Decades of uncontrolled spread, pollution, and infiltration had reached a critical point. The escalating mutation and rapid spread of the forest was proof that the struggle between two powers, two wills, had reached a fever pitch.
However, one side was rely a wisp of a being whose main body was sealed, seeping into the physical world. The other was the remnant will and mortal shell of a dead divine spirit, a fragnted symbol.
’If Rorschach had to judge, and if they could be personified, both of them would qualify for priority seating on the bus.’ Of course, even though both were incomplete beings, the struggle taking place here and now was still a contest at the level of Divine Spirits.
By interrupting Peterson’s ritual, the investigation team had only ensured that Mother Earth could not continue to seep into this world, preventing her from raising the stakes in this contest. But that didn’t an it was over.
The tumorous growths on the roots of the colossal tree began to soften, turning as viscous as crude oil welling up from the ground. They bubbled constantly, giving off an iridescent, oily film.
The oily film ruptured, and deep, ink-green, amorphous, abominable monster spawn sprayed out and charged at the group. The investigation team hadn’t even gotten close to the base of the tree when they saw hundreds of sickening slis struggling and endlessly swarming them.
These monsters were larger than the ones that had crawled out of the growths before. When the blue, glowing motes fell upon them, the turbid fluid on their bodies burst, and new individuals erged from within.
’Are they evolving?’
Each new individual that erged was smaller, but in exchange, the newborns possessed more distinct limbs, greater speed, and stronger resistance to the glowing motes. This continued until the blue, spiritual flas covered its entire body, causing it to burst and release the next individual.
The Apprentices continuously cast Colorful Ball, which was effective at first. But later, the monsters could resist its acidic corrosion, as well as ordinary hail and fire.
Humboldt and Kou Bo, on the other hand, were preparing large-scale Magic. In an instant, a huge thundercloud covered the clearing, right at the edge of the giant tree’s canopy.
At first, Master Kuo Bo also tried to summon thorny vines to restrict the monsters’ movents, but the vines were quickly enveloped and contaminated by the oily film. They withered and mutated into nacing, tentacle-like briars that thrashed toward the sky.
"Damn, these things are a real pain. Don’t let any of that filth get on you!"
Because of this, Rorschach didn’t dare get careless and use his Mage’s Qilin Arm. He only used Blazing Beam to sweep across the monsters, quickly cutting through and vaporizing the foul pus.
As a result, the few monsters in front of Rorschach showed a different evolutionary path from the others. While the other newborn monsters beca more agile and more like fierce carnivores, the ones Rorschach attacked slowly regressed to the state they were in when they had just left their birthing fluid, like writhing slis. This way, when the ray penetrated or swept over them, they would imdiately churn and heal.
’It’s not like this is my only trick!’ He fired off one Water Bomb after another, and then used Frozen Ray.
After the monsters made of oily sludge reford, large chunks of ice beca incorporated into them. Then, as they writhed, the ice was continuously ground into crystals that pierced their fluid bodies, causing imnse damage. So of them burst, and the new individuals that erged couldn’t withstand the damage and shattered as well. Others managed to endure but were slowed down by the freezing cold.
Cavendish unleashed Thunderous Wave, and arcs of electricity flashed across the ink-green masses of sli, causing them to explode.
Arriving before the thunder was a colossal bolt of lightning that pierced the sky and struck the earth—though at such close range, their arrival was nearly simultaneous. The air-shattering boom made everyone instinctively cover their ears. At this mont, Master Humboldt used his Communication Skill to warn, "Everyone, don’t move! Do not take a single step!"
After the lightning strike, all the monsters burst, leaving puddles of scorched sludge on the ground.
Although they were so distance from the colossal lightning strike, soone was still affected—Cavendish tried to smooth down his fried hair, muttering to himself, "Did my Thunderous Wave attract natural lightning?"
An Apprentice from the Tower of Forest held back a laugh and pointed to Humboldt and Master Kuo Bo, and then to the sky. The massive thunderstorm was, of course, the handiwork of the two Great Mages. The sky was now filled with the oppressive thunderclouds they had summoned, though it wasn’t obvious in the perpetual night.
Next, Kou Bo brought down a blizzard. He consciously swept up the spreading glowing motes from the colossal tree’s canopy, sending down a dense flurry of snow and blue points of light. Across the ground, all the charred monster sludge ignited with ethereal flas.
The monsters had all been dealt with, but Rorschach didn’t think it was over. The chaotic winds of Magic were still blowing, and growing ever more intense.
The will of Mother Earth changed its strategy. She accelerated the erosion of the giant tree’s root system and base. A new tumorous growth bulged out, expanding and contracting rhythmically as if it were breathing. With each pulse, it swelled, and soon it was as wide as the tree’s trunk.
A cry—the cry of an infant—erupted. The sound was no less powerful than thunder, piercing everyone’s eardrums and making their very brains tremble.
For any species that reproduces, the cry of an infant is a warning, an imperative that draws the adult’s attention to its offspring. In the face of this divine wail, everyone temporarily lost the ability to cast Magic or even move. They could only watch in agony the gestation of the great being.
Suddenly, the voice of a mature woman sounded in Rorschach’s ear. It was Deryats!
"I must borrow your power for a mont. Do not be alard. When I battle our unwelco guest, use my Blessing to protect the others."
The surrounding forest and the leaves on the colossal tree rustled in unison. Then, the enormous shriek that everyone had heard during the Beast Tide sounded again. This ti, however, its arrival was a great help: everyone managed to break free from the influence of the infant’s cry.
Alexander von Humboldt tapped his Oak Staff on the ground. His silent Domain unfurled again, shielding everyone from the mind-rending sound. The Wooden Staff flew from his grasp and once again transford into an oak tree flowing with golden-green light, like a miniature version of the colossal tree.
Master Kuo Bo drew all the accumulated charge from the thunderclouds to lash the filth-birthing Vesicle, leaving a charred mark. He continued to channel his power as fungal hyphae sprouted from him, forming new clones that also hurled lightning at the Vesicle.
Finally, the Vesicle’s wall was scarred and battered, and a clear, yellowish-green fluid seeped out. With this as the signal, the fissure widened, and a fleshy mass with a massive head, discernible eyes and mouth, and rudintary limbs fell to the ground. Its center was still connected to the corroded part of the giant tree.
An embryo. An embryo the size of a sperm whale and purplish-red all over had descended upon this world prematurely. It had not yet fully differentiated, still in a form close to the starting point of all vertebrate life.
The corpse born of "Barrenness," the embryo born of "Fertility"—with Deryats’s Authority out of balance, this was the shell and monstrous offspring that had been maliciously twisted and spawned.
As if sensing danger, the vile power began to accelerate its corrosion. The umbilical cord furiously channeled the plundered life essence and power of the giant tree, which was pumped by the "mother" into the embryo.
Everyone’s attacks also intensified. They could sense the great sense of foreboding that the strange lifeform before them represented. But the Magic striking the embryo’s body only brought it pain, lacking any substantive damage. The eyeballs, covered in a cloudy mbrane, twitched and spasd madly in their sockets, and the body twisted helplessly in the dirt.
’What the...’ Rorschach suddenly felt himself being hollowed out. A spasm just like the embryo’s seized his entire body. He and the surrounding Magic Power were uncontrollably converted into glowing motes, forming the ethereal form of a Holy Spirit—Deryats.
She, the embodint of Barrenness, floated to a spot directly before the center of the colossal tree. All the blue streams of light were swiftly siphoned away, transford into Deryats’s physical form. She had finally reclaid her power.
Stripped of its blue light, the rest of the giant tree corroded at an accelerated rate. The corrupted trunk lost its support and gave way, collapsing toward them as a mountainous torrent of pus.
The Divine Wood that had supported this corner of the world for a thousand years was thus carved up by Deryats and Mother Earth.
’Deer-headed Monster, you set up!’
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