Year 102

Nothing of significance happened. I met the two heroes, they seemed bored, and well, the demon didn’t show them anything new either. I’m still trying to fix my shit, and improve my pain endurance even more.

Year 103

Would the next demon king pop out around now? I mean... no? I sensed some magic flying here and there, but I have no clue what else.

Year 104

I had a dream. Usually dreams are divine or oracular in nature, since they often foretold or spoke of divine intervention, so this one was strange. There’s like... 5 asteroids, bright red. They crashed on the world. And... that’s it.

But it felt different. I wasn’t quite sure what.

-

“Still nothing?”

“Nope.” The two bored heroes responded. “Same imagery.”

“Ah.”

Based on when the previous demon king battle happened, the demon king should appear again in another year, and so the world should be facing demonic attacks already. But there’s 5 heroes remaining, I suppose they should be doing alright. Even if one of those heroes was somehow expelled.

I’m sure they are doing fine.

Year 105

This year is the year the demon king is supposed to descend. After all, it’s been 10 years, and so, in the 2nd half of the year. It did.

[Demon King Phenex has descended]

I wonder what happened this time..

Year 106

4 months after the demon king descended, I felt it again.

A huge, huuuuuge surge of magic, so overwhelming that it’s disgusting. Even when my limbs are torched and burnt I could feel it. It even resonates with my very soul.

I’m sure it’s blood magic. There’s something really sickening about this magic that makes me feel like puking, if I could. A tree can’t puke, sadly.

I felt whatever it was headed towards its intended target. Like how you could feel the sun even with your eyes closed, I could feel it move, the change in it’s angle.

But the demon king lived.

[The Excommunicated Hero, Astra has died]

Huh.

That... was not expected. Indeed, not expected at all.

About one to two days later, the demonic corruption around me started behaving erratically. As if supercharged, I felt the demonic corruption surge through my body, my roots. I felt it push strongly against the root-walls of my valley.

I felt cracks in my root-walls. More cracks.

Here. There.

The demonic sludged that stabilised over the past 20 years suddenly started moving, flowing, and it pushed against my root-walls.

More cracks! I feel like I’m trying to use sandbags to hold back a tsunami, and there are pockets where the levee broke. The demonic corruption rushed in, together with the sludge.

And then.... All at once, it stopped.The sludge stopped.

[Madeus has died]

[Yvon has died]

[34 other familiar-users have died]

[You gained two levels. You are now level 149]

[Skill : Pain endurance upgraded!]

[Obtained new skill : Root Fortress]

[Obtained Yvon’s soul]

[Obtained 7 experience seeds]

And on top of that, I received a long string of notifications about class seeds and skill seeds. From the many that died, there’s [wizard], [swordmage], [brawler], [druid], [knight] and a whole list of many other classes.

I felt... sad.

What happened out there.

“Monsters.” A voice. I recognise that voice.

“Yvon?” I turn to face a glowing blob. It is in fact, Yvon.

“Hi.” I said. I mean, I kind of miss talking to someone that’s not a demon.

“Happy to see you, Aeon. We... really could’ve used your help.”

“I’m not sure if you can see, but I’m stuck in this state holding back the demonic energy.”

“That’s what we thought too. You look like... a tree. This is the ‘soul’ realm that Jura told me about? He said that you have this ‘space’ where it’s where the dead linger.”

“I am a tree, why wouldn’t I look like a tree.”

“Mistress Yvon!” Eriz’s soul detected her previous mistress’s soul. “Oh no. You died...”

“Well... it was inevitable. Things were looking really bleak for us. We have barely enough food and water, and every time we lose someone with familiars, a bit of our food supply goes along with it.”

I’m very curious what’s been happening outside. “Stop. You two can catch up later. Tell me about what happened outside.”

“Uh... well, we’re in this valley where your roots are holding up the hardened sludge. But, every now and then cracks in the sludge appeared, and those cracks would spit out demonic hybrid monsters. They attacked us almost every other day.”

Yvon paused a bit.

“And well, what happened was, a huge crack happened, and sludge flowed in. On top of that, larger monsters came in and attacked us, so well... I died killing a few. Many of us did.”

“Any idea what happened to the outside world?”

“We have no contact. The demonic sludge causes magic to decay, so all our attempts to communicate with the outside world has been unsuccessful. Our attempts to use other means of communication, like... climbing up that hole on top of you, have been unsuccessful as well. So, I have no idea.”

“Darn.” I sighed. “Well, the demon king appeared again. And it somehow amplified the effects of the corruption temporarily.”

“Fuck.” Yvon cursed. “That explains it.”

“How many of you are left? I’m blind at the moment, the demonic corruption robbed me of all my senses.”

“About... 3,000? Maybe less after today. Perhaps about 200 died today.”

“That’s not... bad?”

“We're at a higher level now. Many of us leveled tremendously over the past 20 years to survive this. But things are still bleak, with food in short supply, and our equipment limited. At least, none of us were dying to the demons for a while... Until today.”

“I see.” I mean, I felt kind of sad. “What about the forest? The trees?”

“Uh... oh. Erm... Quite a bit of the giant trees are still there. Some of the weird trees are still there. We managed to locate a few surviving flower-bushes and herbal spots, so that’s our spices. We also found quite a bit of potato buried, so we’re also eating that...”

“What about water?”

“A few of our druids are able to use their mana to create water. So... that’s our water supply.”

“I see. Let me think.” I let Yvon and Eriz catch up a bit. They spoke about Roma, and generally about life in their new environment. It’s been a long time since they last met, almost 20 years, and so they have much to talk about.

But I have a new skill. [Root Fortress].

So, when I was awake again, I quickly activated [Root Fortress], and felt, for a brief moment, all the roots strengthen. It’s like a sonar pulse, and at that moment I knew exactly how many trees survived, as I felt the effects of my skill spread throughout the valley.

And I stayed awake, longer.

I think it’s my two new levels.

Now, if only I could get more levels.

“I can see why you can’t help us now.” Yvon’s blob of light sighed. I briefly explained my situation of being trapped in this demonfire. “You’re not even awake most of the time...”

“Not exactly ideal, but I hope I’ll be able to break free of it soon. Tell me about who’s left.”

Lausanne, Laufen, Roma, Jura lived. Two of the Valtrian Order’s captains survived too. One of the herbalists and quite a big chunk of the druid-in-training Valthorns also survived, by sheer coincidence that they were foraging in the forest during that time. It’s a day they remember, the day when the Valley sank.

-

At the later part of the year, the demon king was slain.

[Demon King Phenex was defeated]

[Becky has died. You received one fragment]

Oh wow. Only one hero died.

[You gained 3 levels. You are now level 152.]

[Skill upgraded : Demonic Energy Transmission]

[Skill upgraded : Subsidiary Trees - 100,000. Giant Attendant Trees - 1,000]

[Level 150 crossed. You may select a DOMAIN]

[Domain are your focus on the path of divinity, and will impact future domain choices. The first choice is your primary domain. Choice of domain greatly influences type of future skills learned]

[Choices are : ]

[Domain of Nature]

[Domain of Spirit]

[Domain of Astral]

Holy...

This is probably the first time I recall ever being offered a choice in what I want for a skill. Like... domain? It sounds very much like what kind of god or deity I want to be. Is this like Age of Mythology where I get to choose which patron god I get to pray to, and so have different kinds of perks?

How do I decide?

Nature, Spirit, and Astral.

Nature sounds like I am headed to more tree-like powers. Spirit sounds like I get even more soul and spirit related perks. Astral...

What does astral mean again? Ah stars. So... more star mana powers? From what I know of star-mana, it’s super effective against the demons, which is why the heroes get it, so going into the Astral path may be the most effective way of getting myself out of this mess.

But then, I’m not keen on that at all. I think it conflicts with my sense of self.

I’m a tree. I would like that being a tree is my identity. Well, I was a human, but by now I’ve lived so long that my life as a tree has far exceeded that of my human life. Even if it feels brief, because I spend so much of it sleeping.

How about spirit, then? Should I go into the entire path of spirits? Ghost, souls and all. Well... I haven’t actually found much joy in it.

There’s nothing like watching a barren field being brought back to life. An empty plain transformed into a verdant forest. A volcano calmed into an oasis of giant life.

I think I like trees, flowers, bushes and all of that. So nature is more in tune with me.

I think I’d be a fool if I chose Astral because it’s going to get me out of this shit. I’ll get out of this eventually, with levels, and with more hero fragments. So I should play the long game. Choose something that I will like.

So, I thought about it for a day or two, then selected.

[Domain of Nature selected]

In an instant, I felt a spark, and felt something rush to every tip of me. Every burned branch, every charred root.

[Domain Ability : Roots of Life. So long as you are rooted to the ground, the ground will nourish you, heal you and debuff negative statuses and effects. Strength of domain ability proportionate to amount of roots connected to the ground.]

[One domain ability is unlocked every 10 levels. Next domain ability at level 160. Next sub-domain focus at level 200]

[Demonic Curse is suppressed by your Domain Ability. Effect of demonic curse is reduced]

My roots started to heal, even as the demonfire burned. It healed faster than it could burn, and within minutes, the demonic corruption was confined into the dedicated ‘tunnels’ used to expel the absorbed demonic energy. So, even though the top of my body, the very tip of the branches are now emitting demonic flames, the branches themselves are no longer burning.

I’ve become... an oil refinery that flares up. Okay that was lame. Maybe Hades, then?

About one day after the healing, I saw my valley once more. Then, I felt the reconnection of everything in the valley. All my fellow surviving trees, flowers, bushes, herbal plants and roots. My brethren.

It feels me with joy to hear them all again, their ambient voices in the background. I felt my energy flowing back to them, and theirs back to me.

I surveyed my valley. Oh how terrible it looked. My roots were holding back the demonic sludge from the back, the roots hardened.

There’s still a few large ‘tunnels’ of demonic energies, but now, with my new [Domain], I could forcefully suppress those flames into smaller, much smaller ones. It’s like a gas stove, and with my new powers I turned the knob, and the fires shrunk.

[Reconnecting to Trevor]

“...mAsTeR?” A familiar voice.

“Yes, Trevor.”

I felt what amounts to joy and relief, and immediately after that, the overlay returned to me. Things are dire. About 20,000 or so trees are left in the area protected by my wall of roots. There’s also about 1,000 or so natural giant trees, and about 50 or 60 subsidiary trees that survived. The grand mind tree is damaged, and will need some materials to repair. Most other structures are gone. New Freeka is gone too.

I mean, I knew that, but seeing it again really hammered that reality in. What was once New Freeka's was replaced with blocks of demonic sludge, by now mostly hardened. But there are gaps in those sludge, and the demonic hybrids would emerge from them.

“Welcome back, master.” Trevor quickly found back his composure. “You’ve been away for 21 years.”

“I know. What happened?”

“The valley has been attacked by demonic creatures. Without access to you, master, we were unable to use your delegated abilities, and can only activate our own abilities. As such, our attempts at defending the valley have met with mixed results. We attempted to aid the survivors where we can, but with our limited skillsets, we couldn’t do much. And after ten or so years, our functions and awareness began to decay. Until... today.”

“I see.” That’s when I finally zoomed back on the survivors. I hardly recognise them now, it has been so long, but then Trevor's overlay started to populate my vision with whatever data that he collected so far.

And I saw Jura, Laufen and Lausanne. It’s been so long.

“Glad to see the three of you alive.” They were clearly observing the changes in the valley, and when my telepathic voice reached them, all of them froze. Jura immediately knelt on the floor. Laufen just stoned, and Lausanne made a fistpump.

“OH YEAH. I KNEW IT WAS TREETREE.” She said. “I KNEW IT.”

Laufen and Jura both seemed unable to say a word.

Lausanne... well. She wasn’t young anymore. She looks like an adult. She’s... 37? Oh my. She isn't a young teenager anymore, even if she spent twenty years holed up in this valley. They all look really skinny, like they’ve not been eating well. In fact, they all look malnourished.

At that moment, I suddenly remembered that Jura had some villager skills that were useful for such situations. Skills he didn’t let me remove because it’s nostalgia. Looks like he was right, he would’ve died without those skills, with how this environment seems to lack sufficient meat sources. All they have been eating are fruits, vegetables, leaves.

“All of you look like shit.”

They didn’t answer. Well, except Lausanne. “Of course we do. We’re not exactly having a feast here! Now get us out of this valley!”

“Easier said than done, Lausanne.” I attempted to look further, beyond the valley, and couldn’t do so because all my subsidiary trees outside this cocoon were all destroyed. Maybe those further away survived, because I didn’t get a notification for Dimitree, or those that guarded the volcano, or those near Lilies too, but that’s for another day. I would need to reclaim the terrain from the demons in order to see further, but for now, let’s get the house in order.

I focused back on the valley. 3,000 or so survivors. Quite a bit of treefolks, some centaurs, some lizardpeople, some dwarves too, and the rest, elves.

Trevor was already busy at work, quickly reconnecting me to all the surviving trees in the valley. I felt their voice return, and at the same time, their power. The valley’s root walls hardened, and in an instant, a bit more life returned to the land. The sickly looking trees, deprived of sunlight started to sprout more green leaves.

I used my roots to force the hole on top of our valley to open up, and bit by bit, a little more sunlight came in. Well, not exactly sunlight. It’s a stormy firestorm out there.

“Oh wow.” The survivors admired the sunhole expanding overhead. It wasn’t sunlight, but finally, a bigger view of the sky. They’ve been missing the skies.

“Bad news is, whatever happened, happened to probably most of this continent.” I said to Jura, Lausanne and Laufen. The survivors have gathered up, and heard their announcement.

“TreeTree... it’s so weird to hear your voice after so long.” Lausanne said. “I’ve grown up now. I’m also level 80 now.”

“...yes.” And I haven’t quite come to terms with that. She still feels like a young 16 year old girl last I saw her. This isn’t quite right.

I feel like I’ve woken up from a 20 year coma to discover the world has changed and I’m still that same old fart. I will need some time to adjust to this new reality.

They all look really skinny. Jura looked haggard. Famine in this environment has been exceptionally hard. Sucks even more that the demons are not edible. Unlike monsters, some of which are edible.

Wait. Level 80? That means she’s capped out like Jura? “Is that your cap?”

“...yes.” She said.

“How many of you hit your level caps?”

“Me. Uncle Jura, there... uh... Nero’s close, like level 70ish. And uh... Roma’s level 70ish too.” Well. In fact, about 50 of them are at level 70 to 80, which is exceptionally high level for a band of survivors. “But in terms of class, I think mine, Uncle Jura’s and the captains have the best skills, since we have the familiars for extra power.”

That explained how they managed to stop the deaths after a while. With 50 level 70 to 80, they could take on most high level creatures. Even with just ordinary [Knight] or [Soldier] class, that’s a very good place to be.

Twenty years.

I kinda feel like I just had a manga powerup timeskip. Only, well, it’s these elves that had a big powerup.

“If all of you are so strong, why don’t you break out of this place?”

“Uh... the demons are strong, and there’s a lot of them. Like... every wave is a few hundred of them.” Lausanne said. “And that hole was our only exit. None of us wanted to break through the roots because we don’t want more monsters coming in if we fail.” She pointed at the hole.

Wave? And then I felt it too. There was a crack in my wall of roots, and monsters emerged from it. 500.

I was more than happy to unleash fury after being asleep for so long. A huge wave of root strikes, and all of the monsters crumbled.

“Where’s horns?”

“Horns is in stasis, master.” Trevor advised.

“What?”

And I saw him in one of the surviving subsidiary trees in the valley, his body severed in half, and he’s left with his head. The subsidiary tree’s energies kept him alive and maintained him, but there wasn’t enough to heal him.

“I couldn’t communicate with the survivors to get their druids to help.” Trevor apologised.

“I see.”

I took a mental deep breath.

It was time to rebuild.