Sneaking through the shadows basically invincible, since he never met anyone who could directly attack him when he was in this form. Enzo escaped the scene, running towards the forest. Exiting out of the shadow realm, Enzo leaned on a tree as he tried to catch his breath. It definitely wasn't easy, shadow sneaking for such a long distance and time. "I really admire your quick wit," Enzo heard a voice ringing in his head. Since it was directly transmitted to his head, he had no way of distinguishing where the source of the voice was. "Who's there?" Enzo looked around, trying to stall for time while he was coming up with an escape plan. "But sometimes cowardice won't suffice," the same voice rang through his head once again. "Damn it," Enzo cursed. Without any intel about who or what he was facing, shadow sneaking away was the best option.
Once he decided his plan, he dove right towards the nearest shadow, hoping to make a great escape. But unlike the past times where he would just meld into the shadows, he face planted right into the ground, mouth full of dirt. Thinking that his ability was on cooldown, he waited for a brief moment before he made another attempt. But unfortunately, the second attempt still yielded the same results. As he heard laughter, a figure appeared right in front of him. Feeling the same sense of death and destruction he experienced back at the ruins, Enzo's heart skipped a beat before finally realizing who he was up against. The unknown being was probably the one of the strongest subordinates of the demon lord or possibly even the reborn demon lord himself. "Oh did I forget to mention, none of your abilities or spells will work," the words directly transmitted to his head was definitely coming from the flaming skeleton.
Pulling out his daggers, Enzo took a fighting stance. "Pathetic, even an amateur could see right through that stupid act," Jason said. Realizing his antics have been seen through, Enzo tossed out a weird bag. After a split second, the bag exploded, creating a thick smoke and loud noises. Enzo instantly bolted, running north with full speed.
Perhaps for any other enemy this would've worked, but unfortunately he was up against someone who had the prowess to fight the demon lord. Glowing, Jason's eerie eyes locked on Enzo's soul right through the thick cloud of smoke. Flaming bat wings sprouted from his back, with a flap of his wings, the whole cloud of smoke dissipated, and Jason shot right towards Enzo. "I'm afraid I'm getting bored of your antics, and that little girl definitely needs my assistance," Jason said, as the surrounding mana fluctuated. Before Enzo could make his last stand, crimson chains shot towards him, wrapping him around tightly. He instantly felt strength leave his body, as he slumped to the ground without being to lift even a single finger.
Carrying Enzo like a sack of potatoes, the demonic flames that covered Jason's bones charred Enzo's skin. But with everything sealed, Enzo could not even react to the intense pain. "Let's go see how our little savior is doing," Jason said, as he shot towards the sky.
"DIE!" Zahra cursed, thick roots shot out from the ground, wrapping around the right paws of the nearest warg. Tightening around its ankles, the sound of bones cracking could be heard. Unfortunately, that was far from enough to take down the apex predators of the forest. With a single swipe of its free front paw, it easily ripped through the weak fibers of the roots. Pouncing fowards, it didn't want to allow Zahra to cast another spell. Luckily, after absorbing the power of her companions' soul, her reaction speed was incomparable to who she once was. With a simple step, she easily dodged the warg's deadly jaws.
Feeling the viscous saliva splatter on her cheeks, Zahra suddenly felt her mind clear. What was she doing? Fighting wargs like they were weak skeletons? Wargs main prey were young goatmen like her. The wargs began to encircle her, closing in slowing as if they were announcing her demise. She could feel her heart race as her adrenaline levels went through the roof, thinking about her dead comrades, she somehow managed to muster up a sliver of strength. Her bone wand glowed brightly, as she casted the strongest spell she has ever attempted before. The surrounding mana fluctuated, condensing around her wand. As if humming in delight, the wand trembled under the mass amounts of power. "Create ent," she casted, feeling three quarters of her mana instantly disappear.
The mana formed a stream, pouring into the nearest tree, which was a large banyan tree that was recorded to be older than her first ancestors. The ground trembled, as if welcoming the birth of a new being. The roots that dug deep into the ground began to writhe, the earth cracking as they wiggled their way to the surface. The roots began to weave together, forming thick and robust limbs. The trunk of the tree emitted a green hue, as something that barely reassembled a human face appeared. The ent let out a fearsome roar, announcing its birth. It stood a staggering hundred foot tall, towering over the whole forest, with hundreds of fibrous roots that sprouted from its numerous branches. The ground shook with every step it took. The power radiating from the hundred foot ent struck fear in the smug wargs, making them whimper in fear.
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Plagued by Zahra's will for revenge, the black eyes of the ent turned deep red. Countless roots shot towards the pack of wargs, some through the air and some tunneling through the ground. With their wild instincts and being one the most agile predators in the world, most of the wargs dodged the assault of the vines and roots, but some were not that lucky. Two of the twelve wargs were entangled by the roots, tugging on their hind legs, slamming them both into the ground. A tidal wave of roots conjured, twisting and weaving into a large fist. Slamming right down on one of the trapped warg, it was instantly turned into bloody mist. The other warg suffered a much slower yet more painful death. With hundreds of roots and vines slowly coiling around it, slowly suffocating as its bones splinter one at a time. The roots greedily sucked the crimson blood of the dead wargs, turning it into nutrition for itself. Seeing two of their pack instantly die from the ent's attacks, the wargs began to retreat. Roots slithered towards the remaining wargs, almost forming a tidal wave of roots. Running as fast as the wind, the wargs all ran in the same direction, disappearing into the bushes and lush vegetation.
The two souls of the dead wargs floated aimlessly, slowly losing their ego as they were surely going to disperse in a decade or so. Suddenly feeling a force that was tugging on them, the two souls were uncontrollably pulled towards the sky.
Flying high above the woods, Jason finally arrived right above of the village. Before he could drop down, he ring glowed, pulling two glowing orbs towards him. Seeing that it was the souls of wargs, Jason was quite surprised. He knew that Zahra could definitely take on a single warg easily, he was quite impressed that she manage to slay two of them while fighting a whole pack. Deactivating his wings, he free-fell towards the ground, creating a large crater on impact. His bones crackled, but the strudy bones of demons weren't that brittle. As the dust settled, Jason was surprised at what he saw. A ent that stood a hundred feet tall was definitely a magnificent sight to behold. He had slain multiple ents back in his day, some that formed from sequoia trees even reaching three hundred feet tall, but they were definitely not as breathtaking as this banyan tree ent. It's canopy spread wide and far, blocking out the sun and shrouding the earth. It's limbs looked thick and robust, unlike the thin and brittle limbs of the redwood ents.
But all that admiration could be saved for another time, they had business that was needed to be done. Tossing the still sealed Enzo onto the ground, Jason said to Zahra, "He's all yours. But whatev..." Before Jason could finish his sentence, the tree ent moved according to its master's wishes. The legs that were as thick as large pillars slammed down, flattening Enzo into a goatmen pancake. Blood splattered everywhere, dying Zahra's face red. Some drops even landed on Jason, which were immediately evaporated by the flickering flames that covered his whole skeleton. "May your souls rest in peace," Zahra said, mourning her late fellow goatmen. She turned around and looked at Jason. "I know this might be an absurd request, but may I have their souls?" she asked, fully knowing that Jason probably feasted on souls since he was an undead. Raising his eyebrows, or at least he tried to, Jason was surprised by her request. "Sure, but what do I get in return?" Jason asked. "My eternal loyalty and allegiance," Zahra said, knowing that a being as powerful as Jason probably didn't need a subordinate as weak as she was. However, the souls of the goatmen were simply too weak and useless for Jason, or else he would have devoured the souls of Kierok and Darren himself, so it was actually a good bargain on Jason's side.
"They deserve a better afterlife," Zahra said, not wanting the souls of her fallen people to be tormented or absorbed by Jason. "Sure, take them," Jason said, not exactly knowing how Zahra could grant them a better afterlife. Dozens of glowing orbs appeared, floating around Zahra. Jason pulled Zahra's soul out of her body in order for her to interact with the souls since normal beings couldn't even see the souls of the fallen. Zahra first found Enzo's soul, which she easily separated from the rest of the group. Enzo's soul tried to escape frantically, but his soul was no match for Zahra since her soul was technically three times stronger than the average goatmen.
Once she separated Enzo's soul from the rest, countless roots extended from the banyan ent, penertrating each and every one of the souls. The souls glowed brightly, as they bursted into thousands of bright particles. The flickers of light fell to the ground, a sea of flowers sprouting out from the blood stained ground. Jason could feel the appreciation the souls had for Zahra, as they disappeared. Ents were creatures that were well-versed with the arts of spiritual magic and stuff, so he was not that surprised. "Your turn," Zahra said, turning towards Enzo once she was done paying homage to the ones who fought bravely. Without saying a extra word, Zahra straightforwardly absorbed Enzo's soul. As her power surged once again, she could feel her limits suddenly loosen, as she finally achieved a major breakthrough. The invisible celing that once blocked her limits shattered. The waves that rippled through her soul also began to reform her body, turning it even more human like. Her fur that originally covered her torso disappeared. "What am I?" Zahra asked.