Chapter 47: Act 39 – The Death of the Golden Tree
A rumble came from the south, followed by another one after about half a minute. Brendel listened carefully, confirming that the stone needle worms had already passed through the valley filled with sharp rocks and were heading toward the inward-converging area—these creatures, clad in rock armor, had spiral mouths lined with thirteen thousand steel needle-like teeth—not only capable of easily piercing the earth but also able to crush the hardest rocks.
Brendel had seen adult stone needle worms; they were about thirty meters long, requiring three people to surround one. These creatures from the Stone Spire had astonishing defenses, and even Brendel’s sword with a power level of 40 (Oz) couldn’t break through their surface armor, let alone inflict any damage.
The Golden Tree BOSS, on the other hand, was allowing the stone needle worms to advance, indicating that it had shifted its defensive focus to them. Brendel couldn’t help but curse silently.
The rocky promontory was about a mile away from the center of the forbidden fruit orchard where the Golden Tree was rooted. Even at their fastest, the stone needle worms would still take over two and a half minutes to traverse the earth. The three of them had already entered the core of the forbidden orchard, and if the Golden Tree didn’t interfere with them, they only needed to circumvent the area of broken terrain ahead to see the Golden Tree itself.
There were still two minutes left.
But Brendel knew without a doubt that the Golden Tree would not allow them to proceed unhindered. Sure enough, before he could finish his thought, the solid ground beneath them let out a fragmented groan. This was already within the range covered by the roots of the Golden Tree, so their movements came without warning, rendering Romaine’s abilities useless.
All three felt their bodies drop downward simultaneously; Brendel, prepared, thrust his elven sword downward and steadied himself with one hand on the Merchant Miss. He glanced over to see Freya also half-squatting on the ground, bracing herself.
However, before they could catch their breath, the ground dropped again, this time clearly tearing a gap from the surface.
“What does it want to do?” the ponytailed girl almost tipped backward, unable to help but ask nervously.
“It wants to kill us; stay close to me,” Brendel replied as he pulled Romaine up from the ground, drew his sword, and half-cradling the Merchant Miss, jumped forward, rolling twice to avoid a crack formed by the Golden Tree’s roots underground.
Romaine was shielded beneath the young man, her face flushed like a ripe apple, her eyes wide open, afraid to make a sound.
Freya seemed to want to jump over, but the Golden Tree was no pushover; it pulled down the ground further with its roots, causing her chest to slam into the uneven terrain. If Brendel hadn’t acted quickly to pull her back, she would have likely sunk down with the soil and rocks.
“Thank you,” Freya said, breaking free from his grip and replying softly.
“Now’s not the time for that,” Brendel replied, drawing his sword and slicing through a whip-like root that had swung toward them.
But soon, even more serpent-like roots appeared before them, and the crack behind them tilted downward further, expanding. It seemed that the BOSS was determined to teach them a lesson. However, Brendel was quite accustomed to such tricks; he couldn’t help but think that apart from the surprise it gave him in the first phase, this wooden post seemed to have no new tricks up its sleeve.
This ability to tear the ground was a large-area AOE in the game, but it certainly had weaknesses.
“Watch closely!”
He said to Freya while holding Romaine tightly, his eyes fixed on the incoming vines. He sidestepped to allow the ‘whip’ to pass in front of him, then reached out to grab it tightly—clearly, the Golden Tree had not anticipated this, as it hurriedly coiled its roots in an attempt to fling Brendel away.
But the young man held on firmly, bouncing along with Romaine as he went. The BOSS of the Zavier Mountain Road finally grew impatient, raising its roots high in an attempt to slam Brendel into the ground, but he took that opportunity to loosen his grip and leap backward, landing already thirty-four meters away from the crack.
His power level of 3.7 granted him almost four times the strength of an ordinary person, and at 2.9 for agility, he was more agile than the mountain monkeys that moved easily through the tree canopy. This combination of attributes made it relatively effortless for him to complete this series of actions. Upon landing, his robust muscles and bones absorbed the impact, while a normal person would likely have suffered serious internal injuries; for him, it was merely a slight discomfort.
This was the benefit of enhanced physical attributes. Brendel knew that everything he had done before was not in vain; he had accumulated these attributes piece by piece for this very moment.
As soon as he landed, he turned back to Freya and shouted, “Keep up!” Then he did not pause, taking the stumbling Merchant Miss by one hand, the two of them rushing toward the Golden Tree with a sword in hand.
“Brendel, wait!”
“I can’t keep up!”
However, at that moment, Brendel paid no attention to the Merchant Miss’s words. Turning around a corner, the ground suddenly cracked open with a loud ‘whoosh,’ a multitude of roots shooting up from below to form a massive net—the Golden Tree was right behind that net.
Less than a minute remaining.
Brendel hesitated, and Romaine behind him stopped as well, gasping for air. She raised her head, looking curiously at the Golden Tree behind them—she couldn’t help but feel that it must be the divine apple tree.
Brendel surveyed the net, identical to that in the game. He traced a circle with the elven sword before him, igniting two sweeping serpent vines in flames, splitting them into four sections; his martial swordsmanship was both grand and straightforward, with not many defensive moves, but the few available were exceptionally refined.
He then stepped back a moment, raising the sword with both hands and moving forward a step: “Strength Burst—!” Brendel felt excessive power being drawn from his upper arms, forearms, trapezius, and latissimus dorsi, causing the elven sword to carve a beautiful silver arc—sword forward, it crashed into the net with 7.7 power levels.
Freya, limping as she caught up from behind, witnessed this scene. In the past, she had always thought she had seen Brendel’s limits. The last time, it could be said that he cleverly used that magic card, but this time she truly saw that kind of power surging forth.
The sword edge compressed the air on both sides, creating a swift sonic boom. As if uprooting a tree, the roots of the Golden Tree’s net split open wide, collapsing entirely from the center.
This trapped beast of the Zavier Mountain Road could no longer block the trio, only watching helplessly as they broke through. The moment Brendel entered the core area of the forbidden orchard, he shouted to Romaine and Freya, “You two go attack its main roots; leave the body to me!”
Having said that, he took out a Destiny card and silently chanted, “Display the Holy Sword!”
Even in summer, Winterclaw Fortress was still cloaked in a thin layer of frost. Originally built in the high-altitude mountains of Corvado to monitor the savages in the forest to the north, it later became one of the royal villas after the Baltar Province was established.
In the diamond-shaped courtyard of the fortress stood an ancient pine tree, which miraculously survived a fire at Winterclaw Fortress in the last century. The fortress’s owner saw this as a good omen, so it rebuilt the stronghold and preserved the tree.
Today, however, a solemn atmosphere was spreading beneath this pine tree.
A young girl dressed in thick knight’s attire had beautiful silver hair, with pointed ears confirming part of her bloodline was not human. However, unlike the elven elegance and beauty, this fifteen-year-old girl had a stern expression, gripping a dark longsword with both hands, her stance braced in the initial defensive position of Erluin cavalry swordsmanship—
She pursed her lips, commanding a younger boy in front of her, “Haruz, attack me—!”
Simple and authoritative.
“Sister…”
“Attack!”
The boy could only muster the courage to stab forward with his sword. But the girl smoothly swept her sword downward, expertly deflecting his blade, and then took a step forward to push him back to the ground with a hand on his chest.
A gasp came from the surrounding servants.
“Again!” The girl remained impassive as she spoke.
“Sister, I…”
“Stand up and come at me again.”
The boy had no choice but to stand up and step back. Gritting his teeth, he charged again, but the girl, in her knight’s armor, transferred the sword from her right hand to her left, casually swinging her arm and striking the boy’s sword away.
“What are you daydreaming about?”
“I’m sorry.”
“Again.”
…
Ten minutes later—
The girl approached the changing room, letting two maidservants unfasten her heavy knight’s armor. Steam and sweat hung over her beautiful silver curls, and without turning, she asked, “Where is Father?”
“The envoy from Madara has arrived, Your Highness.”
“His Majesty is secretly meeting with Marquis Klug,” another maidservant answered, bowing her head.
The girl glanced at herself in the mirror; her face was expressionless and cold. She changed into a dress, casually tossing her long silver hair behind her, raising her head and responding:
“Take me to meet Gemal.” She silently thought there might be a turning point in the war, but that crafty old dog Klug was not trustworthy. Of course, some things didn’t need to be spoken out loud in front of the servants; she needed to find a trustworthy confidant.
“Understood, Your Highness.”
This day was the Year of Blossoms and Summer Leaves, early June—
Brendel watched as the color gradually faded from every branch of the Golden Tree, drooping lifelessly, knowing that this terrifying monster had finally reached the end of its life. He felt a bit fatigued; spending two points of mana to maintain the Holy Sword effect had nearly drained all of his mental reserves.
After all, he was a warrior, not a wizard. Even a wizard at this level only had about ten points of mana.
Freya and Romaine were both exhausted, sitting on the side; Freya had sustained a little injury to her arm, but it was nothing serious. Moreover, this minor injury felt insignificant compared to the joy of defeating a powerful enemy; they couldn’t help but look back at Brendel.
But they saw Brendel step forward, swinging the elven sword in a wide arc, striking the trunk of the Golden Tree.
Strength Burst—
The dying Golden Tree, having lost the power of the divine blood, was nothing more than an ordinary ancient oak tree, completely unable to resist the terrifying force of 7.7 power levels. The ripping force directly severed the upper half of its canopy, causing it to snap off and fly away.
Both girls gasped, unable to understand what Brendel intended to do.
But Brendel knew that the Golden Tree would hang the creatures it killed on its canopy, slowly draining their magic. Over time, he could still find some loot.
Although most had long been drained of their magic and turned into worthless waste.
Brendel walked over, and the first thing he saw on the ground was a card—
