Wolf swept through the Demonic Converter’s surroundings. He took two weeks, doing things as stealthily as possible and keeping away from the three kilometer boundary from which he could sense the mindless hatred for the distant demonic presence.

Most of his fights were straightforward. Once he paid attention not to get himself surrounded, Wolf easily took down Eighth and Ninth Order Demonic Beasts by relying on spells, rather than the sword.

With every passing day, Wolf’s spell selection evolved. Instead of spells which caused instant death, but could be resisted through powerful will or vitality, he focused on direct damage. His reasoning was simple. If the Demonic Beast couldn’t resist a Finger of Death, then he could probably kill it using a weapon, anyway.

However, Wolf didn’t risk Van Dale’s sword on sturdier enemies. To slay such Demonic Beasts, he executed maneuvers wielding random junk from his Ring of Holding, ruining those weapons in the process.

During this time, Wolf came across seven Ninth Order Demonic Beasts and two dozen Eight Order ones, each of which died under a flashy barrage of spells. Other than safety, taking things slow had other rewards. With no waves of enemies attacking him, Wolf could properly process his kills and collect Monster Cores, as well as valuable body parts.

Whenever he rested, Wolf consumed Ninth Order Monster Cores. After absorbing the energy from five of them, he successfully promoted his Sword-Sage Order, reaching the Ninth Order.

That advancement took twenty-seven Ninth Order Monster Cores. Worse still, according to South, Wolf would need thirty Tenth Order Monster Cores, or three Eleventh Order ones, to raise his Order again.

However, this advancement came with boons as well. Wolf could finally execute Ninth Order Maneuvers and use Eighth Order ones more freely. This was Wolf’s trump against the Demonic Converter. And after clearing the ten kilometer radius around his target, the time had finally come to chop it down.

Wolf entered the clearing radiating enchantments. He had enhanced his strength, agility, endurance, speed, an ethereal, purplish armor covered Wolf’s body, while Van Dale’s sword blazed.

Noticing the intruder, the demonic tree rustled its leaves. Unlike before, the rustling wasn’t followed by an avalanche of black apples.

Wolf looked up.

The treetop once more had an abundance of apples, while in the clearing most bodies had already decomposed, leaving behind nothing but bones.

As Wolf took in the sight with his fully awakened senses, he heard a gentle snapping sound. An apple fell not two meters away from him.

The fruit appeared extremely juicy. It was rather large, and the glossy black skin seemed like the tastiest thing in the world in Wolf’s eyes. As the apple struck the ground, an enticing aroma filled Wolf’s nose.

Wolf’s mouth started salivating. He swallowed loudly. He took deep breaths enjoying the wafting aroma. His heart rate quickened, and an animalistic desire to pounce on the sweet fruit overwhelmed his mind. Wolf practically tasted the honey-like sweetness beneath that firm—

What the hell is going on? It’s just a damn apple! Wolf darkly gazed at the Demonic Converter.

“Did you just?” He realized what was going on as the black apple once more tried to draw his attention with its perfect—

“Get out of my head.” Wolf shook his head, as if such a futile motion could drive away the desire burning deep within his soul. The mesmerizing apple—

“Do you think such cheap tricks will work at this point? Do you take me for an idiot?” Wolf shouted.

Suddenly the way leaves rustled above his head changed.

They seemed to say: ‘Well, yes? Will you eat it already?’

“I’ll turn you into toilet paper!” Wolf charged towards the tree.

He swung the flaming sword sideways with all the force he could muster. Internal Energy surged as Wolf executed a Ninth Order maneuver, Sunder the Mountains. This was the same maneuver ghostly Lonely Eagle executed years ago, when Wolf ripped that scroll to save himself and his father from that dragon-blood bear.

Wolf was far from Lonely Eagle’s level, but this blow was without a doubt enough to split this tree in half. At least, that’s what Wolf thought.

He watched in slow motion as the flaming blade neared the massive trunk. Then the rustle of leaves stopped. Silence filled the air and the flaming blade turned back into a metal one. Overloaded with internal Energy, the sword exploded against the tree.

A shower of sparks and metal shards filled the air. Wolf let go of the hilt, which was blasted away by the recoil. Even though he let go of the shaft as soon as he felt something amiss, Wolf’s wrists felt like they would burst, while his elbows almost dislocated from the rebound.

Wolf’s arms shook and his hands bled. In an instant, his face went pale and his breathing turned ragged. The Demonic Converter’s bark on the other hand didn’t have a tiniest nick on it. The tree easily shrugged off the full force of a Ninth Order martial strike, supported by Elemental Weapon.

How could it be that tough? If I held on to the sword, my arms would’ve snapped. Wolf’s breathing quickened, and his eyes narrowed in realization.

The tree stood unmoving. Even though it won this bout, its leaves no longer rustled. It didn’t taunt Wolf any further. It didn’t have to.

Wolf grit his teeth and clenched his fists as he stared daggers at the tree. If looks could kill, this tree would’ve disintegrated.

The Demonic Converter had already screwed Wolf over twice, once nearly killing him. The third time was supposedly the charm. Wolf came prepared as humanly possible, and yet this tree’s defense was impregnable—

“Fuck you! Get out of my damn head!” Wolf shouted. “You’re not impervious to damage! You dispelled Elemental Weapon! I saw it!”

Wolf could rationally explain everything that happened, even the reason behind Van Dale’s sword snapping against such a high Order Demonic Beast. However, demoralizing thoughts constantly invaded his mind.

“Fine! Have it your way!” Wolf started casting Subtle Decay as he opened up some distance from the tree. However, the rustle of leaves Wolf expected from the Demonic Converter countering his spell didn’t happen.

Wolf pointed his finger towards the tree’s trunk in a very obvious and threatening way. Nothing. The Demonic Converter let Wolf finish his casting and allowed a ray of blackness to erupt from his finger.

The dark light reached its mark in a blink. But as soon as it touched the gnarled bark, the beam ricocheted back towards Wolf.

Holy! Bitch! Wolf didn’t have time to dodge.

Suddenly, a giant turtle’s carapace appeared in front of Wolf. The black ray struck it before it fully materialized and without a sound the outline of a turtle’s shell turned to ash and scattered.

That was close. Cold sweat ran down Wolf’s forehead and his balls shriveled. Luckily, Decay only has one target.

But Wolf still hadn’t solved his problem. Physical attacks against the tree didn’t work, it could counter, dispel and even reflect magic.

Maybe I ought to turn back? Wolf’s opponent was truly too formidable this time.

“Get the fuck out of my head,” Wolf shouted, grasping his head with both hands.

Wait!

“Silver, is anything strange going on in my Mind Palace?” Wolf asked aloud. He didn’t dare enter his Mind Hall at the moment, especially when a thought as insane as meditating next to his thought-tampering enemy crossed his mind.

Wolf tried to come up with a plan of action. The tree reflected Decay, but that was still avoidable when his mind functioned. Moments passed, Wolf still stared dumbly at the tree, while Silver remained just as dumb.

“Fuck.” The stinking tree wants me to retreat. That means that’s the only thing I can’t do, no matter what. I know! Wolf took out the biggest trump card he had on him.

He held a piece of paper in his shaking hand, still unwilling to use something as precious for a matter this trivial. I could just walk around the tree and ignore it—

“Just fucking die!” Wolf was already irritable because of the instinctive hatred constantly assailing him. With Demonic Converter outsmarting him thrice and influencing his thoughts added on top, it made Wolf furious and determined to kill the damn tree at all costs.

Wolf ripped the talisman in two, clenching his teeth. An inordinate amount of Soul Force and Internal Energy gushed out of that seemingly ordinary scroll.

As the talisman dissipated, two forces mingled. A split second later the misty nebula of energy morphed into a ghostly form. Lonely Eagle stood before Wolf once again. The man started drawing his spectral sword with a flat face and a gaze full of disdain.

*Slash!*

Before it left the sheath, Lonely Eagle’s sword slowly returned into it. The ritual move seemed similar like last time. And just like last time, Lonely Eagle turned around and gave Wolf a displeased look.

Wolf didn’t care. He did, however, wonder whether Lonely Eagle added that motion intentionally, or were the phantoms really sentient enough to understand what they were cutting down.

Lonely Eagle’s visage dissipated, however his strike didn’t leave a mark on the tree. This didn’t surprise Wolf. The maneuver in this talisman was Soul Severing Strike. Wolf was afraid that the Monster Core would’ve ended up damaged or destroyed if he had used the scroll of Sunder the Mountains.

A moment of silence followed in which nothing happened. Wolf’s brow furrowed. He still sensed that irrational hatred. Can it resist Internal Energy attacks targeting the soul? That shouldn’t be. The difference in power is too great. Even though I wasn’t the one attacked, I still shuddered while following that strike land.

Wait. I’m thinking clearly. A second later, the overwhelming hatred fueling Wolf’s mind grew fuzzy, then dissipated.

That was dangerous. Wolf realized that while the instinctive hatred alone couldn’t sway his mind, if it combined with other more natural emotions of anger it could sway his reason to an extent.

When fighting these trees in the future, I’ll have to prepare Tranquil Mind to suppress my own emotions or Mind Shield to ward off the tree’s infiltration.

After thinking about how to protect himself for a moment, Wolf had a sudden thought that made his skin crawl.

Silver, are you alright? Silver! But Wolf’s Mind Palace remained silent. Dammit!

Wolf’s gaze darted left and right. He saw nothing, nor did he feel any Demonic Beasts auras. I cleared the region thoroughly. There shouldn’t be any dangers lurking around. I’ll risk it for a moment.

Gritting his teeth, Wolf sat down on the ground and closed his eyes. In a split second he entered a meditative trance, leaving behind only a sliver of his will to monitor the surroundings.

Wolf sat on his throne. He glanced towards Silver’s step, but the egg wasn’t there. Then he looked around the chamber and spotted Silver in a corner of the Mind Hall. The little bugger snored softly, her legs folded beneath her.

“You little—” Wolf wanted to curse Silver, but only chuckled helplessly.

“As long as you’re fine.” Wolf’s Mental Aspect let out a relieved sigh. He took quite a risk just now. His body was in a random clearing, in the middle of a danger zone.

“Can’t really blame her for sleeping. She’s a baby; and they sleep a lot to accumulate enough Soul Force to control their bodies.” Wolf might have felt a tiny bit of resentment because Silver was such a sound sleeper, but not enough to form a thought.

In fact, the egg sleeping during the entire incident was the best outcome as far as he was concerned. Feeling relieved, Wolf left.

He failed to notice that the egg slowly drew in several centimeters of emerald colored vines. Silver slurped in the green noodle, then shifted a bit in half-sleep.

“Master, enough with the veggies. I can’t eat another bite,” the clear voice mumbled drowsily before shifting a bit and falling back to sleep.