NOVEL NEXT Chapter 68 - Notice the Boss
The demonic tree creaked as it grew taller. Its trunk was as wide as a redwood, but multiple encircled segments popped up every foot about, reminding me of a palm tree. The broad leaves curled outward as the seconds on the timer ticked down. With the last ten seconds, the leaves unraveled and popped out, swaying in the breeze like giant gray-green feathers.
My interface popped up with a few notifications. I payed attention to each one searching for clues about this fight.
[Successful Farmer: You have grown your first plant!]
[By the God's will: You tried to drown it, even planted it in the wrong realm, but the god inside that seed is determined to born, and wouldn't let a mortal like you stop it.]
[Demonic Seed (1): Completed]
[The Goddess of Leith smiles in your direction.]
[You have angered the God Chiliam]
[You have appeased the Goddess ???]
The last notification was useless and focused on Naiad. "Naiad, take the ring off now."
She already ripped it off and threw it down at the Demonic Tree. I watched it fly in the air and noticed that the tree's trunk was splitting apart down the middle. Plumes of ash and decay spilled out the center of the crack like the tree was rotting, but the leaves on top continued to grow out.
"Naiad? Anything from Leith?" I asked her. I remained on the cliffside with them, ready to defend or ready to jump down.
"Nope."
"I got something!" Triangle chimed in.
Before I asked what, my interface popped up with another message.
[Quest Update on the Root and the Seeds of the Problem: The god Chiliam is enraged by your actions you did behind his back. But he is willing to let you redeem yourself if you destroy the abomination you've created and brought from hell. The gods of Heaven and Earth have heard his plea against those threatening their domain. If you aid them, and any allies helping them, you will receive a boon from Earth and a blessing from Heaven. You will become weak to demonic attacks by 15%.
You've amused the goddess of chaos in hell, Leith and further expanded the powers of Hell domain. If you see to it that the god makes it back to hell, you will receive a blessing from Leith. You will become weak to heavenly attacks by 15%.]
"Where did the class reward go?" Naiad pointed out.
"That's a lot of words," Triangle groaned. "Is that why our tree is breaking?"
The crack in the middle of three grew to be over twenty feet tall and the dry ash turned into gray mud as liquid spilled out. A scream erupted from the crack that silenced all the players in the Brightstone Woods as they all watched.
Two sets of four brilliant white claws reached out of the crack, scratching the bark as the creature inside pulled themselves out. The face was instantly recognizable even with the bark skin replaced with rough white texture and she had two fewer limbs. The eyes were still the same with a deep black darkness and fourteen point antlers stuck out from her head while silver hair pointed out from her scalp like a hedgehog.
[New Achievement: You've witnessed the birth of a goddess. The Goddess of bounty and energy, Branchelot. This is a divine achievement!
Title Granted: I've seen the light in the Demons]
I gripped my shield and axe, looking at the kids next to me. Triangle had his hand buried in his fanny pack, and his other wrapped around Goldy. Naiad replaced her vine spell for a standard arrow and pulled out one of her fire enchanting scrolls. No one dared to make the first move against a god, only an idiot would do that. "Hold on kids, her dot is still white," I reminded them.
Branchelot was a lot taller than before, at least three times her previous height. She rolled her head around, her hair growing longer and crawling out as it stretched down to the ground and touched it. It had a spiny look to it, reminding me of the worm snakes in hell as the layers formed from her antlers to her ankles. Her skin becoming less translucent and shaded darker.
From her, a pulse set out, like a powerful gust in the air that shook all the trees and even their roots beneath us. She snapped and turned to look in my direction. A sound of breaking wood filled as a jagged line formed to create a mouth.
"There you are, you little warrior," she spoke in the same cracking and grating voice as before.
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"Get away kids," I told them as I jumped down the cliff, jogging to get to the goddess.
Before I reached her, Naiad sent me a message.
[Guild Chat]
[Naiad: Dad, we got rooted! Whatever that weird wave that went out earlier is trapped around our legs.]
[Private Message from:
[Darrell: Careful! None of us can move.]]
I paused and looked back.
"It's rude to turn away from a goddess. You have a habit of doing that to all the Hell gods." Branchelot stepped closer and now stood above me. "It's only proper you treat me the same as them now."
I opened my mouth to order her to let my children and friends go, but she held up a clawed hand. "Your family has suffered since we last met. Don't make it worse. I can give you a powerful ally and new abilities right now. Only if you pick up that ring of Leith's right by your foot." The golden ring glistened down in the dirt next to me. "Use it to create a portal back to hell for me, just a little mana and strength, and I will be home. Then I can keep a promise between Chiliam, you, and I. A god is only as good as their promise."
To prove her words, a large seed, fuzzy seed appeared in her hand. It only looked like a seed because of how tall Branchelot was, but realistically, it was almost as large as a soccer ball. It was a coconut with three little holes on top.
Branchelot smiled and continued with her offer. "You only have to wait for this to grow and gather strength, and then a Demonic Lord from my growing army will be yours. It will serve and protect you. Bestow my demonic gifts on you to lend you even more strength and every day you will become stronger by doing nothing."
That was an easy out. Too easy. I could have the reward without a big fight that would risk the kids. An additional tank to keep them safe in fights, or a warrior to help them get out. The demon could even gather ingredients to help Triangle with his potions. A box of information hovered over the seed, displaying the class information.
[This seed will grant the receiver of its fruit the title: Seed of Demon Lord. Plant this and a demon lord will appear, able to live on the Earth Domain and protect you. If fed and taken care of, even more demons will come to your aid. Upon fully grown, you will receive the title Master of Demons. This class will have power over a set of demons under Goddess Branchelot's domain, available to be called into a fight. The owner of this class can siphon strength and intelligence from a user. They will regrow their own limbs and health. This class adds additional demon stats.]
I bit my cheek and looked back at the kids. The kids didn't need a sitter or NPC to watch over them or help collect ingredients for crafting. That was something I wanted to do for them. I picked up the ring and showed it to her. "I won't take that title unless you let everyone go. Starting with my kids. Then we don't have to fight."
A bolt of lightning broke down from the sky, striking the palm tree. Branchelot hissed and jumped back just as another strike hit where her outstretched hand was a minute ago. Her hair held her up and slowly lowered her back down. She cackled at seeing the seed sizzling on the ground in a hole a meters away from the cliffs.
With her distracted, I ran as fast as I could back to my kids, pulling out a torch to chase the roots away. Nothing would hurt them. If they wanted to run, we could run. We could go to a field and make flower crowns as long as we were happy.
"Dad! Watch your back!" Naiad stood above me, small white tendrils reaching out to trap her feet.
Water blasted at her feet from Goldy just as she fired her fire arrow right past me.
Branchelot screamed. "No! Give me the ring back!"
The small arrow of fire didn't stop the goddess from lunging at me. Her claws stretched out, ready to pierce through me. I wouldn't be able to climb the cliff fast enough to get away, but I could at least by Naiad and Triangle time. I turned, ready to block the godly attack, when suddenly I lost contact with the ground and lifted in the air.
The goddess would not go down easy. She screeched out, and the trees shuddered to her cry. The birds that sheltered in them took off, but didn't come to her aid.
"This way," cawed out Kerry. "That's one chaotic source of death."
I glanced back and noticed Branchelot's dot changed from white to red. A moment later, spells, arrows, and even boulders flew in the air to attack her. All sorts of magical attacks lit up the sky like it was a firework display. The booming sounds of the boulders hitting Branchelot and the ground only added to the effect. Beastmen transformed and ran forward.
The large vulture brought me over by Naiad and Triangle. A white grass covered the forest floor. The moment I put down on the ground, I learned quickly what the grass was.
[Rooted! The tendrils of Goddess Branchelot search for your strength every few seconds, siphoning it for her own, and for any ally that would become her Demon Master here on Earth.]
"What!" I screamed as I kept moving to avoid losing my strength stats. "She's doing that trick again, taking our strength to make a new class?"
"Demon Master Class?" Naiad didn't hide her excitement. "I want it. How do we open the portal?"
"Oh, that's a coconut!" Triangle cheered. "I want it."
"It requires the ring, but if we help Branchelot, everyone but us will get the curse. Do you want that?" I couldn't help but think of Darrell and the others who showed up to help us.
She frowned and shook her head and danced to the side to avoid getting her strength taken away. "Doesn't matter with how mad she is right now. She wants the ring back?"
"Yeah," I pointed to where the seed sat in the hole. "If we use it to get her back to hell, you get that as a reward."
Players charged forward, and I saw a druid transform into an eagle and try to sweep by the goddess.
"Bring me the ring and the Demon Master title is yours!" screamed out the goddess, her words vibrating through the air tempting players.
Another electric shock hit the ground by her, the smoke sizzling. "FINISH THE GODDESS." multiple voices shouted from above and around us. The voices of heaven and hell.
Their power fed my body, but pierced my soul at once. The feeling made me grip my shield tighter and grunt, but there was no physical pain. Naiad grunted and Triangle seemed completely fine.
The gods gave their command from heaven, earth, and hell. Players would pick sides, wanting to help heaven and get their buff, or aid hell and become stronger there. The latter would want us out of the picture completely.
The druid-turned-eagle headed toward us, claws out. "That ring is mine!"