Tree of aeons 7 an iseka.., p.17
Tree of Aeons 7: An Isekai LitRPG Adventure, page 17
“Not really,” Edna said. “It’s regenerating almost as fast as I can deal damage. I think I’ve barely cut through half of its current form.”
“You think there’s a second form?”
“I expect it to,” Edna said. “There’s a reason why solo heroes rarely win against the demon king.”
“True, true,” Stella said as she coordinated the magical portals for the domain holders. Unfortunately, Rajah and Wira had to run really quickly since they couldn’t use her portals.
“Now if Lumoof gets his ass here, we’d have a chance,” Edna said with a grunt. Her sword just made a deep gash in the demon king’s neck, but it was already regenerating. “I could use Aeon’s spiritual interference.”
“Hang in there for a bit. We’re getting rid of the demonic spires,” Lumoof countered through the shared messaging network.
Gigantadragon was a large place, and even if it was just a constant set of explosions and battles at every single location, there were still a lot of spires and corrupted ley lines that it would still take a while.
“Oh well.”
On average, it took the team just about half an hour, per team, to fully destroy one single corrupted ley line. There were hundreds of these corrupted ley lines all over Gigantadragon. Just locating the ley lines without the demonic interruptions took some time, too.
“Well, we missed it,” Lumoof said as Edna retreated on the sixth day. The demon king was weakened considerably, as we’d managed to remove about two thirds of the ley lines. It was enough that the demon king lost a third of its strength. “But I think we’ve achieved what we needed. All we need to do is recharge for a week or two, then this time, we hit it with everything we got.”
Edna shrugged, but it truly impressed the two heroes.
“You were flat-out amazing, milady,” Wira said, his eyes seeming to outright shine in admiration as they returned to see.
“I need to rest for a bit.”
“How many times can you do that?”
“Five times a year. Which is a little too much, I think.”
“Which is plenty,” Lumoof said. “It’s so damned overpowered.”
“Not as overpowered as being able to respawn and split yourself where I can’t find you.” Edna smiled.
After the attack on the ley lines, there was finally time to properly introduce the two heroes to the rest of them. We introduced the two heroes to their new peers.
The heroes met and mingled. What happened was similar to what used to happen. Surprise, joy, and a sense of comradeship. It helped Samuel to feel like he wasn’t alone. From five heroes, now there were seven.
Seven heroes would definitely help. So, while the heroes rested, mingled, and swapped war stories, the domain holders readied for a second strike at the twin-headed dragon demon king.
Edna and Lumoof wanted a shot at the demon king by themselves. A battle, only with all the domain holders. A chance to prove that we could do it without the heroes, even without the beneficial terrain.
The seven domain holders gathered and prepared to strike. The demon king lost a third of its strength, and with my domain holders fully healed, it was time to put our strength to the test.
Were we ready to fight a demon king without our beneficial advantages?
The two-headed demon king stood waiting, and Lumoof grinned at the already weakening king. “Aeon, are you ready?”
“Yes.” I’d fought demon kings over the years, and just like my domain holders, it was now a chore. With Lumoof’s new powers, I expected the creature to be fairly easy to defeat. As it was now, it was not much stronger than an average demon king. “Let’s go.”
Lumoof moved first. His first act was close in, as close as he could get, and immediately summon my presence. I emerged almost instantaneously, an experience similar to a [clone].
[Aeon’s Spirit].
But I wasn’t real. Not the way a clone was. Instead, it was a magical replica, and my form was clearly magical, because it was somewhat transparent. An outline of magic, like a shadow. Despite the appearance, it carried the full weight of my presence, as my all of my aura spread throughout the land. My presence was like a heavy blanket that coated everything around us; all the lesser demons were rendered immobile.
But my attention was on the demon king, and instead, I felt pity. It didn’t feel that strong. Not with its weakened state. One of its heads blasted a beam of energy at my trunk, but my wooden shields blocked it easily.
My powers were stronger thanks to all my levels and Lumoof’s newer buffs, and my roots surged out of the ground. My roots were massive things, as if a gigantic tree far larger than the demon king had somehow transformed into the tentacled limbs of a wooden kraken. So my roots wrapped around the demon king and drained its mana.
The demon king struggled and found itself losing the exchange of both strength and magic.
At that point, Lumoof looked at Edna. “I think we’re probably going to be unnecessary very soon.”
But Edna’s face was one of utmost happiness. She was delighted to see how my spiritual roots easily overpowered the demon king and how I drained the demon king of its energies. “I consider this a part of the journey. If Aeon can’t even do this, how do the rest of us hope to face what’s on the demon sun? Come, let’s make this swift. We’ve got more worlds to clear.”
I felt the demon king attempt various things to free itself, but I knew for certain now that I was strong.
My spiritual energies tampered with its ability to regenerate. My roots drained it of its mana. My roots punched holes in its flesh.
And my domain holders killed the helpless demon king without much of a scratch.
It was easy. So incredibly easy.
We won.
I gained two levels.
[You are now Level 267.]
But I didn’t mind. Trivializing demon kings was what I should do as the leading god of my growing pantheon. It would be a battle we’d have to fight on more worlds.
But this was a boost of confidence.
We now knew we could do it ourselves.
GIGANTADRAGON
Gigantadragon was freed from its demon king, and it was the beginning of our “occupation” of the peripheral worlds. We would need to hold off the demon kings until Hawa could fulfill his end of the bargain, so Lumoof wanted to take our battle to the demon kings. We would now plan to remove the rest of the demon kings and gain levels in the process.
From this battle, Lumoof and Edna gained one or two levels, too. Their experience gain was slow, and at this point, they needed the hero fragments. The subject of hero fragments did feel a little sensitive. I didn’t want the heroes to die; they were a force I could deploy quite easily with Lumoof functioning as a mobile warp gate.
“Y’know, I never quite realized how overpowered you two are,” Roon said. His contribution in the final battle against the demon king was decent, but largely, the battle was fought by myself, Lumoof, and Edna.
Lumoof laughed. “It was the right set of enemies. Aeon did the bulk of the work.”
“I genuinely thought the demon king looked quite pitiful when it struggled against Aeon’s big-ass roots. It felt like the demon king was a whale struggling against a gigantic kraken,” Stella quipped, easily amused. “But boys, let’s clean this up, and we have more to do.”
With the demon king out of the way, the domain holders and heroes quickly swept through the rest of Gigantadragon and eliminated all the remnant demons. There were still demonic spires all over the place, and this process took them about six weeks.
But the demons were gone, and we saw the pathway through the void sea linked to a demon world crumble. These days, with Stella’s upgraded abilities, she could get a “code” on the demons’ rift, so we could still locate these worlds.
“How many more levels before you get your Level 200 ability?” Lumoof looked at Stella.
“A lot more. I’m about to hit Level 180. Hopefully I will get a decently strong [domain ability] then,” the void mage continued. I knew we needed her at Level 200. Given how strong Level 200 abilities were, it was likely some of the drawbacks of the void mage classes could be mitigated with her higher levels.
Gigantadragon was beautiful. Without the demons’ presence, the natural weather of the tail half of the planetary dragon returned. The demonic spires no longer drained away the magical ley lines, and instead, those ley lines returned to their natural state and transformed into gigantic magical sculptures. The ground beneath them transformed just as quickly, as the space around the ley lines were warped into doorways that led into dungeons.
The tail half was the “frontier” for the dragonlings of Gigantadragon, at least, before the demons conquered it. Now, there were a few ancient cities buried under the demonic sludge from a time long before the demons.
The domain holders had to keep moving. There were three more worlds to go.
A switch flipped in the minds of both Wira and Rajah when the demon king died, and suddenly, they seemed normal. What was an almost crazy obsession with the demons vanished, and instead, both of them looked thoroughly exhausted. As if their minds were forced to maintain a high level of performance for so long that now the sudden emptiness just made them unsure what to do. In a way, we contributed to that. We defeated the demon king, not the heroes, so they lacked the sense of achievement.
They were now willing to travel with us back to Treehome to visit the old hero journals and, for once, have a normal life.
They actually seemed keen.
So, now that Lumoof could function as a mobile teleportation pad, all he needed to do was touch them, and I could send them to Treehome.
Their visit went pretty much as expected. The heroes experienced a little culture shock to see Treehome now resembling a solarpunk version of their human cities. It made me feel happy to see how excited the existing heroes were to introduce the two newcomers to Freshka.
Freshka was pretty much the most advanced city we knew of, with many magical equivalents of facilities known to man.
Freshka was the central node for transport between the worlds and also the political headquarters of everything related to the Valtrian Order. Naturally, this meant a need for embassies and various support staff associated with such diplomatic events.
The confluence of diplomacy and the high amounts of youths receiving education in the multiple colleges throughout the greater Freshka region led to the rise in entertainment and consumer options similar to the heroes’ own home worlds and a vice network that we controlled.
It was a guided development, primarily driven by our intelligence department. Such entertainment and vices meant these officials and embassies were lulled into a sense of familiarity and comfort. It loosened up their guards. It was easier to obtain a favorable agreement when it was whispered to their ears by a charming companion. Theaters, plays, concerts, bars, and clubs, forums. Nobles everywhere were mortal, after all, and we used both carrot and stick to get what we wanted.
The heroes were wined-and-dined and treated to entertainment options that reminded them of home.
The change happened so slowly over the years that the existing heroes didn’t notice how they were now sucked into the entertainment culture and lifestyle.
Even Kei didn’t notice until Rajah and Wira both looked at her and asked, “Is this—is this all really okay? It’s fine for us to get free entry and reserved seats at these entertainment areas?”
Since most of the entertainment options in Freshka were indirectly controlled by the Valtrian Order, we set up special rooms meant for “unique situations.” This meant private viewing balconies, special guest rooms, and all that sort of thing for my domain holders and also for the heroes.
Kei paused, and that was when it hit her that we were now doing what the churches did to her peer, Alvin. She gulped. “Yes. It is.”
Thirteenth - Khubor
The World Where the Dead Do Not Move On
Roon, Johann, and Ezar frowned when the portal placed them right in the center of a mountain of bones.
“Man.”
There were bones everywhere, and they watched as the magical gray clouds rained bones of different shapes and sizes around them.
Roon stared at Johann, and Johann stared at Ezar. “Who was it that said worlds can’t get any weirder after Lumoof’s giant dragon? Here, exhibit one. A world that rained bones.”
“Where do they come from?” Ezar looked at the rain of bones smashed into his magical artifact. The bones were surprisingly hard and smashed into the ground. The ground itself was covered in bones.
“Magic, I bet. Or some Core shenanigans,” Roon said.
The ranger picked up some of the bones that rained and noticed they weren’t actually animal bones. They were just shaped like bones and made of the same stuff. There was a kind of magical cloud above them that produced these bones.
“It is probably more appropriate to call them bone-stones than actual bones, since they are just bone-like, but not actually the bones of an animal or monster,” Roon said as he examined them in greater detail.
“Fair, fair. That’s probably a better way to wrap our heads around it,” his fellow domain holder said as they kept exploring. The clouds of the world were a storm of magic; they could feel the intense magics coming from their bonestone-creating clouds. “Well, think we have living beings to see—”
That was when a spirit, a wight, appeared before our very eyes.
“You three are far from the lands of the living. Return to the lands of the living. The Deathlands are not for you.” The spirit’s voice was like the whisper of the wind.
Roon looked at the wight. There were a million things he wanted to ask but decided not to. “Could you point us the way?”
The spirit pointed. “That way. If you walk at the normal living pace, you will reach the Kingdom of Murklands in six days.”
“Very well. What lies in the Deathlands?” Roon continued with his question.
“The nations of the departed spirits. It is the land where creatures like me form our nation.”
“Heck,” Roon said, a little surprised. “Well, I suppose we should go that way, though. I think this world would probably interest Lumoof.”
Roon, Johann, and Ezar eventually did encounter the Kingdom of Murklands, which was not a special kingdom. It was only one of many humanoid kingdoms, and throughout the area, all the “living” kingdoms came to be known as the Kingdoms of the Living. The land of the living were kingdoms of faith, where the priests of Hawa and Gaya roamed.
When the folks of the living lands died, they shipped their corpses over to the Deathlands. This was organized by a group that existed with the support of the Hawa and Gaya temples, the Deathmen. The Deathmen would ship the corpses to the Deathlands, and the Deathlands would pay for their services in goods from the Deathlands.
“They trade with the dead,” Roon explained over our communication network.
“I’m headed there now.” We both had a million and one questions, so my avatar quickly headed over.
The Living kingdoms were fairly normal, they were mainly humans, but there were some slightly longer lived dwarves and halflings, organized around kings and supported by priesthoods.
But as Lumoof arrived, he could see something different about this world. It was something only obvious to Lumoof, and yet he wondered whether the local priests knew.
“Not all souls escape this world. Instead, for the corpses that were shipped to the Deathlands, their souls, still partly bound to their flesh, are turned into these spirits,” Lumoof theorized. Their corpses were linked to their souls. Though the soul may have “separated,” if someone meddled, it was possible to pull the soul back into the corpse.
It was a feature that worked both ways, just like how we were able to restore souls from old personal items of a person, because there were fragments of that person’s soul in them.
“I believe there is a domain-level individual deep in the Deathlands,” Lumoof said, and so, for once, our suspicions were true. Once we paid attention, we could sense it, the small ripples of space of a domain holder. Deep in the Deathlands, there was clearly something, or someone, that could tamper with souls to create these wights and deathlings.
“Could it be friendly?” Roon said.
“I don’t know,” Lumoof said. “The only way to know is to go and see it. And I’ll only do so when I am at full strength. Just in case.”
Fighting another domain holder is an iffy thing, and we are not exactly sure what kind of powers this other domain holder had.
Domain holders, at least those we’d met, were all slightly eccentric existences that didn’t like to be surprised. So we knew from experience that I couldn’t just barge into the depth of the Deathlands and be well received. We needed to figure out a way to send a message, one that would be favorably received by the other side, and we could then meet to truly understand them.
“Okay, I’ll come back in a while,” Lumoof said. “I’ve got other places to go, but for now, the three of you maybe help to figure out what’s up with the heroes and do research on past alliances, discussions, and communications with the Kingdoms of the Dead. The goal is to establish communication. Peacefully. Without scaring them.”
“Got it, boss,” Roon said.
My avatar rolled his eyes, but we knew it was in jest.
The kingdom of the living occupied two thirds of this world, while the remaining third was the kingdoms of the dead. The demon king, occasionally, would spawn in the Deathlands, and those in the Deathlands would band together to destroy it.
When this happened, it was called the “Week of the Waking Nightmares.” For a week, people all over the world would have nightmares, and it almost seemed as if spirits appeared all over the world.
This was a fact that worried me, because it suggested that the Deathlands had a weapon powerful enough to destroy demon kings, though, from what we’d seen so far, the Deathlands stuck to itself. If it could take on demon kings, then it could definitely take on domain holders.
