Chapter 170 - [Scripted Event] [Athetosea Great War] 14/20; A Martyr's Sacrifice
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As Lilith appeared in the middle of Aldoris and Zehe's confrontation, the Half-Dryad man was intimidated by the idea of fighting two powerful warriors, and to make things worse, most of his reliable companions were already killed or were having their own fights.
Although he tried to call Nanako Maki several times, the woman only ignored him as she kept her own plans in motion. Meanwhile, the Hero of Wind wasn't even paying attention to the Champion, as he was completely blinding in rage and impotence, and was rampaging the battlefield elsewhere.
As Lilith rushed towards the Champion, the man desperately dodged her destructive onslaught of Axe and Mace Techniques, which quickly generated massive earthquakes everywhere, hundreds of weapon phantoms of brown and golden colors fell over everywhere Lilith went.
Although her speed couldn't compare to the Half-Dryad, because of the lack of Nature Energy in the environment, the Champion was in a constant weakening state, and his movements became dull from time to time, where Lilith took advantage of this opportunity to mercilessly pounce towards him.
"W-Why are you defending those monsters? Aren't you a human?"
As Lilith devastated the ground ahead of Aldoris, she responded in a scornful tone.
"Yes, I may be a human... But these monsters… They are my family! This Kingdom is filled with terrible people, even worst than monsters! I have long decided my path, and that is to be at my wife's side!"
Aldoris was surprised by Lilith's resolve, how could someone be so willing to kill so many innocents without any remorse?
"Y-Your wife… W-Who is her?"
However, at Aldoris second question, Lilith stopped for a moment as she manipulated the ground bellow him, creating hundreds of deep sinkholes everywhere, which also led to countless human soldiers towards their demise.
The Half-Dryad man saw with horror as countless of soldiers died in agony while he carefully dodged around, he has never seen such bloodshed before, even after living for so many years, this was the first time he has seen so many innocents dying all at the same time, his heart was filled with grieve and pain, and an emotion that he suppressed the most, anger.
"S-Stop! How can you kill so many innocents so easily?!"
However, when Aldoris yelled these words at Lilith, the Half-Dwarf girl had long disappeared of his sight, which set the Champion instincts in alarm. Suddenly, a figure appeared on his back as it raised its two giant weapons, slashing the man's back while crushing his head.
CLASH!
"Gguuaaahh!"
Although with his speed and senses, he should have been able to predict Lilith's movements, due to his constant weakening state, Lilith managed to get behind the Half-Dryad man, slashing is back open while crushing his head.
However, because the man was Half-Dryad, a type of Demi-Spirit, he had abnormal endurance and regeneration. Even when his head was almost split open and his back was completely slashed, showing his spine and internal organs, he quickly retreated while healing himself. His blood had a golden color, and each time it dropped on the floor, tiny plants would grow in the nasty and bloody ground.
But because of his weakening state, Aldoris regeneration and endurance was being weakened too, and his wounds took an abnormal time to heal themselves, giving Lilith more opportunities to ravage the Half-Dryad man.
As the battle continued, Lilith saw several opportunities to take advantage of, and with the techniques and fighting style that was taught to her by Kireina and her servants, she mercilessly ravaged the Half-Dryad man's body.
As he kept evading as much as he could, each time he called his Nature Vines, they wouldn't respond, leaving the man almost defenseless. Although his [Legendary Equipment] and [Legendary Relic] were very strong, he lacked the techniques to use his weapon to its fullest, while Lilith was just too strong and even though she used [Unique+++] weapons against an [Legendary] armor, due to her sheer power she still managed to deal tremendous damage in the frail Champion.
Lilith knew about his fighting style and saw that when he almost killed Zehe, he used any opportunity he had to counter-attack and completely lift the tables to his favor, so instead of holding back, she pounced at him like a savage and unpredictable warrior, leaving no time for him to retaliate or think about a strategy.
CLASH!
Once again, Aldoris was taken by surprise by a powerful slash of Lilith's Axe, that went right through his Shoulder Pad, completely slicing his right arm off.
"Gggaaaaaaahh!!!"
A tremendous pain quickly filled Aldoris's mind as he desperately tried to dodge Lilith's consecutive techniques, while his wounds sprouted big amounts of golden blood, that quickly made a trace of small plants and flowers around the ground.
"Ggh… P-Please… We can solve things peacefully; we can talk things out… Lives are precious things…"
Although Aldoris was serious about his speech and was willing to forgive Lilith and Zehe if she forgave his life, Lilith only saw on his words a way to convince her to lay her guard down, which only made her even more enraged, thinking that the pure and sincere Half-Dryad man was, in fact, a scheming old fox wearing the mask of a benevolent Hero.
Lilith hated those who wore masks and admired those who were true to their nature and sincere with their feelings, like Kireina. This only ended up increasing her desire to quickly get rid of the Half-Dryad man and come back to her wife's side.
As Aldoris started to move painfully, barely being able to hold his body together after being ravaged so much, the thought about retreating filled his mind, however, the idea of leaving all his comrades and companions here to their inevitable death was something even worst.
As he grieved for those lost, he also looked towards the future, if his life could somehow help everyone else, he would gladly sacrifice himself for the greater good.
Aldoris has lived a long life, because of being Half-Dryad, he does not age and as long as he can absorb Nature Energy, he could potentially live forever. However, his position now was that of near-death, even as a Half-Demi-Spirit, he was already on the brink of death…
He remembered his past and all of those he met, all his friends and lovers, his family, and his mother and father. For a moment, thousands of images of his past went through his mind, as if he reliving the past, going through all of it once again.
He understood his [Epic] destiny, and that it was immediately broken the time that the Sin of Lust appeared in here, although his [Epic] said that he would fight her alongside a group of heroes, destiny is constantly changing.
As Lilith was about to finish him off for good, Aldoris smiled, and gave her a sincere smile, as he stabbed his chest with his own hand, and grabbed his heart, while chanting a melodious song, suddenly a ray of green and yellow light filled the scene, blinding Lilith for a moment. Due to the surprise of such a technique, she grabbed Zehe and retreated to a safe distance.
Suddenly, Aldoris body began to transform, its body sprouted thousands of green vines that expanded, while his feet extended and deeply rooted in the ground, as his body kept expanding, he quickly covered the entire battlefield, making everyone sight as his technique.
The vines that extended almost endlessly through the skies suddenly stopped, being over five hundred meters in length they quickly hardened and formed a dark brown skin, completely becoming wood. As his body stopped expanding, where was once the Half-Dryad Champion Aldoris, was now a gigantic tree that towered over the heavens, majestically glancing over the bloodshed and war.
As the giant branches grew millions of leaves, they began to spread a delicious and citric fragrance, that quickly made the berserk humans recover his sanity while increasing their strength and morale. The surviving Champions and the Hero's body were quickly strengthened, to almost three times their original strength and magical power. However, this fragrance only affected those who were from the Athetosea Kingdom and didn't make the Demi-Humans stronger.
As the giant tree stood silently in the middle of the battlefield, the people that regained their sanity were filled with morale and determination, and with the commands inserted in their minds due to this citric fragrance, they joined forces to fight off the monsters and Demi-Humans.
While Lilith saw such spectacle, Kireina did so and quickly realized that her fragrance was completely neutralized by this new fragrance.
"W-What is that?! And all the humans are back to normal… No way…"
As this happened, Hammond, the Hero of Raging Winds realized Aldoris sacrifice and offered a small prayer. Meanwhile, he received a message from Nanako Maki, saying that her Magic Circle was ready.
FLASH!
As Kireina admired the majestic and gigantic tree for a moment, she suddenly realized that the Magic Circle created by the Champion of Psychic Eyes began to shine in a bright pink color as it suddenly revealed her position to Nanako Maki.
"There it is! Hammond!"
"Got it! Aldoris, your sacrifice will not be in vain!"
The Hero commanded his troops towards Kireina's destination, while the humans surrounding her also realized her animosity and that of her wives, and started to attack them to gain time for the Hero to reach her in time.
At the same time as the humans regained their sanity and Nanako Maki found Kireina's position, the reinforcement troops from the Athetosea Kingdom finally reached the battlefield and rushed to join in the war. The massive army was composed of over thirty thousand humans, and they quickly divided into two, one protecting Nanako Maki from the Slave Team and Slime Family onslaught and another one joining Hammond's army.
When Kireina saw how the Humans flipped the odds to their favor, she called over her awaiting army, composed of over three thousand Demi-Humans and Humans, alongside Spirits and Wyverns.
The Demoness Empress commanded Truhan and Celica team to support the Slave Team and the Slime Family, while she worried about her other wives, as she told them to leave the Champion of Freezing Winter and to come towards her side.
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As I inspected the battlefield and decided for my next prey, a sudden thunderous sound filled the battlefield and a giant tree appeared out of thin air in the middle of the bloody battleground.
The three was incredibly massive as it expanded itself over two hundred meters in the sky, overlooking everything like an all-seer King.
As it grew leaves, it began to spread a deliciously sweet and citric fragrance that started to cure any human affected by my own fragrance, giving them sanity while boosting their capabilities and even partially brainwashing them into attacking us.
"W-What is that?! And all the humans are back to normal… No way…"
As the humans pounced over us with their weapons and techniques, I noticed that their strength was even greater than while being affected by my fragrance, it was about three times their original stats!
To make things worse, Nanako Maki's Magic Circle finally activated and quickly revealed my position to everyone, as the Hero of Raging Winds commanded the unified humans to attack me with everything they had.
And to put a cherry over the top of the cake, the Athetosea Kingdom reinforcements finally arrived, they were over twenty thousand humans, all of them looking like experienced fighters, while also being boosted thanks to the Giant Tree fragrance.
Because I feared that my servants and wives would be easily overwhelmed, I commanded Truhan's group to support the Slave and Slime Team, while calling back all my wives which were scattered around.
At the same time, I called the army commanded by the Wyvern Overlord, Redgaria, and Meiji, which consisted of over two thousand Demi-Humans, Humans, Wyverns, Monsters, and Undead. Undead soldiers were also being steadily summoned by Redgaria, to quickly fill in the ones we are currently losing.
I commanded the Wyvern Overlord alongside his family to burn that tree to the ground, as it was the main issue in this war, the moment the tree is destroyed, the effects of its fragrance will quickly diminish and the humans will lose their strengthened stats and high morale.
Suddenly as I finally finished my commands, a massive burst of green wind flew towards me.
FLASH!
However, because they already figured my position and possibly who I really was, I quickly shapeshifted back to my Fairy form and flew towards the burst of wind, while covering my entire body and even wings into a powerful emerald armor, the gems in the shoulders, chest, and belly of the armor quickly absorbed the burst of wind like nothing, as they strengthened my body.
The only who could shoot such a powerful wind attack, the Hero of Raging Winds, looked at me with a hateful glance and a wicked smile.
"There you are!!!"
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