The three eventually get to the castle, as they search for the king, they enter a room filled with sick people.
They see the king tending to the sick.
Lysandra goes up to him and says
"Father, there's someone that wants to talk to you"
The king replies
"I am currently busy, tell them to wait"
She says
"I don't think you want to say that to my escorter"
The king surprised, turns around and sees Art.
He gets up and says
"Human?"
Lysandra whispers something to the king.
After a bit the king leaves the room and tells Art to follow him into his office.
The king sits down and introduces himself.
"I am the king of sylvestra, [Galawen Silverleaf]. My daughter, she told me about you. Thank you for keeping her safe"
Art then asks
"If that's the case, then she must've told you why i'm here"
Galawen says
"Unfortunately Wolfblood, we have our own problems right now, we won't be able to help you, until we are done"
Suddenly, two elves enter the king's office.
The first elf, looks young and is wearing royal clothes.
The other elf, looks older and is wearing hunter's gear with a magic imbued bow, with two daggers, one on each hip.
The younger elf, looks at Art and says to his father.
"Father!, what is a human doing here?"
The king replies.
"That human, helped your sister come back home, Elovan"
Elovan clicks his tongue and leaves the room.
The older brother, walks up to Art and shakes his hand while saying
"Thanks for bringing Lysandra back safely.
I'm Raelor, but you can call me Rae"
Art introduces himself and Lutins says
"And i'm Lutin and no, am not a mimic"
The king asks Rae about the forest temple.
Rae responds.
"It seems i was right, these roots are all coming from the temple. There's a problem, all my men got injured while fighting off the fissure monsters And now i got no one"
The king then says.
"Wolfblood, how about this?. You help Rae with the temple and if things work out. I'll tell you everything i know"
Rae says.
"Wait,wait how strong is he?"
Lutin says.
"Art takes down fissure monsters, like he's taking out trash"
Rae says.
"Well in that case, we should be fine.
We'll set out tomorrow, get some rest in the meantime"
The king says.
"You heard him, you need to rest"
He then calls one of the maids and she takes Art to his room.
Art settles in and takes his a gear off.
Lutin then says.
"Hey, let's not sit around. Let's go check out the kingdom"
Art says.
"Nah, i'll pass"
And lays down on his bed and falls asleep.
Lutin decides to go explore alone.
THE NEXT DAY.
Art gets out of the bed.
He gets ready and leaves to meet up with Rae.
Lutin follows him.
They meet up with Rae and he says
"Alright, we're heading out now. Come on"
Lutin asks how long is it going to take to reach the temple.
Rae answers.
"It's not too far, but still we might get slowed down by fissures"
Art says.
"They shouldn't be a problem. With the two of us"
They leave and head to the temple.
While walking, the sky suddenly gets sliced and a fissure opens.
Monsters start falling from it.
Many sizes, small and big, but something stronger, a large troll.
Art unsheathes his sword, for Rae he equips his bow and starts shooting the monsters.
Art starts slashing away at the monsters, grabbing them and having Rae shoot them.
The troll, tries to swing at Art with his club.
Art dodges and swings at its legs.
Rae shoots its left eye.
It starts stumbling back, Art quickly slash's the back of its feet.
It falls down with its club.
Rae yells "Now!".
Art sheaths his sword, runs towards the troll and grabs its club.
He lifts it in the air and crushs the troll's head.
Rae says.
"Damn!, you're crazy strong"
Lutin proudly says
"Told ya"
They move on and head to the temple.
They reach the temple and Rae says.
"Wait here"
He walks up to the temple door.
The filled with carvings and is decorated with different types of metals.
Rar takes out a flute and starts using it.
After a few seconds the door starts opening.
He then says.
"Hey, come on you two"
They start heading down avoiding any traps while also killing any monsters in their way.
Eventually they reach the main room.
A large chamber, with a large tree in the middle.
The tree is split in half and at the top of it, a humanoid tree.
The three hide behind a fallen pillar and start discussing on how to deal with it.
Lutin says.
"That's a Rooh tree!"
Art and Rae look at Lutin.
Lutin pauses and looks at the two nervously.
Rae says.
"The hell you paused for?. Keep going"
Lutin then starts explaining
"Rooh mean soul. So for us this is called a soul tree. They tend to inhabit abandoned areas and adapt to their environment. Weather it's cold or hot, once they adapt, they start draining mana around them with their roots and if you get close they'll drain your mana too"
Lutin realizes that and says.
"Wait, Rae how is your mana not drained?"
Rae points to the talisman on his neck and says.
"This talisman keeps my mana stuck in a certain point. Meaning if i try to use lets say 50% of my mana it will let me, but if i try to use the rest, it will stop me. I thought i might need it so i brought it with me just in case. What about you, how the hell are you still standing?"
Art replies.
"I don't usually use magic, so it's not that big of a deal"
Rae comments.
"Muscle power, alright. What about fairy?"
Lutin answers.
"No it affects me, it's just am slowing down the process with a spell. Sooo lets hurry before i fall flat"
Lutin the adds while pointing at the tree.
"See that green glow, under the humanoid tree. That's its Crystal heart, we simply need to rip it out and shatter it"
The Crystal is wrapped around by the roots.
Rae says.
"If that's the case, lets go"
The three jump out of the pillar and start running towards the tree, with Lutin on Art's shoulder. Art and Rae split up while running towards it, the tree notices them and starts attacking them with its roots, both of them start dodging its attacks.
Rae shoots multiple arrows but the tree blocks them.
Art cuts its roots, while jumping over them.
He then tells Rae to come over to him.
Rae swiftly dodges through its attacks.
As he reaches Art.
Art backsteps and grabs Rae's hand, he looks at Rae and they both nod.
Lutin quickly blinds it with a spell, after that Art throws Rae into the air.
As Rae is facing down, with the tree under him.
He shoots multiple arrows, strapped with thick ropes.
Rae then lands behind the tree and wraps the ropes around his hands.
He then starts yanking the humanoid tree out of its place.
The tree fall in front of Rae and trys to get on its feet, Rae quickly kicks it in the face and land in front of Art.
Art punchs it, causing it to stumble backwards.
Rae kicks it in the back.
Art punchs it again and they kept going. One hit after the other.
Eventually, Rae puts its head in between his bow and its string. He then spins once before slamming the tree into the ground.
The tree lets out a bloodcurdling scream and send it's core to the ceiling, surrounding it with its roots.
Lutin grabs a small sharp rock and says.
"I'll deal with the core, you two try to take the tree out"
Meanwhile Art and Rae are fighting the tree, Lutin starts going through the root, eventually he reaches the core and starts hitting it with the sharp rock.
The tree flails in pain and squeezes the roots around its core.
Art yells.
"LUTIN!"
Both him and rae look at the tree and start beating the shit out of it.
The roots surrounding Lutin and the core start withering away.
Lutin falls from the ceiling and Art quickly catchs him.
The core has been shattered.
Rae puts his foot on the trees neck and pins it down.
He then snaps its neck and looks at Art.
They look at each other while giving a thumbs up.
Rae says.
"Bet everyone in the kingdom will be happy. Come on lets go"
Art nods while carrying Lutin and they all head out from the temple to the kingdom.
END OF CHAPTER.