The wayward son who only listened to his mother was buried in sweet dreams, along with his helplessness, loneliness, and that mysterious longing of his.
"Enchanting Great Rune!"
Beneath the pitch-black roots, Nolan crushed the pale golden semicircle in his hand. He and Trina clapped hands.
"Done!"
Miquella and Trina both let out long breaths, drenched in sweat. For Empyreans, the pressure of one reckless act of abandonment leading to total defeat had been a little too much.
After all, The Scadutree was a Crucible of Life. If anything had happened to this Great Rune, they would not have known how to fix it. At that point, they might truly have had to beg that Mother for help.
"You two, honestly. How could you not properly put away something this important?" Nolan said. "You should learn from me. I never leave my own things lying around."
"Of course important things should be kept safe, but I think Nolan just has a hoarding problem. That's why you like keeping useless things by your side," Trina said with a pout.
"I just don't like giving things up. Even if something is useless now, at least keeping it by my side lets me know I still have it," Nolan said with a soft chuckle.
"Mm. Nolan really is that greedy. You want to claim everything for yourself," Trina said, nodding. "What a greedy man."
"That's right. I want everything. Not just the things I haven't gotten yet, but the things I once had too." Nolan's long hair lifted in the wind.
The Goddess and the Empyrean both blushed. Trina jabbed Nolan's cheek in annoyance.
"You can't just use the power of seduction whenever you feel like it. Rein it in."
"What are you worried about?" Nolan smiled helplessly. So much for trust between husband and wife. Did she really think he would use that power recklessly?
"Hurry up and put it away!" Trina's voice sounded a little irritable.
"Fine, fine. You're scary, you know that?" Nolan raised his hands in surrender. If he did not turn it off now, the Goddess was going to kiss him.
He could handle what Trina might do, but he really could not take the look in Miquella's eyes.
"Is it really that serious?" Nolan thought. "Don't they have any resistance to their own power?"
Then he understood. It was not that Trina and Miquella had no resistance to the Enchanting Great Rune. They had simply given up resisting him.
Nolan swept his gaze around, adjusted the petite Ranni on his shoulder and Trina hanging around his neck, and returned to the form he had held in the full glory of the Promised Consort.
Seen like this, it was as though they had never changed, as though they would always remain this way.
"Let's go." Nolan felt the wavering flame burning in the brazier. "That wayward son is still sleeping in. How does it feel to suddenly gain a whole generation?"
"Do you even need to ask? No matter how I think about it, it's just too strange..."
Trina's feelings were complicated. If Messmer insisted on being Nolan's son, she would have no choice but to accept her new identity.
After all, giving up her Promised Consort was impossible, even if the one standing against her was that terrifying, dangerous, threatening Mother.
Trina suddenly stopped her wandering thoughts, and her ears pricked up on their own. There seemed to be a faint rustling beneath the Lord's feet, like a snake slithering.
She suddenly remembered a story that had spread through the Lands Between after The Shattering. If you wanted to cut down the Erdtree, you had better look above your head first. There was a great thing up there that would send you back to the Erdtree.
It guarded the great tree.
It did not need to know who you were or how noble your status was, because nothing was more noble than it and the tree it protected.
If you dared harbor crooked thoughts toward the tree's descendants, it would raise its ceremonial staff and smash every bone in your body.
"Nolan, did you hear something?" Trina was not sensitive enough to battle, so she hesitantly asked the expert.
"You heard right. I knew something was missing. It finally showed up." Nolan shrugged and stood where he was without taking a step.
"No way. Why do these bad things never end?" Trina grimaced. Compared to fighting endlessly day and night, she would much rather have a nice sleep with Nolan...
Nolan slowly lowered his head. With a light tap of his toes, he vanished from the spot and reappeared a hundred meters away.
Something black was slowly slithering beneath the ground, about as thick as a bucket. Its surface scraped with rough, tangled vines. Its full length could not be seen, but the visible part alone was three or four meters long.
It looked like another giant serpent, swimming toward Nolan as the ground bulged and rippled before smoothing out again.
"Did that ugly thing come back from the dead?" Trina looked down. The evil serpent truly could not be called pleasant to look at.
The black serpent suddenly sprang up, its front end like a war spear as it shot toward Nolan.
A violent wind swept across the pitted swamp at the foot of the tree. A massive black shadow spread its arms in the gale, its mouth opening so wide it covered its entire face, while flower cores tangled in vines unfolded like ranks of spears.
With roots for feet, vines for hands, and wooden flowers for eyes and mouth, it was not a resurrected giant serpent. It was the Incarnation guarding The Scadutree.
The tree-man opened its enormous mouth and treated Nolan as prey. Twisted branches turned into hard fangs and snapped shut.
Nolan leaped up, watching the huge thing crash into the ground. He faintly heard the sound of branches cracking.
That dreadful body possessed heroic strength, enough to turn ranks of soldiers into bloody mud mixed with bone fragments in an instant.
The Scadutree was still alive.
It had been lying dormant in this land all along, waiting for a chance to vent the resentment and fury of being abandoned.
The Crucible of Life had never gone out. Its loyal Incarnation had fallen into a twisted monster, and any intruder would have to pay in blood.
The gloomy will had warped its shape, yet that fragile body carried tremendous power.
"The Scadutree's Incarnation." Nolan turned in midair and landed gracefully.
With two guides leading him, Nolan had found the Great Rune far too easily. A beat of his dragon wings brought him to the target, and one clench of his hand devoured it clean.
This great thing had come too late. By the time it appeared, ready to show its might, everything was already settled.
Its opponent was the "Lord of Cinder," who had just obtained another Great Rune.
The Scadutree's Incarnation raised its head and spread its arms. The mouthless beast roared in silence, and the sound of it hammering the ground was shrill and piercing.
The entire space shook violently. Hundreds upon thousands of golden stones fell from the sky. Thorn after thorn burst from the earth like giant serpents, and golden light erupted from within the tree-man's body.
Utterly chaotic, violently savage, overwhelming, and unending.
But it could not withstand the assault of heat and fire.
As the world gradually accepted fire, the concept of heat was displayed in a more direct form, stronger and more violent than before.
The stones and thorns ignited in an instant and burned away. The flames had not even touched The Scadutree's Incarnation before its body rapidly began to burn on its own.
It was too poorly suited to face raging flame. It felt no pain, but the destruction of its body was real.
No matter how mad, how savage, or how fearless of pain it was, it could only collapse and perish in that inferno.
***
...
If you'd like to support my work and unlock advanced chapters, you can follow me on p-@-treon.
[email protected]/PinkSnake (50 Chapters Ahead).
You can also follow as a free member to read a few advanced chapters.
***