Although it is a bit shabby, this heroic spirit is super strong

Suddenly she felt something moving on her body and Lucy felt very sick.

"It'll be fine in a moment."

"Xiao, you bastard."

"Who told you to steal the snacks I prepared? Just consider it as punishment."

He flicked Lucy's head and smiled.

"Hey, what do you mean by snacks?"

Rose suddenly felt confused about the conversation between Xiao and Lucy.

"After taking Crystal away, we might be wanted for a while, so I prepared some supplies in advance."

"Why didn't you tell us?"

"I told you what happened. They were all killed before they even left the maze."

"Eh? Do you have that many snacks hidden?"

Lucy suddenly felt something was wrong.

Although she did steal some of Akatsuki's food, it probably wasn't enough to eat up all the stock.

"Well, you didn't steal those?"

"I, I just secretly took some chocolate and fudge and stuff."

"That…"

Xiao and Rose looked at each other and then set their sights on Sera behind them.

“Eh? Uh, those things you can’t eat… Hey?”

Looking at Sera's cute appearance, Xiao and Rose sighed helplessly.

*

"S-Sorry about that Lucy-nee. Can you forgive Sera?"

Lucy turned and looked at Sera who was following behind her and sighed helplessly.

"I don't mean to blame Sera, I'm just annoyed with that guy Xiao."

Lucy explained while stroking Sera's little head.

"What's wrong with me?"

"Could you please not blame me without understanding the situation?"

"You did in fact sneak in some snacks, didn't you?"

"Woo!"

After hearing this, Lucy was speechless for a moment.

"Well, it's not that I'm not letting you eat, but could you please be a little more restrained?"

Xiao pinched Lucy's face.

In just one night, Lucy ate five large boxes of chocolates.

"Uh, I. I. Know I was wrong."

"Hehe, sister really is like a child."

"Rose!"

"And Sera too."

"Oh, sorry..."

"Okay, let's not talk about this anymore. We're almost there."

Seeing Lucy and Sera lower their heads, Xiao stopped blaming them.

"What's going on here?"

When the group arrived at the exit of the corridor, the scene before them made Lucy exclaim in surprise.

In front of them was a very large cave, at least 30 meters deep from the exit of the tunnel to the ground and top of the cave.

The center of the cavity looks like the trunk of a huge tree.

The entire cave is covered in vines extending from the trunk, and is gray-green in color.

"Th-These vines are!"

Lucy recalled the vines that attacked passersby at the festival. There was no doubt that they were the same vines as the ones in front of her.

"Is this the Heavenly Tree they're talking about..."

The plants in front of her made Rose feel very uncomfortable.

"Well, it seems that this monster called Tianshu has a strong ability to survive."

Xiao saw a lot of black "insecticide" liquid on the ground, and couldn't help but admire the monster in front of him.

According to his speculation, this celestial tree seemed to secrete something that activated the self-destruct program of these nanorobots.

Less than a week had passed since Akatsuki launched these attacks, and the main body of the Sky Tree had already found a countermeasure.

"Let's get ready to go down."

Chapter 73 Fantasy Secret Realm

"Eh? Are you sure you're not kidding?"

Lucy looked at the vines and looked at Akatsuki in surprise.

"Well, there's still space under that Heavenly Tree. Maybe the Phoenix Egg is hidden inside."

"Hey, how are we going to deal with these vines?"

Lucy felt a little scalp tingling as she looked at the vines that covered the entire cave.

"Why deal with them? Can't we just go straight over there?"

"These vines are dangerous!"

“Oh yes, you encountered that Sky Tree doll thing in Pier-El.

Don't worry, the vines here won't be aggressive unless they are stimulated.

So you must not use any magic, any magic at all."

Xiao explained as he climbed up the vines and began to slide down, carrying Sera on his back.

"Sky Tree Doll? That's the name of that monster... Let's go, sis."

Rose felt very unhappy when she recalled the monster that came out of the human abdomen.

"I see."

When they reached the ground, Lucy and Rose were surprised by the soft feeling.

There were far more vines on the ground than the two had imagined, and the layers were so thick that it was unknown how thick they were.

"Ugh, these things are really disgusting to step on."

"Brother Xiao, can't we get rid of these plants? They are very dangerous."

Rose proposed to Xiao very seriously.

"Not yet. Without these vines, this cave wouldn't be able to hold it up. It's more likely that the Heavenly Tree dug this hole."

Using acid to corrode rocks to create living space is not uncommon among plants.

The top of this cave is very close to the northwest of Pierre.

If not handled properly, it may cause great damage to the urban area.

"Is the ground subsidence Mr. Lucas mentioned also caused by Tianshu's murder?"

"Well, they used magic to burn the Heavenly Tree without a second thought, causing quite a few casualties among the adventurers at the time."

Although people in this world do not know the existence of oxygen, this should be common sense for Nakamura, a time traveler.

Moreover, when the Heavenly Tree was burned, a large amount of toxic gas was released.

Most of the adventurers who explored the pure white maze at that time died of poisoning or suffocation.

This is also the reason why Count Warhol initially blocked the Pure White Maze.

Because it involved the hero's mistake, he chose not to make the truth public.

After that, Nakamura and the Earl sent people to clean the air in the Pure White Maze.

However, because Nakamura wanted to find the Phoenix Egg, the maze was never unsealed.

“There’s more than one of these things…”

Lucy looked at the dense vines and felt a little dizzy.

"Well, including the ones Nakamura and his men dealt with, there are three in total. This is the largest one."

"No..."

"What are those things?"

Sera pointed at the colorful bumps on the tree trunk with some curiosity.

"Something that hatches magical beasts. Those insect-like magical beasts are all followers created by the Heavenly Tree."

"No wonder, this Tianshu is a troublesome guy to deal with."

Rose recalled the strange behavior of the insect swarm before, and became more alert to the Sky Tree.

Xiao suddenly stopped.

"It should be this location. Be careful, some of the vines may attack."

"I see."

After Xiao confirmed with the others, he poured out some milky white liquid.

The milky white liquid dissolved the vines as soon as it touched them, and the surrounding vines began to twitch as if in pain.

"coming."

Dozens of vines flew around and surrounded Xiao and the others.

"These guys are so troublesome. And you can't burn them with fire."

Lucy complained as she cut the attacking vines.

"Using magic will only attract more vines. You better hold back."

"Ugh, sorry."

Sera, who was now unable to do anything, hid among the three people with great guilt.

"It's okay, it's not Sera-chan's fault."

Because Sera only knows two attack methods, magic and dragon breath, there is no way for her to attack now.

"Okay, you guys go down first, I'll cover the rear."

The place where Xiao had poured the milky white liquid had sunk downwards, revealing solid ground.

A narrow crack, just wide enough for one person to pass through, appeared in front of several people from under the entanglement of vines.

"Woo wow, are these vines that thick?"

Lucy jumped down to the ground and found that the vines under their feet were more than one meter high.

"Sister, I'll go down first, you follow Sera."

"Ah."

Watching the two sisters successfully enter the crack with Sera, Xiao threw a red crystal ball with a diameter of about 30 cm towards the vines.

"Okay, let this guy play with you guys slowly."

As the crystal ball was crushed by the vines, red flames burst out.