Intreeference

Intreeference

Year 201 (Continued Part 2)

I didnt look forward to battling these demon kings again. It felt like just yesterday I sent both Lumoof and Edna to the battlefield.

Dont say anything. I said to both Roon and Johann. No death flags. They nodded. I was superstitious. These demon kings did not leave the general area where they arrived, which was a large capital city that had been entirely infested with transformed demons. They didnt speak either, and the demon champions that served them also did not speak. It seemed they gained some kind of telepathic ability, which I vaguely sensed, but could not interrupt or crack.

Alright. I lost three senior Valthorns four decades ago, and I was not prepared to lose more. Even now that wound felt fresh in my heart.

Each demon king had a gimmick. What was this demon kings gimmick? The split bodies? Or an ability to regenerate? Ken, at least, understood our intention to rehearse our game plan. It made sense to him that if there are gimmicks, then those fighting the demon kings should be familiar with the tropes.

If its split-body, its likely to have some kind of kill all three or the rest will regenerate type of ability. Ken said. This is common in games.

Prabu nodded. So we have a small window to deliver enough damage to all three.

Yes, essentially a DPS-check. That means damage per second, and were trying to deliver sufficient damage within a short time frame to overwhelm the regenerative ability. As a former game designer, I was familiar with the phrase, though both Kei and Stella never heard of it.

Alright. So whats our game plan if thats the case? Should we test it out?

Ken thought to himself. You could hold back, destroy one body first and see what happens. If it really has that sort of function or skill, then only unleash hell on all the bodies.

It's also likely that each body has a unique ability. Or maybe not. I'm not sure how deep their scope of powers could be.

Theres four of us. Colette said. Theres three of them, and they should be weaker with their separated bodies. We have gained levels since the last time. We should be able to bring this demon king down faster.

Ah yes, thats a common trope too. They might fuse and have some final form. Ken paused, and then continued. Usually parasite-type demons can uh... copy or replicate their enemies ability to some extent.

So we should field as few combatants as possible? Prabu asked. "Wait. Are we safe from possession?

Ken frowned. I think the answer is likely to be a no. Think about it, these guys were designed to kill us, and theyve taken up a parasite form. We are their number one enemy. They must be tailored to possess heroes. These guys must be able to do so.

That was a good point, and it was Snek who gave a good suggestion. Then you heroes should find ways to store a soul-bomb.

What the hell is that?

Ken looked at Lumoof. I hear the priests are doing it already, but their skills and spells are at a far lower level. Can Aeon deploy something far more powerful?

Im not sure, but certainly worth trying. Snek pointed it to their type of reinforcing blood magic. There are some aspects of blood magic that reinforces the soul.

The heroes were chosen because of their strong souls, or more correctly, they were enhanced such that they had strong souls. I remember looking at Meelas soul a long time ago, and noted how much stronger it was than the others. But would this help against the demon king.

In the case of Edna and Lumoof, their souls have changed since they gained their domain. Both of their soul springs had a building that now surrounded the spring, like a water fountain located within a temple complex. If I looked at my own, its possible that the building that now surrounded the spring is essentially my domain. It protected my soul from outside forces. Sneks type of blood magic essentially collects the rocks and bricks from the dead souls, and uses those materials to reinforce a persons soul spring.

There has to be a way it can be done.

I tried to remember all the past times when I defended myself and then remembered about Alexiss attempted possession of my own body.

What had I done then?

Nothing, actually. My soul just protected itself.

But there had to be something that can be done such that some similar strength can be embedded into the heroes.

I will be safe. Lumoof said. If the demon king ever tried to possess me, all you gotta do is take control.

Thats true. Lumoof was likely to be safe, and I knew it, because there was a very strong link in his soul realm to mine. He was my avatar, and a demon attempting to possess Lumoof competed with that.

Edna, Lumoof and the Valthorns caught up as I mulled more ideas. Lumoof spoke of the Threeworlds, exploring the Centaurs and the land of the sandpeople. But that was a story I would catch up on at a later date. I decided to experiment on Prabu when he managed to teleport back for a short while. One of his snack-collection trips. He agreed to a dip into one of my soul forge-linked biolabs.

Im going to try and give you some anti-demon king resistance. It will hurt. Alot.

Okay. Prabu agreed.

You sure?

Yes.

Alright.

I remembered that time when I tried to fix Juras soul, and attempted to stir the waters around Prabus soul spring.

Whats happening? He asked through our magical link.

Im attempting to reinforce your soul. Unlike the domain holders, the heroes have these large jugs that floated in their sky, pouring star mana. These added to their own mana from their soul spring, and again, the size of the springs were massive. Lumoof and Edna may have the domains, but in terms of star mana, these heroes have us beat. No contest.

Maybe because Prabus a mage, so his mana was also higher than normal.

It was possible for me to manipulate the space outside of his soul spring, and I attempted to do so.

With the experience of the priests with their soul protection, I called on my domain powers, and injected it into Prabus body.

It really drained me, and it was painful for him, but soon I saw a small plant emerge right outside of his soul spring. It sucked quite a bit of his mana, and then stopped.

[A Grafted Soul Trees Presence]. I immediately sensed it forming a link with the familiar Ive previously given to Prabu.

Huh.

I knew that this was only possible because Im much stronger than before, and because of that strength, this chunk of myself could survive the turbulent, star-mana flooded world of a hero.

Planting something in someone else's' garden takes far more energy than my own, at least, an order of magnitude more than taking out a foreign object. This much was obvious. This was why it takes a lot less energy to heal or remove something foreign.

This tree was a foreign object, and was still tiny, because it's weakened by the eroding forces within the body itself, instead of nourishing it.

Unless I could mislead the body into thinking it's not foreign?

Wait.

I should be able to do that, from my experience meddling with Juras hand. The soul clearly can forget what belonged to it, and what didnt. If I messed with that...

I drew more power from everywhere, and just like trying to convert Ally and the demonic infestor parasites, I tried to alter Prabus soul realm to accept my presence. He was a hero, and previously, they had resistance to all sorts of powers. But with my second, focused domain, the barrier and protection of the hero was tough, but not invulnerable.

Lumoofs body then suddenly flashed like a supernova, and the demon king that wrapped around Lumoof was blasted with this strange multicolored light. The power that was released at that moment was far higher than anything Ive ever felt, and comparable to the strongest of the heroes attacks.

That demon king body was incinerated instantly.

I was stunned.

How was this possible?

Demon kings were not meant to be insta-killed. In my mind, I wondered then. How the fuck do I do that intentionally? How do I repeat this? This was an ability that could break the balance of the game.

I realised maybe I was a little too excited. After all, this wasnt really a full strength demon king, since this was a demon king that had split itself to three. But if I could one shot one-third of a demon king, I somehow felt that was actually an encouraging sign too!

Even if I didn't know what exactly happened.

Lumoof immediately fainted, and though he was alive, that single attack flushed his body with too much mana, and the pain was too much. My sensors immediately detected extreme pain throughout his body and realised he had signs of extreme mana sickness.

I instantly teleported him back to Freshka for healing. This was too much for him.

That meant I lost track of the battlefield for a good 15 minutes.

Stella! I shouted to her mind, with Lumoof back in Freshka, my connection to the south was lost. Portals!

On it! Void portals immediately opened and my roots reconnected to all the trees I planted in the South.

Roon, Johann. Retreat! If only domain tier could resist corruption, that meant they were vulnerable to the demon kings possession. There was always another demon king for them to fight if they survived this one. Theres no need to go all in. I could send them to the Threeworlds or that other world to fight other demon kings.

I thought of pulling back through the [Court of the Deitree]s teleportation ability, but that was a one-way trip. What if I needed them for something else. Thankfully they retreated quickly without much issue, and I focused on fighting the other demon champions. But as that happened, I vaguely sensed a gathering pool of energy where the demon king was incinerated, and I saw a small, almost ethereal presence.

Its not physically visible, but I definitely could see it, because its like a spiritual template. I saw the heroes destroy one of the demon kings then, and I noticed something similar gathering in the air, where the other demon king's body died.

The heroes wouldnt be able to destroy this thing, not unless they had some soul-linked powers. This is a spiritual template. I knew then this was the foundation for the demon king to rebuild its own body, and I saw energies leaking from the last remaining body that channeled to the other two destroyed bodies.

I immediately understood how the demon king would have regenerated itself if all three bodies were not destroyed.

Too bad the demon king were clearly not prepared for my presence, and my roots touched the spiritual template, the foundation of all healing, and summoned my soul forge. It would be a pain to use my powers through the portal, but if I could destroy the template, it would eliminate the demon kings ability to regenerate its split bodies.

We need time to gather our mana. A lot of mana was drained to blow up the demon king.

Shit. I could see the demon king regenerating but I couldnt stop it because I lacked mana? How long do I need?

A few hours, at least.

I thought, if I couldnt destroy it, then I could at least interrupt it. That wouldnt need that much mana. It would increase the time needed to gather mana.

But better than facing three demon kings. I noticed the heroes were gradually getting tired, and essentially the parasite demon king with three bodies was playing a game of attrition. If the demon kings could survive until the heroes were exhausted, they would be able to kill the heroes.

I injected my soul-forge energies into the demon kings soul-template, and though the miniscule amount was not able to destroy the template, I was able to easily interfere with the energies that attempted to gather there, and quickly dispersed the energies.

I think Ive just bought extra time for the heroes.

This, of course, drew the attention of the last remaining demon king, and rather than continuing its constant airborne dogfight with the heroes, it turned, and bombed the roots and trees that interfered with the regeneration.

I blocked with my shields and my barriers, and they withstood the first attack. Barely. The second attack destroyed them, but its alright. I was prepared to regenerate my trees as long as necessary.

Your opponent is here. Colette said as her array of magical weapons zapped the demon king. It turned, and lunged towards the heroes.

The demon king turned, and then pulled the remnants of the demon kings energy back to itself, instead of regenerating. The spiritual templates themselves folded into the main body, and then the demonic parasites all around us immediately went wild. This was a pattern repeated throughout the world, as all the parasites all over the world simultaneously attempted to transform, or take over their host, and then, they would attack those around them, attempting to repeat the act.

It was a stupid thing. Why show your hand? Though I clearly noticed that the demons were learning, their learning and improvements were disorganised and random. Its almost as if they were some kind of self-learning network that just tries things and attempts to figure out how it performed. Were they just trying other strategies randomly?

In any case, this stupid move merely allowed the rest of the world to kill the demons and end the parasites once and for all.

I would have ensured that the parasites remain hidden, but I suppose I should count my lucky stars.

Back with the demon king, it immediately went airborne and transformed into this massive floating blob. Demon champion-parasites attempted to latch onto the heroes, and a few bit them, but they were not infested. They had sufficient levels and protection for it.

Edna decided to retreat, as she had limited airborne powers. I too, had limited airborne powers. At this point, I merely decided to stay back and provide any defensive support, but with Lumoof out of commission, I wouldnt be able to deploy my full strength.

Its all up to the four heroes now.

The demon king used more conventional abilities then, but I noticed it was weaker than the earlier demon kings, and the heroes successfully whittled it down.

Chungs magical bolt slammed into the demon king, and it shattered, revealing a tiny blob.

Its either going to blow-

The tiny blob charged forward at incredible speed, and I barely blocked it with my wooden shield. It smashed through my shields like it was nothing, and then slammed into Prabu and Colettes protective magical shields.

It then expanded in an explosion, and transformed into a big purple blob around the heroes. The heroes attacked it repeatedly, but it somehow pushed through the magical shields, and stabbed the heroes.

It did what a parasite was always trained to do.

Possess a hero.

It had inserted itself into the four heroes, and now it was up to them to resist it. All four heroes were in pain, as I attempted to help them.

I knew, somehow, all four heroes were in a mental battle with the demon king. As Ken put it, this was the cliche of heroes fighting from the inside.

My roots and vines emerged and wrapped around the blob, and drained its power. It was a lot of toxic, dirty power, just like that previous time I tried it with the heroes. I knew the demon core from this demon king was likely to be corrupted as well, but now that I've seen how the demon king was created, I may not need to fight it directly.

The void mages were trying their best to support the portals. I was pushing as much power as I could, but I didnt have much anyway. Most of it was used.

But then, a ray of light shot through the purple blob, and then, an explosion of light. The blob was vaporised.

[Demon King Exikant has been defeated]. All over the world, a kill switch went off in the demon parasites, and they all died instantly.

The four heroes fell, and my roots immediately reached out to grab them. They were alive, but weak. My roots and vines cradled them, and immediately injected them with healing abilities.

At the same time, the rest of us felt a surge of relief. The era of demonic parasites was finally over.