348 Price
The hall that stores the core of the World Tree, the impregnable headquarters of the Oak Council, was easily barged in by a human?
What were the guards outside doing?
Could it be that the defensive measures in the birth canal that had been constantly reinforced for millennia were just decorations?
Where did the Mother Goddess Temple guardians guarding the hall go?
As it had happened too suddenly, Enso couldn’t figure out if he should use the power of the hall to take down the other party first or prioritize punishing the garrison officers stationed along the birth canal today.
The man wasn’t in a hurry to explain his intentions after walking in. Instead, he first looked around the hall before throwing Quayle aside as if he was throwing trash.
Then, more than ten gargoyles bent down and crawled in from the tunnel behind the person. They had hard stone bodies, and their appearance was rough but ingenious. The carvings on their faces were dignified and ferocious. After they entered, they stood on both sides of the person like personal guards.
Against the backdrop of more than ten stone sculptures of different shapes, one could vaguely feel that the entire core hall seemed to be built with this human at its core.
After the last gargoyle stepped into the hall, the person spoke. “Who’s the person in charge here?”
Naturally, no one answered his question. He shrugged as if he was asking for a snub. Then, his gaze swept across everyone in the hall who had the oak leaf symbol on their beast hide clothes.
Soon, his gaze landed on Enso, who was beside the Unborn Fetus of the World Tree.
For some reason, Enso, who had the blessing and protection of Mother Goddess, felt a chill down his spine the moment he was stared at.
Even so, at this moment, on his home ground, under the gaze of Earth Mother, Enso, who was carrying out the sacrificial ritual meant for reincarnation, met the gaze with an equally fierce gaze.
He didn’t falter at all.
In the hall, with 70 to 80% of the awakening ritual completed, Earth Mother’s power could already effectively affect Currere. At this moment, even Floral at her peak couldn’t do anything.
“So, you’re the person in charge here?”
The person stared at Enso without much emotion on his face.
“As the descendants of the Mother Goddess, we serve our mother equally. No matter who you are, please don’t categorize us with the hierarchy of humans.”
Enso didn’t answer the other party’s question directly. Instead, he took a roundabout route to test the other party’s reaction.
No matter what, the other party was a magic chanter who could storm through the birth canal. Even with Mother Goddess’s protection in the hall, it was better to be careful.
Moreover, the most troublesome thing now was the dozen or so gargoyles controlled by the other party.
If they really fought, even though he was invincible with Mother Goddess’s blessing, he still didn’t have the confidence to protect all the non-combatants in the Oak Council from the summoned creatures driven by magic.
Before the battle began, the other party had consumed such a huge amount of mana to summon so many tough creatures. The other party probably planned on using the non-combatants in the hall as hostages from the beginning.
Or could it be that the other party’s Achilles’ heel was in close combat? Was that why he needed so many gargoyles as his guards?
Enso’s mind constantly considered his countermeasures.
“You are quite eloquent when it comes to official speak. It appears you’re the one.”
He didn’t expect the person to answer after hearing his words.
With that said, the other party ignored the murderous atmosphere in the hall and walked towards him defenselessly.
A member of the Oak Council raised his hand when he saw this. Pale green light crawled up his arm like blood vessels, and surging vitality began to inject into the surrounding land…
The next second, the sound of a spinning stone plate echoed in the silent hall. More than ten gargoyles stood like statues and turned their necks in unison to look at the forest druid.
The person immediately stopped what he was doing with a pale face.
Enso looked at the approaching human in front of him and asked in a deep voice, “Who are you?”
“You don’t need to know.” As the person spoke, he didn’t slow down at all. The surrounding gargoyles didn’t follow him.
Isn’t he being a little too careless? Or is close combat not the other party’s weakness?
Enso continued to adjust his response plan and said, “Even if you aren’t telling me, I can guess that you’re a subordinate secretly nurtured by Floral, right? Hmph, I underestimated her. I originally thought that that woman was just a child brandishing power she couldn’t control. I didn’t expect her to learn how to keep a trump card up her sleeves… You were the one who stopped the Holy Communion ritual and helped Floral recover her strength, right?”
Perhaps because his identity had been exposed, the person didn’t reply. Instead, he continued walking towards him unhurriedly.
Upon seeing this, Enso continued, “But it ends here. Not to mention a mortal magic chanter like you, even if that vicious Floral were here, she can only…”
He only spoke to divert the other party’s attention. As a favored one who could communicate with Earth Mother and was doted on by Mother Goddess, Enso didn’t need to chant incantations or make gestures when directing powers. He only needed to pray silently in the depths of his heart before divine power descended into the world.
At this moment, the person’s path was already filled with countless traps. With just a few more steps, the other party would be completely captured by him.
Then…
“You talk too much.”
The other party’s afterimage was clearly reflected in his eyes as he walked forward, but the other party’s voice suddenly appeared behind him. Before he could turn around, he felt a bone-chilling coldness on his wrist and ankle.
With the sound of chains, Enso was hoisted by a tremendous force.
It was as if invisible chains were reflected from the shadows, hanging Enso in front of William.
“You only need to answer my question… Is this the core of the World Tree?” William pointed at the festering dead infant and asked.
“You… I…”
“Answer the question.” As William spoke, an electric current ran along the chain, immolating Enso’s nerves. He couldn’t help but wail.
Someone in the hall wanted to rush forward to save him upon hearing his cries, but before he could take a few steps, he was pressed to the ground by a gargoyle that suddenly took action.
“Don’t move. Otherwise, I can’t guarantee your safety. I’m not threatening you.”
William looked up at the others in the hall.
“All of you… will die, but I don’t want you to die like this. Before you die, I need to tell you the truth,” he continued.
With that said, he didn’t care if the people understood him and turned to look at the hoisted Enso. “Yes or no?”
“Why…” Enso didn’t answer William’s question. Compared to the pain he had suffered, he looked more shocked.
The moment the other party attacked, he could clearly sense Earth Mother’s blessing vanish from his body.
As a favored of Mother Goddess, unless the caster was at the level of Great Sage Yeats, it was impossible for him to be controlled by mere Shadow Chains in the core hall of the World Tree.
“What do you mean why?” William asked with a frown.
“Why did the Mother Goddess extract Her power…” Enso looked at William in shock and fear and muttered.
William sensed a certain power dissipating in the hall. He raised his head slightly and said, “Because your deity has abandoned you. Because your deity is afraid of me.”
…
“We have to banish the Calamity back to the other timeline,” On the Lake of Entropy, Camilla said to a huge spider coiled on the lake, Her tone revealing rare anxiety. “He returned too early. Your Silence didn’t buy me enough time!”
Beatrice replied slowly, “Don’t pin this on me. Someone must have leaked important information to the Calamity for him to grasp the key to the ritual so quickly.”
As for who revealed the information, there was naturally no need to say it out loud.
According to the Calamity’s previous intentions, he originally planned on destroying the World Tree. However, even if he bombarded it with the greatest firepower he possessed back in Black Crow Gaze, Camilla could complete the ritual before the other party completely destroyed the World Tree.
As long as the ritual was completed, Camilla, who had been reborn as Earth Mother, could easily heal the damage She had suffered and engage in a protracted battle with the Calamity.
As long as She delayed the Calamity, Camilla and Beatrice’s hidden cards could act freely in the other timeline.
This should have been the plan.
“It’s useless confronting the temporizing Dreamer now. We can only…”
Thankfully, the Lady of Starvation could still tell the urgency of the matter, so She immediately made a choice.
“But that’s impossible because I’ve already swapped with that returned soul,” Beatrice said.
“You…”
“I got Silence instead of a tree spirit to take over Floral’s body. Now, you can’t send William back to another timeline.”
“I don’t understand. Why did you…” Camilla trailed off. She looked at Beatrice in front of Her and recalled Zamara’s advice.
“This is because the price we paid in our previous plan wasn’t enough to completely kill the Moon Realm Calamity. You didn’t wager enough,” Beatrice said.
“Therefore, abandon the remaining mortal will you left behind in Earth Mother. Use the power accumulated over the past 5,000 years to completely nullify the trump card Steelheart Widow left behind when the Calamity uses the Ironstone Oath to resonate.”
“As long as the Ironstone Oath is destroyed, the Calamity will lose the chance to turn the tables. The Heartless will also be severely injured because of this. Only then will you have a chance to completely kill the Calamity.”
“You don’t need to sacrifice much—just the last bit of your mortal will.”
