Chapter 173: Unending Tree Spirit

After getting his bounty, he quickly came to the gate, only to find several monsters had entered the city. He swiftly swept them out of the city and tossed the bag to the tree.

As he expected, when the tree saw the incoming bag, it didn't immediately destroy the bag. Instead, it gently used its branch to catch it.

Even the soldier stopped for a moment and turned around, finding Nart standing in front of the gate with no monsters dared to even move.

"Unending Tree… I'm sure this is what you're looking for. We have dealt with the perpetrators, so I hope you can return right now." Nart fell silent.

Theo, Alea, and the others looked at Nart in confusion.

"Grandfather has finally made his move?" Alea looked at him while muttering.

At the same time, Theo narrowed his eyes and turned to the bag, wondering what it was. However, he suddenly felt pressure coming from Nart along with his killing intent, making him want to kneel. His legs and body were trembling, but he gritted his teeth and endured this feeling as he found that the others, monsters and humans, experienced the same thing.

"This is… Awareness?" Theo remembered his Master and felt this killing intent was the same. "But this kind of powerful Awareness that feels like you're facing death itself… Ugh."

A scene where Ellen told him the specialization of each aspect like Force Control flashed in his mind. He realized this kind of thing might be one of the advanced skills in Awareness.

"You can suppress someone with your Awareness alone?" Theo muttered while sweating. He didn't know why but he couldn't stop his mouth from curving. Although he felt suppressed, there was an excitement in his heart. "This…"

Nart ignored the others for the time being and proceeded to threaten the tree that seemed to have felt his power too. He said, "Or… I will join this battle and hunt you down."

The tree used its branch to gently open the bag like that of a mother before a small humanoid person came out of the bag. It was a female humanoid monster with a pair of wings. Its body was surrounded by leaves and branches.

"A Spirit? A Dryad?" was the question everyone had in their mind when they encountered this monster for the first time.

This ten-inch monster seemed to have felt the suppression from Nart and shook her head, telling the tree something.

After a minute, the tree branches and roots slowly descended and returned to their original location. The monsters also had miraculously stopped while glaring at the city.

Suddenly, the tree shone and projected light to the ground. That light descended as a humanoid formed from the light.

Its appearance looked like a human female. With long green hair and a well-developed body that was barely covered with leaves and branches, her appearance stunned everyone. Saying she was a beauty was an understatement.

Everyone had difficulty in describing her appearance, while the female ignored them completely.

Only Nart and the soldier realized this female because this was the projection of the Unending Tree Spirit.

She looked at Nart Eilric and the soldier with a solemn look and said. "Fortunately, my child is alright, but you, humans, are not able to control your own kin and let them trespass my territory. Hence, I am warning you that anyone who enters my Unending Grass Field will die. This is the punishment you will receive for a year. If you try to attack me within that time, I will contact my Queen to flatten this city."

After saying those words, she closed her eyes and disappeared. The tree then left Art Beats City while the monsters dispersed instantly, returning to their own territory.

Theo and the others dropped to their knees after feeling the pressure from Nart and the beauty with their heads covered with sweats.

"Ha… Ha…" Theo took a deep breath as he had difficulty breathing. He was tired the whole time and still needed to endure the pressure… he just wanted to pass out at this moment, but his will kept strengthening his consciousness to avoid it.

"There is a monster like that?" Theo asked with an ignorant face.

"You should know there are many humanoid monsters, right?" Alea answered while sitting on the ground.

"Yeah. Maybe this one is an extreme example to the point they can understand our language…" Theo narrowed his eyes and sighed.

"Indeed." Suddenly, they had an aged voice resounding in their ears as the one who replied to Theo was none other than Nart. "Unending Tree herself doesn't have a human form. It's just a projection of what she thought about humans and used it to communicate with us."

"Grandfather!" Alea turned around and saw her grandfather appearing out of nowhere.

"Yo, Granddaughter. Do you miss me? I've heard from him that you asked where I was…" Nart chuckled, teasing Alea jokingly, only to find it was true.

She looked down, feeling embarrassed. However, she didn't have time to respond before the soldier that faced the tree walked to him and saluted.

"I am General Herkman. I would like to thank you for your help in fending off the Unending Tree, Sir Nart Eilric."

Nart glanced at him and waved his hand. "Nah, it's fine. The situation could've become a bit too dangerous, so I decided to end it right away instead of tomorrow."

"Too dangerous?" The man widened his eyes, not understanding what he meant.

Nart smiled and explained, "Yeah. That Unending Tree almost reached the next rank, Supreme Rank. I'm afraid she will become one within one year like the condition she stated…"

"This…" The man was bewildered and drew a gasp.

"What? Do you want to form an extermination group? I wouldn't do it if I were you." Nart chuckled. "No one in this country can kill the "Queen". If she were to make a move, both our bases on this side would be destroyed… Our country may need to face a stampede led by the Queen herself and at that time… I don't know what future our country needs to face."

"The Queen?" Theo narrowed his eyes.

Hearing him, Nart smiled and said, "That's the King Class Monster I told you earlier. No one knows her appearance, but she is the one keeping this country in check. Even if we get experts from other countries, the Queen will escape and bring us trouble in the future. That's why we don't want any big conflict with the monsters, especially the Queen."

"…" Theo fell silent as he was curious to get more knowledge about Monster Classes.

Nart, on the other hand, said to Herkman. "Anyway, you should just report this incident to the higher-ups. I'm sure they won't have anything to do with it like me."

"Yes. I will certainly do that. We may also need to put a ban on the Unending Tree Forest." Herkman agreed with him, saluted once more, and left. "Thank you, Sir Nart. I shall handle the rest."

"Yeah. Good luck."