locke, junior, you must be joking."
Locke pondered deeply. 'It seems the rarity of magic plants is relative. For wizards other than me, this type of magic plant is currently still in a non-saleable state...'
Suddenly, Locke became serious with the two, "Gentlemen, you both know some defensive plant magic, right? As long as it involves plant spells that control fungi, moss, and lichen-type magic plants."
"I'll give you two Perseus Eye Lichen Shields."
Locke said, "Don't refuse yet. This is part of the transaction. After you leave, you can endorse my Perseus Eye Lichen Shield."
Albert responded very quickly. "Of course."
"I understand. It's for the competition, so you need endorsements, right?"
Clearly, Albert was someone who frequently participated in competitions. He immediately understood what Locke needed and what situation he was currently in.
(End of Chapter)