Year 124

The demon king’s coming closer, and the weakening barriers somehow strengthens the hybrids. Then we spotted the demonic portals, and out came the champions.

Ah shit. Here we go again.

Champions. Walker-class demons. Or more like, walkers were champion-class demons. The Rottedlands occasionally spawns champion-class monsters, but they are quite passive, usually just roam around where they spawned. But a return of the champions means the demon king isn’t far.

“So, are you guys ready for the next one?” The three heroes are in their 50s now. They came 40 years ago, and this will be their 5th demon king, although they didn’t have to fight the 2nd one, thanks to Astra’s bomb.

“No. We haven’t fixed the fundamental weakness that we do not have a healer.” I couldn’t fill their role, I’m not a battlefield healer. I’m like that hospital back in town that they rush back to. “And we do have a gap in damage output.”

“We could recruit Jura.” Gerrard suggested. “I sparred with him a few times, and I think he’s about 20% of our level, maybe less.”

“No.” I was quick to smack that down. I wasn’t going to send my best man to his death. But that was an interesting estimate. The heroes are around level 130-140, and yet a level 90 Jura is only 20% of their strength. That meant the growth at the higher levels is higher, in terms of stats.

“Aww I guessed it. But Aeon, you should train an archmage that can reach level 150!”

Easier said than done. I used so many experience-gaining and training related abilities on my elite Valthorns, and Edna is only level 62. Which is just a little bit faster than how long it took Lausanne to get there. I reckon the speed is due to experience, and also an abundance of hybrid demons for Edna and her batch to fight as real combat experience.

Anyway, Jura led my elite squad of Valthorns to one of the champions. They would attempt to fight one, with one of my [Giant Attendant Trees] nearby as aura and support. I wouldn’t let them die, of course, but I wanted to see how my new elite squad stood against a champion.

Could they do it?

Anyway, this was a good time to watch.

The demon champion wasn’t an exotic shape or form, instead, it took the form of a massive winged demon with horns. A typical demonic look.

Jura stood. “Well, it’s more intimidating than I expected.” A group of 10. Jura at about Level 92. Edna at Level 62, Faris at Level 55, the rest about level 40s to 50s. The gap’s honestly big, but most of them have upgraded classes, which puts them above the strength of their level.

“[Fear Ward], [Morale Boost].” The Grand Knight used her skills. “Well?”

Jura nodded, and he too had received upgraded familiars. “[Aura - demonic suppression]. Alright. It’s 10-on-1. Aeon’s watching, and he needs to know whether we can take it.”

There were swarms of beetles around to ensure that their 10-on-1 fight was not interrupted.

They fought. They fought hard.

And they were still inadequate. Mainly, everyone else other than Jura. Even Edna’s shields and abilities were not at a level strong enough to parry the demon champion’s attacks, until she switched to the anti-demon weapons.

I supposed I cheated, because I have these hero-fragments which just makes me intensely overpowered against demons. Still...

They won. But I had to use a block or two. Conclusion, all of them needed to be around level 70 for the fight against the demon-champion to be a certainty. They also needed a far stronger damage dealer and live-healer.

A druid was not a pure-healer. Not like someone with the [healer] class was. I had some [healer] class seeds, and I wanted to create a pure high-tier healer.

It was not just healers. I wanted high-tier mages too, and high-tier [runemasters] as well, to do the things I wanted.

Meanwhile, the heroes were getting ready. 2 years left, and already the continents faced the demonic attacks. It seemed that this time, the demons would be concentrated on our continent, because most of the demonic rifts have been detected here. Based on the heroes’ network of informants all over the country, this demon king is shaping up to be another conventional demon king.

Is that a good thing?

“We should be expecting hellhounds soon.”

Ah! That’s nostalgic. I had a woodhound from back then.

“And the demon knights and their elites.”

“So, what should we prepare?” Edna asked.

“Anti-fire magic? The conventional demon king is heavy on fire, axes and overwhelming force.” Jura advised. “What have you learned from our combat with the champion?”

“We need to be stronger, and our team-composition can be better.” Edna shrugged. “I have a few anti-demon skills as [grand knight], but not enough.”

“I’ve been rather useless throughout the entire battle.” Faris frowned. “My vines are not strong enough to damage the demon champion at all! My summons are quite useless too!” In truth, a druid and a fire-demon is a very bad matchup. The only reason I personally have any use is because my fragments make me overpowered.

“Stronger skills.” All of them agreed they needed stronger skills, but I wonder how I could give them some of my ‘anti-demon’ properties, other than through my weapons and items. If only they could get some of my passives.

“Hero-weapons?”

“The gear we have here is as-close to hero-weapons we can get.” Jura explained. Well, I do have many, many sets of weapons I made with Harris and gang, but I kept that for now, mainly because after this generation of heroes, I may not get the chance to interact with the next batch, so I should keep this generation’s weapons as a rare item. “It ultimately comes down to levels, and I agree with Faris. Faris should therefore be stationed in the back. I will request Aeon for the [grand knights] to be deployed.”

Later on, the Freshlands Federal Authority and the representative of the segment-states had gathered for a military briefing. The topic is obviously the demon king. For these representatives, this was their chance to extract maximum benefit from the federal authority.

The states have all appointed their own generals and military commanders, but as enshrined in the constitution of our federation, and with my blessings, the beetles will be deployed to defend all the segments against the demons. The Valthorns, of course, have to join the battle as the ‘elite’ force.

The heroes too, had deployed their summoned units to fight demons beyond the borders of the Freshlands. Gerrard was frequently away to tackle the demon champions that appeared. He, a high-leveled hero, could handle the demon champions easily.

I was wary of another Rottedlands-style event, so, I increased the number of [Giant Attendant Trees] in the distant regions, forming a ring. The ideal is that if something like the Rottedlands happened again, the giant trees can last a bit longer, and give me ample warning to prepare.

The last round, the demon king was on another continent, so I too somehow felt safe. It was totally a flaw in my thought process, but yeah, there’s an urgency to this matter. I had reinforced the root walls on all the borders, and hand began stockpiling my [tuberous storage]. If needed, I’d have to release large quantities of mana at one go to offset the pressure from a Rottedlands-style corruption bomb.

I also added another of trees and root walls around Freshka and the valley, for a total of 3 layers. One at the borders, one around Freshkan-region, and one around the Valley of the Unrotten. If a bomb blew up, I'd be able to buy two to three hours for a response.

I had made a basic strategy framework for a demon king.

One. Survival up till the point the demon king is slain. This meant constructing defenses, mobile populations, and armies to deal with the lesser demons. On this point, we have the beetles, a growing Valthorn Elite, and each of the regions have their own armies, adventurers and so on.

Two. Supporting the heroes to slay the demon king. The longer the demon king is not slain, the more damage it can cause. So, once the heroes appear, they need to be supported so they can get to the level needed as fast as possible. Sometimes this take one-to-two years, and during this time there’s absolutely nothing that can stand in the demon king’s way. Maybe I could, but I wasn’t sure, and I have no intention of taking that challenge on. Once the heroes are found, they should be groomed and properly armed. This, of course, is somewhat against my past practice of non-interference, but clearly it didn’t work that well.

Three. Surviving the aftermath. We’ve seen from the past few demon kings that there’s usually a death-trigger, and a post-recovery period. In some cases it’s a bomb, in some other, a plague. We don’t know what this demon king will bring, but walls, mana, a widely distributed force, and time will be needed. If it’s a corruption-bomb, rootwalls will be effective. If it’s a nuke, the rootwalls will be destroyed, but they will reduce the fallout area.

“What if a magic-interference ability happens again?” Jura asked. “We currently still have very little ‘good’ alternatives’ to the [message] spell. That’s the number one risk, I think. A communication breakdown will damage our ability to mount a response. .”

Ah. So, I had Jura train and set up a system of runners and messengers.

The Valthorns were a bit taken aback when I suggested having a system of locating and supporting the heroes.

“You want us to make items for the next generation of heroes?” Harris and Mirei were both rather surprised by it.

“Yes. If you don’t make it, you should leave something for the next generation of heroes. I’ll keep it for you, and give it to them. Unless you don’t trust me.” This was a response to point 2, of course. How do we get the new heroes up to speed as fast as possible?

“No... just that, that’s a good point. Why didn’t we think of it?” Harris said.

“Because there’s no one we could trust that would ever give up a hero-class item to the heroes. Why would they even tell the new heroes, who arrived a year or two after we died, that there are items for them?” Mirei answered on my behalf. “It’s a good idea, really. I just don’t know why I didn’t think of it too. But then, we didn’t have an eternal tree that we could trust. I mean, our lives are already in Aeon’s hands, what are some items?”

“Try to make enough for 5 generation of heroes.” If a hero could inherit the weapons of multiple generations of heroes, that may give them the leg up they needed. Or make them too powerful. But the heroes are already too powerful. The fact that there’s always a successor generation of demon king, in 10 years, essentially keeps them in check. “If you want, you can also write a special journal or writing that can only be opened with star mana, that you can leave for the next generation’s hero to read.”

They nodded, and they spent months on it. They made items, wrote magical books. Things. Memories from one generation, to be passed on to another. They all made things. Harris made shields that summoned shield soldiers. Mirei made lightning axes and staffs that also summoned lightning elementals and flying thunderbirds. Gerrard made multiple swords that also summoned magical gladiators.

When they made items for others, like their descendants, they had needed to be mindful that the items needed star mana to activate, so, they had to ensure the items contained enough self-sufficient star mana such that their descendants, who are born without them, can still use the items.

But when they made for future heroes, who will have star mana, they can pretty much go all out, since they didn’t have to consider the star mana supply. So the power of the items contained, nigh unusable to anyone else because of it’s star mana requirements, is extremely high. Again, I don’t see why they couldn’t have made it and stored it somewhere.

No one could have used these items other than heroes anyway. At least, the full abilities of it. It’s still limitedly useful in the hands of non-heroes because its generally strong and all that stuff.

And, I had them stored. “I will give one of each item to one hero of the next generation, so each generation will receive around 5-15 items.” It was rather difficult for the heroes to make the same items, so what I will do, as discussed with the heroes, was let the next generation of heroes choose what they wanted.

I’ve become the tree of items too.

[Secret Hideout upgraded]

[Woodforming upgraded]

Year 125

[Demon King Guihwang has arrived]

The demon king was early. At first, nothing much seemed to have happened. “The Demon King is here, but we don’t know where it is.” The heroes convened.

“You don’t?” I was rather surprised by this. It’s on this continent, no? No damage?

“Not a single sighting so far.”

“Huh? But then, isn’t it destroying anything?”

“I have no idea either.” None of the heroes had any idea what was happening. Every demon king in the past left a trail of destruction wherever it went, so this one being absolutely unseen is strange.

“Is it in the Rottedlands, collecting it’s strength?” The Rottedlands is vast, and I do recall some demon kings generally just laze around doing nothing for a while.

“We looked with our summons. Nothing.” Gerrard said.

“Then...”

Is this demon king... invisible? Or an assassin-type? If so, I had ensured that everyone was on high alert. “Aeon thinks this demon king’s going to ‘jump’ on us?”

“Yes. Likely to be an invisible or assassin type that would only pop up when it’s really sure it’s seen us.”

“We can sense it, right?” Gerrard closed his eyes and attempted to use his heroic sense. And yet, nothing.

“We should just travel together, just in case-” An attack on the border. Demon champions, 3 of them. And an army of hybrid demons. I sent beetles to fight them, and then, I allowed the Demon Champions closer. Once they were in the vicinity of my Giant Attendant Trees, I unleashed a flurry of anti-demon skills and my hoarded pile of anti-demon bolts.

They were tough. After all, the battle still occurred a distance away from my main tree, so the effects of my passives were weaker. But I eventually destroyed all 3 of them.

[You gained a level. Level 158!]

[Skill obtained : Demonslayer Pit]

[Creates a pit that significantly weakens demons trapped within. Attacks made within the pit all gain anti-demon properties]

Huh. A stationary trap-ability.

What’s the point-

My thoughts were instantly interrupted by a surge in power. The heroes were fighting. The demon king finally made it’s appearance! A large winged demon, it’s scales so shiny they resembled polished chrome. It had large claws and it’s swipes made large gashes in the ground with every swipe.

How and when did it appear at the outskirts?

“We can’t let it fight here.” Harris shouted as he dodged an energy attack. The ground cracked where it landed. I felt the pain of the ground and the trees damaged by it, and soon, the area was already decimated. “There’s a city not far from here!”

“Then we lead it into the Rottedlands!” Mirei said, and she transformed into lightning itself, and all 3 heroes were sucked into a lightning sphere. The demon king effortlessly followed. It was out to kill them!

They didn’t go too far. They managed to travel about one beetle-day’s journey into the Rottedlands, and bought some space between themselves and civilisation. I could see it... because this entire area was filled with hybrid trees that I gained control over.

I was relieved that even with the demon king so near I still have control.

“Should we cut it off, though?” Trevor asked. “The demon king may use some kind of psychic attack.”

“No.” I wanted to watch the demon king fight. “Just prepare countermeasures.”

The heroes crashed in an uninhabited area far away, filled with hybrid demon trees. It’s rocky terrain, filled with small mounds and hills, and the explosive demon trees.

The three heroes were all fully armed, and they dodged. The demon king wasn’t about to let them talk, as the demon king’s massive claws created another scar in the ground. I felt it, the sudden extinguishing of lives. Trees that often just get destroyed in every single combat.

The heroes used attacks I’ve never seen before. Beams of starlight, slashes that had energies of the star mana. Bright white colored energy slashes.

The demon king and the heroes traded blows, and dozens of demon champions appeared as well. The demon king summoned them to annoy the heroes, because in this star-mana form, they could destroy the demon champions with a single skill.

Yet the demon king stood. Strong and it took hits like it didn’t hurt. But it probably did, because Gerrard managed to cut away one of it’s six silvery wings.

Each time they trade blows, some trees get crushed or destroyed. It’s reminded of the saying ‘When elephant fights, it is the grass the suffers.’

But the heroes were too weak. Mirei’s performance was dragging them down, and Harris too, was slower.

“My curse is acting up!” Mirei winced in pain. The curse, long suppressed by my magic, was aggravated by the overuse of star-mana and their physical exertion. The demon king didn’t let them have a break, either. Barrage, after barrage.

They may not have noticed that I’ve been gradually replenishing the vegetation so that I could maintain my vision over the event.

Harris took a hit, his armor crushed by the sheer force of the demon king’s silvery claws. A silver-demon. The other two heroes unleashed an attack similar to a mini-nuke, they tried to put some distance between the demon king and Harris.

Harris was first to die.

The demon king just tanked the attacks, and lost one of his remaining 5 wings. But he got into distance, and with his claws, grabbed onto Harris. The demon king caught him, and crushed him.

[Harris has died. You received a fragment.]

But Harris had prepared for this eventuality, and his body exploded into a mist of blood. The blood mist then transformed into multiple sharp, spear-like shapes. Those blood spears then smashed into the demon king’s body. It pierced through multiple parts of the demon king’s body with tremendous force, an attack made of the hero’s blood surely is something else.

The power of the attack stunned my magical sensors temporarily, at this distance. It was honestly off the charts.

Another set of ithe demon king’s wings were knocked out. The two heroes didn’t flinch as they watched their friend die. They’ve been through loss, and they are still focused on the demon king.

The demon king took damage, it roared, and shot out beams of energy. Their tanker and defender was taken out, so they had to rely on a wide set of items, like their crystal matrices which created massive wooden shields. Those items didn’t hold up for very long.

Each of the shields took two hits.

Mirei’s curse acted up some more. But rather than retreat, she seemed to gain a boost of energy and she threw herself at the demon king. “Damn you!” She shouted and she ran in with a staff of lightning. I felt all my magical sensors go nuts again then. She was drawing her soul into her attack!

And the demon king, already weakened by Harris’s blood-spear, had half of it’s head blown off by an intense purple lightning blast that contained all of her soul’s power.

Then Mirei collapsed.

[Mirei has died. You received a fragment.]

Gerrard was the last. He stood alone, against a silverish demon king with two wings left, and half of it’s head and body destroyed. Purple lightning seemed to constantly attack it from nowhere. A thunder and lightning-curse. Each lightning strike seemed powered by the hero’s soul.

“Just you and me, buddy.” Gerrard closed his eyes. “It’s finally time for me to also return home. Wait for me, my friends.”

He too, threw his entire soul into his gladiator’s gladius. It shone with a bright blue light, it’s energy distorted the air. It’s glow was so bright that it seemed like the sun itself appeared. Once again all my magical sensors go insane.

“I won’t live through this anyway, but you are going down with me.” Gerrard charged at the demon king. The demon king somehow roared, and I felt the world’s demons all drained into it. Some of the hybrid trees were sucked up, and the demon king’s two claws glowed.

Both of their attacks found their targets. Gerrard’s gladius stabbed right in the demon king’s chest. It pierced through the blood-speared body. The demon king’s claws stabbed through Gerrard’s stomach.

“Die with me.” Gerrard shouted. “[Drunken Explosion].”

His body seemed to turn into an alcoholic mist, and it ignited all the naturally explosive hybrid trees together.

It was a loud and massive boom.

It set off a chain of hybrid-tree explosions that destroyed everything within a hundred miles, and created a smog so thick that it lasted for three weeks.

[Demon King Guihwang has been destroyed]

[Gerrard has died. You received a fragment].

[You received 3 heroic souls. You can now create 3 titans. You currently possess enough energy to support 2 titans] [You gained 10 levels. You are now level 168]

[Skill significantly upgraded : Woodforming]

[Skill significantly upgraded : Hybrid Botany]

[Skill significantly upgraded : Constriction]

[Skill significantly upgraded : Subsidiary Tree. Subsidiary tree limit increased on 300,000. Great Attendant Tree Limit increased to 10,000]

[Skill significantly upgraded : Demonic Suppression Aura]

[You reached level 160. Domain ability : Aeonic Variation unlocked]

[Aeonic Classes and variants have been introduced to the world. Class-users worldwide can now obtain Aeonic-variant classes such as Aeonic Ranger, Aeonic Knight, Aeonic Priests, Aeonic Druids etc. You may also now upgrade a class to their Aeonic variants. Aeonic variants have slightly different skill sets and gains extra boosts when using Aeonic items. Animals and monsters around Aeon’s valleys may also have Aeonic variants]

[You’ve unlocked two unique classes. Each of these 2 classes can only be awarded to one person at a time]

[Aeon’s Demonslayer. Class focused on demon-slaying. Gains significant anti-demon slaying boost. Able to remotely apply demonic suppression aura that’s equal to Aeon’s main body around itself]

[Aeon’s Field Scientist. Class focused on magic and research. Unlocks a wide range of lab-related and soul related skills. Can instantly set up teleportation beacons between a field lab and the magic labs within Aeon’s secret hideout]

I gained 10 levels!

“Holy cow.”

And it wasn’t over. There was a string of messages and notifications that came from Mirei and the other heroes

[Mirei has bequeathed 30 experience seeds]

[Mirei has bequeathed ten Lightning Mage class seeds]

[Mirei has bequeathed twenty Mage class seeds]

[Gerrard has bequeathed 22 experience seeds]

[Gerrard has bequeathed 15 Brewmaster class seeds]

[Harris has bequeathed 10 king class seeds. King class seeds absorbed into Anointed King class seed]

[Harris has bequeathed 10 Master Trader class seeds]

[Harris has bequeathed 10 Inquisitor class seeds. Inquisitor modified to Aeonic Inquisitor class seeds]

[Harris has bequeathed 25 experience seeds]

Ah.

Where do I start?