297. The Tree Towers

297. The Tree Towers

Year 274 (part 3)

Gigantadragon

Lumoof stopped at an uninhabited part of the ‘frontier’. Gigantadragon’s frontier are all battle-scarred battlegrounds, the slender, twisting cylindrical nature of the long serpent dragon’s meant the demons’ path, in some ways, were fairly constrained.

The demons controlled from the middle half onwards, all the way down to the end, or as the locals called it, the tail of the dragon.

All this while, the heroes held the line in the middle. They tried to stop the demon king from gaining control of more ley lines. It did, but the heroes also leveled, so the two forces were in a fairly fragile stalemate.

It’s been over a year since we started the exploration of the peripheral worlds, and as we drew closer to the end of the peripheral scouting campaign, it was also time to flex our strength.

Partly, that desire was also our own self interest. Gigantadragon was home to two living heroes, and we wanted to add them into our fold. Two additional heroes would bring the total to seven, and that was a really respectable strength.

Lumoof looked around, kneeled, and his palm touched the ground. A magical seed emerged from it, and immediately sunk into the ground below. It was a deep greenish object that shone even though there was land and soil.

The node tree emerged out of the basketball sized seed, and spawned outwards into a giant tree. Even though it was just a node, this was the moment when my roots connected with the soil of Gigantadragon.

It knew, and so, I saw visions.

A land of dragons and monsters. Giants. A rough, untamed land with powerful terrain. Volcanoes, and huge tsunamis. Towering mountains. Raw fury. Creation, and destruction. Power.

It was a relief to me. Gigantadragon only took the form of a dragon, but not the mind of one.

Through the node tree, the rest of my domain holders, and the rest of the heroes came over.

“I feel a little bad for Alka. He’s missing out on so much.” Edna said as she stepped through.

“He’ll catch up.” Lumoof shrugged. “But you know, Edna. I made up my mind.”

“Oh? Let me guess, [Towering Avatar]?” Edna smiled, as if she already predicted it.

“Exactly.” Lumoof agreed, as we felt the attention of the demon king on us. The presence of so many heroes must have drawn it’s attention. The demon king could ‘see’ heroes. It has a mental link to sense those with star mana.

Edna stretched, as she prepared for what’s next. “I too, intend to go for [Martial Paragon]. We’ve seen twelve worlds, and from what I’ve seen in these worlds, our job is to go tall, not wide. The Valthorns and future new domain holders can cover and compensate for the weaknesses of not selecting the ‘wide’ option, but they cannot compensate for what only we can do. They cannot compensate for raw power against the demon kings. For us two, I believe tall is the way.”

“Unless you’re Aeon, or maybe Stella.” Lumoof smiled. For utility-type domain holders, wide has its advantages. But at this point, both Level 200s stretched, and made their choice. “Well, then let’s greet our demonic foe with our new powers.”

“Gladly. I”d love to see how I fare.” The entirety of Gigantadragon felt it, as if the air itself thrummed with power. Their choice was like a shockwave that rippled throughout the fabric of reality.

Edna’s physique form did not change, but from then on we knew she was on par with a hero. In some ways, maybe she was even more.

I suddenly felt a wave of nostalgia. This has been a really long journey, and I thought of the little elven girl that grew up with me, and Jura, who died in my service. Edna was living proof that the people too, can match the heroes.

Lumoof’s choice, the [Towering Avatar] was an experience for me, as well as for him. We were already connected, but there is always an opportunity to be even more connected.

“Do you not fear for your sense of self, Lumoof?” I asked. I feared for the man.

Lumoof stood on that hill, his eyes staring into the demon-controlled half of Gigantadragon. “That choice was gone the day I chose your subdomain. Aeon, it is time to go.”

The rest of them could feel the tangible difference in Edna and Lumoof. Roon clapped his hand. “Well, Edna, leave some scraps for us, will ya?”

Edna smiled. “Each of us will split up. I’ll be the bait, and handle one spot by myself. Lumoof too. The rest of you will strike other ley lines in pairs. Stella will stay back to give us a path out, just in case.”

Kafa, Ezar, Roon, Johann nodded. “I kinda wish Alka’s here. His self-detonation would make things pretty easy.”

“He’ll have his chance.” Edna said. “There are many, many more demon kings to go.”

“True.”

Edna went first. “Send me to the demon king.”

Stella smiled. “Got it.”

***

Edna stepped through the portal, as close as Stella could send her. She arrived at another part of the frontier, where the two heroes waited. The demon king was just over the hill.

It was getting closer. “You’re the cavalry?” Rajah and Wira looked at the female knight.

“Part of it. Now, my two heroes, I think you better spend your time destroying whatever demonic structures the demon King put on the ley lines. Get out of here.”

“But-”

“I’ll keep the demon king occupied.”

“You? Alone?”

“Yes.” Edna’s [Quest Swords] emerged, and her summoned magical knights appeared around her. “I am enough to keep him occupied. Make haste, heroes. There are ley lines to be destroyed, and we don’t know how long the demon king will fall for the trick.”

Edna and Lumoof’s role were to be the ‘bait’. Edna would first attempt to hold the demon king and prevent it from hitting the other locations. With her [Duty beyond life and death], and her various buffs, she would be able to frustrate the demon king significantly.

Lumoof would be the second ‘bait’ or ‘harpoon’. If the demon king moved elsewhere, Stella would move Lumoof to that location, where if needed, he would summon my image, and I’d then hold the demon king back with my abilities. That, in theory, should also buy quite a bit of time for the rest of them to destroy even more ley lines.

Between us, we were fairly confident we could destroy multiple ley lines. If it the plan went well, the demon king should be significantly weakened, we would then have everyone converge on the demon king, and destroy it together.

Or, if we were confident, Edna, myself, and Lumoof would take on the demon king ourselves.

“True, true.” Stella said, as she coordinated the magical portals for the domain holders. Unfortunately, Rajah and Wira had to run really quickly since they couldn’t use her portals.

“Now if Lumoof gets his ass here, we’d have a chance.” Edna said with a grunt. Her sword just made a deep gash in the demon king’s neck, but it was already regenerating. “I could use Aeon’s spiritual interference.”

“Hang in there for a bit. We’re getting rid of the demonic spires.” Lumoof countered through the shared messaging network.

Gigantadragon is a large place, and even if it was just a constant set of explosions and battles at every single location, there were still a lot of spires and corrupted ley lines that it would still take a while.

“Oh well.”

On average, it took the team just about half an hour, per team, to fully destroy one single corrupted ley line. There were hundreds of these corrupted ley lines all over Gigantadragon. Just locating the ley lines without the demonic interruptions took some time too.

“Well, we missed it.” Lumoof said, as Edna retreated on the sixth day. The demon king was weakened considerably, as we’ve managed to remove about two thirds of the ley lines. It was enough that the demon king lost a third of its strength. “But I think we’ve achieved what we needed. All we need to do is recharge for a week or two, then this time, we hit it with everything we got.”

Edna shrugged, but it truly impressed the two heroes.

“You were flat out amazing, milady.” Wira said, his eyes seemed to outright shine in admiration as they returned to see.

“I need to rest for a bit.”

“How many times can you do that?”

“Five times a year. Which is a little too much, I think.”

“Which is plenty.” Lumoof said. “It’s so damned overpowered.”

“Not as overpowered as being able to respawn and split yourself where I can’t find you.” Edna smiled.

***

After the attack on the ley lines, there was finally time to properly introduce the two heroes to the rest of them. We introduced the two heroes to their new peers.

The heroes met, and mingled. What happened was similar to what used to happen. Surprise, joy, and a sense of comradeship. It helped Samuel to feel like he wasn’t alone. From five heroes, now there are seven.

Seven heroes would definitely help. So, while the heroes rested, mingled, and swapped war stories, the domainholders readied for a second strike at the twin-headed dragon demon king.

Edna and Lumoof wanted a shot at the demon king by ourselves. A battle, only with all the domain holders. A chance to prove that we could do it without the heroes, even without the beneficial terrain.

The seven domain holders gathered, and prepared to strike. The demon king lost a third of it’s strength, and with my domain holders fully healed, it was time to put our strength to the test.

Were we ready to fight a demon king without our beneficial advantages?

***

The two headed demon king stood waiting, and Lumoof grinned at the already weakening king. “Aeon, are you ready?”

“Yes.” I’ve fought demon kings over the years, and just like my domain holders, it is now a chore. With Lumoof’s new powers, I expect the creature to be fairly easy to defeat. As it was now, it was not much stronger than an average demon king. “Let’s go.”

Lumoof moved first.. His first act was close in, as close as he could get, and immediately summon my presence. I emerged almost instantaneously, an experience similar to a [clone].

[Aeon’s Spirit].

But I wasn’t real. Not the way a clone is, instead, it was a magical replica, and my form was clearly magical, because it was somewhat transparent. An outline of magic, like a shadow. Despite the appearance, it carried the full weight of my presence, as my all of my aura spread throughout the land. My presence was like a heavy blanket that coated everything around us, all the lesser demons were rendered immobile.

But my attention was on the demon king, and instead, I felt pity. It didn’t feel that strong. Not with its weakened state. One of its heads blasted a beam of energy at my trunk, but my wooden shields blocked it easily.

My powers were stronger thanks to all my levels and Lumoof’s newer buffs, and my roots surged out of the ground. My roots were massive things, as if a gigantic tree far larger than the demon king had somehow transformed into the tentacled limbs of a wooden kraken. So, my roots wrapped around the demon king, and drained its mana.

The demon king struggled, and found itself losing the exchange of both strength and magic.

At that point, Lumoof looked at Edna. “I think we’re probably going to be unnecessary very soon.”

But Edna’s face was one of utmost happiness. She was delighted to see how my spiritual roots easily overpowered the demon king, and how I drained the demon king of it’s energies. “I consider this a part of the journey. If Aeon can’t even do this, how do the rest of us hope to face what’s on the demon sun? Come, let’s make this swift. We got more worlds to clear.”

I felt the demon king attempt various things to free itself, but I knew for certain now that I was strong.

My spiritual energies tampered with its ability to regenerate. My roots drained it of its mana. My roots punched holes in its flesh.

And my domain holders killed the helpless demon king without much of a scratch.

It was easy. So, incredibly easy.

We won.

I gained two levels.

[You are now Level 267]

But I didn’t mind. Trivializing demon kings is what I should do as the leading God of my growing pantheon. It would be a battle we’d have to fight on more worlds.

But this was a boost of confidence.

We now know we can do it ourselves.

[Announcement : First Week of July I'll be on Break. We're organizing a birthday party for my kid, so that's gonna take up a lot of my time]