“Get ready, Ruel.
It’s about to rain some monsters.”
After these words, Yugo opened several portals right in front of the charging spirits.
One by one, the creatures fell through and reappeared in midair directly above Ruel, making them easy targets.
As they were falling, the old man swung at them with his war shovel, flinging them into the air like baseballs and reducing them to grey mush.
With their teamwork, not a single monster was left and Amalia was safe once more.
Yugo glanced over at the Sadida and his eyes opened wide in surprise when he saw her.
Thick roots had sprouted from her body and her doll which spread across the ground.
Wherever they touched, green grass was beginning to sprout and the corruption itself was vanishing from the land.
The ritual seemed to work.
He was so distracted that he didn’t notice a shadow looming over him.
The Great Whisperer, seeing that its children couldn’t defeat the enemy, decided to get into the fight.
Its branches rose like enormous arms and fell down upon the group, ready to crush the intruders into pulp.
Ruel was the first to react.
In mere seconds, he swallowed a coin and he hurled his shovel with great force at the tree.
The metal blade spun through the air like an axe, cutting off the enemy’s branches before returning to his hand like a boomerang.
Yugo took advantage of Ruel’s defense to escape through his portals, swiftly dodging the giant tree’s attacks.
Unfortunately, Ruel’s attack wasn’t enough.
The Great Whisperer’s branches grew back and it prepared for a new and even stronger attack.
“Run, Yugo!
I’ll keep it busy!” shouted RUel, who then turned to face the great tree.
“If you lay a branch on that kid, I swear I’ll chop you to pieces and sell your remains at the market!
I’m sure magical wood will fetch a good price!”
Those words only made the tree even angrier.
Its roar resounded with ancient fury, unleashing a powerful wind which shook the entire clearing.
“All you outsiders are the same!” it thundered.
“You act as if you own this place, treating us as little more than tools to be exploited!
Your pride will be your downfall!
You’ll pay for the death of my beloved Leaf’s with your LIVES!”
The tree attacked Ruel again, focusing all its fury on destroying the old Enutrof.
Exactly as he wanted.
The old man moved with an unnatural speed far beyond his age, quickly dodging every blow and hacking branches with his shovel before they could reach him.
Meanwhile, Yugo kept fighting to protect Amalia, summoning portals at breakneck speed to redirect enemy attacks and send them crashing into each other.
Despite the desperate situation, the group held out with tenacity, using every opportunity they had to gain the upper hand.
Even though the battle had lasted for a few minutes, they seemed to stretch out for eternity.
At last, the dark spirits fell back, retreating into the dark forest as if they were afraid.
Percedal raised his sword to the sky and let out a triumphant roar.
“We are victorious, fair lady!
Look how the enemy cowers in fear!”
Evangelyne didn’t share his enthusiasm.
She continued scanning the forest, waiting for whatever threat was about to emerge.
“Don’t celebrate just yet.
Who knows what this forest will throw at us next.”
Percedal shrugged with a defiant smile.
“We’ll deal with that when it comes.
For now, time to mop up those foul beasts before they return.”
He charged after the retreating creatures, straying dangerously far from the center of the clearing.
Suddenly, Evangelyne felt a chill race down her spine as a new vision seized her mind.
A vision of imminent danger.
“Look out, Percedal!” she screamed.
He stopped too late.
A gigantic wooden claw burst from the forest and struck him with brutal force, launching him through the air and slamming him back into the center of the clearing.
And then, they saw it.
A new abomination emerged from the forest, one larger and more terrifying than anything they had seen before.
Its body was a sickly gray viscous mass from which two blade-like wooden claws.
The creature wasn’t a single entity.
It was an amalgamation of dozens corrupted spirits all fused into one monstrous being.
Her gaze darted to Percedal, who lay on the ground after the blow.
Yugo ran toward him, but before he reached the knight, Percedal opened his eyes and let out a grunt of pain.
Evangelyne exhaled with relief.
Not even a hit like that was enough to put down Sir Percedal of Sadlygrove.
“You okay, Dally?” Yugo asked as he offered him a hand.
“That thing got you pretty good.”
“Of course I am, my faithful squire!” Percedal replied.
“That blow may have caught me off guard, but I swear that won’t happen again.
Soon, it will learn the consequences of attacking a great knight like me.”
He raised his sword and charged back into the fray, ready for revenge.
Unfortunately, the situation had quickly changed for the worse.
The dark spirits, which seemed to be retreating, began to pile onto one another until they fused into several gigantic masses of gray liquid.
Now, they were facing a horde of those same abominations.
The second wave had begun.
Before Percedal could charge, Evangelyne sensed something.
Her eyes flashed and she shouted a desperate warning.
“Get down now!
They’re going to fire!”
Her vision was dead-on.
A volley of razor-sharp wooden spines erupted from the monsters’ bodies, filling the sky with wooden arrows.
Percedal reacted instantly, slashing at the enemy attacks with his fiery blade and reducing their attacks to ash.
But, no matter how hard he tried, the onslaught didn’t stop.
The creatures advanced, launching spike barrages from every angle.
As the clearing erupted into chaos, Evangelyne’s eyes activated again, letting her visualize every trajectory and blind spot in the enemy’s attack.
“Yugo, we need your portals right now!” she shouted.
“Place them where I tell you and we can turn their own attacks against them!”
Yugo nodded and followed her lead, opening small portals in seemingly random points throughout the battlefield.
He didn’t fully grasp her strategy until he saw the enemy spikes fly directly through his portals and emerge right back at their lines, dealing a devastating blow.
With that, the monsters became victims of their own deadly attacks.
Now that they were weakened, Evangelyne took the chance to charge an arrow with magical energy and fire it straight into a dark abomination.
The arrow let out a powerful shockwave that instantly destroyed it, scattering the spirits like leaves in the wind.
“That’s so amazing!” Yugo exclaimed.
“How did you do that?
It’s like you knew exactly what they’re going to do!”
Evangelyne allowed herself a faint smile.
“A magician never reveals their secrets.
Just trust me, and we’ll get through this together.
Amalia is counting on us, so don’t get distracted and focus!”
When Evangelyne turned her gaze back to the enemy horde and activated her eyes once more, she felt a stinging headache as her vision became blurry.
She pushed her body too far, and now she was paying the price.
Damn it, she thought as she tried to force one last vision.
Why does this have to happen now of all times.
Yugo noticed her weakened state and rushed to her side, worried about her strange paralysis.
While his heart was in the right place, he didn’t realize he’d just broken the defensive formation.
And now, the monsters had a new opening.
“Eva, are you okay?!”
“Don’t worry about me…” Evangelyne replied through ragged breaths.
“Focus on defense.
I can…
hold on.”
She tried to sound confident as she could, but the exhaustion in her voice was obvious even to him.
But, as Yugo’s focus remained on Evangelyne, he didn’t notice how a nearby monster was aiming a wooden spike directly at them.
And no one was ready to stop it.
By the time Yugo spotted the danger and tried to create a portal, it was already too late.
But, just before it hit, the boy felt a sudden impact which flung him to the ground.
Percedal had just shoved him out of the attack’s path.
Yugo rolled over and smiled with relief.
The knight had just saved his life.
“Don’t be scared, young squire, for I am here!” the warrior declared with a smile on his face, “I will never stop protecting those in need!”
The Iop’s arrival filled Yugo with fighting spirit.
That is, until he had a closer look at his body.
A wooden spike was lodged in his back.
A scream tore from his throat as he saw the warrior collapsed onto him, shielding him like a human wall.
“Dally, no!!” Yugo cried, his voice cracking.
“Please tell me you’re okay!”
Percedal forced a smile and gave a him thumbs-up as if nothing had happened.
But the gesture, however brave, couldn’t hide the truth.
The blow injured him so much he could barely hold himself up.
Eva regained her sight just in time to witness the scene, which knocked the breath out of her.
They’d not only their best fighter, but now Yugo was paralyzed with shock when he’d seen his companion fall.
This can’t be happening…
she thought.
There’s no way to win like this.
She looked toward Amalia, who still focusing on her ritual and completely oblivious to the battle around her.
Beside her, Ruel was fighting the Great Whisperer with everything he had left.
But it wasn’t enough.
They couldn’t hold out much longer.
“Yugo, use your portals to get Percedal out of here!” Eva shouted.
“We need to fall back!”
Yugo didn’t even answer.
Even though pain and helplessness overwhelmed him, but he still had some strength to fight.
Pushing himself to the limit, he opened a portal and transported Percedal to a secluded spot beyond the clearing, far from the advancing horde.
Eva covered the retreat by firing arrows in rapid bursts, but her aim was faltering and missed more shots than she hit.
She had fully reached her limit.
An enemy rushed at her and attacked, sending her flying before she could react.
All she could do is gaze up in hopelessness.
Her eyes and magical energy were fully spend.
Yugo and Percedal reappeared in an isolated corner of the forest, but they would only have a moment to catch their breath.
A colossal dark spirit spotted them immediately and prepared to launch another barrage of spikes at their position.
Yugo dropped to his knees as he tried to channel what little magical energy he had left.
His body was shaking, his focus was faltering and his portals were small and unstable.
But, he didn’t give up.
I have to keep fighting.
His eyes blazed with fury.
He saw Alibert’s petrified face.
He saw the villagers turned to wood.
He saw Percedal slumped beside him.
I can’t lose anyone else.
I WON’T LOSE!
The spikes were about to fall upon the heroes.
Yugo could only close his eyes, hoping against hope his magic would save them now.
But, before it was all over, the miracle happened.
A wave of magical energy erupted from the center of the clearing, filling the clearing with greenish light.
All the enemy projectiles in its path disintegrated on contact, turning into little more than dust.
Now, the air was filled with newfound life and hope.
Yugo opened his eyes in surprise, his heart still pounding after his brush with death.
He looked at Amalia and immediately understood what had just happened.
Both the Sadida and her doll’s eyes were now blazing with bright green light.
The ritual was complete.