Eternal Undying Chronicles

Chapter 168 A Worthy Opponent

The moon cast an eerie glow across the snowy forest, bathing everything in silver light. Shadows stretched and danced around the towering treant, whose massive, root-like beard swayed with each step.

The ancient creature, a guardian of the woods, seemed to exude its own chilling aura, filled with intelligence and malice. Alicarde tightened his grip on Marian, cradling her protectively as he assessed the battlefield.

"These witches are supposed to be exhausted," he muttered.

"How the hell are they managing to pull off something like this?"

The treant wasn't like Adonis's mindless golems. No, this creature was keen, its hollow eyes gleaming with malevolent intent.

Alicarde could feel the pulsating energy radiating from it, powerful and ancient.

'Whatever magic this is,Malefica had better teach it to me.'

The witches below caught sight of him, casting spells that shimmered in the moonlight.

Alicarde tensed, feeling the sudden rush of magic hurtling his way. With a quick burst of energy, he vaulted into the air, twisting to avoid the barrage. He was several meters above the ground, thinking he'd escaped the onslaught—until he looked up and locked eyes with the treant.

A disturbing grin seemed to crease its hollow face. Suddenly, a brilliant glow burst from its mouth, coalescing into a pillar of raw magical energy that surged towards him.

Alicarde instinctively raised his sword, the blade humming with power as it clashed against the incoming blast. Gritting his teeth, he swung the sword down with a mighty roar, slicing through the torrent of energy.

The spell split in two, blazing past him and carving two massive trenches through the forest below. Trees shattered, earth erupted, and debris rained down, filling the night with the tremors of destruction.

But the sheer force of the blast knocked Alicarde back, sending him tumbling through the air with Marian still cradled tightly in his arms.

They crashed down with an earth-shaking impact, his back absorbing the brunt of the fall as he shielded her.

The ground cracked beneath them, sending splinters of wood and frost spraying into the air. Trees around them swayed and toppled as the shockwave rippled outwards.

Alicarde clenched his teeth, feeling the sting of the impact down to his bones, but he quickly checked on Marian, relieved to see she'd escaped with only minor bruises.

"Are you okay?" he whispered, steadying her as she looked at him with wide eyes.

Before they could regain their footing, a circle of witches emerged from the darkness, surrounding them. Alicarde's muscles tensed, but just as the witches raised their hands to cast, thick vines erupted from the ground, wrapping around the hostile figures and pulling them back.

"Are you two alright?" Vidalia's voice called out, her auburn hair a beacon amidst the chaos.

Alicarde exhaled, relieved to see her. "Alive and kicking. Thanks for the save."

Vidalia nodded, catching her breath. "Malefica is fighting Cassandra as we speak. We just need to get the pentacle to her—then this will all be over."

A howl tore through the forest, reverberating through the trees and shaking the ground beneath them.

Alicarde glanced up, his eyes narrowing. The treant loomed above, its hollow gaze fixed on them, and its gnarled hand reached down, ready to tear them apart.

Vidalia's face turned grave as she assessed the treant.

"Its core… it's hidden somewhere in that massive body. Destroying it is the only way to bring it down."

A smirk crossed Alicarde's face, his violet eyes glinting with dark glee.

"Take Marian and go. I'll handle the oversized shrub."

Vidalia hesitated, looking between him, the treant, and Marian, who clung to him with worry etched into her expression.

"Be careful," Marian whispered, her voice laced with anxiety.

Alicarde's tone softened for a moment.

"You're a few decades too young to worry about me, kiddo." Catching himself he shook his head he and Marian were actually most likely peers age wise.

He grinned and turned back to the creature, summoning his bicorn familiar, Wrath.

He lifted Marian onto Wrath's back, nodding to Vidalia.

"Get her out of here. I've got a bone to pick with this thing."

With a final look, Vidalia and Marian disappeared into the forest, leaving Alicarde alone.

He took a deep breath, feeling the flow of Body Enhancement Magic coursing through his veins, amplifying his strength. His muscles tightened, his heartbeat steadied, and his grip on his sword firmed as he locked eyes with the monstrous treant.

Alicarde held his sword firmly, tapping the side of his temple twice, activating the HUD system within his vestments.

Lines and data flooded his vision as Amena's AI interface scanned the treant towering above, highlighting weak spots in its bark and roots with a cold, precise accuracy.

Each highlighted area pulsed as if daring him to strike.

The treant raised its colossal roots, slamming them down with the force of a hammer.

The wind screamed, and snow blasted outward as the forest floor split under the impact. Alicarde dodged in a blur, barely escaping the crushing roots. Splinters and shards of frozen earth sprayed around him as he leaped to the side, his heart pounding in sync with the tremors that rolled through the ground.

Rising into the air, Alicarde's HUD mapped out his path, showing him the optimal trajectory toward the treant's core. Manipulating gravity, he rocketed forward, his speed leaving shockwaves in his wake, shattering branches and slicing through the cold night air.

Each pulse of the HUD adjusted his angle, guiding him toward the massive creature's vulnerable spots.

As he surged closer, the treant sent down a web of roots, each one twisting like a serpent aiming to knock him from the sky.

He sliced through the first root with a swift, clean cut, evaded the second, and spun midair to cleave through another. But his momentum faltered as a thick root blindsided him, smashing into his side with an earth-shattering crack.

The impact was brutal. Alicarde felt his bones shatter as he was flung through the air, tumbling wildly, his body twisted at unnatural angles.

He grinned beneath his hood as his body healed almost instantly, the searing pain feeding a fierce glee that brightened his violet eyes.

"Yes... this is what I was looking for," he muttered, laughing as he fell to the forest floor, rocks exploding upon his impact.

But the treant had already turned its hollow gaze toward Marian and Vidalia, shifting its focus to the witches now fleeing through the trees.

"Hey! Don't ignore me!" Alicarde snarled, righting himself in a single swift motion.

His body crackled with energy as he activated [Flux Field], negating gravity around him. In an instant, he was airborne again, shooting toward the massive creature, his hand outstretched, chanting a spell.

"Tinder to spark, ember to glow,

In this place, let fire grow.

With a breath, let flames flow,

Consume all—Inferno!"

A storm of fire erupted in the air, blazing around him in towering pillars of flame. Alicarde poured his mana into the spell, willing the flames higher until they engulfed the treant. The creature roared, its wooden body cracking and shedding pieces that burst into embers.

Alicarde's laughter echoed across the forest, dark and triumphant.

But his victory was short-lived. The treant's broken parts twisted and reformed, shaping into smaller treelike warriors with crude wooden weapons. Humanoid treants marched out from the flames, encircling him.

"Good," Alicarde scoffed, gripping his sword tighter.

"I didn't want it to be easy anyway."

He darted forward, descending upon the first tree-knight. It roared and swung its arm in a wide arc, but Alicarde deflected the blow with a sharp parry, his blade slicing down to split the creature in half.

He leapt upward as more wooden minions launched projectiles from their wooden bodies, sharp splinters and roots shooting like arrows.

Activating [Flux Field] again, he halted the projectiles midair, suspending them with a flick of his wrist. He grinned, his eyes glinting.

"Ah, did you gentlemen drop this? Allow me to give them back."

With a swift wave, he reversed the trajectory, sending the splinters hurtling back toward the treant minions. They pierced the wooden soldiers, sending them tumbling from the sky in shattering heaps.

Then, an idea took shape in his mind—wild, reckless, exactly his style.

Alicarde let out a grin, rising higher into the air, building his altitude until he was almost out of reach. As the treant and its minions aimed their branches and roots, he ignored them, charging his body with [Flux Field] to magnify his gravitational force to the extreme.

Holding his sword above him, he deactivated the field in a single pulse, releasing himself like a meteor plummeting toward the treant below.

The air tore at him as he accelerated, each second increasing his speed until violent sonic booms burst around him. His bones groaned under the force, cracks spidering through them as his muscles strained. But the thrill of it all consumed him, and he laughed, the pain only fueling his exhilaration.

With a deafening boom, Alicarde slammed into the treant's body. The impact ripped trees from their roots and sent astral winds exploding outward, shaking the forest.

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Alicarde crashed through the treant, sending the massive creature collapsing to the ground. Dust and splinters filled the air as a crater formed where the treant had fallen, its body sprawled motionless across the forest floor.

For the first time since the witches had summoned it, the giant treant lay unmoving.

Alicarde got up having regenerated. The treant groaned and howled at him.

He smiled with a demented look in his eyes.

"Good… don't die too quickly"