The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)
Chapter 522: Valor of The Blessed

Chapter 522: Valor of The Blessed

How many times had Haikal cursed? He prided himself as the Castle of Greed’s chief guard, making an oath to protect his future charge, but--

He couldn’t even curse out loud because he had no leeway to breathe carelessly. The enemies were not very strong, but they utilized all kinds of poisons. Right away, they were ambushed by many poisonous darts which incapacitated a quarter of the guards patrolling with Haikal. When they still looking for the source of the dart, a swarm of venomous snakes was released, making them too busy to deflect several smoke bombs rolling into their midst--of course, the smoke was poisonous too.

Naturally, Haikal’s first instinct was to get away from the poisonous area, but every time he got close to the border, a splash of acid would attack him--as well as the other--and push him back into the smoke.

It was frustrating. He knew right away what the enemies were after, but he couldn’t do anything. It would be better if the opponent was a strong entity that could make him kneel and bleed, but this--

This was humiliation!

Strained choking and screams filled the air between poisonous fumes, and it affected his mind as much as his body. What should he do? Haikal didn’t mind sacrificing himself to save his Lord and the Young Master, but he didn’t even know where the enemies were.

He tried to cover his face and looked for the other guards, but the fumes still crept inside his system even if he managed to deflect the darts and slay the snakes. Belatedly, he recalled a notorious gang of poison users he took down with the Lord in the past.

Was it them?

Argh! It angered him that he would fall for getting poisoned instead of fighting valiantly.

As his anger, frustration, and worry started to get mixed with helplessness, the forest suddenly rumbled.

The ground split open and swallowed the venomous creatures; branches shot out to deflect incoming darts; and the trees wriggled, leaves swaying vigorously to create strong winds that blew the poison fumes away.

"What--"

It was as if the forest suddenly came alive.

Still in his bewilderment, Haikal suddenly heard a voice hissing through the forest. A voice like a trickle of water, like the breeze slithering through the foliage, like crackling pebbles and blazing fire came from every corner of the forest.

[You who defile this land; begone!]

And it also sounded like Haikal’s young master.

* * *

Valen felt like his core was on fire. It refused to let out even a drop as his body was screaming blinking warning of low fuel. The fire crept into his eyes, which seemed to have gone blurry, and invaded his mind, which seemed to have turned chaotic. The only thing keeping him standing was the string of mana coming from the elemental bird hovering frantically above him.

A stupid voice in the corner of his mind told him that nothing mattered more than his child; that he had to take action even if he had to die in the process.

Fortunately, Valen was getting smarter these days. Other voices were scolding him hard for even thinking about that; scolding him for disregarding others’ feelings, his husband’s feelings, and more importantly, his sweet child’s feelings.

The sweet child he needed to protect; not because of some grand mission to save the world, but because it was his child.

And the smarter, more rational part of him asked if he was sure using up his mana would save the child. What if the enemies still persisted after he made a move by squeezing all of his mana?

Valen gritted his teeth. Every answer felt like a hard stab in his already pained heart. If only there was something he could do without mana...

Inside his storage ring, something rattled.

Valen blinked, and then widened his eyes as something stirred inside his mind.

There was. There was something he could do without mana. He had only practiced it twice before, and the last one was a semi-failure. But it was indeed something that could be done without mana. The question was...which one should he choose? Which creatures? Which one could possibly turn the tide?

Again, the item rattled.

Ah. As the Salamander engaged in a fierce defensive fight with the two enemies, Valen took out the item that had been calling him incessantly.

As he stared at the crown in his hand, an understanding flew to his mind; I don’t have to choose.

Without hesitation, he put the crown on his head, and sent his consciousness to the ground, to the trees, to the shrubs and flowers; to the creeks and pebbles, and every resident. He called to all of them.

He called forth the forest, and asked for a fusion.

Fusion, in theory, was an act of becoming one with nature. For practicality, it was done mostly with animate objects, such as animals. But nature wasn’t limited to that, and Valen, at that moment, was standing in the middle of it.

It was a gamble, a crazy attempt that might end up in him losing his mind and never recover. But unlike the uncertainty before, he knew it this time; even if he were to be gone, he would at least be able to crush those enemies--not just the two in front of him, but every single one of them

That was his last roaming thought before his mind melded into the forest.

And the forest embraced him.

The key to fusion was mutual understanding. This understanding didn’t have to come from complex things. At that time, Valen and the forest harbored the same emotion; hatred.

Hatred to the one coming to this place and trying to ruin it.

As Valen wanted to get rid of the enemies who wanted to harm his child, the Forest wanted to get rid of the enemies who harmed it with all kinds of things from sharp blades to cruel destructive energy, and harmful substances that could threaten the survival of the Forest.

In front of this common enemy, the Forest resonated with the crown on Valen’s head; the crown that used to house the essence of the deepest, mightiest forest; the Heart of the Forest.

Mana, owned by the Forest itself, surged toward the throne in the middle of the crown. It flew into Valen’s core, and awakened his rightful inheritance; the Valor of the Blessed One. The blood of the druid royalty, the descendant of the First Druid born and blessed by the Great Mother, called for the Forest.

And the Forest shall receive it.

The forest turned eerily quiet for a second, before it rumbled. The sound of trees wriggling and stretching, vines and thorns growing and slithering, as well as ground splitting and reforming, filled the forest with thousands of groans and hisses. The growls and snarls of the thousands of animals echoed like a sinister melody.

"What the hell is hap--"

[Begone]

It was a soft voice that came out of every corner of the forest, as if every creature residing there speaking at the same time. And right away, the Forest moved.

Trees swayed as if they had forgotten their rigid body, bending far and crushing the invaders like a bunch of devouring maws. If the enemy jumped away, another tree was ready to pounce. The invaders quickly drew their weapons and tried to retaliate, but vines and roots sprung up and tied them down; some even dragging them away to be fed to the ruthless trees.

Once again, screams resounded inside the forest. Only this time, it did not come from the guard. The tallest trees went on a rampage, moving their upper branches and shooting thorns to shred the sharing shadow.

At the center of it all, the brilliant green eyes glared toward the broker nightmare and the masked Spectre, sending a barrage of attacks that was incomprehensible compared to the ones the other invaders experienced.

There, the Forest was even more alive.

Giant thorns sprouted from the ground and chased the two demons around. Roots as big as an adult torso slithered and coiled around the demons’ legs, trying to pin them down. The sky, which had momentarily brightened by the moonlight pouring through the shredded veil of shadow, darkened once more with hundreds of projectiles made of sharpened leaves, hurtling toward the demons.

With arms looking like a pincushion, the Spectre couldn’t help but cancel the shadow bomb and turn the mass of energy into a protective barrier. However, under the barrage of hundreds of throwing knives, it soon shattered, and the robes housing the phantom body soon turned into a rag.

It was hard to admit, but the Spectre did not expect to be fighting against a force of nature like this. There were attacks everywhere they stepped, and there were attacks when they stood still. They found themselves playing defense and had no chance to launch a retaliation attack.

And then, more of those little salamanders dropped into their body, and it burned even worse this time in a brilliant white flame.

Escape! Finally, the Spectre had to accept the humiliating concept. But they glared at the broker first, who said the human druid was sick.

What sick? What kind of ill person did this all?

But the broker couldn’t even catch the glare since he had been busy running away himself since earlier. Thanks to that, and the fact that most of the attacks had been concentrated on the Spectre, he managed to slip away.

[Jade won’t let you!] A loud screeching sound came out as the elemental bird swooped down to chase the fleeing nightmare.

The Spectre, meanwhile, concentrated their energy to explode it outward, forcing the coiling roots and entrapping vines to loosen up, as well as deflecting the flying knives.

Quickly, they jumped away using the halting momentum while cursing inwardly. No--it wasn’t a failure. It was just a tactical retreat. They would come back bringing greater power and--

[Like I’ll let you!]

The Forest, once again, rumbled wildly.

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