As it turned out, we were almost too late when we arrived in Springwood.
Springwood was another village similar to Murkwood, but unlike the latter, it was a fancier and brighter, with wooden huts and houses growing along the thick length of the branch. Leaves, shrubs, flowers and other plants grew along their roofs and walls, the creepers dangling in nice patterns. There was a harmony in the way they were arranged, and even the seemingly randomly placed houses were actually set in an aesthetically pleasing formation.
All of that was threatened by the horde of reptilian creatures that raged across the branch, their predatory jaws wide open to reveal rows of gleaming fangs. I paused for a moment to study the enemy. They were massive, about ten meters in height and twenty in length when taking into account their tails. The large dinosaur-like spirit beasts were Giga Rexes, therapod creatures that resembled an oversized Giganotosaurus or Tyrannosaurus Rex, except that it had larger arms and claws. Their brown and green scales glowed softly from being infused with dense mana (or spiritual qi), and their talons left huge prints on the wood.
Quill like feathers stretched from the back of their heads, and their jaws crunched down on helpless elves with the force of 4.5 million kilograms per square meters. Their talons dug deeply into the weakening bark of the World Tree branch as they raced forward at an incredible speed that belied their immense sizes. Their tails whipped out, sending more screaming elves tumbling across the forested trees that grew atop the Yggdrasil branch.
As we drew closer, I saw that the Giga Rexes weren't the only threats. Interspersed between the titanic spirit beasts were packs of smaller predators, weaving through their larger brethren to pounce on fleeing elves and tearing them apart with sickle-shaped claws and fangs.
Velocity Raptors. They were smaller, but much faster and more agile, as well as considerably more numerous than the larger Giga Rexes. They were only Yellow ranked when compared to the Mystic ranked Giga Rexes, but still very dangerous because of their sheer numbers and flawless teamwork. They also possessed high intelligence that made them among the most cunning hunters to have ever existed.
"We have to help them!" Eliza shouted, hastening her pace. She cast a spell and launched a bunch of wind blades at the nearest Giga Rex, but it didn't do more than slice into its scales. It snarled in irritation and turned toward us. With a roar, it charged at us, braving through the wind blades that Eliza sent crashing into it, but none of them did more than graze its armored scales.
Before the Giga Rex could reach Eliza, though, Sigmund stepped forward and drew his sword. Before I could so much as fire an azure arrow at the incoming Giga Rex, the black swordsman had already decapitated it in a single blow.
"T…thank you," Eliza stuttered, still unable to believe what she had just seen. I knew Sigmund was Earth ranked, but man, to dispatch a Mystic ranked Giga Rex so effortlessly was still impressive.
"We should go, before this elvish enclave suffers more casualties."
"Agreed." Though I had lost my target, I didn't sheathe my bow. Instead, I sent a volley of azure arrows at the horde of dinosaur type spirit beasts. A few Velocity Raptors fell, caught off guard and not able to see my attacks coming from behind. The rest instinctively veered to the side, and a pack broke off to turn toward me. It seemed that they were coordinating their efforts and making use of tactics to deal with different foes.
To be honest, I preferred to fight against the Giga Rexes, but I couldn't underestimated the Velocity Raptors just because of their lower rank. Their higher intelligence and pack tactics made them more deadly than the physically stronger Giga Rexes. So I chose to take them out first.
Myria was dashing in front of me, swinging her sword. Water whips lashed out from her glowing blade and cleaved a few of the approaching Velocity Raptors to pieces, and more packs were diverted to deal with us. A few of the Giga Rexes also wheeled about to confront the new threat, but Sigmund was more than enough to deal with them. He cut through a couple of them with his huge sword, the silver blade wreathed in azure aura.
"Damn, we can't lose out to them!" Morten complained as he kicked one of the Velocity Raptors. Another snapped at him from the side, forcing him to duck under biting jaws. He swept about and rammed his knee into its chin before flicking his leg up to stab its chest with the spikes protruding from his metallic boots. It let out a shrill shriek and retreated, but that turned out to be a feint for its comrade to pounce on Morten from behind. He kicked it back and shook his head in disgust. "Clever girl."
"Man, I want these guys as my summoned spirit beasts," I complained, though I realized I didn't have the necessary spirit contracts. That was a little annoying. Ordinary spirit contracts weren't enough to bind Yellow ranked Velocity Raptors. In fact, I wasn't that much of a fan of Velocity Raptors because they were unpredictable and too cunning for my comfort. I was actually aiming more for the Giga Rexes. They seemed much cooler, and since I already had high defense in the form of Guardian Golems, I would need something with high attack like the Giga Rexes. My Tree Revenants also possessed high attack, but it would be good to have more than one type of attacker.
For now, I focused on trying to shoot down the approaching Velocity Raptors. Beside me, Sylvie and Silvia cast spells, both defensive barriers and offensive elements that burned or froze the agilely evading Velocity Raptors. Fortunately, those that got through the net of spells were easily cut apart or kicked to death by Myria and Morten.
Realizing that she was better off fighting the Velocity Raptors because her spells could more easily slay them than the Giga Rexes, Eliza helped out Sylvie and Silvia, adding her wind spells to the mix of fireballs and icicles. Sylvie, in contrast to the fiery Silvia, shaped her ice into swords and impaled more than a few Velocity Raptors that tried to pounce on us. Those that successfully avoided the bombardment bounced off a shimmering barrier that the fairy sisters had erected.
The Giga Rexes, though, found themselves in trouble when Sigmund got into their midst. They were considered dragon type spirit beasts as well, which meant his dragon slaying techniques and anti-dragon sword did bonus damage against them. I couldn't help but smirk. At this rate, we might just be able to…
"Oh? I didn't expect these newcomers. Where did they come from?"
At the sinister voice, I glanced up with a sense of foreboding. A young-looking man descended from above, his long white hair billowing around him. Like Sigmund, he was dressed in black armor, but his gauntlets and boots were gold instead of silver. A red, feathery cape billowed from his shoulders, which were concealed under stylish golden pauldrons inset with enchanted ruby gemstones. In one hand he held a long spear whose golden length swirled with fiery mana.
"Who?" I muttered. From the sheer amount of mana or qi that he was emanating, I could tell that this guy was at least Earth ranked. And he was many times more powerful than even Murderous Crow, who I had trouble fighting against.
"A demonic mage," Sigmund hissed, gripping his sword tightly as he turned away from the remaining Giga Rexes to deal with this new threat. There were still quite a lot left, but with an Earth ranked demon suddenly appearing, the balance had changed. Still, I was glad we had Sigmund on our side, or we would be screwed. "Guys, I'll have to leave the spirit beasts to you. I'm sorry."
"No, not at all. I can handle them." I raised my hand in a mock salute.
"A demonic mage," Eliza hissed. "Are you behind all these recent attacks? Why are you raiding our enclaves?"
"Yggdrasil is a precious resource," the demonic mage replied with a shrug. "If we can corrupt it, it will serve as a perfect base for us to not only launch our operations from, but also unleash a tide of demonic monsters upon the world."
"Why would you do that?" Sylvie demanded, outraged. "If you do that, lots of people will die!"
"We need more territory for an ever growing population of demons," the white-haired mage replied indifferently. "And resources are scarce in that other dimension. So we need a new place to provide us more mana. But the mana here isn't suitable for us, which is why we need to corrupt Yggdrasil. Furthermore, you humans and elves are in our way. There isn't enough space and resources for all of us to coexist together."
He smirked and held up his spear. "What, it's only the natural order for the strong to devour the weak. Isn't that what the law of jungle is about? Survival of the fittest?"
"You guys always use that stupid excuse, and no, it makes no sense in reality." I clutched at my head. "The fittest doesn't always mean strongest or the greatest physical strength. A shark can be an apex predator in the ocean, but it's going to die on land. A whale doesn't necessarily prey on weaker marine animals, they are gentle giants that eat krill. Camels might be weaker than lions, but they are going to survive a desert, whereas a lion would probably die from dehydration and a lack of prey. You can't just kill spiders just because they are weaker than humans, or you'll cause an ecological disruption where insects that the spiders normally feed on grow out of control, and as supposedly 'weak' as they are, even humans are unable to wipe them out despite having insecticides. And pesticides always come back to bite us in the ass because they poison other animals, and when humans eventually eat the poultry or cattle where much of the toxins accumulate, they suffer the most. So no, you can't just go around using that stupid 'strong eat the weak' nonsense to justify mass murders and genocides. Hell, you don't even seem to understand the definition of fittest!"
The demonic mage gaped at me for a few seconds, completely uncomprehending. Then he shook his head and pointed his spear at me.
"Shut up! None of your idealism works in the face of absolute power! Just die!"
Flames erupted from his spear and lanced toward me in a fiery torrent. I summoned Azure Frost and fitted it to my bow, getting ready to shoot back. But I knew that even my most powerful freezing arrow wouldn't be able to overpower a direct hit from an Earth ranked demon's technique.
Fortunately, I didn't have to worry about that.
Sigmund appeared in front of me and swung his sword. There was an explosion as azure mana collided against crimson flames, but the black swordsman had managed to cleave the fiery torrent apart in a single stroke.
"Oh?" The demon raised an eyebrow, impressed. Sigmund pointed his huge sword at him.
"Your opponent is me."
"Hmm, I'll admit that you're a worthy opponent. But it seems that I'm a little outnumbered." He raised his spear and cut a rift through the air. more spirit beasts poured out of the rupture in space, crawling toward us. This time, it wasn't Velocity Raptors and Giga Rexes, but more prehistoric looking spirit beasts.
There were shellfish type spirit beasts that resembled horseshoe crabs scuttling on four sharp legs, and their evolved forms, predatory arthropods that stood on two legs and bore sickle-like arms while their bodies were protected by shell-like chitin. There were also cephalopod mollusk type spirit beasts with large protective shells and long tentacles, resembling ammonites and nautiluses. They pulled themselves across the wood with their tentacles, launching streams of water at the elves and also at us, but fortunately, the barrier that Sylvie and Silvia constructed withstood the attacks.
There were also anomalocarid type spirit beasts that resembled sea scorpions with pincers and wing-like tails, as well as their evolved forms that were bipedal, amphibious shrimp-like monsters with armor plates and pincer like claws. They looked like a cross between theropod dinosaurs and anomalocarids, to be honest. That made them look really cool.
"…this guy really has a variety of spirit beasts under his command, huh?" I muttered. I wanted some of them, but I didn't have the spirit contracts necessary…
It was at that moment when the system flashed a notification window beside me.
-New quest issued: Age of Extinction. Defeat the prehistoric-type spirit beasts attacking the elvish enclave of Springwood, and assist Sigmund Krieg in driving off the demonic mage, Ricowen. Completion of this mission will grant the appropriate rewards. –
That brought a smile to my face despite the dire crisis that we were facing. Trying not to rub my hands in glee, I grinned and brought forth almost everything I had in my arsenal. Guardian Golems, Tree Revenants, Pumpkin Wraiths, King Crab, Colossal Crabs, Xiao Ke, Da Hai, Xiao Huo and Xiao Huo Long. Even the Lantern Sharks, despite there not being any water around. I decided to reserve my Titan Golem, Elder Tree Revenant and Hei Ba just in case an unexpected enemy showed up later. It was too early to reveal my entire hand, especially with Ricowen appearing out of nowhere. Perhaps his allies were nearby, watching us.
Nonetheless, the army I had summoned should be more than a match for the prehistoric type spirit beasts before us. Even before I could issue a command, they were all charging ahead to engage with the enemy.
"I didn't expect you to have an army as well," Ricowen said, deflecting a sword slash from Sigmund. My ally glanced down in surprise, glancing at me briefly before nodding. I understood that he had decided to leave the combat below to me, and he engaged his opponent silently.
"Yeah…and you are Ricowen?"
He stiffened as he parried Sigmund's strike and glared at me. "How do you know my name?"
"That's a secret," I replied mockingly before I joined my summoned spirit beasts in the clash against the supposedly long extinct spirit beasts that were charging straight at us.