Fighting Trees

Fighting Trees

Year 191

The astral paths open. The path of light that glowed brightest repeated what happened before. Stella and her team of void mages attempted, however little, to meddle with the demons path. I watched as her dark energies attempted to tamper with the path, and the void mana drained out of her.

She was not strong enough to fight the complex powers of the demons. But she tried repeatedly, and she levelled up from the attempts.

Its a lot more complicated than I thought. Stella commented. Its like theyve just dug this river from their world to ours, and they are just floating on it.

Huh. Some kind of space travel lane.

Yeah, its also not just void mana. Theres something else in this space river. But its not star mana for sure. If Im right, the demon kings core is nothing more than a cocoon to allow something so large to float through it. Stellas ability to visualise the path has also improved since 10 years ago, partly due to her levels and new skills. Or it may be that the astral path is like a rope, and the demon king is hanging onto it like a ropeway, using this demon core as a tether.

Oh? Thats new information.

If what we saw previously was just streaks of light, shes gained some ability to see what was in the streaks of light. I still couldnt, so sadly for me, Im just relying on her narration to figure out what exactly it looked like. This is normal to me, of course. I lived most of my life in this world without full vision, just partial, spiritual vision until I gained the Tree-Eyes ability.

Im not even sure what Im seeing. Its like recognising words but not truly comprehending the meaning. Stella said.

So its like you have two eyes but you cant see Mount Tai.

Yeah.

She kept trying, of course. She injected a bit of her void mana into the sky.

And failing. Its not working. Its either my powers are too unfocused, or and by the time my powers reach the path, its just less than what it was. She complained.

Wait. What was that again? You said its less by the time you reach it?

Yeah. It's kinda like... it dissipates before it reaches the path.

Would being closer to the sky help? She thought for a moment, and nodded.

No harm trying.

That was how I made the tallest Giant Attendant Tree, as tall as I could manage, complete with a wooden, vine-powered ropeway lift to the top. I made it such that there was a large flat surface at the very top, a platform for the kinds of rituals Stella and her team of void mages could ever need.

It was really, really tall, and with my magical augmentation and energies, it was probably the closest Ill get to a space elevator, even if its still pretty tiny. I could even feel like the top of the tree was pulling away from me.

Her team attempted it again, and still it was not successful.

It still dissipated. But at least, Ive only lost about half of our magical strength.

Well, to truly escape the worlds planetary shell would require something thats on the moon or even further. Do you think youll do better if you attempted to interfere with the astral paths from the moons?

She thought about it again, she initially shook her head wildly at how crazy the idea was but then I could tell a part of her agreed with the idea. Thats really, really crazy levels of distance.

But its possible. With enough magic you could open a portal to the moon. Even then, the moon may not be ideal as the moon may has its own sphere of interference.

Well, yes. Ive rarely seen Stellas face look so conflicted. Even more than actual moral dilemmas. But give me some time to mentally prepare. Im not prepared to open a portal to the moon. Not yet.

Wouldnt it be cool?

What if it just opens a vacuum and sucks everything up?

You know that doesnt happen.

Stella sighed. I need some time with the idea.

-

I wondered then whether I could spread my trees on the moon. With the right amount of magic, assuming that magic works on the moon, we should theoretically be able to terraform the moon into an inhabitable space.

In fact, if I could convert the moon into a safe space, that would be a less ideal-long run solution.

Its quite strange that you consider terraforming the moon as a possible idea. Kei complained one day.

I dont see why youre complaining? The demons clearly only pop up here.

What if they follow you there?

Then well deal with that problem later. I mean, why do all these heroes worry about all this stuff when it hasnt even happened yet? Well try it, and see whether it works.

Yeah. Thats true. Actually Im not against the idea of terraforming the moon. Im because its like... uh, the moon? No. Wait. That doesnt make sense. I guess I just assign a weird sentimentality for the moon, like it should be what it is.

Eh, back home, men have always dreamed of colonising the moon and Mars. Here, a tree dreams of greening the twin moon.

You know what, that actually sounds quite cool. Kei admitted. Hopefully Stella sees it your way.

Oh she will, she just needs time to process the idea of portals to the moon. Shes like that, her first reaction to any idea is to say no. Usually. Ive seen Stella enough to know that her first choice is to do nothing, or hide. This part of her, she still took a while to undo, and in some ways, I really resonated with that.

-

Stella, as predicted, agreed to the idea a week later, but after suitable preparations were made. For now, she continued her attempts to challenge the demons astral path from the top of my Tower-Tree, as she felt she could still make improvements to her technique. She tried repeatedly, and at one point, she actually succeeded in interfering with one single transmission.

She wasnt sure what happened though.

At the same time, Lumoof and the team of Valthorns on the Western Continent continued to hunt the demons. We witnessed a few rifts, and the rifts are actually vulnerable weak points. I did not activate my avatar ability, as the heroes were also fighting along. I did not want to reveal the full scope of my avatar powers to them.

So, we allowed the other Level 100+ Valthorns to lead the battles with the champions. They needed the experience and the levels to prepare them for the real thing.

Lumoof and Edna mainly played a supporting role, and often just stayed back. Kei, of course, understood this. As for the heroes, they thought it was just kinda weird. They, of course, could not really understand how slow normal people levelled when compared to them. They claim they get it, but they dont feel and live how slowly it takes for any regular person to level up. With their divine blessings, they usually just need a champion or two to gain a level.

Demonic ogres and giant ogres were actually pretty pleasant to fight. They fought very much like regular humans, only with exceptional strength and power, and they also had a few skills. This went on for about two months, and during this time my ships and Hytreerion also finally got into their position. Near, but not too near.

I wasnt sure what gimmick this demon king would have. Maybe itll just cut off the worlds magical communication network again. Hopefully we dont get that.

Everyday, Stella would recharge the void batteries, and kept battling the demonic paths. It didnt seem to make any impact on the number of demons, but she gained levels even from failing, so there was no real reason to stop.

Then the path glowed brightly. Its coming. Stella wasnt afraid, so she tried again, this time with everything. She wanted to see whether she could disrupt the path so that the demon king couldnt properly enter the world.

Her void energies formed a shovel and attempted to cover the path of light that cut through the void forest. The path glowed, and little sparks of flames lit up along the path. She attempted to put out one of the flames, and she managed to cause one of them to dim slightly.

The path glowed, and then seemed to bend at where the light was dimmer. Then, a glowing ball of light appeared and moved quickly along the path. Stella held on and used her void mana and attempted to mess with the path. It was either now or never.

She pushed, and her void mana caused the path of light to dim ever so slightly. The glowing ball, however, smashed into her void mana at full speed, and from the skies above, a void-energy shockwave hurled right at Stella. I immediately wrapped my roots around her to protect her, and created multiple wooden shields.

The void energy shockwave smashed through my shields, but thankfully, I had many, many layers of them, and they were stopped.

Stella was safe, but shaken by how suddenly it happened. Fuck that.

On the Western Continent, my sensors detected the rift energies gathered at a particular location, but then it shifted and moved at the very last minute, like a car that made a last minute swerve.

[Demon King Bagradva descended]

It appeared right over a river, and the water where the demon king descended instantly vaporized. Through Lumoof, I could feel its presence, it was like a hot fire. It didnt appear where we wanted it to be, but now we had to lure it to the few designated battlefields across the Western Continent.

The heroes knew it was coming too.

Well... Colette said, and then, a magical gate appeared right next to him. Chung walked right through, fully armed and equipped. Shall we get with the plan?

Prabu and Hafiz both nodded. Chung passed the other three heroes some stick-like artifact, then took a glance at Edna and Lumoof. So you two are the supporting fighters?

Lumoof smiled. Yes. Hope we are not much of a bother.

Chung shrugged. Oh well, lets get with it.

The heroes quickly moved to position, and they periodically activated their star mana forms. Our spies and scouts tracked the demon kings movement, and it seemed to have picked up the heroes location and moved towards them.

Hafiz immediately ran ahead and summoned two star mana swords. He threw one of them at Edna. Edna was the only one nearby, and she grabbed the sword. She slashed and managed to land a few cuts.

Then the sword ran out of star mana and turned to dust.

The demon king punched, and this time, Edna was knocked back really far. She may not take damage, but they could still push her. The demon fox took the chance to rejoin its master.

I immediately mentally spoke to the heroes. Let Edna do the tanking. You guys keep attacking the demon king.

They nodded, and the two archmages charged up a bluish energy ball, and fired it. The blue energy ball transformed into a glowing piece of ice and smashed right into the demon kings regenerated shields.

The shield instantly shattered. Edna moved in.

Edna pulled out a magical ice sword from Aria, and slashed. The ice sword landed five hits, and then shattered. She pulled out another set of spears, and stabbed the demon king when the energy shield was down. I also followed up with a few root strikes. Once again, I attempted to wrap the demon king with my vines.

Our attacks did some damage, but it was Hafizs star mana sword-slash that dealt most of the damage.

But I could tell the heroes were at least impressed that we were holding on and could even contribute. Around the same time, I immediately got my mid-range and long range weapons to be ready. Hytreerion got into position, and a few of my other Valthorns prepared the magical artillery, loaded with an arsenal of crystal bombs.

The hawk in the sky launched thunderbolts. Its dark-red feathers were lava and lightning combined. Chungs magical arrows chased the hawk through the sky, but Chung also tried to launch an attack at the demon king every now and then.

The hawk took a hit, and it crashed on the ground. Right before it flew off, my roots immediately surged out of the ground and wrapped it, and attempted to drain as much of its mana. The hawk struggled.

Chung immediately charged up a magical arrow and blasted the hawk through the head. The hawk disintegrated to magical dust. We were left with the fox and the demon king. The fox roared and blasted out an energy wave.

It leapt towards Edna, its claws armed and ready.

The fox clawed and slashed Edna, but it didnt hurt her at all. However, it freed up the demon king from Ednas annoying presence, and the demon king took the chance to charge at the rest of the heroes. The demon kings shield was back again. As it charged, it attempted to move the earth around the battlefield.

I felt the demon kings magic tug at the ground strongly, but my roots had covered the entire battlefield, and together with Lumoof, we fought back and kept the ground stable. It roared in frustration, and then used lightning instead. Lightning from its axe surged towards the heroes. Both Colette and Prabu somehow automatically activated magical shields and the lightning axes smashed into the shield.

It exploded and both the archmages were knocked back.

Yet, the same attack also gave Hafiz an opening. The knight-hero slashed the demon king from the back, and left two large gashes that ran down its massive body. It roared, and glowed again. This time, I felt a stronger twist of magic in the air.

The two archmages were a little drowsy from being knocked back, and they got up. They immediately put up shields. Hafizs body glowed in armor and he too slashed again. Edna continued to battle with the fox, and she was winning. The fact that the fox could not hurt Edna meaningfully meant she ignored her defense and just kept on attacking the fox.

I wrapped the demon king with my roots again. Its glowing body twisted and struggled. This time, it turned to face Lumoof. It shot out a focused beam towards Lumoof.

I activated all the shields as I could manage, and the beam pierced through almost all of it. But my shields was sufficient to deflect the beam slightly off center, and merely hit Lumoof right in the leg. It vaporised his legs, and my roots immediately stepped in to start healing the wounds. I would have to mend it later.

Lumoof yelped in pain, but he grit his teeth. We can continue. He insisted, my roots managed to stop the bleeding and started repairs. My roots entered the wound and supported his body momentarily, but permanent repair will need to happen after the battle.

The demon king stopped glowing and the gashes healed, again. Yet, the change in the magic in the air was clear. Each regeneration drained it. It swung its axe around like a hurricane, and surrounded itself with a fiery tornado. It activated more magic and the earth itself turned to lava. The lava burned my roots, and I quickly flooded my roots with water drawn from a river not too far away.

The ground turned into a mix of lava and water. The ground started to release steam as the water evaporated, and the lava cooled. The demon king stomped the ground, and the ground shattered. Pieces of hardened dried lava rock cracked out of the floor.

The heroes activated a range of ice-spells, as they pulled moisture out of the team and formed them into icicles, and launched them at demon king. This also helped clear out the mist. It was then I noticed Chungs contraption was already destroyed.

Some of the dirt and lava rocks broke free from my weakened roots and these dirt chunks transformed into lava axes mid air. The demon king magically hurled them towards Lumoof, Edna and also the heroes. The sky swirled above as the heroes also activated some kind of blizzard spell. Ice shards started to rain down, and these shards homed in on the demon king.

They smashed into the demon kings red shield. These ice shards didnt crack the shield.

The lava axes met one of my wooden shield skills and exploded. At that time, the demon king raised both its arms, and then the sky parted. Edna dodged the lava axes, she made sure to avoid the places where the ground was soft. The lava may not kill her, but she could get trapped and be effectively disabled.

A massive deep red fireball came crashing down.

Fuck. The heroes screamed as they grouped together and then activated various shields. I instantly surrounded Lumoof with layers and layers of wooden shields and barriers. The entire battlefield exploded, and it destroyed all my giant attendant trees.

But the heroes survived. All four of them huddled together. Only one shield remained. Had they used their shields separately they would have died. For Lumoof, the fires burned through most of the shields, but thankfully my avatar mode meant he shared my fire resistance. Had it been any other element, Lumoof would be in trouble.

Yet the explosion left the demon king frozen in a daze. It stood motionless.

This was Ednas moment, again. Edna immediately took out more spears magically and stabbed the demon king. Her attack snapped all of us to action. I called on Hytreerion and my mid-ranged Valthorns to start their barrage, while I also activated more root strikes. The heroes attacked.

From afar, my crystal bombs zoomed across the skies and then landed around the demon king. They exploded on impact. The heroes magical spells landed on the motionless demon king and left multiple wounds. My root strike pierced through some of the weakened parts of the demon kings skin. The knight-hero left more cuts and gashes across its body, and then attempted to behead the demon shaman king.

His star mana sword stopped halfway.

The demon king glowed, everyone retreated except Edna. She went in, activated her Court of the Deitree and surrounded herself in wooden armor, and started punching. Her fists were shaped like spears, augmented by the wooden casing around her.

The demon king regenerated, again.

Edna punched, and the demon king smashed Edna with its molten club. The rest of my Valthorns, those in the Level 120s to 130s launched ranged attacks where they could. Roon and Johann, who was initially located a distance away to coordinate the mid-ranged weapons, now came to join the battle.

Their attacks didnt do much. All of us lacked the firepower to deal game-ending damage, as our attacks stopped by the shield that came back online.

Chung launched a rain of magical star-mana arrows at the demon king and the arrows slammed into the demon kings back. The torrent of star-mana arrows cracked the shields.

Its shields are down! Chung said.

The two archmages launched magical energy blasts, and reactivated their blizzard spell. This time, the ice shards slammed right to its body. The demon shaman king raised its axe, and this time, a rift appeared in the sky. A demon-dragon came out.

[Summon of Bagradva - Demon Dragon]

The dragon roared and shot huge beams.

Focus on the demon king! Chung shouted. Its already dying!

The dragon immediately landed on the ground with a slam, and attempted to attack the heroes. But before it could do so, my roots surged out of the ground and constricted the dragon. Thousands of vines and roots emerged and pulled the dragon down. I drained the dragons mana, and Lumoof coughed as the dragons energy flowed through his body.

The heroes kept attacking the demon king. The demon kings axe slammed right into Hafizs shield and cracked it. The ground shook slightly, my regenerated roots absorbed the vibrations. The steam turned to mist, as the heroes blizzard reduced the temperature greatly.

Hafizs glowing star mana sword slashed a few more times, and finally, with a great glowing slash, he finally beheaded the demon shaman king.

The severed head immediately sprouted a snake-like body.

What the shit its not dead yet! Chung screamed in frustration, and used star mana blast. The energy blast missed as the head slithered away quickly. I activated my roots and attempted to wrap it.

Ill hold it. Take a shot once it stops!

My roots wrestled with the snake-body of the demon kings head. It was strong, but I was just a bit stronger. My roots were twisted and it stopped. I tried to crush the body but couldnt, all I could do was hold it in its place.

Colette and Prabu launched a combined super-dense ice-blob, and it exploded right at the head. The head turned to ice, and then the entire head and the snake body disintegrated. The summoned dragon also immediately disintegrated.

At this time, we felt a magical pulse coming from the original demon king body. We knew what it was.

Its gonna blow.

No. My roots immediately wrapped the original body, and pierced it. It was weaker now, and my roots searched for the core.

We found it. The demon core. I wrapped it with huge amounts of roots and vines, and started to drain the mana.

Lumoof coughed and winced in pain as his body endured the huge amounts of demonic mana and other kinds of weird energies from the demon core.

I felt my head hurt, and I felt like I got hit with a jackhammer, and then fed a few bottles of alcohol. Both drunk and dizzy. Was this mana poisoning? But I kept on draining mana from the demon core, and then the pulse finally stopped.

[Demon King Bagradva has been slain!]

[You have gained 9 levels. You are now Level 208]

Yet, immediately after the notification, I felt the effects of the mana poisoning sink in, and I felt like I needed to sleep. For a short while.

Spaizzer

Thanks for reading, and I hope this battle demonstrates how far they've come, and also how much more they need to go.

There's a poll on patreon to vote on the three choices Aeon gets next chapter. It's gonna close soon.

Also, I'd like to shoutout Zendran's snek core fic. The Great Core /fiction/40888/the-great-cores-paradox