Astartes of the Bear School

Chapter 2085-2057. Attacking the Spiral Tower

"This is the Sealed Tree."

Standing atop the edge of the Lauferg ruins, Messermo explained to those around him with considerable emotion.

By this time, the entire Laufgu ruins had been completely cleared away.

The shadows left by the horned people who originally stayed here were all dispelled, but because death is also impossible in the Shadow Land, those shadows will return after a period of time.

Therefore, this can only be described as a temporary measure.

The ancient ruins of Laufer are indeed full of antiquity.

This place was built entirely of large stones, but even with such simple and sturdy building materials, it is now all ruins.

The surface is covered with moss and lichen, and water flows throughout the ruins, making it seem as if it has completely returned to the natural environment, no longer belonging to the category of man-made structures.

The platform they were on was located on the edge of the Lauferg ruins, and directly in front of them was Barrett, the town the Horned people named after their tower.

Above Barrett, a huge, coiled, illusory black shadow silently floated in the air.

At the lower end of the shadowy area, where it borders Tower Town, a thick ring of black thorns encircles the entire region.

Outside the thorn circle, Tower Town remains visible and tangible. Inside the thorn circle, Enil Ilim is reduced to a mere shadow.

It appears that this is the manifestation of the power of the Shadow Tree that Messermo once invoked in the Tower Town.

On the high platform where they stood, there was a small tree whose color was as deep as those black thorns.

This sapling is only about a meter tall, and it grows with wildly forked branches.

Messermo's introduction was mainly for Lan En and the others. Many of the members of the Holy War Army had personally witnessed the appearance of this small tree.

Standing in this spot, you can see the silhouettes of Tower Town and the Spiral Tower in the distance.

After several days of gathering, although not yet fully in place, the area outside Tower Town, which had long been breached and remained desolate to this day, is now filled with fluttering banners stretching as far as the eye can see.

Because of their shared use of the Fire of Mesmer, the Holy War Army mostly used blackened materials. They gathered outside the Tower Town, looking as if a large patch of the withered yellow grassland of the Graveyard Plain had been scorched.

The giant burning willow man that Lan En and his group had seen before was also heading towards Tower Town with steps that made the ground tremble.

“Get ready,” even the usually aloof Messermo couldn’t help but take a deep breath after thinking about what he was about to do, before looking at Melina beside him. “Let’s begin.”

Melina turned around and saw the Witcher nod slightly to her. Only then did she seem slightly relieved. She stepped forward and took her brother's hand, which bore the marks of burns.

The two stood together in front of the sealed tree, which was no taller than a person and as black as a shadow.

No action or spell was performed.

The two, who were the 'seeds', understood what they should do the moment they stood here, from the very essence of their bodies.

Their hands clasped together, while their unobstructed hands simultaneously and gently reached towards the sealed tree.

A spark, seemingly appearing out of nowhere, drifted from the two people's outstretched hands toward the sealed tree.

Even a tiny spark, or a bonfire with its crackling, popping wood, would produce brighter sparks.

But it was this very spark that caused the small, shadowy tree to burst into flames from bottom to top.

Simultaneously with the burning of the Sealed Tree, the ring of black thorns in the Tower Town also spontaneously combusted.

The enormous black shadow that had been hovering over Tower Town was fading, and some white and gold light was emerging from the shadow.

Finally, a spiral structure emerged, seemingly floating entirely in the sky, a colossal building whose structural integrity was completely disregarded.

"Hoo! Hoo!"

The sealed tree, like a dark shadow, continued to burn, not yet completely consumed, but the seal seemed to have been broken.

Meanwhile, Messermo and Melina both seemed to have exhausted themselves, and collapsed to their knees on the ground.

Both of them were pale, but their expressions remained calm.

After all, both the brother and sister had long harbored the idea of ​​burning themselves completely.

They are not afraid of being completely burned to the ground, let alone this kind of 'small-scale' activity.

However, the apparent calm is merely a facade.

Messermo knelt on the ground, his eyes gazing absently at the burning Sealed Tree, and further away at the same angle, at the Spiral Tower that had returned to the real world.

“Look, Mother… I am alive, and… I have done it.”

Messermo murmured softly.

He pulled Melina's hand and together they struggled to their feet.

In a normal battle, with his strength, he could fight for days and nights without any problem. But what just happened wasn't a battle; it was using up his true essence flame.

The only reaction I experienced was weakness in my legs and a feeling of emptiness that made me want to die. This was the mildest possible reaction I had anticipated.

Even so, the intensity of his Mesmer's Fire was reduced by more than half.

This is essentially an irreversible decline, just like the essential flame within his body, which will not recover over time.

Once it's used up, it's used up. Unless you can find a new source to replenish it, it's truly gone.

Lann stepped forward, taking the unsteady Melina from Messermo's hands, while gazing at Enil Ilim in the distance and speaking.

"Are you guys okay?"

None of the people present were being pretentious, so Lan En wasn't asking about their physical condition, but rather directly asking if they could still fight.

Messermo did not reply, but a flicker of weak flame appeared in his hand, and his black iron spear materialized directly from the flame.

“We have to hurry!” Lann’s tone was serious and earnest. “Look, Michaela is making her move!”

At the top of the spiral tower that emerges from the shadows in the distance, a slender yet incredibly conspicuous golden beam of light connects directly to the boundless sky!
"let's go!"

Messermo's voice was cold, hard, and crisp.
-
"go ahead!"

Outside Tower Town, a powerful army of various soldiers, including Flame Knights, Black Knights, Holy War Army soldiers, Kalia Mountain Troll Knights, and Flame Willow Men, advanced toward the gates of Tower Town under their command.

The fires of Messermo are burning, and the magic of the Kalia royal family is shining.

Except that it was still daytime, everything was just like when the jihadist army first stormed this town sometime in the past.

The knights, lined up in neat rows, stepped one by one up the long, ascending staircase leading to the entrance of Tower Town.

It was like a torrent of slaughter.

Above them, massive amounts of Messermo fire coiled and writhed like snakes.

Because their lord was Mesmer, the army was filled with a forest of spears, their cold gleam sharp and menacing.

The veteran Gaius, with his rhinoceros-sized boar beneath him, both clad in heavy armor, moved like a war behemoth!

"Humph!"

Gaius was a silent man, perhaps because of his birth as the son of platinum. But his wild boar grunted incessantly.

But given the wild boar's size and menacing aura, the squeals that should have been comical turned into something terrifying.

Gaius remained silent, but the moment the spiral tower appeared, a layer of purple lightning enveloped him and his wild boar.

Following closely behind, ripples caused by abnormal air refraction due to gravity also appeared on them.

【Gravity Magic - Gravity Spike】!
As fellow disciples of Rataen, Gaius's talent and achievements were certainly not as great as General Shattered Star, but he was still a master!

The knights steadily advanced up the long steps before the gate, while Gaius, who had been positioned at the rear of the formation, and his boar were suddenly sent flying into the sky with a loud bang!
Despite its own weight, the wild boar had long since adapted to its master's gravity magic, soaring through the sky as nimbly as a dragon.

After slightly adjusting its posture, the wild boar spun around with its master, crackling with purple electricity like a drill bit, and crashed into Barrett's tightly closed gate!
"Boom~!"

The town of Tower, which had already been conquered by the Holy War Army, has now had its gates breached once again.

After the gates of Tower Town were smashed down, the sky changed color.

It wasn't the shadow cast by the visible spiral tower, but rather a sudden surge of wind, clouds, thunder, and lightning.

"Click~"

Golden lightning flashed across the sky amidst the storm, and something resembling a lion dance seemed to be flying and roaring in the air.

But then, a sharp 'sizzle' sound rang out!
A sharp and swift flaming gun shot straight down the lion dance that was summoning the storm in the sky!
Among the ranks of soldiers before the city gate, Kud, the commander of the Flame Knights, coldly sheathed his weapon.

"There are still surviving [Divine Beast Lion Dancers] here?" he asked, slightly surprised, under his helmet. "I remember we killed them all back then, hung them on spear shafts, and planted them on the city walls of Barrett."

"Just survivors." Among the steadily advancing army, a mushroom-haired fire knight named Quinlan remained unconcerned. "Who knows how many divine beast lion dances the Horned People have performed over the years? But what we must do is the same as before: for Queen Marika, kill them all!"

"Forward! Forward!"

"Charge into Barrett! Charge into the Spire Tower!"

"Holy War Army! It was because we used a clever trick to bypass the Spiral Tower! We bypassed the strongest and most concentrated place of the Horned People that we were abandoned and sealed away by the Queen! We should have shed our blood on the Spiral Tower! We should have slaughtered every Horned Person on that tower!"

"Now is the time for atonement! Now...now is the time to hope for a return to golden glory! Forward!"

Nothing inspires the Holy War Army more than the call to 'return to the golden glory'.

In the living hell of Shadowlands, they could only find solace in their increasingly radical faith.

If they had the chance to see the golden tree's light again, even just for a glimpse, they would all give everything for it!
(End of this chapter)