Chapter 15 - The Great Malevolent Tree.
As expected, my triumphant return to the castle, covered in dry mud and with singed clothes, cost me dearly. The sight of my deplorable state made my mother completely ignore that I had successfully completed the jobs. As a form of punishment, she grounded me and forbade me from taking a single step outside the property during the entire next day. Furthermore, she took advantage of the punishment to drastically extend the duration of my classes. I spent endless hours being bombarded by rhetoric and etiquette rules until my mind begged for mercy.
My liberation only occurred on the morning of the day following that suffocation, and visibly against my mother's will. As much as she wanted to keep me cloistered forever until I became a perfect nobility mannequin, there was a limit to her authority: she simply could not contradict the original demands of the King himself when he made my Rank C registration. Luckily for me, my father was very pleased with my work and with the profit of fifteen gold coins. He softened my mother so that she would allow me to go out today with a single condition: In order for me to learn about the economy of my hometown, he demanded that I pay the 15% tax that he pays the crown.
Although indignant, since I now have 12 gold coins, 7 Aureate-Silver, and 5 silver coins, for me, it was understandable, mainly because they spent much more than that on my upbringing and on paying my tutors.
Thus, with a long sigh of defeat, my mother finally released me to do the guild missions, meanwhile, my father said his goodbyes with — Do plenty of deeds today, you hear, son! That way you'll have more money, and so will we! See you later! —
I crossed the gates of our property almost running, feeling an absurd relief breathing the foul air of Aritel's streets after twenty-four hours of pure reclusion and etiquette. I was already reaching for the paper of the last mission that I couldn't do yesterday, because I used too much mana summoning a lightning bolt, when Elara broke the silence — Lycon, aren't you forgetting something? —
I paused to think for a few seconds, and answered — No? Am I forgetting something? —
— Did you by any chance kill a bunch of spiders for free? — she asked me sarcastically.
— Damn, I forgot! I should have gotten the payment for my mission! — I thought. After walking for a little while, digesting my mistake, I asked — But how am I going to receive the payment if I didn't even know exactly who was going to pay? —
— That's what the guild is for. —
Remembering this, we redirected ourselves to go to the guild, because I wasn't going to work for free. Arriving there, Sophia greeted us.
— Look who's here! How are you, young Lycon? Did you destroy anything the day before yesterday? — she asked with a tone of sarcasm in her voice.
— Yes, he blew up an entire barn. — declared Elara. Right after, her voice, which was previously in the same sarcastic tone as hers, changed to a serious tone that gave me chills — But he did more than that... Why the hell was a Rank B mission classified as Rank C? —
— What mission was it? And how are you so sure it is Rank B? —
— Lycon, get the camp mission paper. — ordered Elara.
After I had given the task's papyrus to Elara, she fired off — Here it says that the camp had several giant spiders that covered everything with webs, but they didn't say there were more than twenty of them. Since when do you send a rookie to fight so many spiders like that? Do you want to kill Lycon? —
— Calm down, calm down. Let me read the mission. I guarantee I don't want the death of a poor little child. —
— "Poor little child" my foot! I killed about 10 of them. At least don't look down on me just because I'm small, geez! — I thought while she read the mission.
— Hmm, yes... Here it definitely seems to say that there are few spiders, around 4 to 8 at most. — commented Sophia — However, do you have any proof, Lady Elara? It's not just because you're Rank A that your words mean something. —
That definitely hurt Elara's ego, she was wanting to smash the attendant — Well... I think it's easier for the guild card to prove it, right? Since "my words mean nothing". — she turned to me — Lycon, give me your card for a brief moment. —
As soon as I gave her the card, she put it in a mode that listed all the monsters I had killed so far.
— 20 Acid slimes, 20 giant rats, 10 giant spiders... — She paused for a moment — See, it's proven. In fact, there were more than 20 spiders, but the rest fled after he killed the 10. A mistake like this could kill a Rank C adventurer, did you know that? —
Sophia froze for a few moments while some drops of cold sweat formed — True... — she sighed slightly, trying to calm down — I will take the appropriate measures. Regarding compensation, how about 2 gold coins, in addition to the mission payment? —
— Yes, that's no problem. — I answered.
With the gold coins properly handed over by Sophia and safely tucked in my bag, I put my adventurer card in my pocket and left there along with Elara before the guild could invent some new bureaucracy.
Along the way, Elara asked — Well, now that we've solved this problem, shall we do your last mission? —
— Yes. But... Whoever made it wants us to defeat some zombies... Zombies are weak against light, right? — I asked her, who nodded, so I said — Then it will be better to stop by Mave's shop to buy a few things. —
We went to the shop, which was practically next door to the guild for a good reason: Since it sold materials for adventurers, nothing better than being right next to them.
Arriving there, we were welcomed by Mave, who was behind the counter — Hello. I know it's a bit busy today, but welcome. —
— Hello, Mave! I wanted to buy a holy elemental node and a fire one, do you have them in the shop? —
— Yes I do. Wait right there for a little bit. —
I sat on a nearby bench while she fetched the node.
After a few minutes, the clerk returned with a glowing golden elemental node.
— This is the highest quality one I have, little boy. — said Mave — it costs 2 gold coins — While the fire one costs 5 Aureate-Silver coins. —
— Understood. While I'm at it, I also wanted to buy another one of those pieces of leather. Can you bring them for me? —
I kept waiting for a while longer while she cut the pieces into a reasonable size.
— Here it is. You probably want to make a magic circle, right? — she asked me.
— Yes. —
— If that's the case... The magic ink is on me. —
With everything in hand, I managed to make something I saw in one of the books I read: The Holy Fire Multi-circle. It feeds on corrupted matter, so it doesn't destroy houses or hurt people.
The central circle contained only a common fire gust circle, while the central circle contained a light circle with a terminal with a completely filled smaller circle, so I could create a breath of fire similar to a dragon's.
As soon as I finished painting the Holy Fire circle, I provoked Elara — Elara, look what I made! — immediately after that, I put an insignificant amount of mana into my multi-circle, which was pointed at my finger.
Although a gust of golden fire shot out of there, the only thing I felt was a sensation that I had put my finger in slightly heated water.
— Lycon, by the gods, what are you doing?! — shouted Elara. She tried to cut my papyrus, but I moved it away to dodge the strike with her daggers, although she almost cut my finger in the process.
— If you lose your finger I'm the one who'll have to explain myself to the king — she ranted.
— You're the one who almost cut my finger here, geez! This circle is of holy fire, it only burns corrupted matter! My finger doesn't belong to a zombie or a skeleton, so it won't hurt me. —
— Regardless of that, it is very reckless to aim something like that at yourself! What if it went wrong?! —
— It wouldn't. — I complained to Elara. Next, I turned to Mave, who was beside us watching with a confused expression of humor and seriousness — It came to a total of 2 gold coins, 5 Aureate-Silver, and 1 silver. —
I paid the due amount and took the holy fire multi-circle with me — Another circle for my collection! — I thought.
Leaving Mave's shop with the brand new papyrus carefully put away, we took the path that led to the limits of my city, leaving the noise of the urban center gradually behind. The walk to the outskirts of the city was marked by the transition from paved sidewalks to a dirt road, surrounded by an uncomfortable silence. As we approached where the abandoned cemetery was, the air began to cool, bringing a heavy odor of damp earth and rotting foliage.
— We're here. — announced Elara.
— We're where? In hell? Because by the gods, what a bad smell! —
— We arrived at the mission's cemetery... But the smell here is really awful. —
After taking a few steps, a zombie, missing an arm and with its legs showing bone, appeared in front of us, staggering towards us.
— Is that thing alive? — I asked Elara with a tone of sarcasm.
— Yes, it is as alive as the tombstones next to it — — Of course not, right! That is just a corpse reanimated with magic — Elara draws her daggers and slices the zombie into several pieces — They aren't much... The problem is when twenty of them gather. —
The noise of Elara chopping up the zombies caused several other zombies to emerge from the dirt, staggering towards us.
— I'm telling you, this is hell on earth. — I satirized the situation, meanwhile, Elara was trying to slice up all the zombies that came close to us.
— Are you by any chance a little princess to just stand there without helping at all? — she asked.
With a mocking face, I replied — I'm a prince... — — Or at least I wanted to be one — right after, I drew two Mass Fire scrolls, creating 40 mana balls that hit all the zombies around. I couldn't kill them, but it created an opening for Elara to finish them off.
However, the noise of my barrage caused a small tremor in the earth.
— Whoa, my attacks don't cause such a big tremor in the earth. — I thought. That was when the cemetery floor sank. Several cracks began to appear, soon being replaced by twisted roots; in the center, a huge tree with dark green leaves emerged, creating a loud rumble, like a scream, that ran through the entire cemetery.
Along with it, 6 putrid staggering zombies and creaking skeletons emerged, advancing towards us.
— So this is the one responsible for this? — I thought. Right after, I say — Is this all this tree has? — I execute the same strategy as before, launching 40 spheres of pure mana that shattered the skeletons and pushed the zombies back, providing the perfect cue for Elara to finish them off.
However, we fell into the monster's trap. As soon as Elara finished off the last zombie, a wall of roots separated the emerging tree, me, and Elara. Furthermore, in this tight space, 10 staggering zombies began to appear ready to attack me.
— A plant might not be affected by my holy fire... Since that's how it is... — I drew my Hurricane multi-circle, but not to shoot one; I put the same amount of mana into each of the circles to create the same lightning bolt I created on the mission the day before yesterday. This lightning scorched a zombie, and then another, and another, tracing a zigzag path to the walls generated by the Threnant, which were completely burned by my lightning.
As a countermeasure, a new root emerged from the ground and shot a jet of water to put out the flames before they could reach the trunk. In addition, it summons 10 sharp leaves, keeping them floating just like I do with my papyri.
With the root wall retracted, Elara could finally come back and stand by my side.
— Is everything okay? What are we going to do against this? —
— Yes, I just got a few small scratches because of the damn trap this Threnant created. It is much smarter than we imagined. — she took a brief pause to catch her breath — You have much more mana than it does, we just have to keep fighting until one of our manas runs out. —
Predicting our movements, the Threnant redirected its roots to create a cage around us, unearthing metallic objects and exposing them as a form of protection from my lightning bolts.
— I don't think we'll be able to win just because we have a lot of mana. — I said to Elara, and in response, I only got a — yeah — from her.
When I was 8 years old, our castle's cook had burned herself touching a hot metal part. That gave me a key to solve the problem: I heated one of the metals by throwing mana only into the fire circle, turning the rusted metal red as if it had just been pulled from the forge. Because of this, the roots around it had to let go of the metal so they wouldn't burn completely.
With that cue, I used my Holy Fire circle to burn the roots. I thought there wouldn't be much damage, but the result was overwhelming. The holy flames spread so much that the tree had to cut off those roots so the fire wouldn't reach it.
In return for the success, it tightened the cage even more. The roots, instead of covering themselves with metal, covered themselves with several huge rocks and tombstones that were nearby. Furthermore, it prepared several traps in case we escaped the cage.
I just looked at Elara and I already knew what to do. I channeled a large amount of mana into the mana cut magic circle, creating an overwhelming blade that cut the tombstones and the roots of the cage. With this breach, Elara used her mana to enhance her physical ability, running and jumping between the attacks the Threnant made to try to defend itself.
I dodged the larger rocks the Threnant threw at me, but on the other side were dozens of green blades wanting to dice me up. On a reflex, I used my Wind Gust circle to blow those leaves away.
When I finished dodging all the leaves, I heard a loud crash, followed by a high-pitched noise from the Threnant. Hundreds of leaves were being thrown everywhere while several roots tried to impale me, crush me, or just whipped around. It was a hell worse than all the training Alistair had given me. I had to dodge them while controlling the leaves to avoid hitting myself with my sorcery or dodging them if I couldn't stop them with my sorcery. It was so complicated to keep up this pace that occasionally some leaves managed to give me small scratches, all because of this damn tree.
However, to my happiness, it couldn't keep up that pace for so long. When the Threnant took a momentary pause in its attacks, it was the opening we needed to attack.
I gathered almost all the mana I had to create a huge gust of holy fire that purified all the roots to the core. Meanwhile, Elara, using her position, imbued her weapon with mana and cut the rest of the cursed tree's trunk. Another loud crash, followed by a terrifying high-pitched noise arose, but the Threnant toppled to the side, completely severed and dead.
With everything resolved, I decided to observe the damage we caused. Practically half of the cemetery was completely destroyed by the tree, while the other was partially intact.
— Is this mission really Rank C? I think all this effort for just 5 gold coins isn't worth it, right? — I asked Elara, my legs feeling as stiff as lead.
— Rank C? Only if the 'C' stands for 'Catastrophe'. If whoever made the mission thinks a demonic tree that swallows cemeteries and throws boulders at our heads is a Rank C job, they were completely drunk. —
Every step I took on the dirt road required monumental effort. My legs now felt like they were made of the heaviest metal in existence. After the stress of combat ended, all that remained was a profound exhaustion from having poured out almost all the mana I had, and the stinging of the countless scratches all over my body.
Elara walked beside me without making a single sound, holding a calcined piece of one of the demonic tree's roots in one hand, squeezing it so tightly that her fingers were turning white.
When we crossed the threshold, the lively chatter of the adventurers drinking and talking died almost instantly. I was covered in cemetery dirt, soot from holy flames, and with my fancy clothes completely torn by the sharp leaves. Elara wasn't looking much better; her clothes were stained with the monster's dark, fetid sap, and the expression on her face was of someone about to commit murder.
We walked with heavy steps to the counter. Sophia, who was stamping some papers, looked up and swallowed hard upon seeing us.
— Y-Young Lycon... Miss Elara... — Sophia forced a nervous smile, her eyes alternating between my scratches and the murderous aura emanating from my partner. — W-What the hell happened to you two to look like this? Did a Rank A monster attack you? —
Elara raised her hand, slamming it down so hard it made a huge boom that could be heard even outside the guild.
— How did this withstand the impact? — I thought.
— Yes, Sophia — stated Elara — an ancient Threnant that throws boulders the size of people, knows how to create metal cages to kill us... — She let out a long sigh — Even for a Threnant, this is an abomination. How and why did this manage to stay hidden? Did a drunk make this mission by any chance? —
— W-Well... — Sophia stammered, taking a step back and clutching the papers to her chest. — I can guarantee that whoever created this mission didn't drink; maybe they smoked spoiled witch weed. Anyway! — she paused to think for a few seconds, then went to get a parchment. After that, she handed one of them to me, and another to Elara, adopting a professional posture without showing a shred of emotion — Please, report what happened. We will send someone to investigate shortly. — she took a brief pause, taking off this mask and showing some emotion on her face — But honestly, what bad luck! Not once, but twice! We'll investigate, but how about staying home for a while, maybe after 3 or 4 days this wave of bad luck will pass. —
— Bad luck, Sophia? — I began in an ironic tone — I think I just have a terrible instinct for taking only the most complicated missions. Is whoever requests these missions by any chance blind or do they really want to kill the rookies?! —
— I think it's both options: They are blind people wanting to kill rookies. — added Elara.
Sophia frowned in disapproval — Ugh, first of all, how is a blind person going to write? — — Second, about the mission payment. —
Elara interrupted her right there — four times the normal payment. —
— But ma'am, four times 5 gold coins is 20, that's a lot, maybe I don't have that much. — retorted Sophia.
— Regardless of your situation, the ones who almost died here were us. Besides, what do you think would happen if a group of Rank C adventurers faced that monstrosity? —
— They would be dead... —
— Exactly! So go on, hand over the money already. —
Although I was sad, it made me happy to see the twenty gold coins being handed directly to me.
However, when I tried to grab them, Elara slapped my hand.
— Do you really think the payment is going to be just for you? — she asked — I helped you too, I'm keeping half. —
She took half the coins from the bag, and then handed it back to me — there, now the amount is correct. —
— You, you — I kept complaining while Elara laughed. Even so, she also helped me a lot, so I spared her the curses.
