White Beard was just behind the gate.

He and the orange cat had already turned this place into their base of operations.

But when Saul walked through the gate, the first thing he saw wasn’t the white-bearded wizard crouching on the ground, but the dense, gnarled and twisted tree roots behind the gate.

These tree roots should have originally stayed underground, but now they were piled up like maze walls throughout the academy’s interior. It was as if they had been deliberately pruned by a gardener into this shape.

The walls formed by these tree roots were taller than Saul.

Only when Saul flew up could he see over the forest-like expanse of root walls to the even more shocking tree stump inside.

Just as the orange cat had described, a tree stump that had been cut in half—or rather, cut at the roots—lay flat in the academy’s center.

The original buildings had all been annihilated and crushed, or pushed to the sides.

What Saul found strange was that the tree stump before him should have been exposed to air for several months already. Yet the cross-section of the stump remained fresh as if it had just been cut.

Saul narrowed his eyes. The broken surface of the stump seemed to have countless runes swimming across it.

They would sometimes appear on the bark, sometimes sink into the trunk’s interior.

Magical power was evenly transmitted to the surrounding tree roots, causing the root walls before them to slowly grow taller and larger.

“Don’t think about flying over from above.” At this time, White Beard, who was crouching on the ground drawing formations, spoke. “Both mine and Orange Cat’s magic rely heavily on the ground. If you’re in the sky, we have no way to support you.”

He pointed at the root walls without looking back. “Besides, these tree roots can actually grow to very high heights. And even if you could fly higher, it wouldn’t help since our target, the giant tree stump, is on the ground.”

Saul landed back on the ground. “Thanks for the reminder.”

Only then did he observe the formation White Beard was drawing on the ground.

This small patch of clean ground was almost the last pure land inside the academy. Moreover, this clearing had a magical formation drawn on it that covered almost the entire space.

Both Saul and the orange cat could only stand against the walls.

White Beard was still perfecting the formation’s details, making final preparations for the imminent attack.

Saul observed the magical formation on the ground for a while. “Air… cannon?”

“I like that description.” White Beard finished drawing the last magical rune and looked up. “I used to fire cannons a lot. Just don’t have the chance anymore.”

He stood up and explained the formation to Saul.

“Air cannon, just as you described—it gathers nearby air then shoots it out like a cannon. The longer we entangle with these tree roots, the more passive we become. This formation can use air cannons to open a path closer to the tree stump for us.”

“Once we reach the end of the path opened by the air cannon, we’ll use magic to charge forward, which can save us a lot of energy.”

White Beard didn’t seem afraid that Saul would steal his techniques, openly displaying his magical formation in front of Saul.

“How much longer?” The orange cat paced back and forth impatiently. “Once it’s fully daylight, these tree roots will become even more active.”

“Now.” White Beard stood up. “We retreat to the gate. Remember, when you hear the rumbling sound, immediately charge into the gap.”

The orange cat beside them had already assumed an attack ready position, while keeping his eyes fixed on the two as he said, “Remember, once we find someone suspected to be Bayton’s dean, we must wait for everyone to gather before taking any action. Otherwise, we’re just asking for trouble!”

From the orange cat’s tone, Saul got the impression he had already decided that once they found Bayton’s dean, they could subdue him.

But would the head of a major faction really be so weak?

As for whether the other party had mutated, Saul couldn’t be certain yet. After all, in Wizard Jonah’s memory, the dean had only activated the Inverted Tree to sacrifice everyone in order to save Wizard Beth, who had been injured by Shaya.

However, regardless of the truth, he should enter the academy’s interior now.

Presumably, Keli outside had already finished setting up the five auxiliary formations.

“Bang—”

Suddenly there was an explosion, as if someone had instantly smashed a large drum.

Both the orange cat and White Beard beside him charged out immediately. Saul waited a few seconds before following behind them.

The massive air cannon instantly shattered the tree root cluster directly ahead. By the time Saul also stepped inside, the tree roots behind him had already resealed the entrance.

The three pursued the gap created by the air cannon, running inward. The closer they got to the academy’s center, the denser and thicker the tree roots became.

The air cannon’s force was gradually weakening, and with the gradually strengthening obstacles, the tunnel’s expansion speed began to slow.

But they were still several hundred meters from the central tree stump.

“Get ready!” The orange cat meowed and suddenly leaped sideways.

The next second, several branches with extremely sharp tips shot out from the root walls on both sides, stabbing with fierce momentum into where the orange cat had just been.

But immediately, an earth spike also rose from underground, finding the tree roots’ weakest angle and cutting outward, directly counter-attacking the branches that had ambushed the orange cat.

Large amounts of branches shattered and fell to the ground.

White Beard on the other side also began dealing with ambush attacks from branches on both sides.

His body hair was like steel needles, and when gathered together, formed a sharp blade.

He must have also cast some magic—branches swept by the steel needles would turn dark yellow and brittle, finally falling off the root walls by themselves.

Saul, who was last, felt wind howling behind him. Clearly, the root walls that had closed behind them also had man-eating branches attacking him.

Saul didn’t even look back. Dense black blades suddenly appeared behind him.

The blades fell like rain, firing silently but tearing apart all the branches trying to ambush him like autumn wind sweeping fallen leaves.

After the sounds behind him stopped, Saul looked back.

He found that the branches extending from the root walls had all been destroyed, but the root walls only had some small, dense holes.

And those small holes quickly disappeared as other roots rapidly filled them in.

“They replenish quickly, even faster than spellcasting speed. What’s providing energy to these tree roots?”

Without needing anyone to answer, Saul immediately thought of the disappeared people in the inner city.

The three ran forward rapidly while dealing with attacks from above, below, left, right, front and back.

After losing the air cannon’s propulsion in the blank area, advancing again required directly confronting the city wall-like tree roots.

At this point, Saul and the orange cat switched positions, with him taking the lead, using sharper black blades to open gaps in the path ahead.

Although all three had considerable strength, there were too many branches and root stems around them. Soon their clothing showed damage.

Despite numerous difficulties, they were gradually approaching the Inverted Tree’s stump.

“I can see the tree stump! There aren’t any of these annoying trees on top. Ki— White Beard, throw me over there. Black Blade, you eliminate the aerial attacks for me.”

This was also the plan the three had formulated.

White Beard didn’t hesitate, grabbed the orange cat’s front legs, spun rapidly in the air twice, and threw him out forcefully.

“Meow!!!!”

The orange cat cried out angrily, clearly dissatisfied with White Beard’s throwing method.

Saul smiled slightly and immediately waved for the black blades to follow.

According to plan, once the orange cat reached the tree stump, he would immediately set up another small air cannon to open a new passage beside the two.

This way, Saul and White Beard could break through a thin “wall” and advance a long distance again.

After several repetitions, it would be enough for them to break free from the tree roots and climb onto the tree stump’s surface.

However, plans still couldn’t keep up with change.

After the orange cat flew out of their line of sight, he suddenly let out a shrill scream.

“Meooooow—”

White Beard stared. “Don’t tell me these tree roots can climb onto the tree stump too?”

But then they heard the orange cat continue shouting,”There’s a ghost!!!”

(End of Chapter)

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