The apex of the Encounter Zone.
Swamp Wyverns circling the sky let out ⸢Sonic Shrieks⸥ at his direction, trying to protect the Beast Source.
Percival promptly activated ⸢Radiant Guard⸥ again. The silver do of Swordsman mana rose over his head, shielding both him and the Beast Source.
The ⸢Sonic Shrieks⸥ struck the do, causing it to vibrate, though it remained strong.
Percival turned his attention from the lizard birds to the Beast Source. The magical energy it emitted began to condense in the limited space, making the air thrum with a palpable, sickening power.
This Beast Source took the unique shape of a fruit. Percival couldn’t tell what fruit, but it was bright and green.
With this Beast Source gone, it ant the next Zone would either have a Beast Source inside it, or in the Zone after it.
Percival struggled with mory while the sound of shrieks bouncing off his ⸢Guard⸥ humd at the back of his mind.
He knew which Encounter Zones remained, but couldn’t rember their order of sequence.
Would the next Encounter Zone have its own Beast Source, he wasn’t certain. So, he had to make do with this one.
The Beast Source was an erald-core cyst of corrupted mana the size of a bull, woven into the heartwood of the mightiest mangrove pillar.
Tendrils of vile energy pulsed from it into the roots, the air, the very fabric of the zone.
Because of this, beasts would endlessly spawn and continue to attack challengers.
Destroying the Beast Source was the ONLY way to stop this.
So, firstly, Percival reversed his grip on Lightpiercer. Then he raised it high, and activated ⸢Blessed Edge], he struck the Source.
No.
He didn’t strike it. Not at the fruit where damage could have been caused. Rather, he targeted the thick, gnarl-ed wood at its base.
He carved. Using both skill and furious, amplified Strength, Percival severed the glowing tendrils.
The first slice almost uprooted it. So Percival slashed again, working like a surgeon and a lumberjack combined.
When the roots were weak enough, he grabbed the fruit with his hand, fingers pinching into glowing squishiness.
With a final, grating CRACK that echoed through the entire mangrove, he wrenched the glowing heart free from the tree.
It was heavy, throbbing with unstable power in his hands. The unstable power was expected, besides, he held the source of the zone’s corruption.
The literal heart of Mangrove Battlefield.
The Swamp Wyverns screeched in rage, the Draconians fought with more anger, but Percival’s Skeleton Soldiers fought strongly.
Percival turned, holding the Beast Source under his arm as he gazed into the distance, toward the mist-shrouded entrance of the zone.
It was like he was waiting for sothing.
A minute passed and nothing happened.
Percival waited for a while longer. But when no changes occurred, he moved to leave.
Right then, he saw the farthest shadow in the misty light.
They were coming. As if summoned by the silence after the storm.
First, the glint of polished gold through the fog. Then the stark, cold silver. Finally, the dull, sturdy brown.
Percival watched as three columns of Awakeners—the Golden Spires, the Heaven’s Blades and the Iron Guards—stepped into the Mangrove Battlefield.
He wondered what they might have been thinking before coming here. Could the Hero have cleared the next Encounter Zone too?
Well, he was sorry to disappoint.
They all ca to a halt at the edge of the root-basin, staring at the aftermath of hell.
Their faces—even those covered by their helms—were masks of stunned disbelief.
Before them, a reduced but still formidable force of Draconians and Wyverns was locked in a frenzied battle against... skeletons.
They saw warriors made of bones, wearing high-grade armor, moving like Swordsn and Knights. Skeleton Archers shooting at bird beasts in the sky, and hitting their targets as well.
"What in the na of Mothiree?"
"Is that... the Necromancer’s summons?" a Heaven’s Blade Mage whispered, her voice trembling.
"Ah," the Golden Spire leader thought out loud. "Is this how he has been clearing the Encounter Zones?"
"Looks like this one is a bit too much to handle if he’s still battling them till now," the Iron Guard Captain pointed out. "But let’s join in! And we can take all the loot from him as well!"
Percival, high above on his lonely perch, watched them gawk. They looked very enthusiastic about fighting, he thought.
Well, let them fight then.
By a snap of his will, he recalled his Undead Summons.
Across the battlefield, the thirty-six Skeletons imdiately dissolved into blue flas, which then winked out of existence.
Unsummoned.
Confusion struck at that mont.
The Draconian Stalkers, who were fighting now-vanished opponents, stumbled or paused, looking around.
The Wyverns, circling for another dive in empty space, shrieked in confusion.
Where did all the intruders go, they must have wondered.
Click—CLACK!
"Hey!" the Iron Guard leader roared. "What just happened?"
"He called back his Summons," one of his Awakeners replied.
"I know. But why would he do that?"
They all glared in silence, hearts pounding for an unexplainable reason.
Click—CLACK!
The Heaven’s Blade leader moved her pupils to the side. "That noise again," she whispered. "What is that?"
Click—CLACK!
A Draconian turned its head to their direction, tilting as it studied them from afar.
Click—CLACK!
Click—CLACK!
Then, as one, every single monstrous head swiveled. Their yellow, hate-filled eyes landed on the new, bright, and very much alive source of mana and heat at the zone’s entrance.
Click—CLACK! Click—CLACK! Click—CLACK!
The Golden Spire Leader’s eyes widened. "They all spotted us at the sa ti!"
"Must be a Skill or sothing!"
Ngyaaahhh! The Draconian Stalkers let out a unified, deafening roar of rage that shook the world.
The Swamp Wyverns joined in, screeching at the top of their lungs.
And in unison, the beasts all ran towards them.
"FORMATION!" the Golden Spire leader scread with a cracking voice. "Mages, barrier now! Archers, loose! Knights, hold the line! FOR THE GUILD!"
"Where are the Shields! Knights! Barbarians! Berserkers! Create a Shield now!" the Iron Guard leader shouted. "Rangers take position! Archers to the sky, Mages to the ground!!"
"Don’t let them reach us!" the Heaven’s Blade leader yelled. "We are Heaven’s Blade! We attaaaaaaackkk!!!"
The battle erupted.
Spells flared, arrows flew wildly, n scread as claws and talons t polished armor and blades stabbed through scales.
More beasts appeared, an endless stream of them. So, as the battle continued, the leader of the Golden Spire party began to search for the Beast Source to end this quickly.
His eyes darted everywhere but he could not find it.
But as he parried a Stalker’s spear with a costly burst of mana, he dared to look up the tallest tree.
There he saw a young man with dark hair waving behind him like a death flag.
Percival. The Hero.
And he was calmly holding the pulsating Beast Source.
"YOU! HERO!!" he bellowed, desperation turning to fury. "What are you waiting for?! Destroy it! Destroy the source!!"
Percival looked down at them, cold and indifferent. He had struggled, spending mana and blood to reach this point. Even climbing to this Beast Source had been an extrely difficult task.
Why should he just destroy it to help them?
With no reply, Percival simply turned his back on them, clutching the uprooted heart of the Mangroves, and began to walk toward the exit of the zone.
He didn’t feel an ounce of guilt.
Besides, they’ve not lifted a single finger since entering this Gate World... and he couldn’t do all the work.
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