Vallynor saw all the enemies rushing towards him and noticed that beneath the feet of the wooden knights were roots that looked like snakes. "So, the roots have been freed from the curse. This is a problem," he thought.
As they were nearing their destination, the hands of the dead 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, just waiting and watching the enemy.
The roots rose and began to spin in all directions until they stopped pointing towards the huge army of the dead, with Vallynor at the center. He summoned a huge skeletal humpbacked beast and sat on it.
A strong howl rang out again, after which all the zombies turned to Vallynor and also let out cries. The roots under their feet pierced all the zombies and pulled them sharply into the sand. Vallynor, sitting on the humpbacked skeleton, took in his hand 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 powerful creatures and a few bones given by Baba Yaga. He combined all this with a curse. Baba Yaga warned that such a staff was not very reliable, and only an idiot would use 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, one could see the magical stone. Also, several threads came out of the skull, on which small bones were tied.
When he moved the staff a little, the bones knocked against each other, making a faint sound, and against the backdrop of all this, a terrible blue cold aura appeared, enveloping the entire staff.
Raising it, Vallynor began to whisper an incantation and watched as black sand began to rise.
From the sand, a huge black silhouette slowly emerged. When it had 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, looking at this wooden creature, very similar to Ents, but with a strange head on which hung many branches with hanging creatures.
The roots with the zombies were dragged to the Ent and stuck to its body, looking like swellings from the outside. After a few seconds, all the wooden armor shrank, making faint cracks, and after that, the swellings disappeared, and the Ent himself became slightly taller. Vallynor noticed that the branches on his head had lengthened.
"This creature is an unusual Ent, of the kind I know, and by its appearance and actions, it is fallen," Vallynor immediately realized, noticing that the Ent was aggressive and had started to attack.
An Ent is a wooden creature that almost has a human form, which is considered a protector of trees and forests, defending them from enemies. Most of the time, they live near trees in a dormant state, where they themselves look like a tree. Because of this, many who wanted firewood and wanted to cut down trees mistook Ents for ordinary trees. There was even one story in that heavy book.
A drunk 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 scream:
"Piece of crap, what are you doing?"
"I...I wanted firewood...and now toilet paper. Because I crapped myself, thinking it was a tree."
"I'm not a tree. I'm an Ent. You stupid human," he said, looking at his smelly pants. - dialogue sign corrected.
The Ent lost all desire to torture and even touch this smelly human. "I'll let you go if you hit your leg with the ax. You can hit it with the dull side, but hard. Then disappear from this forest and find yourself some toilet paper. You stink so bad that my leaves are beginning 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 seek revenge with his friends. But the Ent was nowhere to be found. Because of this, he thought it was all his imagination due to the alcohol. Therefore, he sometimes returned to the forest to cut down trees.
A few months later, a tree appeared next to the woodcutter's house. He looked at the tree for several days, not understanding why it seemed familiar to him.
One night, a drunk woodsman went to relieve himself on that tree. As he lowered his pants, one of the roots caught him and lifted him up.
"I told you not to come to the woods anymore," said the Ent.
Let's leave this foolish story and get back to our sheep. Or rather, to the dead.
The Ent rose completely from the sand and let out a mighty roar, heading towards him. Seeing how quickly the Ent approached, Vallynor's image of slow Ents was shattered.
Aiming his staff at him, Vallynor shouted. The entire army of the undead let out cries, clattering of bones, and so on, and they themselves rushed towards the Ent.
At the same time, a 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, his pupils turned blue. Necrotic fire emerged from the staff, reaching 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, decaying and burning one after another. But the Ent also quickly created shields one after another, restoring his slightly injured body.
After dozens of seconds, the necrotic fire stopped. Likewise, the Ent stopped and spread out all the created shields, merging them with his body.
The Ent growled angrily because the undead had attacked him. While he defended himself from the necrotic fire of the undead, Vallynor was able to approach the Ent. This sudden attack only further angered the Ent. Branches and roots sprouted from all over his body, which quickly rushed towards the huge army of the undead.
The first root, reaching the enemy, pierced him, and spikes grew and extended from the entire root, which emerged from the body of the enemy, 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 could not inflict damage on their enemies.
He sighed out of old habit. He didn't really need to breathe. But he still hadn't unlearned it during this time.
Taking a piece of mithril, a jar of blood, and a sharp sword, 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 corrode the swords, creating holes in the sword itself. After that, he placed a piece of mithril on the largest hole. Vallynor looked at the swords, whispering and creating symbols with his free hand. The blood that was destroying the swords stopped doing so.
Instead, the blood began to corrode the piece of mithril. It quickly lost its color, turning blue. The blood enveloped the entire sword, then turned to ashes.
Taking the ashes in his hands, Vallynor looked at his army and dropped the ashes on all the threads that connected him to his undead. The ashes merged with every thread belonging to the undead.
The weapons and the undead themselves were enveloped in a blue light, which quickly disappeared. When the undead struck at the branches and roots, most of them were cut off in one or two strokes.
But after a few strikes, the undead began to burn and turned into ashes. Then another undead appeared.
"Hmm. The curse is too strong. Because of this, the undead can strike several times with their sword and release their energy. When the energy from the body runs out, the curse will consume the body itself," explained Vallynor.
The curse that had been bestowed upon the entire army strengthened the weapons and could cut through anything, but at the cost of energy. The stronger the target, the more energy the curse would take.
It was a dangerous and very expensive curse. It required a sharp sword that had been used in many wars, mithril, which was now very difficult to find, and most importantly, the blood of a boiling black fire wyvern, which was considered to have disappeared from this world.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
Vallynor had found several vials of this blood and many things in the gifted ring that pleased him, but at the same time confirmed his suspicion: could it be that it had not survived?
The undead, attacking the roots and branches, cut them like scissors through 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, catching the undead by the neck, lifting them like they were hanged. Some dead warriors could cut off these branches with their swords, but others were not so lucky and were caught.
Dozens of hanging bodies hung from branches growing out of the head of a massive Ent. The undead tried to attack, but their attempts were useless.
The ends of the branches holding the undead by the neck slowly approached their mouths, and then forcefully entered.
Vallynor watched as his army, attacking, ignited one after another. Suddenly, he looked at the head of the Ent and saw the branches entering 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 breaks ties with his servants, partially taking on the curse granted to them. He even tried to attack my soul through the connections. Fool, I will turn you into undead that will serve me... But you made a stupid move," muttered Vallynor, talking to himself.
While Vallynor spoke, the ends of the branches and roots, piercing the undead, completely destroyed them, after which they all ignited. The Ent was initially happy and wanted to laugh at the stupid human. However, upon hearing his words, he became motivated to defeat the foolish enemy. He spread this wonderful power through his branches and roots, paying a small price to make the enemy completely fall. In this way, he gained time to turn the captured undead into food.
However, happiness quickly turned to horror when what had recently consumed a drop of his energy began to grow with each passing second, just like his strength.
Glazik and Annino, who had previously fought with the branches, now sat on the sidelines and rested, watching the battle between Vallynor's army and the Ent.
Annino 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 extinguish, leaving only ashes in their place, 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 was just overthinking all of this? In any case, his desire to participate subsided. Seeing the battle, it was better to stay on the sidelines than to heroically burn. He still wanted to be close to his master, not forgotten.
The little eye looked in amazement at the power of the new, so to speak, incomplete owner. She watched as the undead attacked the branches and roots, approaching the ent to attack the source of all problems. Suddenly, the branches and roots, which were weaker and losing to the undead just a moment ago, began to attack and destroy their enemies with one blow, but then caught on fire.
This shocked the couple. Could an ent create the same curse as its owner? Nonsense! Then maybe the enemy somehow managed to steal parts of the curse to strengthen itself.
"Idiot, you don't even understand that this is what I wanted," smirked Vallynor, watching what was happening. "This curse was incomplete and therefore had no limitations. Now, trapped, you will devour your energy, giving unforgettable power in return. But I wonder, will you be able to handle it?"
The ent never thought that humans could ever deceive him. He was about to attack Vallynor, but fear stopped him. He was afraid that he might fall into a new trap or burn from the cursed power.
Without much thought, he began to cut off the branches and roots affected by the curse. But he soon realized that it was useless. Instead, he sat down and listened to Vallynor's words, wondering what to do.
The curse spread throughout the ent's body like fire. It was too strong, but how much longer could he hold out? Maybe 5 minutes, maybe 6, but certainly not more.
The panicking ent caught every undead and sucked the energy out of them, not even letting it process. He tried to limit or destroy it using his own energy. At the same time, his roots sank into the sand, digging so deep that the sand under the ent's feet began to rise, and he sank knee-deep.
Vallynor watched the ent's foolish attempts without stopping the curse, but rather helping it spread even more. He tried to extinguish the fire with gasoline. It was a stupid move.
He grinned as he watched the spectacle until a blue panel suddenly appeared in front of him, on which was written:
[Urgent mission.
The curse you created is a sharp blade that can both help and hurt its creator. The cursed Ent was struck by this curse, and it increased his power by a hundredfold. But in return, he will give himself completely to the fire. His hatred for his creator blinded him, and the last thing he wants is to drag his enemy down to the grave with him.
Objective of the mission: 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.
Failure of the mission: Death to your soul.
P.S: We believe in you.]
"What? What is this P.S... I should forget about this 'P.S.' and 'We.' Right now, I have to worry about this Ent," he said, looking at the Ent and noticing that he was looking at him. Suddenly, he raised 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 began frantically summoning his army of undead that he had gathered over the years. While pulling the army out of the amulet, he ordered them to stop the Ent in the field. But as he approached, he didn't even stop to fight the weaklings. One weak hit with a branch or root, or even stepping on them, would destroy their strength.
"One hit like that and I'm done... I haven't tried this spell in practice yet, but I have no choice, do I? But first..."
***
Annino and Glazik, seeing the Ent pounce on his master, were already preparing for battle. When one of the undead approached close enough, the voice of Vallynor spoke:
"Don't you dare interfere. One blow, and you're dead," he said, turning to Annino, who didn't want to listen. "This is what I told you, disobedient little wolf... I don't want to lose you," he said, kneeling down and petting him on the head. And 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.
Annino and Glazik wanted to help, but both understood that they were weak and would only be a burden or even the cause of their owner's downfall. Annino regretted being weak. He had already become stronger than when he was in the temple, but it still wasn't enough. The owner always had to carry this burden alone. In his heart, he promised himself that he would train even harder to be able to stand proudly beside his beloved owner.
Glazik didn't understand her feelings. She wanted to help the man who had only recently learned of her existence and would have forgotten about her if she hadn't been forced to feed on him. Reflecting on 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 hadn't looked at her like a monster, and no one even considered her a girl. And here... she hoped everything would be okay.
Glazik and Annino felt anxious for each other, and leaving their inner conflict aside, they both prayed for Vallynor to survive.
One prayed for his beloved owner to be with him forever, while the other prayed, fearing an unknown future when she would be alone.
Summoning tens of thousands of undead from the censer, Vallynor sighed. The army that surrounded him turned to him and pounced on him. The first to touch Vallynor began to tear his skin and flesh, which stuck to his body.
Each undead member merged in such a way that the flesh tore and became threads, connecting with each undead member, and in the center was Vallynor himself. With each passing second, he grew in height and mass until he became enormous.
Vallynor felt the outer flesh sticking to his body, forming new muscles that entered through his skin and connected directly to the muscles of his body like threads. This process would have been wildly painful, but fortunately Vallynor was not entirely alive, so he had long since ceased to feel physical pain.
However, the emotional pain still lingered. Sometimes, excruciating pain would come to him when the souls of children merged with his own like parasites. They did not sit aside and help, but instead they remained in his sleep for the remainder of the time.
They never wanted to help, except to heal his wounded soul. Additionally, they always whined for him to become stronger and kill the white dragon.
The Ent, who had almost reached his goal, saw the undead attacking 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 together and growing in size. When he had reached 4-5 meters, the flesh itself began to change. A head appeared, as well as arms and legs that elongated enough to look like an ordinary giant human, only fat.
He was only 50 meters away from his target, and the Ent could not stop watching Vallynor's transformation.
When he transformed into a human, bones began to protrude from the flesh, merging together to form armor. Even the head had a helmet made of skulls that had fused together to become a huge skull on the giant's head.
Watching all of this, the Ent felt he could not give the enemy any time, and instead of taking a quick step, he began to run. When there were only 10 meters left, he jumped down from the hill. All the roots and branches turned toward the giant of flesh, wanting to pierce him.
Vallynor, seeing the enemy jumping at him, realized too late that he could not escape, and could only defend himself. When he tried to step back to get into position, he realized that he had made a fatal mistake.
The spell he used turns undead into a second flesh and bones that can be worn on the body. This spell not only turns the dead, but even corpses into a second skin that is as tough as armor. It is called "Golem Armor." In structure, this spell is very similar to creating a golem, but a golem has its own consciousness if given to a necromancer. And "Golem Armor" is essentially a necromancer inside a golem, directly controlling it.
Now Vallynor felt like a hero, like in those cheap TV shows about five heroes in leather suits. Sometimes they would summon a giant robot to control in battle. That's exactly how he felt now.
But he only felt like a hero until he took a step and fell on his back. Only now did he realize that he couldn't control the golem properly. He felt every cell, but since it was his first time using the spell, he lacked practice.
The Ent, who attacked from a jump, saw the enemy fall to the ground and wondered, "What is this idiot doing?" Almost passing by, he didn't even manage to injure the enemy a little. But quickly regaining his senses, he directed his roots straight into the giant's head.
The roots pierced him and reached 1/3 of their length, then ignited and turned to ashes. The Ent roared, which spread in all directions. This roar contained pain, anger, and a desire to kill.
Vallynor quickly recovered from the wounds on his head and was able to get up. He slowly began to understand how to control this meat golem. Controlling the golem was similar to controlling a regular body, only moving was harder than usual.