Visitreetions of the demon world

Visitreetions of the demon world

Year 201

The demon king took its time, and we waited. So, I went on the offense, and wanted to claim a few more demon champions for myself. Just like the [Forest Rod], which I clearly wish I had more, I wanted more of these infestors.

I could find uses for them. Someday. Ally stood like a machine back in Freshka, and I quickly commanded it to sleep in one of my bio pods, safe in the valley. I didnt want an infestor like her walking about the city, mainly because I felt such abilities were more suited to be hidden. A spy is most effective when no one suspects a spy.

Thus, only Stella and a few others were aware of it, and I made it a point to make them know it.

What are your weaknesses? I asked Ally, like, I tried my luck whether its possible to directly ask a former demon the answer.

I dont know. It wasnt so easy, sadly.

We watched the star-ways with great interest. One of the paths glowed bright, but it wasnt yet ready for the demon king. There were tell-tale signs when the demon king was about to cross, and so far, we have not seen it.

Down in the Southern continent, we continued our great game of demon-parasite whack-a-mole, and eventually, I managed to catch two more demon champions. One was a general of a destroyed kingdom, named Genid, and another was a King, King Rhoma of the Sanndea kingdom, which is no more. Since everyone alive was infested and incurable.

These two demon champions did not reveal anything new. They were similar creations of the Infestor King, and had no memories.

As our reach expanded in the South, I finally managed to catch something I was looking for.

A rift.

What are you doing? Stella asked as my trees approached a rift. She sensed some unusual magic fluctuations, a little more drain than usual. Another demon champion?

Not exactly. While waiting for the demon king, Ive decided to go on the offense.

Stellas eyes squinted, and then widened as she realised what Ive just meant. Wait. You need the entire team here-

My roots and vines approached the rift, and slowly tested out its magical resonance. Like the previous demons, I needed to know the exact mana frequency to confuse the rift, such that it would let me through to the other side.

Why? Stella asked as she felt the energies passing through the void portals.

I have nothing to lose, and I realised, with my seeds, that I should use them offensively. Playing defense is tiring. I have two seeds left. From what I gather, it does take a while for any destroyed tree to respawn as a new seed, but with both Threeworlds and the other world remaining close by, I was willing to do it.

Its my first attempt at launching an offensive attack. From what I learned from Snek, I suspect that the demons most likely do not have means of communication with other demon types, and that each demonic world is largely independent, though there were some means of coordinating invasions.

I needed a solid presence in one such world, if I wanted to know what exactly happened. I couldnt learn about the demons without seeing them in one of their controlled worlds.

The last time, I needed the forest rod. I wouldnt use the forest rod now. With the [seed of aeon], I could use my clones as disposable scouts. My only risk was if they possessed my clone bodies, but I suspect thats impossible.

I spawned more artificial minds, just in case. I needed the backup.

We dont know what our homeworld is like. We were created, and before we could see or sense, we were flung to this world through the rifts, sent to infest anyone who feels strong.

I also learned that my infestors used to have some kind of ability to see strength, thats inactive as they are currently unpowered. Could they infest something like me? I suspect probably not, since a soul tree like myself should be invincible in its native domain. When asked, they seemed to answer. We dont know, but we are programmed to try.

Huh. That was rather strange.

I soon found the resonance needed to get myself through the rift gates. My roots and vines went through!

Stella immediately winced as my roots went through.

The first thing I attempted to do was see.

A gate. I saw a gate. The gate was on a platform, and around the gates were those same void crystals. They were some other demonic structures around those void crystals, and this time, I was able to sense some magic flowing through it.

But immediately beyond the dry platform was water!

This demon world was not dry! If anything it was more of a corrupted world. There were demonic trees and large gigantic monsters that would not be out of place in the rottedlands. I saw large blobs, filled with hundreds or thousands of those demonic parasites being hauled by large demonic creatures. They were pushed through the rift-gate, and they appeared on the other side.

The blob didnt survive the transfer, but the parasites did.

Whats happening?

-

Back home, I immediately summoned Snek for an audience.

Tell me about the lines from your home. Are you aware of them?

Yes. These are the magical energies of the world?

Have you observed any change in the magical energies of the ley lines since the demons took over?

Snek frowned. Im afraid I dont have information on this. We are aware of some changes in these magical strands but I did not look into it.

Didnt you say you were an expert on your world.

...I lied, oh great Aeon. The little snake spirit prostrated on the floor. I merely have a high level knowledge of it. To have knowledge of everything in my world is not something one snake can achieve.

-

I spread my roots and trees more and more, and eventually stumbled on something Ive seen in the dreams of the heroes.

Pillars and spires, filled with dark red blobs, and looking at it for myself, I saw the spires were linked to large pillars and spikes, these were embedded into the ground, like stakes. There were also large vats and pools right next to the pillars filled with some kind of colored muck. The blobs on the spires themselves all seemed to contain smaller, almost like baby-demons.

I felt a draining effect in the land itself, and thankfully, I was resistant to it. It felt like a vacuum cleaner sucking on my toes, and it didnt really hurt. It was just slightly irritating.

It wasnt the only one such structure I saw.

As I spread my trees as far and wide as I could in this new demonic world, I saw many more such structures. I was looking for the thing that created the demonic champions.

I soon found other rift-gates, and as my trees spread, I realised there were at least ten of them, each of them had a whole bevy of void crystals around them. I watched the rift gates open, and the demonic parasites were sent through.

This part was not new to me. What was new was what happened after the rift gates were closed. I saw demons that replaced the crystals, and they replaced them by the hundreds and thousands.

Each rift gate was supplied, continuously, by a supply chain of these demons who did nothing but carry these void crystals.

So, I followed this supply chain. It took some time, at least a month, since the supply chain was very, very long, and eventually I came upon what was the largest spawning pool Ive ever seen. The waters were different. They were black with streaks in them, like a very thick soup.

Around the holes were massive spires that joined up at the top in the shape of a ring. From my viewpoint, it looked like a supermassive rift gate that was exactly above the hole.

My roots sensed something lurking within these lakes, and here, that sucking effect was extremely strong. But, more importantly, I felt its focus that went deep underground. I felt it draw energy from the depths.

I spread my trees around this lake, and noticed some parts where demons emerged from the lake, hauling smaller void crystals.

This lake produced void crystals or were they mining them from deep underground?

I tried to dig underground, like how I dug back home, and I soon found that this hole stretched downwards, and I sensed pain.

A pain that came from the world itself.

I followed the pain, and kept digging. The demons hole was still there! How did they manage to dig so deep? As I went deeper, and deeper as I could manage, I sensed a powerful presence, wrapped in a shell. I knew it was powerful, because its energy was like a constant hum and it pressed on my roots.

The hum became a constant grinding noise as I went deeper, and I realised it was the nascent demon king. It was further down. Much, much further down.

The core of the world was the womb of the demon king.

Spaizzer

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On a personal note : Life's hard. So tired. Having kids are tiring. Think before you make babies. :P