Wizard: Starts with Advanced Meditation

At this moment, the other four, under the cover of icicles, hurried across the broken ice and decaying leaves to reach the protection of the giant ice hand. Just as they were marveling at the power displayed by the giant ice hand, Hughes was the first to notice the commotion behind them.

This giant icy hand appears to be only part of some powerful summon, and it is clear that Elena, a third-class wizard apprentice, is not yet strong enough to summon it completely.

Some elemental magic can summon elemental creatures to help the wizard in battle, and Hughes knew that the summoning medium forcibly summons parts of an elemental creature's body through some kind of medium would move with the caster.

He looked up and saw that the ball of energy was probably the summoning medium. If they wanted to break through, they had to take Elena with them and let the ball of energy move with them. This was probably the guarantee that Elena would be willing to pay such a high price to cast this spell.

Realizing this, Hughes quickly ran to Elena's side, glanced at her pale face and trembling eyelashes, then steadily slipped his arms under her knees and back, and with a little effort, he held her slender body in his arms.

Hughes swept Elena up in his arms, tightening his grip and instantly choosing his direction. With the Lightness and Shadow Stealth abilities activated, he lightly touched the frozen snow with his dark-elemental toes and shot forward like an arrow.

Two corrupted tree spirits had just been turned into ice sculptures there, which was the weakest point in the corrupted tree spirits' defenses. Elena in his arms trembled slightly, as if she sensed the movement, but she was too weak to open her eyes. She just unconsciously clenched Hughes's clothes with her twirled hands.

The giant icy hand above her head seemed to be connected to her, and its massive body moved forward as well, hovering firmly above the two of them, rushing forward with them.

The other three understood what was happening and stood guard around Hughes and Elena, fleeing the Whispering Forest with them.

The corrupted tree spirits around them seemed to be pulled by invisible chains, ignoring the excruciating pain of ice shards piercing their bodies as they attacked the five people. The Knox symbiotic vines twisted wildly on them, unleashing their final ferocity.

The second-class tree spirits in the front row, braving the flying ice shards and enduring the piercing ice spikes with their decaying trunks, surged towards the five people one after another, leaving a thin layer of broken branches and shattered ice on the ground.

Even more troublesome were the third-class tree spirits behind them. Their thick arms suddenly stretched out, and gray-brown branches were covered with gray-green decaying light as they swept across the area with a whistling sound that tore through the air.

One of the giant hands grazed the edge of the icy giant hand. The moment the ice armor collided with the rotten branches, a piercing sound like metal scraping against metal rang out, and ice shards and corrosive liquid flew everywhere.

The giant icy hand continued to spew out icy mist and ice shards with undiminished force, hitting a large number of corrupted tree spirits. However, the ice shards had long lost their initial freezing ability and could only partially freeze the tree spirits' bodies.

The three people beside them were not idle either. They all used witchcraft to reduce the pressure of the giant icy hand. Jovin kept launching earth spikes at the surrounding corrupted tree spirits. The sharp earth spikes emerged from the snow and pierced the feet of the corrupted tree spirits, temporarily pinning them to the spot.

At the same time, the eye pattern on his forehead also emitted petrifying rays every short interval, turning the approaching corrupted tree demons into petrified forms.

Heleto activated the sorcery on his waist once more. The golden gems shone with a dazzling light, and a semi-transparent golden shield emerged from his body, several times thicker than before, with edges flowing with a luster like liquid gold.

When the third-class corrupted tree demon's giant hand, dripping with putrid liquid, slammed down, Heleto's golden light shield suddenly sank, emitting a muffled hum, yet it managed to block the attack by half an inch.

The corrosive liquid dripped onto the light shield, only stirring up a few faint wisps of white smoke, without even leaving a crack. Heleto gritted his teeth and, taking advantage of the moment the tree demon's giant hand retracted, suddenly shot out several condensed light arrows from his fingertips.

Several beams of light shot out from his fingertips, carrying a scorching heat and with dazzling golden tips, aiming precisely at the third-class tree demon's trunk riddled with rotten holes.

"Sizzle—"

The moment the light arrow pierced the rotting bark, it ignited tiny golden flames. One of them accidentally struck a vine around the corrupted tree spirit's waist, and golden flames erupted from the vine. The Nox symbiotic vine wrapped around it was quickly burned and charred black.

The Corrupted Tree Demon let out a deep roar, its massive body staggering backward, its outstretched giant hand retracting as it temporarily withdrew from the attack range.

As the Nox Symbiotic Vines on the third-class corrupted tree demon were burned away, the tree demon's body suddenly stiffened. It looked around blankly, seemingly not understanding why it was there.

When its gaze fell upon the giant icy hand above the heads of the five people ahead, a sense of crisis surged into its heart. It then disregarded the humans with their potent magic and turned to plunge into the deep forest, disappearing without a trace.

Heleto, who was catching his breath inside the light barrier, noticed this scene. He had been keeping a close eye on the corrupted tree spirit to prevent it from suddenly attacking.

Noticing that the treant had fled only after the strange vines around its waist seemed to have been burned away, Heleto made up his mind, gritted his teeth, and conjured another arrow of light. He searched for his target and finally locked onto a second-tier corrupted treant.

He focused his mental energy on the vines wrapped around the tree demon's waist, and shot out a beam of light from his fingertips, aiming straight at the strange vines.

"Sizzle—"

The arrow of light successfully pierced the vine, and golden flames ignited from the hole, gradually spreading to the entire vine. The eerie vine quickly curled up and turned black under the scorching flames—until it detached from the corrupted tree spirit's waist.

At the same time, as the Knox Symbiotic Vine completely fell off, the corrupted tree spirit's body stiffened abruptly. It looked around blankly, also noticing the giant icy hand, and then ran towards the nearby forest without looking back.

Noticing the corrupted tree spirit's hasty escape, Heleto was now certain of his guess and hurriedly shouted to his companions:

"Destroy the vines on them! That's why they've gone berserk!"

Upon hearing this, everyone shifted their attack target. Vivian, who was standing nearby, stopped attacking the corrupted tree spirit with thorn whips and instead released countless dark green light spots.

These dark green specks of light slowly drifted toward the vines on the corrupted tree spirits. As soon as the specks of light touched the vines, the vines began to die in a strange way, and the originally dark purple vines immediately turned black and fell off their bodies.

As the vines on these corrupted tree spirits died and fell off, they paused involuntarily, and after a brief stop, fled the battlefield.

As a large number of corrupted tree spirits fled, the pressure on everyone gradually decreased. However, the corrupted tree spirits seemed to have discovered the enemy's true purpose and began to intentionally protect the vines on their bodies.