Read Novel Full Chapter 666: The Ritual [3]
Chapter 666: The Ritual [3]
Meanwhile, at the core of the Sacred Forest, Sophie suddenly stepped forward
Aelira blocked her path. “You cannot go.”
“It’s in pain.” Sophie’s voice was soft, but every elf around her could hear the emotions she was struggling to suppress.
“I know.”
“Then why won’t you let me go?”
“Because the enemy has already activated the northwestern altar. If you go there now, you will be walking directly into an area they prepared in advance.”
Sophie stared at her. The light within her golden green pupils was no longer warm. It was brighter and colder.
“But it’s calling me.”
Aelira fell silent. The World Tree had called out to Sophie of its own accord, and this was no longer merely an internal war of the elven race.
“Sophie,” Aelira said in a lowered voice. “You still don’t know what you’re capable of.”
“Maybe I don’t,” Sophie said. “But I know it needs me now.”
The moment she finished speaking, she stepped forward again.
Aelira was about to stop her.
Boom!
Every ancient tree around them shook simultaneously.
It was not an attack.
Instead, it seemed as though the forest was making way.
The sealed forest path opened within seconds as thick roots moved aside, revealing a straight road toward the northwest.
The elves’ expressions changed. None of them had commanded the Sacred Forest; opening the path was its own choice.
Aelira stared at the scene, then stopped blocking Sophie.
“Six of you.”
The surrounding elves quickly turned toward her.
“Follow her,” she said. “No matter what happens, protect Sophie first.”
Sophie shook her head.
“Let them protect everyone else.”
Aelira’s expression hardened.
“They will protect anyone they can reach, but all six are staying with you. I will not allow you to enter that place unguarded.”
Sophie looked ready to argue, but when the tremor intensified, she turned toward the northwest instead.
The six elves immediately formed a protective formation around her, three moving ahead and three guarding her sides and rear.
Sophie extended her hand. There was no incantation or magic array. She did not even deliberately mobilize the mana inside her body.
She merely wanted the enormous ancient tree blocking the newly opened path to move farther aside so the elves could pass without breaking formation.
In the next second…
Rumble…
The ancient tree truly moved. Its buried roots contracted on their own, shifting the entire trunk nearly five meters to the side without letting it fall.
Everyone fell silent. Even Sophie froze, surprise flashing across her face because she had not used a skill.
Aelira’s expression, however, changed completely. This was neither plant manipulation nor ordinary nature magic.
Sophie had merely formed a thought, and the forest had answered her.
At that moment, the gray black pillar in the northwest expanded again.
Boom!
Sophie’s body trembled violently as an image appeared in her mind without warning.
A gray black root with seven dark red metal spikes pinned it beneath the earth, each channeling a stream of dark red liquid into the deep black cracks covering its surface.
Within the tortured root, a faint strand of golden green light continued to pulse.
Seven black robed figures stood around it. Two more people were rapidly approaching from the forest, one of them wearing a silver mask.
Sophie’s breathing caught as her awareness spread farther along the roots.
Behind those two figures, Gabriel was leaping between the trees, while Edgar followed along the ground beside a moving platform of roots.
Sophie’s eyes snapped open at that moment.
“They’re hurting it.”
Aelira’s expression changed sharply.
“You saw it?”
“Yes.” Sophie’s breathing quickened.
“Seven people are around the root. They pinned it down, and they’re forcing something into it.”
She looked down the open road. “The masked man and one other are almost there. Gabriel is going there too.”
Meanwhile, Gabriel was less than a kilometer from the old altar.
The gray black pillar of light ahead was growing thicker.
The surrounding plants were changing. Healthy leaves lost their color, gray patches spread across the vegetation, and even the natural mana in the air became chaotic.
Edgar finally drew level with him. The root platform kept Matthew’s shattered legs straight and his injured chest supported, although every jolt drained more color from the cardinal’s face.
“Something’s wrong ahead,” Edgar said.
“I can see that.”
“I mean this didn’t begin tonight.”
Gabriel turned toward him.
Edgar reached out and touched a nearby tree that had already begun turning gray.
“This corruption has existed for many years. It was merely suppressed beneath the ground.”
“Someone reactivated it tonight.” Matthew forced his eyes open. “The captain already told us that the altar connects to the earliest withered root.”
Matthew’s voice was hoarse, and every word made his damaged chest rise unevenly.
“But there was something else in the Church’s ancient records.”
Gabriel looked at him. “What did they say?”
Matthew swallowed before answering. “That the root did not wither naturally. The records claim it was corrupted by hostile divine power.”
Edgar’s gaze changed slightly.
“Hostile?”
“Yes,” Matthew said. “Not the natural divine power worshipped by the elves. Something foreign. Something that attacked the Sacred Tree.”
Gabriel physically felt his dormant Godslayer Bloodline Spark stir. Heat spread through his blood, followed by a sharp pulse behind his sternum whenever the gray black root trembled.
Gabriel’s eyes narrowed. The Spark normally advanced through divine essence taken from slain divine beings. Whatever remained inside this root was neither fresh nor taken from a divine being he had killed; it might be nothing more than useless residue from the power that corrupted it, but its reaction was real.
He looked toward the altar again, his eyes narrowed.
Edgar noticed the change in his expression.
“What is it this time?”
“Nothing certain.” Gabriel rested Crimson Judgement against his shoulder.
“I just realized tonight’s harvest might be much greater than I expected.”
Edgar fell silent. He wanted to ask more questions but chose to stay quiet.
…
The silver masked captain and his final operative reached the old altar first.
The gray black pillar surged from a cracked stone platform. The moss covered ground had been torn open, exposing a root more than ten meters in diameter.
It was gray and withered, its surface covered in black cracks. Yet it was still pulsing, like the pulse of a dying life.
Seven black robed ritualists were waiting around it, each positioned beside one of the dark red spikes.
They had never been part of the thirteen person infiltration team.
They were a separate advance team that had entered the Sacred Forest earlier and hidden inside a sealed chamber beneath the altar. The delayed corruption beacon the captain had activated during the earlier clash unlocked their chamber and initiated the ritual. None of the seven had entered with his unit.
Dark red liquid was already passing through the spikes into the withered root.
One of the ritualists looked at the two newcomers.
“You’re late.”
The silver masked man did not explain and asked, “Status of the target?”
“The Sacred Tree has awakened,” the black robed ritualist replied. “And that girl appears to have restored part of its consciousness.”
The silver masked man’s gaze changed slightly. “Can we continue?”
“Yes.” The ritualist looked toward the root. “But we don’t have much time. Once she forms a complete connection with the World Tree, we will never have another opportunity to enter this place.”
The silver masked man looked at the exposed gray black root.
“Then drive them deeper.”
The seven ritualists simultaneously gripped their dark red spikes. Each one was nearly a meter long, and intricate patterns across their surfaces pulsed as the corrupted liquid flowed through them.
Just as they prepared to force the spikes farther into the root, a voice came from the forest behind them.
“I suggest you don’t move.”
Everyone stopped simultaneously.
The silver masked man slowly turned.
In the distance, between the broken ancient trees, a red haired figure stepped into view, an enormous crimson sword resting on his shoulder.