Draconic Ascension - System Apocalypse Isekai LitRPG

The Blades and the Fireball took shape at the same time. Michael waved his staff. They merged and then flew toward the Tree in a veritable storm of flames. It was one of the most intuitive combinations of spells that his Dual Casting allowed him to create, but also one of the most effective when it came to pure area-of-effect destructive power.

As he ran, he carefully directed the flames. They reached the first few leaves. In nothing but a few moments, the fire devoured them completely, pulling them inside the blazing hurricane and burning them to nothingness.

So, my Intelligence is high enough to make the fire able to destroy the leaves.

Michael smiled.

Let's see what happens to the trunk.

As the seconds ticked by, the storm only grew as it consumed his mana, which kept flowing into the spells like a river. The size of his mana pool was one of his greatest strengths – there was no reason not to use it to its fullest.

He continued to run, surrounded by the flames. The fire destroyed any leaves that got close to him, allowing him to run toward the Tree in a straight line. He easily traversed the ruined terrain, getting closer and closer to his target. As if it were afraid, the Tree kept throwing out more leaves, but the result was always the same.

Finally, Michael arrived within three hundred meters of the Tree. He waved his staff, making the flames flow toward the Tree like a god's divine punishment. Both the leaves in the air and the asphalt below were scorched by the magical fire. After a few seconds, the fire crashed against the Tree's white trunk and started trying to burn through it.

That was when it happened.

The Tree's mana moved in an unfamiliar way. Michael narrowed his eyes and lowered his center of gravity, still keeping Lightspeed active. The time limit had been greatly extended by his training, allowing him to do so. His ears twitched. Something was rapidly tunneling through the ground. No, that wasn't quite right. Something buried was tearing through the ground to reach him. Michael looked to the left as he started moving.

From where he was looking at, a giant tree root emerged from the pavement. It was thicker than a bus and continued to extend itself, quickly reaching a length of over fifteen meters. In the next second, it cut through the air toward him like a whip. Michael widened his eyes.

It's not faster than I am, but I can't jump to avoid it.

If he did, he would place himself in the same position as when he had been trying to dodge the leaves before. However, because of the tree root's sheer size, there was little room to avoid it on the ground, also due to the buildings lining the destroyed street. In a split second, Michael made a decision. If he couldn't avoid it, he just needed to punch through it. He pulled his left arm back, his muscles growing taut like a string. The root continued to barrel toward him like a collapsing building, but he didn't even blink.

Once it got within five meters of him, Michael let out a breath and punched. His fist landed on the root's surface. For a second, the attack's weight and impact tried to crush him, but he didn't falter. His fist crushed the surface where it had touched, then continued forward because of the pressure. The surrounding area on the root's surface also caved in, but Michael didn't even look at it. He focused solely on his fist, which continued to smash through the tree root until he was shoulder deep into it. It had stopped moving completely, even if only for a moment. It was all he needed.

Michael jumped onto the root after ripping out his buried arm and looked at the Tree, which was still being covered by the flames. Now, its mana resonance was distinctly similar to a scream. He frowned at it.

What the hell even are they? What kind of lifeform?

In the end, it didn't matter. He only needed to kill it.

More of the giant tree roots ripped their way out of the ground, but Michael only shot toward the Tree. The roots slithered toward him like snakes, pushing the destroyed cars and rubble aside as if they didn't weigh anything at all. He gave them a look over his shoulder, then continued to run with Lightspeed active.

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More and more of the tree roots appeared, but now that he was running at full speed, they couldn't reach him. Instead, they only toppled small buildings and destroyed whatever was in their way. Michael looked at the flames, which had almost completely devoured the Tree. The canopy had ignited, the embers of what used to be leaves drifting in the air. The Tree continued to 'scream,' but Michael only tried his best to look for a core of some sort, like the other, smaller Trees had.

Finally, after the fire burned through some of the trunk, he saw it. A small sphere that wasn't bigger than his head. The mana streaming out of it made it obvious that it was what he was looking for, but he furrowed his brow.

It's so small.

Was it an evolutionary measure? A way to minimize the weaknesses? If not, then it was possible that the Tree had more than one core. Either way, it would all end once he burned the entire thing to a crisp. Michael intensified his flow of mana into his spells. With renewed power, the flames continued to burn the Tree. Once they reached the small core, it vibrated, but it was useless. A few moments later, it melted into a puddle. The tree withered in real time, and so did the tree roots chasing Michael. For safety's sake, he sent more of the fire into the Tree's insides with the sole intention of burning everything they could find.

After almost ten seconds, a System notification appeared in front of him.

[You have slain Tree of Sharpness (Level 63).]

He let out a breath and sank his feet into the asphalt, grinding to a halt, then looked around as he stopped channeling Lightspeed.

"…Damn," he said to himself.

The pavement had been overturned, and the traffic lights and even entire buildings had been toppled. Cars had been crushed, and whatever pieces of glass that still remained had been pulverized into minute crystals. Overall, everything within three hundred meters had become a vast stretch of destruction. It was as if the entire area had been bombed.

…How is anyone else supposed to beat those things?

It was a question that kept appearing in his mind.

I guess we have ten years for a reason.

With a sigh, Michael shook his head and looked at the destroyed husk of the Tree of Sharpness. To think the thing had been close to his own Level. But…

"…That wasn't really enough."

It wasn't the thrill he had been seeking. He hadn't even spilled a single drop of blood, much less faced a challenge. While he had expected something like this from the moment the Tutorial ended, given how strong he'd become, to have it actually happen was a bit disheartening. Still, the Tree had been at Level 63. It was proof that there were strong enemies in this city. He looked at one of the four cardinal Trees, which he could still see even from his current position.

I'll go after you next.

He would only do so once he got a better grasp of how things were developing in the Safe Zones, but the cardinal Trees were his next objective. Michael nodded to himself and started walking back to Safe Zone M36. Naturally, he would kill any Tree he found on the way.

He would become stronger, even if it meant getting rid of every single Tree and monster in the entire city.

***

Three days passed.

In a room with Allison and his friends, Michael frowned.

"…A faction?" he asked in disbelief.

James nodded.

"Yeah," he replied. "And they're taking shape way too quickly. There are three major ones within this Safe Zone alone, and probably many more in the other Safe Zones. Things can turn ugly real quick."

Michael nodded, keeping his frown.

People miss the past and what it meant.

All those who had returned to Earth were people who had survived the Tutorial. That did not mean, however, that they had become used to fighting and killing other creatures to survive. At the end of the day, they had all been ordinary people before the System descended – people who went to school, work, hung out with their friends during the weekends, and had dreams of their own. Those same people had been thrust into a deadly Tutorial for three whole months. The factions, which were growing in power, represented what organizations and governments meant on the old Earth.

Everyone's looking for one last bastion of normalcy in these fucked up circumstances.

Michael let out a deep sigh and rubbed his temples. It was far too similar to what had happened with Derek and Lohann, except massively magnified in scale. Thousands of people were now part of this, and there were many other Safe Zones. Everything had the potential of spiraling out of control far too quickly if one of the factions decided to become aggressive toward others.

"Alright," Michael said slowly, facing his loved ones. "Just take care of your families and adopt a wait-and-see approach, for now. Right now, there's no real benefit to joining a faction, since I can help you guys with whatever you need. I'll Whisper to you guys periodically and try to keep tabs on what's going on."

James nodded, as did Elizabeth and the others. Only Allison continued to stare straight at him. He threw her a bittersweet smile.

"Are you going to keep hunting the Trees?" she asked suddenly, making everyone look at her. Her expression was a mix of sadness and helplessness.

Michael only nodded at her, making her sigh.

"…Alright," she continued slowly, not saying anything else.

Michael sighed as well and looked at James.

"I'm off, then. Stay safe. Be back soon."

James nodded, making Michael turn around.

He only needed to keep going.