The only thing that prevented me from exploding in panic was that I could sense the source of the pull was the crystal that the death knights holding in hand, rather than something mysterious and over-encompassing.
Dealing with another System was the last thing I needed.
With that fear squished, I turned my attention to my current problem. Under the circumstances, Divine Spark stealers were not something I expected to deal with.
I didn’t appreciate the potential competition.
Though, maybe I shouldn’t be surprised by their ability to trap Divine Spark. After all, I could easily do so, and Mariel did so with amounts that were shockingly higher than the scraps that the guardian tree contained.
Moreover, while I had the ability to purify it, it seemed that it was a rare ability to have — if not unique — and I was yet to feel any of it being destroyed. It was very likely that they were capturing it not to use, but somehow deprive the elves of a potent weapon.
I remembered the destroyed guardian trees on my path. I had assumed that the Divine Spark was lost in the Aether after their destruction. But maybe they had suffered from the same fate, their Divine Spark captured and stored rather than let float freely, free to be caught by other trees.
Of course, I had no idea what was their next step with the Divine Spark. Maybe they had a method — even if it was potentially slow and cumbersome — to convert it, or maybe a god with millions of units of Divine Spark could somehow browbeat different natures.
Maybe they would just throw those crystals into the Primordial Aether, to float for eternity.
Regardless, it was a problem for the future. For now, I was content to change the fate hidden in that crystal.
And with, my strategies.
Under my control, the roots of the tree lashed out. Two of the roots burst out of the ground, right underneath the feet of the death knights. They were fast enough to avoid it, but a well-timed rain of leaves gave them a more urgent target to avoid.
They swung their swords to push. They were wearing helmets, but the contempt they felt against my trap was clear from the casualness of their swing as they batted away the leaves.
It was a strategic mistake, but I couldn’t blame them for it. After all, in everything I had seen up until the moment, the guardian trees lacked sentience, and along with it, the ability to develop strategies.
Unfortunately for them, not blaming wasn’t equal to giving them a chance to adjust their thinking. The roots wrapped around their legs, immobilizing them. They tried to desperately cut the roots, each swing of their blade delivering enough rotting energy to completely destroy the tree —only to clash helplessly against my own wave.
Then, a third root jumped out, snatching the Crystal off his hand.
A little pressure was enough to crack the crystal, and a mana flood drained all the spark let out from the crystal.
An incredible amount, I realized, wondering just how many trees their group was responsible for destroying as the pure, crystallized clumps of Divine Spark were absorbed by the tree. A little touch of my mana, and the tree absorbed the energy rapidly.
{ +205 Nature Spark, God Tree }
I let the tree absorb all of it, as the obligation to continuously feed it mana was getting rather troubling. While I could use wards for that purpose, the tree’s divine spark worked much better to convert even more nature mana.
Freed from my obligation to assist the tree to converting pure mana into nature mana, I turned my focus to purifying mana and breaking down Aether. The difference in output was stark, almost increasing ten times, pushing against the necrotic mana like an out-of-control flood.
The lich that commanded the enemy army didn’t appreciate my move, exploding in anger as he delivered several orders. I might not understand his words, but reading the moment of his whole army, charging forward, was rather obvious.
It was an all-out attack.
The other two death knights ignored the treant and rushed forward the tree, trying to destroy the tree before it was too late.
Unaware that they were delivering me exactly what I needed. I delayed dealing with the two captured Death Knights for a moment not to scare the other two, turning my focus on the rest of the battlefield.
The biggest benefit of the order came from the reinforcements. After the order of the lich, the forces that were supposed to keep them away turned their attention to the tree, the most notable being the sudden absence of magical arrows.
The eagle flew toward the ever-growing branches of the tree, in a hurry to join the battle, though even with their speed, it would be a while until they could join the battle. It would be too late before the bulk of the zombie army could achieve their aim, their reckless charge enough to close the distance. I prepared to change my focus to change it.
Then, stopped, realizing a nice surprise.
The treant, lumbering toward the upcoming army, grew larger with each step as it absorbed the almost unlimited nature mana that was in the environment, getting stronger. The mind was already gone after the sacrifice, but the remaining instincts were enough to remind his enmity with the undead.
It smashed against the first line of the charging zombies, each blow making the earth shake as it destroyed many zombies. Panicking, some of the necromancers turned their attacks toward the tree, ignoring the order of the lich.
That angered the lich, but his repeated orders fell wayside as the necromancers desperately tried to eliminate the threat first. Yet, their attacks turned useless as the treant absorbed the nature mana to recover.
I wondered just how long the treant would last. Seconds, or whether it would manage to resist a minute. The constant cycle of decay and recovery was leaving some dangerous instabilities in its structure. Its nature as a wild growth that was never designed to reach this size only quickened its fate.
Yet, it managed to tangle all undead forces into battle, which was far more than what was supposed to be possible before the unlucky elven mage had sacrificed himself in a desperate rush.
Since the undead had kindly committed to the battle I had no reason to keep myself back. I turned my attention to four death knights, desperately hacking the tree in the hopes of destroying it. Unfortunately for them, it was a desperate hope. Unlike the treant, the tree didn’t need to rely on nature's mana to cure the havoc created by the undead energy. It could just assimilate and convert the mana without even my assistance.
The lich might have been more successful with some well-crafted spells to resist that, but the uncontrolled blasts of death knights had no chance.
I stabbed the first death knight with roots, draining it of its mana — and along with it, its divine spark. This time, I didn’t feed it to the tree, but absorbed it myself, quickly purifying and absorbing it.
{+ 21 Pure Divine Spark}
“Thanks for the meal,” I muttered as I observed the undead army, trying to see if the lich reacted to the trick. But, since he was more occupied with trying to bring down the tree rather than trying to resist the invasion, I was willing to believe that it was not the case.
{+ 72 Pure Divine Spark}
And since that was the case, I let absorbed the other three rapidly as well, their desperate last stand might as well not exist under the circumstances.
The dense background mana made it an impossible victory for them, reversing their initial advantage completely. The eagle used the opportunity to land behind the tree, using its huge — and still growing — trunk as cover.
Still, their faces were grim, recognizing that, even with their recent advantages, a desperate battle awaited them.
Luckily for them, they represented a renewable source of divine spark for me, each death an unfortunate loss. I wanted to end the battle as soon as possible, in a spectacular manner.
The treant gave me an excuse to do so. With its desperate hunger for nature mana, it was easy for me to take control of it, and move it forward in a desperate charge right in the middle of the undead formation. It received attacks from all sides, each second hastening its inevitable demise, unable to attack back…
But I didn’t care about the limited damage it created. All I cared about was to see if it could reach its destination… The traps I had laid under the undead army.
The moment it touched, I used the connection to destroy it in one last explosive energy, each splinter filled with nature mana to make a destructive weapon, taking a small yet significant chunk of the army.
The rest was destroyed by the traps going off, with the sole exception of the lich that was leading to the army, its soul detached from its body to escape.
Too bad for him that, before he could escape, a surreptitious ray of light jumped out of the ground and stabbed its soul, draining its divine spark. It was not the first time I had fought with liches.
It took a while more than draining death knights, as not only it had much more dense energy, but also the spark was absorbed enough to reach demigod standards.
Too bad that it didn’t matter in his helpless state, as it disappeared unglamorously.
{+ 104 Pure Divine Spark}
With the battle finally won, I turned my attention to the elves.
It was time to make some new friends.
{Strength: 8 Charisma: 7
Precision: 7 Perception: 8
Agility: 7 Manipulation: 8
Speed: 8 Intelligence: 8
Endurance: 8 Wisdom: 8}
{Purified Divine Spark: 240}
{Pseudo-HP: 869 Mana: 5460}
{ADDITIONAL SPARKS
Light - Chosen 7.4
Nature - Chosen 2.1}
{MINIONS
Guardian God Tree - 206}
[Level: 36 Experience: 631374 / 666000]
