The Black Duskroot 2

[No way?]

“What?”

The grotesque expression rippling on the massive trunk raised one eyebrow.

[Hmm… You look nothing like Razvolnic. Far more presentable, in fact?]

“No…”

Lilith was rendered speechless by the absurdity.

In retrospect, it was an understandable reaction. Even the four Vanguard Commanders at Muspelheim, herself included, had initially failed to recognize Enoch.

But in this dire battlefield situation, when would there be time to explain and wait around?

“Ah, that is Razvolnic! You’re just mistaken, so attack him already!”

[What nonsense! How dare you question the Great Earth Mother’s discerning eye! In my lifetime coexisting with the world’s earth, I have never encountered such a majestic divine beast! Razvolnic, on the other hand, is a mere human!]

“I’ll explain later, so just—!”

[Oh, Divine Beast! Come here for a moment, let the Great Earth Mother crush you beneath her roots!]

“Aaaargh!”

Exasperated, Lilith clutched her head.

This was indeed a mistake on the Vanguard Commanders’ part. They should have prepared at least a minimal briefing for the revived Black Duskroot.

Of course, reviving it right before the battle to let it take root on this battlefield was unavoidable. But the situation had still become an utter mess.

‘…No, wait.’

Lilith suddenly turned her head, struck by a sense of familiarity.

Like the Black Duskroot, the newly emerged Vanguard Commander Crimson had also been summoned right before the war.

The puppet-like being in crimson armor still had not taken its gaze off Razvolnic since the battle’s start, its four arms crossed.

‘How did that one know?’

Shouldn’t Crimson also be confused, like the Black Duskroot?

Having not exchanged a single word, Lilith knew nothing about Crimson despite being fellow Vanguard Commanders.

[Oh~ Ho ho ho ho! Divine Beast! Once we’ve tidied up this turbulent age, we shall converse in the peaceful world under the Demon Lord’s grace!]

Though eccentric, he was still a Vanguard Commander who had reigned as the nightmare of the battlefield. He immediately refocused on the combat.

An abrupt quake shook the earth.

Gugugugugu…

“Wh, What’s that?”

“The ground is trembling! Something’s coming, be careful!”

As the Black Duskroot shook the dense roots it had spread underground, the earth violently quaked as if in an earthquake.

Soon, thick root bundles erupted from the ground like sandworms, assaulting the Alliance’s ranks.

“Uwaaaaaah!”

“Cut, cut them down and destroy them!”

“They’re solid! Even sword aura can’t slice them!”

“The, the ground…! Uwaaaaah!”

Putting aside the roots’ direct attacks, the sheer density of roots erupting from underground had rendered the terrain itself untraversable.

Large rock fragments accompanying the erupting roots skewered soldiers, while the vacated underground spaces became sinkholes that swallowed them whole.

The constantly shifting ground made it impossible to even stand. Ordinary soldiers who were not Paladins were preoccupied with just staying alive amidst this quake attack.

Even the warriors could do little against the overwhelming force of nature.

“Hmmm—!”

The Lion King spread his arms wide, flames igniting in his eyes as he unleashed a conflagration from his entire body.

Fwoaaaaaah—!

The flames spread widely across the battlefield centered on him, incinerating the roots. Wherever the wave of fire swept through, only blackened ashes remained of what had been roots.

His allies were unharmed by this, a testament to his exceptional mana control.

But that reprieve was short-lived. Roots erupted from beneath his feet, binding his entire body.

“Hmm…!”

The Lion King breathed more flames, but the same occurred elsewhere. No matter how many were removed, the roots that had infested the entire area were endless. The other warriors could only struggle to fend off the concentrated root assaults.

Yet even striking the roots did not harm the Black Duskroot itself. Its roots had already spread dozens of kilometers outward, so the roots the Alliance forces could damage were merely a fraction.

A single action from the Black Duskroot had rendered most of the army and warriors immobilized.

But that was not the end.

“To the abyss of ecstasy!”

Accompanied by Lilith’s ringing voice, a pink shockwave washed over the Alliance forces.

Soldiers exposed to the shockwave convulsed, their hips bucking and eyes rolling back in an orgasmic frenzy bordering on shock.

As they collapsed writhing on the ground, the roots promptly dragged them underground. Any momentary pause while evading the quake and roots meant the end.

Countless corpses vanished into the depths of the earth.

Doyun bit his lip hard.

‘Damn it…!’

It was a complete catastrophe. The combination of the two warfare-specialized Vanguard Commanders had instantly collapsed their ranks, vaporizing 30% of their forces. Including those critically injured, effectively half their fighting strength had been rendered combat ineffective. Horrific losses.

This was the true might of the Demon Lord’s forces outside the Holy Stones’ suppression.

To compound the disaster, the accursed rain from the leaf canopy intensified further.

Shaaaaaaaaaa—

The downpour relentlessly pelted their skin. For all except Doyun, the strengthened curse took hold, rapidly crumbling the ranks further.

The battlefield conditions had deteriorated drastically in an instant.

Surveying the battlefield, Doyun swiftly swung his sword.

Fwooooosh—!

Clang!

His blade deflected two daggers that had flown sharply towards him.

Jingle, jingle.

Where Doyun’s gaze turned, a jester shrugged its shoulders, daggers clutched between the fingers of both hands.

He had no opportunity to avert his eyes. His senses detected around a hundred daggers incoming from all directions, along with the ten jesters who had thrown them.

Doyun’s sword traced a horizontal circle.

[Războinic’s Style Swordsmanship – Blooming Thrust]

Countless thrusting strikes shot forth, deflecting the daggers and even piercing the jesters’ bodies. However, the moment the sword strikes impaled them, the jesters burst into shimmering smoke with a puff.

Moreover, one of the jesters weaved through the thrusts with a bizarre, acrobatic flourish befitting a circus before swinging its massive scythe at Doyun.

Clang!

Deflecting the blow, Doyun frowned.

‘No time.’

If he could not deal with the rear Vanguard Commanders, including the Black Duskroot, this battle was hopeless. But the jester had ensnared him.

This jester was no less formidable an opponent than the Black Duskroot or Lilith.

The ‘Deception’ Authority unified various abilities – clones, regenerating from damage, erratic attacks, stealth, and more. Any warrior other than Doyun, with his seventh sense and exceptional combat instincts, would have been utterly helpless against such an adversary.

Even Doyun himself could not easily shake free, embroiled in this predicament.

And as he remained entangled, the battlefield conditions continued deteriorating in real-time.

[Oh~ Ho ho ho ho ho!]

The canopy’s branches trembled violently before shedding a rain of leaves, as numerous as the raindrops themselves.

The leaves began slowly descending like a blizzard.

Recognizing the leaves’ true nature, Doyun steeled himself as he looked skyward.

‘…This cannot continue.’

Each of those leaves was a terrifying bomb of immense destructive power.

The 14th cycle, the first time they had advanced under the Black Duskroot’s canopy. Back then, those leaves had devastated the Alliance’s three hundred thousand strong army in an unbelievably effortless bombardment, rendering their losses.

There was only one countermeasure – to overwhelm the leaves with sheer output and blast them away. However, Doyun could not afford to recklessly expend his power.

Moreover, on this battlefield, his role was not limited to the jester and Black Duskroot alone.

Fwooooosh—!

As Doyun grappled with the jester’s scythe, gripping his sword with one hand, he raised the other to shield his head.

Whack—! A whip coiled around his arm.

“Kikikik.”

Lilith fluttered her bat-like wings, pulling the whip taut.

The jester seized this opportunity to overpower Doyun’s sword with its scythe.

A predicament with no way to advance or retreat.

“…”

The very moment Doyun prepared to draw the scorching mana from his dantian into his heart, a searing gust swept across the battlefield.

Whoooosh!

Doyun and the jester simultaneously turned towards the source. They could see a crimson red canopy above.

A wave of flames had engulfed the sky.

Fwoaaaaaaaah—!

Between the descending leaves and the ground, a layer of fire manifested, shielding them. Doyun felt the intense, unceasing roar of explosions from above this fiery canopy, which had completely incinerated the bombarding leaves.

Kaboooooom! Boooom, Kaboooooom—!

Fwoooooosh!

The flames were so dense, they seemed to possess mass, remaining impervious even to the bombardment.

The prowess of one whose output surpassed even Enoch at his peak – the Level 10 Mana wielder, the Lion King.

But the Alliance’s counterattack did not end there.

Accompanied by thunderous shockwaves reverberating through the allied ranks, two azure radiant flashes tore through the path Doyun had cleared, charging forth.

[Buske’s Style Swordsmanship – Barracuda]

Boom—!

Boom!

Two azure sword auras reminiscent of deep-sea sharks homed in on the Vanguard Commanders.

Clang!

Clang!

“You’ve been quite rambunctious.”

A rasping, emotionless voice muttered.

“…As expected of the active duty.”

Vyuskr, having absorbed the death aura, and his son Brudhild had finally joined the fray.

“Wh, What is that skeleton?!”

Startled by the unidentified entities’ abrupt entrance directly confronting the Vanguard Commanders, Lilith cried out in bewilderment.