"The Hanging Tree."
Alan whispered, answering Sonia's question.
"A distant relative of the Tree People, and an even more evil and brutal relative!"
"Look closely at Hubert's canopy. The Hanging Tree's most terrifying weapon hangs beneath it."
Sonia followed Alan's instructions and looked up carefully.
Sure enough, she saw a vine dangling from each side of the canopy.
The dark green vines were dotted with large clusters of golden flowers.
Each vine was thicker than an adult's thigh!
The vines were twenty meters long, their lower halves drooping to the ground like a python, wriggling along the ground.
A demon accidentally approached the vines and was immediately entangled, hanging upside down.
The demon screamed and struggled desperately, but was unable to free himself from the vines.
In an instant, all the bones in his body were broken.
The corpse hung upside down beneath the treetops, swaying and dripping with blood.
It looked like a prisoner who had been hanged.
A glint of enlightenment flashed in Sonia's eyes.
Now, she understood Hubert's atavistic form...why it was called the "Hanging Tree"!
In the middle of the trunk, the giant human face gaped.
A fifth vine, like a long tongue, stretched out from its mouth.
It wrapped around the hanged demon, dragged it back, and took it into its mouth.
The mouth closed, a crunching sound as it chewed.
Blood flowed, stream after stream, from the loosely closed tree's gaping maw.
Hubert devoured the human with ravenous mouths, his face on the bark slightly contorted, an expression of ecstasy.
In his ancestral form, he could never suppress his bloodthirsty, cannibalistic urge.
Eating humans not only repaired his physical injuries, but the energy extracted from their flesh and blood also helped improve his cultivation.
In the past, at the Warlock Academy, he'd avoided killing and eating corpses to maintain his image.
Occasionally, when his cravings struck, he'd leave the academy and find a remote island to slaughter the indigenous people and feast on them.
Now, having arrived in the secret underground realm, forced into his ancestral form, Hubert decided to stop pretending.
No longer resisting the evil call from deep within his blood, he unleashed his bloodthirsty urge!
Four thick vines took flight simultaneously.
Golden flowers on the vines burst into full bloom!
Countless golden pollen, dotted like stars, spread out.
From afar, it looked like a burst of golden fireworks.
"Wow... so beautiful..."
Sonia's eyes widened, her face filled with fascination.
A sudden sting in her arm brought her back to reality.
Alan, holding a syringe, stabbed it into Sonia's arm.
"Brother Allen... you hurt me!"
Sonia complained, protesting his harshness.
"If you don't want to die, shut up!"
Alan interrupted her coldly and continued injecting the antidote.
"Brother Allen... is that golden pollen poisonous?"
Sonia asked softly, tentatively.
Alan pulled out the syringe and nodded gently.
"Highly toxic. Hallucinogenic. Intoxicating ... Looking back at the golden pollen drifting through the air, it was still as beautiful and magnificent as ever, but a bloody stench lingered behind it.
On the circus side, everyone except the circus leader, Ethan, had inhaled some pollen and quickly developed symptoms of poisoning.
The strongman's eyes were red, and blood vessels popped out on his forehead.
He pulled out the two machetes slung across his back, and instead of striking Hubert, he turned and lunged at the puppeteer.
With both hands, he slashed furiously at the puppeteer!
The puppeteer was caught off guard and struck.
Clang!
His cloak ripped, revealing his skin, which reflected the blade's light like smooth metal.
His symptoms seemed milder, and he was still able to maintain his composure and dodge the machete's blows.
Ethan frowned slightly, and a stream of mycelium shot out from his index finger, wrapping around the strongman and injecting him with an antidote.
Soon, the strongman regained consciousness and wiped a cold sweat from his forehead.
Looking back at the swirling vines of the gallows tree, his eyes blazing with rage!
"Damn you! How dare you fool me!"
With a roar, the strongman activated his third-stage Atavism!
His two-meter-tall stature suddenly doubled in size!
Muscles throbbed throughout his body, like snakes wriggling beneath his skin.
Thick, long, white hair sprouted madly from his pores.
In the blink of an eye, he shed his human form and transformed into a four-meter-tall, white-haired monster!
Four sturdy arms pierced through his leather armor, muscles bulging!
This image was all too familiar to Alan. It was the four-armed gorilla he had encountered on the Inheritance Island!
The Hercules is a third-tier "Warcraft Warlock," his awakened Warcraft bloodline being the Four-Armed Orangutan!
No wonder he carries four machetes; it turns out they're specially prepared for his atavistic form!
The Atavistic Hercules, though smaller than the Hanging Tree, is no less physically imposing.
And even more agile, climbing and leaping with unrestrained agility.
This is precisely the clumsy Hanging Tree's greatest weakness.
The Four-Armed Orangutan dodged the blows from the branches with a series of beautiful somersaults, then unsheathed his four machetes.
Unleashing his magic power, the machetes hummed and shone brightly!
First-tier martial skill—Magic Armament!
The four machetes, imbued with magical energy, were temporarily upgraded to Level 1 enchanted weapons, perfectly countering the Hanging Tree's damage-reducing armor.
Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish!
Four brilliant blades flashed across the tree trunk.
Four deep cracks appeared on the tree trunk.
On the gallows tree, Hubert's bark-like face was filled with rage. He swung his vines and chased the four-armed gorilla.
The atavistic strongman did a backflip, simultaneously swinging his swords in a flurry of blows.
The four broadswords danced with swift speed, their blades intertwined into a ball of brilliant light.
With a sharp, slicing sound, all the vines near him were severed.
The vines snapped, spurting sap and twisting violently, quickly sprouting new branches.
"Hercules, jump to the treetops."
Captain Ethan, watching the battle from the side, gave timely instructions.
The strongman followed his advice, crouching down, pushing off the ground with all his might, and leaping to his feet!
A sturdy figure soared over ten meters high, flipped mid-air, and landed lightly on the treetops.
The atavistic strongman, his face murderous, swung his sword with all four arms, chopping furiously.
Crackling!
Crackling!
Countless broken branches and leaves rustled down.
The atavistic strongman, transformed into a four-armed gorilla, battled the atavistic Hubert.
At the same time, the puppeteer removed his cloak, revealing his true form.
Beneath the cloak stood a figure wrapped in bandages, reeking of mineral oil.
The puppeteer, not only excelled at manipulating puppets on stage, but was himself a special kind of "puppet."
The sorcerer school he belonged to, besides bloodline awakening, also possessed a method for enhancing one's own power.
Human body modification.
To be more precise, it's a mechanized transformation.
The Puppet Master's transformation was quite thorough.
Aside from his brain and internal organs, all other organs and flesh, including his limbs, had been replaced with metal parts.
The Puppet Master, a third-level "Mechanic," was actually a half-human, half-machined "Mechanic."
When he activated his third-level Atavism, the joints beneath the bandages crackled!
His entire body swelled, breaking through the bandages and revealing a steel-blue torso that shone brilliantly under the lubricant!
Even more terrifying was his face.
Removing the bandages revealed a hollow face.
Literally "hollow."
Below the forehead, above the chin, between the ears.
A round, black hole occupied most of the front of his face.
In theory, the hole shouldn't be too deep.
Otherwise, it would have pierced the back of his head.
But, strangely enough…
The Puppet Master's pitch-black face hole seemed to have no end in sight!
It seemed bottomless!
"What kind of monster is this Puppet Master's atavistic form?"
Alan whispered to Sonia.