Super Magician: The Magic Network Collapsed Again at the Start

Chapter 103 The Twelve Black Towers
[...The cursed treant was hit, taking 92 points of fire damage. Current health: 60/152]

'Ha, that's weak.' Anser's lips curled into a smirk, and he laughed heartily.

He didn't use any powerful spells, but his Fireball spell was still incredibly powerful thanks to the Elemental Orb and Elemental Affinity buffs.

Moreover, treants are naturally afraid of fire, so the damage caused by fireballs is even more considerable.

As it turns out, a relationship of restraint has always existed, and hierarchy does not explain everything.

Anser flapped his butterfly wings to adjust his position and cast the spell again.

""

Another fireball!

The dragon's words were like a death knell, frightening the treant into launching countless flying spikes of wood upwards to intercept them.

The spell was detonated prematurely, and the edge of the blazing flames once again engulfed the treant, causing the flames that had just been extinguished to reignite.

[...The cursed treant was hit, taking 51 points of fire damage. Current health: 9/152]

Now the tree-man stopped moving completely, billowing black smoke from its body, many parts of it were burned red and charred, and its crown was completely burned away.

'That simple?' Even Anser himself couldn't believe it when he saw the tree-man fall.

Suspecting something was amiss, he used the dice to check the tree's status again, but this time the dice popped up an extra message.

"Blasphemy Curse": The treant is afflicted by a blasphemous curse, causing its tree body to wither and rot, its life to fade, and accompanied by intense pain and madness.

The tree-man imprisons his own soul, clinging to life in a state of utter despair.

Solution: Advanced Restoration Spell, Spell Sanctuary, use divine power to peel away the withered parts and allow them to regrow, repeat multiple times.

'Self-imprisonment? That's a ruthless tree!' Anser looked at the burning tree-man with surprise. 'Should I save him or not? But he's almost burned to ashes, is there any point in separating him?'

In their normal state, treants belong to the good faction. If rescued, they could become allies or subordinates, which is definitely better than a few thousand cold combat experience points.

When facing him, the treant seems a bit weak. But when used against land creatures, it's ridiculously strong.

Moreover, this tree-man is the only survivor in the Space Paradise, so he must know a lot of inside information, which can help him better understand and utilize this place.

After thinking for a moment, Anser decided to give it a try, since there was nothing to lose anyway.

He slowly landed beside the treant, his hands transforming into dragon claws. This was a shapeshifting ability inherent to the power of the true dragon, with an effect equivalent to the second-circle transformation spell, but without requiring concentration or consuming magic power.

"Thank you." The tree-man suddenly moved and let out an old sigh, in the Common Language, a sound without pain, only relief.

Anser paused, then tentatively asked, "What's your name?"

"Everyone calls me Gutai. What was my original name again? Was it Iyaron, or Galadrim?" The treant's voice was long and peaceful, and as he spoke, he suddenly fell into memories.

Anser grinned, a look of helplessness on his face.

What time is it? They're about to be burned to a crisp, and they're still reminiscing about the past.

“I can try to save you.” He raised a pair of dragon claws, from which a white-gold light appeared.

The treant was silent for a moment, then slowly said, "I sense it. You are a paladin of the Platinum Dragon God? No, that's not quite right..."

Anser was truly impressed and couldn't help but roll his eyes.

"Distracted again? Where's your survival instinct?"

Without further ado, he swung his dragon claw and got to work.

The carbonized wood couldn't withstand such damage; large chunks fell off, and black ash and sawdust flew everywhere, quickly turning him into a little black man.

"Alas—" The tree-man let out a long, enigmatic sigh, and then fell silent.

Anser used the dice to detect that this time he wasn't reminiscing or spacing out, but was really about to die.

He decisively cast "Vibrant Aura," and a white halo emanated from his body, spreading out for more than ten meters and completely enveloping the treant's remains.

A rustling sound rang out, and the tree-man's charred shell cracked and fell off, revealing a layer of newly formed wood covered with gray-black scars.

"A blasphemous curse, how do I cleanse it?"

Seeing that the tree-man had no reaction, he simply went for it, scratching wildly with his dragon claws imbued with radiant power. Anyway, since it had vitality and spiritual light, it wouldn't die; at most, it would suffer a bit.

The power of the Holy Slash stirred up a cloud of black smoke the moment it touched the scar. Although he held back his power, he still used up a Holy Slash in just a few moves and had to keep replenishing it.

He felt like he was performing a large-scale tumor surgery, without anesthesia and with crude techniques.

Fortunately, the "patient" didn't seem to have any objections.

After struggling for half an hour and expending half of its magic, the treant finally stood up. It was much smaller than before, and a few scars remained on its body, but its crown was lush and green, and many purplish-black fruits resembling grapes hung on its branches and leaves.

"That's enough, I can handle the rest." The treant raised its hand to block Anser's claws, and the canopy trembled inexplicably.

"Oh, okay." Anser transformed back into human form, feeling a great sense of accomplishment.

With a series of crackling sounds, all the fruits on the tree's crown fell, cracked open, and a faint gray mist filled the air.

At the same time, the black scars on the tree-man's body gradually faded and soon disappeared.

Anser understood; this was a unique detoxification method of the Tree People.

"Thank you." The treant looked down at Anser, its aged face on the trunk much more peaceful than before.

“Gutai, tell me about the situation here first.” Anser took a few steps back, feeling a bit oppressed by being too close to it.

"It seems you've become the new master of this place. That's wonderful." The ancient moss-covered tree crown swayed slightly, genuinely pleased. "This is an alternate dimension..."

It spoke slowly, and Anser did not urge it, but stood aside and listened quietly.

This place is called the "Twelve Black Towers". Its original owner was a high-level mage whose strength and background are unknown. Ancient Moss was captured by him to improve the ecosystem. At that time, it was just an ignorant little tree person.

Later, the place became more and more lively, but it was very safe. The tree people always disguised themselves as ancient trees and stayed in the corner, and no one paid any attention to them.

One day, war broke out in the Black Tower. Gutai thought it was a civil war because he had seen all those people before.

As a result, no one survived, and the place was corrupted by magic and curses, taking countless years to recover to its current state.

This place is not as big as I imagined. The sea is hundreds of meters deep and the sky is tens of thousands of meters high. A few dozen kilometers out to sea, you will encounter a fog barrier that you cannot pass through or break through.

"That's all?" Anser looked at it suspiciously. "What was that mage's name? What's the situation with the mage tower? Is it dangerous? Are there any other monsters?"

"I don't know." Gu Tai scratched its head, as it spent most of its time sleeping and didn't care about such things. "There shouldn't be any danger. The mage tower is already destroyed."

"Isn't it still here?" Anser asked, puzzled.

“This black stone has the ability to remember and self-repair, but the magic circles and effects on it will disappear,” Gu Tai explained. “I remember the Black Tower was smashed in half, leaving only one section.”

“Oh,” Anser said knowingly. If someone had obtained the Scepter of Protection years earlier, they would have only seen a ruined tower upon entering.

"You said there were many people here before, but why can I only teleport two hundred people in?" he pressed.

"I don't know, but it should be related to the magic mark. I had a magic mark on me when I came in, but it was removed afterward, and I haven't been out since." Gu Tai yawned, looking exhausted.

Anser's eyes lit up; so this was how it could be done.

The maximum number of marks on the Scepter of Protection is indeed 200. This means that only 200 people can freely enter and exit. Once others enter, they cannot leave unless another mark is allocated to them.

"Very good." He smiled, his eyes narrowing. "Gu Tai, what are your plans?"

"I want to sleep." Gu Tai yawned again.

"Well, go to sleep then." Anser waved his hand. "If I'm not here when you wake up, help clean up the environment, bury the remains, rearrange the trees, and stuff like that."

"Alright." Gu Tai didn't move. She poked through the stone slab with her legs, inserted them into the soil, closed her eyes, and fell asleep, like a strange tree that had grown in the wrong place.

Anser's eyes twitched, and he shook his head, no longer holding any expectations for Gutai.

'This personality... sigh, I was fooled by the movie. Tree-men live a long time, but that doesn't necessarily mean they have high intelligence.'

He sighed inwardly, first ran to the river to wash himself, then climbed the steps to the entrance of the towering mage tower.

Looking up, the black tower soars into the clouds, like a giant supporting the sky, with a magnificent presence.

Before even entering, one feels a sense of trepidation.

The door was half open. Anser glanced inside and saw that it was a mess. There were no windows, but the light was soft and not dim.

Tap tap tap, his hard-soled leather boots made a crisp sound as they stepped on the stone slabs.

After passing through a door, the space suddenly opened up. The hall had a ceiling height of over ten meters, was in a mess, and all the furniture and decorations were destroyed, but it was still solemn and dignified.

After taking a few steps forward, there was a thick layer of ash underfoot, and anything you touched would turn to dust; there was almost nothing intact.

'What kind of spell effect is this?'

He stood in the center of the hall, looking around, when out of the corner of his eye he spotted a tall figure looking down at him.

He was startled and turned around abruptly.

"Constructed Shield Guard?"

(End of this chapter)