Rise Online: Return of the Legendary Player

With a snap, the large door at the end of the corridor began to open slowly. Korgrak pulled the Orb back and watched cautiously as the opening in the wall grew larger and larger. At the same time, a light as bright as the sun poured through the opening, revealing a blinding scene behind it that left the psyker paralyzed.

It was a garden, but not just any garden. It was the most beautiful and magnificent garden Kaizen had ever seen in his entire life. Colorful and exotic flowers bloomed everywhere, and tall, majestic trees rose to the sky. The air was filled with a sweet, fresh perfume, and strange little birds of all colors flew around happily. The wings of these birds were beating so fast that they could hardly be seen, like hummingbirds.

The guild members were breathless as they looked around the garden. Even Korgrak, who was usually a rather stern person, seemed to be fascinated by the beauty of the place.

"So this is the Lost Garden?" asked Jeewok in disbelief.

"That's right," Salles confirmed, looking equally astonished. "And it's just as beautiful as I imagined."

Kaizen was still processing what he had seen. How could there be such a beautiful garden in a room in a ruined building at the bottom of a cave? And what kind of magic was there in this place to turn the ceiling into a sky as real as the outside? The answer, of course, was that the connection between this garden and the elves was no longer a theory, but a certainty.

"Let's go in," Korgrak said, finally regaining his composure. "But don't let your guard down. This place may be beautiful, but we still don't know what might be hidden here."

Cautiously, the guild members stepped through the door and into the garden. The ground of the entire vast place was covered with soft, green grass, not as manicured as the grass in front of houses, but not as tall. The air was fresh and pleasant, and as they moved through the garden as a group, they discovered small, crystal clear ponds and streams running through the trees. There was even a small stream that meandered through the center of the garden and led to a small waterfall that fell from a height of more than five meters.

While exploring the garden, the guild members noticed that a sense of peace and tranquility hung over the place, but the peace did not last long. Suddenly, a plant-like monster grabbed Jeewok with its green tentacles and lifted him up into its acid-filled mouth.

This monster looked like a giant pink flower, but to make up for its lack of eyes, ears, and legs, it had dozens of sharp spikes in its mouth that secreted a lot of poison and acid.

Normally, the young swordsman would be able to deal with this on his own, but since he was suddenly lifted up, he dropped his sword, leaving him empty-handed.

Fortunately, Kaizen was practically a fire expert, so he threw a fireball at the monster that had been cloaked on the ground, incinerating it. As the monster burned to death, Kaizen also used his <Analyzing Eye> to see the creature's stats, which he had never seen before, and was startled by the numbers.

[Creature: Death Blossom

Level: 98 | Attribute: Plant | Nature: Mutant

HP: 800 | MP: 250

Attack: 150 | Defense: 32 | Speed: 5

Strength: 150 | Wisdom: 56 | Resistance: 38

Resistance to spells of: Water]

Considering that this was a level 98 creature, Kaizen was surprised that he was able to kill it with a single hit, and he was also surprised that it was one of the weakest enemies in this place since it was the first one to appear.

After falling to the grass, Jeewok crawled to his sword as quickly as he could, looked at Kaizen, averted his eyes, and thanked him, a bit awkwardly.

The other guild members approached Jeewok to see if he was all right, but before they could ask, a rustling in the nearby bushes drew everyone's attention. Then dozens of tentacles, similar to the ones that had attacked Jeewok, flew toward the group. Salles took the lead in the fight, swinging his large sword to cut several vines in a single motion.

Anfrid, who had healing abilities, positioned herself behind the others to protect them, only for one of the green tentacles to pass Salles as he prepared for another move and fly toward her. Luckily, Kaizen was paying attention again, and used <Telekinesis> to hold the sharp-edged tentacle in place and stop the movement within inches of Anfrid's face. Everyone looked at him in awe, as it was the first time they had seen one of the Psyker's abilities up close.

"Salles, get ready to move forward. Let's not get defensive. I will pull the creature out of the bushes and you need to finish it off, okay?" Kaizen said while holding all the other tentacles that were attacking the group.

"All right! Jeewok, that's better now, right? Come with me." Salles ordered the boy, who immediately got up from the ground and walked to the front of the group.

A few moments later, Kaizen pulled out all the tentacles he was holding, and not just one monster violently emerged from the bushes, but a whole bunch of them. All of these creatures were Death Flowers, but their bodies were somewhat intertwined, like a Rat King phenomenon.

When this creature appeared in the group's field of vision, Salles and Jeewok advanced with their swords, one from the right and the other from the left, slicing the creature in half at the same time, using class skills that increased the damage significantly. Undoubtedly, the creature had no chance to survive such a combo. The combined damage was so massive that the creature was reduced to dust in midair.

...

Edited by: DrHitsuji

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