TREE OF AEONS 2

Man, that made my hero fragments super overpowered.

I should think about weaponizing or sharing these shards someday. I wondered whether it was possible to lend the effects onto an item or as a blessing, such that they gained its effects?

The first 100 fragments cannot be given away.

- What? - I wondered to myself. Why such a restriction? What was the first one hundred fragments for?

No answer. It seemed like this wasnÆt something the system was willing to tell yet.

Fine, could I set up a proxy, such that the effects of the fragments were shared, even if the actual fragment remained physically with me? A cloud aura server, with my trees acting as my transmitters.

No answer.

Did that mean it was impossible, or it was possible?

Yeah.

Why should a benefit be solely hoarded by me anyway?

- TreeTree, IÆm sick of demons, - Lozanna protested.

- I know. -

She decided to eat some cake. I missed cake. I would like to have a nice coffee cake. I missed coffee cakes.

I asked some of the servants to mix coffee powder into some fertilizer and pour it around me instead. At least I could somewhat taste it, but it was just different. Really sucked not having taste buds.

Wait. There were those giant insect - eating bugs that resembled lips and mouths. Could I evolve those and make them have taste buds? Then I could still taste food!

- TreeTree, why did you ask the servants to pour coffee? - It was Laufen who strangely breached the topic.

- Coffee. is beneficial to trees. -

- IÆve never heard of such a thing. -

- Only ancient, ancient trees like me, - I lied. - Only those that have lived the A/ would desire the taste of things. -

- Ah. Then would you like tea as well? Or chocolate? -

- Yes. That would be great. Pour it into the small hole next to the tree of prayers. -

I first needed to evolve my roots to have taste receptors. Then I just needed to block out the taste of. dirt.

YEAR 84 MONTH 12

Do not fear the outworlders.

Fear them.

Huh? Lilies had randomly made a statement.

Am I. talking to the same person?

A mass, a hive, are many, made of many, and many minds make many different ways. A nation is one being, and one being is a nation. Only a nation can comprehend another.

What?

We are many. And we have many ways. We are aggressive. We are passive. We are quiet. We are loud. We are everything, and we are nothing.

Oh. In short. because Lilies was like a choir. there were bits of it that had. different personalities? And each of them did things differently?

Was there one in charge?

Yes and no

I. decided not to think about it. It was like I was talking to a bunch of schoolkids and each of them had a word to say.

Apparently, the heroes had a skirmish with the demon king. Somehow, they managed to escape the fight itself. But it was quite. uh. stupid of them. Three against the demon king? What were they thinking? At least none of them died.

Meanwhile, the other heroes in the other continents were still clearing their respective continents of the demons and, apparently, making some plans. Were they coming?

As winter set in, I sensed unusual energies coming from the heroes tower. I didnÆt know what it was, and I tried to get the labs to scan, but the energy fluctuated slightly and then. went back to normal again. It felt like star mana, but without any detailed results, I wasnÆt sure.

This winter, weÆd managed to get a bit more evergreen plants to grow. Some traders managed to bring in winter - resistant plants from faraway lands, and that made me very happy. It was nice to have fellow winter - friendly trees.

Down far south, near Lake Lilypod, the Lake itself was a source of warmth, and it didnÆt freeze over. The unmoving giant tree - walker was sprawled over the ground, now overgrown with trees.

It was warmer here. South was nearer to where the sun was, after all, and some simple astronomical rules still applied, even if there were more moons to complicate the water - level movements.

- The giant walker just. died, - a trader mentioned, walking past the giant thing. To them, it was dead. The difference between a dead giant walker and a giant walker infested with vines and trees, in practice, was really still a dead, unmoving thing.

- The king ordered that no one approach the walker, though. - The king referred to the elected ruler of the Giant Lilypod City, truly just the ruler of the humans. I suspected Lilies was in communication with him to some degree, but then, it was probably a secret it didnÆt want to share.

A few carts filled with corpses moved past. And later, they dumped all the corpses into the lake.

- ItÆs really quite fast that the walker was covered in trees, though, - a trader said. They were just walking past my giant attendant trees . - And these massive trees, they just. appeared. -

- Must be the Lilypod magic. -

- Really, you think so? -

- All tree spirits have the bloom effect. ItÆs like. a fact, - one other trader said. - IÆve never heard of a tree spirit without having some kind of supergrowing ability. -

- Why would the Giant Lilypod do such a thing? -

- Maybe the giant walkerÆs like. super fertile or something? It does have a lot of magic in it. -

- Really? - I thought this trader just said really all the time.

- IÆm guessing. IÆm guessing! - The trader laughed.

A bunch of adventurers quickly pushed them on. - Good sirs, please, letÆs get moving. -

- Ah, yes, yes. -

Escorts were still needed, after all. Demons werenÆt over yet.

Huh. I would like to visit a floating city for a change. I wondered if itÆd be more like Venice, or whether itÆd be like those floating markets of Southeast Asia. Or was it more like living in some kind of floating oil rig?

The demons kept up their attacks, but without the walkers, the regular armies werenÆt really much of a problem.

- ThatÆs the thirtieth Demon Elite I killed, - Lozanna complained. - And no levels this time! -

Yura laughed. - Maybe. you should let them do the fighting. You just help when they really canÆt do it. - There was a bunch of other Valthorns, the strongest of them in their level thirties, a pretty good level for their age. Almost genius, even.

- Uh. okay. - Lozanna realized she just said something that wasnÆt going to go her way.

- Try to play a leader role then, instead of the vanguard. Maybe you can get some kind of leadership class. -

- CanÆt I just ask TreeTree for it? -

- Stop asking TreeTree for everything, Lozanna . A good champion doesnÆt depend on handouts. - I frankly disagreed with that. Handouts werenÆt the problem. Not really.

- But heroes got their powers handed to them on a silver platter! -

Yura paused. - True, but still, if you depend on someone elseÆs power, it means you were not there yet! - With how cold winter was, everyone was practicing indoors. We had plenty of space.

Stratreegos found a magic spot.

A large, dark cave was located on one of the mountains. It was further west, even further from the volcano. There were monstrous bats, large crab - monsters.

I sighed.

Probably a black element location again. I honestly didnÆt understand why my soul forge was blue. I was a tree; shouldnÆt I be green? But magic did what magic did; it was what it was. Was black, red, and blue magic more common in this world?

Should I still take it, though, since I had one forest rod?

But with the heroes power growing so quickly, their summoned armies already sweeping through many parts of the continent, destroying demons in the process, the odds of me locating a demon rod for capture was slim.

Already, more rumors and news came from the land beyond. That the heroes were able to call on units that were like. superunits, able to take on a demon walker singlehandedly. That meant they could now attack the demonic forces on multiple fronts, expanding their force projection ability to counter the demonÆs reach.

Had they passed level one hundred? It sounded like some of them did.

If so, the odds of a final battle with the demon king were high.

I wanted a superunit, too. It was quite unfair that I had to get a heroic soul to summon a titan, and they could do it with. level one hundred. The gods really loaded the die with them.

YEAR 85 MONTH 1

A new year began.

It was almost three years since the demon king had arrived, by my own clock, year 82 month two. This war had gone on for far too long.

Everywhere, it was weariness. A sense of exhaustion in the people. Rumors of frustrations among the many kings and queens. What was taking the heroes so long to just get to it? Even me, I was just tired of demons.

For the past three - no, four - years, IÆd been battling demons throughout my domain.

But there was also rising hope.

It was going to end soon.

The question that happened, inevitably, was when and where it was going to end. And for most of the kings, how to avoid being. collateral damage in the cataclysmic battle that occurred.

The question of where was most certainly our current continent. The demon king was finally at the site of demon king, and predictably, consistent with the Astaroth incident, it summoned a demon. A demon shaped like a large airship.

It didnÆt seem like the demon king was intent on going anywhere else. It wasnÆt moving, and instead, it stopped and released a massive energy blast that incinerated the surroundings of the former site. What was once a crater turned into a larger one.

And we all felt it.

A strong energy that pushed back against my auras. A kind of energy so dry that I felt like it was attempting to strip my mana away from me. The tower vibrated, its divine energies triggered to create a shield, and even then it felt the tower pull, no, demand energy from the surroundings to reinforce itself.

So strange.

But it was a taunt.

Thanks to that unidirectional wave, we all knew where the demon king was. Like a blazing fire, all we had to do was follow the warmth.

It called out to them. The demon king and the image of the previous one.

I could almost feel the words that it meant, through that wave. Come, heroes.

Time to settle this fight.

That energy wave triggered magical defensive spells, like how lightning sometimes triggered alarms.

Even in New Freeka, some simple enchantments, like door reinforcement spells or enchanted weapons made unusual sounds and had strange shapes appear on them.

And the hex? The residual hex that was now pooled together cordoned away from the general masses? They reacted strongly to the wave. It wasnÆt absorbing it, but it didnÆt like it at all, and a strange, purple - ish glow appeared over them.

So it was time to bunker up or run away. Some of them chose to travel further away from it. It was a sensible choice. The demon king was taunting the heroes to go to it, but at the same time, it was a signal to everyone else to run away.

Which many did.

For those that didnÆt, or couldnÆt, we bunkered up. The sewers and underground tunnels project thankfully completed, the citizens started stocking up designated storage areas in the underground tunnels.

The tunnels went quite deep into the ground, after all; the demon kings clearly had incredible destructive power, and shallow, near - surface tunnels were still going to get destroyed easily.

IÆd also restocked my constantly growing arsenal of anti - demon wooden bolts. If it ever came down to a fight, I wasnÆt going to go down easily.

I hoped I didnÆt get involved. But a part of me knew that was wishful thinking. It was on this continent, after all.

In the long eternity of time, one day, I would have to face the demon king. Whether by chance or intention.

HEROES FINAL BATTLE

- Eight, yes. three, no. So itÆs time. - It was Astra who said it, announcing the decision of the vote to the group.

- Are you sure? Are we sure? - one of the heroes asked.

- We canÆt hold this on forever. WeÆve all voted yes. LetÆs go with it. -

A quiet silence. Although the heroes power was incredible, they all felt it. The gnawing sense that the power was biting into their minds; the stronger it got, the more it compelled them to just go at the demons. It was almost like a bloodlust. They all looked like they hadnÆt slept in months. Eyebags and all.

- Was it always like this? -

- I - I donÆt think so. No records I checked had it. But then again. very few heroes took. three years to slay the demon king. Mostly because the battles were all confined on the same continent, so. it just tended to end rather quickly. -

All of them didnÆt sleep well. At night, they all got nightmares. It wasnÆt like this before, but it started a month, no, two months ago. At first it was mild, but lately it was more and more gruesome. Death. Destruction.

Were they going insane?

- But weÆre just walking into the demon kingÆs trap. It wants us to go! We must hold on till the time is right. -

- When is the time right? We are all about level one hundredûplus now. Astra is even level one hundred twenty! We canÆt wait forever. WeÆve discussed this many times, and itÆs time. ItÆs waiting for us, and I think we should take up the challenge. -

Some of them kept the thoughts to themselves. Harris, too, had nightmares. So much death. The slaughter of cities. The sacking of so many kingdoms to the demonic hordes.

But why?

Why?

- So. The plan is, using the existing tower network, IÆll do a mass recall , and that will teleport every one of us to one of the towers. Harris, Mirei, Becky, let us know which tower is the best. IÆm guessing the demon king knows and can sense us, based on how their walkers and supercannons behaved, so honestly, the nearest tower will be the best. -

- The nearest tower is not functioning. ItÆs too near, and the demonic wave it emits has shredded the tower, - Mirei explained. - There is a tower near NungÆs capital. WeÆll use that. -

- All right. Will you all be there? -

- WeÆre somewhere north, but we are headed down. -

- Before that. Harris. we heard you attempted to fight the demon king? You didnÆt tell us about that in our previous call. -

- No. ItÆs more like. it. uh. erm. -

Mirei, Becky, and Harris looked at each other, wondering who should explain.

- So? - One of them was impatient. Truth be told, all of them were edgy, the lack of sleep and nightmares making everyone rough. Already, there was dissatisfaction with each other. Harris heard that even the previous heroes had conflicts; people, after all, never worked together perfectly.

- We kind of just. found it. It attacked us, and we fled as fast as we could. -

- How strong was it? -

- Strong enough. - Harris didnÆt want to say too much.

- DidnÆt try to fight it? - one of them asked. - Who knows, you could win? So far, all the demons weÆve faced were talked about as incredibly powerful, but now our summons can take them on! Maybe this demon kingÆs a chump, too. -

Two heroes looked at each other. Victor and Gustav, they were both there when Pooja died. It was an accident, in a way. They made a mistake, and Pooja was in the wrong position. They wanted to say something, but somehow both didnÆt say it.

- No. We. we thought we should do it all together, - Harris said.

- Heh. As expected, - one of them sneered. It had been two years since they all arrived, and few friendships stayed the same in that time.

- So. we all teleport to the location? - one of the other heroes asked, stepping in.

- Yes, - Astra replied, sensing the moment. - Anything else? -

- No. -

Harris sighed to himself. They all just happened to be in the same bus, somehow. There was a camaraderie, at least, with Becky and Mirei, as the three of them traveled together and fought many battles together.

But none of that with the other nine. no, eight heroes. They were not close to Pooja, and honestly, when Pooja died, the three of them. didnÆt really feel anything. No, actually, all they felt was a very strong desire for revenge, to get back at the demons.

- We need to think. Tea? - Mirei asked.

- Yeah. I need that tea now. - All three of them huddled together. Using some dried tea leaves, they made a brew. Ginger flavored, somehow. There was some ginger leaves mixed in.

They all had a sip of the New Freekan tea leaves and felt their anger, their. craving to fight subside a little.

- Okay. LetÆs discuss what we heard. -

- All of them are going to port in, and weÆre going to fight the demon king. Absolutely a trap, - Becky said, taking another sip. The smell of the ginger was in the air.

- Astra has a point. We canÆt avoid this forever. Even if itÆs a trap, they donÆt seem to be in any state to resist the. effects of our powers. Even this teaÆs effectiveness weakens with each level we gain. -

Harris sighed again. Somewhere, a squad of heavily armed shields was fighting demons. He could feel it.

- And AstraÆs mind - link will help. -

- WeÆve never tested it. WeÆre placing too much trust on a skill that supposedly will make us work seamlessly. -

- They seem to believe the skill will do what it says it does. -

- And no evidence so far refutes that. So I reckon it will help. -

Harris, Becky, and Mirei shared a glance. A lightning elemental was roasting a few chunks of meat. The lightning helped to char the skin a bit, giving it a bit of a crisp. A metallic suit of armor chopped some vegetables, and a small goblin - ish creature was peeling some meat of some shellfish.

There was a camp behind them. TheyÆd been using their summons for all sort of chores, such as carrying camp - gear. All powered by star mana. Star mana was an amazing thing. It lasted long, and just a bit could sustain their summons for almost a week, longer for their smaller, menial summons.

- So, weÆre still going with the plan, then, - Mirei said softly.

- ItÆs our best shot. Even with all these random factors remaining, and the rest of them clearly canÆt wait any more. Any longer weÆd probably fight each other. At least we can finish whatever we were brought to this world for. - Harris sighed. He was explaining it more for himself. He was hardly convinced it was the best idea, but in the end, he still voted for it.

It was like being forced to swallow a bitter pill to not die.

Becky refilled her cup of tea. - Well. Harris was right. It was our best shot. -

Harris finished his meal and then took out what resembled a forge. Two lightning elementals and a fire elemental helped him with his forging.

Truth was Harris scouted the demon king. Whatever Lady Mika left behind made him wonder whether there was a trap. The previous group of heroes fell for it, and here they were, walking right into it.

So Harris, without telling the other three groups, decided to scout the demon king out. He prepared beforehand, a special teleportation scroll, some backup abilities with both Becky and Mirei, a lightning - powered temporary recall, and a lightning speed boost. And high - powered summons as backup. Perhaps they could buy time.

The demon king took the shape of a massive spider with four circular rings on top, forming something resembling a verandah, and at intervals, the verandah functioned as a demonic summoning portal, it forcefully opened a massive rift, and each time, one more demon walker emerged. Next to it was a large floating castle filled with jagged spires that radiated a reddish glow.

He could feel its power grow and then ebb. Then he noticed that it was synchronized with the gate on the demon king.

It was acting as a power generator to summon more demons.

Instead of relying on leylines and magic spots, it decided to tap on whateverÆs left on the previous demon kings.

Yet Harris watched a bit too long, and the demon walkers started firing.

He fled. As fast as he could. He wasnÆt mad. There were at least two million demons in that massive valley. At least thirty walkers. It was going to be a massive battle at scale. And. flyers. There were creatures that resembled. wyverns.

It turned out. sure, they were gaining levels, but it was going to be a race. If these two million demons went out in all directions, how long would it take for them to stop it? Could they gain levels fast enough that they could beat back the horde of demons that ravaged the world?

And yet Harris didnÆt feel guilty not sharing this information with the rest of them. And honestly, he didnÆt know why his two friends didnÆt, either.

Astra looked at the map. It was laid out on a large table, and it marked where the towers were located.

- Something didnÆt make sense. -

- What? - Naya looked bored. - Why were you studying the maps they sent you? All we got to do is teleport there and do what we gotta do. WeÆve got super - summons now, and the demons are still giving us the same kind of opponents. -

- ArenÆt you underestimating the demon king? -

- And the gods were underestimating me, - Naya said. Astra could only roll his eyes.

Astra looked at the map again. He roughly measured the distance between where the demon king was and the nearest tower. Why such a large distance? What was the demon king planning? Harris met it, yet. why did he not say much? Did he have something to hide?

- I canÆt wait, - Naya said. - After this is all over, IÆll get to live life as an emperor with a massive harem. -

Astra didnÆt reply. There really was no need to.

- Go sleep. -

Astra didnÆt. Naya slept. Feeling like he wasnÆt going anywhere, he went for a walk and found Gerrard on a hill. It wasnÆt hard spotting him.

Gerrard nodded at him. - Heya. Not sleeping yet? -

- I could ask you the same question. - Astra noticed a mug and a few barrels of beer by the side. They were all schoolkids when they got there, but itÆd been two years, and well, everyone had different ways of coping with the. nightmares. In GerrardÆs case, it was. beer.

They were underaged, after all, but who was going to stop heroes with super - growth spells from buying beer?

He was through a barrel; sadly that was what he needed to get drunk, since as a hero, he had some poison resistance, and he had a summon that collected his beer from the nearby towns. Helped that some of his summons were gladiators that could speak a few words.

- Hmm. Were you here to make sure I fix my guys weapons? - There was a gladius at the side, made from a mix of regular metal and star mana, something they made in their free time. Gerrard had the benefit of having equippable summons. His elite star - mana gladiators could will items he made.

- WeÆve passed that stage. - Astra grinned. There was a small magical staff at his side. It was weird, that all heroes gained a crafting option together with star mana, and that crafting option seemed exceptionally personal, in the sense that none could make something like someone else. It was through a mix of star mana and their personal will that these hero - artifacts were made.

Maybe there were crafter - heroes in past generations, and people, no. heroes who could recreate other heroic artifacts.

- So. why were you here? - Gerrard stood. They exchanged a look.

- You voted no. - The voting results were public. There was no use hiding who voted what. - Why? -

- Because I felt like it. -

Astra glared. Gerrard met the glare and after five seconds decided to look away. - YouÆre lying. -

- Maybe. -

- WonÆt you tell me the truth? The demon kingÆs not far away. We should go in with our eyes wide open. -

Gerrard looked disgusted. - Must everything be the demon king? Every time I get drunk, the only thing on my mind is why everyone is just talking about the demons all the freaking time? -

- Because thatÆs why we are here. -

- Fucking twisted logic you got there. Why did we accept this task so wholeheartedly anyway? ItÆs not as if demons did anything to us. -

- But they did so much to the land. -

- How do you even know if they are real? If any of this is. real? -

- It feels like it, and thatÆs good enough. Real or not, the wrongs must be righted. -

- Again with that twisted logic. But you know, I had to vote no. Even if I knew all of you would have voted yes. -

- Then tell me why. -

- Because NayaÆs overconfident in his skills, and you are overconfident in your skills. Almost everyone is overconfident in their own abilities. WeÆre going to go and fight the demon, and weÆll realize how inadequate we were all the while. -

- WeÆve reached level one hundred. -

- So? Is there a rule somewhere that the demon king is a level one hundred threat? Why not level two hundred? How do we even know level one hundred is enough? Because itÆs three digits instead of two? Because of a feeling you all feel and that nagging, screaming pain every time you sleep? -

Astra paused, and suddenly, yeah. Why did they feel it was. enough? Just because the demon walkers were now easy, did that mean they were ready for the next level, the king itself? What if the gap between the king and walkers was massive, as it should be? Yet that moment of discomfort and insecurity didnÆt last; like a candle in the wind, it went poof.

- There are eleven of us. -

- And the demon kingÆs predecessors have clearly killed many of them. -

- And there were survivors. Many kingdoms have a hero in their lineage. No glory without some sacrifice. DonÆt you want to be king? -

Gerrard looked disgusted. - ThatÆs what we are, eh? We come here, defeat a demon king, and then go on and make a fuck - ton of babies and leave our magical weapons for them. -

- Well. - Astra wanted to say yes. But he knew better.

- Our alliance lasts up till we kill the demon king. WeÆre not friends after that. -

Astra shrugged. It was really optimistic to expect twelve kids in the same bus to somehow stick together for two to three years. - ThatÆs all we need. -

A week later, they all teleported to the site. It was a secluded tower located on a mountain; there were subtle mana flows in the ground that helped amplify the towerÆs energies.

Astra was first to arrive, and he activated the global recall . That brought the rest of them there.

- ItÆs much stronger here. its presence. - The heroes looked at each other. For those located on different continents, it was the first time they met face - to - face since that day on the bus or that moment with the gods. But they were referring to the taunt that the demon king emitted. Its constant. aura.

Harris, Becky, and Mirei looked at them. - Welcome to the central continent. -

- Yeah, yeah. We were going for the demon king immediately? - Naya shrugged.

Some of them nodded. A few looked uncertain. Astra, who was level one hundred twenty - five, took the lead. - LetÆs go. There is really no point delaying this entire thing. Can you three lead the way? -

- Sure, but do you guys need to call on your summoned armies? Or they can appear at any second? -

Gustav and Lombard both nodded. - Ah, my powers need a bit time to appear, and I have artillery forces. I will need to position my bombardment units at a distance. -

Harris took out the map again. There was a red star showing where the demon king was, and a big red ring around it.

- WhatÆs the red ring? -

- The demon kingÆs army. -

- Ah. Fodder for us. - Harris winced at the word but didnÆt say a thing. He pointed to a chain of hills and slopes further out. - WhatÆs the range of your artillery? Is this place far enough? -

- How far is that? I mean. uh. - Lombard looked at the map. He had an issue translating distances on maps into range. In practice, he used his own forces to sense where it was, and he had spotter units that helped his artillery units find targets.

Harris didnÆt know how to explain distances, too, not in this world where kilometers and all didnÆt really mean much. They didnÆt have measurement tools. What was one dayÆs horse ride away, and was it even universal? Different horses travelled different speeds, what more for those with riding skills.

- Never mind, use the demon kingÆs aura as a gauge? - Astra intervened. - LetÆs move. Feel free to break off to set up your forces. -

Gustav the golem - master and Lombard the cannoneer nodded. - Sure. -

It wasnÆt hard to find a demon king that was actively transmitting its presence to the heroes. And stranger still, none of the kingdoms attempted to hexbomb the demon king. In fact, the hexbombs mostly stopped once the heroes got their groove going. After all, why sacrifice lives when the heroes summoned units could fight walkers for you?

The demon king warped the terrain with it right in the middle. Its large, massive legs embedded into the ground, drawing mana and energy from the planet. In a way, it resembled an extremely large oil rig that pulled that mana and then used it to produce walker after walker. The floating castle next to it also generated mana and fed it to the king.

When the heroes first saw what they were up against, it was a mixed reaction.

Those overconfident ones merely grinned. - Ah, no matter how many of these fodders they make, itÆs not going to stop us. -

Some felt this validated their choice, that it was time to fight the demon king anyway. Delaying it was not going to solve the problem. And those who voted no, in their minds, this was the moment that made them feel like it was always inevitable. It was either they fight the demons or the demons destroy the world. It was a game, wasnÆt it?

- ItÆs waiting for us. LetÆs not keep it waiting. - Astra nodded, and he triggered the star mana forms. Around him, phantoms started appearing, and they charged into the horde of demons before them. AstraÆs body itself was coated by a white sheen, as if he was a divine being here to bestow divine retribution.

Thousands, tens of thousands of phantoms appeared, a one - man army, and it ripped through the regular demonoids like paper. The walkers, some one hundred fifty of them, towered across the battlefield, and they started shooting their energy blasts. They were always in position, and the quiet skies were ripped by the thundering shots.

Each of the heroes summoned their forces. Tens of thousands of summoned creatures, almost a hundred thousand summoned creatures, magically appeared from portals, as if it was a scene from Endgame. One of them, of course, had to quip.

- WeÆre in the endgame now. And this is our final battle with Thanos. -

- I hope not. I donÆt want one of us to die. -

- If only one of us die, thatÆs a win. -

Gustav summoned massive golems, fifteen of them, each as large as a walker, and with powers no inferior to it. Magical yet mechanical constructs, they resembled giant - size Ant - man fighting the massive leviathans when they wrestled the walkers. Lombard had self - propelling railguns in the distance, and they matched the walkerÆs energy blasts. Each hero brought their own type of special armies. Harris had walking shield generators that deflected energy blasts, protecting summoned units from the enemies.

For close to two hours, the entire crater was engulfed in battles, as demons and the summoned creatures clashed. Still, the demonoids were never able to hold back the heroes forces, even if they thinned them greatly. Even if giant, demonic wyverns ripped the summoned railguns to shreds, there were always more summoned units.

Yet the demon king remained unmoved in the middle. All it did was concentrate its power on its throne, its massive legs unmoving, its massive gate - like horns, eight of them, a rift right in the middle of that cavity.

As they got nearer, they changed targets, and they started to attack the demon kingÆs massive body. Those attacks met a massive energy barrier, the railgun bolts vibrating and rippling on the barrier like a rock that dropped into a lake.

Their summoned units gradually gained an upper hand. The overconfident heroes started to feel vindicated. The demon kingÆs army was nothing much after all, not against eleven heroes and their combined armies complete with all the stacking auras each of them had!

Yet the demon king didnÆt move. Nor did the shadow of the former demon king.

The rift changed color.

The heroes attacked, again, at the barrier. The barrier held on, but it was cracking. Small holes started to emerge, and some summoned units got close to the demon kingÆs legs. They attacked.

The rift turned red.

Naya, the archmage with an army of summoned water and ice elementals, attacked, raining ice on the battlefield. He, too, was enveloped in a sheen of white - bluish light; his magical longstaff had a dark blue crystal.

The demon kingÆs army was down to half, and almost all the demon walkers, elites, and generals were down. The fodder surprisingly lasted longer because there was just so many of them.

But they were fodder.

Truly, only the demon king itself mattered.

The rift turned a darker red, almost maroon.

- Is it going to fire? - Harris looked. A massive ice blast finally cracked the barrier. The heroes units were cut down to less than a quarter now, but it was now between them and the king.

This was why they saved star mana.

The gigantic golems attacked the unmoving demon king; its massive body resembled a castle that didnÆt move despite the attacks. That was not to say the golems attack were ineffective. They worked - there were small wounds and scars where the golems attacked. It was just that the demon king was a monstrous thing, a city in a creature. From a distance, its present form resembled a massive spider with super - thick legs, and another upside - down spider on the top, its legs representing the horns that created the rift.

The heroes attacked. Their summoned creatures damaged the demon king.

But it was too slow.

The rift turned purple.

Then, in a short flash, it shot out a thick purple beam that cut a massive gash in the ground, and all the way till the horizon, destroying everything in its path.

And one hero stood in its path, her body burning from its purple flames, and then she felt into the gash below. She died, and all her summoned units vanished with her.

All the heroes felt a surge of anger as they lobbed more attacks. There was no need.

The rift was gray again. This time, the floating castle moved to attack, firing smaller red beams from its many spires.

- Who was that? - Harris shouted. They were all spread out in the battlefield, their forces making everything messy.

Astra checked his status. He was like the chat administrator who could see who went offline. - . Simone. -

- What?! - Those from the same place felt some loss. For the rest of them, it was. just a name. The demon king was before them, and now this. thing was attacking them. It tore through the stronger summoned units easily.

- Focus on the demon king, there is still ten of us, and that rift takes forever to charge. We can win this. -

The rift turned orange.

- You fucking jinx of a mouth, - Naya cursed as he lobbed spell after spell at the demon kingÆs body. The demon kingÆs body had cracks, but it was like ants making microscopic cuts on a giant elephant. Sure, there were cuts, but it was going to take a while for it to take down the giant.

- Get rid of the floating castle! -

Spells flew, and golems, railguns, and lightning blasts zapped the floating castle. Slightly smaller than the demon king, and clearly less sturdy, each attack made it wobble in midair, and the red beams tended to lose their paths.

The rift was still orange, but it was getting darker.

More cracks appeared throughout the massive body of the demon king. Even the gargantuan golems looked like little children trying to fight with an adult. Some of the heroes concentrated fire on the floating castle.

A shadow of the former demon king, it was hardly as strong. No, it was perhaps only a quarter of its stats, and so, the hits got to it easily, and the floating castle crumbled then crashed into the ground below, exposing a round red crystal.

- Uh. -

The rift was red.

Harris instantly felt danger and quickly activated all the summoned shields he could gather. - Watch out for that thing! - he shouted.

The red crystal vibrated.

A golem lifted it up and flung it as far as it could.

The rift was dark red.

- The fuck, why is the color changing so quickly? -

- AinÆt a final boss without some asspull, yÆknow. This was probably one of it. -

A golem punched one of the legs, and the leg finally, after receiving so much damage from the army of summons around it, collapsed.

The rift was still dark red. And then, it released a shockwave of that dark red energy, scorching through most of the summoned units, destroying them instantly. It also destroyed many of the lesser demons, but by now, there were no demon walkers left.

The wave smacked right into the heroes protective items and shields, but one of the heroes was too near and couldnÆt react to it time.

The wave burned him. And he flailed like a man on fire, the reddish fire got past whatever protection he had. Naya attempted an iceblast to negate the fire, but it didnÆt work. It seemed like the fire found a life of its own, and somehow it wouldnÆt subside.

- Healer! -

Despite the massive distance, healing was still entirely possible. The healing - dedicated hero still had a tremendous cast range and could instantly activate healing.

The fire didnÆt go away, but the wounds recovered instantly.

Yet, the rift was still red, and then a second blast went out. The healer had to put up a shield. The burning hero was still too close, and the second blast turned him into ash.

- Fuck! - the healer cursed, and the earth rumbled. The demon king was finally moving! Even if one of its legs was broken, it still had seven other legs, and the two red energy waves incinerated most of the summoned units.

So the battlefield was quite clean. Just the surviving nine heroes, one demon king, and some of their summons.

- Anyone have summons left? - Astra asked through their live chat. At this distance, it wasnÆt hard to maintain some kind of VC function. - Or should we focus on defense? -

- I still have star mana, but I think we should restrict summons to higher - tier ones. Those can take one shot! - Two gigantic golems remained, but the red flames enveloped them, and they slowly melted them. Some gladiators too were around; they had the benefit of having star - mana artifacts that allowed them to tank the wave.

The demon king moved rather slowly. It was pulling out its massive legs embedded deep into the ground. Each leg left a deep hole, and as it lifted its body up to walk, they saw something resembling a mouth for the first time.

Located at the bottom of its body, it looked like the central part of an octopus, only made with demonic - matter, and it glowed in various colors. And there were smaller mouths.

They were open.

- SHIELDS! - They all felt it, and all the mouths spat out a red fire, coating everything beneath the demon king in an inferno.

This time, the already damaged golems crumbled and turned back into. nothing.

- We need to skip our summons! -

- But then whatÆs the point of all our army skills? -

- ItÆs just to get to this point! -

- Then itÆs fucked! -

Well, except for the ranged magical railguns that, thankfully, were out of range of the initial blasts. Two survived, and they could continue bombardment. Still, the damage they dealt were miniscule.

Well, the demon king did take damage from the earlier attacks, and throughout its massive body there were wounds and scars.

- Concentrated attack! Use star mana forms! - Harris yelled out. In his mind, he wondered why the notes talked about using star - mana forms to fight the demon king. - LetÆs get on its body. There should be cores we can attack, rather than us trying to take on the entire structure! -

- Good point! - Naya waved his wand, and an icesheet levitated him up.

The demon kingÆs many mouths opened, and this time, they lobbed small energy blasts, in the millions. They rained down on the heroes below, attempting to delay the heroes from approaching its main body.

- Did this demon king take notes from bullet hell or something? - Layers on layers of ice shield appeared, blocking the little blasts.

- We made a mistake. We should have just gone for the main body right away! -

- What, and get caught by the red wave? We didnÆt even know it could do that! - All the heroes had activated their defensive abilities. The overconfidence from the early stage had faded. They witnessed two of them die; maybe theyÆd be next. There was no time to be reckless and hold back some abilities in reserve.

Still, the rain of energy bullets did not deter the heroes at all, and very quickly, all of them were on the demon kingÆs main body. There were no lesser demons but parts of the demon king that attacked them. Throughout its body, spires transformed into tentacles or beam - towers, attacking the invading heroes.

The heroes spread out, looking for cores or hearts, things that powered the demon king. They hacked at everything that looked like it could hold something like that, their star - mana powered abilities, now at close range, easily cutting through any defenses the demon king had. Even while the massive monster moved.

They had to be wary. The rift was now orange again, and gradually, it turned reddish. And the massive size of the demon king meant they could be hacking and attacking nothing for hours. Their strongest area spells lacked the focused damage needed to cut through the demon kingÆs defenses.

One hero summoned her elites to help out, but the elites were useless. Unless they had equipment made or infused with star mana, the damage they dealt was close to nothing.

- We need to split up! -

The demon king suddenly stopped, and it. jabbed one of its large legs into the ground.

The heroes braced for the sudden shaking and collapse of the demon kingÆs body to the ground; they had magic to keep them steady and floating.

Then it did so again. A second leg pierced the ground.

- Why is it doing that? How far have we moved? -

The heroes suddenly realized they were no longer in the crater. The demon king had moved a good distance during the thirty to forty minutes they were attacking its body. Its massive size and magic meant they hardly felt the move.

- WhatÆs going on? -

It was that very moment, through the entirety of the world. all the demonoids shook. and disintegrated into small, ash - like particles. Then the ashes started moving, as if swept by a wind, all toward the demon king. They moved intensely, and throughout the world, a strong, hurricane - like wind wrecked, damaged, and killed many, as this wind carried all these ashes to the demon king.

- ItÆs the transformation! All boss fights must have another form! This must be it! - The heroes didnÆt realize the issue.

- Stop it! - Astra yelled. - We must find the source before this transformation completes! -

- HOW? - The heroes were attacking the demon kingÆs body as much as they could. Some of them concentrated their attacks on the center, believed that the demon king would have its core in the center.

Harris paused and took a sip from a flask. He closed his eyes momentarily, willing his body and soul to sense the demon king. The demon king could sense them, and they could sense the demon king. Lady MikaÆs notes were clear on that. Maybe they had to find it using that sense. And indeed, he did. - There are four cores! - He pointed them out and quickly rushed to the one nearest to him.

The heroes managed to destroy three cores, and even so it took them two hours. Way longer than they liked, despite how strong their star - mana was. There were just too many tentacles, monsters, and spires in the way. Two hours never felt so long.

The ashes all arrived, and then the body itself also turned into ash.

- Quick! Find the core. Attack it when itÆs in ash form! - They did find it. And they attacked it with all their might.

The ash was too thick. After all, it was a mass made from all the demons generated throughout the world.

The ash formed together into a large sphere; it floated in the sky as if there was a dark moon, its massive size turning day into night.

The heroes attacked relentlessly, hoping to interfere with its transformation.

The sphere split into ten smaller spheres, and nine of the spheres transformed into humanoid - shaped warriors. The heroes wondered why their attacks failed to stop the transformation.

The last sphere transformed into a grotesque massive demon rod. It was as large as a tower. And it then jammed deep into the ground.

- Uh? -

- DonÆt stop! - Astra yelled. There were nine of them and nine demons. - That rod must be the core! -

What they saw then was the very earth itself transforming into an unnatural terrain. The demon rod was a scaled - up, demon-king version of the demon rod. They also saw something. strange.

Spirits. Of their two fallen comrades, bound by the demon king rod. It. siphoned energy from the two glowing white spirits, and it pulsed. With each pulse, the demon rod gained power and spread its influence further.

The heroes didnÆt have to ask much. They understood it by seeing. They had to stop it. The demon king wanted their souls for energy.

And the nine demons stood in their way. Oddly sized just like them, they resembled. humans? All of them had two hands, two legs, one head all in human - like ways. And each of them held a different weapon. They were gray, unlike the usual reddish brown the demonoids had.

The heroes attacked. There was not much to talk, even if they looked human. And these nine demons matched the heroes for it. At first.

They felt the presence of the demon king spread further and further in the ground, and simultaneously, the environment around them started burning with a black fire. Demon fire. TheyÆd seen this. They were briefed of it.

The nine demons kept up. Somehow the star mana wasnÆt as effective on them as before. as if they were made of something. else. The heroes, exhausted from their earlier long battles, found themselves digging as deep as they could to stand up to them.

Some of the heroes did better, especially those proficient in close combat, like Gerrard, who was the first to stab his star mana sword through one of the demons, and the demon turned into ash. Eight left. And then one of the demons stabbed its rapier into NayaÆs chest, and instantly, Naya started to turn into. ash. Eight of them left.

The eight gray ashdemons seemed to take their attacks as if they were just regular adventurers. A part of them wanted to ask, - How? - But the adrenaline and exhaustion meant they just kept fighting.

The heroes were leading. Those focused on close combat, Gerrard and Harris, started gaining an edge. They defeated five and lost Helen, Gustav, and Lombard.

Only five of them left. Harris, Gerrard, Astra, Mirei, and Becky. And three ashdemons left. The ashdemons power waned, and that was when they realized the demon king couldnÆt keep maintaining them forever.

They killed the three ashdemons and turned their focus on the massive rod.

They had to break it. They all felt it, the scream and wailing of their comrades being drained, unable to move on. The earth itself tried to resist the demonic influence, but powered by the heroes star mana, the earth couldnÆt hold it back.

The corruption had spread as far as their eyes could see, maybe even further. Maybe even some of the cities would have seen the demon flames because. the entire skyline was just. black fire. The battle against the ashdemons took too long. Three hours, maybe four. The sky was already dark, but because the demon fire was everywhere, they didnÆt realize it.

They pulled their power together, exhausted as they were. They didnÆt know how much star mana they used, and by now, it felt like theyÆd gone past their reserve and some. They didnÆt even know how they managed to use that last attack and destroyed the demon king rod.

Demon King Sabnoc has been slain.

But the corruption. was not going away.

And the corruption had spread over almost half of the entire central continent, that half rendered nigh uninhabitable.

New Freeka was well within the range of the spread.

YEAR 85 MONTH 1

It was coming. We could feel it in our roots, our trunks, our bodies. Every bit of us, we felt it. As if the earth itself cried out for help, and none of us could do anything. There was a tide out there, in that distance, and it came so quickly.

So, so very quickly.

All at once, the soul realm was flooded with deaths.

Something had spread throughout the continent. I could almost feel it, the entirety of Nung burned up and destroyed. Barsoom, gone in a flash. It happened so quickly, as the earth itself rotted and turned into this. demonic thing.

Our extended subsidiary trees felt it first, its presence rushing in, and rather quickly, those distant subsidiary trees burned almost instantly in the dark demonic flames. The giant attendant trees, too, started to burn, but they were stronger, and they shared more of our powers, and so. they never truly burned. Instead, they resembled my past, when I was a small stump, engulfed in a black flame, but not dead.

It spread quickly, and it was amazing how quickly it did. But we had no time to think about that because we felt death everywhere, and we felt like pebbles on the beach, watching a tsunami come in.

All we could do was stand our ground and face it.

- Everyone, the best place now is to get as near me as possible. Into the woods. - We spoke to the elves and everyone, and they ran as fast as they could.

One - by - one, I lose my link to my faraway trees nearest to the demon king. It was as if I was playing Stellaris and some unknown extradimensional disaster started swallowing up all my stars. And it happened so quickly.

We had maybe. half an hour at the rate the corruption was expanding. That was our guess. Maybe it would slow down because of the area covered increased squared the further the corruption went, and so the same energy wouldnÆt be able to corrupt as many places?

And it was coming through the ground.

- DonÆt go underground. -

- What? -

- No. The best place now is above ground, and watch for things coming from beneath. -

- WhatÆs even happening? - one of them asked, but Yura had trained enough that he didnÆt question me all that much.

Batch by batch, my trees disappeared in a flash, but indeed. it was slightly slowing. But not by much. The fires and the corruption burned so quickly that I hardly got a view of what was going on. I placed a large wall of subsidiary trees and giant attendant trees as it approached. I wanted to see how they performed. It was literally like the earth itself was. rotting and burning simultaneously, and the wall held just a short second before it too overwhelmed my trees and burned them.

- Shit. - There was a whole load of madness and chaos, as some people did as they were told, but some didnÆt.

They ran for the woods. I hoped that having a huge number of trees mutually reinforcing the aura would somehow slow it down or stop it altogether.

I tried again. It was getting much, much closer. The demonÆs presence was like a wave; it pushed closer and closer. It was still not in the valley yet, but maybe. ten minutes to impact.

- Tell everyone to prepare for fire and the earth cracking. -

Those who managed to run into the woods did so, and we mentally braced for impact.

The trees lasted longer. They didnÆt burn as quickly.

Five minutes.

The trees right outside the valley burned. We could see it coming. A black tide and a sky filled with black flames. It was coming into contact to my own roots now. And it. didnÆt burn much. I pushed my mana into the ground, into my roots to strengthen them, and tried to hold it.

Like a rock in a river, this foul energy attempted to sweep me off, attacking my mana - strengthened roots. At first, I managed to hold on.

New Freeka was still fine, for now.

But the waves kept coming. Twenty minutes, the dark energies from somewhere kept up their pressure on my roots, and they even spiked and ebbed in waves. We were now like an island in a sea of corruption, and this tide threatened to sink us as well.

The wave was relentless, and gradually, my mana started to wane.

A crack appeared, and with it, a huge crack appeared in New Freeka, and fire shot out of the ground. Some of the houses caught on fire, and some of the citizens died there and then. It was screaming. For many of them, it was a sudden change because a while ago it was still clear skies and a sunny day.

I tried to pull as much mana as I could, hoping to resist it, but the corruption was strong and constant. Even so far away, another crack appeared, and this time it torched our underground sewers. I thought it got a few more people who didnÆt listen to instruction, but I didnÆt have time to focus.

- TreeTree! - Yura shouted.

- WeÆre trying to hold it back. - This was our immediate vicinity, and the demon kingÆs corruption was still so strong? How?

No time to theorize, though. We focused our efforts on stopping the corrupting energy. It felt a bit like a wooden dam that was cracking.

And more cracks, and another part of New Freeka burned.

Then the corrupting energy surged. It hit the wall like a massive wrecking ball, and in an instant, one third of New Freeka was in flames. There was screaming and shouting everywhere.

- TreeTree, whatÆs going on! -

- Demon king. - That was all I could answer as I tried to push back at the energy. Why did it surge so quickly? I didnÆt even have time to see what happened to all the elves.

The corrupting energy surged again, and more, no, it burned more of New Freeka. People were running, and the edges of my forest were in flames. Demonic flames.

- This isnÆt working, TreeTree! -

I felt the demonic corrupting energy surge in again. Did I try to hold back and let it smack into the forest? What worked? Me? Should I do it again, like with Alexis?

But. this energy was the demon kingÆs very own energy. It was unmistakable. Could I do it?

- Treetree! -

- A/ ! -

I heard faint chatter, and we felt the pain coming through the network. So many trees were burning.

So many, many trees. What if? We felt the call for aid from all the trees. Screaming, wailing, if trees could scream we would be deaf.

No.

While we kept up the wall of mana to hold the corruption at bay, we intentionally let some of it in, and using mana, we guided it to. me.

The demonic energies attacked my main body, but unlike the other trees, I could take it. And I kept holding on for an hour. two.

Three.

Four.

And after a while, all I saw was just. darkness. I felt demonic energy and mana, and it burned. My roots, my trunk, I felt. pain.

Pain.

The valley. was sinking. The corruption, taking the form of the demon kingÆs mana, was unable to break through our walls, except at the funnels where the corruption was instead drawn to me. So it went under, around, and over, and the entirety of the valley started to sink.

I didnÆt know how long that was because the pain from the demon kingÆs corrupting mana messed with my already distorted sense of time.

I wasnÆt even sure I was awake the entire time, in between feeling like I was like a chicken roasted over an open fire.

Pain.

The valley was submerged now. A shell made of distorted, demonic - mana tainted rock now surrounded the valley like an egg with a broken shell right on top that barely let some sun in. Or a snowglobe, only. our walls were made of demonic rock.

I didnÆt know what happened to the elves or New Freeka. But I reckoned nothing much was left. I felt my soul realm get flooded with souls, and at the same time, a whole bunch of other notifications came in.

Connection to Verdant Volcano lost.

Connection to ThreeTree of Mana lost.

Connection to Dimitree lost

Pain. I lost the trees that linked me to the volcano and the magical leyline.

It was just so painful.

Pain. I felt the mana overwhelm me at times, and my entire main tree was burning. Yet I knew that the other trees in the valley were still somewhat safe. I could hear them.

Black flames danced across my body, my leaves now a mix of green and black.

- TreeTree! -

Who was that?

- TreeTree! -

I had no ability to respond, but it should be one of the elves.

Pain.

It was just. madness.

The pressure from the demonÆs mana increased, and I felt the walls and roots buckle a little. I tried to push it back and relieve the pressure by drawing it more to me. I could barely see, but we were submerged.

It was as if the entire terrain around us had somehow partly turned into sludge. Or was it because we were resisting and that was why it turned out that way?

The pressure kept on, and I felt I was burning.

But I thought the valley was safe. I knew it was.

Curse: Demonic Mana Contamination

You have absorbed too much demonic mana, and you are now cursed. Your ability to remain conscious is now significantly impaired, and you will feel pain constantly.

The fuck was that?

The mana pressure surged.

And then stopped.

Demon King Sabnoc has been slain.

You received 6 fragments. You have a total of 74 fragments.

I felt like I needed less mana to push back against the corruption, but it still overwhelmed me. My entire body was still on fire. It was like I was the unlimited charcoal of the flame. My entire body was probably charred black now.

The fire of the demon king clearly wasnÆt just fire, else IÆd be immune to it.

The pain came and went. And came again.

The demon king was dead. But I was still in. pain. And after a while, I felt myself lose consciousness.

ONE YEAR LATER, YEAR 86

When I woke up, I noticed the time on my record had changed by a year. I was asleep for a year, and I was still burning. The demon kingÆs corruption was still around us, and the pain was still there.

In fact, I was jolted awake by the pain.

What was happening? Was everyone okay? Were my fellow trees alive? I couldnÆt sense a thing; the demonic flames and their corruption had numbed all my senses.

Even if I attempted to see, all I felt was. fire.

It was like I started all over again, so many years ago.

When I had no. senses. It was just. numb.

I checked my notifications. There was clearly a lot that IÆd missed when I was. asleep.

Eriz, Brislah , Walen , Emile, Belle, and 170 other familiar - users have died. You gained 3 levels. You are now level 145.

As Eriz was under soul contract, you received an assignable soul. Soul Forge is down.

Skill learned from EmileÆs death - Basic Tea Making

Skill learned from Walen Æs death - Basic Administration and Recordkeeping

Skill learned from a fallen Valthorn Initiate - Pain Endurance

The skill Hibernate has been significantly upgraded to Regenerating Sleep.

The skill Haunted Forests significantly upgraded to a unique Skill: Forest of Ghostfire

The skill Natural Mana Overwhelming upgraded.

- Oh. - I felt a twang of sadness for their deaths. But then again, that meant Yura , Laufen, and Lozanna were still alive.

What was happening out there? I couldnÆt see a thing, even if I could feel like I was still holding back a barrier of demonic mana, and I was still drawing the demonic energies from outside.

I could still access my soul realm, at least.

- Eriz? - In the dark, large extradimensional space filled with many little floating lights, this was the place where the dead went to move on.

A small light floated and approached. - Oh? -

- What happened? -

- The valley sank and this black wall appeared and trapped the entire valley. Almost everyone died. I was killed by a stray fire from one of the cracks in the floor. -

- Do you know what else? -

- No. I died quite quickly. -

Ngeh.

I went back to my notifications. There were still a lot to go through. A year just zoomed by.

There were a whole bunch of skill seeds and class seeds I received from all the people that died throughout the world. There was so many skill seeds I could probably give ten thousand people and still have leftovers.

From my soul realm alone there were. perhaps. eight hundred thousand little lights. And there were probably more that already moved on to their next life.

So many died?

- Trevor? Ivy? Stratreegos? Treeiner? Horns? -

Silence.

Unable to establish connection to Trevor or Ivy or Stratreegos or Horns. Treeiner has been destroyed. Stratreegos has been destroyed.

TreeinerÆs remains are pending collection. Do you wish to collect it?

StratreegosÆs remains are pending collection. Do you wish to collect it?

Yes.

Your skill: Learning Aura significantly upgraded to Genius Aura

Your skill: Dream Tutor significantly upgraded to Dream Academy

Your skill: Power - leveling upgraded.

You gained a skill: Instant Battlefield Root Tunnels

That sounded like Trevor, Ivy, and Horns were still alive. That was good.

And then I felt the pain again.

The surging, surging pain.

Why was it still so strong even when the demon king had fallen? Did his corruption take a mind of its own?

I couldnÆt resist the pain, and it made me lose consciousness. again.

AFTERMATH, Lozanna

It was a sudden day. TreeTree started screaming in their heads that something was happening, and they had to be prepared.

- WhatÆs going on? - one of the Valthorns asked Lozanna . - Why do we all hear A/ Æs voice? -

- Something bad is coming! LetÆs go, letÆs go, - Lozanna snapped. TheyÆd never had A/ suddenly warn them in this manner. Not. ever. - To the woods! -

Everyone fled, but it was a mess. The planned underground bunkers were not good places, but not everyone got the message, so some of them still ran for the bunkers. Some wondered whether it was a false alarm, like that time when the demon supercannon attacked.

Some just shrugged it off. - Nothing to worry about. A/ will take care of it. -

For the first time, sadly, A/ Æs powers were not enough.

The sky darkened almost instantly as the shockwave of the demon kingÆs corrupting mana flooded the distant skies. The first wave came, and they felt the entirety of the valley shake like never before. Roots started popping out of the floor, and so did cracks.

It was as if the roots were fighting the earth itself, trying to hold the ground together despite the earth trying to break apart.

Then came the flames. The cracks started to spit out weird, blackish things that spawned strange, demon-like creatures.

- Demons! - It was a battle now, but the ground was shaking uncontrollably.

- WhereÆd they come from? -

Roots started emerging to impale the demons and often swallowed them altogether.

No one was free to answer.

Lozanna activated her special familiar and used the vine whips to quickly move, avoiding the cracking earth below. Luckily, her mom was usually found in the secret hideout , so she figured her mom was safe.

The ground shook, and they saw the skies turn red and then black. Black flames filled the distant skies, and the trees in the horizon burned.

It wasnÆt hard to figure out that the demon king did something. But they could only hope to survive it.

Another crack, this time right across New Freeka, and a jet of black flames shot out, burning through multiple houses and people. The fires emitted were unnatural, a mix of black and red. People burned, and Lozanna had never seen so much death in her life.

But she didnÆt panic. Somehow, somewhere, something drove her to run, using her vines to pull as many as she could out to safety.

Buildings started collapsing; the outer walls fell. Houses burned.

Another crack.

A streak of fire emerged.

They ran for the woods.

Another massive crack appeared in the ground, and black fires emerged from the gap. Roots appeared to try and pull the cracks back together, but the roots too got burned. Still, more roots appeared to take their place.

All she could hear were shouts, screams, and cries for help. She tried. Beetles appeared, and they moved on their own, carrying as many as they could toward the deep forests.

- Lady Lozanna , IÆm glad youÆre safe. - Madeus appeared; he levitated in the air using some kind of magic. He created shields, and they worked somewhat to redirect the flames.

- WhatÆs A/ doing? -

- IÆm sure itÆs fighting this demonic energy. - Throughout the valley, there were many cracks and also many roots appearing. - We donÆt have much time. The area closest to A/ is the safest. We must go quickly. - He levitated and also attempted to carry a few others with him, dodging jets of fire that emerged.

- Did you see Uncle Yura ? -

- IÆm afraid not, but I think he should be fine, - Madeus said. - I must go. -

Lozanna nodded and sidestepped a fire jet. She created a wood shield to block a black fire. The shield disintegrated almost instantly, but it did block it.

People were running, but the cracks were getting bigger, especially in New FreekaÆs outer districts. Even the Valtorn OrderÆs headquarters were not spared, as everything just went up in flames. The hotel was partially burning, too.

Few things lasted long against the flames, but Lozanna noticed quite a number of trees that seemed to resist the fire a lot better.

Kraark. Another rift appeared from another direction, and then they noticed it. The valley was starting to sink, and New Freeka was torn apart.

So many fled. A part of the dirt started to move, turning into a kind of sludge that swept through New Freeka. It was as if the land around the valley turned into a mudslide, and the roots appeared, attempting to hold the mudslide back. So the mud moved upward, and the roots followed.

- What. - Lozanna ran. Whatever this was, this wasnÆt something for them.

It was then she saw it.

Six massive streaks of dark energy appeared, as if pulled by something toward. A/ . The streaks torched all the trees in their path but left those out of their way untouched.

It broke the illusion that hid A/ from everyoneÆs view, and they saw it, a massive, towering tree that almost pierced the sky go up in flames. Black fire danced and raged, hopping from branch to branch. A/ Æs Camouflage had broken.

Those six streaks turned into rivers of dark energy; they seemed to flow toward A/ Æs now revealed position, and A/ Æs body burned, but it did not crumble.

The cracking. stopped. A/ had drawn in the energy to itself, and instead, a massive black pyre emerged like a tornado, and it surrounded A/ Æs main body, cutting it off from everyone.

- Uh. - Lozanna stopped, not sure whether to go toward A/ or not. The black flame was clearly some kind of demonic energy, and it didnÆt look safe.

They were now. trapped. The sludge had somehow formed into a cocoon that wrapped the entire valley, held back by massive walls of roots. There was a very small hole at the top that let in some light, but it was right above the pyre because the wall of roots was clearly centered around A/ .

New Freeka. was gone. Those who managed to flee and somehow got to an area where there was no. dark mana temporarily survived. But things looked bleak. What about food?

Lozanna looked around. She still had her familiar, which meant she could still create fruits and use some plant - growth abilities. Maybe it wouldnÆt be that bad.

- TreeTree. - She tried to mentally call out.

Nothing. She looked around. This. wasnÆt going to end soon. The sludge was still struggling against the roots, but at least the roots looked like they would hold.

The tremors stopped, and there were no new big rifts, just smaller cracks here and there. The survivors gathered into groups, only about five thousand left from what was a city of almost one hundred thousand. Most of the Valtorn Order and Valthorns died today.

So few, and because of how the circumstances favored those with levels, it was indeed the higher leveled that survived, mostly. Yura , Madeus, Yvon, and herself all made it. Mom, too, who happened to be somewhere near Uncle Yura .

- What now? - The survivors gathered, some of them naturally approaching Lozanna as a contact point.

- I canÆt reach A/ . - Lozanna looked at the five thousand survivors. It was too sudden, too abrupt. A mud - tsunami and a firestorm later, here they were. What was left. The survivors could walk a bit now; the tremors had mostly stopped.

- Message was down, - a surviving mage complained. - The towerÆs been destroyed. - The mud - sludge and firestorm took down the heroes communication tower.

The sky was dark. Everything was dark. Their source of light now was that little hole right on top or the dancing black flames that enveloped A/ Æs body. - How do we get out? -

- Should we even get out? -

- A/ Æs holding this place together. I doubt outside. will be any better. -

Lozanna ran and saw a few others. - MOM! - Lozanna and Laufen hugged.

- Glad youÆre safe. -

- Yeah. -

Yura was next to her. He looked like he was covered in dust and ash. - Well. A/ Æs not responding, weÆre trapped here, and we have some food from our familiars. Not that bad. -

- Not that bad. LetÆs get organized and see whether we can salvage any of the houses! A/ Æs hideouts are all inaccessible. -

TREE OF A/ Three

2023 SPAIzzER

1

ANOTHER YEAR LATER, YEAR 87

When I woke up, another year had passed.

I had no idea what was happening, other than my mana was still pushing back against the corruption, but. it was easier for me to maintain it. Easier, and yet the pain was here. Constant, even, and I struggled. I could feel the demonic power was having a dip, a temporary one; that was why I could be conscious.

Why did I sleep from the pain? Did this pain restrict me so? Or was it the curse?

I could feel the demonÆs fire swirl and turn around me, and I could now vaguely, just very vaguely, sense that there was. something outside, no. around me. Something beyond the flame.

Was this the valley? It should be.

Why were my senses so confused?

There was solid rock around us, held back by my roots. Funny, it was like molten lava that had now solidified, and the demonic mana was slightly less intense. Still very strong, but slowly it was subsiding. This demonic mana would take some time to decay. Maybe. ten years? Maybe twenty? Clearly, it was dissipating, very slowly.

Unable to do much, and all my energy was still concentrated on maintaining my barrier and dispersing the absorbed demonic energy, I fell back to sleep.

I was in a dark place; it was massive. It resembled my soul realm, and that was when I saw a young boy. He sat on a chair, and he looked like he was. part demon?

Was I in the soul realm? I didnÆt have this ability back when I went into long periods of sleep, so. was this new?

- Where am I? - he asked, noticing that I appeared. - Who are you? Why do you look like a. tree? What are you? Have I gone crazy that IÆm talking to a tree? -

Another girl appeared. She, too, looked like she was corrupted; her lower half was part demon.

The two kids looked at themselves, and then they looked at each other. - What have you done? -

- Me? - the other asked. - CouldnÆt be! -

- Then who? -

- Uh. -

Both of them turned to face me. - Oh my god, a talking tree monster. WeÆre doomed! - They tried to fight and move but couldnÆt.

- I donÆt even know who you are. -

The two kids looked at each other; they kept flailing, but then they stopped. - Eh. we are the heroes. -

- Well, looks like both of you died. What are your names? -

- Simone, - the girl said.

- Victor, - the boy said.

It was then both of them suddenly shouted as if theyÆd gone crazy, and then an eerie voice emerged. It was a ragged, twisted voice.

- WHO? - it asked. It came from both of them, as if they were mind - controlled. I didnÆt reply. If I could have guessed, IÆd have said it was the demon king, or maybe some kind of demon. - ARE. YOU? -

I thought for a moment, wondering whether I should reply. - Are you the demon king Sabnoc? - I asked. It died, right, but letÆs ask. Maybe demon kings had souls, too.

- YES, - it said, but then a while later, - NO. SABNOC. DEAD. -

Then both of them suddenly shouted again for a period of time, and then, all at once, they both stopped. They were both back to their human selves. - Ouch. -

- It looks like both of you are sharing a body with some kind of demon. -

- We know. -

Simone looked at Victor, and they stared at each other. - ItÆs reading our minds. ItÆs going through our. memories. -

- Well, now we know why the demons are getting smarter each round. - I mean, if it was reading their minds, it was reading it for a reason, right?

Simone and VictorÆs faces paled.

- Well, if it could read your minds, surely you could do the reverse? - I wondered. How did these two even get here? Was it because their souls were still embedded in the demonic corruption somewhere? The heroes didnÆt do a complete job and left this part hanging?

Was that why the demonic corruption was still strong and was able to keep up its pressure?

- Uh. -

Victor nodded. - We must try, then. What are we. and what are you? -

- I am a tree, and I believe the two of you are some kind of trapped, corrupted souls. Your appearance as part - demon is probably the demon kingÆs attempt to corrupt you. I say, itÆs probably successful. -

- And. where are we? -

- If my understanding is correct, you two died, and somehow, your soul drifted here. Either that or you two are somehow trapped in the demonic flesh and because IÆm linked to the demonic mana, you are able to see me and vice versa. -

The two started wailing and crying and screaming. They seemed to be unable to accept that theyÆd died. But that was strange; they seemed perfectly able to accept it earlier.

- Noo! -

- Uh. do you vaguely recall anything? - I asked. They were still screaming. - Like. how? -

Victor was sobbing, and it was Simone who somehow calmed down a bit and responded. - We. I. We were fighting the demon king, and there was this bright flash of light and. thatÆs all I remember before I was stuck in this dark, disgusting place where I donÆt feel things and where I want to sleep but I canÆt freaking sleep. -

- But. I donÆt get it. Why are we able to be here if we are dead? -

- WerenÆt you two listening? You are both dead. This is probably some kind of. shared spiritual realm. - I wasnÆt going to be blunt and say it was my soul realm, because it wasnÆt, but then again, even if I knew the answer, I wasnÆt going to tell them anything. They shared a mind with the demon.

- Only the two of us? Everyone else survived? -

I paused. - Hmm. I donÆt know? - Well, they were partly possessed by the demon king. How secure was any information that was shared with them, anyway?

- Can you help us? - Simone asked. - I would very much like to get out of this. place. -

Hmm. I didnÆt think so. I didnÆt have any access to the outside world; the demonic fire pretty much meant I was trapped in a prison of flame. Even if that didnÆt make much sense.

But. I thought I had access to my own soul realm. I got a sense that this space was a pocket dimension of its own, and I could sense the other pockets of space.

The soul realm.

Funny I hadnÆt spent much time exploring this space, but now I had all the time to do so. I vaguely recalled my soul forge was down, and for what it was worth, my consciousness was stuck inside myself, an asleep state. In a way, this was kind of like a reverse of my dream - related abilities, where I was the one in a dream state. Was I dreaming, or because I was unconscious, did my psyche retreat to this place? I couldnÆt tell the difference, honestly. Anyway, what was I even thinking?

There were little blobs of light, floating on many little places. A wisp waited.

- Matt. -

- Hi. - I, too, took the shape of a little blob of light. - Wisp? -

- Yes. -

- So. whatÆs happening here? -

- YouÆre unconscious, and youÆre stuck in this mind - dream - soul realm limbo. Time moves differently here, as you surely already know. -

- I see. -

- So, until your body somehow snaps itself out of the pain and suffering itÆs going through. -

- IÆm stuck here. - Well, I kinda knew that. How could the soul interact outside the body anyway? Unless my soul forge was somehow operating, but it wasnÆt. I recalled one of the notifications said it was offline.

Dead, floating souls, little blobs of light. They floated past me, and they just wandered. These were those who died recently, waiting for the time to reincarnate.

- ItÆs going to take a while, - the wisp said. - Too many people died so quickly that itÆs backlogged. -

- ItÆs backlogged? For real? - I thought that was a joke.

- Of course. And youÆre probably the only somewhat - surviving soul tree in this half of the continent. -

- Tell me something. How do you know? - At this point, how did the wisp even know whatÆs happening outside of me? DidnÆt the wisp stay inside me?

- The soul harvesters and dream harvesters can travel vast distances and pass through most objects and barriers. Occasionally, they also bring back fragments of memories, and you, too, can view those memories. And, well, if souls from far away are coming here, that can only mean thereÆs no other soul tree left. -

And the wisp shook, and smaller blobs of light appeared. They resembled tiny televisions, and they showed what the dead saw in their last days.

Strange demons. Monsters. Fires from all places. Burning. Destruction. It was common for all of it.

It was like watching little birds and ducks get lathered in a layer of oil and then burned to death. ItÆs like a magical version of the Deepwater Horizon and Exxon Valdez oil spills only, well, if you didnÆt die in the first wave, the monsters that spawned from the sludge would eventually get to you.

But I honestly didnÆt feel much for their deaths.

Instead, I felt a twang of sorrow when I saw vast. empty spaces. And burning trees. Ahh, what sorrow, that trees burned so easily. If I could, I should find ways to introduce fire - resistant trees to the entire world.

Why should trees be relegated to background features anyway? Why were we just features of the environment, things used to describe places?

We were trees, the precursors of civilization. Without plants, without trees, there would be no food, no agriculture, and without agriculture, there would be no large civilization! It was because humanity discovered farming that there was civilization; why were trees treated with such disrespect?

Ah! I was getting carried away.

Okay, letÆs do some thinking. I could still think in this soul realm, so that wasnÆt a bad thing.

I was trapped in my own body, because there was a massive infernal pyre outside that burned and scorched everything. It was only thanks to my levels and my high amounts of hero fragments that I could endure it.

That meant if I had higher levels, or more hero fragments, I would eventually escape this demonic prison, or at least pierce a hole through it.

And this demonic flame should decay over time, like it did with my first experience.

What else could I do?

Were there any skills I could use on myself in this subconscious state? My body was obviously on autopilot , and like before, actively managing the demonic mana such that I could survive it. Could I do it myself?

Could I force myself to wake instead of being stuck in this soul realm?

2

YEAR 88

The answer was mixed. I could somewhat remain awake, like a dreaming man forcing himself awake, but the pain was so overwhelming that I ended up losing consciousness just as quickly. It was only during ebbs of the demonic energy that I could maintain some semblance of consciousness.

If I forced myself to be awake when the demonic energy was at its peak, I felt like I was being operated on while lucid. It was insanely painful. So much so that autopilot quickly kicked in and knocked me back into the soul realm.

But I kept trying. I didnÆt believe that I needed to rely on autopilot to manage the pain.

So I drifted back and forth, either experiencing intense pain or in my soul realm.

If this system worked the way I thought it did, only through constantly enduring and managing this pain would I gain a skill.

And when I gained a skill, IÆd be able to break through this demonic fire.

- You guys are still here. - ItÆd been a year since I last went back to this space. I had thought the demons wouldÆve eaten the entirety of their souls already.

Simone and Victor didnÆt look pleased. - Well, what brings you back? - Their bodies looked about the same, but I noticed a small part of their hands exhibiting more demonic features.

Honestly, I was just checking whether anything changed.

- What do you think? How much time has passed? - they asked.

- A year? -

- Oh. Sure doesnÆt feel like it. It feels way longer with how much pain weÆre in. - They didnÆt look too good. The demonic corruption for other parts of their bodies looked to be growing.

Then the demon took over again. - GRooww. - The two of them couldnÆt move, though, so I wasnÆt afraid.

- Uh, yeah. Grow. - The demon made a scary sound, but I knew very well this was a spiritual plane of some kind, so I wasnÆt afraid of it. Come on, it was like watching a scary monster behind a secure panel. Scary, sure, but it couldnÆt hurt me. Not here.

- CONQUER! -

- Okay. -

- ADAPT! -

- Sure. -

- WE. LEARN. -

- No shit, demon. -

And then it stopped, and back to Simone and Victor, again. They rubbed their heads. - Oh man, itÆs been repeating the same thing so many times. Conquer! Adapt! Learn! -

- Do you feel like youÆve been captured by some kind of alien monster species whoÆs out to assimilate you? - I mean, I wondered what it was like to be possessed. Was it like me, whoÆs trapped in a pyre?

- If you happen to either be referred to the Borg or the Zerg, yes, it does feel like that. - Victor shrugged, one of his demonic arms rubbing his chin. There were small, demonic spots appearing on his face, which he couldnÆt do shit about.

- I see. But thatÆs not helpful. What does it feel like? -

- Like, uh. you lose control over your limbs every now and then? Like having a seizure? I. I donÆt really know how to describe it. -

3

YEAR 89

Another fucking year passed. ItÆd been four years already since IÆd entered this low - activity mode.

Four years!

This was a whole lot longer than my previous time, but then again, this corruption was probably active and had a set command, as if it was like a. computer virus that had some kind of execution hierarchy.

Was it the mind that possessed the heroes that allowed it so?

This year, IÆd been partially able to maintain and resist the pain for longer. I stayed awake for close to two whole days, and on average, IÆd been able to force myself to regain consciousness about once every two months.

I kept poking at the flames, and I gradually was able to comprehend what it felt like.

Ever touched a switch when wet? Well, it felt like a super - intense version of being electrocuted. Perhaps comparable to what someone who just got struck by lightning felt like. And it was constant.

Well, not constant - constant, but constant, wavelike, with peaks and lows. That was why I could be awake longer during the lows. I hoped to be able to gain a skill to withstand the peaks. But itÆd been so long, and still without the skill, it was hard.

Or maybe I was just doing it wrong.

Maybe thereÆs a trick to this whole demonic - corruption thing.

I mean, I thought it was a disease, but at the same time, it also behaved like. a liquid. Or a sludge. How was my autopilot handling it? Maybe it was not doing it as well as it should.

Autopilot is configured to absorb demonic mana and attempt to filter it. Failing which, it is then expelled via all bodily extremities. Bodily extremities therefore experienced damage.

Uh. So wait, it was trying to absorb the demonic mana, and then it was expelling it via my barks, branches, and leaves? Was that why all of it was burning? Was that the right thing to do?

Autopilot is configured to protect the soul from damage.

Huh. Okay. That was logical. It was like saving the heart and letting everything else burn. Or where a seed was encased with a disposable shell or trees that had thick barks that insulated the core from the fires outside. I supposed that was what my body had been naturally doing since the very first fires.

What else?

Maybe I needed to spin it, like some mangas had stories where the Qi needed to be made to move in a certain manner such that it gained strength, so perhaps there were ways to spin the demonic mana in a way that caused it to weaken?

Or maybe there was a way to cause it to move slower, such that my body didnÆt burn.

All things I needed to explore. once I was awake.

4

INTERLUDE û HEROES AND THEIR NEW WORLD

6 months after the death of the demon king (around Year 85, Month 7 or 8)

The terrain was wrecked. Almost everywhere the demon kingÆs corruption touched turned into this twisted terrain, where firestorms were a regular affair and the earth itself constantly shifted. Strange monsters also appeared, not quite like the usual demons, but not quite like monsters, either.

As if it was an odd mix of the two.

The terrainÆs unstable energies also meant all communication spells were still jammed, despite the rest of the world no longer requiring the towers. It was an odd thing about this location, but not uncommon. There were other spots in the world where gravity and magic were inconsistent, volatile. The only difference was the size of the instability was. well. half a continent.

Still, it was not a total loss. Some cities had ancient, heroic defenses that never triggered until that very day, and it was those cities that survived. But it would be a reasonable thing to say that 90 percent of all living beings died within the demon kingÆs corruption, and of the surviving 10 percent, another 8 percent died within six months due to lack of food, monsters, and supplies.

Two percent left.

Harris, Becky, and Mirei stood at the edge of one such surviving city. The heroes didnÆt stay together after the demon king had fallen.

Gerrard, relieved of the task to slay the demon king, wanted to just find a few barrels of booze and drown himself in it. Maybe find a lady or two to accompany him as well. Astra, well, he seemed like he had other things to do, so he left for another continent.

This part of the terrain used to be more. demonic, but the three of them worked with some surviving druids and mages, and they were able to channel and amplify a mix of the earthÆs energy and also their own star mana to push the corruption back.

It would have been easier if they were druids themselves, but their skills were for war, not healing. - Too bad none of us are druids. Maybe we couldÆve fixed this easily. -

- ItÆs kinda like an infection. The body must fight it. All weÆre doing is augmenting it, making it stronger with our star mana. Kind of like an IV injection. -

- Do you even know what an IV injection means? -

- I donÆt know, but itÆs what all the medical shows like to talk about. - Becky shrugged. All they knew about medicine was what they learned in their years of schooling and then all the sitcoms and dramas they followed.

But they could see for themselves that their star mana wasnÆt ideal, either. There was always something that seemed to push back against the star mana. Maybe it was just the demonÆs energies; since the star mana was super effective, naturally the demonic resisted something that was effective from them.

It was slow, hard, tiring work. It took a lot of their massive star mana to undo the demon kingÆs corruption. It was so massive, the extent of the devastation.

Still, it made the three of them feel a bit better. Unlike Astra and Gerrard, they came to this continent, and most of what was destroyed, theyÆve seen and visited them. Becky even had attachments for certain places she visited, and it made her sad to watch them destroyed or turned into this corrupted. place.

The druid that aided them was a middle - aged man who truly enjoyed restoring the terrain back to some semblance of normalcy. The journey was hard on the druids, the heroes were young, and they had skills that made them strong.

- LetÆs rest, - he said, exhausted from using his druidic powers. - IÆve used up my mend earth , land restoration , and I donÆt think I can take more of that. hero mana. -

The heroes nodded. Using star mana on the druids strained their bodies; star mana was strong, kind of like an extremely powerful chemical, and the body suffered from it. Overdose knocked them out. But it was way more effective than using mend earth and land restoration, so the druids did it. There were a few other druids, too, but they were far younger and less skilled than the middle - aged man. It was hard, and the odd monsters were tough for the druids.

- This corruption is unreal, - one young druid said, but then he had said it so many times. The other druids just shrugged. - When are we going to reach the border? -

- A few more days, I hope. - The druids talked. The heroes could just sigh. Harris wondered whether they wouldÆve been able to stop the demonic rod if they were faster.

Still, the corruption was so thick, trade and communications with the outside world were almost totally cutoff. The druids hoped to cut a road through the corrupted lands, as that could restore some of that trade and communication. There were some cities that survived, though they were all in a perilous state when the heroes found them.

The three heroes looked at each other and sighed.

All was not well. One of the main things they discovered was their blessings changed. Their blessings were weaker, now just regular blessings of gods, not whatever it initially was, and their star mana pool was no longer growing, and it took far longer to regenerate.

And their skills, especially those classified as divine , changed. Instead, all of them were replaced as a heroic skill. So that meant AstraÆs Global Chat ability changed into limited uses.

WhatÆs the point of such a change? they sometimes wondered. Harris recalled the conversation on the day all their skills changed: exactly three months after the demon king died.

- The gods never truly intended to give us this power forever. - Mirei sighed. - It must cost them something to summon us and maintain this power. Now that weÆve completed what we were needed for, theyÆve tossed us out, like trash. -

Becky had a sip of tea and just mused. - What was freely given can be freely taken away. WeÆve always been. pawns. -

Mirei looked at Becky. - I feel cheated. -

- All of us do. -

- The gods never intended for us to survive till the next demon king? Or will they return the divine power to us when the next demon king comes? -

That was a few months ago, and in the three months since then, theyÆd managed to purify quite a large area. There was a whole lot more to go.

5

TWO YEARS AFTER THE DEMON KING HAD FALLEN, AROUND YEAR 87

Harris was alone. Becky and Mirei got tired, and they all wanted to do something else. Both of them had left for another continent. Mirei said she wanted a holiday, and she said she would be back, but until now, she was still away.

Harris didnÆt feel it was necessary to call her back. The process of detoxifying the terrain was hard, laborious work. He had to constantly infuse his star mana into the druids, such that the druids could then mix that star mana into their natural healing abilities. He could see why they werenÆt keen on constantly doing it, especially when the gods just took away their divine powers. They felt cheated, and both the girls wanted to just enjoy themselves.

All of them did.

So the progress of detoxifying slowed. Only Harris was working on it. Even he slowed down significantly, only the prospect of claiming additional territory spurring him on.

Last time, he wouldÆve been worried if theyÆd separated, but now, after the levels they gained slaying the demon king, some twenty - odd levels, he wasnÆt worried. They kept their levels, and they were still leagues above any regular human. He didnÆt even know if there were other people in the high hundreds of levels.

And he had the shards of the fallen. Seven of them.

Heroic Fragments. Blessings of the Fallen Heroes .

- Archduke Harris, the new group of druids has arrived. -

A druid knelt on the grass.

Harris frowned and wished he had some tea. A king saw it fit to award Harris with the Archduke title and concurrently granted him dominion over the territory he reclaimed from the demonic corruption.

- Rise. - There were about a hundred druids behind the first druid; they were on their knees before high nobility, too. Many of them came from far away, from the other continents to do the laborious task of healing the world. - All of you are here for the quest? -

- Yes, Archduke. -

This was a game of some kind. After the heroes were done, the druids had their quest.

- Good. Accepted. IÆll grant all of you a bit of my hero mana, maybe in the next few days. My attendants will call for you. -

The gods gave druids the quest to heal the world. Healers. Restorers. Druids, shamans, and spiritualists of all sorts, many had received a quest from their own systems to aid in the fixing of the world. All of them had rewards. Fix the world, and gain a blessing of some kind. Or a special skill.

If heroes were the white blood cells, the super T - cells of the world, these druids were the platelets.

The corrupted terrain, vast and unforgiving, still remained incredibly hostile, comparable to a hex - wasteland. The demonic hybrids still roamed the vast expanse, some larger and more fearsome. It seemed that when enough of them spawned, they agglomerated into a larger beast, and it kept on, until the corrupted wasteland even had walker - tier creatures.

So it was his personal reputation as a hero that the druids came here for instead. He could guarantee their safety. - Serve Archduke Harris the First, Reclaimer of the Accursed Lands. -

Yet, at the same time, he had to admit it made him happy. He felt like he was someone, after the demon king fighting and all.

He was finally a person that people respected and feared. Women came for him, many gorgeous ladies that Harris could only fantasize about as a young teenager back home. Money, good food, all seemed to just flow in, and many of the surviving kingdoms now wanted his protection.

The things they were willing to do, the harem that he now personally had - he tried at first to not let it go to his head. But how could he? His heart wasnÆt as strong as he thought it was. When women were willing to throw themselves at him, he discovered he was human after all.

Now that his friends had left, no one was around to check on his own personal moral compass. And to some extent, he got lazy and exhausted, just like his friends.

Harris noticed he had given himself excuses. He would still go and reclaim the lands, but he was increasingly less keen on it, and he took breaks every now and then to spend time with his growing harem and to enjoy the luxuries from reclaiming a land.

He even had a new class, on top of his original class, the Defender Hero .

Noble . And, if he wanted, the system allowed him to exchange some levels in Hero for Ruler . One level for five levels, at least, for the first thirty Noble levels. So he did. He gave up ten levels of hero, and instead he got fifty levels of Noble .

This was fine, Harris told himself. The gods had abandoned him. So had his friends. What was wrong with him indulging a bit? This was the reward after the victory, no? This was what the gods promised.

Gerrard had always been drinking. His heroic body meant he could enjoy the benefits of being drunk without ever suffering from the medical and health issues that over - consuming alcohol usually brought.

In fact, if he ever felt too tipsy, all he needed to do was activate rejuvenate , and he would be as good as new again.

But he enjoyed the state of being drunk. It gave him, if anything, a clarity similar to what he used to have before. When he was still just a normal person.

Which was insane, because here was a debauched man whose favorite hangout was sleazy brothels where the scent of aphrodisiacs, alcohol, and drugs was the only thing one could smell. In between rounds of drinking, he would often laugh at how insane it was, that here he, once a good student, a law - abiding young teenager who loved playing with toy trains even when he was already in his early teens, turned into this.

He cursed the gods. It was when he had a damned good wine that was imported from far away that he realized this whole thing was fucked up. Or maybe he was granted a blessing by the gods of wine and alcohol, if there was such a thing as a Bacchus of Dionysus equivalent in the world.

Today, he found that wine again. That special ginger - mixed herbal liqueur. The merchant was grinning, and he tossed a small pouch of gold and gems over. The merchant gladly passed it to one of the two ladies next to him.

- Should I open it? - a voluptuous lady next to him asked; she was half undressed, anyway. She held the bottle up, wondering what was so great about the herbal liqueur. - Or should I order something more expensive? -

- No. This is mine. Only mine. You two drink something else. -

He inspected it. It was a very old liqueur, made around three hundred years ago, mixed with the leaves and fruits of an ancient grove. That grove was destroyed during one of the demon kingÆs battles a hundred or so years ago, so the legend went.

He opened it gently and poured himself a small sip. And when he drank it, he felt it again.

Clarity.

That annoying haze suddenly pushed aside. And he could hear the voice in the drink again.

A gentle one. As if his grandmother was talking to him. He was quite sure it was the Earth Mother itself that was talking to him.

6

YEAR 90

Ugh. My attempts to manipulate demonic mana and energy had been mostly ineffective. IÆd been too used to just flooding any demonic creatures I met without actually being focused and specific about it.

I tried all sort of manga - inspired moves.

I attempted to spin the demonic mana, and instead all it did was cause the fires around me to spin into a tornado, kind of like a whirlpool made of fire.

I tried to concentrate the demonic energy, but all that did was cause one particular branch where it was concentrated to just explode violently once it passed a certain breaking point, and I experienced a pain so intense I instantly lost consciousness.

I also tried to push and pull it back, tai chi style, into the outer valley. That just made the demonic mana move faster through the designated channels and did nothing else.

I then also tried to force it underground, into the depth of the ground below. Nothing happened other than some shaking and tremors.

All in, not very successful.

So I spent time in my soul realm.

The soul realm had always been this flexible space, a pocket dimension for the departed to rest and recuperate for their onward reincarnation. The cycle must continue, and the pieces would be replenished for the next bout.

The number of souls had dwindled quite a bit, the backlog starting to clear out. Many had left to go into this unknown other world, this plane where they would go to be further reincarnated.

Maybe they had to roll the wheel like I did.

Or maybe theyÆd get lucky and wouldnÆt have to.

I thought it was quite boring in the soul realm, and if I was trying to fall asleep, it was quite easy. All I needed to do was count all the little souls that popped up.

pop

pop

Kind of like counting sheep, but only wisp - like souls instead.

I mean, if souls were still appearing, logically that meant there were people still dying, which also meant there were survivors. Else everyone would have died instantly and no souls would pop up after that.

Since I had nothing else to do, I theorized that the presence of survivors was due to a few reasons.

One was that there were people who had skills to protect themselves and others in such situations. Perhaps the heroes, since it seemed like five of them survived. Or there may be crouching tigers and hidden dragons, hidden experts who had laid low but now, in such situations, used their powers to protect themselves.

Two was the existence of ancient artifacts and formations. Similar to the heroes magical protections, past heroes could have set up ancient formations or made powerful artifacts that triggered under such serious events. Surely, there were some who were paranoid about demon kings and had made ancient preparations for such things, especially heroes who survived their first demon king.

Three was perhaps divine interference. Given that the heroes were summoned by gods, and these gods did have some leeway in interfering with the world, maybe they would step in for such exceptional circumstances.

Four was luck and terrain. Perhaps the terrainÆs curvature or the presence of other natural energy sources repelled the demon kingÆs corruption.

What else. high - levelled individuals, ancient magical formations, divine intervention, luck and terrain. or. Perhaps, most unlikely, was demonic selection. Maybe some kinds of people had skills that allowed them to resist demons?

Unlikely.

Anyway, I went back to looking at the little bobbing, floating souls. I poked some of them. I was bored.

They flickered a bit. Like little fairy lights being disturbed. Or like little fireflies.

I should have fireflies on my actual tree.

They looked pretty cool. I remembered this photo of a swamp where there was a bunch of fireflies. It was both beautiful and creepy. I thought that was a look I should aspire to.

I could even use fireflies to talk, you know, kinda like a massive LED board if I could control the fireflies and control which firefly lit up. Of course, that also depended on them understanding the language.

But yeah, fireflies as a board of LEDs was entirely workable. I should do that once I woke up. I wanted fireflies now.

I should find some in a swamp or a bog somewhere. Once I got out of this rotten demonic bog thing. Seriously.

7

YEAR 91

The fires were still pretty bad. And I was still thinking what the hell to do to get myself out of this situation. But because I didnÆt seem to be making much progress, IÆd decided to disturb the souls in my soul realm more.

But then I had an epiphany one random day.

Why did I even need fireflies?

I was able to somewhat manipulate the fires by moving the demonic energy within the body, guiding it in a certain manner.

So. could I move the demonic flames to make letters and signs? To tell those outside that I was okay?

But!

Was anyone watching?

Would anyone know what I was saying? I didnÆt understand the languages of the world!

So if I were to use the demon flames as a screen, I could probably show. shapes? Would shapes work? I wished IÆd taught the elves some basic Morse code or binary - language signaling.

Maybe I should still try it.

The deaths in the continent had slowed to a trickle. There were still deaths, of course, but I was starting to wonder where theyÆd come from, so IÆd been poking them more.

Maybe some of them could talk, like how Meela was able to talk.

Most of them couldnÆt. Most. Actually close to all. I thought Meela being an ex - hero and Eriz being a contracted soul were different.

I kept trying to interact with most of them. And I would say one in one hundred thousand did not respond. Maybe higher, I wasnÆt really keeping track, but eventually one did say something.

- DIE! -

- Oh, you can talk. -

- I. DIE! -

- Yes. Yes, you died. - It sounded like Meela when she first came. When her soul was damaged, she too spoke in short words and sentences. Maybe most regular souls just suffered far more extensive damage, except those that somehow died close to me.

WasnÆt it? But darn! That meant I missed the boat on all the souls that died immediately after the demonic corruption! Maybe those could talk!

But oh well, I was asleep anyway.

- Where did you die? -

- MORKAN. -

Where in the fuck was that? Morkan?

- How? -

- MONSTER! -

- What level were you when you died? -

- Fifty - four! -

- Oh, pretty high. What kind of monster? -

- DEMON THING! -

Helpful. Yes. Very helpful. Maybe I could fix them. But I had no access to my soul forge. Darn it. What else, what else?

Anyway, a couple of months later, another soul could talk! Yay!

- DEATH. -

- Hi, little soul. Who might you be? -

- ADAM. -

- Hi, Adam. Where are you from, and where did you die? -

- PURKAI. PURKAI. -

- No idea where that is. Cause of death? -

- MONSTER. DEMON THING. -

- Okay, another one for the checklist. What does this monster look like? -

- DEMON. HORN. ANIMAL. -

All right. It was a demon, it had horns, and it probably looks like an animal. A demonic unicorn, a black unicorn perhaps, or a bicorn? Or maybe it was just a demonic cow? - All right, how many horns? -

- TWO. -

Okay, bicorn or cow. I went on and asked a bunch of questions about the monster. It was sort of a horned monster with two horns, spiky body, and resembled a cow more than a horse. So it was stocky.

Things I did to entertain myself in the incredible idleness of. being in a coma. It was pretty much a tree - coma, if such a thing were to exist. A state where the mind and the body were disconnected, because the body was in incredible pain.

Why didnÆt it rain? Could rain put out the fire? I mean, if it rained, maybe the fire wouldnÆt be that strong, then maybe IÆd be able to regenerate faster.

It wasnÆt going to rain, was it? I didnÆt recall it raining for a few years now. I wondered how the elves were doing, at least those surviving.

8

YEAR 92

Well, it was still pretty quiet. Nothing much was happening, other than me constantly attempting to endure the pain and practice with the demonic flames. I sort of thought I was getting the hang of it. I thought, anyway.

9

YEAR 93

Time just felt. like a rubber band. At the rate this was going, I thought the next demon king was going to appear soon. I wondered whether the world could take something like this again.

Ivy was destroyed.

Treeveller was destroyed.

You gained 1 level. Level 146.

You gained IvyÆs skill - Surveillance State.

Surveillance State allows monitoring of multiple individuals simultaneously and allows playback of all recorded interactions. Also automatically flags individuals in accordance to a perceived threat level. Note û This ability may not identify all threats.

Oh. That sucked.

Ivy had been so helpful in keeping track of all the bad people that came to New Freeka, but I did recall the skills were not perfect, in the sense that they could be bypassed. Like that druid from Hutan that managed to elude our detection until it was in New Freeka. Or that assassin fellow.

I supposed a key thing I needed to remember was that skills were all fallible. They were offset and beaten by skills of other people, so I must always consider the possibility that there were always people who had the right skillset that happened to counter what skills we had.

Like this stupid demon king. I had tremendous anti - demon resistances, and yet I was still in this immense pain.

Pain. Some days, I felt the pain and woke up to see fire. I attempted to move the fire aside and attempted to look past the fire, and all I saw was just more. fire.

What was happening out there?

Ivy was dead. I wondered what destroyed her after so long.

Monsters? Or just other things? Had the monsters or the survivors turned on each other? How were they going to cope with the next demon king?

I kinda missed my fellow minds. It was nice having their gorgeous overlays. I thought my supermind project was still around. I didnÆt recall seeing a notification it was destroyed.

I wondered whether all my orchards were still around, too.

I couldnÆt sense any of them.

It didnÆt make sense. Why did the demonic fire burn all my contact points to the outside world? There must be something I could do. I didnÆt like being trapped. It was annoying.

Like, I was a tree! I was meant to feel the earth, taste the air, absorb the water. Fire was part of the renewal cycle of trees, no, like some countries and places had regular fires that helped refresh the landscape.

A tree could survive fire. No, it could thrive and coexist with fire.

I already had fire resistance. What more did I need to reach the point where I could endure this fire?

Or was it not actually fire? I mean, what if. uhm. letÆs see. What if this corruption was just pure mana and the fire was something of a reaction? Kind of like a lightning strike. The lightning created the fire, and it was not as if the fire itself was what burned me.

Was that possible? Perhaps the demonic corruption had a low burning point, so it always tended to flare up, but it wasnÆt actually fire.

Maybe it was like. oil? Coming back to my whole Exxon Valdez and Deepwater Horizon comparison, if this entire demonic corruption was just a massive magical oil sludge, and because magical oil and tree equaled a recipe for easily combustible fire, therefore it became this way?

Hmm.

Wait, were demons actually just. cars? Like some kind of steampunk, magical demon oil - powered creatures? And the people of this world were powered by water? Was that why their demonic bodies were so dryÆ?

I should see whether I could test that concept, whether it had any actual basis.

I went and checked on the two heroic shadows. And they were almost entirely demon now. Eighty percent, IÆd say.

- Help. -

- I canÆt even free myself. -

- Help us, - Simone said, her body entirely demon; what was left was her head and her neck and, strangely, one of her arms.

- I canÆt. Not in this state. -

- WHAT. STATE? - they both asked together, and I knew it was the demon now. Its presence was unmistakable.

- You sound smart. You should figure it out. -

The two flailed like mad men, but like two angry people on an internet video call, they couldnÆt reach me.

There was no saving them. Not in this state. And maybe not me.

10

YEAR 94

Nothing much happened. But the demon king should emerge soon.

11

YEAR 95

THE DEMON KING IBLIS HAS DESCENDED.

About two, no, three months later, I felt it: an incredibly intense surge of mana and energy from a hexbomb, but. way, way stronger. I wondered how many people were sacrificed this time. One hundred thousand? One million?

And then.

The Demon King Iblis has been destroyed.

The Hero Astra has been excommunicated.

Astra is now a Fallen Hero.

Killing of a fallen hero grants special blessings and gifts.

Killing Astra will not create a hero fragment.

What?

What the fuck was happening out there?

12

YEAR 96

Another year passed, and finally, I got something. Dammit. IÆd been fighting the pain for so long!

Skill: Pain Endurance upgraded!

And that was when I realized I could stay awake a little bit longer. But the fires still remained. My body could endure the pain, but it still remained that my senses were still gone.

Fire, I thought. If this was oil, maybe I could. be like a refinery and have a designated flare - off location instead of it burning my entire body?

So I tried that. I tried to push all the demonic energy to the very top of my tree in a way such that it only burned the top off. I had no senses, but my body was still mine, so my branches now burned a lot more.

Along my trunk, there were still a few large lines of demonic flames, the tunnels used to carry the demonic corruption sucked in from the surroundings, and that tunnel was charred. I kept it up, and gradually, gradually.

Over a period of six months, IÆd gradually concentrated the demonic corruption such that the fires were just on the very top of my head.

I imagined myself to look a little like Hades from Hercules, with fiery hair. Only, well, I was a tree, and he was a god.

The two heroes were still somehow holding on. Their face was half human, half demon.

I somehow expected both of them to give in already. I would have. I thought. Or maybe not. I did last in this world until now. Maybe IÆd also stay around.

- How are you guys doing? -

- Could be better, - Simone responded. - WeÆre getting the hang of it. Maybe we can fight back soon. -

- Really? - Well, that was unexpected, but I supposed heroes were special.

- LIES, - they both said simultaneously. And then they were back to their human selves again.

- Why are you doing this, actually? IÆve never had a conversation with a demon before. Tell me more about yourself. - I mean, it was true. No one ever had a conversation with a demon to find out what their motives were, what they were trying to achieve, or whether it was something more fundamental.

- I think itÆs just an animal. - Victor was the one who responded. - We just feel. strong emotions. Like, a need. To grow. To find. To conquer. To. have things. To seize things. To. multiply. -

- Really? - I thought that was quite strange. Its recent behavior clearly suggested it was somewhat intelligent, I meant the demon-king especially, so it was really strange to be told that it was actually, well. just a beast. Feral. - Is it. local? -

- I. I think itÆs from another planet. Another. world. We see visions of this vast wasteland quite like our current decimated terrain. Areas filled with spires and crags that seem to spawn more of those monsters. ItÆs so big, yet so. broken, - Victor said.

- Why? -

- I. donÆt know. It just. craves. It has something it wants. -

- But its recent behavior has been intelligent. The humanoid demons, whatÆs the deal with that? - I suspected whatever possessed these two heroes may not be truly intelligent, and that was why they just felt its craving. If I may, maybe this was just a program or software the demons had. Maybe demons had artificial souls, too, and the demon king was the only truly sentient one that it sent over.

Victor didnÆt reply. Neither did Simone. A while later, the demon came again. - WHAT. ARE. YOU? -

- Tree, - I responded. I was going to be factual about it. - Who are you? -

They both muttered something incomprehensible.

- Well, I didnÆt get that. So IÆll call you demon for now. -

- CONSUME! - Okay, I understood that word.

- Where are you from? - I had the golden opportunity to have a conversation with a lesser demon-alien. Why not take it?

- HOME. -

- Why did you come here? -

- ORDER, - they both muttered, and then a long pause later, - MOTHER. EARTH MOTHER. -

I paused. Mother? Earth mother? Hmm. I didnÆt think the demon was referring to Earth itself; it was merely copying and reading the twoÆs memories to find a comparable word.

The demon responded to some kind of order, so they were compelled to invade our world.

- Why? What does Mother want? - I felt a bit corny saying that. It almost felt like I was talking about how Sephiroth kept talking about Jenova. It was so corny. Mother here, mother there. Especially Advent Children. I hoped it didnÆt even repeat the same kind of corny motivations.

- CONQUER! -

I mentally sighed in relief. Thank goodness. - Why do you want to conquer our world? WhatÆs here that Mother wants? -

The two paused. - CONQUER! -

Ah. For conquest. I guessed this was all I could squeeze out of a demonic artificial intelligence. Maybe a demon king would offer a proper conversation.

13

YEAR 97

You gained a level. You are now level 147.

You gained a passive skill: Demonic Energy Transmission.

- What in the fuck is that? - Well, I got the answer soon enough. The demonic corruption that was being sucked in through my roots, well, there was now a dedicated pipe - like root that now covered it, essentially reducing the damage from the rest of my body. It still hurt like hell, like being electrocuted, but less. And more specific.

I was starting to stay conscious longer. I could stay awake for two to three days straight for a month. The demonic energy was still strong, even with my new skills. But every small step counted.

Every level counted.

Demonic energy interferes with all telepathic and magical abilities. Most non - core functions are disabled.

- Shit. - I had so many heroic fragments. Why couldnÆt my heroic fragments offset the demonic energy? I mean, could I use my heroic fragments as some kind of cleaning device?

But maybe I could just wait this out. If more heroes died, I would get heroic shards, and that would make my anti - demonic powers stronger, and that would eventually break me through.

So wait.

A tree could wait.

14

YEAR 98

Despite the demonic interference, I still sensed huge magical energies flying around. I couldnÆt pin their location, other than a vague general direction. It was one of the few things I could still sense.

Was it something about blood magic that made it so. detectable?

15

YEAR 99

Well, not exactly how I was expecting to spend the year before I turned one hundred in this world.

Quiet and in the silence of my own world. I wondered why IÆd not gone crazy, honestly. It was like. cabin fever. But I supposed it was quite silly for a tree to have cabin fever, right, since I mean. I was part of nature itself, and my nature was to stay still.

I could totally imagine the heroes felt claustrophobic, restless, because, well, they were trapped. But to be still, and to be here, was exactly where I wanted to be.

The two heroes were still somehow hanging on. Not much deterioration to their state.

- Is the demon keeping you around intentionally? -

- I think so. It wants you. Not us. -

- Oh. - So the demon intelligence was intelligent enough to keep the two heroes around, because that was the only way it could interact with someone it didnÆt have some sort of mind control over. Well. suddenly I felt like I walked into a trap visiting them.

- It sees you as some kind of ally. -

- Ally? Why so? - Huh. Now that was even more unexpected.

- I donÆt know. We donÆt know. -

- Well, let me know if you find out. Happy to see the two of you holding up. -

Victor shrugged. - Now that it isnÆt actively trying to take over us, weÆre getting quite bored trapped in this stinking little place. It was even feeding us things to tell you. -

- So itÆs listening. -

- Of course it is. I thought you figured it out already. -

- Just wanted a confirmation. -

- Heh. -

- So, what does it want to tell me that it doesnÆt want to tell me itself? - Well, if the demon wanted to talk to me and wanted to show me something, then, well, letÆs see it.

- It was actually quite strange. It was just showing us scenes of some kind of animals that resemble goats, dogs, apes, and elephants. So many different kinds of animals. -

- Well, they should have your memories of animals? - I mean, the demon read their minds; surely the topic of animals mustÆve been covered somewhere. - This world has cows, dogs, goats. -

- IÆm not sure if some of my terms will make sense, but it was a timelapse - like thing, if you understand me. The demon let us see scenes of creatures changing over time, slowly, and then some kind of red lightning struck, and then the earth around it cracked, changed, and then those creatures warped into the demons. It was like watching evolution happen, and then something disastrous happened and they turned into these demons. And then the demons were sent into this portal here. To fight. -

- It was giving you the history of demons? Why would it do that? -

- I donÆt know? - Victor shrugged.

At that moment, I felt like IÆd been given a monumental task. The heroes didnÆt know why, but me, a tree, why would I get a history lesson? There must be something about that history, wasnÆt it? That red lightning reeked of divine intervention.

Between LiliesÆs history and the demons, I thought I sort of had enough to piece together what was actually happening. The gods were behind everything. Maybe there were two factions of gods or they were just the same faction toying with us, or something, but the gods were behind this.

What did they want?

No, what did the demons want?

Were they. pawns of the gods as well? Sacrificial lambs forced to play the role of an NPC in this world? Even if that was true, what could I do about it?

16

YEAR 100

Ah. I finally made it to a hundred years!

Title: Centurion obtained.

Oh, okay. I made it to a century old. The title did mostly nothing, anyway.

Quite a letdown. Maybe I should throw a party of some kind to celebrate that IÆd survived a hundred years in this new world. Seriously. But then I would reveal my otherworldly origins and attract all sorts of people.

And I was trapped. If there was a time for a sad smiley, this would be it.

I guessed I should reflect a bit on my first hundred years, even if I was in such a terrible state. The first sixty or so years was just me. well, doing nothing. I couldnÆt do much. Then I moved to that Gaya templeÆs compound, and after that the move to Freeka, that little elf village, where I was till this very day.

Come to think of it, it was probably the second time Freeka was destroyed since I came. The people of this world were quite hardy, able to rebuild after so many disasters.

The next town should probably be called Neo Freeka. I mean, once I was out of this quagmire, I should propose the next town to be called Neo Freeka, but then that would also probably reveal my otherworldly origins.

Ah, naming matters for later.

The people of the world were hardy. So many species still survived despite constant world - ending level disasters; I supposed they must have patrons that watched over them in difficult times. Gods.

But difficult times also created high - level characters. I believed that to be a law. So.

Where were all these high - level characters hiding? Was there some elevated world where all these high - level people ascended to, like some cultivation fics with different tiered worlds?

17

YEAR 101

If I had dogs every year, this year I would have dalmatians. Maybe 101 decorated hellhounds. Woodhounds. I was pretty sure it died. There was no way it survived this. I would have all 101 of them, all with flowers.

One hundred one years, I mean, if there was a time for a tutorial, well, 101 was a good time to start. Like come on, Basics of Isekai - ing to Another Magical World As A Tree 101. Probably given by a lecturer or some sort, explaining things that were too freaking boring to understand but ultimately useful someday later on.

But nope.

Nothing. Like come on, give me a hand here, system! I wanna get out! Like, uh. give me some regeneration skills. Or some skill that bypassed the pain.

No?

No?

Bored out of my mind, I went into that part of my soul realm that was linked to the two trapped part - demon heroes again.

- IÆm back. IÆm bored out of my mind. How are you two holding up? -

The two look the same as last time. - WeÆre part demons. All things considered, weÆre doing all right. -

- So, now that it knows you are from another world, with your otherworldly heroic origins, what are the demons going to do with it? - I asked.

- Nothing much. ItÆs still processing, and I think itÆs having difficulty transmitting the information back to its. homeworld. So in a way, the information is stuck with us, or whatever thatÆs possessing us. -

- ItÆs not a hive mind? I had the impression the demons are a hive mind of some kind. -

- Uh. itÆs complicated, from what weÆve seen. ItÆs like a tiered intellectual system. All levels are capable of intellectual thought, but less so at the lesser levels. And despite that, there is an overarching command that it obeys without objection. -

- And itÆs telling all of this because? -

- Look, Mister Weird Person who looks like a tree. I donÆt know anymore! It doesnÆt want to tell us, and yet itÆs still showing us all these, about them. ItÆs random, and itÆs making us confused! - The look of confusion on the faces of the heroes seemed to suggest it was true. The demons didnÆt seem able to manipulate emotions just yet. - Look, I wish it could just show it to you directly instead of using the both of us as connectors. We donÆt understand why itÆs telling us about itself, and we honestly donÆt really care. We were just ordinary kids on a bus that somehow got into the wrong place, at the wrong time, and now weÆre going through this fucked - up nightmare of fighting demons, watching the world burn, and now being consumed by a demonic mind of some kind. -

Okay. They were snapping.

- Not only that, weÆre only here because this damned demon wants us to somehow relay messages to you, and so itÆs keeping us barely alive in this pathetic, miserable state. And then, you, of all people, only drop by once every few years! So we just spent days, the two of us, just in this miserable state, being bombarded with demonic imagery and scenes. -

True.

- So IÆm sorry if I canÆt freaking answer your questions, because I donÆt fucking remember what it showed me for the past few years, other than what it repeats all the damned time! Have you ever been watching television, the same damned series, perhaps a few hundred times - no, make that a few thousand times? Well, we both have, and it sucks. It fucking sucks. Even if itÆs awesome on the first watch, by the one thousandth time, it all sucks. I am sick of it, and if there was dialogue, IÆd be able to repeat the words, word by word. -

I was confused. He said he didnÆt remember, but he also said he was watching something so many times.

- Fuck you, Tree Creature. But IÆll tell you everything just to get this damned demon to show me something else for a fucking change. -

The Victor guy went on for an hour about demonic. society? There was a kind of hierarchy, and there was this. mother at the top. The mother made a decision, and they followed. They were sent into this portal, and then they were here. And he talked about their world. Dry. Filled with smoke and fog. Spires. Crags. Creatures that emerged out of weird spawning pools. All kinds of spawning pools.

And stars. Scenes of multiple massive spires shooting some kind of beam and creating the rift.

Well, demon origin story.

Now, what should I do about it? Leak out some kind of speculative story of its origins? What if I ended up empowering the demonic cults? Would that make things worse?

What if this was what the demon was trying to do? It wanted me to spread this knowledge. And what good did that do to me? Would the world start suspecting and looking for a demon sympathizer?

18

YEAR 102

Nothing of significance happened. I met the two heroes, they seemed bored, and well, the demon didnÆt show them anything new, either. I was still trying to fix my shit and improve my pain endurance even more.

19

YEAR 103

Would the next demon king pop out around now? I mean. no? I sensed some magic flying here and there, but I had no clue what else.

20

YEAR 104

I had a dream. Usually dreams were divine or oracular in nature, since they often foretold or spoke of divine intervention, so this one was strange. There were like. five asteroids, bright red. They crashed on the world. And. that was it.

But it felt different. I wasnÆt quite sure why.

- Still nothing? -

- Nope, - the two bored heroes responded. - Same imagery. -

- Ah. -

Based on when the previous demon king battle happened, the demon king should appear again in another year, so the world should be facing demonic attacks already. But there were five heroes remaining; I supposed they should be doing all right. Even if one of those heroes was somehow expelled.

I was sure they were doing fine.

21

YEAR 105

This year was the year the demon king was supposed to descend. After all, itÆd been ten years, so, in the second half of the year, it did.

Demon King Phenex has descended.

I wondered what happened this time.

22

YEAR 106

Four months after the demon king descended, I felt it again.

A huge, huuge surge of magic, so overwhelming that it was disgusting. Even when my limbs were torched and burned, I could feel it. It even resonated with my very soul.

I was sure it was blood magic. There was something really sickening about this magic that made me feel like puking, if I could. A tree couldnÆt puke, sadly.

I felt whatever it was headed toward its intended target. Like how you could feel the sun even with your eyes closed, I could feel it move, the change in its angle.

But the demon king lived.

The Excommunicated Hero, Astra, has died.

Huh.

That. was not expected. Indeed, not expected at all.

About one to two days later, the demonic corruption around me started behaving erratically. As if supercharged, I felt the demonic corruption surge through my body, my roots. I felt it push strongly against the root - walls of my valley.

I felt cracks in my root - walls. More cracks.

Here. There.

The demonic sludge that stabilized over the past twenty years suddenly started moving, flowing, and it pushed against my root - walls.

More cracks! I felt like I was trying to use sandbags to hold back a tsunami, and there were pockets where the levee broke. The demonic corruption rushed in, together with the sludge.

And then. all at once, it stopped. The sludge stopped.

Madeus has died.

Yvon has died.

34 other familiar - users have died.

You gained two levels. You are now level 149.

Skill: Pain endurance upgraded!

Obtained new skill: Root Fortress.

Obtained YvonÆs soul.

Obtained 7 experience seeds.

And on top of that, I received a long string of notifications about class seeds and skill seeds. From the many that died, there was wizard , swordmage , brawler , druid , knight and a whole list of many other classes.

I felt. sad.

What happened out there?

- Monsters. - A voice. I recognized that voice.

- Yvon? - I turned to face a glowing blob. It was, in fact, Yvon.

- Hi, - I said. I mean, I kind of missed talking to someone that wasnÆt a demon.

- Happy to see you, A/ . We. really couldÆve used your help. -

- IÆm not sure if you can see, but IÆm stuck in this state holding back the demonic energy. -

- ThatÆs what we thought, too. You look like. a tree. This is the soul realm that Yura told me about? He said that you have this space where the dead linger. -

- I am a tree. Why wouldnÆt I look like a tree? -

- Mistress Yvon! - ErizÆs soul detected her previous mistressÆs soul. - Oh no. You died. -

- Well. it was inevitable. Things were looking really bleak for us. We have barely enough food and water, and every time we lose someone with familiars, a bit of our food supply goes along with it. -

I was very curious whatÆd been happening outside. - Stop. You two can catch up later. Tell me about what happened outside. -

- Uh. well, weÆre in this valley where your roots are holding up the hardened sludge. But every now and then, cracks in the sludge appeared, and those cracks would spit out demonic hybrid monsters. They attacked us almost every other day. -

Yvon paused a bit.

- And well, what happened was a huge crack happened, and sludge flowed in. On top of that, larger monsters came in and attacked us, so well. I died killing a few. Many of us did. -

- Any idea what happened to the outside world? -

- We have no contact. The demonic sludge causes magic to decay, so all our attempts to communicate with the outside world have been unsuccessful. Our attempts to use other means of communication, like. climbing up that hole on top of you have been unsuccessful as well. So I have no idea. -

- Darn. - I sighed. - Well, the demon king appeared again. And it somehow amplified the effects of the corruption temporarily. -

- Fuck, - Yvon cursed. - That explains it. -

- How many of you are left? IÆm blind at the moment. The demonic corruption robbed me of all my senses. -

- About. three thousand? Maybe less after today. Perhaps about two hundred died today. -

- ThatÆs not. bad? -

- We’re at a higher level now. Many of us leveled tremendously over the past twenty years to survive this. But things are still bleak, with food in short supply and our equipment limited. At least, none of us were dying to the demons for a while. until today. -

- I see. - I mean, I felt kind of sad. - What about the forest? The trees? -

- Uh. oh. Erm. quite a bit of the giant trees are still there. Some of the weird trees are still there. We managed to locate a few surviving flower bushes and herbal spots, so thatÆs our spices. We also found quite a bit of potato buried, so weÆre also eating that. -

- What about water? -

- A few of our druids are able to use their mana to create water. So. thatÆs our water supply. -

- I see. Let me think. - I let Yvon and Eriz catch up a bit. They spoke about Roma and generally about life in their new environment. ItÆd been a long time since they last met, almost twenty years, so they had much to talk about.

But I had a new skill. Root Fortress .

So, when I was awake again, I quickly activated Root Fortress and felt, for a brief moment, all the roots strengthen. It was like a sonar pulse, and at that moment I knew exactly how many trees survived, as I felt the effects of my skill spread throughout the valley.

And I stayed awake longer.

I thought it was my two new levels.

Now, if only I could get more levels.

- I can see why you canÆt help us now. - YvonÆs blob of light sighed. I briefly explained my situation of being trapped in this demonfire. - YouÆre not even awake most of the time. -

- Not exactly ideal, but I hope IÆll be able to break free of it soon. Tell me about whoÆs left. -

Lozanna , Laufen, Roma, and Yura lived. Two of the Valtorn OrderÆs captains survived, too. One of the herbalists and quite a big chunk of the druid - in - training Valthorns also survived, by sheer coincidence that they were foraging in the forest during that time. It was a day they remembered, the day when the Valley sank.

At the later part of the year, the demon king was slain.

Demon King Phenex was defeated.

Becky has died. You received one fragment.

Oh wow. Only one hero died.

You gained 3 levels. You are now level 152.

Skill upgraded: Demonic Energy Transmission

Skill upgraded: Subsidiary Trees - 100,000. Giant Attendant Trees - 1,000

Level 150 crossed. You may select a DOMAIN.

Domain is your focus on the path of divinity and will impact future domain choices. The first choice is your primary domain. Choice of domain greatly influences type of future skills learned.

Choices are:

Domain of Nature

Domain of Spirit

Domain of Astral

Holy.

This was probably the first time I recalled ever being offered a choice in what I wanted for a skill. Like. domain? It sounded very much like what kind of god or deity I wanted to be. Was this like Age of Mythology where I got to choose which patron god I got to pray to and so had different kinds of perks?

How did I decide?

Nature, Spirit, and Astral.

Nature sounded like I was headed to more tree - like powers. Spirit sounded like IÆd get even more soul and spirit - related perks. Astral.

What did astral mean again? Ah, stars. So. more star mana powers? From what I knew of star mana, it was super effective against the demons, which was why the heroes got it, so going into the Astral path may be the most effective way of getting myself out of this mess.

But then, I was not keen on that at all. I thought it conflicted with my sense of self.

I was a tree. I would like that being a tree was my identity. Well, I was a human, but by now IÆd lived so long that my life as a tree had far exceeded that of my human life. Even if it felt brief because I spend so much of it sleeping.

How about spirit, then? Should I go into the entire path of spirits? Ghost, souls, and all. Well. I hadnÆt actually found much joy in it.

There was nothing like watching a barren field being brought back to life. An empty plain transformed into a verdant forest. A volcano calmed into an oasis of giant life.

I thought I liked trees, flowers, bushes, and all of that. So nature was more in tune with me.

I thought IÆd be a fool if I chose Astral because it was going to get me out of this shit. IÆd get out of this eventually, with levels, and with more hero fragments. So I should play the long game. Choose something that I would like.

So I thought about it for a day or two, then selected.

Domain of Nature selected.

In an instant, I felt a spark and felt something rush to every tip of me. Every burned branch, every charred root.

Domain Ability: Roots of Life. So long as you are rooted to the ground, the ground will nourish you, heal you, and debuff negative statuses and effects. Strength of domain ability proportionate to amount of roots connected to the ground.

One domain ability is unlocked every 10 levels. Next domain ability at level 160. Next sub - domain focus at level 200.

Demonic Curse is suppressed by your Domain Ability. Effect of demonic curse is reduced.

My roots started to heal, even as the demonfire burned. It healed faster than it could burn, and within minutes, the demonic corruption was confined into the dedicated tunnels used to expel the absorbed demonic energy. So, even though the top of my body and the very tips of the branches were now emitting demonic flames, the branches themselves were no longer burning.

IÆd become. an oil refinery that flared up. Okay, that was lame. Maybe Hades, then?

About one day after the healing, I saw my valley once more. Then I felt the reconnection of everything in the valley. All my fellow surviving trees, flowers, bushes, herbal plants, and roots. My brethren.

It filled me with joy to hear them all again, their ambient voices in the background. I felt my energy flowing back to them and theirs back to me.

I surveyed my valley. Oh, how terrible it looked. My roots were holding back the demonic sludge from the back, the roots hardened.

There were still a few large tunnels of demonic energies, but now, with my new Domain , I could forcefully suppress those flames into smaller, much smaller ones. It was like a gas stove, and with my new powers I turned the knob, and the fires shrunk.

Reconnecting to Trevor

- . mAsTeR? - A familiar voice.

- Yes, Trevor. -

I felt what amounted to joy and relief, and immediately after that, the overlay returned to me. Things were dire. About twenty thousand or so trees were left in the area protected by my wall of roots. There were also about one thousand or so natural giant trees and about fifty or sixty subsidiary trees that survived. The Grand Mind Tree was damaged and would need some materials to repair. Most other structures were gone. New Freeka was gone, too.

I mean, I knew that, but seeing it again really hammered that reality in. What was once New Freeka was replaced with blocks of demonic sludge, by now mostly hardened. But there were gaps in the sludge, and the demonic hybrids would emerge from them.

- Welcome back, Master. - Trevor quickly found back his composure. - YouÆve been away for twenty - one years. -

- I know. What happened? -

- The valley has been attacked by demonic creatures. Without access to you, Master, we were unable to use your delegated abilities and could only activate our own abilities. As such, our attempts at defending the valley have met with mixed results. We attempted to aid the survivors where we could, but with our limited skillsets, we couldnÆt do much. And after ten or so years, our functions and awareness began to decay. Until. today. -

- I see. - That was when I finally zoomed back on the survivors. I hardly recognized them now, it had been so long, but then TrevorÆs overlay started to populate my vision with whatever data that he collected so far.

And I saw Yura , Laufen, and Lozanna . ItÆd been so long.

- Glad to see the three of you alive. - They were clearly observing the changes in the valley, and when my telepathic voice reached them, all of them froze. Yura immediately knelt on the floor, Laufen just froze, and Lozanna made a fist pump.

- OH, YEAH. I KNEW IT WAS TREETREE, - she said. - I KNEW IT. -

Laufen and Yura both seemed unable to say a word.

Lozanna . well. She wasnÆt young anymore. She looked like an adult. She was. thirty - seven? Oh my. She wasnÆt a young teenager anymore, even if she spent twenty years holed up in this valley. They all looked really skinny, like theyÆd not been eating well. In fact, they all looked malnourished.

At that moment, I suddenly remembered that Yura had some villager skills that were useful for such situations. Skills he didnÆt let me remove because they were nostalgic. Looked like he was right; he wouldÆve died without those skills, with how this environment seemed to lack sufficient meat sources. All they had been eating were fruits, vegetables, leaves.

- All of you look like shit. -

They didnÆt answer. Well, except Lozanna . - Of course we do. WeÆre not exactly having a feast here! Now get us out of this valley! -

- Easier said than done, Lozanna . - I attempted to look further, beyond the valley, and couldnÆt do so because all my subsidiary trees outside this cocoon were all destroyed. Maybe those further away survived, because I didnÆt get a notification for Dimitree, or those that guarded the volcano, or those near Lilies, too, but that was for another day. I would need to reclaim the terrain from the demons in order to see further, but for now, letÆs get the house in order.

I focused back on the valley. Three thousand or so survivors. Quite a bit of treefolks, some centaurs, some lizardpeople, some dwarves, too, and the rest elves.

Trevor was already busy at work, quickly reconnecting me to all the surviving trees in the valley. I felt their voices return, and at the same time, their power. The valleyÆs root walls hardened, and in an instant, a bit more life returned to the land. The sickly looking trees, deprived of sunlight, started to sprout more green leaves.

I used my roots to force the hole on top of our valley to open up, and bit by bit, a little more sunlight came in. Well, not exactly sunlight. It was a stormy firestorm out there.

- Oh wow. - The survivors admired the sunhole expanding overhead. It wasnÆt sunlight, but finally, a bigger view of the sky. TheyÆd been missing the skies.

- Bad news is whatever happened, happened to probably most of this continent, - I said to Yura , Lozanna , and Laufen. The survivors had gathered up and heard their announcement.

- TreeTree. itÆs so weird to hear your voice after so long, - Lozanna said. - IÆve grown up now. IÆm also level eighty now. -

- . yes. - And I hadnÆt quite come to terms with that. She still felt like a young sixteen - year - old girl last I saw her. This wasnÆt quite right.

I felt like IÆd woken up from a twenty - year coma to discover the world had changed and I was still that same old fart. I would need some time to adjust to this new reality.

They all looked really skinny. Yura looked haggard. Famine in this environment had been exceptionally hard. Sucked even more that the demons were not edible. Unlike monsters, some of which were edible.

Wait. Level eighty? That meant sheÆd capped out like Yura ? - Is that your cap? -

- . yes, - she said.

- How many of you hit your level caps? -

- Me. Uncle Yura , there. uh. NeroÆs close, like level seventy - ish. And, uh. RomaÆs level seventy - ish, too. - Well. In fact, about fifty of them were at level seventy to eighty, which was exceptionally high level for a band of survivors. - But in terms of class, I think me, Uncle Yura , and the captains have the best skills, since we have the familiars for extra power. -

That explained how they managed to stop the deaths after a while. With fifty level seventy to eighty, they could take on most high - level creatures. Even with just ordinary Knight or Soldier class, that was a very good place to be.

Twenty years.

I kinda felt like I just had a manga powerup timeskip. Only, well, it was these elves that had a big powerup.

- If all of you are so strong, why donÆt you break out of this place? -

- Uh. the demons are strong, and thereÆs a lot of them. Like. every wave is a few hundred of them, - Lozanna said. - And that hole was our only exit. None of us wanted to break through the roots because we donÆt want more monsters coming in if we fail. - She pointed at the hole.

Wave? And then I felt it, too. There was a crack in my wall of roots, and monsters emerged from it. Five hundred.

I was more than happy to unleash fury after being asleep for so long. A huge wave of root strikes, and all of the monsters crumbled.

- WhereÆs Horns? -

- Horns is in stasis, Master, - Trevor advised.

- What? -

And I saw him in one of the surviving subsidiary trees in the valley, his body severed in half, and left with his head. The subsidiary treeÆs energies kept him alive and maintained him, but there wasnÆt enough to heal him.

- I couldnÆt communicate with the survivors to get their druids to help, - Trevor apologized.

- I see. -

I took a mental deep breath.

It was time to rebuild.

23

YEAR 106, LATTER HALF

Rebuilding. There was much to do.

I had a mission, and I wanted to return the forest to the continent. This devastation was foreign, alien, and it was my task to restore it.

Or at least, that was what the trees were telling me. A tree spiritÆs role, along with many other similar creatures, was as the worldÆs fixers and balancers, the guys that cleaned up the court after a game, the cleaners and repairmen. I could feel the call of duty. A duty to the world, to fix it. To restore it to nature.

I wondered whether that was an effect of the Domain. I mean, just as I gained power over a domain, did it mean I also inherited some responsibilities to that Domain? It was strange, but I believed that the power imposed this sense of duty. I reckoned the heroes and the other tree spirits of this level felt it, too, that they had a calling. Why else would they go about their ways so single - mindedly?

I wondered what kind of duty I would have had I chosen Spirit or Astral. A duty to ensure the proper transmission of the dead? A duty to the stars? Or did Astral imply a more anti - demonic role, that I would have to play a bigger role in fighting demons?

Questions, of course. Stupid world. There needed to be a guidebook somewhere.

And the wisp was gone. - Wisp? - I couldnÆt find him anywhere. No answer from him, either. I wanted to start using Eriz and Yvon, too, but that was stuck because the soul forge was out of commission.

Soul Forge requires a power source. Due to the effects of the weakened curse and reduced sunlight, the minimum normal tree required to power the soul forge is calculated to be 100,000.

- So. whatÆs going to happen? - Lozanna asked a few days after my awakening. I was still coming to terms with my new power and the realization that, well, there was this duty thing nagging me at the back of my head. With power came responsibility. Just as the energy of the earth nourished me and broke me free of this, it also imposed its desires on me.

I wondered if I went down the Spirit Path, maybe I didnÆt even need other trees to power a soul forge. Oh well.

- I donÆt know, Lozanna . IÆve been asleep. - I needed to rebuild my knowledge of the world. Twenty years may mean a lot had changed; at least, that was how it was in my world. In twenty years, we went from clunky landlines to smartphones. I wondered what the surviving heroes brought to this world.

- ThatÆs. true. But weÆve been trapped in this place for twenty years, too. So weÆre not much help. -

- Well, I suppose first things first, we need to get ourselves out of this hole. This isnÆt a good place to be, and we need contact with the outside world. -

- HowÆd you plan to do that? -

- I donÆt know. - I mean, I really didnÆt. I needed to see what worked and what didnÆt. I had some idea of what already worked, in the sense that my roots did manage to block out demonic corruption, so I wondered whether it was possible to push back at the corruption with more roots, kind of like using my roots as the blade of the bulldozer and pushing the corruption back.

I also needed to examine my own state. My curse was suppressed by my roots of life, but what did suppressed actually mean? Was I going to experience some kind of degradation, or would the curse flare up?

But the survivors, they felt a sense of calmness thatÆd been away for a long time. It seemed the entire beetle army had vanished after Horns was in stasis, so they didnÆt have help from the beetles, either. Now, the horde of beetles returned, no longer in hibernation.

Horns still needed a lot of healing. ItÆd take a few months to rebuild his damaged body, but it wouldnÆt be a problem.

The demons came again. More of them.

The demons now felt the full brunt of my stronger demonic suppression aura , no longer hindered by the curse. And they crumbled quickly. These strange, hybrid things. Some were less susceptible to the auraÆs effects, but with the beetles back in large numbers, it wasnÆt much. We only had to focus on the larger creatures that had the strength of a demon general or so.

I could now house the survivors in the secret hideout and the various subsidiary trees external rooms and tree lodges , a much - welcomed change from their basic homes, and also, I had beds! Beds that were stored in my secret hideout and various other supplies previously stockpiled in there were now available again.

Still, among the survivors, some of them resisted. - We can take care of ourselves. We did so for twenty years! -

It was understandable. For me, these twenty years feel like a dream; it passed by so quickly, it felt like two or three weeks, maybe a month of solitude and confinement for me. But for these guys, they lived twenty years out here, fighting the demons all the time. Life had been miserable for the past twenty years, but theyÆd made it through without me.

Why did they need me?

Most were more than happy to return to the comfort of proper beds and a safe environment.

- Tell me all you know about the monsters youÆve been fighting over the past twenty years. What abilities do they have, what are they like, when do they appear, any weaknesses? - I asked.

Those who frequently led the fights - Lozanna , Yura , the captains, and many others - all gathered around and talked about what they experienced. The demonic creatures were like half demon, half monster, and the larger monsters had two hearts, one demonic, one monster, and they had to take both of them down to kill it, else they would regenerate. These demons also retained the ability to agglomerate themselves and form a larger creature, something less powerful than a walker, but it was probably due to size limitations within the valley itself.

They had mini - projectile energy blasts, also similar to walkers, and the more humanoid forms tended to have crude weapons.

They had no tactics, other than a strange ability to sense and track them. Stealth abilities were not effective. They had heads, but their heads were actually just decorations. Chopping their heads off did nothing, because the heart was the engine of the monster. The part that resembled a head was nothing more than an arm. The eyes on the monster were also similarly useless, and blinding those eyes merely disabled the beam abilities.

In short, the parts that resembled a regular monster were there because the template required those sorts of appendages and parts, but they were not critical to the monsterÆs life. If it had one.

Other than that, theyÆd mostly taken life day by day. Living in the moment.

Monsters.

Unlike demons, their corpses lingered around a bit longer but were entirely inedible because their innards were contaminated with demonic juices. Demonic bodies decayed significantly faster than monsters, so it was quite difficult to harvest any of their body parts for materials or equipment.

The monsters had large spikes, horns, and tentacle - like features. Had they not decayed and could be preserved, maybe they could be made into strong weapons. But like wood, these organic materials needed treatment to last or they decayed quickly, and no one had enough time or survived demons to even research it.

Well, except these guys. One of the surviving war leaders, out of sheer boredom while trapped in a valley, soaked the small remains of a demon in olive oil and noticed it didnÆt decay. Preserved demonic appendages in olive oil.

- Fascinating thing. - I observed the specimens shown by that seventy - year - old elf. They did have a surplus of olive oil since some of the olive shrubs survived. They cooked with it, seasoned their vegetables with it, preserved chunks of fruits with it, and this one elf had the inspiration to preserve demonic remains.

My inner biolab got to work quickly.

Preserved Demonic Parts - olive oil used to significantly slow and stop the decay of demonic matter.

- Yeah. I thought it was interesting, but I only worked with small parts of the demon. -

- Did you gain a class for it? - I reckoned there should be fermenter or preserver or something like that.

- I didnÆt, Æcause IÆm already capped out at level sixty soldier and level twenty villager . -

Ah. - A shame. I wouldÆve liked a bigger sample. To observe demons in their native state without decay. - I did recall having captured hellhounds, and those were very interesting. But here I had other demonic specimens, and these were even half - demonic hybrids. So they had a lot of value to be understood.

Even the survivors were very interesting. It seemed twenty years of solitary confinement had also changed their physical appearance. Their ordinarily fair, pinkish skin had now turned almost gray. I wondered whether it was Vitamin D deficiency; perhaps elves, creatures of the forest, needed more sunlight than others, so lacking sunlight, their skin lost much of their color?

The treefolk seemed to suffer the effects of being trapped in the valley a little harder than the rest. The treefolk at first glance seemed the same, but they remarked their bodies felt weaker, more sickly, and the effects of little to no sunlight were especially pronounced on the quality of their inner structures. They were more prone to fall sick, and a few had died from sickness.

Some of the centaurs suffered from muscular degradation; they were used to having large areas to roam, like horses, so confinement into a valley meant their lower body parts became weak. Those with certain unique skills like tiptop condition or peak performance were able to remain physically fit, but for the rest of them, they had to resort to all kinds of exercises to maintain their health.

The dwarves, well, they seemed perfectly fine. Apparently, being in a valley trapped underground wasnÆt something uncommon for dwarves, who remarked it sounded quite like being trapped in a mining accident. A few of them even had skills that made surviving in such an environment comfortable. I thought one dwarf probably had some kind of ale - making ability that he wasnÆt sharing with others.

But oh well. It was something to examine, for sure, but I wanted to get out. My duty called to me.

And I had to work with some of the survivors that were still a bit skeptical of me; some of them wondered whether the flames on my head were signs of demonic influence, and they didnÆt buy my curse explanation all that easily. Still, they were obeying my requests, but they were guarded. I could hear their conversations.

They must have forgotten I could do so since, for them, the memories of twenty years ago were probably hazy.

So, after a bit of information gathering, I decided to try pushing back at the sludge. It was a strange thing, this sludge. It had all hardened now, and yet monsters could spawn in it. How? The sludge itself created them?

Anyway, I pushed. At one corner, furthest away from where the survivors made their home, I pushed. The corruption from outside was strong, but now that I was awake, I liked to think I was stronger. At least, in this area.

The pushing worked. I pushed back at hardened sludge, and it buckled. It bent. And I kept pushing. Each time I pushed, my roots moved in to form a protective barrier. The protective barrier didnÆt work every time, though, the roots sometimes would run into an aquifer or something, and it would squeeze out a bit of water, and those leaked through the gaps in the roots.

- Uh. water? - The survivors were watching with great interest from the safety of their treehouses.

Well, it made sense that there were pockets of water in the ground. I mean, I was sure rain or precipitation or condensation continued even if the demon king corrupted the land.

I pushed, and my ability root tunnels triggered to form a wall. But they were unfortunately porous and water could leak through.

- A/ , please stop, - one of the survivors said. - The water is still coming in. -

Ah. The water was still leaking through the root walls. Why? Maybe I should push upward instead?

So I started to push my roots upward and outward, in a way, like a stadium with movable roofs. It was already partly open from my earlier efforts, but I stopped midway as I realized more of the firestorm was getting into the valley.

- Maybe just one side, A/ , - Lozanna remarked. - Would it be possible for a tunnel or path that leads up to the surface? -

Indeed. That was what I tried over the next few days. Strategically, a tunnel would be better. It would be far easier to defend if anything massive came around rather than an open path. The sludge became a natural wall that hid this valley. I should keep that strategic advantage.

So a tunnel.

A second attempt. Hopefully I didnÆt bump into pools of water trapped underground.

I pushed upward this time, again, from where the previous tunnel started.

Unlucky!

There was more water, the tunnel ran into a pool of water, and the water rushed down the tunnel like rainwater in a storm drain, spilling into that segment of the valley.

- Well, at least weÆre not there. - Some of the elves, well, if the makeshift houses were there, theyÆd be in trouble. Eventually, the flow of water from whatever pool I bumped into, slowed down significantly.

There were small trickles of water that seeped through the tunnel walls, and those trickles turned into a small stream of water down the tunnel and into the valley. Unlike the first surge, it was just a small trickle, so no big waves there.

I pushed on. We were quite deep, and so I had to keep pushing. The angle couldnÆt be too steep or it would be useless as a path.

It took a few weeks of constantly pushing, dealing with the monsters that appeared from the sludge, and eventually the tunnel was done. A reinforced path to the surface.

24

YEAR 107

The surface was hellish. More monsters roamed on this strange, apocalyptic land. Yura and the group that went out and explored it the first time remarked it resembled nothing. It was just as strange as a place thatÆd been thoroughly corrupted by hex.

The surface was not empty. There were many different demonic monsters that roamed the terrain, some of which theyÆd met in their twenty years of battle.

And there were stationary monsters.

That was what they assumed at first: stationary monsters that looked every bit like a monster, and they didnÆt move. But they attacked things that approached them, or emitted poison. This was entirely new to the elves, because, well, these monsters couldnÆt move, and they were stuck underground. There wasnÆt a way for the two groups to ever meet.

Until now.

But, on closer observation, they noticed some of these monsters had branches. Like trees. They thought they were horns at first, like how antler horns resembled some branches.

It was reddish leaves on one subtype of demonic hybrids that finally made some of them go, - Aha! - Hybrid demon-plants.

If there were hybrid animals and monsters, surely there were hybrid plants!

This fact was extremely interesting to me, and I had a million and one questions.

Like, why did they exist? Magic? Divine powers? If divine creation was the answer, why were they created as hybrids and not pure monsters or trees? Or did it mean the influence of the terrain was able to interfere with the process of divine creation?

Or were these creatures products of the demonic corruption, that the demonic corruption borrowed from the land and thus created these hybrids?

Then there was the question of whether they were trees in the sense that could I, with my powers as a Tree Spirit, hold any influence, communicate with, and control them? Were these tree - like demonic things actually trees? I thought they might be part tree, just like how the demonic creatures that attacked the valley were part monster.

And how did they exist? How were they powered? Did they produce seeds or fruits? Any chance those were edible, or poisonous and thus could be weaponized? Did they have abilities or powers, like certain species of trees? Could they be made into items like how certain trees were harvested for timber? Was this their ideal environment? Did they respond well to different environments? What did they consume?

Did they need sunlight? Did they need water? Was that why there were puddles and pools of water underground? Did they have roots? I didnÆt recall encountering any, but was that because their roots were shallow?

- Master. - TrevorÆs voice broke through my deep contemplation. - A decision. The survivors have been waiting. -

I didnÆt realize it, but I spent a month just studying the few demonic samples brought back by the scouts. It was just that fascinating to me. - Waiting for what? -

- They are asking whether you can start creating trees on the surface. -

- Why? -

- Oh, they wanted somewhere to stay outside the valley. Somewhere. safe. -

- When did I agree to this? -

- You didnÆt. I recall Master ignored them the first time when you were studying the demonic specimens. -

- I did? - I didnÆt even realize that they were talking to me. When did it happen? That was strange. Did I somehow ignore everything when I focused on the demonic tree samples?

- Yes, - Trevor said quite matter - of - factly.

The hybrid tree samples were too fascinating. Or did I somehow tune them out? - I donÆt recall even having the conversation. Never mind. -

The terrain and the demonic corruption took the form of a sludge. The demonic energy passed through the sludge, kind of like a current of electricity travelling through a conductive liquid. It also radiated it like a radioactive material. According to the elves, some of them with the gift of darksight could see a faint glow in the sludge.

So the process of clearing the land meant either removing and pushing away the sludge or neutralizing it. What I had been doing so far was a mix. By pushing it away with my roots like a natural bulldozer, my main body acted as a filter and cleaner, using my roots to absorb the demonic sludge and the volatile, combustible mana that came with it.

It was slow. Because I was the bottleneck. Back to the oil pollution analogy, there was a limit of how much oil I could process per day, and against the constantly expanding oil, I felt like I was in a game of Candy Crush fighting against a field of ever - expanding chocolate. Or like Alpha Centauri where the native vegetation was encroaching on my forests. Come to think of it, this was very much like Alpha Centauri. Alien creatures attacking what it perceived as enemies? The only difference was, well, weÆre the natives, and they were the aliens.

Were the demons colonists?

IÆd gotten sidetracked again. Oil analogy. I had a processing rate, and the terrain itself imposed a minimum on me to process, else the root walls wouldnÆt hold. Every time the strength of the root walls increased, I needed to process less, because the walls could hold back more of the corrupting demon mana and sludge. The walls were like an oil silo, then, and it had a capacity.

So could I increase my processing capacity now that I was back to consciousness?

Could my Giant Attendant Trees play that role to a lesser capacity? I would have to design the Giant Attendant TreeÆs available customizable rooms specifically for the function to have much higher self - healing ability and demonic absorbent abilities.

The two heroes were still there.

- Hi. -

- Oh. YouÆre back. You must be bored to come and find us again. -

- Well, yes. IÆm free now. - After I said that, I instantly regretted it.

- Oh, nice. Can you help us? -

- Not sure. I donÆt even know where you are. -

- I think I do, - Simone said. - ThereÆs a red, crystal - like thing somewhere near the demon king site. I think weÆre there. Or at least our souls are imprisoned there. Free us. -

- Huh. - Fuck. Did I just get myself into a quest? - No. -

I felt a massive headache (ahem, I didnÆt have a head, but yeah) then, like something trying to force me to say yes. I resisted. Fuck this. It was probably divine in nature, because the calling of duty generally radiated from my roots.

- Why not? - they asked.

That pain was getting stronger, but I pulled the energy from within me to resist it. I even pulled the energy from the nearby trees and the earth.

Domain has resisted divine influence.

- IÆm no hero. - And fuck, did the gods just try to mind - control me? Since when did the gods directly attempt to influence things? I thought they werenÆt supposed to do that.

25

YEAR 108

The important equation was how much demonic sludge we could process versus how much demonic sludge was expanding in the area. As long as my processing rate was higher than the sludge, we were taking back territory from the hybrid demons.

We were doing so very, very carefully.

Because, well, we lost a few people when some of the demonic monsters exploded. The forest of demon trees had a few types, and these demontrees actually fed and helped sustain the firestorm, because weÆd discovered some of them spit out some kind of flammable gas that got ignited super easily. Another kind of tree was just perpetually smoking, and it constantly released dark smoke like an ancient super - polluting smokestack. The smoke - trees created so much smoke that it made a perpetual layer of dark smog that hung over the entire area and caused the lack of sunlight.

The exploding gas trees added to the mess and created areas where the gas might just suddenly ignite and blow up, and yet those trees were quite resistant to the effects of the explosion.

Not a pleasant environment to be in.

So, slow and steady. Thanks to the microclimate generated by these kinds of demonic trees, the weather was perpetually hot and stormy. The effects of the seasons were subdued.

We reclaimed the area immediately around our valley and the hole, mostly by me pushing back at the sludge. It was a long process; in one week, I could clear and clean the area the size of a football field, but the speed slowed the further away it was, because a larger area meant an increase in the overall root surface area with the demonic sludge, so it took up more of my demonic sludge processing ability.

In order for the expansion to continue, it was paramount - crucial - that the Giant Attendant Trees were able to add to the demonic sludge - processing capacity.

Else, the rate of expansion would stop the moment I hit the sludge - processing limit. Unless my roots got stronger.

It was just the math of the matter.

During this time, the survivors also brought a lot more of the demon tree specimens back to me. It was a slow process, and my ability to assist was limited because the demonic sludge essentially blocked my roots from interfering. I had to reclaim the territory from the demons for my abilities to work in that area.

It was quite difficult to bring the specimens back, of course. They were, after all, spawned of demonic matter, and the survivors abhorred the idea initially. But I just convinced a few of them to play a part, and that was all I needed. The survivors were not all uniform; some were more cooperative than the others.

I studied them like an obsessed scientist.

I wanted to know everything about them, and I wished I had a soul forge to look at them in far greater detail. For now, I would have to make do with analyzing them with my biolab and hope to understand these demonic plants.

Like the demonic hound, its inner structure was dry. And instead of a spring, there was a barren one. When I looked at the structure of the plant specimens, they had odd flames throughout the entire space. Every now and then, there would be flares.

How did it get the skill? Was that like some kind of basic racial or species ability, if it didnÆt have a soul spring and the stones that signify the skills around it?

Clearly, this exposed one flaw of my understanding of the soul system. Sure, if you gained levels, the skills you gained were around the soul spring. But for these demons, they didnÆt seem to be gaining levels, and they also didnÆt seem to have a soul. They resembled automatons, machines, and yet they were not.

So, where were the skills? Or was it something elsewhere? Or if they were some extraterrestrials like the Earth heroes, then they must have had a mind somewhere that helped them to do things. Or was it biological, in the sense that their abilities were not born out of skill but out of their physical design?

Again, the flaw of my understanding was quite obvious. My biolab allowed me to look at their inner structures, if they had one. This worked well with the natives of this world, since they had souls. But with demons, they didnÆt seem to have one, and using this biolab to examine them, in hindsight, was clearly an incomplete picture of the whole story.

But!

I did know that when I flooded their bodies with my mana, like with the demon walker, and prior to that, with the hellhounds and Alexis, I was able to take control of them. So it was either this soul thing existed as a higher - order control system, and the demonÆs base structure was on a lower tier. or something. I didnÆt know what.

I needed a living specimen.

These dead demonic trees were not good enough.

But the survivors were not able to capture a demon while alive. They did not have the strength to do so, and it was too high risk for them.

- You could dig and reclaim the area around a demon tree and then, uh, capture it that way? - Lozanna suggested. In short, encircle and siege.

Which was exactly what I did. Over twenty years, these demon trees had massively proliferated and they occupied huge chunks of the terrain. And it wasnÆt hard to find many of these demontrees near our valley.

It took a bit of time, but essentially I would go around the target, and then once I trapped it, I would spawn a Giant Attendant Tree next to it and pull the targeted demontree into the biolab inside my tree.

And soon I had live specimens in my labs.

The survivors had been trying to message any nearby civilizations, but they had no idea who survived, so all their messages so far bounced. They wanted to try cities that were farther away, too, but those werenÆt getting anywhere thanks to the interference from the demonic sludge. The survivors were in a meeting.

- We know which direction the demon king came from, - one survivor presented, and he pointed. - So, logically, if we head in the other direction, we will eventually find lands untouched by the corruption. I donÆt believe the demon king destroyed the entire world. -

- Why not? We donÆt know whether anything survived! -

Of course I did. Five heroes survived that demon king and went on to beat the next two demon kings, too! Surely, there were survivors.

- Still, I propose a squad of us go on an expedition. -

- We canÆt even get far without losing people, and you want an expedition? -

- Yes! IÆm pretty sure weÆre not at the center of things, so we must be closer to the edge. And beyond the edge must be normalcy! DonÆt you all want that? -

- Hmm. thatÆs true. - Lozanna nodded. - I agree with it. -

Yura shook his head. - I prefer we play it safe, ask A/ to clear a path for us toward that direction. -

- ItÆll take too long, - Lozanna said. And some of the other survivors agreed. - We need to get in touch with civilization as fast as we can. If itÆs up to A/ , itÆll be years before we get there. You know itÆs true, Uncle. -

- But it is safe. Think about it, you want to face all the monsters out there? WeÆve seen so many. -

- WeÆve faced them before, - a survivor said. He too was one of the capped - out fighters. Level seventy - five. - And weÆre high level. We can survive this. -

- Have you guys actually thought this through? Where are you going to live? What are you going to eat? The terrain is not what it was. -

- Better than being trapped in here for the past twenty years, Yura . Some of us have decided we want to see civilization again. ItÆs worth a shot. -

Yura frowned.

Lozanna agreed with that group. - Uncle. HeÆs right. We canÆt stay here forever, and the fact is we need to rebuild the lines of communication. Get help. Find some people whoÆd be able to get us out of this mess. The town is no more, and the people deserve better. -

- At what risk? You canÆt protect all of them. -

- But staying here as it is isnÆt a way to live. WeÆve been here for decades! -

- A/ Æs getting there. -

- A/ Æs going to take forever, - a survivor said. - No disrespect, but A/ works on different timescales. WeÆd be having kids before we are out of this place. ItÆs been more than two years since A/ woke up, and weÆre still just clearing up the surrounding area. -

- WeÆre making slow, defensible progress. We can protect this place. -

- ItÆs too slow. Two years, Yura . For some of the centaurs and dwarves, itÆs a big chunk of their lives. I know it means less to the elves. But theyÆve already spent twenty years here, and another two years since. Let us go. -

Yura frowned. This was a common issue, in the fact that people of different life expectancies had different perceptions of the value of time. Like, two years for an elf that could live to five hundred to eight hundred years was different from a centaur or dwarf that usually lived up to one hundred fifty to two hundred.

Yura wasnÆt too happy, but the survivors were split into those too afraid to take the risk and were willing to stay here, and those who believed it was worth a shot to get back their normal lives by making a trek across the hostile terrain, with their warriors protecting them. So Yura walked away.

- A small group is easier to protect. We have enough preserved food and our familiars can continue to produce fruits, - one of the survivors said.

Lozanna nodded. She asked for some beetles to accompany them, but the demonic sludgeÆs interference meant their operating range was limited. Go farther and theyÆd just shut down.

A day after they had that discussion, Lozanna came and talked to me.

- A/ . -

- Yes? - I was still studying the demonic trees at that time.

- IÆm going to leave the valley. -

- I know. - I was still processing the matter. I didnÆt know how to react. I mean, I just woke up. Okay, just was relative, because to me, it felt like I just woke up, but the survivors had a point; it was two years for them. Two wasted years, in a way. For two years, the world zoomed past them, and I could see why they wanted to rejoin society again.

- Are you. mad, A/ ? - she asked.

- You used to call me. TreeTree. - I wasnÆt sure what made me say that.

- Ah. IÆm already thirty - nine, A/ . - She looked a bit embarrassed. - ItÆs. been a long time. -

For me, I felt awkward. In my mind, she was still a child. I felt like it was yesterday that I saw her as a teenager, and now, at thirty - nine, she was pretty much an elven adult. I couldnÆt accept that. No, I must accept that. People changed. Everyone changed. It was foolish of me to expect anyone to stay the same for years or, whatÆs more, decades.

- WeÆre always here, Master, - Trevor added. - We have gained levels, but we are the same. - Well, except them. And my fellow trees, who were as eternal as I was.

- Well, this was something IÆve been hoping to do, and IÆve waited years for it, - she said. - Remember when I used to say I wanted to visit the other spirits? -

Ah, yes. It was just yesterday for me. Really.

- Well, I donÆt want it anymore. -

- Huh? -

- I had so many years to think about stuff, - Lozanna went on. This was. nostalgic. I recalled my earlier days in Freeka, when it was a small village, when the elves used to always sit down next to me and talk about their affairs. About how they felt about life in general. How Casshern used to make comments about the younger elves, or even Laufen then, about her worries of childbirth.

Lozanna paused a moment. She was in my secret hideout, the place that was once her old room. Nothing had changed in the room, but she had. She touched the things that she once used.

- Twenty - two years, A/ . In that long period of time, I felt broken. I felt robbed of my opportunity to travel the world. I was angry, A/ . Angry. So mad that the world did this, that our world, this stupid, stupid world, would be so self - destructive. That demons constantly came for us, and for what? We donÆt even know why we are here, serving as fodders and decorations for the heroes and demons eternal conflict. It didnÆt make sense. -

- It doesnÆt. -

- But there wasnÆt much I could do about the demons and heroes. Not with my powers. So after my anger, I grieved for my lost time. I felt sad. I felt lost. I wondered what the purpose of living was, A/ . Have you ever felt like that? Wondering why do you even exist in the world, like. why was I born into this world? I wanted reason. I wanted to know. I wanted to see a bigger picture. -

Well. honestly, for me, it was an accident. One that I accepted quite willingly, which was extremely strange in hindsight. How did I accept it so easily?

- Maybe itÆs different for you, because youÆre this great tree spirit thatÆs always been here. But for me, I felt lost. I have this. power. Your gift. But why? Why did the fates conspire for me to receive such gifts and power? And yet itÆs insufficient in the face of such great evils. So I wallowed in that misery for a few years, every day just fighting the damned demonic monsters that came for our lives. -

Okay.

- But I eventually moved past that grief and into acceptance. IÆve accepted that IÆve lost twenty - two years being here in the valley. So I spent time just honing my skills. Even if our levels are capped out, itÆs still possible to upgrade our skills to be stronger versions. And now my goal is different. I just want to see the world and appreciate whatÆs out there. I mean. IÆve accepted that IÆm not a hero. -

What? Okay, how was that related?

- Surviving this disaster, then hitting my level cap. I realized that I wasnÆt meant to be a hero and that, well, lifeÆs not that great. You know, before this whole thing, I used to think I was special. I mean, Mom told me I was special, and everyone treated me like I was special because I had your special powers, and I even believed I was special. But IÆve come to accept that I am not that special. Special, but not much. -

- Well, thatÆs not a bad place to be. -

- Yeah. It isnÆt. I wanted more at a point, but I believe itÆs not really what I actually want. So. A/ . Uhm, TreeTree. I will leave with the group that wants to make the journey. I had to have this conversation with you, because I recalled how well you treated me and all these special powers and blessings youÆve given me. IÆm leaving, and I want to thank you. -

Huh.

- Thank you, A/ . For all youÆve done for me so far. But it is time I go out there and find my own place in the world. It may not be much, but IÆd like to think IÆm like a bird. Finally freed of this cage, I should try to fly away. Maybe I might return, or maybe I may just drop by, but I have to take this chance. -

I felt. betrayed. And yet I felt that feeling of betrayal was wrong. I was a tree, and it was normal that animals occasionally stopped by, and maybe in the larger scheme of things, everyone was just a transient contact for the tree.

She waited.

I didnÆt know how to feel. Was this reality for a tree?

It didnÆt feel that long ago that I thought she was going to be loyal to me! This was betrayal! BETRAYAL!

Or was it? I mean, why did I feel like I owned her? I didnÆt. Even if I helped her and watched her grow up, did that mean I owned her? Was I like a parent that watched a child grow up, and now that the child had grown up, the parent refused to let go?

But if I lost even her, then who could I trust?

I felt frustrated. And it was then some quotes from my human days came.

- If you love someone, set them free. -

So corny, and yet something told me this was the truth. Strange. I had trust issues, clearly. Was that why my relationships as Matt failed? How did I trust her?

- A/ ? - she asked. I thought she waited for half an hour already.

I inwardly sighed. I shouldnÆt be like this. Was this me being upset and possessive? I was a freaking tree, damn it. ShouldnÆt I be more magnanimous? What would Treebeard do? What would Grandmother Willow do?

- Ah. Go, Lozanna . It is fine. -

Even though I said those words, it felt difficult. I didnÆt quite accept that time moved so slowly for the rest of them and so quickly for me. It was strange and uncomfortable to think others had far different expectations of the world and their life and that I couldnÆt expect loyalty from them. At least, not on a longer term.

Was this why Lilies was a lot more big picture about things? They werenÆt attached to individuals, and maybe because it was like that whole elf thing in The Lord of the Rings: we were doomed to watch those we loved grow old and die before us. Was this our fate for living so long?

- Are you sure, A/ ? - Lozanna asked.

No, I wasnÆt sure. Why couldnÆt I let go? I didnÆt own her! I wasnÆt even her parent, but then, I had showered her with powers and care. Was it because my investment, my sunk cost, that I cared that now she was pulling away? If so, I shouldÆve seen it coming.

So I decided to speak to Laufen, her mom. Twenty years had passed, but sheÆd aged only slightly.

- Lozanna is finally leaving. -

- Yes, A/ . ItÆs something IÆve always expected to happen. I remember they used to say that young adult elves have a calling to see the world, to see more of it. ItÆs something they must do to get it out of their system. I remember I used to do it, then I met Ricola and settled down. -

Oh. An elven thing. Was it like humans back home, where parents kicked their children out once they turned twenty - one?

- I hear human adults have that, too, though like us, it is stronger in some than the rest. -

- And you are not sad or worried or, well, disappointed? -

- Children must grow up, and Lozanna has been talking of this day for many years. Trapped in this valley for so long, it is quite a waste for her. Besides, how would she find a mate if she doesnÆt visit the other elven cities? IÆm sure IÆll still be worried sick, though. -

Trapped? But they were here with me! Okay, that was a fairly selfish and ignorant statement. I was a tree. I was a freaking one - hundred - year - old tree. I should act like one.

Lozanna was still in her room. I decided to just calm myself down and, well, do some breathing exercise. For a tree, that meant actually taking in the air and making oxygen, I supposed. I had to let her go, or should I force her to stay?

- Would you ever consider staying? -

Lozanna paused very briefly. - Maybe after IÆm done? -

26

YEAR 109

Just like that, she was gone. A group of four hundred of them went on a quest to find the nearest surviving civilization. They packed up after months of preparing and finally set out when the weather was slightly less hostile.

I didnÆt know when IÆd see her again, or ever. I recalled those who left me usually died. But oh well. A choice had been made, and she had to live with it.

I didnÆt know what lay out there, but maybe she would reach the edge way faster than I would. I was constrained by the terrain; I couldnÆt move forward without clearing the demonic corruption that contaminated my path.

I tried slowly and worked to upgrade my Giant Attendant Trees so that they could help absorb and process the demonic corruption. It was a very long process and not very successful, so I went back to researching the demonic trees.

I had two main ideas of getting myself out of this place, and they overlapped in a way.

One was what I was doing presently: dispersing and processing the demonic mana using my super - high demonic resistance. Problem was this hinged on me having a high - level natural healing and demonic resistance from my hero shards, which was unique to my main body, and the benefits were only partly shared by my other trees. I wanted to upgrade the various healing and endurance abilities of my subordinate trees such that they had higher demonic resistance, better base healing, and toughness such that they could play my current role to a lesser extent.

To use an analogy, it was as if I and my other trees were made of water, and the demonic corruption was fire. Right now, my other trees couldnÆt withstand the fire, so they just burned down before putting out any of the water. I had a finite amount of water I could produce, and the water I produced was used to fight the fires, kind of like what a fireman did facing a wildfire. If I had more water than fire at the boundary, I could expand that boundary. If not, my boundary would shrink. It was quite like fighting a perpetually growing wildfire, come to think of it.

So I must have stronger, tougher trees that could also produce that water to help fight the fire. This restored the land to what it was, too.

The other area of focus was something a little more inspired by my recent fascination with these demonic hybrid plants.

If I could not expand the safe areas and recover the corrupted lands, could I coexist with it such that my trees and roots all gained an ability to grow on these corrupted lands, instead of being blocked by it? It was a difficult endeavor, and my initial attempts at studying the live demon-trees were quite good.

I would need to figure out how to either be able to control the demonic trees or assimilate some of their natural attributes and qualities, which could then allow me to enhance my existing trees to better operate in the demonic terrain.

Going back to that earlier analogy, instead of looking at fire as the problem, I was attempting to create plants that could operate in fire or absorb fire instead of fighting it. Far harder than it sounded, since I was essentially attempting to graft demonic biology onto my trees.

But I thought it was possible. The fact that hybrids could exist meant I could create hybrids. Certainly possible in theory.

This idea, of course, was hugely opposed by the trees in the valley. They abhorred it. I could sense their rejection of the idea and that earlier duty to just restore the land to what it was before.

Duty. Responsibility.

The more it was imposed on me, the more I resisted it. Or was this just me after I woke up? I recalled being sucked in by the powers and influences of my fellow trees. Did the Domain make me more aware of all these influences and yet, at the same time, attempt to influence me?

So strange. It was a duty: restore and clear the world of demonic corruption.

Which I did. I mean, I resisted the thought of being told to do things, but I understood the principles of it, and so I did it anyway.

I supposed I was like a petulant child that hated to be told to do something but knew that it needed to be done, so I did it. How immature. I was a hundred - year - old tree. Now wasnÆt the time to mentally regress and act like a child.

There was now a sizable area thatÆd been cleared of demonic influence around my valley, so much so that some of the survivors were now moving outside to live there. Once the corruption was cleared, the weather too quickly returned to normal. It seemed the corruption and the demonic vegetation did generate a microclimate, as predicted.

It was about as large as the former territory of New Freeka, so a semblance of normalcy had returned to the area.

Yet the corruption stretched far and wide, and there were more demonic monsters to attend to.

Every day we would be attacked, and our beetles would be at the forefront of the battle. Luckily, Horns was back in business after a few months of recovery. And heÆd been incredibly chirpy.

- ItÆs totally awesome, - Horns said. - All I do all day is fight all these demons! I canÆt level up anymore, but still, itÆs awesome! I love fighting! -

I didnÆt realize IÆd created a combat maniac in Horns.

- Master, perhaps more Artificial Souls will help with the reclamation of the corrupted lands. We do produce some mana, or if some of us are dedicated mana - producing trees. -

I had been drawing mana from all the normal trees anyway, but they were not as effective against the demonic corruption as my own. I was guessing that was because my mana had anti - demonic properties.

What I did need was a massive mana cauldron. I pulled the mana to my main body and attempted to mix it. Maybe I could infuse the anti - demon qualities into the mana generated by normal trees. It was sufficient, previously, because I had the advantage. With the demon walkers, with Alexis, I could constantly draw on more trees to overwhelm whatever creature.

But the changed terrain limited the number of trees and cut off my connection to the volcano and the ley line, two of my bigger sources of mana. Now, I needed to squeeze a bit more efficiency and performance out of every drop of mana, to do more with less. Thankfully, IÆd also been able to get my soul forge back online now that the surrounding area had been cleared of demonic corruption and replaced with a thick forest.

And so I experimented with mana in my main body, just like how I used to do it with my soul forge. I added star mana to the mix, too. I still only had three hundred star mana, but mixing star mana, my own mana, and the mana produced by the normal trees, the effectiveness of pushing back the demonic energy increased by a few multiples. Good enough to keep the expansion going.