The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)
Chapter 521: The Heart of the Forest

Chapter 521: The Heart of the Forest

When Valen ran through the forest toward the path leading to the shed, he suddenly felt a mass of energy that incurred goosebumps all over his skin. One word appeared in his mind; disgust.

A few seconds later, the mass of energy was released, shot toward somewhere, and Valen froze in his tracks.

A scream rang in his head and deep in his soul. The scream and cry of a child; scared and alone.

It was then did he realized the mass of energy was hurled toward the shed.

"No!" Valen clutched his chest and ran faster. His feet were scraped and bleeding from the broken branches and pebbles, but he couldn’t care less right now.

Once again, he felt the mass of energy gathering somewhere in front of him, and he felt like his heart stopped beating. No matter how strong the shed was, it wasn’t indestructible.

"Jade!"

The elemental bird, who was now in its true form, flapped its wings. A surge of mana embedded in Valen’s feet with a gust of the wind, and Valen increased the speed of his running. At the same time, he spread his mana to his entire body, filling his circuit to the brim and circling them so fast that the air around him started to turn static.

And then he saw it; the massive mass of energy cut from the same power that veiled the forest.

Ready to be flung toward his child.

"Ignis!"

The small lizard jumped off Valen’s shoulder, blazing. Its body grew in the air, and by the time the four feet landed on the ground, a full-grown Salamander opened its maw. A breath, only slightly inferior to that of a dragon, gushed toward the cloaked figure beneath the mass of shadow and struck them hard.

"How dare!" as a shout left Valen’s mouth, the forest rumbled.

The magic of druid did not come from incantation; it came through the will and emotion of the caster. The ground shook and vines pierced the air like thorns. Tree roots surged from underneath, chasing the two figures getting thrown by the storm of fire.

"How dare you touch my child!"

Valen was angry. He had never been this angry before. Whether it was when he faced Tsalinade, or when he found the truth about the kingdom’s downfall, he had never felt this much fury in his heart.

The anger he felt before was the anger of the pain his beloved grandparents received. But this--this was different. These people, whoever they were, tried to harm his little flower. His child. His scared little Shwa!

How dare they scare my child!

The Spectre stood up groggily after the shout; their own fury coiling in their tongue. "This fucker!" they spat to the ground and cleave the air with their arm. A formless shadow burst forth toward the newcomer, ready to devour.

"Hey, wait--"

Ocla clicked his tongue and cursed the Spectre who seemed to have no concept of patience. He looked at the person who just attacked them, and cursed again. Although the person looked ridiculous coming to them with mere nightwear--not even wearing slippers--the crackling mana around him was alarming.

Suddenly, a spear came out of nowhere and slashed the formless shadow, and a blazing tail decimated the cleaved shadow while a gust of mana wind from a juvenile elemental bird scattered the remaining power.

"Hey, that’s the human-druid!" he shouted to the Specter, who paused his anger for a second before laughing.

"Hah! He comes to us by himself!" with a sinister laugh, the Spectre hurled their shadow, stronger than the last, toward the shed again. "We’re going to destroy you both!"

"No!"

Valen ran toward the shed, even though he knew the barrier would absorb the attack. It didn’t matter--his child was inside that shed!

He stretched his hand and Alveiya rushed to block the shadow again. This time, it wasn’t broken easily, so Valen summoned more power to move the vines around the shed, piercing the persistent shadow away. Bursts of water bullets flew from Jade’s flapping wings, chasing the scattering shadow that tried to hit the shed roof. Valen gripped Alveitya and swatted the rest of it toward the veiled sky; it crashed and exploded above the trees.

With bated breath, Valen reached the door and turned back, guarding the access while fending the remaining shadow. He stomped his foot to the ground, and piercing rocks broke through the ground beneath the Spectre and Ocla.

"Hey, this is dangerous!" Ocla yelled while jumping around to dodge the rocks. "That man used to be called the Demon Slaughterer!"

"Is that a reason to back down? You idiot!" the Spectre, as expected, snapped. They let a spear of rock pierce their shoulder, as if it wouldn’t incur any injury. "You said he’s sick!"

The broker widened his eyes; the barrage of attacks made him forget about the information he brought himself. He narrowed his eyes and looked at the human; between his messy hair and pale lips, the human looked miserable. He was panting heavily, and the green eyes had lost their brilliance; glazed and disoriented.

Ocla smirked. Right--the chance was presented to them like this, taking Ra Natha’s two treasures in one fell swoop. "Don’t kill him," he said. "We need a spectacle."

"Shut up! It’s up to me!" the Specter snarled and rushed forward. Ocla rolled his eyes exasperatedly, but whatever--as long as that Nightmare suffered.

In front of the shed, the Salamander crouched and growled, stomping its feet on the ground. What a drag; it would be able to crush those two if they weren’t in a forest. It had to be careful to control its fire, so using full power was out of the question. If it was an open plains...

"Valen..." Ignis growled in warning as the enemies dashed toward them again. The Salamander could feel the contractor’s power weakening and the mana thinning. The vines, which moved fiercely before, were swaying weakly, and the spear of rocks had stopped coming.

"Time..."

Valen could barely push out a sound. He knew his mana was running out; his core instinctively held out the mana from coming out to keep him alive, and his circuit was screaming.

But even as his body protested, Valen gritted his teeth. No--compared to the pain he experienced all those years, this was nothing more than a mild inconvenience. Above all else, he could never abandon this place.

Just from the scream he heard earlier, he knew that the other guards were in the middle of battles too. But even if they managed to win and came to the shed, judging from the cloaked figure’s magic, the guards wouldn’t be able to do anything--not even Haikal.

So, no--Valen could not back down.

He needed to stall for time, until Natha came. Because Natha would come. Yes. He knew his husband was on his way.

And to gain that time, he also needed time.

"I need time..."

Ignis hissed and threw a flurry of flame arrows to fend off the incoming figures. "Then, I’ll give you some."

The Salamander trudged forward; each stomp of its feet made a quake that hindered the two enemies from moving forward. With a burst of blazing fire, sparks flew and landed on the two enemies’ cloaks in the form of small fire geckos, which crawled and burned everything in their path.

"Gahh--fuck! Fucking Salamander!" Ocla jumped off and tried to hit the flaming geckos. But they were fast, and their fire burned instantly. It wasn’t as hot and rock-melting as the Salamander’s fire, but it wasn’t a trivial thing either.

Ocla took off his burning cloak while cursing, revealing a deep blue skin underneath. Meanwhile, the Spectre let the fire burn their cloak. Beneath the hood, a mask covered their face, and a smoke-like shadow wriggled to form limbs. Nothing but their cloak was burnt, and rather than minding the fire, they were focused on charging their magic.

Once again, a mass of energy formed above the Soectre’s shadow hand, bigger and denser than before. It was as if they were trying to annihilate the human-druid and the shed instead of taking them.

Perhaps they were. The gleaming, sinister dark eyes were eager to devour.

"Tsk--" Ignis stomped its feet again, trying to make the enemies lose their balance. But while it worked on the broker, the Spectre was unfazed. The shadow legs merely scattered and reformed after the quake ended. "Valen!"

Ignis turned its flaming head toward its contractor, and paused. The bright blue eyes widened slightly as it felt something was changing inside Valen.

No--something was changing in their surrounding.

The air crackled; lightning was piercing the veiled sky. The trees swayed and wriggled as if they were alive. Roots crept along the grounds and coiled Valen’s legs. The robe of the nightwear flapped behind him as he rose from the ground, standing above a throne made of rocks and vines. Scattering leaves flew around, each as thin and sharp as a blade, and thorns were broken through the surface. Above the glowing green eyes, a crown rested; a deep green jewel embedded in its center.

The heart of the forest.

With a voice that sounded like it came from the whole forest, Valen spoke. "You who defile this land, begone!"

And the forest started a counterattack.

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