Vallynor saw how all the enemies rushed towards him and noticed that under the feet of the wooden knights were roots that resembled snakes. "So, the roots have been freed from the curse. This is a problem," he thought.
When they were almost reaching their goal, the hands of the undead appeared and caught Vallynor, dragging him into the sand. All the zombies stopped and sat dumbly, watching the place where Vallynor had been just moments before. These puppets had lost their target and didn't know what to do, they just waited and watched the enemy.
The roots rose and began to twist in all directions until they stopped towards the direction of the huge army of the undead, where Vallynor was located in the center. He summoned a huge skeletal hunchbacked beast and settled on it.
A loud howl echoed again, after which all the zombies turned to Vallynor and also let out cries. The roots that were under their feet pierced all the zombies and sharply dragged them into the sand. Vallynor, who was sitting on the hunchbacked skeleton, took a staff made of a branch or root found in the sand. It was a magical stone that he received as a reward for completing a task, as well as the souls of several strong creatures and several bones given by Baba Yaga. He combined all of these with a curse. Baba Yaga warned that such a staff was not very reliable, and only an idiot would think of using a curse to create a staff.
In the end, a long staff was created, on the top of which sat the skull of a horned beast. Through the eye sockets, the magical stone could be seen. Also, several threads came out of the skull, on which small bones were tied.
When he moved the staff a little, the bones clattered against each other, making a weak sound, and against the background of all this, a terrible blue cold aura appeared, enveloping the entire staff.
Lifting it, Vallynor began to whisper a spell and watched as the black sand began to rise.
An enormous black silhouette slowly emerged from the sand. When it had already risen halfway, Vallynor looked at it and realized that this creature was almost six or seven meters tall.
"Uh... is this an Ent?" he asked, gazing at this wooden creature that resembled Ents, but with a strange head on which hung many branches with hanging creatures.
The roots with the zombies were brought to the Ent and stuck to its body, looking like growths from the side. After a few seconds, all the wooden armors contracted, making faint cracks, and then the growths disappeared, and the Ent became slightly taller. Vallynor noticed that the branches on its head had lengthened.
"This creature is an unusual Ent, unlike any I know, and by its appearance and actions, it is fallen," Vallynor immediately understood, noticing that the Ent was aggressive and started to attack.
An Ent is a wooden creature that almost has a human shape and is considered a defender of trees and forests, protecting them from enemies. Most of the time, they live near trees in a dormant state when they look like a tree themselves. Because of this, many who wanted firewood and wanted to chop down trees mistook Ents for ordinary trees. There was even one story in that heavy book.
A drunken lumberjack wanted firewood. With such thoughts, he took an ax and went into the forest. There he found an old-looking tree and, taking the ax in his hands, began to cut it. After a few blows, he heard a loud cry:
"What the hell are you doing, piece of shit?"
"I... I wanted firewood... and now toilet paper. Because I shit myself, thinking it was a tree."
"I am not a tree. I am an Ent. Stupid human," he said, looking at his smelly pants.
The Ent lost all desire to torture and even touch this stinky human. "I'll let you go if you hit your leg with the ax. You can hit the blunt side, but hard. Then disappear from this forest and find yourself some toilet paper. You stink so much that my leaves start to die."
The lumberjack hit himself several times on the leg with the ax. After that, limping, he ran away. The next day, the lumberjack came back to take revenge with his friends. But the Ent was nowhere to be found. Because of this, he thought it was all just his imagination due to alcohol. So, he sometimes returned to the forest to chop down trees.
It was just a few months later that a tree appeared near the lumberjack's house. He looked at the tree for several days, not understanding why it was so familiar to him.
One night, a drunken lumberjack went to shit on that tree. As he was about to relieve himself, one of the roots caught him and lifted him.
"I told you not to come back to the forest," the Ent said.
Let's leave this silly story and get back to our sheep. Or rather, the dead.
The Ent rose completely from the sand and roared loudly, heading towards him. Seeing how quickly the Ent was approaching, Vallynor's image of slow Ents was crumbling.
Pointing his staff at him, Vallynor shouted. The entire army of the dead screamed, bones rattled, and so on, and they themselves attacked the Ent.
At the same time, blue light enveloped the staff and then Vallynor himself. This cold blue light entered his white eyes, which were barely visible in the darkness. And only because they were black, the pupils turned blue. Necrotic fire came out of the staff, which reached the Ent in a second, but the fire was only able to envelop him for a fraction of a second. After that, he created a wooden shield. The necrotic fire consumed the shields one by one, decomposing and burning each one. But the Ent also quickly created shields one after another, restoring his slightly injured body.
After dozens of seconds, the necrotic fire stopped. The Ent also stopped and spread all the created shields, merging them with his body.
The Ent angrily roared because the undead attacked him. While he defended himself against the necrotic fire, Vallynor was able to approach the Ent. This sudden attack further angered the Ent. Branches and roots emerged from his whole body, which quickly attacked the huge army of the dead.
The first root, reaching the enemy, pierced him, and spikes grew and lengthened from the whole root, which came out of the enemy's body, and then threw him away like garbage.
The root jumped to another enemy, while a seemingly weak branch approached the recently beaten enemy and, tying him up, dragged him to the Ent.
Vallynor held the staff in his hand and watched as his army slowly perished. And all because the undead cannot harm their enemies.
He sighed out of old habit. After all, he didn't need to breathe. But he still hadn't forgotten how to breathe.
Taking the orichalcum, a jar of blood, and a sharp sword in his hands, Vallynor created fire and threw the swords into it, which turned red in a few seconds. Then he poured the bottle of blood onto the swords, which began to sizzle and destroy the swords, creating holes in the swords themselves. After that, he placed a piece of orichalcum on the biggest hole. Vallynor looked at the swords, whispered, and with his free hand, created symbols. The blood that destroyed the swords stopped doing so.
Instead, the blood began to destroy the piece of orichalcum. It quickly lost its color, turning blue. The blood enveloped the whole sword, and then turned to ash.
Taking the ash in his hands, Vallynor looked at his army and lowered the ash onto all the threads that bound him to his undead. The ash merged with every thread belonging to the undead.
The weapons and the undead themselves were enveloped in blue light, which quickly disappeared. When the undead struck at the branches and roots, most of them were cut off with one or two blows.
But after a few strikes, the undead began to burn and turned into ash. Then another undead appeared.
"Hmm. The curse is too strong. Because of this, the undead can strike several times with their sword and give away their energy. When the energy from the corpse runs out, the curse will devour the body itself," Vallynor explained.
The curse with which the entire army was endowed strengthens the weapons and can cut through everything, but at the cost of energy. The stronger the target, the more energy the curse will take.
This is a dangerous and very expensive curse. It requires a sharp sword that has been used in war many times, orichalcum, which is now very difficult to find, and most importantly - the blood of a boiling black fire wyvern, which is considered extinct in this world.
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
Vallynor found several vials of this blood and many items in the gifted ring, which pleased him, but at the same time confirmed his suspicion: could it be that she could not survive?
The undead, attacking the roots and branches, cut them like scissors cut paper. Even if they themselves burned after several cut branches, they were replaced by others.
The branches on the ent's head drooped like vines and caught the undead by the neck, lifting them up like hanged men. Some dead warriors could cut these branches with a sword, but others were not so lucky and were caught.
Dozens of hanged bodies hung from the branches growing out of the head of the huge ent. The undead tried to attack, but their attempts were futile.
The ends of the branches holding the undead by the neck slowly approached their mouths, after which they entered with force.
Vallynor watched as his army, attacking, lit up one by one. Suddenly, he looked at the ent's head and saw how the branches entered the mouths of the undead. At first, he was surprised, but then angrily scratched his hand, where one of the rings was located.
"This Ent severs ties with his servants, partially taking on the curse himself. He even tried to attack my soul through those ties. Fool, I will turn you into undead that will serve me... But you made a foolish move," muttered Vallynor, talking to himself.
As Vallynor spoke, the ends of his branches and roots pierced the undead, completely destroying them, after which they all caught fire. The Ent was initially pleased and wanted to laugh at the foolish human. However, upon hearing his words, he became motivated to defeat the stupid enemy. He spread this wondrous power through his branches and roots, paying a small price to ensure the enemy fell completely. Thus, he gained time to turn the captured undead into food.
However, happiness quickly turned into horror when what had recently consumed a drop of his energy began to grow with each passing second, just like his strength.
Glazik and Anino, who had previously fought against the branches, now sat aside and rested, watching the battle between Vallynor's army and the Ent.
Anino wanted to be there, fighting alongside his master, but even now he remembered his order: "Do not interfere in the battle." Then he was offended, not understanding why his master did not allow him to participate. Was he a burden?
However, seeing the undead ignite like matches and quickly die out, leaving only ash behind, he understood that even if he was a burden, his master was primarily concerned about his safety and did not want to risk him. Even for a moment, he could be useful.
Or maybe he's just overthinking it all? Either way, his desire to participate waned. Watching the battle from the sidelines was better than heroically burning out. He still wanted to be close to his master, not forgotten.
Glazik, on the other hand, looked surprised at the strength, so to speak, of her new incomplete master. She watched as he created the curse food and was able to see shadows of her former master.
Both watched as the undead attacked the branches and roots, approaching the Ent to attack the source of all the problems. Suddenly, the branches and roots, which had been weaker and losing in strength to the undead for a fraction of a second, began to attack and destroy their enemies with a single strike, but then caught fire themselves.
This shocked the pair. Could an Ent create the same curse as his master? Nonsense! Then, perhaps the enemy somehow managed to steal parts of the curse to strengthen himself.
Vallynor smirked with glee as he watched the events unfold. "You idiot, you don't even understand that this is what I wanted," he said. "The curse was incomplete and therefore had no limitations. Now that you're trapped, you'll consume your own energy, giving unforgettable power in return. But I wonder, will you be able to handle it?"
The Ent never thought that humans could deceive him. He wanted to attack Vallynor, but fear made him stop. He was afraid he might fall into a new trap or burn out from the cursed power.
Without much thought, he began to cut off the branches and roots affected by the curse. But he soon realized it was futile. Instead, he sat down and listened to Vallynor's words, thinking about what to do next.
The curse spread throughout the Ent's body like fire. It was too strong, but how much longer could it last? Maybe 5 minutes, maybe 6, but definitely not longer.
Panic-stricken, the Ent caught every undead being and drained their energy, not even allowing it to be processed. He tried to limit or destroy it, using his own energy. At the same time, roots from his legs sank into the sand, sinking so deeply that the sand under the Ent's feet began to rise, and he sank up to his knee.
Vallynor watched the Ent's foolish attempts, not stopping the curse but instead helping it spread even stronger. He tried to extinguish the fire with gasoline. It was a stupid move.
He grinned as he watched the spectacle, until suddenly a blue panel appeared in front of him, on which was written:
[Urgent mission.
The curse you have created is a sharp blade that can both help and wound its creator. The cursed Ent was struck by this curse, and it amplified his power by a hundredfold. But in return, he will give himself up to the fire. Hatred towards his creator blinded him, and the last thing he wants is to drag his enemy with him to the grave.
Mission objectives: Survive until the Cursed Ent falls and doesn't get up again.
Reward for completing the mission: You will stay alive. There is also a chance to obtain the fallen soul of this Ent.
Mission failure: Death to your soul.
P.S: We believe in you.]
"What? What is this P.S... I should leave this 'P.S.' and 'we.' Right now, I should worry about this Ent," he said, looking at the Ent and noticing that it was looking at him. Suddenly, he lifted his leg and tore off all the roots that bound his leg to the black sand. "Oh, damn."
Taking the amulet in his hand, he frantically summoned his army of undead that he had collected over the years. While pulling the army out of the amulet, he ordered them to stop the Ent on the field. But it, approaching, didn't even stop to fight the weaklings. One weak strike with a branch or root, or even stepping on them, and he would destroy their strength.
"One such strike and I'm done... I haven't tried this spell in practice yet, but I have no choice, do I? But first..."
***
Anino and Glazik, seeing how the Ent had attacked his master, were already preparing for battle. When one of the undead came close enough, the voice of Vallynor spoke:
"Do not dare to intervene. One blow, and you are dead," Vallynor said, turning to Anino, who didn't want to listen, "I told you, disobedient pup... I don't want to lose you," he said, kneeling down and petting him on the head. Then he started petting Glazik too. "And you too."
After that, the bright blue color of Vallynor's eyes faded, and he remained motionless, not even moving a millimeter.
Anino and Glazik wanted to help, but they both understood that they were weak and would only be a burden or even cause the downfall of their master. Anino regretted his weakness more than anything else. He had become stronger than he was in the temple, but it was still not enough. The master had to carry this burden alone. In his heart, he promised himself that he would train even harder to be able to proudly stand by his beloved master.
Glazik, on the other hand, didn't understand her feelings. She wanted to help the human who had only recently learned of her existence, and she forgot about him only when she was forced to feed on him. Thinking about what was wrong, she always remembered how he caressed her with care and didn't even flinch when he touched her. Since her appearance, only Baba Yaga didn't look at her as a scarecrow, not even considering her a girl. And here... I hope everything will be fine.
Glazik and Annino felt worried about each other and, putting aside their inner conflict for a moment, both prayed for Vallynor to survive.
One prayed for his beloved owner to be by his side forever, while the other prayed, fearing the unknown future when she would be alone.
Summoning tens of thousands of undead from the amulet, Vallynor sighed. The army that surrounded him turned towards him and attacked him. The first ones who managed to touch Vallynor began to tear apart the flesh that had stuck to his body.
Each undead merged with the others in such a way that the flesh tore and became threads, connecting with every undead, while Vallynor remained at the center. With every passing second, he grew in height and mass until he became enormous.
Vallynor felt the external flesh sticking to his body, becoming new muscles that entered through his skin and connected directly with the muscles of his body. This process would have been wildly painful, but fortunately, Vallynor was not fully alive, so he no longer felt physical pain.
However, the emotional pain still remained. Sometimes, he was afflicted by excruciating pain when the souls of children, like parasites, merged with his own soul. They did not stay aside and helped, but because of this, they remained asleep for the rest of the time.
They never wanted to help, except to heal his wounded soul. Furthermore, they always whined for him to become stronger and kill the white dragon.
The Ent, who had almost achieved his goal, saw the undead rush towards Vallynor. He stopped and asked himself, "What happened?"
It took less than three seconds for him to dismiss this question and continue approaching. With each step, he saw the undead sticking to each other and growing in size. When he had already reached 4-5 meters, this flesh itself began to change. A head, arms, and legs appeared, elongating enough to resemble an ordinary enormous human, only fat.
Vallynor, translated as Vallynor, was constantly being watched by Entu as he was only 50 meters away from his target.
As Vallynor transformed into a human, bones began to protrude from his flesh and fuse together, forming armor. Even his head had a helmet made of skulls that had melded together to create a massive skull atop the giant's head.
Watching all of this unfold, Entu knew he couldn't give the enemy time and began to run instead of taking a quick step. When there were only 10 meters left, he leaped and all the roots and branches turned towards the flesh giant, wanting to impale him.
Vallynor, seeing the enemy leap towards him, realized too late that he couldn't escape and could only defend himself. When he tried to step back to get into position, he realized he had made a fatal mistake.
The spell he used transformed undead into a second skin of flesh and bones that could be worn as armor. This spell not only transforms the dead but even corpses into a second skin that is as strong as armor. It's called "Golem Armor". The structure of this spell is very similar to the creation of a golem, but a golem has its own consciousness if given by a necromancer. "Golem Armor," on the other hand, is a necromancer controlling a golem directly.
Now Vallynor felt like a hero, like in those cheesy shows about five heroes in leather suits. Sometimes they would summon a giant robot to control it in battle. That's exactly how he felt now.
But he only felt like a hero until he took a step and fell onto his back. Only now did he realize that he couldn't control the golem properly. He could feel every cell, but since it was his first time using the spell, he lacked practice.
Ent, who attacked from above, saw the enemy fall to the ground and wondered, "What is this idiot doing?" Almost passing by, he couldn't even injure the enemy even slightly. But quickly regaining his senses, he directed his roots straight towards the giant's head.
The roots pierced him and reached one-third of his length, and then flared up and turned to ash. The Ent roared, and his roar echoed in all directions. It contained pain, anger, and a desire to kill.
Vallynor quickly recovered from the wounds on his head and was able to stand up. He slowly began to understand how to control this flesh Golem. Controlling the Golem was similar to controlling a normal body, except that moving was harder than usual.