Blood seeped into the cracks in the stone floor, nourishing the desert-like underground landscape with nutrients and minerals. The Emerald Tree was breathing energy, creating a steady cycle that swirled silently throughout the area.
Athelei only noticed such a wondrous occurrence when he turned incorporeal. He had wished to absorb the excess energies caused by the many evolutions... But the Emerald Tree was doing it much faster than he could.
Similar to how carbon dioxide was turned into oxygen, the various energies in the area was converted. The Boon of Longevity, elemental [Mana], thermal energy, and even more mysterious wisps of energy spun in a cycle and nourished the tree.
The Emerald Tree was watered in blood.
Its sunlight was the fiery red glow of magma.
What would have been photosynthesis in a normal plant was mimicked here. Here, in the [First Kingdom], where not a single ray of light penetrated the thick ceiling above.
Hours went by as the angel bore witness to the quiet changes that were taking place. The tattoo on his wrist grew hot, and it had already begun resonating with the ominously glowing tree.
The beast carcasses were all being absorbed into the earth, drained by every breath the Emerald Tree took. A pile of death was being recycled, empowering another life.
Whooooooooooooom!
A powerful hum shook Athelei's very being as he watched the Emerald Tree suddenly flash with light similar to the time it bore fruit. A familiar fragrance was growing, and the angel could hear distant growls once again.
The smell of ripening fruit was permeating.
But when the visible river of fragrance approached the leisurely observing angel, the tattoo on his wrist leaked out a nasty, squirming liquid darkness. Tendrils that seemed to have a life of their own grew around Athelei's hand.
"Hmmmm..." Athelei hummed with intrigue flashing in his eyes.
His right arm suddenly looked like an octopus. Emotions of hunger were erupting from the liquid darkness, as Athelei spread his wings and approached the Emerald Tree.
WRIIEEEEEEEEEEEE!
A sickening screech scratched at his ears, and his tattoo exploded with darkness. Ravenous river-like tentacles attacked the Emerald Tree in the blink of an eye.
Dozens of writhing tendrils encircled its trunk and climbed upwards.
Some seeped into the earth and mingled with its roots.
Athelei watched in awe as the one-kilometre tall Emerald Tree was engulfed in a filthy black substance that seemed to resonate with the Baneful Shroud. The supposedly inanimate darkness of the [First Kingdom] seemed to acknowledge the liquid darkness' presence.
A mysterious force rippled out from the Baneful Shroud, and Athelei heard an eardrum-shattering—
CRACK!
Then it was followed by another crack, one that made Athelei's ears bleed. And then another. And another.
He transformed his auditory organs into fog, as even more cracks kept ringing out.
'The Emerald Tree is being devoured...'
Athelei watched, with his mouth agape as he monitored the information that Inspect was supplying him. The tree in question was being crumpled like a piece of paper. Shattering glass rang out with the sound of snapping gemstones. They took the place of the more mundane paper crumpling sounds.
A low hum shook the liquid darkness, and Athelei could feel... an emotion present in it.
The tree was wailing in horror. It cried out in pain.
'But it has no way to resist.' Athelei's eyes shone as he watched the devouring continue. One could easily know that he was rapidly jotting note after note down in the face of such a rare occasion.
Blood and magma dried up, consumed by the liquid darkness. Flesh and bone were its desserts, as it turned this oasis of light and life into a part of the desert landscape.
It grew to become a place no different than anywhere else in the barren, rocky underground.
The fragrance of mythical fruits had disappeared, to be replaced by the usual sulfuric, choking air. The Baneful Shroud had rolled in, but with Athelei's grey-world vision, things were still clear.
More hours passed.
The endless, horrid noise had abruptly ceased. The devouring had ended.
The liquid darkness had returned to the tattoo on the angel's wrist.
'...Ai'sklr might indeed be a genius whose mind allows him to transcend ranks.' Athelei opened the cursed book in his library and saw how the Emerald Tree was magically integrated into the tattoo and its complex arrays.
The Mystic Pattern circles had somehow grown exponentially more complex with such a powerful object devoured and absorbed. The giant-horned ram suddenly looked livelier.
Athelei could make out the texture of its fur instead of it being an inky silhouette. A ferocious expression was beginning to take shape on its deceptively docile face. The horns on its head spiralled in a manner that drew any onlooker in.
I, personally, thought that the horns were its eyes. It was bewitching, and it felt as if it could gaze back at me like the great abyss.
Athelei also noted such a menacing characteristic when he adjusted his point of view.
Chills assaulted his dainty form as he stood in the lonely darkness.
'I need to catch up with the Orcs...' Athelei successfully pulled himself out of the attraction. Grand wings of grey appeared on his back.
His second pair of wings had grown another foot in wingspan.
[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]
=} Endbringer's Wings {=
Governance over History (First Pair): Fully Grown (5.7m Wingspan)
Governance over ??? (Second Pair): Infancy (0.3m Wingspan) -> (0.6m Wingspan)
[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]
And with a powerful gust of wind and a flash of pure white light, the angel took to the dark skies once again.
.
.
.
Arnold and Hyeon were standing before a wounded Royal Lizard. Unlike the Royal Lizards that Athelei had seen near the Emerald Tree though, this one was different.
Instead of gold-lined scales and kingly auras, this Royal Lizard's scales gleamed in deep scarlet colours and a bloody aura permeated its surroundings, Its Tangible Will was reminiscent of an Evolver-Artist's palpable bloodlust.
Just standing before the beast made Hyeon's knees weak. Without her own Tangible Will to resist the pressure like Arnold who stood by her side, she felt like someone had their hands around her neck.
In fact, even Arnold was feeling something similar with the pressure being put on his joints. The air was heavy and his body was not that of an Evolver. He was a Rank 1 Dictator with a strong mind but he had a delicate body despite preferring to wield a sword.
Although his [Energy] was only a point away from Rank 0, it was clearly not enough to stand unperturbed in the murderous aura that surrounded the reptile before him.
Luckily for the pair, the Royal Lizard they stumbled upon seemed uncaring of their presence. It had groggily glanced at the two puny humans that had fallen into its damaged lair, and that was all.
The bloody Royal Lizard slowly laid its body down, as its ragged breaths gradually weakened.
"It's... dying," Hyeon felt a wave of sadness wash over her as she stood rooted to the ground.
Indeed.
A monarch of blood was about to breathe its final breath.
And the pair of teenagers watched, allowing an unknown amount of time to pass. The Royal Lizard's breaths were now akin to a human's. It no longer had the force to cause tiny dust twisters to swirl.
It could no longer threaten to send smaller beings like Arnold and Hyeon flying.
And then...
...The life in its eyes died.
The Royal Lizard's chest became still. Its beating heart was silenced.
It was then that the tattoo on Arnold's wrist suddenly shone in an icky light. It sensed the presence of a powerful beast, and the teenager was dragged forward by a mysterious force.
"What's happening...?" Arnold stumbled forward with knitted brows.
He felt compelled to place his hand onto the carcass of the Royal Lizard.
And he did exactly that.
When his calloused palm touched the cold, blood-scented scales of the reptile, he saw the entire carcass twitch.
Splash!
Geysers of blood erupted from the dead beast, and a lake of blood exploded out of its skin and flesh. The area was submerged with the stench of reptile blood.
Arnold watched as the mysterious tattoo on his wrist suddenly shined. The lake of blood then sloshed towards him in a whirlpool. The immense volume of liquid disappeared into a tiny mark in his hand as he felt power surge into the tattoo.
Before this, he and Hyeon had used its ability to shield themselves from the Baneful Shroud. It absorbed the skin of any beasts they killed and seemed to choose the best ones for them to use. Right now, they had the hide of a Bedrock Worm in their tattoos after witnessing a stampede of beasts.
It was a fortuitous encounter from which they were able to gain solid armour for themselves. It was armour that they could summon whenever and wherever they wished without having to worry about lugging such a heavy set of items around.
Hyeon's own tattoo glowed in a similar manner that Arnold's did, and a large portion of the blood went to her as well. Power now surged through the two of them as they felt a piece of information emerge from their special four-trial tattoos.
"The mark has more powers now," Arnold said, and Hyeon nodded.
The two of them triggered their tattoos and a rush of power surged through their bodies. Their blood was mixed with that of the Royal Lizard's. With the beast's already special blood, a mysterious aura emanated from the pair as they felt themselves grow leaps and bounds in strength.
"This thing is really amazing," Hyeon's eyes shimmered as she thought about what Mystic Patterns had been used to make such a tattoo.
She felt that whoever made it was someone who could understand her.