Pillars of Ita

Chapter 1168: Sprouting

"Graybranch is there!"

someone shouted.

In the quiet square, a white tree broke through the soil and stood tall on the glassy ground, as if reflecting its morbid growth on a mirror. A light snow was falling around it, and the vast fungal dust fell on the ground and crystallized into ash.

The square plover had never seen such a strange creature before. It was like nature's cruel sneer at mortals. It was there - but people were helpless against it. Even if they eradicated it, the world would still continue to produce disease sprouts.

Dark Crow took a step forward, but a man in scholar's robes behind him grabbed him and said, "Wait a minute."

"What's wrong, Filens?" He turned around and looked at his partner, who was meticulous and calm, like the brain of the team, and he always trusted the latter.

In the back, Fang He also stopped beside Merrill. He felt a strong sense of strangeness, as if there was something in the air, which made him look in one direction - there seemed to be something refracting the light, distorting the "snowflakes" falling from the sky, outlining the outline of a human figure, huge, slender, and as tall as a two-story building.

All the people in the Seven Seas Brigade behind him looked over at the same time—

When Cui Xisi saw this scene, she couldn't help but roll her eyes and wrote in the team channel: "You guys should restrain yourself a little."

But no one paid any attention to her. Aljan on the side looked extremely unhappy, "Why is there a tree shadow here?"

Fang He subconsciously raised his magic glove, but then he remembered his role and gently put his hand down. He looked at Merrill with a questioning look, but the Silver Wind Watcher in front of him had already issued a warning, interrupting the two of them:

"Be careful--!"

The human figure in the snowflakes flashed slightly, interrupting Fang He's thoughts. He got goose bumps all over his body - this level of monster is definitely not something Merrill and his group can handle! But judging from the appearance of Merrill and his group, such a thing should not appear next to the branches of the ash tree.

But he didn't have time to think more, as a scream came from the Silver Wind Watcher's side, and a monster appeared behind them. Its grayish-white appearance was like a dead tree with distinct textures, and its slender body was hidden in the mist. Its long and thin claws pierced through the chest of a Silver Wind Watcher.

Its claws pierced through the magic furnace behind him, so that the shield didn't even have time to take effect. The thing was half floating in the air, without a head. The place where the face should have been was blank, with only a pair of flashing black and white eyes left.

  There's another one!

Fang He keenly noticed that the one that appeared behind the Silver Wind Watcher was not the one he caught at the beginning. He turned around and heard a sharp friction sound behind him - the knight lady raised her shield, and the claws that appeared out of thin air drew a streak of sparks on the shield, leaving three deep scratches.

Without thinking, Mei threw the shield in that direction. The Kite Shield drew an arc and hit the invisible thing in the air, causing the monster to flash and reveal its shape. The shield was just an A-level white board, but the opponent used his claws to break the shield into pieces, which still made people squint.

The knight lady looked calm, changed the hilt of the sword, held it with both hands, assumed a top position, leaped forward high, raised the sword and slashed at the monster.

Cui Xisi was a little helpless: "This is not a shield guard..."

"But Sister Mei at least used swordsmanship." Tianlan comforted her.

However, the monster obviously sensed the threat and tried to dodge again by changing its shape, but a greatsword was slashing across from behind it, forcing it to move sideways and then raise its claws to block the knight lady's sword.

The half-sword was also an A-level byproduct, but at least it had some attributes that were better than nothing. However, when May slashed the monster's slender arm with the sword, the blade still burst into a dazzling light. The sword body bent into a curve under the pressure of the huge force, and then exploded into countless fragments.

The sword light actually turned into a cold wave, sweeping towards the monster. The impact wavelength was nearly a hundred feet long, blowing out a cone-shaped area on the ground, causing one of its arms to fly high up and then roll far away.

The cut on the creature's arm was as smooth as a mirror, without a drop of blood flowing out. However, Aljean, who was drawing his bow and arrow, stared at the scene in amazement. He even forgot what he was doing and let the arrow fly.

"Oh." Tianlan couldn't help but cover his eyes. It turned out that Miss May also had such high attainments in swordsmanship.

Cui Xisi was too tired to complain anymore.

Forget it, she had no choice but to let these people go.

But the expression on Fang He's face became serious instead. He saw that Miss May had hardly held back her sword. Except for not using the halberd and the ancient knight's ability, she had almost used all her strength to attack. This thing could actually withstand her sword.

  What level is it?

"Be careful, it's not seriously injured." Merrill reminded from the side. She didn't let others join the battle, because she knew they would only be a burden in such a situation, but she still gritted her teeth slightly - how could there be shadows in the area of ​​​​branching?

Mei lost her sword, and the monster was also slashed back by her sword, but just as the elf girl said, the monster's figure was fading little by little, and disappeared again in the snow. But Fang He saw this scene and threw a "fireball" in that direction -

The fireball suddenly exploded when it approached the side of the building on the street. The flames and shock waves caused the snow to flutter, and the monster had to reveal itself again under the impact of the airflow. This time, Daliel had seized the opportunity and slashed across with a sword.

The sword energy actually brought up a bunch of long thorns from the ground, and the monster was caught off guard - its arms, thighs, and calves were all pierced by the thorns. The steel-like thorns entangled it, slowing down its movements.

The next moment, the giant sword cut through its chest and abdomen, splitting it in two. But even so, the monster still had the strength to fight, and swung a claw at the cat lady - but Daryl looked at the opponent's claw coldly, without moving.

At this moment, a figure flashed, and almost everyone only saw a flash of black light, and then the young man in the cloak was putting the sword back into the scabbard, and under the afterimage of the hood, the golden light was fading.

Like a thin line, it spread vertically along the monster, and purple-black flames gushed out from the cut, burning it up bit by bit. When the wind blew, it turned into dust. However, the purple devil flame fell on the ground like a series of footprints, caught up with the box, and merged under his long cloak.

"what?"

  Several Summoners were shocked when they saw this scene. What kind of moves did these two have? What kind of swordsman has this skill?

Fang He then looked to the other side. Jita, Parker and Alyssa had helped the other side to deal with another monster, but the loss of manpower was irreversible. Three Silver Wind Watchers were killed in one encounter.

Dark Crow flashed to the side of the gray tree, raised his sword and chopped it into several pieces with three consecutive strikes.

Then he walked over, looked at Merrill with a gloomy face, and asked, "Why is there a tree shadow here? It is a companion of the elite gray branch, unless someone has arranged something here in advance-"

Meryl was stunned. Although the two tree shadows also made her feel uneasy, she was surprised by the other party's tone. It was as if he was doubting what they had done. "Mr. Dark Crow, we arrived here with you. I, I don't know what happened?"

"Really?" Dark Crow asked through gritted teeth, "Then what is this?"

He stretched out his hand, and in his palm was a white tree knot, like a heart of wood.

"This is the Holy White Oak," said the Dark Crow. "They only grow in the courtyard of the temple. Only the Unicorn Girl can approach them and trim the branches of the Holy White Oak. Now tell me, why did it appear here?"

He gnashed his teeth and said, "Three of us died, and Sonne only has one chance to revive. Miss Merrill, is this the example your Saint Maidens have set for Silverwind Harbor? You said that the rumors outside wronged you, then take a look at this?"

Meryl was completely stunned. She was shocked when she saw the tree heart and said hurriedly: "...This is not us...I promise..."

Dark Crow shook his head. "Ms. Merrill, I'm not blaming you. I trust your character. But maybe it wasn't you, but there is more than one temple in Silverwind Harbor. This matter is not over yet. We will report it truthfully until we find out who is behind all this."

But the other party still remembered who rescued them. He looked at Fang Yu and bowed slightly, "Thank you for your help, we are not the kind of people who don't repay a favor. If you need us in the future, please send us. We owe you a life, but we have some important matters to deal with right now."

  He also didn't recognize that Fang He was actually a Chosen One like him. Fang He just nodded - the current situation was a bit strange. Although he thought Meryl should be innocent, the shadow would penetrate so widely. Who knows if there are traitors in the Saint's Society?

However, the other party did what he said and still divided the contribution in half to Merrill and others, and asked Merrill to stay and deal with the gray branch. After all, in this regard, no one was more professional than the Unicorn Girl of the Holy Maiden Society.

I didn't expect that a collaboration would end like this.

Although the cooperation itself was not initiated by Meryl and his group, the elf girl still seemed a little distraught. She knew that the other party was right - only the unicorn girl in the temple could get close to the Holy White Oak.

Moreover, each white tree is unique. If someone really cuts a branch from a tree, then it is easy to find out which temple it originally belonged to.

But why is this happening?

She heard that one of the three great disasters, Ninemer, was artificially induced. Someone used a withered Terraka seed to give birth to the towering ash tree, which brought about the disaster that spread to the Silverwind Port area. Although she was an apprentice saint of the temple, she was also born and raised in this port. People suspected that the seed was the fault of the temple, and therefore cast their suspicious eyes on them - and now such a thing happened again.

Although she was the backup for the Unicorn Girl, she was essentially just a weak girl. When she thought about all her efforts that were still no match for people's suspicion, she couldn't help but cover her face and cry softly.

Ailuoya was also feeling a little disappointed. Alrang and the others didn't know how to persuade her, so they could only curse the mastermind in a low voice - but this time, the people of Silver Wind Watch were also victims.

Fang He walked up to them. He didn't expect that these tough unicorn girls also had such a side to them. He comforted them, "Don't be so anxious, Miss Merrill. This matter may not be related to the Holy Maiden Society." "You don't understand, Mr. Elion," Merrill wiped her tears and said with red eyes, "I don't blame Mr. Dark Crow. They are right. The white tree only grows in the Holy White Courtyard. This matter must be related to the Holy Maiden Society. Even if it is not a direct cause, someone must have failed in his duty..."

"If someone fails in their duty, it's not your fault," Fang Yu replied. "You are not the leader of the Saint's Society, so you don't have to blame yourself for others' failures. Besides, I have learned a lesson from my travels in the past: nothing is certain in this world."

Merrill was worried: "But if this matter gets out, people outside will be even less trusting of the Saint."

"The merits and demerits cannot be simply offset," Fang He shook his head, somewhat disdainful of this. "Even if someone did something wrong, people can definitely see that you did the right thing. Didn't Al save them because of you?"

He looked at Argen: "Why don't you ask them, will they blame you for the mistakes made by others?"

"Of course not!" Argen replied immediately, and he even looked at Fang He with some gratitude.

Meryl also reacted and came out of his trance. He asked, "...What should we do, Mr. Elion?"

"Didn't you say that there is such a thing as points? It is the Linoril-Sanshak Council's reward to all the warriors who participated in fighting this disaster," Fang He replied, "Although you don't need the reward and the points have no practical meaning to you, you need to use it to let more people know that the Saint's Association is not doing nothing, and you are also on the front line of resisting the disaster."

"Instead of making excuses, it is better to take action to stop the rumors. Isn't that what you are doing?"

Meryl was stunned.

They are indeed doing a good job of doing so, but the results are minimal.

Although there are many holy temples in Silver Wind Harbor, most of those who join the Holy Maiden Society are only trainee unicorn girls like them who responded to the call of Her Royal Highness the Princess. They are not combat members and their strength is also meager.

Therefore, for such a long time, they were actually just helping out on the second line and doing some logistical work - even for her, plus Al asking them to do so, it was quite difficult to clean up the branches that had grown from the gray branches.

Sometimes I have to hold others back.

However, she worked diligently and won a lot of favor, making many nearby teams aware of her existence.

But that's all.

Fang He looked at her and said, "It's okay. I can help you. Tell me where the remaining branches are."

He opened his palm, and there was a fragment of the ash tree. Although he was sincere in helping Merrill and the others, he also had his own plans. The name of the fragment was quietly displayed on the Dragon Knight System:

Gray branches.

When Fang He saw this thing for the first time, he almost couldn't believe it. He didn't expect that he could get it without any effort. Although he didn't understand why the fragment of the withered Heart of Terraka had the same name as the branch of the ash tree.

But as long as it is the same material, no matter what different things it comes from, it must have the same properties, that is to say - it can be used by him.

Now he saw those sprouting branches as no longer secondary disasters, but real money-making trees.

Merrill didn't understand what was going on, but she knew Fang He was trying to comfort her, so she mustered up some courage. Inviting this wizard to join the team was already her greatest courage, but she didn't expect things to turn out like this -

  She was a little surprised, although she didn't quite believe Fang He's words that he could help her take down every gray branch - there were so many people here, how could they make it in time?

But when she thought about the rumors about this genius magician, that he was stubborn and unkind, it seemed that those rumors were too outrageous. In her eyes, he was obviously a very gentle person.

And he knows a lot of principles, like a wise scholar.

However, when Merrill thought about the outside world's views on Her Majesty the Saint, she began to understand a little. Perhaps this is always the case in this world. Kind people often do not get the recognition they deserve and have to bear responsibilities that do not belong to them.

The same goes for Her Majesty the Saint and Mr. Elion.

She couldn't help but look at Fang He with some regret, and thanked him softly:

"Thank you, Mr. Elion."

Argen and the others also came up to thank him. After all, if Fang He hadn't been there, the two tree shadows would have killed them. They could be said to have been saved by Fang He and the others.

What's more, if Miss Merrill and Eloya died here, they would be dead immediately without any chance of being rescued. After all, who would have thought that the branches of the gray tree would have two shadows lurking here?

"Mr. Elion, most of the rumors about you are untrue," the girl next to Aljan couldn't help but say, "They all say you have a bad personality and are a lonely genius, but that's not the case at all."

"In Corin-Ishurian there are notorious villains like the Dragon Alchemist, but there are also well-educated and knowledgeable gentlemen like you. It's true that rumors cannot be trusted."

Even though Fang He was getting into the groove and had gotten into the role, he still couldn't hold it in after hearing such outrageous words, and couldn't help but coughing loudly.

"Mr. Elion, did I say something wrong?"

"No, no," Fang He shook his head quickly, "I was just thinking about something. You're too kind. I'm really like that in academics..."

"I see."

Tianlan and Paparar were trying hard not to laugh in the back, with funny expressions on their faces, and their cheeks almost broke.

"You two should restrain yourself a little." Alyssa fixed her hair accessories and glared at the two of them.

“Sister Alisa, isn’t this funny?”

"Just smile and see."

Our lovely poet lady quickly shook her head: "I dare not."

……

"The third branch of the tiller should be nearby," Darien Darkstar was directing his members of the Dawn Brotherhood to cross the block. The teams formed a search network, screening every street and alley nearby.

He turned around and gave an order to one of the teams: "The insect plague has already flown to the front. You still have the third team. Send some people to stop them. Don't let the gray matter disaster spread to further places."

"Come on," he waved his hand, "The Dragonblood Knights have arrived at the Elite Gray Branch area. They may be able to deal with this disaster in half an hour. We'd better--"

Darien Shadow suddenly stopped and looked at the gray branch in front of him in amazement. The pale trunk had been broken into several pieces and fell to the ground in all directions. The crystallized soil had also cracked and dissipated.

Apparently someone had already performed the ritual.

He gasped, "Who is it?"

"Who the hell has overstepped their boundaries?" Darien couldn't help but yell, "Don't they know that this is the area under the jurisdiction of the Dawn Brotherhood?"

The captain suddenly realized something and said, "Go chase those bugs! They just left here not long ago and must have discovered the plague!"

But above the group, two inconspicuous "silver bees" were quickly flying away from the scene.

……

(End of this chapter)