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.

I hoped we could replicate that first victory on Lavaworld against the demon king, this time with only domainholders without the spawn bombs.

We wanted this strategy to work. We wanted to know that we were ready.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

A success would be all the evidence we need.

***

And it went swimmingly.

There was something beautiful about watching a plan work perfectly well.

The battle scarred lands saw battle once more, as the fury of a war goddess descended on the empowered demon king. Edna struck first, she attacked with multiple anti-magical spears that disrupted teleportation, and left a few [quest weapons] that created some kind of [anti-teleportation] field.

Her [quest weapons] were all incredibly powerful weapons, collected over her many journeys into her strange pocket dimensions.

The demon king staggered as Edna’s weapons now packed a punch comparable to the heroes, and it was something I could feel in her presence.

Joy.

She was always frustrated that she lacked the ability to deal substantive, ‘real’ damage.

Not anymore.

Her quest weapons shimmered with her domain’s power, the aura of a blade that was no longer in the mortal realms. The demon king was torn, it clearly sensed something was wrong elsewhere as the rest of my domain holders and heroes swept through the demon controlled lands and easily destroyed the demon’s structures.

The demon king’s other head kept looking elsewhere, as if trying to pull it towards other things. It knew it was needed elsewhere. It wanted to leave, while it’s first head bombarded Edna with attacks.

But Edna’s series of anti magical weapons prevented it from going too far, and the army of magical summons created by the knight ensured its every movement was not without obstacles.

“Your opponent is here.” Edna roared, as the demon king attempted to create a portal. It crumbled when Edna’s anti-magical spear slammed into the rift and interfered with the demon king’s attempt to open a portal.

Her spears and swords struck the demon king, and pierced through its regenerating skin.

The creature was confused for a moment. A few strikes from Edna later, the demon king realized it wouldn’t be able to reinforce its back lines, and now both heads focused on the knight.

It rained a set of attacks we’ve seen it use against the heroes. The demon king’s attacks were intensely powerful, but she shrugged them off. Its attacks were useless before [Duty before Life and Death].

She traded blows with the demon king, and came out ahead every time.

“Is that all you got?” Edna said with a laugh. The blast vaporized some of her summons, but they respawned soon enough. “Come on.”

Fun.

And slowly, we felt the demon king’s connection to its supporting ley lines fade.

***

“I feel like we’re cheating.” Roon said as the ley lines were crushed without much resistance. There were demon champions, and even champions that had additional power from the ley lines that put them as ‘stronger’ champions.

But stronger toys were still toys.

We crushed them. Each of the domain holders swept through ley lines and destroyed them easily.

Tens of ley line spires. Hundreds within half a day. The two heroes could not believe how they managed to waltz through the demon’s battlelines without the demon king’s disturbance.

“Will, will your friend be alright?” The hero powers worked really well against the demonic spires, but the heroes were worried.

Lumoof shrugged. “She’ll be fine. Come, let’s keep going. It’ll help her too.”

“But she’s alone.”

“Oh she’s not alone. How much time does she have left?”

Stella, who was far away and facilitating the movement of people, nodded. “About six days left.”

“See?” Lumoof. “She’d last a battle of endurance and attrition for a week. We’ll get back to her in time.”

“What are you guys?” Rajah said with utmost disbelief.

Lumoof said. “It’s kind of hard to explain while we’re destroying demons. It’s much, much easier if you visit us. You’ll know once we kick this demon king’s backside. After that, you two will go with us to our homeworld. And right now, your vacation ticket is held by that two headed giant lizard.”

***

Edna and the demon king traded blows, and progressively, the demon king weakened. Edna [Duty] now lasted for a week thanks to her Level 190 upgrade, and now with her Level 200 power up, her ability to dish damage.

A full day passed, and yet, Edna wasn’t done. She was tired, and her stored magical abilities were spent. It was not the first time she fought without rest or sleep, but fatigue was still ever present.

“You know.” Stella said from a far. “It almost seems like you can win this alone.”

“Not really.” Edna said. “It’s regenerating almost as fast as I can deal damage. I think I’ve barely cut through half of it’s current form.”

“You think there’s a second form?”

“I expect it to.” Edna said. “There’s a reason why solo heroes rarely win against the demon king.”

“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]