Tree of Aeons

Year 71 Month 6

[Attempting Local Rootnet Access. GrassNet found. Connecting.]

[Sunsunsunsunsunsunsunsunstepstepssunsunnightnightnightnightnightsunsunsunsunsunsun…]

What the fuck is this.

[sunsunsunsunsunsun…] ad infinitum

Oh. After a while it reminds of a pinging. A constant pinging where the grassnet transmits what it currently feels.

Damn.

[Disconnect from GrassNet].

[You unlocked a new skill. [Create Rootnet Node]].

The elves spend a lot of time hiding, as more demons pass through, this time from the other direction. Once the demon king appears, the number one activity worldwide is fighting demons. There is no peace until the demon king is slain, because his very presence triggers demons to appear.

For our little group, we would attack if the size of the party is small, and get the elves to help take a few down or land the killing blows. If it is too big we would hide, since the lesser demons cannot hurt me. I checked my skills, and it seems that I get various defense buffs from all the levels.

Year 71 Month 7

The huge army of demons travelling through from last 2 months are retreating. So I take the opportunity to test out my new skills [poison field] and [rooting field], which effectively create a field with tiny roots that attempt to tangle and dislodge any passing monster, and then the same roots also has tiny thorns with poisons.

The hounds generally pass through unharmed, as their small size, flexible and nimble paws and more importantly, they appear to have some poison immunity.

The mid tier demons though, generally are larger and unable to avoid the tiny thorns, so quite a bit gets hit, and the poison causes a few to collapse onto the ground. The root field then slowly cuts at the collapsed demons, eventually killing it. All this happens over a period of a few hours.

About a week after the demonic swarm retreats, an army of humans now appears, which I believe to be chasing after the swarm. 

“A tree...” An old warrior speaks, he rides on an armored horse. He rides up next to me, and look at my trunk.  "Even when thousands of demons pass through here, nature survives."

Two other warriors ride up to him. “Yes, Lord Rajjiv. Amazing that a tree can live, when so few trees survive the hound swarm.” They look at the barren field around them, all the trees has been either burnt or destroyed by the demons, though signs of recovery is seen. 

“We make camp here then. It is a good omen from the gods. Perhaps this tree is blessed."

A superstitious bunch, but it reminds me of the founding mythos of many ancient cities.

“Yes, milord.”

The Lord and his trusted lieutenants all camp within my striking range, and the remainder of the army beyond it. My [root field] and [poison field] expired a few days ago and still is on cooldown. 

“What should we do?” The elves are slightly panicking, because a large group of humans somehow trigger a bit of fear.

“Hide! We have enough food.” Laufen insists, not wanting to face the humans.

Lord Rajjiv sits next to me with a drink. “Oh tree, I suspect you must not be an ordinary tree to survive. Perhaps you are a tree spirit, like the guardian trees of the elven capitals?”

Perceptive!

“Ah wait, if you truly are a tree spirit, proper introductions are necessary. I am Rajjiv Nung II, of the Kingdom of Nung. I am a minor lord, I come in peace, and I am here to push back the demon army that is brought tremendous destruction to the world. Perhaps with some deeds the King would elevate my status."

Hmm, I guess I should reply. “Hello.”

He jolts in shock, his drink almost spills. “Ah. You are indeed a tree spirit! Well met! The demons, they passed through?"

Directly asking a question on military intel.

“Yes, a week ago.”

“Hmm.. A week. We are still too slow after all.”

“Why so?”

“We are trying to catch up to them, but if they are still a week away, means we have not gained on them. How many of them, would you know?”

“No idea. Maybe ten thousand?”

Ten thousand. Hmmm.. we can still take that.”

He takes out a map, and though I can’t see the writings on it, I could still notice him pointing here and there. Things are all just a lot of outlines to me after all.

Maybe I can learn a skill to see normally.

The demon king is very far away, but he has multiple champions that lead his campaigns against the world. It seems after the champions are slain their armies tend to scatter and weaken in coordination, so taking out the demon champions are a good way to reduce the threat of demons.

The champions are then given multiple lieutenants, such as giant demon lords or just massive demon beasts.

“What if you meet the demon king?”

Lord Rajjiv laughs. “Then we run. We run as fast as we can.”

“Is fighting him that scary?”

“Unless you happen to have the weapon of the gods, or are a summoned hero, there is no chance. Why fight a doomed battle?”

“Good point.”

Well, Rajjiv and the army departs a day later, marching towards the demons.

Year 71 Month 8

Lord Rajjiv returns. He is injured, and so is his army. And a demon swarm is on his tail.

“Set up camp. Defensive structures!”

The army set up a makeshift trench and wall, by digging into the ground. They would have added spikes, but all the trees are gone, except the small trees growing nearer to me.

“Scouts. Where are the demons?”

“Should be here in 3 days.”

The army spend most of their time setting up the trenches, hoping to trap the hounds so that they can stab them easily with spears. Those with higher levels and skills will be deployed against the mid tier demons.

In a way, a defensive battle against demons is advantageous. But, the trenches will overflow with bodies, and soon that defensive advantage will dwindle.

“I don’t know whether we can survive this.” Rajjiv sighs, polishing his sword. "The men must be ready to fight to their last. We beat them here, or the towns behind us will die."

“Fear not, Lord Rajjiv. The reinforcement army is on their way.” One of the lieutenants assure him. 

Rajjiv, and a few lieutenants stand underneath me, the only natural shade in the now empty plains. Once it is a forest, but the demons destroyed all of it.

“Rajjiv, do you need a familiar?”

He turn, looks at me. “Uh… yes. That would help. It would really help.”

I also grow a few healing fruits, which the humans happily consume. Meanwhile, the elves continue hiding.

“What should we do?” Laufen ask, one hand carrying Lausanne.

Jura sips a cup of water. “With such a large human army, we should just hide. Its safer here, if the size of the demon army is like what we seen before.”

“Yeah. Just feels like all we have been doing is hide.” Laufen sighs. "Should we fight for a change?"

"No." I intervene. "Hide. I will protect you."

Seriously, just hide. 

3 days later.

A black line emerges in the horizon. Hounds. A lot of them. They charge at the human army, like a tsunami approaching the shore.

[Ironbark skin] Lord Rajjiv shouts, enchanting his nearby lieutenants. His lieutenants then joins the line, barking their commands. 

“Spears, ready!” The defenders raise their spears, creating a spear wall.

The swarm of hounds close in, and enter the firing range of archers. Archers unleash a volley of arrows at the swarm, and quite a few die. But not enough.

“Spears! [Defensive line]” Lord Rajjiv shouts, and the soldiers feels a surge in strength, a hardening in their skin.

Some lieutenants and sergeants activate their skills, the swarm smashes right into the line of humans. Death. Some hounds skewered. 

The battle continues. Hounds, in the thousands.

They bite, swipe and growl at the humans. The defenders switch to short swords, and cut the hounds that are close.

Still, the momentum of the hound's charge is intense. The first line breaks. The swarm is just too much, and now smacks into the line behind it.

[Tactical reorganisation], [Morale Boost]. Rajjiv shouts, as the line around him breaks. The second line of humans step in, reinforcing the line that just broke.

More fighting, more blood. More death. 

The hounds outnumber the army, so they seem to be winning, but it could go either way. The second line falls back to the third, another wall of spears. 

Rajjiv waits for the moment to activate his skill. Timing is crucial.

But help came, and the odds shift rapidly.

A horn. And a stream of charging knights on horseback, 5,000 strong. They descend from behind the hounds, crushing them with their heavy lances. Rajjiv looks like he has tears of joy when he hears the horn.

“Hold it together, men!”

Lord Rajjiv lifts his sword overhead, it glows in a bright flash. The flash stuns the army of demons briefly, allowing the defenders to regain some ground.

The charging knights lose their charge momentum, and a vanguard group is holding back the hounds. A pack retreats, but then turns back, with speed.

Lord Rajjiv lifts his sword again. “Men! Advance and attack now.”

Another flash of light, and he stuns the hounds that glance at it. The demons, sensing defeat, start to flee. 

And the knights chase after the laggards, before reuniting with the main army.

“Glad to see you, Lord Rajjiv.” A heavily decorated rider rides up to him.

“Me too, Captain. You came just right on time.”

“My pleasure. You seem to have them in your hands anyway.”

"Perhaps, but I rather not gamble with my soldiers lives. Your charge helped alot."

"Let's burn the dead before they start transforming into zombies."

The humans gather their dead into a mountain, and set fire to it. It seems that is one of the ways to prevent the demons or the undead from defiling the dead.

As the fires burn, a huge creature appears on the horizon. A large demon, perhaps drawn by the sight of the smoke.

The sight of it instantly sends the army into a panic.

“A demon champion.” Lord Rajjiv pales.

The hounds appear beside it, but unlike before, they did not charge at the human army. They wait, perhaps for a signal.

The demon champion is massive, the size of large building. It looks like it is a giant earth golem, but reddish in color, and has spikes and horns throughout its body. It is like a grotesque mix of a golem, a hedgehog and a demon.

It steps closer, and the earth shakes. Every step, the earth shakes from its massive steps.

“Oh shit.” I feel a shiver down my spine. Like a demon king. Okay, that understates the presence of a demon king. Maybe a lot less than a demon king, maybe 1% of a demon king.

The champion, a giant demonic earth golem, walks closer. Each step leaves a deep scar in the ground, like godzilla’s massive steps.

It feels like I am face to face with a kaiju.

It roars, and it sounds like an exploding volcano.

“Get the general force to retreat. All our top fighters and mages gather to me. This will be a battle of champions.” Rajjiv commands. "Send a courier to inform HQ now. Tell HQ to gather heroes and champions if they do not hear from us in two days."

The regular soldiers are more than happy to retreat far away, there is no shame is running from a giant monster that can crush you underfoot.

“Together, with me.” I telepathically inform Rajjiv. Together, I think we have a chance. I think that's instinct?

Rajjiv nods, “Protect us, tree spirit.”

The captain dismounts, and his force of riders mostly retreats as well. Gathering around him, is his highest leveled warriors, healers and mages. I offer him a familiar contract too. In fact I offer everyone I can a familiar contract, maxing out my limit.

The captain leans in. “Tree spirit, do you have [Empower Allies]?”

“No.”

The captain then takes out a scroll. “[Loan skill] [Empower Allies].”

You have been loaned [empower allies] for 24 hours.

Oh. The golem approaches.

The human fighters and lieutenants stack themselves with all the buffs and healing they have.

The earth shakes. Little pebbles jump at every step. Jura climbs out of the hideout, deciding this battle is one he should take part in.

“Huh?” The humans are surprised to see an elf appear from nowhere, but there is no time for that argument.

The golem roars, it is within range, and it throws its fists at the humans.

woosh

They dodge, but the punch has such force that it creates a small shockwave, catching some of the umprepared lieutenants. The captain activates [Quick step], allowing those too near to run away.

The captain and the lieutenants attack, but it barely scratches it. Normal sword attacks or arrows do no damage against its large and horn covered bodies.

Slash. The humans attack its feet, and those with leap attempt a few slashes at its body. 

Punch. The golem punches the ground, the earth shakes and rocks fly everywhere.

Slash. One brave lieutenant tries to climb up its back, but a rock arm appears and punches him off.

Punch. The flying rocks is like a scattershot. Some smaller rocks and stones still land a hit, and it hurts.

About fifteen hits in, the humans realise the folly of using regular weapons and attacks on the golem. 

“Don’t swing at it blindly, reserve your strength for magical attacks!” Lord Rajjiv yells, and he knows some of these lieutenants have never faced a high-defense and regenerating golem. Maybe he should have said that earlier, but he panicked when it starts to punch.

It tries to punch the fighters, yet its bulky size gives up its intent, so they manage to avoid its punches directly. They had to just account for the shockwave and the flying debris as well, which is harder to dodge.

[Holy strike] Lord Rajjiv lands a cut, and with the holy damage it leaves a small tear. But only a small one.

[Energy Lance] The captain lunches at the demon with a magically enhanced charge, and it leaves a small hole. The golem does not dodge very much, mainly because its thick rock hide is just incredibly tough and it regenerates. 

The golem swings its large arms, and two lieutenants are caught.

“Arghhh!” They cough, probably blood. 

[Empower], [Defense], [Ironbark], [Wood shield] I activate all the defensive abilities I have, and the golem’s arm lands on some kind of barrier.

The golem now is almost next to me, and so, it then punches at me. Ouch. I really felt that. A dent in my trunk.

A punch. 

I feel myself groan and twist. 

And it punches at me again. I activate wood shield, and the wood shield shatters instantly. But no direct hit.

The humans keep using their skills, and it scratches the golem. But nothing too deep.

It manages to grab one of the lieutenants, and crushes him. “Argggggghhhhhh!”

The captain charges with another magical attack. Again, like all the previous attacks, just a small dent.

“Its too tough. None of our attacks can break through it.”

“I have a special holy charge skill, but I think it is not powerful enough to kill it.” Rajjiv pants, dodging a swipe of the demon’s large arm. 

The demon stomps the ground and the earth shakes. Some of the fighters lose balance. It then throws a few loose boulders.

“It can do that?!” One of the fighters yell, frustrated that after dodging rubble, they now have to dodge boulders.

I activate [wood shield], and I manage to shield a few from the boulders, but three of the lieutenants still get a boulder right in their face, and the boulder crushed them instantly.

“Ugh. We are losing!” The captain screams, assessing that the damage dealt to the golem is less than what it is dishing out. If it keeps picking them off, they would lose eventually, they can only harn it with skills, but the demon's regular punch could knock any of them out. 

A battle for attrition or endurance is a losing one. The humans need special skills. 

The Golem stomps the ground, everything shakes, me included. It roars and a burst of flame emerge around it.

A few lieutenants catch fire, but one of the mages then puts it away. The mages attack with some fireballs, but it seems to be resistant to fire. 

Rajjiv stands next to me. “Tree spirit, do you have any strong attack?”

Well, I only have one attack, so I use [root strike].

It strikes at the demon, breaking maybe a rock or two from the golem’s massive body. Though it chips a bit of rock out, it does not really hurt it.

The golem retaliates, punches me right in the trunk again. My entire body shakes and another dent in my trunk.

“Ughhhh.” That really hurt. I felt like somebody just punched my gut, and some. I feel a little drowsy and dizzy.

Pain. Pain. I suddenly recall that feeling of being chopped by demon king Baal. 

The golem has smaller appendages on its back that swipe at any attackers, and though Rajjiv and the rest try to take to chance to attack, its mostly does nothing.

The human fighters throws a few more magic attacks at the golem, but mostly just a scratch, or a small dent.

“I have a crazy idea.” Rajjiv looks at me. “Everyone, cast all your support and boosts on the tree!”

“Huh?”

“Trust me!” Rajjiv shouts, he dodges and then runs next to me.

[Holy Power X], [Blessed strike V], [Demon slayer III], [Energy burst V], [Fatal strike], [Heaven’s Punishment], [Holy Blessing]. Rajjiv use a string of powerups on me, and I feel a strange surge of power and magic in my roots. He chants and mumbles it out, while dodging the giant golem's attempt to interfere with it.

“The tree spirit’s root strike on its own, can damage the demon. With enough magic enchantments, it can deal a strong hit!” He shouts, and continues channelling some kind of holy magic.

[Imbue Holy Power]. 

I feel really light-headed.

The captain nods, “Ah! Makes sense!” He dodges, and he too runs next to me.

[Energy boost], [Piercing strike], [Magic damage III], [Attack boost III]

A few of the other human fighters run up to me as well, using their support boosts, [Power strike], [Dodgeless strike].

All that enchantments makes me feel really quite engorged, like my roots are about to blow up. The earth shakes. 

The golem punches me again, ugh... If I am human I would cough blood now. And another punch. I feel my barks bend and buckle. Pain. 

But here goes, I honestly feel like exploding, and I’m not sure whether its from all the magic or the punches.

“That’s it, tree spirit. Give it everything you got!” Rajjiv shouts.

I let it all out, [Root strike] x 9.

All my remaining [root strike], all at the same time, and it appears like nine flashes of light. Nine flashes that shoots into the sky, piercing through the demon golem.

Nine magically overcharged root strikes.

It tears 9 massive holes through the golem, and it stops.

And then it crumbles. The massive golem shatters into multiple pieces and crumbles into rubble. All the rocks that form the golem fall like a puppet whose strings were cut.

“The golem falls!” Rajjiv shouts. "Woooooooaaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!!"

The human army roars in joy. The hounds disappear from the horizon, perhaps taking queue from their defeated champion. Rajjiv, the captain and the remaining lieutenants gather next to me, but I just could not respond.

But I felt really dizzy. Its as if everything just went blank. And I fall into a kind of sleep……...

[Level up! You gained 15 levels! Level 86!]

[You unlocked the following skills!

Dream tutor

Wood magic & creation

Rhizofiltration

The following skills have been upgraded :

Secret hideout

Root strike range and quantity

Local rootness access

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