Bloody hell, John had a healing factor, yet he kept quiet about it. What a sneaky bastard. I was knocked down earlier by John, who pushed me aside and took a hit from the Xenos insect, but his wounds started healing themselves as he continued fighting on. That axe of his holds more secrets than he cares to share.
The insect had regrown its missing limbs and was going on a rampage with John. Both of them can take the punishment for sure, which makes me question myself on what more I can do to help in this battle. Despite John not being as fast as the Xenos insect, his battle instincts are certainly helping him in this battle. Not to mention his unpredictable axe is constantly throwing his opponent off.
I pulled myself up and tried to calm myself. Bloodlust is just not suitable for this battle. The insect outclasses me in both speed and strength. And unless I can heal myself like John, I have to play things safe. Just as I closed my eyes to switch my State of Mind, some rustling sounds could be heard from behind me, which instinctively made me stop what I was doing and readied myself. All the elves should have headed towards the massive bug by now. Whatever is making those noises, it's definitely not an elf.
I kept my eyes and senses alert, trying to peer into the darkness to see what had made those noises in between those trees. Something large is definitely in between those trees and it's moving closer towards me.
"Calm yourself, young one. It's just me," said Kuchisabishii-sama as he showed himself from among the trees.
"Phew, you had me worried there. I thought there was another crazy insect that we needed to fight," I breathed a sigh of relief loudly.
"Strange of you to be knocked around. Why are you holding back when you shouldn't? Reserving your strength for another battle?" he asked curiously.
"Hm, perhaps I was subconsciously withholding myself back a little. Either way, John still needs my help. Perhaps you should head over to Cosmic Tree to help the elves instead? I still don't know the whereabouts of the Elementalist until now," I sighed.
"He is there. How about you head over there instead while I help the Viking Lord? This insect seems to intrigue me. I am liking the aura that it is hiding currently," he licked his teeth.
"Are— you sure? You're not just gonna hang back while John fights alone, right? He needs help, like rightnow," I explained to him.
"We'll be fine. This insect interests me more than the giant lumbering thing at the Cosmic Tree. Go, I promise that I'll help him out, seeing that he'll definitely need it. Take the elf lady with you, she won't be able to help any longer," he shooed me away as he took the stage with John.
"I'll hold you to that. Please keep him alive. I know that you're more powerful than that Xenos insect if you get serious," I bowed lightly to him before gesturing Violet to follow me. She had been blessing and supporting us whenever she could and I'm sure that fatigue had begun to overwhelm her. I'm surprised that she can still run about when she had been trying her very best to keep up with our speed.
Time to head over the Cosmic Tree and eliminate that damn massive bug. I'm not giving it free rein to continue sucking on the tree any longer. This needs to end, now.
***
"AHHHHHH!!!!" I roared loudly as I took a swing at the massive insect who was still sucking on the Cosmic Tree after all this while.
Once again, a loud pinging sound erupted from where I struck its body, followed by a wave of gold that pushed me away from the insect. Damn it, even with the legendary sword, I still can't kill this damn insect. Is the only way to stop it from feeding to bring down the Cosmic Tree? And here I was hoping that Vengeful Flame is powerful enough to actually kill this insect.
Let's calm myself and consider my options carefully. If I were to fell the Cosmic Tree, will the insect remain invulnerable? Is the reason it is invulnerable because it is sucking on the Cosmic Tree? What if the insect remains invulnerable after I've brought down the tree? What will be the point in cutting it then?
No, if I were to bring it down earlier, I will be denying the insect from absorbing all of the powers from our precious tree. There is a clear difference between stopping it now rather than waiting for it to absorb it all, even if it remains invulnerable. No matter what, I will still need to bring down the Cosmic Tree. I simply have no choice; it is my duty to bring down our item of worship to protect this realm. The burden falls upon me as I am the only one who is worthy of wielding Vengeful Flame.
I turn my gaze towards my shaky hands, which held the legendary sword in question. I— I can do this. I can bring down the Cosmic Tree. I can do this. I must. I— I… I can't.
Sound of movements could be heard from behind me. Judging from the sound, it would appear that some elven members had made their way here. Damn it! Now there will be witnesses of me bringing down the tree. I can no longer make excuses when they get here. If I wish to bring down the Cosmic Tree, I need to do it, NOW!
I raised my shaky hands and shouted as loudly as I could as I attempted to take a swing at the Cosmic Tree. The purple flames from Vengeful Flame began to grow stronger as it somehow knew what I was attempting to do. I couldn't bear to see the consequences of my actions, and I shut my eyes before attempting the swing. A loud "Wait!!" could be heard before I completed my swing, which made my eyes flung open upon realising whose voice it belonged to.
I drooped my head, refusing to turn my head behind to face the Supreme Commander. I was hoping that he wouldn't make it here so quickly. Who knew he'd actually end up being the first to arrive here?
"I— I have no choice. This massive bug is seemingly invulnerable to all physical or magical attacks. Our only option left is to bring down the Cosmic Tree to prevent it from absorbing its full strength. You can shun or force me out later when all is done. This realm does not deserve its destruction because of our stubbornness," I did my best to explain to him before biting my quivering lips.
"I— know. I'm not trying to stop you. But perhaps— one last grace?" said the Supreme Commander as he kneeled towards the Cosmic Tree and began the communion prayers.
I followed suit, and so did the others. This will be our last communion prayer to the Cosmic Tree in this realm. It will be a long journey should we wish to have our next communion with a Cosmic Tree back at our home realm.
We began our prayers in silence, whispering elvish choruses that trip off the tongue smoother than any other language. Despite being deep in prayer, I could still hear more footsteps approaching the Cosmic Tree and joined us in prayer upon reaching here. All of us knew, no matter how much we wished to deny it, we needed to bring down the Cosmic Tree to prevent this insect from achieving its objective. It sucks for sure, but we are all out of options.
The tree started pulsing with golden waves that washed over us. Perhaps it was giving us its last blessing, or it was telling us to fulfil our duty by eliminating the insect that was attacking it. Or perhaps it is a warning to tell us that our prayers would meant nothing in the end. Either way, it remains to be said that we will finish our last prayers no matter what it takes. We are that stubborn after all.
Some light-footed steps could be heard approaching closer, followed by some crunchier ones. Is it Zen— or perhaps the Viking Lord himself? I hope it's the latter, as I don't wish to be nagged by Zen right now, since both the massive insect and the Cosmic Tree are still standing.
Both footprints came to a halt as I continued my prayers. I was fully expecting a hot-headed voice to reprimand me, demanding an answer as to why the tree or the insect is still alive and well. But I was surprised that things were relatively quiet even after a time. Is it the Viking Lord that arrived instead? I was under the assumption that Violet and Zen were the ones who arrived earlier.
A couple of minutes passed as we continued our prayers until the very end. The Supreme Commander came to my side and placed his hand on my shoulder, giving his approval to bring down the Cosmic Tree. I sighed loudly as I held Vengeful Flame with both of my hands. The purple flame appeared once more as I held it tightly and I readied myself once again to cut the Cosmic Tree. I was caught off guard when someone started yelling loudly out of nowhere.
"YOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! You have a lightsaber?!! And a purple one too?! Samuel would be so proud!!" shouted a familiar voice. I was surprised that he was willing to allow us to commune in peace until the very end.
I turned my gaze backwards to Zen, who quickly rushed to my side to admire my legendary sword with sparkling eyes. All of us were stunned by his unexpected behaviour. Wait a minute, we should have been expecting him to babble weird things every now and then. It's not like this is the first time we had known him to react this way.
"Z— Zen, do you mind? I have a duty to fulfil," I explained to him.
"Go ahead. Although you might want to aim where you cut it, you don't want the tree crushing on us. Better to make sure it crushes on the massive bug instead," he warned.
"I know, I'm not so foolish as to happily cut a tree without aiming for where it's going to land, especially a tree of this size," I assured him as he placed some distance between me.
I took a couple of deep breaths as I held the blade tightly once again. The responsibility still falls upon me at the very end. I cautiously walked closer to the Cosmic Tree, keeping an eye on the massive insect in case it decided to retaliate with its burst of golden wave.
I stood in front of the Cosmic Tree's giant trunk, which had gotten much, much duller by this point. I exhaled as I readied myself and took aim at the massive trunk. It was so large that I couldn't even see the massive insect on the opposite side of me. A couple of deep breaths later, I pulled my arms back, ready to bear my swings upon the Cosmic Tree itself. Oh, dear Cosmic Tree, should you wish to punish me for the sins I'm about to commit, kindly do so after I have fulfilled my duty.
I roared as loudly as I could and brought down my arms to begin the hacking of the tree, fully expecting to perform many more swings after to slice through the thick trunk. What caught me off guard was the fact that Vengeful Flame extended the flames out of nowhere to a ridiculous length, resulting in me slicing through the entirety of the Cosmic Tree's trunk cleanly.
Forgive my sudden pun, but I was certainly— stumped, at what had just happened. My initial plan was to actually hack the tree slowly to predict the direction of where the tree would be falling. But now that the trunk had been completely sliced through, there's no way for me to control the direction of where the tree will fall.
I'm certain that everyone was as stumped as I was since the whole forest went eerily quiet. I slowly moved my gaze backwards towards the group, but a sudden burst of golden wave suddenly erupted, sending me flying backwards. Oh no, did the length of the flame reached the massive insect on the other side? But that would mean—
"Stop the tree from falling!!!" shouted Zen.
W— what can we even do? The Cosmic Tree is massive, and there was no way we could outrun it from crushing us. Are we all fated to die after all? Is this how the Cosmic Tree is going to punish us for bringing it down? By crushing directly on top of us? Damn it, this wouldn't have happened if this damn sword hadn't suddenly extended itself!!
Arrows and other objects started flying towards the direction of the tree; as though such small objects could possibly stop the tree from falling. A couple of burning fuses could be heard from afar, followed by the sound of cannons firing that miraculously hit the tree. It stopped the tree momentarily before it resumed its slow descent upon us. There is just nothing we can do to stop the tree from crushing us; we have to accept our fate after all.
Strong, massive winds began to gather towards a single location, which was making the air rather thin, despite being inside a dense forest. Zen was gathering a lot of wind, condensing them as it swirled angrily around his blade, as though the forest was angry that he was stealing it from them. Never had I seen such a massive amount of wind being gathered before in my life, better yet, on such an unpredictable person.
He roared as he swung the blade towards the direction of the tree, which miraculously seems to be falling slowly towards us despite being at about a 70-degree angle as of now. The gathered wind remained condensed as it flew towards the tree. Upon touching the massive trunk, the ball of wind began to spin, halting the tree in its track and somehow, miraculously, began pushing the tree in the opposite direction.
The group began to cheer loudly, but I kept quiet as I noticed that the winds inside the ball were dissipating slowly, shrinking the ball smaller as time went on. Will this actually be enough to tip the tree in the other direction?
I held my breath as all of us stared at the tree, slowly making its way back to its original 90-degree angle. A loud thump rumbled throughout the entire forest as the tree returned to its original upright state. Sadly, it would appear that the small ball of wind will not be strong enough to tip it over to the other side. Now that we have the situation under control, we shouldn't waste this opportunity before the tree starts falling on us again for some stupid reason. But what can we really do? Should I start hacking the tree from the other side to ensure that it falls the other way? But that would risk the massive bug erupting the golden wave again.
A couple of winged dire wolves flew towards the Cosmic Tree and began to headbutt the trunk. A couple of cannons fired at the trunk, but it did not seem to make any sort of effect whatsoever. The weight of the bug hugging against the trunk on the opposite side must be preventing the tree from tipping over.
Nevertheless, the winged dire wolves continued their attempts along with the cannon fires. Zen was standing on top of his winged dire wolves who were flying above the ground and he attempted to gather winds again. The ball of wind had completely dissipated by now and another one was sorely needed to tip things over to our favour. What is with all the puns coming out of my brain all of a sudden in this kind of situation?!
"FIRE!" shouted the Supreme Commander as he ordered the cannon bearers to fire simultaneously once again.
I might be imagining it, but it would appear that the Cosmic Tree is finally starting to tip. All of the winged dire wolves went in for another round of headbutts, which rumbled the forest from the shockwave. Zen went last as he flew closer towards the Cosmic Tree, dragging all of the gathered wind with him.
Everyone was cheering "Go!" as he approached the tree. With a roar of defiance, he swung his blade and unleashed what can be described as a massive gust of wind that rivals even the strongest hurricane that we have ever seen. Will this finally tip this damn tree over for good?
The Cosmic Tree remained stoic, as though refusing to tip over no matter what. I let out a roar of my own, as though to give strength to the wind to help us. Alas, no matter how stubborn the tree was, it eventually gave in and began tipping over towards the direction of the massive insect. Let's see how it is going to stop that.
"Timber— and boom" said Zen as he came down to ground level before the Cosmic Tree crushed on the massive bug, rumbling the whole forest with its impact.
The sight of the Cosmic Tree falling will forever be ingrained in my mind. Our precious tree that we had all sworn to protect has fallen, thanks to me.