Chapter 22
Nick stood and thought about the best solution. He understood that a competent leader must appear among the people who would create a strategy and lead them against the monster. While he stood and thought, the prince approached him.
"Greetings, Dylan Ghostblade, I am Prince Evander. Please accept this ring for yourself." Nick took a closer look at the prince and assessed him.
Name: Evander Holy Sword 15 years old
Race: Human Attuned to Holy Mana [Rare] Level 25
Class: Holy Mage [Rare] Lv. 1
Class: Holy Sword Art Adept [Rare] Lv. 1
Nick estimated that the royal family also lacked imagination. Looking at the prince more indulgently, Nick decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. If only because he was good looking, with blond hair, golden eyes, and of course because he had two [Rare] classes. Although he was ineffective against humans, against the damned Ent he would be the strongest.
"It's nice to meet you, Prince Evander, thank you for bringing me the ring. To be honest, I had forgotten about it."
"It's okay, it's okay Dylan, you can just call me Evander, there's nothing wrong with that."
"What do you say, Evander, what are our plans for Ent?"
"I would say that you first need to determine his primary attack type and body type. Without that, most can get seriously injured."
"I agree, Evander, this means we need to send a scout, but who?"
"I mean Illusion Mage Linella, Shadow Construct Mage Seth, and you. You're the only ones who can do this."
Nick now regretted not having developed more stealth. His phantom sword art combined several skills: sword art, knife throwing, and stealth. But he had never had to use stealth before.
Although I don't think it matters, the main thing is to get close and cast a couple of divination spells.
"To be honest, I haven't been developing stealth, and have been focusing more on speed. But of course, I can get close and cast a few divination spells."
"Well, that's great, thanks Dylan." The prince said with a smile. He continued talking to other people, and Nick decided to go to Liam and ask what their plans were.
"Liam, how bad do you think it would be to fight a damn ent?"
"If only I knew. He could be a different species. I think the main expectation is that he'll have either cursed or poison attacks."
"Hmm, do we have someone who specializes in poisons?"
“Yes, I saw an alchemist among us, that guy over there,” Liam pointed at the nondescript guy with glasses.
Name: Alistair Kitherius, 15 years old
Race: Human [Unusual] Level 43
Class: Alchemist [Rare] Lv. 6
Class: Not selected
"Not bad, he's already level six, strong. Okay, do we have healers? Without them, we won't last as long as the teachers want."
"Yes, you are right, but we have very few healers. Look at that girl with black hair and the guy with pointy ears, they are the only full-fledged healers."
Name: Max Laifwarden, 20 years old
Race: Half-Elf [Rare] Lv. 18
Class: Life Mage [Rare] Lv. 4
Class: Not selected
Name: Katie Mercer, 15 years old
Race: Mana-Attuned Human [Rare] Lv. 18
Class: Arcane Healer [Rare] Lv. 3
Class: Not selected
"Damn, what should I do? Wait, is that a vampire?!"
"Yes, Dylan, she's a vampire."
Name: Cassandra Scarlet Blood 15 years old
Race: Young Vampire [Rare] Level 35
Class: Blood Mage [Rare] Lv. 10
Class: Blood Claw Arts Adept [Rare] Lv. 9
"And she has such a high level? She's so damn strong! Maybe she has healing magic?"
"I guess blood magic can do a lot. But things are going badly for us, two healers for 32 people will be a nightmare. We need to think carefully about their protection, without them we won't last a week here."
"You are right."
While they were talking, the prince attracted everyone's attention.
“Greetings, classmates. For those who don’t recognize me, I will introduce myself. I am Prince Evander, and I propose a strategy to defeat the cursed treant.” When there was no objection, he continued. “I propose that we move out now, our scouts, namely Seth the Shadow Mage, Lynella the Illusion Mage, and Dylan the Secret Mage, will go ahead to warn us of the treant’s location and approximate capabilities. I know that cursed treants come in different types, but one thing you must all agree with me on is that it will most likely have either poison or cursed magic. Based on the scouts’ testimony, we will formulate a plan later, but for now, we need to protect our healers and alchemist. I need volunteers for this role.” At first, no one responded, but then a boy with two swords on his belt stepped forward. Nick immediately sized him up.
Name: Nathan Spellsword, 15 years old
Race: Mana-Attuned Human [Rare] Lv. 20
Class: Adept of the Art of the Magic Sword [Rare] Lv. 7
Class: Not selected
Nick knew of this family, the only one in the kingdom that did not use spells or normal techniques. Nick remembered that this family could create some kind of aura of power that emanated from the sword and dealt cutting damage. It was not some cool art or techniques from soul energy. It was a mixture of mana and stamina, stitched together to make a strike at medium range, reminiscent of a sword swing. In Nick's opinion, it was neither good nor bad. The main drawback of this art is that you need to invest in magical and physical characteristics equally. After all, if the mana power characteristic is not high, you will not be able to make a strong strike, if mana regeneration is not high, you can strike with a sword once a week, and so on. If this person went the way of an ordinary warrior and a separate mage, he would not have such problems. Since all the moves or spells he uses require both mana and stamina, it puts him on par with mages in terms of damage output. But of course, he had his advantages, he could destroy a bunch of mages or warriors of the same level at close range if he had full stamina and mana, but he would quickly run out of it again. In his head, Nick marked him out as useless.
"I can offer protection, Prince Evander." After he offered it, Liam did the same.
"Okay, I think for now you and my comrades will be enough to protect them. Now, I think it's time for us to go."
Nick walked forward and noticed an attractive girl who looked like an underage slut and a shy guy. Realizing he wasn't getting the best pairing, Liam smiled.
Name: Lynella May, 15 years old
Race: Human [Unusual] Level 45
Class: Illusion Mage [Rare] Lv. 2
Class: Not selected
"Hey, hey, handsome. You're Dylan, right? You want to go out and have some fun tonight?" Lynella asked.
Nick wasn't a guy who thought about his dick all the time, but he admitted to himself that he was attracted to her. She didn't look her age, she was wearing short, sexy clothes that showed off her figure well, her face looked very bright due to the large amount of makeup, her hair was tied in a tight ponytail. Just the way he liked it, if he didn't know she was an illusion mage, he would have definitely missed it. But now he had a clear goal, and he was not going to sleep with children.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
"Next time, I'll move 10 meters forward, you follow me. When we start to see signs of the damned ent's presence, I'll count on your abilities."
"Okay," Lynella said, winking at him. Seth simply nodded.
So his walk began. Thanks to his greater agility, he moved very quickly and quietly, leaving almost no traces. His companions, although they moved silently, Seth because he covered his feet with shadow mana, and Lynella because she muffled the sound with a spell, they were not fast at all. The forest was wild and completely overgrown with trees, they had to move on roots, or short grass. Nick noticed many tracks, scratched trees, pressed paw prints. After 10 minutes of walking they saw a Deer, but it was not an ordinary one at all, its fangs were visible, the horns were much larger than usual and more reminiscent of a forest of thorns, and the eyes were red.
Race: Predatory Deer [Uncommon] Level 37
Nick stopped with a gesture and they waited for it to pass. Nick wasn't afraid to kill the deer, it would be easy, but he didn't want the noise or the smell of blood. Nick hadn't read about the animal and didn't know if they hunted in packs or traveled alone. The safest choice would be to wait. The deer smelled something, but he didn't hear them and went west. As they walked, they didn't see any animals or even insects, although there should have been plenty. After an hour and a half, Nick began to notice a sharp reduction in the vegetation, there was less grass, the leaves on the trees were starting to fall and dry. Nick decided that now was a good time to cast a divination spell. He stopped and motioned for the others to do the same. He had time to think about it. He couldn't just go and find the cursed energy, unfortunately he didn't know such a spell, also he couldn't constantly maintain the spell "Life Vision", even though the trees were drained of their life force, he wouldn't be able to see the cursed treant, it couldn't be some kind of sound spell either, he wouldn't be able to tell the difference between an treant and a tree at a glance. There was also no way to use a spell that would allow him to determine where a large amount of mana was, it would be too expensive for him. So he decided to cast the 3rd tier spell "Invisible Eye", it was an expensive spell, but it would allow him to see the treant from a long distance. Thanks to his new skills [Parallel Thinking][Unusual] and [Accelerated Perception][Unusual]. He could cast the spell and move with it, and thanks to the accelerated perception, he could process the information faster. After quickly casting the spell, he waited until it increased the distance between him and himself. Deciding that this distance was enough, he gave a signal with his hand and they started moving again. Nick mentally manipulated the spell to quickly find the ent, he searched a large area but found absolutely no living thing. So he began to move faster, along the way he could see how all the plants were getting worse and worse, about two minutes into his run his invisible eye saw many dead trees and a small tree about 8 meters with black leaves. Stopping, Nick regretfully noted that in 2.5 minutes he spent almost 700 mana. He quickly examined the tree, he did not notice anything special. If there were living trees here, he would not have guessed that it was an ent. Dispelling the spell, he turned to the group.
"I found Ent, he's about 350 meters north of us."
"Wow, you're cute, and what does he look like?" Lynella asked, and Seth just remained silent.
"A small tree, 8 meters high, with black leaves stands in the middle of a pile of dead trees."
"I think it was obvious. Any special signs?"
"Nothing special, I need to come over and take a look."
"Well then, let's go."
Approaching the line of sight, Nick examined Ent.
Race: Cursed Life-Draining Treant [Rare] Level 40
"Damn, that looks bad, he definitely has life-sucking magic."
"Yes."
"Let's go warn the others."
So Nick Linella and Seth set out to join the group. They had to walk about a kilometer, and when they got close to the group, Nick deliberately stepped loudly on a branch so that there would be no unexpected spells cast in their direction. Nick knew that most of the people were new to the forest, and decided to be overly cautious. The prince noticed them first and struck up a conversation.
"Glad you're back, Dylan. Did you find Ent?"
"Yes, it was a cursed life-sucking drant [rare] level 40. It was about 8 meters tall and had black leaves."
"Mmm, this is bad, can I burn it?"
“No, there are a lot of dry trees around, if we try, a fire will definitely start, and we will hardly be able to put it out.”
"It was worth a try. I certainly don't want to engage him in close combat, but throwing spells at him isn't an option either, it would be too expensive for us. Trying to attack him with holy magic alone seems like an equally bad option. Anyone have any ideas?"
Nick himself thought about a suitable strategy to fight Ent. There were several main problems, Ent could have many characteristics even for his size and be very strong and durable. Another problem was his cursed magic, it sucked out life force, it could either be dodged, or blocked, or of course purified with holy magic, but it would be terribly ineffective. The third problem was Ent's normal magic, he could strengthen his body, or control roots as spears and whips. Nick went through several strategies and decided that the most optimal would be to choose a small group of people and kill Ent with them. The prince during this time came to the same conclusion.
"Okay, we'll gather a group of 10 people and kill Ent, who wants to come with me?"
Nick raised his hand, as did the vampire and the girl who had been pestering Liam, and they were joined by the stone mage and five weapon adepts.
Name: Brandon Stoneshield, 15 years old
Race: Human Attuned to Stone Mana [Rare] Level 20
Class: Stone Mage [Rare] Lv. 3
Class: Spear and Shield Disciple [Uncommon] Lv. 7
Name: Norn Brookson, 15 years old
Race: Human [Unusual] Level 33
Class: Water Mage [Rare] Lv. 2
Class: Not selected
There were four guys and one girl. Unlike the guys, who were all clear, they were of the normal human race and had a weapon adept class, she was more interesting.
Name: Ariana Kilsten, 15 years old
Race: Evolved Human [Rare] Level 31
Class: Adept of the Art of Unpredictable Shot [Rare] Lv. 2
Class: Not selected
She was the first person of his race he had seen outside of his clan, and she was also the first person he had seen who was skilled in the art of archery.
She must be strong.
"Okay, we'll go there, and you all stay here and be on the lookout. Dylan, lead the way."
Nick walked silently towards Ent and stopped after five minutes to let him know he was close.
"He's about two minutes away from us."
"Okay, Brandon will be in the vanguard, if things get really bad, put up a stone wall, the rest of the melee fighters will stand next to Brandon, Ariana, I don't think you need protection. I'm with Norn, we'll protect you from the cursed magic with holy spells."
Nick wasn't worried about Ent being a threat to him because of the Saint Wizard's protection. Based on his skill [Reincarnator's Madness], he estimated that Ent had about 300 stats across 15 attributes, not counting the Luck and Charisma stats. Ent had two additional stats, Life Force Regeneration and Endurance. He was actually a weakling, but he was a troublesome opponent against people who were smaller and didn't want to waste mana on him at all. But that was Nick talking about his stats, as for his skills, he didn't know them.
Approaching the Ent to a distance of 50 meters, an arrow hit him, which pierced half of his length, an orange energy wave burst out from it, which made the Ent howl in pain. A face distorted with pain and hatred appeared on the tree, its upper branches began to transform and take the form of hands. At this moment, he received another shot, this time in the eye, the second wave of orange energy made the Ent even more angry and he began to dig himself out of the ground, but it would take him a long time. Not wanting to move in formation, Nick activated [Ghost Awakening], which increased his stats by 15%, he quickly broke free and approached the Ent. He tried to grab Nick with his hand, but was left without fingers, noticing that the Ent had a liquid resembling blood, Nick was encouraged. He managed to make two more cuts on his hand, as the vampire rushed into the fight. She created claws of crystallized blood on her hands, which left deep cuts, but she was not as fast as Nick, or rather she could not keep up with his speed and did not notice the blow of the ent, which sent her flying. Nick was sure that there were several broken bones. Noticing that the ent was starting to take them seriously, Nick retreated. Roots burst out of the ground and immediately headed for the main targets. Nick managed to dodge, and Brandon was able to block the roots with a stone wall, but after a strong blow, they began to bend around the wall, where they met with the adepts of the weapon. Nick again went into close combat and began to inflict a lot of small cuts on the ent, while arrows were flying at him from afar, the ent tried to catch him, but for him it was unsuccessful while he fought with the others. 20 seconds passed and the Vampire came to her senses, Nick, using the skill [Parallel Thinking], watched as her back twitched, and the bones fell into place, even the sunken ribs were like new.
Damn, what an expensive skill.
Nick was giving it his all, he was burning through as much stamina as he could, at this rate he could fight for about 9 more minutes. The vampire returned to the fight, she was casting some kind of spell and came closer to cast it. Nick turned around just in time to see her compress her blood in her hands to fire it. He knew the spell, the 4th level "Compressed Blood Spear" and knew it would be damn strong. It took the vampire about 7 seconds to cast the spell. Because she misjudged her strength, she missed slightly and almost cut Ent in half with a strong stream of blood. Nick had enough perception to notice that the cut went through about half of Ent's body. At that moment, Ent screamed, causing everyone to stop, it was a mental attack using cursed mana. Nick was hit by Ent's hand and was thrown back hard, the others were less lucky, they were pressed against each other and almost crushed. The prince managed to come to his senses in time and attack Ent with a holy beam. Which distracted him.
Nick stood up and limped towards the prince, he hadn't taken much damage but it hurt like hell. The treant stopped his attacks, the leaves slowly started to fall off him, crumbling into dust and flying in all directions. Norn erected a barrier of water with holy mana around himself, looking at what was outside, he didn't feel much danger. The barrier was still there, only the archer was behind it. One of the roots passed through the barrier and crashed into Brandon's shield, he was able to withstand the blow, but because of it, black dust got inside. Nick admitted to himself that he wanted to see what she was doing, and did not create a barrier around the man right after she touched him. From what Nick could feel, this thing was destroying life force, like water extinguishes fire. With a quick barrier spell, he protected everyone again.
The prince decided not to stand around doing nothing any longer, and started casting the 4th tier spell "Holy Spear". It was one of the most expensive spells Nick had ever seen, in pure mana cost. To physically manifest mana, even for a second, you need twice as much mana. So the spell cost at least 2000 MP, which meant that the prince had invested most of his stat points into mana regeneration, or the amount of MP. No one in their right mind would cast such an expensive spell. It took him 15 seconds to cast the spell, while they all fought off the roots together. His spear passed through all the barriers, because Nick poured his will into the barrier so that it would let the holy mana through. And it crashed into Ent, who tried to launch his mental attack again, but nothing happened. For 20 seconds, Ent did not attack them and when the black dust settled behind the barrier he, the vampire, and the archer attacked at the same time. The vampire gouged out the last eye, the archer hit the center of the table and released an orange flash, and Nick, gathering all his strength and stepping over the threshold of his physique, chopped off his torso.
Ent died...
Congratulations, you have defeated [Cursed Life-Draining Treant][Rare] level 40. You will receive less experience for winning in a group.
Congratulations, you have reached Level 1 in [Phantom Sword Arts Adept] [Rare] > Lv. 2.
Nick felt bad, he had used up too much stamina and overworked his body.
Damn, everything hurts. But we only have one wounded, so I think it's worth it. It remains to be seen if the healers can heal him.
The prince also came to his senses after such a powerful spell.
"How is everyone holding up? Are there any serious injuries?"
Nick and the Prince looked at the entire group together, Nick could see the remnants of the curse on the hand of the swordsman who had fallen under it. This was due to his [Spiritual Sense][Rare] skill, not his Mana Sense. Looking at the others, he found no problem. After activating the [Reincarnator's Madness] skill, he found that the vampire had little life force. This indicated that her regeneration skill was devouring life force like crazy. Not noticing any problems, he remained silent. And the Prince continued.
"Well done everyone, now we'll follow the others and stay here for the night. It's unlikely that monsters will bother us in the cursed area."
Nick thought it was a surprisingly sensible idea from the prince. They rested for about 10 minutes and then began to move.