Chapter 194: Selene’s Mistake [1]

เผยแพร่เมื่อ 17 มี.ค. 2569 04:15

Chapter 194: Selene’s Mistake [1] The fire continued to spread amongst the trees. The Tree Clones tried to move, tried to scatter away from the flames, but fire didn’t care. It simply consumed whatever fuel it could reach, and in a forest packed with hundreds of wooden bodies pressed closely together, there was fuel everywhere. Moon and Selene didn’t hold back. Knowing every tree was an enemy, they continued to fan the flames, directing wind currents to carry sparks and embers to new targets, feeding the fire with continuous streams of wind. The forest began to scream. Not necessarily with voices, but with the sound of bark crackles, burning wood and the terrible groaning of timber being consumed from within. It was a symphony of destruction, and Moon and Selene conducted it. Notifications began flooding Moon’s vision: [You have killed a level 24 Rotten Pine Clone] [You have gained 0 Lives] [You have killed a level 24 Rotten Pine Clone] [You have gained 0 Lives] ... [You have killed a level 25 Rotten Pine] [You have gained 5 lives] The messages came so rapidly Moon stopped reading the individual notifications. Most of the kills were clones—duplicates that gave no lives when destroyed. But scattered among them, one in every five trees, was something real. An actual Rotten Pine, a true beast that granted lives upon death. The ratio was mostly consistent. For every five trees that burned, only one was real. Which meant the forest’s deception ran deeper than just hiding their presence. Even now, even as they burned, four out of every five Tree Clones were fake. Decoys designed to waste their mana, to make the enemy seem more numerous than it truly was. But it didn’t matter. Real or fake, they all burned the same. The inferno spread outward in an ever-widening circle, consuming everything in its path. The flames climbed higher, reaching up toward the diseased canopy, threatening to turn the entire Rotten Pine Forest into a crematorium. Moon’s eyes tracked the death notifications even as he continued channeling wind magic. Fifty-three clones destroyed. Sixty-six. Eighty-two. And among them, seventeen real Rotten Pines killed—eight-five lives gained. The numbers kept climbing. But something was wrong. The Tree Clones were no longer trying to advance. They’d stopped fleeing, stopped moving entirely. They simply stood at the edge of the firelight, their wooden eyes reflecting the flames, watching the destruction spread with those terrible hollow gazes. "Selene," Moon called out over the roar of the fire, his voice sharp with alertness. "Something’s—" Before he could finish his sentence, Moon heard something that made his blood run cold from its eerie tone. Laughter. Not from the trees. Not from any visible source. Perhaps from the forest itself. A sound like wind through hollow wood, like the creaking of ancient timber, like the whisper of leaves that had long since rotted away. The Rotten Pine Forest was laughing at them. "What the hell is that sound?!" Selene couldn’t help but gulp, saliva building up uncontrollably in her mouth. A sense of dread engulfed both awakeners. There was a creature—something intelligent, something powerful—that found amusement in watching them burn hundreds of its minions. "Not sure," Moon spoke, his voice barely audible over the crackling of flames and that eerie, hollow laughter. "But it seems like whatever it is, it’s done hiding its existence." Moon’s eyes swept across their surroundings, searching for the source of the sound. But there was nothing. Just burning clones, and twisted Rotten Pines. The laughter continued, sourceless and mocking. Then the trees moved again. But this time, they were fast! The slow advance from before was gone entirely. The Tree Clones surged forward with terrifying speed, as if their movements were no longer restrained, no longer cautious of death. They rushed at Moon and Selene from every direction, a tide of burning and unburned wood converging on the two fire-wielders with singular purpose. And some of the trees that were already ablaze—the ones they’d set on fire moments ago—didn’t try to escape the flames. Instead, they threw themselves forward. A burning Rotten Pine launched itself directly at Moon, its entire trunk engulfed in fire, wooden limbs spread wide like a flaming crucifixion. It was a suicide attack, trading its existence for even the chance of taking him down. Moon’s staff came up, deflecting the burning mass with a burst of wind magic that sent it careening into other trees. Crash! But two more burning clones immediately took its place, hurling themselves at him with the same reckless abandon. "They’re going crazy like the ancient Kamikaze warriors!" Selene shouted, her own fireballs detonating against three trees that had charged her position simultaneously. The tempo had increased dramatically. The Tree Clones no longer cared about survival—they attacked with the fervor of soldiers following orders they couldn’t refuse, even orders that meant certain death. And through it all, that terrible laughter continued in the background, its source still unknown, still invisible. Moon channeled another [Ignite], the massive fireball forming above him in less than two seconds, faster than he’d ever conjured it before. He released it toward an incoming cluster of trees, the explosion buying them precious seconds of breathing room. But his mana was depleting. Every spell, every gust of wind, every defensive maneuver cost mana. And at this pace, with attacks coming from every angle, even his large reserves wouldn’t last long. "We need to get out of here!" Moon shouted over the chaos, "Keep moving! Now that we know about their existence, it’s harder for them to fool us with directions again. Go!" He sent another [Ignite] hurtling toward an incoming group of trees, the fireball’s trajectory calculated to clear their path forward—toward where he believed the forest’s exit lay. "Okay!" Selene moved immediately, staying close to Moon’s side, matching his pace as they began forcing their way through the gauntlet of Tree Clones. She cast her own spells in rapid succession, fireballs and wind blades cutting down any tree that got too close. But her breathing was already labored, her mana reserves draining faster than they should. Because one death was a real death for her.

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