Chapter 265: 257. Tree Blight

Year 257 Part 2

Thirteen years till Impact

“Liberated hero?” I asked as Colette exited from the soul forge. “What in the world-”

“I have gained control of my class, and no longer will it inject me with its whims and desires.” 

“How? What-”

She smiled. “I actually don’t know. But I remember my family, and I remember a lot of love from everyone. I had a great, incredible dream, Aeon. A dream of a lot of suffering, but always a lot of care, and affection. And I remember that I desired to remember all those who cared for me, and really desired to return that care to those around me. Then when I felt the hero class return- all I did was push that desire towards it.” 

She walked to Rohana, who looked at her mummy. “Mommy, did you find it?”

Colette squatted down, pulled her child for a hug, and nodded. “Yes. Yes I did.” 

“Can I look at it?” I spoke to the hero directly. “Again?”

“Later. I want to spend some time with my family.”

Prabu wasn’t sure what to make of it. He looked at her partner, unsure. So all he did was wait. She carried her daughter, and looked at him with a smile. “When you are ready, you should ask Aeon for it too. It feels- It feels like I no longer forgot our childhood.” 

Rohana, the young child, merely tugged her mother’s hand. “Does it make you stronger, mommy?”

“Not really. But, I feel like I see things clearer. As if a veil was lifted.” 

“That’s good, mommy. Can we go eat something now?”

***

Ken stewed at the revelation that it was possible to escape the control of the gods, while still retaining the hero class. He immediately looked at Snek’s hero class. 

“Do you think there’s a way to turn your hero class into that? Whatever that was?”

“-do I look like I know?” Snek answered. “Our knowledge of the Soul never got to that point. Hell, the moment we got a hero class, we’re frankly in uncharted waters!”

Ken frowned. “I still kick myself for falling for your scam.”

“It was a mutually beneficial arrangement. As far as I could remember, you wanted to get rid of it, at almost any cost.” 

“-fair.” 

Honestly, no one knows, and I wasn’t even sure whether I could replicate it. That last part, where her soul itself heated her hero class, as if purifying it- I was sure that it came from her, and had nothing to do with me. I merely facilitated the moment, enabled the circumstances where she could then make it happen. 

It was something within her that gave her the strength to change the hero class, and the heroes themselves wanted it.

But I could try. 

Modifying hero classes was certainly not out of the picture. 

***

Time was ticking. The demon comet was thirteen years away from impact on Treehome, and three more years till the next interplanar intersection with Lavaworld. 

Time. 

I had all the time in the world, and none at all. The heroes were not willing to go on a suicide mission on the demon’s comet. 

Not with the torrents of demonic mana flooding my tree. As much as I hated to admit it, the demons were learning and adapting to my methods, and trapping me in a heavy dose of demonic mana was way more effective than I liked. 

So, I focused on my experiments with the demonic mana, demonic trees and demonic beetles. The demons clearly had not adapted to my ability to use demonic mana, and I reckon that once they know I could use demonic mana, they would adapt accordingly. 

After countless more experiments with my demonic beetles, I was finally comfortable enough to test one out. I still retained control of the demonic beetles, my hold on them through the demonic mana was unaffected by how they moved. 

I wondered, briefly, about the nature of demonic mana, and its corruptive abilities, and thought about my choice so many decades ago. 

When I chose Tree of Life, instead of Crown of Magic. Could Crown of Magic absorb demonic mana with none of its drawbacks? I wondered briefly whether the Crown of Magic would’ve solved the demon comet issue easily, due to it’s natural mastery of magic. 

Ah. I quickly snapped myself out of my contemplation, and focused back to my demonic beetles. I could control them, but I couldn’t see through them. My next problem was I needed the means to remain in contact with the scouting demon beetle as it explores the demon’s comet, so I tested more variants of demonic plants and trees, just in case I needed them to explore the demon’s comet and expand my beetle’s range of operations.

It was frustrating that the demon comet’s rivers of mana continued to focus on my Clone’s location. I had hoped that they would somehow realign themselves back to their original nodes, then I could use that opportunity to expand outwards, in some manner that wouldn’t rouse the attention of the core. 

Now, with the swirling rivers of mana, it was dangerous even for the heroes, and the constant harassment from the demonic creatures never quite ended. Despite destroying so many of these demons, I have not gained a single level. 

My demonic beetles were now ready, and I sent them to Lavaworld to experiment on them. 

Amazingly, the demons of the Lavaworld did not immediately attack my demonic beetles.

No-

Not just that-

The demons on Lavaworld were oblivious to it. 

It was an incredible sensation. It was one thing to be invisible, but another to be visible but clearly ignored. With this, I immediately worked on more demonic beetle variants, and then sent my first one through to the Demon’s Comet. 

Unlike the other demonic controlled worlds, the beetles would need to dig, and I wondered whether I could create a titan filled with demonic mana. 

A digging demonic titan. It didn’t take long for me to discover that I could-

[Conditions fulfilled. Depth Worm Variants unlocked. Demonic Depth Worm Titan is now available. Starts with high endurance, extensive digging abilities and extensive earth sense. Will also share vision and image].

It’s been a long time since I felt like this, but thank you, System, for coming in clutch and supplying me with exactly what I need. Still, this was a Titan Frame, and it was a fairly limited resource, even if it could be recycled. So, I decided to first try out digging with my roots.

Anyway, back on the Demon’s Comet, I sent my beetle, fresh from Lavaworld’s success, and right into the rivers of demonic mana.

My beetle stepped through invisible line that separated my domain and the rivers of mana outside-

I thought it was going to explode and splatter into goo like the rest of the beetles, but watching my demonic beetle step into the sea of demonic mana unharmed was highly, highly amusing. 

My confidence replenished, I began to pump in demonic mana from my small farm of demonic trees and spawned them as demonic trees in the area around me. These trees and beetles are almost 99% demonic in it’s structure, and once more, I watched in incredibly surprise how the demonic mana just moved around of my trees, and leaving them unharmed.

The incredibly obvious question thus popped up.

“Lumoof, imagine a demonic warrior. Do you think they’ll be immune to demon’s attacks?”

“Aeon, I would have absolutely no confidence-”

“No- Imagine a demonic suit of armor. If an outer structure made of demonic matter-”

“Like a Golem Armor?” 

“Yes!” 

Lumoof frowned, but then nodded. “It could work.”

I wasn’t sure how long before the Demon’s Comet would pick up that the presence of other demonic mana is unnatural, so I needed to work fast. I quickly spawned more demonic trees to expand my range, even as all this demonic mana moved about around me.

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Perhaps the rivers of demonic mana itself have no ability to tell friend from foe, because it was unreal to watch the huge demonic creatures spawned by the demonic mana just ignore my demonic trees as if it was just the background. 

It makes me think that these demonic creatures are just programmed to attack anything that doesn’t feel or emit demonic energy. 

With demonic roots, I dug deeper into the demon’s comet. 

I was finally making progress again. It was slow, but it was great to escape my cage of demonic mana.

My demonic trees and roots dug deeper into the demon’s comet. The rivers of mana was not everywhere, and once the roots reached parts of the comet where there wasn’t any river of demonic mana, we could act with much more freedom.

 

***

Stella regained access to the anti-magic sandworld, and one of the alternatives we wanted to consider was to use massive quantities of anti-mana gems to break free. We’ve been building up more anti-magic mana crystals, and trying to use them to shatter the daemolite. 

We’re also trying to find a good, easy, convenient way to destroy daemolite, since the entire Comet was pretty much some kind of daemolite. My labs on Treehome were heavily experimenting on their structure, and eventually it was Edna’s [Quest] ability that came to the rescue.

She emerged from her quest with a black hammer. “Well, this is a [crystal crusher]. It should help the physical warriors destroy the crystals and allow us to dig. I’ll keep trying for other type of quest rewards.” 

Which then led to the next project that I ran with utmost urgency. 

My Valthorns assembled a large group of master crafters and golem makers, and sent them over the Lavaworld. “We need operational demonic lattice armor able to deceive the demon comet’s demons.” 

There were two real approaches. One, where we created a golem frame, and then placed demonic matter around it, and Two, where the crafters and golem-makers created a golem entirely out of demonic structure, growing it bit by bit.

The crafters were already aware of the existence of the Comet, but working on demonic matter was an entirely different league. 

But we had no choice.

***

The heroes had one big question. Was there a big difference in the power of the [Liberated Hero]?

“Not much- and it seems I am no longer blessed by the gods.” Colette said after a short trial. The power didn’t increase. “-But it’s worth it.” 

But, not increasing in power ignored the fact that the hero’s power experienced decay over time. The power of the [hero] class was strongest right before they fought their demon king, and after their first demon king, it has been observed that some of their skills and abilities were downgraded to a lower version. 

With the [Liberated hero], there was none of that. No decay, no future weakness. Their strength was preserved, and they could act freely. 

“I hope some of you will join me.” She said with certainty, and the other heroes merely stared, puzzled. Even her partner, Prabu, merely frowned. 

I reviewed the data from the incident, of how Colette broke free, and realized that her own soul must want it. Based on what I know, it’s likely that if the hero’s soul wasn’t strong enough, the [hero] class’s hold on their mind may actually be enhanced. The very act of pushing against the hero class drained the soul of its energy, so if it didn’t have enough, it could be a mistake. 

I quickly clarified the risks of attempting similar acts, and also explained that there were already tremendous cracks in her soul before she broke free. 

“I would hesitate trying it again, until your souls reveal similar characteristics as Colette.” I said. In fact, my gut feeling told me that the hero themselves must have conviction, and a desire for it. 

I also don’t know the consequences of a [liberated hero]. Does it affect how future heroes are summoned? 

Do we still receive fragments?

***

Magical research focusing on the destruction of the Comet was in full swing, and by now, rumors of an impending disaster leaked out to the wider society. 

After all, Valthorns would tell their families of the Comet, as means of convincing them to make the move to Tropicsworld. Some of these families would speak of it to their friends. The rumors spread, and as time ticked, the nobility were first to panic. Some of them sent emissaries, demanding details of the rumors. 

Knowledge of the other worlds were common, now. Everyone knows we have access to other worlds, and so the fact that there was a Comet coming our way didn’t seem farfetched. 

Most didn’t know the details, of course. Some thought it was just a super-demon-king, some thought the planet itself was cracking. Some thought it was just all the water on Treehome was evaporating.

It was hilarious and sad to watch how stories mutated as it passed on. 

But ultimately, emissaries began to visit Freshka in droves, demanding truth. My own diplomats initially tried their best to delay it, by denying the truth. 

I felt conflicted, as my diplomats and leaders denied the truth despite the evidence. Our official stance was this is a military preparation for the coming demon king. 

I was a liar. We were all liars. 

But it wouldn’t help my cause. No. I would expect resources will be needed just to satisfy their demands. In fact, some would demand to be sent over first. Panicking would not help and would lead to misaligned use of resources and time. 

***

“The way to the demon world is opening in about two years. Maybe less.” 

Threeworlds would face the next demon king in another two years. The last time we fought a demon king in their world was Year 238, and their world faced a demon king every fifteen to twenty years.

Stella and Khefri pointed to a location on Threeworlds. The Centaur lands. Khefri merely cursed. “They’ve gotten hit hard, and now they’re getting hit again.” 

There are times when I feel rich. When I feel we have enough resources to pursue anything we want to.

Then there are times like this, where I have not done enough for the Demon’s Comet, and I still need to dig into my reserves to resolve a demon king on Threeworlds. The heroes would be there. 

They have to be. 

We would need to properly rig the place for war.

***

“Ridiculous.” Lumoof cursed as he heard the emissary. “Absolutely ridiculous.” The dwarves of Mountainworld demanded us to reconstruct their capital, and move the structures back. 

The heroes, in their grief, were in no shape to immediately start work. Matters such as moving the dwarven city buildings back to their original location? Low priority. Colette and Prabu, the two mages, dragged their feet, because that location still reminded them too much about Hafiz’s death. 

Lumoof slammed the table. “This is very unreasonable of the dwarven king.” 

The dwarves had initially blamed the heroes for their capital’s fall. Now, their discontent towards their new living conditions, despite our attempts to assist, were aimed at us. The Dwarven King was not wise. It was something I know, but I suppose, it wasn’t important before. But now, the dwarven king, unable to do much to improve things, aimed that anger at us. 

I have sympathy for those who lost their homes. 

But if they declare war against us, that would be unreasonable. Reconstruction from a disaster, where reasonable, was already ongoing.

Full restoration was not. 

What ensued was gutter politics. The dwarves sent letters to neighboring kingdoms, accusing us of deliberately destroying their capital. My spies intercepted them, and sent letters of our own. Most kingdoms were aware of our neutrality, and the nobility, privy to a wider range of news, were mostly on my side.

But the dwarves were quite good at riling up the masses. Their rapport with the common folk was good. 

Politics and public relations sapped resources and manpower. It was tiring, trying to deal with a Comet, while these gnawing things came my way, both on Treehome and Mountainworld. 

But I swallowed my frustrations, for now. 

I will deal with them. Later. 

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