Chapter 4030: Verdant Host (Part 1) "You have fought well for a human, but that’s not enough." The Bastet lunged a flurry of attacks at the Spirit Barrier that Raagu had hastily erected, each strike delivering a spark of Thunder Soul to one of the array’s focus points and tearing it apart. "Sometimes, surrender is not cowardice, woman. It’s wisdom." Akhton consumed little strength while hitting a fixed target, whereas the human representative consumed a lot of mana to keep the magical formation from crumbling. "There’s no honor in a pointless death." "There’s no honor in following a madman either!" Feela finally defeated her last opponent and rushed to help Raagu. "I don’t know who you are, but I’m sure the Bastet bloodline won’t let this slide!" Her battle claws sparked with emerald energy as she charged them with a spell, ready to be unleashed the moment their blades slipped past Akhton’s guard. "Oh, please." The Bastet turned his body so that the tip of his spear pointed at the Behemoth and the heel of the haft at the human barrier. "It’s been centuries since my clan deigned to move a finger! "Many times I have tried to rally my fellow Bastets to action, yet they stood there while foolish humans and petty tyrants turned our own continent, our very birthplace, into a waking nightmare! What makes you think they will care about your continent more?" Akhton snarled, unleashing a barrage of furious attacks on the Garlen representatives. Feela could barely keep up with him, her breath ragged and heavy from the prolonged fight. Even with Fyrwal’s Life Maelstrom boosting her Griffon prowess, Feela blocked more often than she liked and failed to advance more than a couple of steps. Ashen Dread’s superior range allowed Akhton to keep the Behemoth at bay, too far away for any of her deadly combinations of attack to matter. Every glancing blow carried a spark of Thunder Soul inside her body, tearing up muscles and cracking bones faster than life fusion could mend. Raagu’s barrier suffered only return blows from the heel of the spear, and Akhton couldn’t aim at the focal points anymore, but he had no need to. ’I’m getting weaker by the second, and my Diamond Fortress array was already close to crumbling by the time Feela came to my rescue.’ Raagu panted. ’If I help her, my magical formation will fall apart, and the Bastet will kill me. ’If I don’t, I’ll hold on for a few more seconds, he’ll kill Feela, and then it will be my turn. I’m spoilt for choice.’ The human representative looked around Lutia, but fire, smoke, and Frost Soul clouded her mystical and physical sight alike. She still had enough mana to Spirit Blink to Feela’s side and Warp them both to safety. Raagu still could make it out of that impossible situation alive, if only she found a retreat path. ’Screw this!’ Finding none, Raagu Blinked behind Feela’s back and used what mana she had left to conjure a set of Griffon Fetters, restraining the Bastet’s limbs. There was no time for a mind link, yet Feela knew what to do. She could see with Life Vision that Raagu’s magical strength was all but spent and didn’t miss the fleeting opening in Akhton’s guard. The Bastet noticed it as well and used it to lure the Behemoth into a trap. As soon as Feela put her full weight into her attack, Akhton spun Ashen Dread. Its Life Maelstrom-infused Adamant tip and Thunder Soul respectively cut through the emerald chains and disrupted Raagu’s spell matrix. The Griffon Fetters broke down in a thin mist before Feela could even cross the distance with the Bastet and left her exposed to his counter. The spear tip pierced through Feela’s breastplate and hide, releasing the Thunder Soul straight into her lungs. Darkness fusion suppressed the pain from a wounded heart while Raagu healed the Behemoth, but no spell could make up for the lack of oxygen. Feela’s knees gave out, her fall delivering Ashen Dread even closer to her heart. She clung to the haft of the spear with one clawed hand and attacked it with her other battle claw, preferring to lose one of her last few spells rather than her life. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦 Akhton twisted and pulled Ashen Dread out of the Behemoth’s body before her attack could come close, but after she had unleashed the Spirit Spell it held. Blood and mana filled the air as Akhton raised his spear for his final lunge, and Feela found herself unable to move. "You waited too long to make the right choice, and now it makes no difference, human." The Bastet said. "Just like my people." Raagu gambled everything on a breath of Invigoration that covered her lungs in frost and sent her into a coughing spasm. "Sorry for being late!" The words resounded after a loud thump to the back of Akthon’s head sent him crashing down. "There are many more Upyrs than we expected, so it took me longer than we planned." Lotho had sapped the nutrients from Lutia’s fertile ground, growing in size until he matched a Divine Beast. He elongated his arms and turned his fists into spiked maces that he used to beat the Bastet’s more sensitive spots with the rhythm of a frenzied drummer. The Treant attacked Akthon’s nose, ears, temples, toes, and chest at the same time after coating his extra limbs with the Adamant of his armor. The Basted rolled on the ground to escape the pummeling, but the tree branches just grew further. He split Ashen Dread in half and used the short staffs to block two attacks each, but the other six still reached their mark. Lotho had no Life Maelstrom to empower him, so he had to make up for quality with quantity. Several limbs sprouted all over his wooden body and were reabsorbed as soon as they no longer served their purpose. Fae like Lotho didn’t waste enchanted metal on weapons, and poured all their resources on the thickest and heaviest armor they could afford. It allowed a Fae to alter their mass at will and shapeshift their arms into any kind of weapon they might need. Akhton roared in outrage, biting his inner cheek to resist the impulse to breathe Origin Flames at the pesky Fae. Lotho roared back, his voice sounding like the creaking of tree branches during a storm. He kept his distance, uncaring of how many limbs the frenzied Bastet cut down. New ones sprouted from the stumps while the old ones were quickly reabsorbed and ready to use. At the same time, the plant representative opened a Spirit Steps that Warped Feela and Raagu high in the sky. The human representative breathed the pure world energy avidly, sharing the effects of Invigoration with the wounded Behemoth. "If he weren’t that late, I could have kissed that old lump of coal." Feela said while feeling her strength return. "Same." Raagu watched the reinforcements the Treant had brought with him swarm Lutia and tilt the scales of battle. A small army of what looked like Treantlings marched from the Trawn Woods, battering the Upyrs on their path like rams and rescuing humans and Hydras. Verdant Host was one of the Treants’ most powerful abilities, but one they never employed lightly.