At the entrance to the Sacred Tree Dungeon.
What had once been a temporary camp for treating the wounded and handling madness infections had become another front-line position.
The ranger squad leader who had once received Ilos’s group decisively ordered a hold here, blocking any animated giant trees trying to break out.
But the camp had always been short-handed. Even drafting every wounded elf still able to move left them desperately thin.
At first they could barely hold, but as arrows and mana potions ran low, the line began to crumble.
The squad leader had sent men for reinforcements, but there was still no sign of help.
Another wave of giant trees appeared in the distance. The squad leader personally led several rangers to meet them. With practiced coordination they severed the trees, but one teammate was still struck in the chest by a frenzied root and gravely wounded.
Without ranged fire support, close-quarters fighting against these behemoths was far too costly!
Men! Supplies!
He desperately prayed for either.
When he led his team back to camp, his prayers were answered, far beyond expectation.
“Your Majesty?! Lord Chief!”
The squad leader saluted excitedly.
Ilos raised a hand and cast a healing glow over the wounded ranger being carried back, coughing blood.
King Auriel surveyed the situation and sighed inwardly.
He had still held a sliver of hope seeing the city trees’ activation wasn’t too severe. Now it was clear: the artifact had to be used.
Without delay, he pressed forward, not entering the dungeon depths but stopping at the edge of the great spiral.
Looking down, Auriel saw the Sacred Tree Dungeon dim and lightless for the first time in his life. “Even the light-gathering array was destroyed?”
He raised the divine artifact and spoke without turning. “Ilos, the aftermath will be yours to handle. Follow established protocol.”
“As you command.”
Auriel lifted the Heartwood of Genesis. Vast life energy surged from his body into the staff.
The shaft instantly activated. Countless tender buds sprouted between the branches, rapidly covering the entire staff.
This surge of vibrant life peaked after half a minute. A pure green pillar of light shot skyward, then bent and plunged straight into the depths of the spiral.
The beam struck the sapling now covered in crimson patterns.
Life energy washed downward like a tide. Wherever it passed, madness faded like purified stains.
Not only the sapling; even the massive Sacred Tree trunk in abyssal space saw its eerie red patterns rapidly replaced by vibrant green.
For a moment, Lin Jun—who was rummaging through permissions in the tree’s consciousness—thought he heard a brief, annoyed huff?
He froze, ready to self-destruct and bolt at any second.
From the Sacred Tree?
Was it waking up?
Lin Jun nearly panicked.
This artifact worked like a super-powered alarm clock?
All his little schemes suddenly felt much less appealing.
But after checking the panel, the tree was still dormant. Madness was gone, replaced by an unknown “Abundant Vitality.”
After waiting a while with no further change, Lin Jun finally relaxed.
…
The madness inside the Sacred Tree vanished, but the animated giant trees did not instantly revert.
Outside the dungeon, King Auriel planted the now-budless staff into the ground, barely supporting his nearly collapsed body.
Then dizziness struck. He could no longer stay upright and toppled backward.
“Your Majesty!”
Amid the guards’ panicked shouts, Ilos was first to catch the falling figure.
Auriel’s hair had gone completely white. His body was withered, face etched with deep lines; the very image of an elf in his twilight years.
Yet relief flickered in his eyes. He had prepared to be completely drained. It seemed he had been granted a little more time.
“Let me heal you.” Ilos’s hands glowed with healing magic. Though it couldn’t restore lost lifespan, it eased the body on the verge of collapse.
“Ilos, it seems…” Auriel struggled to speak, but suddenly froze.
The hand supporting his back was secretly casting another nature spell: Life Drain!
Dual casting!
Under the cover of healing magic, no one noticed except Auriel himself.
“Auriel, you may hate me,” Ilos whispered, barely audible. “But I must do this. The elven race must step outward…”
Auriel stared at Ilos. After a brief pause, understanding dawned in his eyes.
With his last strength, he seized Ilos’s wrist, voice faint as gossamer. “Do not… lead them… to destruction…”
“I am doing this to find that sliver of survival.” Ilos replied softly.
Auriel’s hand slowly fell. He moved no more.
The surrounding elves stared in disbelief. They had known the king came to resolve the crisis, never imagining this outcome!
The ranger squad leader collapsed to his knees, lost.
In this moment of grief, more giant trees appeared at the dungeon entrance!
But before anyone could react, the trees cracked and toppled in the distance.
In their place charged a dust-covered, red-eyed elf who had lost every trace of elegance.
“Lord Eko!”
The squad leader recognized his superior, but Eko ignored him completely.
Seeing the scene before him, Eko’s eyes split with rage. Blood seeped from clenched teeth!
“Ilos—!”
“I’ll kill you!”
Twin curved blades shattered the vines that suddenly shot up. They couldn’t block him for even a breath, yet more thorns kept surging from the ground.
Eko’s sudden appearance made Ilos’s eyelid twitch uncontrollably. He had no idea how the man had escaped abyssal space.
Leaving aside the need for an abyssal ritual as a gateway, he had isolated the permission information blocks in a separate zone. They should have been impossible to find.
But now was no time to ponder.
He spawned plants to hinder Eko while trying to calm him with words. “Eko, there may be a misunderstanding. Calm down. We can talk!”
Eko ignored every word. His blades wove a curtain of silver. “Today either you die or I do!”
Seeing words were useless, Ilos suddenly shouted, “Everyone clear out! Eko has been infected by madness! He’s lost his mind. I’ll subdue him!”
Another wall of fire blocked Eko’s path. Using the opening, Ilos reached for the artifact on the ground; the item needed to fully control the Sacred Tree later!
His hand closed on nothing.
At some point a burrow had appeared. Only a small section of the staff still protruded…
(End of Chapter)
An artifact that drains life…..seems perfect for a little mushroom.