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After half an hour of an intense battle, the last Demonic Tree succumbed to Erika's sword and her Spirit's powers. She had already come out from the underground after disrupting everything enough and started helping us slay these gigantic monsters. Ultimately, there were a hundred of these monsters.
Because of their Spirit Orbs, we realized they were indeed Elder Treants, but that were contaminated by Demonic Energy to mutate into Demonic Trees as well.
Therefore, even though they might have been similar to Demons, they were more like Demonic Beasts. Well, nonetheless, it was a hundred of them down, that gave us a tremendous surplus of experience points, coupled with the five hundred more plant-type monsters between C Rank to A- Rank, that helped us grow at an exponential pace.
[You and your Party have slain [Elder Treant Demonic Tree (A+ Rank)] x100 and [Vicious Demonic Plant Monsters (C Rank ~ A- Rank)] x500!]
[You earned 236.000.000 EXP!]
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
[Your Level has increased from Level 30 to Level 37!]
[All your Stats have increased. You earned Bonus Stat Points and Skill Points.]
"Okay big bro!" Allan nodded. My brother was obediently eating the vegetables even when he looked like he wasn't enjoying them.
"Geehh..." Anna wasn't eating them. However, once I gave her a stare, she forced herself to gulp down the carrots.
"Blood is always better, but this dragon meat... I can't get enough of this." Eleanora licked her red lips as she enjoyed her third dragon steak already. "Hmm, this wine is good too. A good feast before the last battle." She looked into the distance.
"I am beginning to think it could quite possibly be some sort of Archdemon now." I told my party.
"Wait, an Archdemon?! Here?" Erika gasped, almost choking on her own meal.
"You did say there was the influence of demons but... Not a cult?" Elizabeth asked.
"Maybe that too. It is confusing. It feels like if it was a cult, they would have already showed up. But this entire thing is a bit odd, as if only an archdemon has been moving the strings, influencing the monsters and controlling them. I suspect the monster controlling this entire area is some sort of Archdemon Vessel in the making.
This particular Archdemon has been rising this army in secret, right below our noses. They want to completely destroy the village with it." I said. "Well, it's not happening anymore."
"It's truly a relief we managed to get in here before that ever happened..." Elizabeth sighed in relief. "Though, to just imagine the amount of destruction all these monsters we've hunted could have brought to the village... It fills me with dread."
"Those Elder Treants alone could have trampled through everything without any problem!" Erika said. "It's nice to have such an insightful person as Blake with us, we wouldn't have been able to realize such a threat was growing so close to home..."
"Don't give me too much credit, you've helped more than you imagine." I smiled. "Well now, we're done eating, right? Let's depart. I won't be able to shake off this feeling of uneasiness if we don't get rid of that thing."
After packing things back inside my inventory, we set off into the skies through Ruby's back, flying above the burned Elder Treants and arriving inside the Heart of the Elios Garden.
And right there, we saw her.
"How... How did you even find out I was here?!"
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