I swung my weapon, shaping it as a scythe all the way down, slicing through the tentacles of the Demon King's body!
SLAAAAASSSSHHH!!!
"UNGH?!"
The Demon King quickly retreated as the power of that attack wasn't a mere slash. Even if the System was having problems, all the status and the skills were there, and they all activated at once!
TRUUUUUMMMM...!
A wave of Spiritual Essence was unleashed, the surroundings which were all Miasma turned into Forest once more, the Demon King panicked on the spot as I did not stop there!
"RAAAAAAHHH!!!"
I screamed my lungs out in fury, hitting the ground with my weapon constantly. Countless shockwaves of Spiritual Essence began to emerge from within the floor, reaching the Demon King constantly!
BAAAM! BAAAM! BAAAAM!
"UNNGGH...! T-This is impossible! You're a mere puppet to the System, how can you free yourself- Ah! YOU! Did the Great Spirit meddled with your real body?!" Wondered the Demon King.
"SPIRITS! PLEASE HELP ME!"
I ignored his question as I activated Dragon Vein Detection. Suddenly, countless colorful veins of Spiritual Essence opened in a single second, countless of spirits emerged one after the other, swarming the Demon King!
"NNNGGH..! GUAAAAH! Y-You damn PESTS!"
As they bought us time, I quickly ran towards Mark.
"MARK!"
"A-Ah... Ahhh..."
His entire body was dryed out, and I could barely feel any essence within him, I could even see... his soul? It was too small! Did he got drained of almost all of it?!
"Great Spirit! H-How can I heal a soul?!"
"Heal a Soul... The only way is by giving them a part of yours! A soul can only be healed with another."
"T-Then..."
"Wait, perhaps we could-"
"Then please take a piece of my soul and put it into Mark!"
"E-Elayne..."
"DO IT!"
The Great Spirit's presence, which was now in her true form, a beautiful lady made of plants looked at me with surprise, but quickly nodded.
"Alright! We might as well add in some of my special spice!"
"Special Spice?"
"Spiritual Essence, of course! The reason why you freed yourself from the Demon King's powers was because I adapted your real body and your soul to my powers back on Earth."
"You did what?! When?"
"When you got that fever."
"Ah... W-Well, whatever! We can talk that later, please do it!"
"Alright, this is going to hurt more than anything you've experienced before!"
"It can't hurt more than giving birth!"
"Well said!"
The Great Spirit's hand pierced my chest and then reached deep into my Soul, I felt her hand grasping my soul as if it were a piece of paper and then forcefully tear apart a piece of it.
CRAAAASSSSHHH!
It hurt like hell!
"AAGGGHH...! AAAAHHH..."
I cried in agony, falling to my knees.
"I have it..."
The Great Spirit looked at the piece of my soul, it resembled a blob of shiny golden light with green colors mixed in between, it had a small rainbow aura over it.
So that's a soul...
"Now...!"
FLAAASH!
She suddenly enchanted it with her own powers, until the fragment of my soul turned into a beautiful green pearl...
"This is a Soul Pearl, through the power of [Refinement] I transformed it into a consumable pill item! Now, Mark, open wide!"
With the help of the Great Spirit, we helped Mark open his mouth made of wood, as we threw the pearl inside.
Gulp...
He swallowed it right away.
FLAAAASSH!
And seconds after, an enormous aura of spiritual essence surged from within his body, exploding everywhere!
"Uwaaah! W-What is going on!?"
"I-It worked! ...I think."
"You think!?"
"Come on, give me a break! I haven't done god-like stuff for a while now!"
I saw as Mark's body... began to crumble apart, turning into ashes!
"UWAAH! It is getting WORSE!"
"No, wait, look! Treants are special spirits as well, just like you, they have the power to recreate their bodies."
The Great Spirit pointed at Mark's interior, as she pierced his dried chest and grabbed from the inside a large, avocado-sized seed.
"A-A seed?" I asked.
"This is him! His soul stabilized..." The Great Spirit said. "Keep him."
"Mark..."
He... he almost died right in front of my eyes.
"Hahh... Thanks god..."
I sighed in relief. I almost had a heart attack.
"Elayne..."
I suddenly heard his voice whispering to me.
"M-Mark?!"
"Ela... yne..."
And then his voice got weaker, and I couldn't hear anything.
"IS HE REALLY OKAY?!" I asked while panicking.
"He is! Calm down, Treants are capable of rebirthing themselves, kind of like Phoenixes, just give him some time!" Sighed the Great Spirit. "We've got bigger problems now that's out of the way!"
"R-Right..."
I looked at the tiny seed as I noticed everyone else who were still paralyzed.
"How can I make it so they can free themselves?!"
"It is impossible, as long as that bastard's here... Their souls are too weak- Wait, the NPC maybe... And Titania?" Wondered the Great Spirit. "The original inhabitants of this world naturally have strong souls, perhaps them... Alright, but we have to move them out of here quickly!"
TRUUUUMMMM...!
"RAAAAH! YOU DAMN PESTS!"
I heard the screams of the Demon King as he fought my Spirits, they were already down to below half, at any second now he was going to come for us!
Wait, what about our Familiars?
"Belle! Silver! Loki! Mimy!"
I called for them, as I suddenly felt a spiritual connection with them through our souls... So Familiars are connected to our very souls?! This means...
"WAKE UP!"
FLAAAASH!
I unleashed a wave of Spiritual Essence towards their souls, as the Familiars began to move right away, overflowing with Spiritual Essence.
"MEEEE!"
"ROOARR!"
"GYSHISHI!"
"GUUU!"
The four of them seemed alright!
"And Saphee, Huginn, Terra!"
I called for them as well, they immediately moved too!
"SHAAA!"
"CRAAAH!"
"GURURU..."
"Good! We've got ourselves a team again! Alright, Huginn, Mimy! Bring everyone to safety, we cannot unfreeze them even if we wanted! Protect them!"
"CRAAAAH!"
"GUUH!"
Huginn cried loudly as he quickly conjured a net of darkness and grabbed everyone with it, leaving the NPC behind. Mimy accompanied him as they ran into the depths of the Crystal Caves.
"RAAAAAAAAHH!!!"
CRAAAASSSH!
"Gyuuuhh...!"
The Demon King suddenly crushed the last Spirit, as he set his countless red eyes towards me.
"Yeah, I am right here!" I said with a smile. "Come and get me..."
