Chapter 148 - 50

Time goes back to when Ziel went to the world tree. After being disguised as Ziel and killing Niberus, Lilith secretly returns to Clara and the others. She saw Clara taking care of the injured Beatrix when she got there. Princess Iris and Princess Freya quickly noticed her appearance. 

"Where have you been? Clara has been asking about you ever since." Princess Freya asked her in a low voice as Lilith approached them.

While the teachers were panicking because the heroes and Princesses were sneaking out of the building, Lilith also took advantage of the situation to sneak out. The only people who know about it are Princess Freya and Princess Iris. But they didn't know where Lilith had gone.

After learning that Lilith wasn't with them, Clara asked Princess Iris and Princess Freya about her. The two of them didn't know how to respond and finally said that Lilith was resting because she wasn't feeling well.

"I have some business outside." Lilith answered her calmly.

"Ooh… What do you mean by business is fighting in black robes and masks out there?" Princess Freya smiled teasingly. Lilith frowned at Princess Freya's words.

"If you already know, why are you asking me again?" Lilith snorted at Princess Freya and no longer cared about her.

"Ahaha...I'm sorry. I'm just kidding. So don't think too much about it." Princess Freya smiled and calmed down an irritated Lilith.

"Is that a request from Ziel?' Princess Iris suddenly asked out of curiosity about their conversation.

"You are right." Lilith answered her curtly.

"Where is he now? I haven't seen him since the academy people took refuge in this building." Princess Iris looked around and didn't find Ziel. She had been looking for him ever since the male students and academy teachers came to the central building. But she didn't see him. Ziel had been missing ever since he left their tea party in the morning.

"He…" Lilith wanted to answer Princess Iris' question but was distracted by the shaking in the building.

"What happened!?"

"Is this another attack from the elf knight!?"

The students panicked because the building suddenly shook. They were afraid that Queen Jasmine would send another elf knight to attack them. Now, they have no one to rely on. The teachers, Merlick and king Gustave were still in a state of unconsciousness. On the other hand, the heroes wouldn't be able to fight them all. They were also exhausted from the previous fight with Niberus.

"All of you, calm down! It's just an ordinary earthquake!" Regza calmed the panicked students. He is the only teacher who is still conscious because he remains in the building to guard the students and does not come against Niberus.

The students started to calm down after hearing Regza's explanation and returned to their previous activities. Some of them continued to care for the teachers, Merlick and King Gustave. Another student patrolled the building. 

"He is fighting elsewhere." Lilith smiled bitterly after feeling the shock. She could feel it wasn't an ordinary earthquake, but someone's doing.

"Did the previous earthquake have something to do with him?" Princess Freya quickly understood what had happened. Lilith nodded slightly in response.

"I think it's safe here. The real problem is not in this place, so you don't have to worry. I have to go there, to where he is fighting." Lilith could sense that no more elf knights were approaching the building. But she didn't know that Queen Jasmine had ordered the elf knights to retreat and no longer disturb the people from the academy.

Lilith had also made sure there were no other threats around Clara. After Clara's safety was guaranteed, she decided to go to Ziel's place and watch the fight.

"That… can I come with you? If what you say is true that this place is safe, I have no reason to worry about the people here. After all, I don't have anything I can do in this place." Princess Freya is bored of being in that place without doing anything. She was jealous of Kalya being able to be with Ziel at a time like this. She felt that she would be left further behind by Kalya if it remained like that.

"It's up to you as long as you don't bother me." Lilith said indifferently. She looked around for an opportunity to leave the place secretly.

"Take it easy! I will never bother you!" Princess Freya smiled happily. She thought that Lilith would reject her and ask her to go alone to Ziel's place.

"Can I come with you too? I also promise not to be a burden to you guys." Princess Iris gritted her teeth and dared to say that. Previously she only listened to their conversation, but she also wanted to go there after hearing Lilith agree to Princess Freya's request. She has no other friends if they both go to Ziel's place. Clara is busy taking care of Beatrix while Rhea hangs out with the D class students. She will be lonely if they leave her.

"Okay, you can come too. Let's go. Right now, no one is paying attention to us." Lilith walked slowly towards the exit from the room. Princess Freya and Princess Iris nodded in unison and followed behind her.

When they exited the room, they were startled by the voice of a girl who seemed to be waiting for them there.

"Where do you want to go? The situation outside is still dangerous. You'd better stay here." Princess Aishia warned them, but her eyes kept staring at Princess Freya Lilith forgot to check on the person outside the room. But she felt it wasn't that simple. She thought that Princess Aishia was deliberately waiting for them to come out.

"We wanted to go outside for some fresh air because we were tired of being in this place. I think the situation outside is safe." Lilith gave her reason to Princess Aishia.

"Hmm... how do you know that it's safe outside?" Princess Aishia raised her eyebrows after hearing Lilith's words. She knew that Niberus had already been defeated by the black-robed person disguised as Ziel, but she couldn't be sure that there wouldn't be another person like that attacking them.

Princess Aishia didn't know that every Divine Race mission was carried out by a group of two. One person was the main god who would act as the mission leader, while the other would serve as his assistant.

"You saw it, didn't you? The silver-haired man had been defeated, and the elven knights were nowhere to be seen in the vicinity of the building either. So I think our situation is safe for now. After all, we can take care of ourselves. When the situation is dangerous, we will run away immediately." Lilith tried to convince Princess Aishia with her words.

"But, are you sure that no one like the silver-haired man will ever come to this place again?" Princess Aishia still can't accept the reason.

"My instincts are very good and usually very precise. Right now, my instincts told me that no more people like that would come to this place. Trust me." Lilith was starting to get annoyed with Princess Aishia's question.

"But…" Princess Aishia stubbornly tried to reject her excuse, but her words were cut off by Princess Freya first.

"Aishia, stop it! We don't have time to argue with you. Whatever will happen to us in the future, everything will be our responsibility." Princess Freya was annoyed to hear the questions and answers that seemed like they would never end if they weren't stopped immediately.

Princess Aishia was pensive for a while after hearing Princess Freya's words. She wanted to be angry and questioned her about Ziel. But she tried to suppress her feelings. She suddenly thought of a better idea than taking her anger out on Princess Freya.

"Okay. You guys better be careful out there." Princess Aishia nodded and walked into the room without waiting for their answer. Her sudden change in attitude left them confused.

"Let's get out of here right away. Don't let that girl change her mind." Lilith urged Princess Freya and Princess Iris. She walked towards the entrance of the building followed by the two Princesses

***

Ziel calmly looked at Crossel's new form after fusing with the world tree. The same thing the Dryad had told him and Lilith that night. Unlike Ziel, Kalya and Laurel just found out that Crossel has controlled the world tree all this time.

"What have you done with the world tree!?" Laurel roared angrily at Crossel because the world tree was a sacred tree that was revered as a symbol of their power. But right now, Crossel had tainted it.

"How dare you yell at me, you lowly race." Crossel pointed his finger at Laurel, and dozens of tree roots emerged from the ground beneath Laurel's feet. The tree roots wrapped around her and pulled her into the air.

"Aaahhhh!" Laurel screamed in surprise at being suddenly coiled up and lifted into the air with her head down.

"Laurel!" Kalya did not have time to do anything because the movement of the tree roots was too fast.

Several tree roots changed into a large spear and prepared to stab Laurel. This made Laurel break out in a cold sweat with panic and fear. Laurel tried to break free, but she didn't have the strength because she couldn't bring out any spirit power.

The spear-shaped tree roots shot out swiftly and were about to stab Laurel. But suddenly, all the tree roots wrapped around Laurel were cut off, and Laurel disappeared from there. Laurel, who is currently in a Princess hug position by Ziel, reappears next to Kalya. Ziel lowered Laurel slowly and ignored Crossel.

"You two stay away from this place. Spirit power will not be able to be used in this area from now on." Ziel looked at Kalya and Laurel, who were still speechless due to the fast events.

"I understand. Come on, Laurel!" Kalya nodded and pulled Laurel's hand, who still hadn't said anything since being helped by Ziel.

"Oh, alright!" Laurel frantically followed Kalya, but she briefly turned to Ziel before finally leaving the place.

Crossel was angry to see Ziel, who remained calm and ignored his existence. He thought that Ziel would panic and fear after seeing his increase in strength because he now felt stronger than the other main gods.

"How dare you ignore me!" Crossel roared, and hundreds of tree roots emerged from the ground and transformed into various kinds of weapons.

All of those weapon-shaped tree roots simultaneously attacked Ziel. But he just dodged all of those attacks with ease and occasionally parried or cut the tree's roots. He didn't cut all the tree roots because he had promised to help Dryad without causing major damage to the world tree.

"You… how did you dodge all those attacks!?" Crossel was angry that none of his attacks hit Ziel. His strength had increased considerably, but he still felt inferior in front of him.

"Your strength has indeed increased. But that's it. Your fighting style hasn't changed at all, and you don't have much experience in combat. You are forced to change the orientation of your previously non-combat abilities to become combat specialists. No matter how much your strength increases, you are still weak in battle." Ziel said the reason for Crossel's attack didn't hit him.

"Noisy! If that's what you think, I will keep increasing my strength! I want to see if you can still withstand my attacks!" Crossel released more spirit and divine power. The leaves of the world tree began to fall and wither in several places.

Ziel frowned after seeing the change in the world tree. He decided to end their fight quickly before it was too late.

A gigantic silver ball of energy resulting from the fusion of spirit and divine power formed in the sky. The ball of energy was getting bigger and bigger. The power of the energy ball was enough to eradicate the entire elven kingdom and the surrounding forest.

Ziel changed his black sword, Zetta to white sword, Alvha. He concentrated his power on Alvha and compressed it until his sword was enveloped in a thick gray light.

"I will destroy you along with this kingdom!" Crossel shouted and dropped the giant energy ball on Ziel.

[SilverGod Punishment]

Ziel was silent as he watched the silver energy ball coming towards him. He could hear the worried screams of several girls far behind him. He was waiting for the silver energy ball to be in a straight line with Crossel and slashed his white sword.

[Dimensional Splitter]

The space around the silver energy ball and Crossel split apart for a moment but then returned to normal. But in that instant, it was enough to obliterate the silver energy ball and split Crossel into two pieces.

Ziel removed his white sword and returned to Kalya and Laurel's place. There, he saw not only Kalya and Laurel but also Lilith and the two princesses.

"Ziel!" Kalya jumps and hugs him tightly. She buried her face in his chest.

"It's all over, isn't it?" Kalya cries and asks in a low voice. But before Ziel could answer, a great earthquake and a roar rang out from the area outside the barrier of the Elven Kingdom.

Rooooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!