Versatile Mage

 Mo Fan and his crew eventually reached the shade under the giant tree.

 Although the branches of the Giant Purple Sacred Linen were as complicated as a maze, its leaves were not dense enough to completely block off the sunlight. Otherwise, the whole place would be in pitch-black darkness, considering how big the shade was!

 Rays of sunlight peeked through the gaps between the branches of the giant tree. It was easy for people to ignore how beautiful sunlight could be since it normally covered huge areas. However, when the sunlight was filtered out by the branches and leaves into beams of light, they would notice how stunning it could be.

 “We’re here,” Lingling announced.

 The ground began to rise like a little slope. However, the ground was not actually rising. It was only getting higher because they were getting closer to the Giant Purple Linden, whose roots were pushing the ground up like hills. Half of the roots were above ground, while the other half had spread and grown in all directions…

 A single root had the width of a city street. Even following the roots of the tree, they had to walk almost two kilometers before they could reach the main trunk!

 The main trunk of the Giant Purple Sacred Linen seemed to be the combination of many trees bundled together. The trunk had large vein lines and many vines.

 They were initially worried about how they were going to climb the tree, but they realized they would have no problem climbing the tree as they approached the trunk. Even when they were still a distance away, they could see that the veins were like stairs they could walk on. They would not have any problem climbing the tree!

 “Mo Fan, it looks like they finally know how to respect their guests. They have prepared a huge banquet for us this time,” Zhao Manyan proclaimed, pointing ahead.

 The Yu Grass was no longer limiting their vision after they reached the roots of the tree. They were currently on a little slope, allowing them to see a massive number of figures moving on another spacious hill ahead…

 “So many of them!” Lan Luo blurted out.

 “It looks like the guy that I tagged with the Seal of Darkness knows that I’m here for him. It has gathered so many Hillmen,” Mo Fan mused.

 Mo Fan followed the guidance of his Eyes of Darkness. He quickly fixed his gaze on a Hillman standing at the highest part of the roots connected to the trunk. It was slightly bigger than the other Hillmen nearby. The bronze tusks that it was extremely proud of were emanating its noble aura!

 The Hillman cried out like an ape while waving its paws around. It was difficult to tell what it was up to.

 Every Hillman in the surroundings uttered similar cries and waved their paws in the air too. They seemed very excited.

 “Are they seriously welcoming us? I heard that some creatures are very respectful toward powerful existences. The more you beat them up, the more respect they have for you,” Zhao Manyan wondered, seeing the strange reaction of the Hillmen.

 “I think so too. Why don’t you go ahead first?” Mo Fan shot back.

 Zhao Manyan chuckled. He was not stupid enough to believe such ridiculous sayings. He could easily tell how strong the hatred and grudge the Hillmen had against humans was from how brutally they treated the Hunters.

 They were making a huge amount of noise. They began to feel uneasy hearing the cries of the Hillmen.

 Soon, the same cries were coming from the sea of grass behind them. Lingling turned around and lots of movements in the grass, heading in their direction.

 A Hillman jumped out from the grass and landed on the roots right behind Mo Fan’s group.

 The grass split apart as more figures continuously jumped out and flanked the group from behind, completely blocked off its escape!

 The number of cries increased. There were so many Hillmen that the path that Mo Fan and his crew had taken was completely blocked off. The number of Hillmen was a lot higher than what everyone had expected!

 “Are you now satisfied with their welcoming ceremony?” Zhao Manyan looked around and discovered the number of Hillmen had suddenly doubled. They had filled up the entire slope leading to the Giant Purple Sacred Linden.

 “Ugh, they are overdoing it a little,” Mo Fan did not think there would be so many Hillmen.

 These were Warrior-level creatures; to think that thousands of them had suddenly appeared out of nowhere! Mo Fan now realized how scary a horde of demon creatures was. They could be torn to pieces at any minute if they were too careless.

 “I’ll take care of defense. Stop hiding tricks up your sleeves. Show them what you have, or else they are really going to cook us alive,” Zhao Manyan said.

 “Well… Little Flame Belle is still hibernating, so my Fire Element isn’t as strong now,” Mo Fan said softly.

 Zhao Manyan’s face twisted as soon as he heard the words. He cursed, “F**k me, did you seriously bring me here when Little Flame Belle isn’t available?”

 Zhao Manyan almost lost his mind. Half of the reason that Mo Fan’s magic was so strong was the control of the Fire Element that Little Flame Belle granted him, allowing him to use Fire Magic in any form as he pleased. It also granted Mo Fan the ability to take on huge numbers of demon creatures at close range.

 If Little Flame Belle was not around, Mo Fan was just a certain level stronger than most Advanced Mages…

 Even if Mo Fan could take on ten or twenty Hillmen himself, they were currently facing at least three thousand Hillmen. Leaving the Commander-level Hillmen aside, three thousand Warrior-level Hillmen were already an unstoppable wave; how were the few of them supposed to handle it?

 “I was thinking that we wouldn’t have trouble running even if we couldn’t defeat them,” Mo Fan admitted.

 “You are seriously going to get us killed. I’ll try to hold them back as long as I can. You better think of a plan to escape this shithole!” Zhao Manyan yelled.

 “If we are thinking of clearing a path out, I suggest we move forward,” Lingling proposed.

 “Are you kidding me? We’re going forward?” Liu Xiaojia said. They were already at the Hillmen’s den, wasn’t going deeper only going to worsen the situation?

 “Yeah, we can’t go back. There are more Hillmen behind us. We can’t really tell how many Hillmen are still roaming in the sea of grass. They are going to intercept us if we try to go back. Our only choice is to go forward. There should be other species of demon creatures. We can try hiding in their territories for now,” Mo Fan agreed with Lingling’s suggestion.

 “You guys are ballsier than the Heavens,” Lan Luo said with a wry smile. For some reason, she also agreed that it was the only choice they had after hearing the explanation.