The One Branch of The Tree

"Who is there?!"

The voice broke the silence, one of the White Council members raised his sword and stared directly at the bush where we were hiding. 

Great, our stealth mode lasted about five minutes—a touching feat. Nara and I exchanged glances for a split second. She already had her two daggers in hand, her gaze focused and calm, as if this was just a normal morning routine. I was a little envious.

“Any plans?” I whispered.

Nara answered briefly.

"There is."

I waited, he glanced at me.

“Don't die.”

I stared at him blankly.

“An inspiring plan.”

Nara didn't respond, moving first, her body darting out of hiding like a shadow too fast. One of the White Council members hadn't even finished reacting when Nara appeared in front of him, two daggers flashing.

SHRAK.

Blood spurted out as the man collapsed cleanly, efficiently and alarmingly, I got out a few seconds later.

“Okay, negotiations failed,” I shouted casually.

Now all eyes were on us, the blue-robed leader narrowed his eyes, his gaze stopping on me and then on the Thorny Branch in my hand, his expression changing slightly. Oh? Interesting.

"That child." he said softly.

“So it's true.”

I don't like that tone too much implied knowledge, one of the other members attacked me with a short sword fast movement more practiced than a normal hunter I blocked.

CLANG!

The impact was quite severe but manageable. I parried his sword and then stabbed, but he dodged.    Not bad, at least he wasn't a disposable NPC. 

The White Council clearly has high recruitment standards, which is annoying to me. Meanwhile, Nara is fighting two people at once and winning quite convincingly. I'm starting to believe this woman isn't just "fairly strong." She's clearly way above my level, a good ally and a potential enemy nightmare. 

I refocused on my opponent slashing quickly towards the neck, I ducked then counterattacked with a flaming Thorny Branch Ember Slash, I slashed and my attack hit the armor on his shoulder a small fire spread the man winced. 

Good, damage comes in, he retreats, I don't give him any space to run forward, Root Snare! Roots come out of the ground, wrapping around his legs successfully.

"WHAT?!"

I immediately stabbed his stomach, the attack was confirmed, his body weakened and then died, the Devour Root activated automatically, energy flowed in, hot, addictive.

A notification appears.

Human target slain.

Strength +1

Dexterity +1

EXP gained.

Level 14 reached.

Good, I raised my head, there were still three people left including the leader and he hadn't moved, just observing, I didn't like that. 

People who are too calm usually have problems with Nara completing her second target, two bodies fell almost simultaneously she was really unreasonable. 

Now only the blue-robed leader was left alone, he looked at his fallen subordinates without much emotion, coldly, professionally then he sighed.

“Incompetent.”

Wow, he raised his metal staff and the mana around him instantly became denser, heavier, I tensed up automatically.

A notification appears.

Target identified:

Aldric

White Council Executor

Level unreadable.

Threat: Very High

It was unreadable, I hated that writing. Aldric was looking at me, not Nara, I was fully focused.

“We have been looking for a resonance holder for a long time,” he said.

I frowned.

“Can you use more human language?”

Aldric ignored me.

“Surrender yourself.”

“No,” I answered quickly.

No need to complicate things, Aldric tilted his head slightly as if he had already expected the answer.

"Of course."

He raised his wand and a magic circle appeared beneath my feet. Oh no, I jumped back but it was too late.

BOOM!

Black ice exploded from the ground, narrowly missing my feet. I stared at the frozen remains of the explosion. The surrounding area instantly froze. 

Okay, Mage, good. Why is it always mages? Aldric attacked again, three ice spears forming in the air, hurtling towards me. I dodged two, and one grazed my shoulder. A sharp chill spread instantly.

    “Ah!”

It hurt, it wasn't pleasant at all. Nara finally stepped in, charging at Aldric from a blind spot. Her dagger was aimed at his neck, but Aldric raised one hand, and a transparent barrier appeared.

THING!

Nara's attack was blocked by Aldric staring at him blankly.

“Disturber.”

It releases a mana shock wave.

HANDS!

Nara was thrown several meters.

Oh, that wasn't an ideal situation, not at all ideal. Aldric was far stronger than the other subordinates. The difference was palpable, I gritted my teeth.

Minor Mana Sense caught a strange mana flow in his staff which was the main source, of course mage and staff dependent, I shouted at Nara.

“The stick!”

He immediately understood the good cooperation, Aldric attacked again using ice chains this time. The ice chains shot out from the ground, I dodged, rolled, got up, and ran closer. Aldric seemed a little displeased with me getting in close. 

Good, he retreated while keeping his distance again but Nara appeared from the left her dagger hitting the stick.

CRACK.

A small crack appeared, and Aldric finally showed a hint of anger. Excellent, I activated Ember Slash, gathering all my mana. The Thorny Branch flared brighter, and I leaped and stabbed straight into the staff.

CRAAACK!

The stick cracked, and the mana exploded wildly. Aldric's eyes widened.

“Nooooo”

BOOM!

The mana explosion threw us all away, my body hitting a large root, my breath escaping, my vision slightly blurry. It hurt so much, I forced myself to stand up and look ahead. 

Aldric knelt down, his staff shattered, his mana distorted, and his face showed a panicked expression for the first time. Fortunately, Nara had already stood up and walked toward Aldric with her dagger in hand. 

Aldric looked at us both and chuckled. I frowned, wondering why villains always do this before something bad happens. Aldric pulled out a small crystal from his robes. Oh no, that was a very suspicious object. He crushed it.

CRUSH.

White light exploded a teleport circle appeared, I moved forward.

 “Wait!”

Too late, Aldric disappeared, teleporting out, a villain privilege. The room fell silent again, or rather, the tree area fell silent again, and I took a deep breath.

“Great.”

“We just made an enemy of the organization.”

Nara cleaned the blood from her dagger.

“It was from the start.”

A reasonable point, I looked around the corpses, the giant tree roots, the excavation area and something new because after the fight earlier the part of the roots near the tree opened up like a door to a passageway going down and you could see a large amount of mana flowing from inside.

A notification appears.

Hidden path unlocked.

Destination:

Core Chamber

I looked at the writing then looked at Nara, she also saw it, it was silent for two seconds then I smiled faintly.

"So."

"Enter?"

Nara put her dagger back in.

"Clear."

"Yeah, stupid question," we looked at each other and without another word, began walking down the underground passageway to the true core of the False World Tree. I had a bad feeling, which usually means good story progress.

[END CHAPTER 11]