Swooosh…
Before Damien could understand what was happening, dozens of vines shot at him from multiple angles, all of them too fast for him to dodge.
“God damn it!” Damien cried out, his body immediately becoming entangled and bound by the vines.
Swooooosh…
Grrrrrr!
Roaaaar!
Damien wasn’t the only one bound by the vines. Even his summons were. Fenrir and Cerbe were bound by even more vines that Damien himself and with every passing second, he could feel himself getting weaker.
«-100 units of Life Force!»
This panel popped up every second and Damien’s consciousness slowly faded, drifting between dream and reality.
“I think this might be too much for me to handle.” Damien managed to mutter even as his body weakly dangled in the air amidst the thick vines.
Unable to do anything but stay put and watch his life force be drained from him slowly, Damien began to speak to himself in barely audible words.
‘Mother, forgive this son of yours. He couldn’t even last long enough to return back to you and prove to you that your first son is a genius. Maybe in another life, I’ll put a smile on your face.’
‘Uncle Osbourne, you’ve really done a lot in my life and I would have wished for a last chance to thank you. If it weren’t for you, I’m sure father would have had me executed rather than exiled here. Thank you.’
Damon, my brother, how I wish I could live long enough to see you grow on the prodigy that you are and probably stand by your side as we fight against these annoying intruders, the demons. Be strong and stay well.’
«-100 units of Life Force!»
«-100 units of Life Force!»
Amidst his soliloquy, the panel didn’t stop appearing even though he was too busy to notice it.
‘Father, it wasn’t nice knowing you and if I escape this place, be rest assured I’m coming back for you. I’ll prove to you that I’m not a failure as you’ve claimed and I shall do well to take over your throne in the…’
Ding!
“Huh?”
This notification was nothing like the life force deduction notification he’d been receiving for the past twenty seconds.
Half his life force was gone already but he still took his time to read the notification.
«Your Summon, Fenrir, requests permission to use a subskill (Gigantification) which stems from its skill (Rapid Growth). Due to the 40% increase in all stats, activation of (Gigantification) costs a large amount of Magic Essence! Would you like to activate it?»
Ding!
There was another notification almost immediately after.
«Your Summon, Cerbe, requests permission to use a skill (Berserker) which grants it +50% of all stats. Activation of (Berserker) costs a lot of Magic Essence. Would you like to activate it?»
The reason why he’d gotten these notifications was because the max e of his output was 300 units per second at the moment and the skill activation was going to take way more than that.
Without needing to even think ahead, Damien gave a command. “Convert eighty percent of my remaining life force to magic essence and approve both requests.”
«Converting 1,840 units of Life Force to Magic Essence…»
«+18,400 units of Magic Essence!»
«-10,000 units of Magic Essence!»
«Subskill (Gigantification) activated!»
«-7,000 units of Magic Essence!»
«Skill (Berserker) activated!»
Magic Essence flowed out of Damien’s secondary core in large quantities, shooting toward his summons that were bound a few meters away from him.
Woooong~
Energy flowed into his Summons and Damien could feel their auras rising. It continued to climb higher and higher, the whole area feeling a newer sense of pressure.
However, Damien had his own problem to worry about.
Having lost over ninety percent of his Life Force from the conversion and the siphoning of the Tree Demons, Damien’s sight blurred.
“You both better not let me die.”
‘Father, it looks like I’ll be coming for you after all.’
Ding!
He got one final notification.
«-500 units of Magic Essence!»
Then he fainted. He didn’t even get the chance to ask how he’d lost 500 units in a second.
The temperature of the area shot up drastically and all attention shifted to a three-headed hound.
Cerbe’s fur was pitch black and its eyes were blood red. In front of its three opened mouths, three crimson red balls formed and shit forward one heading toward the unconscious Damien.
Boooooom!
The explosion rocked the whole area, completely obliterating everything in its path.
Booom! Boooom!!
Two more explosions rang out in two other places that had Tree Demons gathered, burning through them like they were paper.
Rooooar!!
While Verbe had only experienced slightly changed to its appearance, Fenrir was different. It had grown even larger than the Three-Headed Hound, now almost six metres in height.
Roooaar!!
The wolf roared one more time, its roar creating a shockwave that pushed the Tree Demons back. It shook itself fiercely, breaking free from the vines that had wrapped around it and rather than attack the demon trees close to it. It shot forward with increased speed.
Boom!
Crack!
Shrrrrip!
Fenrir slammed, bit, and tore through the Tree Demons as it headed toward its summoner who was currently unconscious from having expended too much of his life force.
With longer claws, it tore through the vines wrapped around Damien and caught him in its mouth before he would fall to the ground.
Gently, Fenrir places Damien’s body on the ground before turning to the largest Tree Demon in the distance. The one that had drained most of Damien’s Life Force.
Grrrrr…
Fenrir let out a guttural growl that made even the ground tremble.
In one leap, Fenrir closed the distance between itself and the Tree Demon.
Kreeeee!!
It screeched as it sent forth over a dozen vines toward its incoming attacker.
However, it was all futile.
Boom!
Shhrrrrrip!
Fenrir tore through the vines, swooping some away it let out a roar, sending another shocking rippling through the air and pushing away the remaining vines aimed at it.
That short moment where the Tree Demon’s vines were thrown off target gave Fenrir enough time to close the distance.
Immediately it arrived in front of the Tree Demon, it pesos at it, its claws dipping deep into it as Fenrir began running vertically up the fifty metre Tree Demon. It was heading straight for the demon’s essence core.