Chapter 220
Chapter 220: Let's Raise Some Hell!
Raging fire swallowed the boundless grassland, and terrifying lava surged up from the void of the earth's core through the fractured ground toward the sky.
Firelight in midair coiled around the massive beast, the red blazing flames drifting through the sky as though caught in a frenzied vortex, spinning wildly beneath crimson clouds.
The sky was split into several layers—at the very top of the clouds, there was nothing but pure crimson. It was clearly fury itself, transformed into flame and burning furiously.
Gulton's entire body was coated in lava, and its sharp, pale-white fangs were illuminated by boundless firelight, blazing with vivid red.
The depths of its eyes reflected the terrifying inferno, 2 streams of scorching breath rising continuously through the air, and the jade-green space began to dim.
Every time Gulton set a foot down, the earth trembled without pause from the enormous impact.
Cracks split open from beneath the beast's feet, flames becoming coiling serpents that burrowed into the earth's core, launching cascades of devastating lava dozens of meters into the air.
The interior of the Divine Tree was scorched and slowly contracting under this horrific heat, until flames appeared out of nowhere upon those wooden bodies, red fury swaying ceaselessly.
Feeling such terrifying flame temperature, the Divine Tree Yadh's Heart lurched into a violent pounding.
The surrounding guardians seemed to receive a command, spinning the blades in their hands at high speed and charging straight at Gulton.
But the beast still did not turn around—only sensing a slightly different natural energy, it let out an extremely dull rumble from its nostrils.
An enormous wave of heat erupted from its back accompanied by flame, and the surrounding space warped under that scorching heat.
This disturbance easily restrained those guardians, freezing them completely in place.
They could only watch helplessly as the oncoming wave of firelight and heat consumed them entirely.
【Scorching Heatwave】
After a white wave of force gradually faded, those guardians who had been clad in protective green leaf armor found even the green energy plating on their bodies beginning to tremble.
The fire swallowed their bodies whole, burning up scorchingly from within.
As though it could not be extinguished, those savage flames burned away their last vestiges of despair.
Finally, they crumbled into handfuls of ash that fell to the ground, and the jade-green armor shattered completely the moment it touched the earth.
The flames, mingled with ash, appeared and gradually stilled.
Dark grey embers swirled in the wake of the heat wave and rose into the sky, gradually blending entirely with the red sparks drifting through the air above.
Rolling lava flowed across the ground, completely covering the earth of the entire space.
Between the cracks in the earth, chunks of lava erupted sporadically at great heights, eating away at the green branches protecting the Heart.
The Divine Tree Yadh's Heart kept beating, its rhythm growing faster and faster—until it reached a rate of convulsion that felt deeply terrifying.
The walls continued producing batch after batch of Verdant Vine Guardians, which likewise spun the blades in their hands and attacked Gulton.
But their fate was exactly the same as those before them.
They did not even need Gulton to make a move—under the sheer, hair-raising temperature alone, they began to combust on their own.
In Viktor's eyes, the Divine Tree was utterly incapable of summoning any guardian that could stand against Gulton.
Before long, the pace of the Heart's beating gradually steadied, and the rate at which the guardians were being produced slowed as well.
The speed at which the Divine Tree summoned those guardians could not even keep up with the speed at which the flames destroyed them and burned them to ash.
Viktor stood to one side with both hands in his pockets, calmly watching the Divine Tree Yadh's Heart gradually settle.
Almost mockingly, he spoke:
"Run out of trump cards?"
"Surely it isn't only this much—natural energy passed down through generation after generation?"
The enormous Divine Tree Heart heard Viktor's words and fell silent for a moment.
The Heart gradually slowed its beating.
Until it sensed Gulton gradually closing in on it—only then did its Heart finally stir back into motion.
Green natural energy began to gush out all at once, as though completely released from every vessel connected to the Heart.
Endless green energy was squeezed out from the Heart little by little, as though being pressed out under compression.
The energy became a river, flowing through the churning lava, threading alongside the ceaselessly flickering flames as they descended toward the earth's core.
It flowed through the earth of the entire space and spread into the countless passages within the Divine Tree.
At the instant the green natural energy was fully pressed out, the sky that had been ablaze with crimson took on a faint tinge of green.
Outside the Divine Tree Yadh, the earth—battered ceaselessly by 2 opposing forces—seemed to fall into a terrifying trembling.
The ground cracked apart, and the Divine Tree's root system heaved up from the soil.
Each root tendril seemed to carry a will of its own, green flowing along its length as it struck down hard onto the loosened ground.
Dense natural energy gathered once more, forming a green ocean that completely engulfed all the Elves, pressing down upon their entire bodies and pinning them completely in place.
Only their heads remained exposed above the surface, just barely enough for the Elves to breathe.
In the sky above, the clouds that had already been scattered like fragments gathered back together, beginning to revolve around the canopy of the Divine Tree as their center—as though drawn by something mysterious.
The Divine Tree was covered entirely in red patterns, and lava continued flowing across the surface of its trunk.
Beneath the pitch-black sky, crimson stars drifted and flickered across that expanse of earth.
The towering canopy was also swallowed by flame—only after the energy flowed out did it suppress those leaping, flickering flames somewhat.
The Elves lifted their heads and gazed at the Divine Tree burning without end, overcome by boundless dread.
Their faces were pale, lips trembling incessantly, pupils dilated, hands shaking uncontrollably even under the pressure that held them fast.
Until, one by one, they turned back and accepted the reality before them—and lowered their proud heads. With trembling hands pressed together, they began to pray.
Vinia likewise gazed at the soaring Divine Tree engulfed in flame, fear flooding the depths of her eyes, and murmured:
"The Divine Tree... is weeping..."
She did not know when it had begun, but Vinia seemed to hear the Divine Tree's sorrowful, grief-stricken cries—lingering in her ears and refusing to fade.
She was gradually drawn in by that obscure weeping, and in a daze, it was as though she could hear the Divine Tree telling her of some pain.
"Pain... what... the pain of being burned?"
Vinia lifted her head in disbelief. In that moment, she felt the Divine Tree's tragic plight.
The earth was trembling, and strange phenomena filled the sky above.
Flames spread for hundreds of miles—only to envelop the Divine Tree, burning it utterly.
For a thousand years, the Elven Forest had known only peace and serenity.
And now, for the first time, the Elves felt it.
That scene—like a natural disaster—was tearing at the hearts of every Elf present.
"What on earth is happening inside?"
Vinia turned her head and looked at Cocotte with a grave expression.
The Divine Tree had fallen into this kind of upheaval, and such a severe natural disaster had appeared in the Elven Forest.
This was certainly inseparable from Cocotte's sudden return.
And that aura of a Calamity...
"Why has the aura of a Calamity appeared?!"
Meeting Vinia's gaze, Cocotte shrugged helplessly:
"Well."
"Simply put—you can think of it as there being a Calamity inside the Divine Tree, currently wrecking the place."
Those calm words landed, leaving Vinia completely dumbfounded.
Leon's pair of jade-green eyes also lifted, fixed intently on the Divine Tree now covered in flame.
Countless complex thoughts flashed through her mind, one after another.
***
Inside the Divine Tree Yadh.
After that trembling Heart unleashed a vast surge of energy, it seemed to shed an outer shell, and gradually began to transform.
The densest natural energy had been fully extracted, as though condensed into the collective will of the Divine Tree.
A jade-green Heart like a soul—accompanied by that gathered natural energy—slowly took shape and emerged, floating in the air above.
Countless vine tendrils drilled out of the space surrounding the Heart, and where they interfaced with the space itself, green luminescence flickered without stop.
The vines were covered in irregular thorns, and at the end of each tendril, a gaping maw lined with curved, protruding fangs drifted in wild, frenzied motion.
The space around the Heart was encased within a jade-green cube, and countless patterns rose up from the vines.
Eyeballs pushed out from the base of the vines and suspended themselves in midair, staring fixedly at the great Calamity of Fire.
A long HP bar floated above the creature's head, clearly visible.
LV60.
Exactly as Viktor had anticipated.
In that moment, the Divine Tree Yadh—the most sacred object of Elven faith—finally revealed its most hideous Complete Form.
He stood with both hands in his pockets, his expression calm, and spoke:
"Although I'd very much like to fight you personally... however..."
Viktor raised his head and looked at Gulton, whose eyes were filled with flame, surveying the lava coating its entire body, and let out a quiet laugh:
"I happen to have a very hot-tempered fellow here, just waiting to raise some hell."