The group advanced for hours through the corrupted forest.
The path became more dangerous the closer they got to the Mother Tree.
The attacks never stopped.
Corrupted beasts appeared between the trees one after another.
Some fell before they could even get close.
Others managed to attack… but did not last long.
Lusian barely raised his sword.
One slash.
Another.
One less monster.
And the march continued.
The elves began watching him in silence.
Every time a creature appeared, Lusian seemed to know exactly what to do.
Where to strike.
What to avoid.
When to advance.
When to retreat.
As if he had walked through that forest before.
Grisela started noticing it.
Too many coincidences.
—To the left —Lusian suddenly said.
One second later, a corrupted root pierced the place where one of the elves would have been standing.
The group stopped abruptly.
Grisela frowned.
She did not ask anything.
But she remembered it.
As they continued forward, the pressure of the mana inside the forest became heavier and heavier.
The leaves no longer moved with the wind.
They trembled on their own.
Far away, between gigantic branches, the Mother Tree finally began to appear.
The air was so heavy that breathing hurt.
Demonic mana covered the forest like an invisible fog that slowly burned the skin.
The roots of the Mother Tree vibrated beneath the ground.
They looked like veins.
And somehow… they seemed alive.
The Mother Tree had always purified the mana of the continent.
It was a source.
A heart.
A gigantic lung that maintained the balance of the world.
But now…
It was rotting from the inside.
A metallic and nauseating smell floated through the clearing.
The leaves at the top of the canopy had turned black and crimson.
Demonic runes crawled across the enormous trunk like worms moving beneath the bark.
And at the center of everything…
Leaning against the bleeding wood of the Mother Tree…
Was Bragoz.
The demon remained half-buried inside the trunk, as if the tree was trying to absorb him…
While he devoured it from within at the same time.
That unnatural union was the most terrifying thing in the entire scene.
The Mother Tree could not expel him.
And Bragoz could not separate himself either.
Both were trapped there, consuming each other.
Dayana took a step forward.
Her mana exploded instantly.
The killing intent made the air around her body tremble.
—YOU…!
Her eyes filled with hatred immediately.
She had recognized the demon.
The one who killed her father.
Dayana moved without thinking.
She wanted to rip his head off right there.
But Lusian appeared in front of her and grabbed her arm before she could launch herself forward.
The ground cracked beneath both of them from the pressure of their mana.
—LET ME GO! —Dayana roared.
Grisela breathed heavily while staring at the Mother Tree.
Her legs trembled.
—He… he is the cause… —she whispered in horror—.
He drove us out.
He turned the Mother Tree into this…
Emily felt her chest tighten as she looked at the corrupted trunk.
Now she understood.
—The tree was not rejecting the elves… —she murmured—.
It was trying to protect them.
Silence fell instantly.
Grisela clenched her fists tightly.
She remembered the deaths.
The exodus.
The chaos.
The creatures attacking their home.
Families separated.
Children fleeing through corrupted roots.
And all this time…
—We thought the forest had betrayed us…
Her eyes filled with tears.
The rage finally shattered her restraint.
—ALL OF THIS WAS BECAUSE OF HIM!
She pointed directly at Bragoz.
The demon smiled.
He remained fused to the trunk like a parasite buried in living flesh.
—You blame me… —his deep voice spread through the forest—.
When I merely helped the tree evolve.
The roots slowly began moving around the clearing.
—Every forest needs a king.
Pause.
—And this one already has one.
The roots twisted like gigantic serpents.
The ground vibrated.
Lusian watched the red runes climbing up the trunk.
He recognized them.
And that was the worst part.
That was how the battle began in the game.
But the real problem had never been only Bragoz.
It was the entire forest.
Everything was contaminated.
The demonic mana had already spread through the roots, the soil, and every creature living there.
The animals.
The magical beasts.
The monsters.
All of them were being controlled.
All of them responded to the same corrupted core.
Lusian slowly tightened his grip on the sword.
Maybe coming here had been a mistake.
In this place, defeating the demon had never been as simple as finding him and killing him.
Because Bragoz was not fighting alone.
The entire forest was fighting at his side.
—If we do not stop him —he said in an unusually serious tone—, the Mother Tree will stop purifying mana.
Grisela frowned.
—What does that mean?
Lusian pointed toward the dark roots surrounding the Mother Tree.
—The forest will begin absorbing demonic mana instead of natural mana.
His voice remained calm.
—The animals, the plants… even you.
—Everything will be corrupted from the root.
Grisela asked:
—How do you know that?
Emily swallowed nervously.
—How much time do we have?
Lusian raised his eyes toward the immense dark canopy of the Mother Tree.
He did not know.
In the game, it had been an event sequence. A hidden timer. A boss that appeared when the story demanded it.
But this world no longer followed the rules of the game.
—I don't know.
An uncomfortable silence spread through the group.
Nobody spoke.
Then a sound broke the calm.
Something moved between the trees.
A crystalline deer stepped out from the undergrowth.
Several elf women released the breath they had been holding when they saw it.
It was a sacred creature of the forest.
Peaceful.
Beautiful.
It never attacked anyone.
Then it raised its head.
Its eyes were completely black.
Crimson smoke escaped from its snout with every breath.
And it charged toward the nearest elf.
The corruption kept spreading.
Every minute Bragoz remained fused with the Mother Tree…
Another creature fell under the influence of demonic mana.
And every newly corrupted creature…
Attracted even more monsters.
It was an impossible cycle to stop while Bragoz remained alive.
Then they started arriving.
First came distant roars.
Then shadows between the trees.
And finally…
A tide of monsters burst out from the forest.
Grisela's eyes widened when she saw the number of them.
—FORM A LINE! PROTECT THE TRUNK!
DON'T LET MORE CREATURES GET CLOSE!
The elves reacted immediately.
Mana arrows tore through the air.
The beasts fell…
But others instantly took their place.
The elves were not fighting for territory.
They were not defending a kingdom.
They were defending their home.
Their history.
Their very souls.
Thunder rammed into a group of corrupted creatures.
Lightning exploded between the bodies and several monsters were sent flying wrapped in electricity.
Elizabeth raised partial barriers around the wounded elves.
The impact of the creatures made the defenses tremble over and over again.
Dayana disappeared into the shadows.
Only trails of blood and falling corpses remained behind her.
Emily expanded a massive field of light around the clearing.
Sweat ran down her face as she maintained the barrier.
—DON'T LET HIM COMPLETE THE CORRUPTION!
And at the center of everything…
Bragoz continued absorbing the sap of the Mother Tree.
The enormous trunk creaked slowly.
As if it were suffering.
The bark bled black sap.
The branches trembled.
The Mother Tree seemed to be crying.
Lusian clenched his jaw.
—He's doing it…
His eyes followed the demonic runes continuing to spread.
—He's turning the Mother Tree into an Infernal Tree.
Grisela looked at him in horror.
—What does an Infernal Tree do…?
Lusian answered without softening the truth.
—It corrupts everything that breathes.
Pause.
—It turns an entire forest… into an eternal demonic nest.
The color drained from Grisela's face.
She slowly stepped back.
—Then… if he finishes…
Lusian nodded.
—The elves' forest will disappear.
Bragoz slowly tore one of his arms free from the trunk.
Black sap dripped from his skin like rotten blood.
The wet sound made several elves instinctively step back.
—I'm almost done… —the demon murmured.
The runes on the Mother Tree began glowing with greater intensity.
—After this… there will no longer be a "forest."
His smile widened.
—Only my domain.
Lusian slowly raised his sword.
Emily stepped behind him.
The light surrounding her body illuminated the corrupted darkness of the clearing.
Elizabeth took a deep breath.
She was still trembling.
But she did not step back.
The demonic mana inside her reacted violently from being so close to Bragoz.
Even so, she remained firm atop Thunder.
Dayana licked the blood from the corner of her lips.
Her eyes never left the demon for even a second.
She wanted to tear him apart. She was not fighting for the forest.
She was waiting for the moment to rip his head off.
Thunder scraped the ground with his hooves.
Blue lightning coursed across his body.
Grisela slowly raised her bow.
The other elves did the same behind her.
The fear was still there.
But they could no longer run.
They had no home left to return to.
Then Lusian spoke.
His voice was low.
Cold.
—We kill him…
He tightened his grip on Dainslein.
Dark mana slowly began wrapping around the sword.
—…or the world you know disappears with him.