The tree's bark felt slick under Reign's touch, oozing with a foul, viscous substance that seemed to pulse with malevolent energy. He furrowed his brows as Beast started writing down the symbols that were etched inside of the tree.
"Gabriel?" Reign called out to Gabriel, but gained no response from the jungle spirit.
They had no idea what the symbols inside the tree were, but they were certain of one thing, however.
The tree ... it was where the spawn came from.
It was actually quite obvious, after all, the remnant aura from the spawn still lingered in the air, and the way the tree was broken, the way it was split in half vertically made them know that the corruption had placed the spawn inside the tree, and after it had grown, it simply came out of the tree.
The symbols inside the tree and the lack of any life force the tree should have made them suspicious, however.
Why this tree?
Was it truly random, or was there something with this tree, something that set it apart from other trees in the jungle?
"I got it, I managed to tap into the jungle." Gabriel suddenly spoke, making Reign and the others glance at the crystal.
"You ... tapped into the jungle?"
"Yes, although I am the spirit of the jungle, which does make me something akin to the living embodiment of the jungle itself, I'm still not capable of knowing everything, just nearly everything."
"Tapping into the jungle is not something that I do lightheartedly as it does take some time and effort, but that allows me to know everything, including the passage of the mana veins beneath the surface of the jungle, the spread of corruption that cannot be seen, and more."
"That was no regular tree, was it?" Beast asked Gabriel who sighed and nodded his head.
"It was directly above a surge of mana coming from the mana vein, which allowed it to grow much faster, as well as to reach a level where a spirit was born, but not at the level needed for the tree to become sentient and to turn into something like the Wood Monstrosity you guys fought when first entering the depths of the jungle."
"This one was a weak spirit that was just recently born, it was not hostile to anyone, and then the corruption came, devoured the spirit, took control of the tree, and then chose it as the place it would have the spawn gestate."
"It took all the life force from the area by being born, that was the cost of the spawn being born here, and this tree served as the central point of that, the mana from below, the surge that came from the mana vein, it is no longer there, it's now empty."
"So, what does that mean?" Tank asked as Gabriel chuckled.
"Who sent you?" Reign asked with a wide smile as the man glanced at him.
After a moment of tense silence, the man finally spoke. "Malakai," he muttered, his voice barely audible.
"Malakai? Who is Malakai?" Reign pressed, his eyes narrowing as soul power suddenly exploded out of him and pushed against the man, causing him to feel immense pain and fear.
"He's... he's the one... behind the portals," the man admitted, his voice shaky.
Reign glanced back at the group, his mind racing with this new information. Malakai was the one responsible for the corrupted portals, and now they had a lead on who was spreading the corruption.
"We need to take him down," Shadow said, his voice cold and determined.
Reign nodded. "Agreed. But first, we need to gather more information."
"I mean, where is Malakai, who is he, how is he connected to the corrupted portals and the powers behind them, and most importantly, how do we stop him?"
"Kid." Aethion suddenly spoke, but Reign brushed him off at first.
'Just a moment, I just need to think back, to remember if we have ever come across a person with such a name before.'
"Kid, there's no Malakai!" Aethion's voice echoed inside Reign's head, causing him to grunt in pain and place his right hand on his head, which made the others glance at him in confusion, as well as care.
"You alright?"
"Aethion, bastard yelled." Reign said in order to quickly make the others feel at ease, which they did, before continuing to listen to Aethion.
'Alright you loud old bastard, what do you mean there is no Malakai, I used soul power to push him, he can't lie, I would have noticed it, right?'
"You would have if he was just a regular person, but take a look at him again, take a good look at that person and what is present around him," Aethion said as Reign did as he was told, staring down at the man that had been spying them and using mana and soul power to strengthen his eyes so that he can see that which is usually not possible to see.
And that is when he saw it, a phantom of a person that was shrouding the man he had just interrogated, a phantom made from soul power.
The instant that Reign saw the phantom, the phantom moved its head and stared at him, instantly noticing what was going on.