Chapter 357 The Truth About The Damned Tree
"Okay, let's go," Ray agreed with his mother as the four left for the core right away. Sirius was using the shadows as he carried everyone along with him. The shadows used less energy and since it was still dark, there was an abundance of them. Hence, it not only saved them all their valued time but also helped them conserve their energy.
While the four travelled to the core, the tug of war between the tree and Kashish was getting even more fierce.
It was to the extent that Kashish had to past her limits even with the spell activated and with how she had been resisting the tree's influence and handling so much area at the same time that her mind was finding it hard to control it all. Slowly, Kashish was losing the battle and she knew it. Her control was slipping and she knew that she was losing the battle.
"I need to hurt it enough," Kashish thought as she directed more mana from the crystals powering the spell. Knowing that even the spell was halfway through its time, Kashish decided to go on the offensive. After all, she had an idea that it would be she who would lose if the battle dragged on and turned into a battle of attrition.
"Ray!!," Sparing a bit of her attention to contact Ray, she asked for his permission first, "I can't hold on for long, are you guys in position?"
"Not yet but we will be there soon. For how much longer can you keep it up?" Ray asked her back. He knew what Kashish was going through right now and how much pressure she was in. In fact, her holding onto her position against such a strong enemy despite using forbidden magic was an achievement of her own.
"I can keep it occupied for a few minutes before I have to make a choice. Either I go onto offensive or back down. If I back down, i would hold for a bit longer but the tree would regain the areas lost,"
"Okay keep resisting for a couple more minutes and on my signal, go on the offense. We are almost there, just make sure to hit it as hard as you can," Ray gave her the orders and cut the connection right after.
They had reached the core and what they saw their had them all gulping with their faces scrunched up in a frown.
"What happened here?" Asked Tim as he looked around himself, only finding a barren land with the ground turned to red dust. The trees around him were devoid of any vegetation and seeing all this, no one could believe it.
"What are you doing you idiot? Come back here," Elina reprimanded her brother as she pulled his ear and walked him back, "don't go touching around anything you see," she said and pointed her finger at the tree where Tim was previously at.
Tim saw as the trunk moved slightly before a huge gaping mouth opened up and the tree bit into empty air, "what the!!!?" Tim asked in disbelief as he couldn't believe his eyes.
The trees were moving on their own and from how their movements affected the area around them, they seemed to be as powerful as Magical Realm beasts.
"Be careful everyone, the whole place is under control of that tree. One mistake and we alert the tree and doing that is the last thing we need to do so. It's the tree's domain and we don't want it to attack us here," Ray's words made them aware of their situation as they all nodded.
"Follow my lead," he said and started walking forward. Having a telepathic link with Emma, she guided him along the whole area as he avoided the strongest mana signatures and made way towards the tree.
Ray knew he was treading on a thin line by walking right into the tree's territory but he didn't have any choice about it. The tree was very strong, to the point that even the head nurse was afraid of going up against it.
Not to mention the four Celestials it had under control, Ray was sure that the tree was almost as strong as the dean and including the Celestials, the matter was even worse.
"We take what we are here for and retreat," he thought as the tree came in his sights.
"Damnn," It was Elina whose mouth was wide open now. The tree was in front of her and a certain something she had made a contract with recognized that tree right away.
"Ray, that thing is pretty dangerous," Elina called out, her voice was stern and Ray knew from her behavior that she wasn't taking no for an answer.
"Why do you say that because i know that thing is strong and dangerous but I don't see the reason for you to be pissing your pants about it," Ray replied, stopping for a moment as he turned around to give her an earring but seeing her, he stopped as he realized it wasn't just Elina who had said those words, it was another entity alongside her.
"Is it him?" Ray asked.
"Yes it is," she answered as the black in her pupil shifted ever so lightly.
"Then I am sure that he must have told you something more than that and you know I would be happy to get known about the whole situation,"
"Hmmm, you are right," Answered Elina as she walked up to Ray and told him, "I will tell you what he told me but in that information, I was told that before anything else; we need to get away from here. Im sure you would understand,"
"Woah, that's harsh," Ray muttered as he nodded at her and everyone walked away from the tree until it was out of their vision.
"So what is it?" Ray asked as he sat down on a platform nearby.
"Well, that thing is a part of the Yagdrassil, or say it was,"
"What do you mean by that? Yagdrassil is the world tree and as far as I know about it, its very different from this thing right there," Ray asnwered, pointing at the direction where the tree was.
"I know what you mean but hear me out first," Said Elina as the darkness covering her pupil expanded as it started cover more of her body and as it did, Elina spoke again, "If not me, hear him out. I'm sure you will be more inclined to listen to an ancient being,"
"Oh, so he is ready to talk. Okay, bring him out," Ray replied while the darkness covered half of Elina's body.
"Hello Ray," A monotoned voice came out of Elina's mouth that sounded nothing like that of either a man or a woman. It was distinct and sounded somewhere in the middle and creeped out everyone so much that Tim was barely able to look at his sister straight.
"Hello mister unknown being, now please onto the topic as we don't have much time and I'm sure you are aware of it," His words were harsh and so was his tone, Ray knew who he was dealing with and didn't want to appear weak in front of such being.
"Yes I am and I am happy to tell you everything," Said the being through Elina's mouth as it started explaining, "That tree you have a bit away from you is nothing but a part of the world tree, Yagdrassil. It was merely a small branch of it and during some tumultuous times, the world tree was struck by corruption and that part was exactly what was corrupted and hence the world tree cut off that part from its body and banished it, leaving it to die,"
"Then why didn't it die and how the heck is it here?" His anger increasing by the second, Ray asked as he looked into Elina's eyes.
The demon residing within Elina wasn't to be trifled with either and it didn't care anything for Ray's anger, "Well, it didnt die because due to the corruption, that part of the world tree had already gained a semblance of consciousness of its own and after being cut from the world tree, it was truly consumed by the corruption and so was its consciousness and as far as i know, it lived and as for how it got her to your damned plane, I don't know and nor do I give a shit to it," the demon replied in an equally rude way. To which Ray didn't mind because just like the demon, Ray didn't care.
Though what he did care for was winning this battle and getting Aella out safely, "So tell me, if you know so much about it, then how do we defeat it," He asked, looking at the demon right in its eye.
"Well, you have come to the right man because I seem to know exactly what its weak point is and you have its weakness with you," the demon replied with a smile as seeing that smile, Ray felt a big bomb being dropped on him in the next few minutes.
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