Advanced Cultivation Civilization

ACC Chapter 39 The Forest Spirit

I raised inch thick bars of steel from the ground and tied up one tree, constricting until the green thing splintered into bark and juices before a protruding silver spear pierced through another smaller plant, that had taken the cue to ambush me.

With a stomp, the ground turned a steely color before sharp arrows swarm out of it and flew off, with each targeting a core within the large number of crowded trees straining against my defensive line.

I was tired and sweaty(sweaty because I didn't want to waste any morsel of spiritual energy produced from my core taking care of minor troubles like that.)

How long had I been fighting, maybe a few hours...

Green spit landed upon a barrier I had raised in front of myself, a particularly thick slab of steel, corroding a hole into it. Though, it had done its job and blocked what would have injured me. My armor had already paid the price when I had thought it enough to block one of those corrosive globes.

"Bakung! Aren't you tired?" shouted Mawar, on another defensive line where petals were floating around her, congregating to block attacks, and sawing everything that entered their range into bits.

"I am. But no one is left to relieve me."

I answered back even as I raised a forest of steel spears that pierced into another line of trees racing towards my line with their roots acting as limbs.

I couldn't afford to falter here. The city was behind me. There were many Core Formations like me holding the line against this forest which had been given life and offensive means. Most of these creatures were weaker than us but we couldn't let those below Core Formation take the stage because of the chaotic spiritual energy. They could only replenish themselves from spirit stones, which I was pretty sure were also dwindling in reserves.

A loud sound off in the southwestern direction attracted my and everyone's attention, before a shockwave washed over us, rustling the branches and leaves of the trees while also scattering Mawar's petals for a moment.

There, above, the city lord, wielding a massive hammer, had just pounded the water-dragon spirit into the depths of the crater it had called home in its form as a lake.

He was tired. All of us could see that. But he couldn't stop because the spirit has set its sights upon the city. If it weren't because a Nascent Soul tree spirit was hiding among these tree beings, some of us might have been helping him.

"Bakung!" Shouted out Mawar, though her warning hadn't mattered because I too, had sensed it. A heavy presence was heading towards us. And judging by its aura, it was the equivalent of a Nascent Soul.

We had been relying heavily upon having orbital weapons of destruction that each city had only been assigned with a single Nascent Soul city lord. But now, such a decision had come back to bite us. Of course there had been another, a sect master of the Rain Path sect. But the man and his entire organisation had upped and left when a vessel from another sect had arrived to pick them up. They had abandoned us.

And so far, the Federation had yet to send anyone to offer help. What had happened to the planet? Where was my boss?

I had many many questions which I lacked answers to right now.

The tall trees parted as a truly massive behemoth appeared within the space they had vacated. For a moment, I lost my words. I had thought that it would be a tree, bigger than the others, but this was far too unique for that.

Thick brown roots, woven around each other, made up its legs, with the tips taking the position of sharp claws on its brown paws.

Where the legs met the body, a clear demarcation of territory in the form of two colors, brown at the bottom, while green took over the rest of the body, which was shaped like a forest predator, probably a jaguar.

Its head, or what the ball was supposed to represent, only had a single vertical mouth lined with thorns in an arrangement akin to teeth, coupled with the red pigmentation of a real mouth. There were no eyes I could detect upon it, but for some reason, I had the feeling that it was looking at me.

Lastly, there was a green tail behind that separated in the middle, with each ending in a green spiked ball.

Standing before it, my height only came up to its reverse jointed legs.

I straightened myself up and entered a state of high alert, with a steely grey spiritual energy aura flaring around me. The diameter of the steely ground around me increased, painting all the ground around me in a radius of 20 meters a steely grey color.

(Mawar! Go and call the other late Core Formations!)

I transmitted through my divine sense, while the hairs at the back of my neck rose up in response to the danger I was feeling.

The moment, its woven-root feet so much as twiched, two long bars of steel popped out from the ground beside me, instantly transforming into blades as long as me as I slashed horizontally with both at exactly the same time.

The clash with both the tails forced ripples of dispersed force through me, and into the ground, where the ground beyond my steel domain cracked, with fissures reaching over 5 meters in length!

With an exertion of force, whereby vessels manifested along my steel arms, I parried the tail away.

I sensed multiple items entering my divine sensory range, all originating from the forest spirit, and raised thick slabs of steel, boxing myself within them before bursting out from the back as if I had just passed through a screen of water, before they strained to handle the weight of the spirit which had leaped upon the thick slabs.

As I was retreating, I let go of the two blades, upon which they grew other long blades where hilt met blade, at a 90° angle to the original sword with the hilt also elongating into a sharp blade, turning themselves into sharp crosses, which I hurled towards the beast, burning with a steely grey aura.

As it tried to leap from the now deformed solid giant bars of steel, I turned them into liquid before the force could reach them, causing its leap to become a mere small jump, with the spinning crosses digging furrows on its sides, closer to the shoulders.

The massive roar of fury which pushed the air away from its mouth in waves was dodged as I changed positions, willing the crosses back to my side, where I kept them rotating around me as it wailed.

Its rage filled roar took a few seconds which was a welcome development as my steel core replenished some of the spent energy from before.

Then the steel aura infested gashes split from the main body, falling to the ground, with the rest of the green flesh of the spirit knitting itself back together, producing more flesh to fill the void left by the two pieces on the ground, which were no putting their tenacious life force on display by sprouting shoots and roots which dug into the soil.

The beast, or forest spirit lacked eyes. But in the short confrontation we had had, I had found that the hairs along its entire body somehow had small bits of green spiritual energy upon their tips, only visible within divine sense.

Before the spirit could attack this time, I took the fight to it, sliding across my steely surface as if gliding in the air to reach its flank, where I hurled one of the spinning crosses, this time giving it the command to grow to the level where the beast would be split in half should it not take anti- measures.

Before I could even connect with the cross, my instincts screamed at me, but I only had enough time to send a command below my feet, where a block launched me up into the air, but I had been a tiny sliver too slow.

A vine, only an inch thick, punched through all my defenses as if they were flimy paper and bored out through my back from my chest, destroying my heart in the process.

And all this, I captured with my divine sense, which caused a seed of fear to sprout within me.

That had been an attack even faster than a single rotation of my crosses!

I spit out some blood as my spiritual energy took over for all the damaged organs, like creating a steel heart and even molding a spinal cord.

The steel that had been beneath my feet rose up to catch my body in its embrace. The spirit on the other hand roared out in joy and excitement, like a child.