Abel thought that he was done with looking at all the items, but there was still a ring on the ground. After picking it up and quickly scanning it with his power of the Will, he realized that it was actually a portal item. It’s where Prince Adolf’s summoned creatures were contained. Since their master died, they all died as well.

The ring’s inside was much, much bigger than an ordinary portal bag. It was also comfortable for the summoned creatures to live in, so they had no need to hibernate while they were inside. This ring was an absolute treasure. Maybe Abel could have Black Wind inside it. It never liked the idea of hibernating before, so there wasn’t a time that it agreed to be inside a portal beast’s bag yet.

Like the other items, Abel made sure that if he was wearing this ring, no one would know about it. It was pretty easy for him. All he needed to do was to add an outer shell to this ring. In fact, he already had this shell with him. It was made of light steel and had a rough appearance to it, which was very different from the elven-style ring that it was covering. Like the ice dragon’s protection necklace, he decided to wear the ring at his chest so no one could see it.

Abel wanted to spend more time admiring the wealth that Prine Adolf once owned, but he didn’t have too much time spare. He got on Black Wind’s back, rode to the Rogue’s Encampment, went through the waypoint located there, and went back to the Dark Forest. For the few days after that, he spent most of his days slaying carvers during his days and meditating during the night.

Abel went back to the Rogue’s Encampment on the third day. When he did, he got sixty more crystal core pieces from the super oak tree. He synthesized twenty blue-quality pieces from that. He also got the meat of twenty more blue howling rabbits in his personal storage box.

Soon, it was his seventh day inside the Dark Forest. By this point, he’s pretty much understood the circumstances of this place. Whether artificially or not, this place was basically shaped like a maze. There were also countless carvers that were trapped inside, and they would attack anyone whom they found.

There were actually so many carvers. He felt like there was no limit to their numbers. Strangely enough, he couldn’t send his crows to fly higher than the trees. He couldn’t just figure out a way out from a bird’s eye’s view. There was no other option than to walk out of the place. Well, he could use the Tome of Town Portal to get Flying Flame here, then tell it to fly him out of this place, but that was probably not allowed either. There was a certain “rule” that he must abide by. Without overcoming this trial by his own wits and strengths, the Dark Forest was not going to let him leave.

Since this place was technically a maze, there was probably a way to solve it as you would to a maze. One of the ways was to “walk only left.” Abel could keep walking towards the left, and if there was a dead-end, he could always go back and change direction. This would work if the maze was not changing its own structure. If it did work, it would guarantee him a way out even if it would take a little too much time.

So that’s what Abel did. If there was a split path, he would only choose the route on the left. He would clear off whatever enemies he found, kept walking, and walk back if there was a dead end. The whole thing took two days. After two days, he found his way out of the location.

As soon as Abel walked out of the maze, he began to see a giant tree that was very old. The tree was so old that all the leaves on it were withered. It was still, nevertheless, a giant tree. It was like an old man, full of wrinkles on its surface, but its appearance demanded respect to whoever laid their eyes upon it.

“The Tree of Inifuss!”

Abel didn’t recognize the Tree of Inifuss just by looking at it. He recognized it because as soon as he saw it, he also saw a dark-golden, gorilla-sized treehead woodfist charging at him. There were also four bird-type advanced spiritual beasts around it. He was on top of Black Wind’s back, so hopefully, he had enough speed to deal with their attacks.

Treehead woodfists were the most powerful creatures in the Dark Forest. Since their existence was meant to protect the Tree of Inifuss, they had to attack Abel as soon as they saw him. To retaliate, Abel sent out four spiritual guardian knights and five spirit wolves to protect himself with.

These summoned creatures didn’t do well, though. With just one punch, the treehead woodfist managed to knock away one of the spiritual guardian knights. Luckily enough, the spiritual guardian knights were all wearing some sort of protective gear. The punch might have had a lot of impact, but it was nothing detrimental to them.

When Abel tried to surround his enemies with the rest of his troops, the treehead woodfist went away to pursue the spiritual guardian knight that it punched. It was doing this at a speed that was invisible to the eyes. Abel was shocked, but he actually didn’t have the opportunity to stop it from landing a second hit to that same spiritual guardian knight.

It was using “specialized speed enhancement,” something that Black Wind used almost all the time. Abel knew what it was. Of course, he did. That being said, he also had an idea of how to deal with it.

With a light tingle of his hands, a magical knight’s long lance appeared in his hands. Then, after sending his command, Black Wind sprint at the same speed as the treehead woodfist.

The treehead woodfist was trying to land a third hit on the spiritual guardian knight. After hearing the sound of Black Wind piercing through the air, it chose to go into a defensive stance immediately. The spiritual guardian knight was saved from having to take a killer blow.

“Rawr!” the treehead woodfist screamed. Its giant, dark-golden body was flashing in white light. There was a certain power that was gathering from its body.

Abel was in his “knight’s charging” stance. He was focusing his golden combat qi at the tip of his lance. With so much force that he was carrying, he felt like he could pierce through even a mountain if it was in front of him.

The treehead woodfist was focusing all its strength onto its fist. When Abel came closer, it collided its punch to the knight’s lance that was charging at it.

“Boom!”

When a large explosion formed in the air, Abel and Black Wind was suddenly blocked from running forward. There was a giant

er that was in the way, and even if Black Wind wasn’t taking any step back, it was forced to hold its ground against the overwhelming reaction force that was in front.

The treehead woodfist was taking steps back. Abel had the “nef” rune sign on his lance, which could shock any enemies that it came into contact with. The more the treehead woodfist stepped back, the deeper it would have to strike its feet into the ground.

Abel took two seconds to contain the blood that was overflowing in his body. The reaction force he experienced was way too strong. He didn’t expect the treehead woodfist to be this sturdy. If anything, he didn’t expect anything alive to be able to punch at his magical knight’s long lance.

Scarily enough, the treehead woodfist was already recovering from the shock wave. With another scream, it leaped towards Abel with another one of its punches. It was too fast. All that could be seen was a white streak that was piercing through the air.

The knights didn’t have a lot of techniques to dodge the attacks that were coming at them. Abel had no choice but to hold tighter onto the crescent shield in his left hand. Still, he was fast enough to use a small trick. When the punch came at him, he held the shield at the 45-degree angle, so when the punch came at him, a lot of the impact went into another direction.

Still, there was still enough power to send Abel and Black Wind two steps back. Abel was out of ideas for a few seconds. The treehead woodfist had all the physical advantages. It had size and speed. It’s not a good idea to fight it in close range.

“Run, Black Wind!” Abel screamed. He then made his magical knight’s lance and crescent shield disappear. It was time to switch up his attack method, so he revealed a blackfire magic staff in his hand.

After hearing Abel’s command, Black Wind began to draw its distance from the treehead woodfist. Of course, the treehead woodfist was not going to let them go.

And there. A dark-golden lightning chasing a black lightning. That’s all there was to look at on this battlefield. Black Wind was smoothly sweeping through the forest, whereas the treehead woodfist followed like a violent tornado, crushing all the trees, rocks, and grass that were in its way.