Chapter 46: Act 38 – The Time War
Romaine’s condition was not as optimistic as Brendel had imagined. As time passed, the atmosphere gradually grew tense. Brendel now understood that there must be a secret hidden in this future Maiden’s heart that he was unaware of—a subconscious secret perhaps, one the deeper it was buried, the greater the hurt when revealed.
For a moment, the air was filled only with the tense breathing of the two of them. The Merchant Miss slept soundly, but Brendel feared she might never wake up.
He couldn’t help but glance at the Gold Magic Tree. The connection between dreams and reality had become quite fragile; it could awaken at any moment.
“Freya?”
Freya clenched her fists, too nervous to say a word. Brendel had said they only had five minutes, and time was running out. But Romaine still seemed trapped in her nightmares. Yet Freya knew this wasn’t the young man’s fault; this secret was something only she knew of in Buche.
She regretted not telling Brendel sooner, but how could she have anticipated the complexity of this dream? After all, hadn’t Brendel refrained from telling them anything to avoid affecting their minds and ended up causing the opposite effect?
But the young man didn’t let panic consume him. After a moment’s thought, he threw the Azure Light Sword towards them.
“Let her hold it.”
“What?”
“The sword has the power to drive away evil spirits. Let her hold it.” Brendel spoke aloud, but deep in his heart, he knew what they could rely on was the Elf Sword—a single level increase in willpower could turn misfortune into safety for the Merchant Miss.
Oh, mighty Martha! He prayed to the highest being ‘Vaunte,’ omnipresent but invisible, hoping for leniency toward Romaine. Perhaps the sword had an effect, or perhaps his prayers were heard by Martha, but before long, the Merchant Miss stirred, blinking her eyes open.
She rubbed her eyes, looked at the two of them, paused for a moment, then happily said, “Freya, you’re here! I had a nightmare just now!”
“Ah—” Freya was struck dumb, then let out a surprised gasp from her chest. She didn’t hear what the Merchant Miss was saying at all and hugged Romaine tightly, sobbing with relief. She had thought there was no hope left, but Brendel’s method had actually worked.
“Romaine, you fool!”
“Freya, what are you talking about! I’m not a fool!” Romaine, as if struck with a fatal blow, frantically and seriously defended herself.
On the contrary, Brendel watched the Merchant Miss flustered by Freya’s sudden burst of tears and remained calm. With the help of infused belief and the Azure Light Sword, regardless of the depth of the nightmare, Romaine had a great chance of waking up. He was more concerned about any possible aftereffects.
But, seeing her呆呆 face, Brendel knew he had overworryied.
“Okay, stop crying,” he said. “The Gold Magic Tree will awaken soon. We can talk after the battle.”
The ponytailed maiden wiped away her tears, nodding. “What should we do, Brendel?” she asked.
“This battle isn’t ours to fight. In this valley, there is a Stone Cone Worm—”
“What’s that?”
“Romaine, don’t interrupt! The Stone Cone Worm is an elemental creature from the Pivot (Earth Elemental Plane). Naturally, it’s Gold Magic Tree’s natural predator. But, before the Cone Worm matures, the Gold Magic Tree can rely on its extensive root system to keep it at bay outside the valley. Of course, a Stone Cone Worm matures in eighty to a hundred and twenty years, time we don’t have. So, we need to help it.”
“Help it?” Freya asked.
Brendel took the Elf Sword from Romaine and answered, “The Gold Magic Tree’s physical form is very weak, and its sole attack method is to thrust its roots above ground to skewer intruders. Therefore, we need to force it to do so. The more roots it reallocates, the fewer roots it will have to defend against the Cone Worm, eventually allowing the Cone Worm to enter the valley—”
“However, we have only ten minutes. At most, ten minutes later, the first batch of Withered Beasts will flood into the valley. If we haven’t succeeded within ten minutes, you must run west without hesitation. That passage is in a valley, quite conspicuous.”
“What about you?” Romaine looked up.
“Leave the rearguard duties to the men. This is your grace as ladies.” Brendel glanced at her sleek forehead and couldn’t resist gently tapping it with his hand. Then, he looked at Freya. The maiden was tying her ponytail for convenience in the upcoming battle, noticing his gaze, she nodded at him.
Brendel hesitated, thinking Freya would have stubbornly insisted on staying. But from her expression, there was no sign of reluctance, instead, a newfound calmness, as if she had gained something in the dream.
The efficient Freya emanated a whiff of future Valkyrie, and he couldn’t help but smile with relief before turning around to say, “Romaine, wear your ring.”
The Merchant Miss immediately held up her small hand and proudly shook the clearly defined black and white ring.
“Your task is to listen for any sound underground and immediately inform us if you find anything.”
“Alright, Brendel.”
“So let’s go. We approach the Gold Magic Tree through the rock cape mentioned earlier. Based on the terrain, there should be a fault line underneath that the Gold Magic Tree will be the last to notice our intentions.” Brendel explained while rushing ahead. He reached a jutting rock and turned around to signal for Freya and Romaine to catch up.
Freya grabbed Romaine’s hand and followed, the meaning clear—don’t wander off, I’ll protect you. She did this so Brendel could concentrate entirely, allowing him to launch a full attack on the Gold Magic Tree when the opportunity arose.
The three swiftly bypassed the rock cape mentioned by Brendel, exactly as he had remembered, without being bothered. However, the moment they crossed the boundary, the Merchant Miss immediately heard a rumbling sound underneath.
“Brendel, there’s sound below.”
Our protagonist was startled and immediately shouted, “Split up, quickly!”
Freya immediately pushed Romaine aside, the three scattering. The ground immediately rumbled as two sturdy vines burst through it. The Gold Magic Tree clearly didn’t expect its attack to be seen through by such insignificant creatures. When its roots emerged, they were met with a prepared strike from Brendel’s sword.
The young man rose to his feet, both hands holding the Elf Sword high, striking the water-bucket-thick vine in the middle. The blade cut halfway through, and silver flames burst forth immediately. The purification fire burned the vine that hissed and crackled, causing the Gold Magic Tree in the center of the valley to shake painfully, the entire valley producing a buzzing echo.
It’s calling for reinforcements, Brendel thought with a heavy heart. As expected, there wasn’t much time left. He glanced back; Freya executed a graceful side roll, dodging the Gold Magic Tree’s root sweep, then struck with a beautiful swing cutting into the vine. Although the blade only pierced a third of the way through, this impressive move impressed him greatly.
At least level 2 Erluin military swordsmanship! Freya seems to have benefited greatly from the dream.
“Brendel, the sound again!” Romaine, alone on the edge of the battlefield, turned around and shouted.
“How far?” Brendel blurted out instinctively, but he quickly realized his slip. He had instinctively treated Romaine as the nightingale of the team, but the Merchant Miss was merely quite sensitive, not a professional scout from a game.
“A hundred meters, seventy meters, maybe,” Romaine responded after a moment’s thought.
“So far?” Brendel paused, parrying a root aimed at him with a reverse swing. The root, severed halfway, lost its vitality and collapsed limp, the cut charred black.
“Sixty meters left,” Romaine continued.
Brendel hesitated for a second and decided to trust Romaine despite the improbability. “Freya, forget about it! See that path? Go!”
Freya paused only briefly, then held her sword in front of her chest, allowing it to block the root’s whipping attack. The wind feathers surrounding her lit up, forming a net of light that protected her, lessening the impact. —The ponytailed maiden tumbled and rolled a few times, quickly rising to her feet, landing next to Romaine.
“Romaine, come with me!” Then she grabbed the Merchant Miss’s hand and dashed towards that direction.
“Hey, where’s Brendel?”
“He’ll catch up!”
This girl has finally learned to trust her teammates, no longer insisting on doing everything herself. Brendel couldn’t help but feel relieved. He had truly feared that Freya might get entangled with him at such a critical time, but he saw the root attacking Freya trying to pursue her, and instinctively cut through along the previous cut, cleanly bisecting it.
Clearing the enemies, he did not dwell, the underground sound was clearly audible even to him now, confirming Romaine’s judgment. Yet, he couldn’t help but be astonished—how had that seemingly clumsy girl heard sounds seventy meters underground?
He estimated that one would need a Perception stat of five levels to reach that level of hearing.
This thought flashed through Brendel’s mind as he immediately turned and ran. With his agility, catching up to Freya and Romaine was not a difficulty, but they were stopped again by the Gold Magic Tree’s root connections. On the third occasion, they heard a thunderous roar from the southeast of the valley, and all the roots attacking them immediately retreated.
This made both Freya and Romaine understand without needing Brendel’s reminder that the Stone Cone Worm had entered the scene.
“Did we win?” Romaine couldn’t help but ask excitedly.
Brendel shook his head; they still had to enter the core area around the Gold Magic Tree. In the time ahead, the Gold Magic Tree would continuously weigh which side posed a greater threat, and then redistribute its massive root system to block one side. However, such behavior couldn’t last long, and eventually, they would triumph.
The only issue was whether they could accomplish everything within the stipulated time.
There was less than five minutes left.
…
(PS. After the crossover, opinions have come pouring in.
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