927 Smart Move
Lifa then taught Elysia and Elena how to contact Doll One even without using spirit telepathy.
It required a unique purple paper talisman and special divine runes. Elysia made a rune on rune paper with her magic and then tried to use it to talk to Doll One.
‘Doll One?’ Elysia tried to speak.
‘I am here, Master Elysia.’ Doll One responded.
‘Report your situation.’ Elysia spoke in a firm tone, like a fierce leader.
It was entirely different if anyone looked at her excited expression. After learning it, she managed to use Lifa’s rune on the first try. It was another step to dive deeper into divine rune techniques.
‘I managed to find the signal of a Ruvoid Avatar, but the exact location is unknown. I reckon the opponent is trying to confuse me and guide me to the location of the trap. I will move with caution and be back with results soon.’ Doll One reported the situation.
‘I learned a few things from our encounters with Ruvoid Avatars. It would be difficult to hunt them down. It’s either we meet them by chance or we force them out. Do not follow their flow, but force them to fall into your game flow. Do you understand what I’m saying?’ Elysia gave a suggestion.
‘Master Elysia is wise. Doll One will force them out.’ Doll One prepared to launch an attack.
‘Good. If you are going to fight the enemy, record your battle with Memoire. I want to see your first battle from your point of view.’ Elysia stated her request.
‘Affirmative.’ Doll One gave a curt response.
Elysia then closed the line of communication, and the golden rune on the talisman disappeared.
“Eh, it disappeared?” Elysia was taken aback and looked at Lifa in confusion.
“Yes, it is a single-use rune. The maximum duration of use is ten minutes. As for that rune, it will be used by Doll One to contact you. Make sure to always have one ready when sending Doll One on a mission. Otherwise, she will get lost without a guide when she want to return.” Lifa pointed at the purple talisman with the golden rune on Elysia’s left hand.
“O-oh, I see. This one is easy. The receiver is simpler than the transmitter.” Elysia nodded in understanding.
“That’s right. I want you to learn more about divine rune techniques, Ely. You too, Elena. You two need to learn a lot of skills and techniques.” Lifa reminded Elena of a worry-wart mother.
Elysia and Elena were also known as the two-in-one Goddess. They are indeed so strong with unimaginable magical capabilities. However, becoming untouchable in the divine world required more than strength.
“Yes, I know. I would love to learn new useful knowledges. It takes more than strength to become strong. Skill, luck, endurance, magic, intelligence, strength, and knowledge. They are all inseparable. Seven points, S-L-E-M-I-S-K.” Elena raised her talismans with two fingers. She had already made many divine runes that even Elysia had yet to learn.
“Woah, you’ve become a rune master? When did you learn it, master?” Elysia was amazed by Elena’s achievement.
“Hehe, it’s okay to call me dearest sister. They already know our secret. Also, I learned most of it from Rhea, but we’ll be blackmailing Lifa into sharing her knowledge~” Elena grinned and covered her mouth with her talismans.
“Why blackmailing since it’s free and voluntary?” Lifa smiled in amusement and shook her head.
“Let’s go see the girls’ raid party. Gio, CHerub, and the city guards are more than enough to handle the situation here.” Elysia invited everyone to watch the battle in the depths of the wilderness.
“Uuh…” Ai gritted her teeth when she saw her score keep going up, but she was still in second place. She slayed the hostless parasites that flew at her in one fell swoop and continued flying to find the location of Misharan Tree’s heart core.
“Ignore that tree. We have to find the heart core as soon as possible or this won’t end.” Vanessa rushed after Ai to look around using her magic vision.
“How about we burn down that tree and this vineyard area?” Sylvia summoned her black fire.
“No, that’s a bad idea. That tree is the source of the parasites and the poisonous spores can fly everywhere. Not to mention, the parasite powder…” Lynn was the one to voice a stern refusal.
“We have to find its heart core. Even if we destroy this forest, the Misharan Tree will grow again in a few days.” Yuuki flew from tree to tree, dodging the slow vines targeting her.
She looked deep enough into the ground to find the mentioned heart core, then released several ice arrows to wipe out the fungus and other parasites with an AoE attack.
*Rumble*
The Misharan Tree shook, scattering another batch of little fungus, parasitic powder, and poisonous spores. At the same time, the vines moved like elastic spears that kept pace with the attackers’ movements.
“Keep moving and avoid those things.” Evelyn grabbed Ella’s hand and ran from the attack zone as the Misharan Tree went berserk once more.
pA(nD)A no ve1 “Hmph, slow and weak!” Sylvia burned the vines, spores, and fungus to ashes. She narrowed her eyes to look deep into that tree, but it was like an average tree. The heart core was not there.
“Xentia, can you find its heart core?” Ella looked up. They had been fighting the final boss for quite some time, but they were still at a disadvantage.
“Xentia is trying her best. Scanning data within a one kilometer radius gives no sign of a heart core. This is only Xentia’s speculation, but Xentia thinks it is under the tree. It is protected by hundreds of roots, and can’t be seen.” Xentia reported the results of the scan she just did from the sky.
“Under the tree? Around the roots? All right, let’s do this.” Ai muttered under her breath and rushed back to the Misharan Tree.
“I will end it. Pierce, explode!” Ai tore the void around the Misharan Tree into the ground, creating a distortion and sucking explosion.
A ten-meter-deep ravine was created, and the roots were visible to everyone eye.
Ai scanned the entire underground around the roots and found a foreign object. She created a magic spear with a chain and threw it at that strange object.
*Swoosh* *Stab* *Rumble*
The spear shot out at breakneck speed, hollowing out the Misharan Tree’s heart core into a donut-like shape.
A minor earthquake occurred around the forest area. The Misharan Tree gradually withered, and the vines shriveled up as if they were being squeezed from the inside.
A purple liquid like grape juice poured out profusely from that strange object. Ai felt curious and pulled her magic chain to ground level.
“Hmm, it’s over?” Sylvia landed near Ai, looking down the hole.
“Yeah, I guess. Eew, it stinks.” Ai makes the heart core float in the air.
“Throw it down the hole. That poison bag is the energy condensation of this tree and the extract from the corpses that the roots ingest. Tifa’s guess was right. This tree was moved here by someone and received an evil buff.” Nell flew down and cast her divine magic to annihilate the Misharan Tree’s entire being to avoid the effect.
“…” Ai rubbed her hands and immediately took a safe distance from the hole. Luckily, she didn’t touch that thing out of curiosity.
The surrounding place was immediately enveloped in a warm golden light. A gigantic magic circle appeared on the ground, and the Misharan Tree slowly turned into golden particles.
Thousands of firefly-like lights flew and plunged onto the ground, making the land even more fertile.
“You should stay in the Forbidden Forest, not be co-opted by those kind of people just for temporary gain. You don’t even know who you’re fighting and who you’re working with. Huff, they can’t even be called people.” Nell spoke to Misharan Tree before granting it a quick death. She used its remains as energy fertilizer for the forest it had invaded.
“Phew… We did it, girls!” Sylvia heaved a sigh of relief and cheered with the girls.
“…” Ella clasped her hands in prayer to send the departed away one last time. She looked at the Goddess of Blessings, then at the light flying up into the sky.
“Eh, no way…” Ai looked at her score and was surprised to find she was still in second place even though she had already got a significant number from that heart core.
“What’s wrong? You look annoyed.” Yuuki jumped down from the tree and landed near Ai.
“Yuuki, what’s your score? I know you’re in first place because we often overtake each other.” Ai turned to Yuuki like she couldn’t accept this result.
“567, how about you?” Yuuki shrugged his shoulders. She was ranked first because her ice AoE attack effectively killed the parasite fungus and prevented its spread.
“Only a difference of two points? No way… I tried my best. If only I could destroy that tree or burn it directly…” Ai loosened her shoulders in disappointment.
“The Misharan Tree could explode and cause a lot more trouble if you did that.” Nell felt somewhat comforted to see Elysia’s alter looking pitiful.
“You are so competitive and don’t want to lose, Ai. What would you like to do if you were the first?” Yuuki put his hand on his waist.
“Hmph, that’s none of your business. I’m a Void Empress. I should have cut down those things before they came. It would result in at least a thousand scores…” Ai didn’t want to lose because she was already aiming for victory. She had even made a plan about what she would request from Elysia.
“You don’t seem to like me, or maybe, you just don’t know how to get along with everyone except Ely? Ah, I accidentally caught three stray fungus parasites and thought we could do something about it.” Yuuki put her hand on her forehead.
She then raised a transparent pouch containing three aggressive parasite fungus. It immediately caught everyone’s attention.
“What? The parasites didn’t disappear after the Misharan Tree died?” Evelyn gasped in surprise.
“Of course not, but they are just ordinary parasites now. I have confirmed that there are no parasites left besides those three.” Nell shook her head.
“Yuuki, my friend! Give them for me to kill!” Ai turned around and leaped to get back in front of Yuuki.
“Hmm, you said I was your friend now. I thought you hated me because you lost.” Yuuki shrugged his shoulders.
“Who says I hate you? Now, give them to me.” Ai summoned her sword of darkness.
“Hmm, you should talk to the other people more so you can get along with them. We’re going to be spending a lot of time together. I also couldn’t get along with everyone back then, but I tried, and it worked. Here, just kill two. We’ll have two people in first place for extra prizes.” Yuuki freed two fungus, and Ai immediately killed them. She won over Elysia’s twin with that simple favor. It was a smart move.
Seeing they had two people in rank one under the same score, Yuuki released the last fungus, and Sylvia exterminated it without question.
“Cunning fox.” Sylvia muttered softly, but she smiled, seeing Ai happy and getting along with Yuuki.