Chapter 708: Turn of the Seasons (1/2)

“Why do you insist on profaning nature like this?” the treant asked as he destroyed an axe wraith with a wave, his irate voice sounding like crackling thunder. “Those points will not be enough to change anything.”

“Well, you never know,” Zac said as he stomped down on the ground, causing the familiar cage of [Profane Seal] to spring up and trap them both inside.

“I’ll teach you Draugr to respect nature. She’s your mother as well!” the treant shouted before he raised his arms. “Solstice!”

The enormous wheel once more rose behind the treant’s back, and Zac felt a shudder as it turned 90 degrees. The feeling of exuberant verdure around him was instantly exchanged by sweltering heat where he was being constantly blasted by an angry sun. The trees in the fantastical forest changed, and they started to bear fruits that all turned into 2-meter warriors that radiated the might of strong middle E-grade fighters.

It felt like his sealing fortress had turned into a greenhouse, but the important thing was that it had sealed off the glacial fortifications behind him. Zac noticed that an ice-crystal was already reforming, though its speed was pretty slow. Of course, Zac had seen just how much pure force the treant could exert, and he knew that his F-grade trap wouldn’t last more than a hit or two.

Zac shot toward the treant before he had the chance to unleash any more skills. He needed to turn this into a dogfight and prevent the activation of any finishers. If this guy had some skill like [Arcadia’s Judgement], he’d be able to take out both him and Catheya simultaneously. Twenty thick chains shot toward the treeman as well, desperately trying to bind him in place.

Unfortunately, even the strengthened chains the peak mastery of [Profane Seal] provided weren’t enough to withstand the aura blasting out from the enemy. They were quickly covered in a green moss that made them lose their structural integrity, forcing Zac to spend Miasma to form new ones. Zac immediately changed his command to send most of the chains toward the wood puppets, while only using a few to harass the main target.

A furious war had already erupted inside the cage, with new wraiths and wood puppets appearing every second. [Deathmark] was burning a large amount of energy at the moment, but the same had to be true for the treeman’s skill. Zac was happy to keep wasting energy, and he let the skill run while he fought the treeman.

A herculean jump put Zac in front of the even larger treant, and his bardiche clove through the air with furious momentum as the chains of [Love’s Bond] shot toward the treant's hand that was grabbing for the Spirit Tool wheel. The titanic treeman was not so easily suppressed though, and he formed a thick layer of bark on his forearm like a protective bracer to block out Zac’s swing.

Simultaneously, he snatched the chains of [Love’s Bond] with lightning-quick motion and hurled Zac away like a piece of garbage. Zac was flung across the cage, but just before hitting the cage walls, he turned into a puff of smoke. It was [Abyssal Phase] activating in the nick of time, though Zac shortened the cast time by 20% by infusing the final part with [Force of the Void].

He shot back through the arena, ignoring the blistering heat that was even more palpable in his intangible form. Zac was once more in front of the living tree before he even had the chance to take two steps toward Catheya. Four chains shot toward the treant’s eyes as a blue fire spread across his left leg.

Both Zac and a recently spawned wraith targeted the burning section, and huge chunks of wood were cut loose as the treant hurriedly avoided the chains threatening to blind him. Zac wanted to follow up with another strike, but dozens of spearlike trees suddenly sprung up around where he stood, forcing him to scramble out of the way.

He realized that it was a few of those weird pixies that had burrowed into the ground and transformed into weaponized trees. He had ignored those things until now, but it looked like they were yet another threat to him. Zac swung his axe back and forth in wide arcs to cut the roots apart, but they were far harder compared to the much larger roots of the mothertree.

Soon enough, Zac found himself bloodied and pushed back over fifty meters by an ever-expanding forest, and the treant was already lumbering toward the edge of the cage again. The wound on the treeman’s leg was fast recovering, and he grabbed the wheel in his hand, clearly intent on breaking apart the cage once and for all.

Zac immediately rushed forward to intercept, but he knew that he would have to change his tactics fast. His previous strikes were meant to take him down in a similar fashion he took down the blacksmith golem. Cripple limbs and then take him out. Unfortunately, this treeman was not only extremely powerful, but he also seemed to be a Vitality cultivator.

The good thing was that his attacks weren’t overly powerful. The domain he released was swelting but manageable. The wood puppets were powerful, but they were restrained by [Deathmark] and [Profane Seal]. The wooden spikes had huge potential for large-scale destruction, but they wouldn’t be able to take him out.

The biggest risk was the brute force in the treeman’s swings along with his hidden cards. As long as he could restrain those, then Zac would at least complete his job. He soon reached the giant once more, but instead of forcibly attacking with a huge swing, he dragged himself to the side with the help of [Love’s Bond], letting the other chains trail behind.

Suddenly he was behind the treant, and three chains wound around one of the treeman’s feet as Zac stomped down on the ground and pulled. The treeman grunted in annoyance as he swung the massive wheel in a wide arc to smash Zac, but a coffin-formed barrier appeared before the swing even had started, preventing the strike from generating any momentum.

The treeman still managed to break through just a moment later, but Zac had already jumped up and swung his axe at the target’s neck by that time. A dozen terrifying branches, each one containing enough power to cause cracks in space, shot out from the treeman’s crown to intercept. However, Zac’s trajectory had already changed again thanks to his chains pulling him to safety.

Meanwhile, two chains of [Profane seal] interlinked and formed a thick fetter as they slammed into one of the treeman’s feet, causing him to stumble a bit. Zac along with his skills and chains were anywhere and everywhere, like a swarm of flies around a large predator. No strike was aimed to kill. They were rather aimed at ruining tempo and stealing momentum.

The treeman was quickly becoming frustrated, and he forcibly swung the enormous wheel into the ground, causing a tremendous explosion that kicked up a storm inside the cage. Cracks spread across the walls and towers of [Profane Seal], but they slowly started to heal as there was no follow-up. Zac had blocked out the shockwave by jumping into the air and shielding himself with [Profane Exponents], and he was already back on the target before the treant finished his attack.

Zac could feel that he was onto something as his attacks started to slowly transform.

From the moment the first seeds of life appeared in the universe, they started their endless struggle against their surroundings: evolution. But there was one more struggle that was born the very moment life was introduced to the cosmos; the struggle against death itself. Warriors struggled and risked their lives, all for the sake of power, wealth, and longevity.

However, even the supreme beings at the peak of the pyramid had one enemy they couldn’t beat the vicissitudes of time.

Aging and its inevitable withering were ever-present and relentless, like a specter looming over the shoulder. No matter whether they fought or fled, it would be there, slowly squeezing the last ember of resistance from their body. The rot would come for even the greatest of Emperors. Eventually, there was nothingness. Finality.

Zac soon looked at the towering treant as a representation of the living trying to delay the inevitable. The special Draugr sight that he barely utilized until now was fast becoming the key that showed how life-force constantly surged through the enemy’s body. Combined with his [Cosmic Gaze] he saw everything he needed to see to follow this new path.

Any time the giant tried to empower one of his skill runes, Zac was already there. An axe stabbed into his leg from behind and infused it with a corrosive rune. A chain shot toward a vulnerable spot to force a response. Zac himself unleashing a massive swing that even the treant would have to deal with.

Each little clash would mark the enemy for death and close another avenue of turning things around. This was not some sort of restriction of a skill, it was restriction through tempo. In fact, Zac’s actions were gradually slowing down compared to the frantic pace he kept just a few seconds ago. Death never rushed, it was slow and methodical; inescapable.