With two strikes, Caroline and Jason expended quite a lot of their Xuanli, and the now animate tree lost a good chunk of its roots and flying human heads. Caroline and Jason’s way towards the entrance of the cemetery instantly become much more clear.

But immediately, a lot of the surrounding graves exploded, and skeletons shrouded in black smoke jumped out and lunged towards Caroline and Jason.

Without much hesitation, both Caroline and Jason activated their wooden card - Caroline’s card conjured giant translucent orange praying mantis made of Xuanli, which, upon its appearance, started attacking the roots of the tree and even the tree itself right away. Meanwhile Jason’s wooden card conjured a normal sized silver cicada, which started shaking its wings and making loud and high-pitched noises. 

The orange praying mantis cut down a small batch of moving tree roots with one front claw and swung its other front claw and left a huge cut on the tree’s bark. And the noise from the silver cicada seemed to emit waves of purifying energy pulses that washed off the black smoke around the skeletons and the protective energy layers on the surface of the tree roots.

The use of two wooden cards instantly drained half of Caroline and Jason’s Xuanli reserve, which brought them on their knees and they had to take out their flasks to recover. The ferocity of the giant praying mantis and the intense energy pulses from the silver cicada bought them some time to breathe, but they were still being surrounded by the smoke-shrouded skeletons and the moving roots of the tree.

“Go, go!” Jason stood up and pulled Caroline up with her hand, “Let’s go!” Right after helping Caroline up Jason jabbed at a skeleton remotely, unleashing a silver energy spear and impaled the skeleton on a tombstone.

The tree gave out a roar from the three faces on its trunk, then it turned and swung the branches on one side at the direction of Caroline and Jason, launching all the human heads at them like a giant slingshot.

Jason conjured a silver energy shield in front of them in an attempt to block the human heads. And the moment the silver energy shield appeared, two human heads landed on it and bounced away, cracking the shield up. Both of them held onto each other and moved step by step towards the entrance, while using all the attack methods including spells, melee attacks and Demon Suppression Sigils to clear their path.

The orange praying mantis flew to the air, but it was immediately pulled down by the movie roots from the tree around its hind legs. It used its front claws to cut the roots that entangled its hind legs. But then its front claws got caught by the roots as well, and it was pulled down to the ground.

The silver cicada started losing its power, and its energy pulses started waning and becoming less frequent, which allowed the skeletons to come around closer to both Caroline and Jason.

“Focus on one last strike, and we can make it out.” Jason supported Caroline by her arm and tried to continue on their way to the entrance, “And call Boss for help.” Meanwhile, his energy shield endured another strike from a flying human head, and this time the strike made the cracks on it even bigger and deeper, pushing it closer to the brink of collapse.

Both of them infused more Xuanli into their wooden cards and tried to control their respective insect constructs. Bright orange and red fire burst out from the praying mantis’s body and scorched the roots of the tree, which caused the tree to scream in pain. The silver cicada started making louder noises and releasing more and more intense energy pulses, pushing the skeletons back and giving Caroline and Jason room to move and escape.

The giant praying mantis spun its body vertically in the air, freeing itself completely from the now burnt entangling roots of the tree, then it rushed to the tree and delivered two heavy blows to the tree’s trunk with its front claws, leaving two deep burning cuts on its bark near the creepy smiling face. A foul burning smell filled the air, thick and dark liquid dripped from the cuts like blood from a wound.

The three faces on the tree yelled in pain and threw a batch of human heads at the praying mantis. The praying mantis was not able to dodge all of them and got knocked out of the air with three huge holes on its body. But the next second, the silver cicada controlled by Jason flew straight towards the tree, aiming for the deep cuts left by the praying mantis.

The tree noticed the danger incoming and tried to swipe the cicada away, but a fiery energy blade aiming straight at its angry face forced it to retract its branches and roots to protect itself. The cicada was able to fly past the blocking branches and roots, and landed on a cut on its bark.

Silver shockwave exploded from the cicada, shaking the air and the ground with a deafening screech, all the Xuanli infused in it was expended in one hit. Chunks of bones, dense and foul-smelling flesh and tissues splashed in the air. The bloody roots started flailing aimlessly as the tree screamed and writhe in pain. The praying mantis hopped in the air and struck down with full force, sinking its scythe-shaped front claws into the face with a creepy smile.

The tree screamed and shrunk in size, a batch of its roots swung towards the giant praying mantis in retaliation, but the body of the praying mantis had already dissipated due to it having exhausted all of its Xuanli.

“Boom!” with two folded Demon Suppression Sigils exploding right in front of Caroline and Jason, a small batch of roots got shredded into pieces and there went the final piece of obstacle to the entrance of the cemetery.

The tree shrunk to a human size as it screamed and squirmed, then it burrowed into the ground underneath and disappeared. It seemed to have escaped underground. The skeletons, on the other hand, chased after Caroline and Jason out of the cemetery just like a group of flesh hungering zombies.