A system notification popped up.

Quest Progress: Head to Brendor Islet in the Flame Bright Archipelago.

Nie Yan walked toward one of the Nerubians.

The old Nerubian greeted him, “Dear sir, what may I help you with today?”

Nie Yan scanned through the dozen or so of flight destinations for a while before responding, “Please take me to Brendor Islet.”

“Happy to be of service.” The old Nerubian retrieved a giant bat from the stables and saddled it.

“Ready, sir. That’ll be 50 silver.”

Nie Yan paid the fee.

The giant bat approached Nie Yan. It had a very docile appearance.

This wasn’t the first time riding a flying beast for Nie Yan. He had done so multiple times in the previous timeline. But back then he rode the most common flying beast in the Viridian Empire, the Griffon!

Nie Yan got on the giant bat, and it took off with a mighty flap of its wings. It spiralled upwards until the white tent below was just a tiny speck before setting course toward Brendor Islet.

The giant bat flew over the Lava Sea, shuddering fiercely due to the scorching air rising up from below.

Nie Yan firmly held onto the reins of the giant bat. After a while, the bat finally stabilized itself after rising roughly 300 meters above the Lava Sea.

Nie Yan got a clear view of the thick black smoke rising up from a volcano as the giant bat flew past the crater.

He looked further ahead and noticed the Lava Sea dotted with islands scattered in a peculiar pattern.

Nie Yan believed there was definitely some lore behind the Flamebright Archipelago. He did a quick search on the official website and found it was the remnants of the Kirkby Empire, a once powerful Nerubians empire that rivalled the Undead Empire. However, it was ultimately submerged under the Lava Sea. These 13 islands still contained some ruins of this empire, but most of them were occupied by lava monsters and fire spirits.

Lava monsters and fire spirits often dropped gemstones and other similar items, so they were very popular targets for players.

After flying for ten more minutes, the giant bat gradually started descending to one of the large islands below. There were lava rock formations everywhere. Large and small cracks ran throughout, under which Nie Yan could see the lava flowing.

You have discovered Brendor Islet.

At the center of Brendor Islet was a volcano, spewing thick clouds of black smoke into the air like a chimney.

Bennett’s Soul flew straight toward the volcano.

Nie Yan hurriedly followed after. He searched up this area online and discovered it was a Level 80 map. He immediately became more cautious and decided it’d be too risky to summon Lil’ Gold. If he encountered a level 80 Elite, Lil’ Gold would only die for nothing.

He entered stealth and made his way toward the lush-looking forest in the distance.

Shuttling through the forest, Nie Yan eventually encountered some fire spirits. They were roughly three meters tall and had blazing humanoid forms.

Health: 8,000/8,000

Flame Elementals were a higher class of fire spirits. They didn’t have much health, but they possessed powerful Fire Magic.

Even Nie Yan wouldn’t dare to face more than two of them at once.

The Flame Elementals walked between the trees. The light emitted from their blazing bodies lit up everything within a 30 meter radius.

Nie Yan snuck past the Flame Elementals in his way as he followed Bennett’s Soul, gradually entering the depths of the forest, where a large tree poking into the sky caught his eye. It was roughly six meters tall, its branches forming a giant umbrella. Its trunk was large enough for six people linking their arms together to fully wrap around. A portion of its numerous and densely packed roots was exposed above ground.

Bennett’s Soul flew over to the tree and hovered in place. Nie Yan looked over and spotted several beast bones along a few other things sparkling on the ground. There was also a small treasure chest resting against the trunk. It was covered in a thick layer of dirt and leaves and looked fairly unremarkable.

Nie Yan didn’t know what hidden dangers lurked nearby. He looked around but failed to discover anything out of the ordinary. He walked over to the tree, bent down, and started picking up the items on the ground. He discovered they were lumps of metal roughly the size of his fist.

Nie Yan examined the lumps of metal.

Nie Yan recalled Nightmarium was a crafting material used for making siege crossbows strings. It was well known for its resilience and rarity. Generally, they could only be found near the summit of volcanoes, the closer to the crater, the better the quality. Naturally, the danger level would rise as well.

He found a total of 30 Nightmarium Ores scattered on the ground around the tree. Afterwards, he moved toward the chest. It was firmly embedded into the roots and looked somewhat ancient.

Nie Yan wiped off the dirt and leaves from the chest, revealing the peculiar runes engraved on the surface. The lock had the appearance of a white skull and gave off an eerie feeling.

Nie Yan wasn’t knowledgeable on the history of the Undead Empire, so he had no clue what era this chest belonged to. But judging from its appearance, it was at least several hundred years old.

He was surprised to see this chest was actually Dark Gold-grade.

Nie Yan bent down and started opening the chest. The lock was rather difficult to pick.

Opening treasure chest... Progress: 3%... 5%...

It would take a long time to open this chest. Just as the progress bar increment passed the half-way mark, the tree’s roots lifted themselves silently and wrapped around Nie Yan’s foot.

Nie Yan’s eyes widened in alarm. He never expected the tree to so suddenly attack him as countless more tendrils moved to ensnare him.

The previously unassuming tree suddenly opened its eyes and revealed itself as a tree demon.

Nie Yan glanced at his skill bar. Gale Step and Shadow Waltz were both grayed out, because these skills could only be used when the user wasn’t snared. However, his right foot was firmly rooted to the ground by the tree demon’s tendrils.

The tendrils threatened to wrap around Nie Yan’s entire body. If he allowed this to happen, he would have no hope of escaping. He could feel his health being slowly leached away.

Nie Yan suddenly understood how those bones got under the tree!

However, Nie Yan had no skills that would allow him to escape from these bindings!

Wait! A lightbulb went off in Nie Yan’s head. I do have something!

Nie Yan activated the Pygmy Transformation Ring. His body, including his trapped foot, immediately shrunk in size as the tendrils tightly wrapped around his leg loosened.

He jerked his foot free and sprinted away, narrowly escaping the rest of the tree demon’s tendrils.

The tree demon never expected Nie Yan to suddenly shrink. After its meal escaped, its tendrils shot forward in an attempt to ensnare Nie Yan once more.

「Bang! Bang! Bang!」The tree demon’s tendrils stabbed into the ground like falling arrows.

Nie Yan kept zig-zagging as he fled. Just as a tendril was about to hit him, he activated Gale Step and blocked the attack. It was unfortunate his speed was dramatically reduced during Pygmy Transformation.

It was because his legs were short!

Tendrils blotted out the sky above Nie Yan. Before they turned him into swiss cheese, he activated Animorph and transformed into a lynx. He suddenly gained a burst of speed as he bounded six meters in the blink of an eye, passing through the gaps between the tendrils.

The tree demon still had more up its sleeve. As blow after blow hit the ground, it continued stretching its tendrils. They were now well over 20 meters long and still growing.

Nie Yan leaped up toward a nearby tree. His sharp claws dug into the bark as he rapidly clambered up to the top, where he leaped from tree to tree until he completely disappeared from sight. Only then did the tree demon abandon its pursuit.

After running over 60 meters away from the tree demon, Nie Yan found a hidden corner to duck into. He dispelled Animorph and Pygmy Transformation before leaning against a nearby tree, heaving a massive sigh of relief. That was too close! If I hadn’t thought of the Pygmy Transformation in time, I would’ve been screwed!

This tree demon was truly sinister, pretending to be an ordinary tree while using the Dark Gold chest as bait. When a player attempted to unlock the chest, that was when it would deal a fatal blow. Nie Yan was almost done in there. Luckily, he reacted in time.

After the tree demon failed to catch its prey, it slowly retrieved its tendrils before returning to the appearance of a normal tree. Its disguise was so convincing that it even fooled Nie Yan!

Nie Yan got within 20 meters of the tree demon while stealthed and activated Transcendent Insight.

Health: 300,000/300,000

This son of a bitch has so much health!

Furthermore, the Leshen possessed magic immunity along with high physical defense that made it impervious to ordinary projectiles!

However, it was completely immobile with a maximum attack range of 30 meters!