The Clumsy Imitator

Chapter 92 The Clumsy Imitator

Rorschach condensed azure flames, no longer in the form of "projectiles," but instead in the form of "rays."

Furthermore, it's a ray compressed to a very small diameter, capable of directly severing trees within sight, utilizing both kinetic and thermal energy. The main drawback is the inability to pinpoint the attacker's exact location; otherwise, striking vital points like the head would be a faster, more mana-efficient, and more concentrated method.

Of course, this way at least avoids the fireball form scorching the caster.

If the heating and energy storage phase can be shortened and the temperature increased, then...

Shoot him, sharpshooter!

"Sorry, wrong set. Cool as it may be, the name of this move is really unlucky." Rorschach interrupted his thoughts and, like the others, went to observe the cut-open monster.

Even after being split in two, the monster continued to twitch, its life force undiminished. Old Man Kolb summoned vines to firmly bind its various parts. Master Humboldt, feeling somewhat remorseful for his momentary lapse in attention, remained silent and continued to keep watch for everyone.

Thanks to Mr. Rorschach's efficient work and neat cuts, it was easy for everyone to piece together the monster's appearance. It was undoubtedly ugly and incongruous, its skin a rough, grayish-green color, covered with twisted sores that looked like layers of leather armor.

The shrunken head shows no normal facial features, only lumps protruding from both sides, two holes in the front, and a slit extending to the back of the head, which should be the mouth.

The monster's torso was the size of a human, shriveled and lacking any discernible skeletal structure, resembling a dehydrated plant tuber. Its limbs were disproportionately long, like overstretched ape arms. If it had stood as it did in life, a single forearm would have been taller than everyone present.

Because their forelimbs and hindlimbs were almost the same length, the two monsters that Rorschach and the others saw moved with their torsos parallel to the ground, like animals with undifferentiated limbs.

However, the well-developed forelimbs, the short neck, and the eyes located in front of the face rather than on the sides (if those really are eyes!) are characteristics of an upright-walking intelligent creature.

"What the hell is this disgusting thing?" Cavendish was also shocked, and he kicked the wreckage.

"Be careful, there might be toxins or tiny parasitic organisms." Peterson's well-intentioned warning startled the newbie in the Tower of Stars for the second time.

In fact, Peterson roughly judged that there was no threat as mentioned above, because there was only the smell of burning, no putrid or fishy smell, or even any other odor, which initially indicated that the monster was not the source of the plague.

"Do we need to dissect it?" Rorschach noticed that his burning rays had left only a charred layer on the cut surface, making it impossible to see the internal structures.

"Yes, but don't make direct contact yet."

Rorschach casts [Disintegration] on the monster; given his proficiency, he should be able to handle it.

However, his [Disintegration] technique can only break through the monster's outer skin, exposing its internal structure. This means that the body inside still possesses life force or magic.

"It's not completely dead yet," Rorschach concluded, using the limitations of his magic.

Peterson had already put on gloves and a bird-beak mask, and the apprentice handed him a silver cutting knife.

Wow, the art style is really diverse, even though it's not just the people from Forest Tower. I don't even want to comment anymore.

Peterson's scalpel cut deep without much resistance. The muscle-like structures, intertwined in waves, were now exposed as they were severed.

Even with Rorschach's previous life's biology level, which was only at the high school level and hadn't even earned him bonus points, he could still tell that the cross-sectional structure belonged to a plant.

As Peterson sheathed his knife, white, sticky threads were drawn out from the back of the blade. Once removed from the monster's body, the threads dried and turned to ash.

"Its nerves?" Peterson was taken aback.

Master Kober, relying on his clone status, directly touched the ash and said, "Yes and no, if you look at it separately, this is mycelium."

Cavendish was also interested in these things, but he remembered Peterson's warning and didn't rashly get too close to examine them closely. "So it's a plant? What wood spirit?"

"Wood elves aren't that ugly, or that... coarse." Peterson removed his bird-beak mask. "Those elegant and beautiful creatures disappeared after the War of the Gods. If you want to find them, you might see them in Sylvanas's kingdom, or perhaps he and his kingdom are gone too."

"Perhaps we'll have a chance to see it at the end of this journey, in the heart of the Black Forest, hehe." The old mage Kober cleaved a piece of monster tissue with his hand, opening his body to accommodate it: "This kind of monster is simply a bunch of plants put together to imitate a bunch of animals."

"A poor imitator."

"Everyone, now is not the time to linger." Master Humboldt reminded everyone not to stay in dangerous places for too long. He withdrew his protective domain and took the lead again.

Cavendish stared at his prized alchemy map: "We're almost at the settlement. A settlement this deep in the forest? Oh, it's elven. An elven settlement? Oh, it's already destroyed."

"Are you feeling alright?" Rorschach had a feeling that Cavendish hadn't been in a good state of mind since he came down from the platform, so he used [Mage's Hand] to hand the apprentice a piece of brown sugar.

"Oh, thank you, Master Rorschach." Cavendish stuffed the candy into his mouth without holding it in and began to chew it.

After an unknown amount of time traveling, the group took another long rest, with Archmage Kober acting as their guardian. This time, they didn't cook anything, instead eating emergency rations of fried flour and milk, which felt particularly oppressive in the pitch-black environment.

Luo Xia glanced at his watch and closed it again. It was always nighttime, and he didn't know how many times he had received the blessing of [Dark Vision]. Now the spell had appeared on the panel.

The principle is actually quite simple: concentrate magic on the eyes and then enhance the ability to sense light by adding the "feedback perception" attribute, so that images can be formed even in extremely limited light conditions.

But Rorschach will only continue to bother Peterson and secretly learn the techniques, never risking his eyes before he's mastered them—concentrating magic in his eyeballs and accidentally awakening the Sharingan is a minor issue; blinding himself would be much more troublesome. He wonders if Logia-type healing magic could cure him.

"Further ahead lies the former elven settlement," Cavendish reported.

"Wait a minute."

Master, have you noticed that every time you say "stop," nothing good ever comes of it? But this can't be blamed on Archmage Humboldt himself; it's precisely because he's so cautious that he has the opportunity to prepare for every situation. However, Rorschach could sense that the Master had become noticeably more cautious after losing contact with him.

"Coo coo~ coo coo~" After losing contact with the bird, Humboldt could only pick up the basics he had learned as an apprentice and use onomatopoeia to summon a wood owl. After a brief exchange, he gently stroked the bird and pinched its 350-degree movable neck.

After stretching its neck and enjoying the view for a while, the wood owl flapped its wings and took flight, heading towards the village ruins ahead. At this moment, Humboldt had his eyes closed, and he was sharing the vision and hearing of the "night owl bird".

Amidst the ruins covered in vines and moss, new trees are sprouting from the ground and breaking through the terracotta tiles on the roof.

Monsters wandered aimlessly among the village ruins, some humming incoherent songs, others repeatedly screaming, crying, and roaring.

The monster closest to the newcomer turned around, tilted its head, and stared at the forest owl with its empty eyes.

Its beak began to deform, the upper part of the crack became sharp, and it slapped with its long forelimbs, as if imitating a bird flapping its wings, slamming it against the ground again and again.

"Coo coo".

"Coo-coo, coo-coo, coo-coo."

Thank you to readers "日月源澈", "书友20181121175137553", and "仲商廿八" for their generous donations! Thank you to readers "Archier", "linmu123", "书友20230304004553949", "世界不吵架", and "星汉旅者" for their monthly ticket support! And thank you to all readers for your recommendation votes and subscription support!

特别感谢「天下有只熊」「日月源澈」「冰原旅者」「夜光照在屁屁上」「明天想吃辣的」「书友20190923215716709」「大墟烛龙」「躺而论道」「linmu123林」「星汉旅者」「伊奥」「bokklubb」「书友150708163026227」「书友20230304004553949」「书友20181121175137553」「tqh611」「Archier」「山谷谷」「卑微的傻子」「马昌晓2」（截至发本章时书友榜前20）等书友的长期支持！

(End of this chapter)