Universe Infinite Canteen

Watching another skeleton move toward him, Ma Lu swung his chef's knife and chopped at the roots behind it.

The roots of the Thousand-Faced Konjac were extremely tough. Before, bullets from Yun Que just blasted away the epidermis and a part of the fibers, leaving some still connected.

However, under the Chef's Knife's trait of slicing through any ingredient, the thumb-thick root nearly snapped upon touch.

The skeleton's movements also paused abruptly.

There's a chance!

Seeing this, Ma Lu's spirits lifted, and he swung his knife again. This time he applied a bit more force, severing seven or eight roots in one chop.

The skeleton could no longer maintain its form and collapsed into a heap of bones on the ground.

During this, Ma Lu didn't forget to glance at the attributes pane of the Thousand-Faced Konjac, but regrettably, its HP did not decrease simultaneously.

It seemed that only the witches' magic power could inflict substantial damage on these energized plants. Ma Lu wasn't clear on the specifics, but at least he found a way to deal with the corpses before him.

Thereafter, he stepped boldly forward, diving into the army of the dead, his knife flying left and right, quickly bringing down three more corpses.

Once he found the method, these skeleton soldiers were quite easy to handle. Their attack power was not high, and they moved slowly, no different from live targets.

The purpose of the Thousand-Faced Konjac summoning them was more to oppress and entrap the enemy, and combined with its poison fog, it could cause enemies caught within it to lose HP rapidly.

In fact, once the effect of Song of Bliss had passed, Ma Lu's HP began to plummet quickly again.

Moreover, Song of Bliss had a cooldown time, and Bliss Bird could only use the recovery skill "Everlasting Life" to heal the team for 40 points of blood at once. It took a painstaking minute of cooldown before they could sing the Song of Bliss again.

Yun Que, under Ma Lu's command, no longer focused on the surrounding corpses but continued attacking the main body of the Thousand-Faced Konjac. Of course, the primary source of damage for the team was still the Hellhound.

Since mounting the head of the gigantic konjac, the purple-haired girl hadn't stopped attacking. She swung her mechanical arm until it started to heat up, her sweat dripping on it and quickly steaming into wisps of white smoke.

Now it was a race against time, a matter of which side's HP would fail first.

At this time, the importance of Ma Lu having his three witches steadily deal damage on the way to the final battle became apparent.

Until they entered the ultimate fight, the Sin Value of Yun Que and the others had only been in the single digits, but now they could freely use their skills. Read latest stories on empire

However, everyone's Sin Value, and especially Bliss Bird's, was rising quickly, having reached 62 points, inching ever closer to the limit of 75, while the HP of the Thousand-Faced Konjac was still about a quarter full.

There was more bad news; in about 7 seconds, the duration of this round of Song of Bliss would also end.

And the Thousand-Faced Konjac was already brewing the release of another wave of poison fog. Given their current health status, they certainly couldn't endure the fog's hit and needed Bliss Bird to perform a healing ability.

But doing so would increase her Sin Value to the point where Bliss Bird could no longer cast Song of Bliss, eliminating the detoxifying effect on the trio.

Even if they could defeat the Thousand-Faced Konjac, they would most likely die from the continuous loss of HP due to the poison.

And if they didn't perform the healing ability, Bliss Bird could still cast Song of Bliss one more time. But the problem was that with their current condition, they couldn't last until the cooldown ended.

This was a scenario that seemed inevitably fatal, no matter the choice!

But Ma Lu's mind was calmer than ever before. As he saw the faces on the Thousand-Faced Konjac begin to contort and open their mouths, preparing to spew out a toxic fog, he decisively adjusted his position and then unleashed another Skill—Savage Charge.

Right after he locked the Skill on the Thousand-Faced Konjac, his body uncontrollably rushed forward like a tank, plowing through the encircling corpses.

Eventually, he leaped from the ground and slammed into the Thousand-Faced Konjac upfront.

In the surprised gazes of the three Witches, the colossal body of the Thousand-Faced Konjac was sent flying, tumbling backward and crashing into the large banyan tree behind it.

Subsequently, the pink tumor, along with the corpses controlled by its roots, ceased their movements.

This scene was beyond everyone's expectations, for in terms of sheer size, Ma Lu was nearly a hundred times smaller than the Thousand-Faced Konjac.

The impact he had made was like a quail egg striking a boulder, yet, against all odds, it was the boulder that was sent bouncing away.

Ma Lu noticed that the sent-flying Thousand-Faced Konjac had lost 5 points of HP, but that wasn't the point. The key was the repelling effect that came with this commander Skill.

Ma Lu cleverly manipulated the positioning, aligning himself, the Thousand-Faced Konjac, and the banyan tree in a straight line. He not only repelled the Thousand-Faced Konjac but also used the tree behind it to stun it for two seconds.

Do not underestimate those two seconds. The Thousand-Faced Konjac had been ready to spray its toxic fog again, but this interruption caused the faces on the tumor to close their mouths once more.

Moreover, two seconds later, although the Thousand-Faced Konjac had recovered from the stunning effect, it didn't immediately release its poison.

Ma Lu knew he had won the bet. Compared to the animals on the first plane, while the Energized Plants on this plane were also formidable, they seemed to be lacking a bit in intelligence.

This was perhaps due to an inherent disadvantage of the species; Energized Plants didn't have brains and found it difficult to think like humans or animals, to change their combat strategy according to the situation at hand.

They were more like programs with pre-set rules, executing specific actions once certain triggers were met.

But if interrupted, they might lose the track of their current action.

In human terms, they were more akin to the monsters or NPCs in games. It took a full half a minute for the Thousand-Faced Konjac to remember to spew poison again.

Meanwhile, Ma Lu, Yun Que, and the others had an HP that was generally above 30 points. Thirty seconds later, the Bliss Bird began to chant the Song of Bliss again.

The mellifluous and ethereal melody once again enveloped the four people, dissipating the poisoning effect on them and causing their health bars to slowly rise.

They had won!

Ma Lu estimated roughly that at the current rate of HP loss, the Thousand-Faced Konjac would not live to see the end of the Song of Bliss.

And indeed, that was the case; about thirteen seconds later, the ugly and enormous body of the four-star ingredient collapsed under the banyan tree.

The four of them did not immediately approach; Ma Lu even called the Hellhound, which had been perched on the head of the Thousand-Faced Konjac, back. They first retreated upwind.

Only after the poisonous fog below had been completely blown away did they return to check the spoils of war.

Ma Lu took a photo of the large konjac first. According to the quest system's estimate, he could earn 150,000 Holy Silver Coins and about 1,800 Atonement Points from this encounter.

With the previous gains, Ma Lu should be able to net 210,000 Holy Silver Coins and 2,600 Atonement Points from this mission.