Chapter 161 - The Tree Of Spirits

The place Zargol was insignificant. Other than providing a route to pass, it had nothing else.

Elina, Alex and Rex along with Daryun now rode the carriage and were travelling towards the Kingdom Of Estelia which was no more than a few miles away which would take around ten hours to reach.

Well, for Rex, it wouldn't even take a second to reach that place since he had his superior teleportation magic. Though, he didn't showcase it.

Daryun had accompanied them in order to protect them and Steve was left behind to take charge of the troops and follow behind closely.

Although it wasn't made clear earlier, in reality, three people other than Rex and the casters were brought through teleportation which included Daryun, Elina and Alex.

Needless to say, there were some changes in plan and instead of passing through the country of Souran they were taking the route through Zargol.

'Well, looks like going there was a waste of time...', Rex frowned.

However it wasn't completely futile after all he had retrieved an important artifact.

Regardless, he wasn't thinking about that right now. All he did was just stare at the ceiling while lying down on Elina's lap.

She was slowly patting his head while looking at him. Of course, this was motherly love that could even melt the most cold hearted human.

Alex just stared at them and was thinking something which was related to Rex.

'I still remember the face she made when she heard that Rex had disappeared...', was what he said to himself in his mind.

'Well, no use thinking about past, it is the present that matters.'

Rex felt quite comfortable while keeping his head on her lap. 

'So this is how motherly love feels?', Rex smiled.

He never got a chance to experience something like this in his previous life because of which this feeling was completely new.

'I hope that such days last for longer.', he wished that and then closed his eyes for a few seconds but he ended up falling asleep.

Elina and Alex both stared at him sleeping and then raised their heads. They stared at each other and then nodded their heads.

Elina lifted her left hand a bit and then said something in a low voice. Right after that, the palm of her left hand started to glow with a bluish light.

The light soon surrounded Rex completely from all sides leaving no openings.

"I'm done dear...", she said.

"Good, this should be enough to prevent him from waking up...", Alex sighed.

The carriage which was definitely of the best quality which was purely white and shone when sunlight fell on it. The carriage was usually used while visiting some important people ir when King used to travel somewhere.

It was quite important, but it seemed like they were about to abandon the said carriage as if it didn't matter to them at all.

Daryun also got down of the carriage while the horses kept moving and took the carriage away.

Now, Elina was carrying Rex in her arms and was looking here and there.

She then looked towards Alex and asked, "Do you think that it somewhere around here?"

"Yes, I'm sure Eli, that magical tree is somewhere in this area...", Alex nodded his head.

Daryun walked towards them and said, "Your highness, I also get the feeling that the tree is very close to us but for some reason it isn't visible to us..."

All three of them nodded their heads. They were sweating profusely for some reason.

Alex was powerful enough to be proclaimed as one of the strongest kings in the history of Rhone. That was the same with Elina. She could also be called as the most powerful Queen in the history of Rhone.

Daryun was no exception whatsoever though he could be ranked second if the list of generals from the past in Rhone was taken into account.

If these three wanted, then they could easily destroy a country on their own so no one would want to offend them.

However, it was these very people that were somewhat hesitant and nervous right now.

Probably they had sensed something the moment they arrived in this land or perhaps they had decided to do this since earlier due to which they chose this place as their spot for teleportation.

Whatever may be the reason, all three of them were searching for the so called tree while turning their gazes here and there.

"Just what the heck is going on? We are clearly able to feel this evil energy but we can't particularly tell it's location?", Alex was a bit frustrated.

"Dear, this is bad..."

"The only tree to possess a will as strong as humans in this world - The Tree Of Spirits - is probably present here...", Elina said while gulping a large amount of dry saliva.

"The Tree Of Spirits...?", Alex's eyes widened too.

"No way... that tree...", Alex was speechless.

"Doesn't it grow below the ground?", Daryun asked while having a shocking expression on his face.

Right after he asked that, all three of them turned their gazes towards the ground when all of a sudden they could feel a tremor.

The ground was shaking vigorously as if something was happening somewhere but little did they know that just by talking about the tree which had conscience they had enraged it.

Indeed, they were feeling a large amount of mana which was evil from their surrounding and now that they knew what kind of tree it was, they were expecting it to attack from the grounds.

'Boom'

Suddenly roots started to appear from the grounds. They were quite thick and large.

The ground had shattered and they had no place for footing in the surrounding, basically a huge hole was made.

Only if they were to jump as far as 20 meters could they have any chance of having a proper footing.

All of them were in the air when all of a sudden many more roots came and wrapped around Elina.

"Kya!", she subconsciously let her voice slip.

She was dodging perfectly by using the roots as the foot holds or as steps, but since she was carrying Rex, her balance was way off due to which she was easily caught by one of the roots.

"Alianjina Ice Thrusto!", she said this quite loudly right after which a spear of ice appeared.

She used that to thrust the root in order to cut it with her left hand, but unfortunately she failed.

Trees can be cut easily with the help of sharp tools, but magical trees are a different topic altogether. 

And on top of that, this was no common magical tree so the usage of ice spear would have no effect because of it's own sturdiness.

The thick and sturdy root was pulling her as if she was some baggage. Soon the sight of her would disappear since the root was pulling her towards the underground.

"What kind of a man will I be if I can't protect my own wife?", Alex said.

"Elecando Eternal Flame!", it seemed like a pretty normal chant but the moment he said that a large amount of fire was shot from his right hand.

The flames were splashing like water and ultimately hit the roots. Tough it may be, but even the root cannot withstand the wrath of Eternal Flames which were one of the highest ranking in the types of flames.

The roots started to burn. Since Elina was in the grasp of the root, it was quite dangerous for her too since the fire could spread through the root and reach her.

"Icey Shield!", Elina shouted.

A small magic circle appeared while emitting a faint bluish white light.

Soon after that, a shield that was made of ice appeared. It basically covered her front from where the fire was heading towards her.

"Dark Spear!", Daryun held his spear in his right hand and said this.

Suddenly black smoke like substance started to appear on the spear. He then threw the spear with all his might while aiming the burnt part of the root.

"..."

The root got cut and Elina was freed. Alex caught her successfully and took a few steps back while holding her.

The fire then spread continuously and ended up reaching  the underground areas where the tree was present.

The tree ultimately got burnt completely while leaving nothing other than ashes. Probably they have been aiming for this al this time.

"Phew, that was a close call...", Elina and Alex sighed.

Daryun walked forward and retrieved his spear. It seemed like what they wanted to do was accomplished rather quickly.

"You were right Elina, it was the best for us to visit here...", Alex said while looking at the sky with a smile.

He was completely unscathed and the only thing that had happened was that Elina's clothes were a bit torn. Also, her arm had marks of little injuries due to the powerful grip.

"Sigh, I guess we didn't have the need to let go of the carriage...", it was only latter did Alex realize that letting the carriage go was a fools mistake.

"Ya, I guess it would be a good exercise to walk till Evan..."

"..."

To be continued...