Chapter 559

Chapter 559: Who Is the Lord of Maraudon

A shaky Tree Man arrived at the door, looking at the people inside who were staring back at it. Its normally bright golden eyes were now barely visible, like two slightly glowing holes.

Mosa tried to talk to Tree Man, but Tree Man’s body made strange noises. Jesse had a very bad feeling for no reason.

If Vyletongue dies, who will give orders to the Tree Man after they are freed from the demons’ control?

Tree Man opened its mouth like tearing tree bark, making eerie sounds like a twisted creature. It kept repeating a sentence that made everyone feel scared.

"Can’t communicate!" said Tauren in a common language.

Although the sentence was awkward and hard to understand, seeing Tree Man’s frantic reaction helped everyone understand its meaning immediately.

Tree Man stopped listening to Mosa and didn’t move at all.

It limped into the room, reaching out towards the nearest Greed. Greed quickly grabbed a hammer from the side and smashed Tree Man’s body to pieces.

The hammer hit Tree Man, making its whole body shake, and its last glimmer of light in its eyes faded. It let out a weak, hoarse cry and fell next to the dwarf, soon stopped struggling.

When Tree Man came to this room, it was already covered in wounds, almost drained of its life after fighting with the demons.

"Pack up, we need to leave here immediately," Jesse said as he picked up the Demonic scroll and books from the ground and stuffed them into the bag one by one.

Greed looked at the Tree Man’s body, then turned to Jesse and asked, "Which ones should we take?"

"The ones with magical power, and… I’m not sure," Jesse hesitated for a moment. Vereesa quickly picked up a few things and stuffed them into the bag. She then wrapped another box in a bag and handed it to Mosa, saying, "Take these for now."

The imp kept stuffing the Soulstones into the Warlock Pack while making noisy sounds. Jesse grabbed a bunch and stuffed them all in.

"There are more Tree Men outside, darn it, they’re all coming!" Greed said as he held an axe in each hand. "Now that the demons are dead, we are the villains!"

"What should we do with these books?" Vereesa asked.

"Take the map of Eldre’Thalas… and the rough locations of magical defenses, as well as whatever interests you. We can’t take too much, Vereesa. Hurry, we need to leave here," Jesse said.

"Understood," Vereesa put the Demonic figurine in the satchel. She quickly picked up a few books with remaining magical traces and stuffed them in. At that moment, they heard the sound of an axe fiercely hitting a tree trunk from outside, indicating that Greed must have started fighting the Tree Men.

Upon hearing the commotion from the dwarf, Mosa strapped on several packages and ran out the door. Jesse and Vereesa glanced around the room, confirmed that there was nothing else valuable, exchanged a look, and immediately followed.

The situation was worse than Jesse had imagined. Countless Tree Men of all shapes and sizes were walking towards the corridor, like a group of zombie apocalypse, especially with some crawling on the ground with only half of their bodies left.

Most of them survived after fighting demons. When Jesse and the others were chasing Vyletongue, the Satyrs must have noticed something wrong with the temple, so they immediately abandoned fighting the Tree Men to come to the rescue of their lord, but were blocked by Greed.

These abandoned Tree Men… somehow came back to attack Jesse and the others.

Greed was swinging his axe continuously in front, showing signs of exhaustion. His axe swings were not as effortless as when he was fighting the Satyrs. Mosa was protecting Greed’s side with a Satyr’s long butcher knife. Jesse and the others also took out their weapons to fight off these corrupt Tree Men, finally carving a path out of the corridor to the outside by the pool platform.

Watching more Tree Men climbing up the steps and carnivorous plants approaching from somewhere, Jesse stood high up chanting the Fireball spell, hurling the fireballs gathered on the Magic Wand forcefully into the mass of mutant plants, igniting a huge fire that quickly spread among the different plants and Tree Men, even on the water pool.

These already weak plants fell one by one, the entire space covered in black smoke. The Tree Men and plants, when set on fire, surprisingly screamed and roared, similar to the loud noises emitted when the shadows surged. Jesse had reason to believe… that the cores of these monsters had long been contaminated by the shadows, and some of them were even plants born from the shadows… Shadows and life never repelled each other, the corrupted Emerald Nightmares by the Old Gods were clear evidence.

The foul pool, corrupted plants, burning flames, and thick smoke rising from the water surface surged forth. In the dark hall, everyone cautiously made their way through the struggling mutant plants towards the cave they came from. Mosa gazed at these monsters, a hint of panic in her eyes.

"Awaken…" she struggled to say something, but she knew only a handful of common words. She didn’t have time to explain to Vereesa, and could only follow behind and slowly spit out the words.

"Awake, underground… I feel it."

"What woke up?" Jesse turned around and asked.

Mosa opened her mouth to answer, but then hesitated. She seemed unsure or maybe afraid to confirm, but Jesse knew deep down that he was almost asking the question knowingly.

Or rather, he didn’t really want to face the changes in Maraudon at that moment.

Do not disturb the princess…

Jesse remembered what the Satyrs, who were taming the imps, reported to Vyletongue before – outsiders are not allowed to disturb the princess’s peace. Suddenly, a fierce roar echoed from the depths of the underground, causing the whole cave to tremble violently. Jesse felt a shiver run down his spine. He wasn’t sure if he was startled by the sudden loud noise or if the intense shaking beneath his feet made him unsteady, but at that moment, he didn’t have the energy to distinguish between the two.

Greed was shaken by the tremor and grabbed onto the nearby wall, turning back to shout, "Damn, something’s not right, Jesse?"

The cave was filled with a terrifying rumbling noise, making it almost impossible for Jesse to hear Greed’s voice, even though he knew the dwarf was yelling as loud as he could.

The Tree Men who had been crawling towards them stopped in their tracks, gazing towards the depths of the cave, muttering something that sounded like a prayer or an act of contrition…