Treeple-agents

Year 200

It wasn’t very hard to identify the demon-infested kingdoms, since, with the recent events, they declared themselves quite publicly. The demons as a whole was not a functional kingdom, since the ‘citizens’, comprised of possessed demons.

They, sadly, cleverly used the population as a meat shield. The population all had demonic larva in them that were not fully ‘infested’, such that these populations could still interact and talk like normal, though, with some mental controls. Those who struggled or resisted the demonic control were quickly fully infested, or killed. 

When I started offensively expanding my trees into these demonic-parasite kingdoms, I noticed a glaring weakness.

The demons could not detect my presence. They had some sense of their own, but as parasites, they mostly leeched off the senses of their hosts. And if their hosts did not notice me, they didn’t either. 

That meant, with Stella and void mages, I could observe the demons without outside intervention! 

First thing I noticed was how absolutely ordinary some of these villages were, except for a few villagers who clearly had demonic appendages throughout their body. No one reacted to it, even those we could still detect the presence of a soul.

Even as a ‘dormant’ or ‘larva’ form, the demons were clearly able to alter or change minds. There was no other reason why these people, who clearly retained some of their own cognitive abilities, accepted these ‘demons’ so easily. 

I therefore classify the demons into three categories, though the line between the infested stage and transformed stage is very thin

On top of these three stages, we have the demon champions, who are at the larva-possession stage, but are able to either steal, or mind-control and simultaneously merge it with their own demon champion abilities. 

Those who were still in the larva possession stage continued to live relatively normal lives, though they focused on eating. Now that they did not have to keep up any semblance of a society, they abandoned things like paperwork and trade. The demonic parasites reorganised their society such that the larva-possessed collected food centrally. 

That said, they continued to produce weapons and equipment, which these demons used.

These demons were able to use equipment, including magical equipment. Could they use hero items? As we continued to observe, we noticed the transformed demons taking charge. We kept spreading our trees, and noticed even more cities infested with demons, and finally found the prey we wanted.

A champion.

No. There were two of them. 

We knew they were champions, because the transformed demons deferred to them. The way all these humanoid demons obeyed their commands. 

Both the human King and Queen had a champion in them, and if we strained our magical sensors a little, we could pick up their masked magical powers. Their strength was self-evident, it rippled outwards in little motions. 

“These human bodies are so fragile.” The possessed King said to the Queen. 

“Would you rather possess a lizard, then?”

“If it is a big one, yes.” The King laughed, strangely human. How did they speak? “Or are you referring to the Lizardfolk?” 

The Queen did not respond. 

“No matter. Let us wait for the True King.” 

We knew, with certainty, that these champions could not possess me. I saw how the champions were torched by Edna’s soul. I wanted to capture these demon champions, and so I asked Stella and the void mages to rest for two days. I needed them at their best when I pushed my powers through their portals. 

It wasn’t hard to find them after the two days. The two champions were incredibly confident. They walked about their ‘kingdom’ with no guards, no defenders. Not necessary, when the demons as a whole respected and obeyed their inherent hierarchy. 

I initially tested the concept on the demon parasites, the lesser larva to the effects of my mana. It killed them. They were just fragile to most things when not in a host. But I had a feeling it would work on the champions. 

“Alright, be ready, because I’m going to attack a demon champion.” I told Stella. I had my labs and everything on standby. 

“Ready.” Stella understood my plans to study the demon champions, though she didn’t quite agree with having a war of the parasites. 

The two champions were apart. One was with some of the possessed, and the Queen was with a small battalion of demonic knights. These knights were no longer human, though they looked every bit like it. 

I readied my artificial minds, and went for it.

Somewhere nearby, I immediately created two [Giant Attendant Trees]. These helped amplify my aura and power. Then, at the same time, roots shot out from the ground, and immediately wrapped the two of them. They reacted quickly, but their response was to attack my roots. 

The two demon champions both released a huge burst of flame that burnt the entire city, taking down a huge number of other demons with it, but it failed to burn through my trees.

“Heroes?” The King yelled as it transformed, and the demonic appendages fought the hundreds of vines and roots that spawned from the ground.

It was like two masses of snakes or eels with different colors wrestling in shallow waters. They were no match for me. Not with my current levels of power. 

They struggled hard, and they resisted. But I didn’t mean to kill them. 

I flooded them with my mana. 

The eyes of the possessed King widened in fear. “-no!”

It was time for the corruptor to be corrupted. 

It’s time for reverse wololo~

Stella struggled, but she worked with a team of Void mages to stabilise the portals as huge amounts of mana was pumped through the portals. A few fainted, and they had to swap. But now, her school of void mages numbered in the hundreds, and this was within the same world.

My mana flooded the demon champions, and in the end, one of them decided to self-destruct, than to submit to my influence. The body of the King splattered into mush. 

The champion that inhabited the Queen was not so lucky. My roots and vines penetrated the body, and found the champion’s true body. A large hairy worm-like creature lived in the husk, and my mana flooded it. 

The champion struggled, and I sensed its’ panicked flailing. It killed its host at that moment, but the body was still ‘alive’. Shit.

Was it going to run?

A chrysalis of wooden vines and roots emerged around the captured body, a vessel for the conversion. The demons in the surrounding area and the nation, who were not destroyed by the demonic flames, went wild, and they ran towards our location at full speed. 

I spawned beetles by the hundreds and thousands, and blocked them off. Horns went through, and helped lead the defense of the wooden shell. 

The demons rushed by the thousands, and the beetles fought off the demonic hordes from the surrounding nations for hours. My artificial minds supported the battle, as I focused on capturing the demon champion.. 

It took hours, as my mana gradually worked its way through the demon champion’s real body. 

Strangely, no demon champion came. Not even from the nearest kingdom, which hosted more demon champions. Just more regular stuff.

The demonic larva attempted to infiltrate the beetles, and some succeeded. But the beetles had extremely strong, demonic-resistant carapaces, and it was easy to tell which beetle was infected, since we would lose control of the beetle. 

Horns, for example, couldn’t be infested, simply because my artificial minds were all linked to me at a fundamental level. My domain powers maintained the link with them, and that linked burned any attempted infestations.

The battle lasted for two days, and Stella was exhausted. She didn’t sleep for two days, as my own trees and vines back home supported her. 

The demon champion finally caved.

[Natural Mana Overwhelming has converted a Demonic Infestor Champion]

[You converted the demon into an Aeonic Infestor Champion.]

[The Skill Natural Mana Overwhelming has been upgraded]

The wooden chrysalis opened, and revealed that same human queen, but different. Her eyes were green, and her voice ethereal. She retained some of her-demonly features, but there were parts where it was clearly wooden. Her skin now had a greenish tone, instead of the original dark-red of the demons.

The infestor kept the host, though the host changed as a result.

Stella was already at her breaking point, it was only my own energies that kept her awake. Since it was done, I allowed her to rest. Another group of void mages then took over, and opened a portal to let the converted Champion through.

The champion seemed to understand instinctively, and stepped through the void portal. It was now in Freshka. 

The infestor looked around, and the void mages stared. They were visibly afraid. Two of my Valthorns were there, ready for any eventuality. Roon’s bow and arrow glowed, ready to fire.

I felt it was safe, as Patreeck’s psychic power descended on the infestor. Nothing. 

It bowed and knelt. “Greetings, Aeon. I am your humble slave.” 

Roon stared, still worried. “Stand, and speak. Who are you?”

“I am... I am nameless, Aeon, but this vessel was once named Queen Ally Ardiasan of Erat. I was once an infestor champion from the Demon World of the Infestors, spawned from the powers of the Infestor King.” I felt my mana permeate the converted demon.

“So Ally, then.”

“If you so will, I will be Ally.” The former demon answered, and at that moment, I had more questions than ever.

“Do you remember where you came from?”

“Not much. We are created by the Infestor King, or what the people of this refer to as the Demon King. The Demon King created us as lesser versions in his image, with his powers to corrupt and to control.”

“What is the Infestor King?” 

Ally stood, unsure how to reply. “I know little of its power, save that it has corruption and the ability to control others through it’s tendrils.”

“What do you know, then?”

“We are here to infest, spread our kind far and wind, we are to use the knowledge of the people against itself, prepare for the King’s descent and kill the Puppets.”

“The Puppets.” I repeated. 

“Yes. Heroes. Puppets. Same thing.” Ally answered. Roon and Johann stared at the infestor. 

“Aeon, this is not a demon?”

“No. It’s... a converted demon.”

“It’s possible to convert demons?” Roon asked. I’ve forgotten most of them have not seen my attempts to convert the demons. 

“Yes. Hytreerion was made from the shell of a demon walker.” I added. It was quite strange that Ally didn’t need any of that, despite being a demonic champion. Or wait. “Ally, are you able to infest anyone or use your powers?”

Ally wanted to, and then stopped. 

[Aeonic Infestor Champion requires a power source. You may attach a Titan Soul or an artificial soul to power it. It is currently relying on residual energies stored within its body, and will need to rest near a tree to recharge. While in this low-power mode it is unable to infest anyone.]

“Oh.” Darn. The Infestor Champion had a memory box and thought unit, but still needed a power source. Now that I robbed it of its original power source, it needed something from me. This sucked, since it meant I couldn’t scale this operation.

But I realised this infestor champion essentially was a spy’s greatest weapon. I could deploy Ally to other worlds and help me gather information that I could not gather myself. In a way, Ally’s even better than Lumoof, since, well, Ally could seamlessly blend into the existing folk.

“Ally, do you kill your hosts?”

“Do you want me to, master? As infestors, we have two modes, possession and infestation. Infestation kills the host.”

The only problem was, I couldn’t see what Ally was doing. 

“Tell me more about how you steal powers?”

“As infestors, we attach to the Soul Springs of our hosts, and hijack it. We are all innately able to ‘confuse’ the soul spring, into thinking our commands are the soul’s commands. We exist on two levels, at a physical level, and at a soul level, we can inject ourselves into the soul. This injection process, of course, drains a lot of magical power, but, we also simultaneously steal power from the soul springs of our host. When we kill our hosts, we grab hold of the pieces of their soul spring, and attach them to our own. But, it doesn’t always succeed, and using these powers require mana like normal.”

“Wait. Get into the biolab.” 

Ally nodded, and got into the biolab as commanded. 

I saw a constantly shapeshifting, bloblike creature that resembled a jellyfish. It was hollow in the middle, like it was waiting for a power unit, or a ‘soul spring’ to power it. There were smaller rocks that floated in between the multiple blobby tentacles of the Infestor Champions, and realised these were the stolen skills. 

Skills taken from the Queen.

I couldn’t see how it interacted and inserted into another soul, because, in its current state, it lacked the means to do so. 

The tentacles and the blobs moved constantly, and there was no permanent form to the body. This was unlike how the others had a defined shape to the lake of their soul.

I doubt the shape was what gave it the ability to possess another, and I probably would have to insert a Titan Soul in order to fully understand what these demon champions could do. That, of course, sounded like a waste of a titan soul.

Well, maybe not, because from what I observed, Titans are most useful in a utility role. Patreeck’s usefulness has exceeded Hytreerion by a lot, so to use Titans for combat roles was frankly a waste of time. 

In that case, would using the Titan Soul on Ally, an ‘infestor’, be a waste? Do I have other, better uses for the Titans?

Meanwhile, the kingdom which the champions once ruled turned into a frenzy, like a zerg swarm without their cerebrates. Wild, primal, and they rushed towards us. 

This was strange behavior, as each parasite is able to some degree of thought and self-regulation. Surely, they did not require a champion to function. But it did. 

-

While the war against the parasites continued, Lumoof was still in Threeworlds. 

“Sir Lumoof, this way.” A merchant led him to a large room that displayed one of the largest, most detailed maps of the Threeworlds. Lumoof had a sense something was off, but he wasn’t worried. No. If anything, he wanted them to bite. It was something he had planned for a while. 

The three merchants gathered and started explaining the map, and Lumoof looked at it intently. This was helpful, at least, to strategize where to plant my [clones]. There were dungeons, magical ley lines marked, to the best of their knowledge. 

It was a commission that took the past two years, and a lot of our ‘treasures’. Lumoof nodded, as the merchants started to furl up the map. It was made with some kind of magical cloth, and with shrinking spells such that it shrunk to the size of a regular scroll. 

The merchant passed it to Lumoof. “Payment, Sir Lumoof.”

Lumoof nodded, and withdrew a magical sword from his pouch. The other merchants all stared, some seemed to be mouthwatering. 

The goods exchanged hands, and the merchants stared at the magical sword. They used some inspection abilities, and some kind of merchant-valuation ability. Yet, at that same moment, the doors slammed open, and about forty mages walked into the room. 

Lumoof quickly held the map, and in an instant, it vanished, sent back to Freshka. The merchants looked around, and they were all clearly puzzled at the mages. They stared at each other. 

“What’s happening?”

We’ve known something was up, especially when we detected a few failed [Inspection] type skills. Lumoof had a cloak that confused such skills, but it wasn’t perfect. So, it was a matter of time before the Maelas priests sensed something was up.

In fact, I was surprised that they took so long to even attempt to arrest us. Here’s an old man walking about asking for information, learning spells and so on. The mages were armed, and one pointed his staff at Lumoof. “Lumoof, on the orders of the council of High Priests of Maelas, you are to be detained on the suspicion of espionage.”

Lumoof lifted his arms. We were ready for this, and we would go along with the capture. The mages used a kind of crystal shackle, and shackled Lumoof. 

But all that happened was...

[...detecting attempted skill-control. Domain overriding.]

The crystal shackle shone, and then, like a whimper, it crumbled. The mages stared at each other. One of the high mage-priests immediately walked over, and took out another shackle.

The second shackle crumbled too.

“That’s... not supposed to happen.”

Lumoof smiled. “Anyway, gents, it’s fine, come, lead me.” 

The mages stared at each other, unnerved at how easy Lumoof went along with the capture. No, we wanted to be captured, because it was a convenient excuse. From what we know, the High priests questioned their suspects within the depths of the Crystal Mountain, where they keep their strange artefacts, and that was somewhere we wanted to go anyway. 

The mage-priests were shocked, of course, because it now seemed like they were escorting Lumoof, rather than capturing him. “Don’t worry, I have no intention of resisting.” 

Eventually, we entered a cave, high up on the Crystal Mountain. Here, we took a look, and it was beautiful. 

“Can I just appreciate the view for a moment?” Lumoof paused. 

The mage priests looked at each other uncomfortably, and then glanced towards the high-priest for guidance. The high priest nodded. “No more than two minutes.”

Lumoof nodded, and just looked at the view. It really was beautiful to see the entire city of Maelga, with crystals everywhere. It was part-crystal mine, part-magic academy, and the glowing magical crystal lights paired with the faint fog and haze from the dusts only gave it an eerie, mystical aura. 

“Alright, let’s go.” 

Lumoof nodded, and we went into the mountains. 

Spaizzer

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