Chapter 552

Chapter 552: The Dangerous Power of Life

Leaving the corridor and entering the outer passage, the burning Shadowfire basin illuminated the entire cave in a deep blue light.

Inside the palace, the chattering and laughter could be heard everywhere. Saenor listened attentively, then looked at Jesse and pointed vigorously at his chest.

Jesse knew that he meant there were other imps here.

Making sure there was no one in the cave, Mosa quieted her footsteps to catch up with Tree Man. Jesse had to admit that even though she wasn’t a powerful Druid, she was an excellent hunter. Despite her large size, she could walk silently on hooves.

The others hid behind, helping to create a diversion and keeping watch on possible approaching patrols. Mosa quietly called out to Tree Man from behind, exchanging some words with it.

Tree Man first looked at Mosa for a while, as if not understanding what she was saying. Mosa took a deep breath and began chanting a spell.

She waved her arms, summoning the power of life. As she cast the spell, Tree Man seemed to recall something, his eyes widening, and the branches and bark on his body rustled.

Jesse noticed that the dark shadow power in its eyes was being gradually engulfed by the growing life force, slowly receding.

After casting the spell, Mosa tried to communicate with Tree Man, who seemed to understand something. It lifted its head wrapped in dried leaves and fragile branches, glanced at the cave wall, then turned and ran into the depths of the cave.

Mosa returned and said something to Vereesa. Vereesa explained, "This Tree Man will try to awaken other Tree Men. I believe we need to wait here for changes to happen."

Before the others could react, a noisy commotion grew closer. Molofeel immediately vanished into the shadows, while the others stepped back in another direction. A young green imp boldly rushed in!

It shouted in a demonic voice, "I hear voices speaking! I hear…"

Before it could finish speaking, Mosa transformed into a large cat form beside it, biting off its head and tossing it aside. Corrupted black blood splattered, filling the air with a strong smell of blood.

"Let’s hide in a different place," Jesse said.

The others nodded and quickly moved to a quieter spot on the other side of the passage. By then, they could hear the Tree Men’s low growls coming from the cave.

"This thing isn’t an imp…" Cherno exclaimed, grabbing Jesse’s shirt. "That’s not an imp! Yet it looks so much like us! I believe there’s a connection between us!"

"Is that not an imp?"

Jesse asked, and upon Saenor’s response, he did notice that this imp did not have the devil’s horns.

"Indeed it is not," Saenor said. "It is a descendant of the elemental life, Master. Although heavily influenced by Satyr’s fel magic and the power of shadows, I believe it was originally a native creature… just like the Satyr we just defeated!"

"Let’s leave this cave first before discussing your classification issues, demon," Vereesa whispered. "We have quite a few troubles on our hands right now!"

She was right, Jesse could hear the Satyrs’ commanding shouts coming from different tunnels, and the chattering noises of the imps had also quieted down.

"Alright, things are really messy here," the dwarf looked at the fork in the three tunnels ahead and asked, "Which way should we go?"

Jesse cast Detect Demon into the cave, and saw demons of all sizes scattered throughout, their chaotic aura floating around.

The overwhelming shadows gave him a strong sense of oppression, making him feel as if he had returned to the Dark Portal, so he had to immediately relax his mind.

But where should they go now?

Jesse watched as the ruins, resembling both elves and Centaur creations, were being overtaken by tree roots, mud, and rocks due to years of neglect.

The blue stone floors and earthen tunnels echoed with demon screams, making it difficult to decide which way to go.

Suddenly, Vereesa pointed to a tunnel on the right and said, "Here."

"How do you know?" Greed asked.

"I can sense the magic traces resonating with this dagger over here," Vereesa replied. "My instincts are very clear since we arrived here."

With that, she raised her bow and walked towards the tunnel, leaving the other two to look at each other, realizing they had no other choice.

The group walked deeper into the cave, passing a burning Shadowfire basin to a wall illuminated by demonic runes. The evil flames seemed unsettled by the unstable magic of the cave, flickering without any wind, creating chaos in the chamber.

"Find the source of the chaos! The princess will tolerate no disturbances!"

Suddenly, a Demonic command echoed from above, drifting from a distant place.

Jesse looked up and saw another higher level here. The cracked stone floor jutted out like teeth, and because of the flickering flames, they didn’t notice it when they rushed in.

A muffled roar and angry curses of demons came from above. A chaotic fight, argument, the rustling of branches, and the sound of metal blades rubbing passed by. Finally, a Tree Man toppled over from above and landed in front of a few people.

Broken branches and leaves flew everywhere. It stared into Jesse’s eyes, with a mix of shadows and golden eyes slowly dimming, turning into ordinary rotten wood.

"I smell a different scent…"

A demonic voice came from above. Jesse locked eyes with Molofeel, and she instantly understood his meaning. She swiftly climbed up the earthen wall and disappeared halfway up.

Vereesa quickly climbed the high slope. The demons above seemed to hear the commotion on this side of the earthen wall. When they peeked over, Vereesa reached out, grabbed a hoof, and pulled one down directly.

He fell at Greed’s feet, and a dwarf split his chest with a stone axe, extinguishing the shadows that had just emerged from his body.

Another Satyr above immediately drew a longsword and swung it towards Vereesa’s arm reaching over the cliff. Before he could strike, a succubus who had already climbed up behind him pierced his heart with a sword. He struggled to mutter "traitor" in Demonic before trembling forward and falling down the hill.

Mosa agilely climbed the high slope in the form of a cat. Jesse picked up the magic wand, took two steps to reach the top, grabbed Vereesa’s hand, and climbed onto the cliff together, pulling the extremely heavy Greed up.

Several people had just arrived at the high place when Greed shouted, "There’s one over there!"

Everyone immediately looked towards another passage deep in the distance as there was a Satyr about to leave.

Without time to switch to his war hammer, Greed quickly threw the axe in his hand, but the distance was too far. The Satyr barely dodged the axe and then ran away down the passage.

"Damn," Jesse muttered to himself and immediately chased after with Vereesa.

At that moment, Mosa suddenly transformed back into human form and uttered a spell. When everyone reached the corner, they saw a Satyr, who had run tens of meters away, entangled by tree roots emerging from a cracked stone wall. He struggled to break free, but Vereesa shot an arrow through his chest. The Satyr slumped weakly and was dragged into the crack by the roots. His body got contorted, oozing black blood.

It was clearly Mosa’s magic, but for a nature-loving and balance-advocating Druid, the aggressive actions of the plant roots were unexpectedly fierce.

Jesse turned to look at the Tauren who had just caught up. The Tauren, too, appeared surprised at the scene.

Jesse said a few words to Vereesa. It turned out that she had only called upon the plants here to help stop the demon, but the plants acted like monsters tearing, squeezing, and so on, not by her own influence.

Jesse had a faint feeling that using the life elements deep in Maraudon was quite a risky venture.

It was clear that Mosa also realized this danger.