Chapter 269

“Fascinating...”

That was the word that escaped my mouth as I scaled a mountain while my mission was to follow Seldanna and her escort closely — to make sure they didn’t have another traitor that might decide to freelance for personal benefit. I knew I was close to the capital, so, finding a city when I climbed over a mountain hadn’t been surprising.

The nature of the capital, however, was very much a surprise.

At first glimpse, I found myself thinking that I had just come across an ordinary meadow, a large tree, surrounded by some shrubbery. But with my senses, it took a second to realize it was just a scaling error. The city was far more distant than I realized, and what I took for shrubbery was trees. Huge, intimidating trees that on average, taller than a mile... There were thousands of such trees covering the huge plain, with houses on the branches...

Then, there was the tree at the center. Tree of Life.

I would have said a huge tree, but that would have underrated it to a criminal degree. No, huge were the trees that surrounded it, most taller than a mile, with houses on their branches.

The wooden titan at the center made them look like shrubbery, almost fifteen miles tall, its branches cutting through the clouds and touching the sky — and that was not an exaggeration. Enhancing my senses with magic, I could see that the branches were actually touching the planar border.

It was not hard to assume that it was responsible for providing most of the mana that was responsible for maintaining the constant cyclone of mana that protected the plane from the ravages of the primordial aether.

Fascinating, I thought even as I flexed my magic to create another hideout, this time smaller, with a beacon but with little defense. Here, the nature mana was much denser, and I didn’t want the risk of getting caught. The stronger the defenses, the easier for it to be detected.

That also went for my disguise attempt. If it wasn’t for the hundreds of elves entering and leaving the cover of the trees — both by flying and by walking — I might even have abandoned my mission and just saved Seldanna before she arrived in the capital.

Instead, I sent her a subtle magical message saying that I was about to enter the city along with her, and that she shouldn’t worry too much.

Creating an outfit for myself based on the elves that were entering the capital didn’t take long. I based my outfit the way their civilians — or, what I assumed to be civilians, walking around with no visible weapons — before I climbed down the mountain, dashing while concealed in magic, slowing down only when I got closer to the city.

I should be able to teleport to Seldanna in an emergency, but it was better to have alternative paths in case of an emergency.

Yet, even as I passed through the first line of trees, consisting of the smaller ones that were merely around a thousand feet tall, a smile found my face. In a world under the siege of the undead, I wouldn’t have thought I could find a peaceful neighborhood like this.

Unlike their tribal counterparts, the elves in the capital moved with a very distinct lack of hurry that I had only seen the noble scions back in the main material plane. Not that I blamed them — much — as the streets were not only lined with huge magical trees that constantly radiated nature mana, but also with huge treants that were slumbering under the trees, with huge weapons made of wood and silver next to them, ready to act.

One thing was certain, the security here was not a joke.

Pity it was completely geared for defense, and wouldn’t matter once the undead covered the rest of the land.

I ignored the greatness of their strategic mistake as I moved deeper into the capital. The inner parts were richer, both in mana, and in material wealth — evidenced by the decoration and the way the elves were dressed.

I needed to find another way. Luckily, the spy revealed that the other traitors had been using the acorns to steal divine spark, and there was no way for them to succeed with the current level of protection. Meaning, there were spots with weaker natural resistance

I was already pushing my luck, and I didn’t want to get caught worse.

With a sigh, I started climbing the stairs, toward where I could feel Seldanna’s presence.

I had a beautiful elven priestess to save.

{Strength: 16 Charisma: 22

Precision: 16 Perception: 16

Agility: 16 Manipulation: 22

Speed: 16 Intelligence: 16

Endurance: 16 Wisdom: 16}

{Purified Divine Spark: 338}

{Pseudo-HP: 8000 Mana: 15000}

{ADDITIONAL SPARKS

Light - Chosen 7.4

Nature - Chosen 10}

{MINIONS

Guardian God Forest - 1452}

Elven Priestess - 70}

[Level: 36 Experience: 631374 / 666000]