Chapter 71: Panic

*Boom!*

The Spiritual Energy flew in all directions. As expected from the Ancient Demon Tree, all the Spiritual Energy that had been absorbed by the seal could even reach the fort a few kilometers away from its position.

"!!!" As the current two strongest people in the fort, both Shale and Oscar felt the intense amount of Spiritual Energy.

"This is..." Shale gulped down and hurriedly flew toward the wall to check the situation.

As expected from the veterans, they thought alike. Oscar had also reached the wall and tried to see the situation from the top of the wall.

"Commander." Shale greeted Oscar and said, "I couldn't see anything."

"Yes. It seems the Spiritual Energy traveled that far... But it needed a ridiculous amount of Magic Power. Even I couldn't do it. A being that could do something like that could easily destroy this fort." Oscar gritted his teeth. "But there shouldn't be a being that powerful around us. Is there any record about such a being near the forest?"

"No. In that case, there might be an ancient being residing in that fore..." Shale suddenly fell silent.

"What's wrong?"

"This is not good." Shale's face became pale as he looked at the commander and panicked. "Noel Ardagan and Anna Stargaze are in the forest right now."

"!!!" Oscar widened his eyes. Those two were the top in their generations. Anna even surpassed them by a large margin. Their potential was simply too big. If they died here, the loss they needed to bear would be too much for them to handle.

Still, when Oscar thought he should go there to save those two right now, he didn't forget that he was the commander of this fort. There were numerous people living in this fort, so he couldn't abandon them simply because of his hot blooded head.

"Wind Extermination General Shale! Heed my orders!"

"Yes, Sir!" Shale straightened his back as his expression turned serious.

"All fort guards are to prepare for an evacuation. Demon Extermination Squad under you shall follow me to march to the forest to handle this unknown being and all the remaining squads will stand by on the wall."

"Yes, Sir!" Shale disappeared as soon as he received the order.

Oscar gritted his teeth as he kept staring at the distance.

"This is not good. We can only march there in five minutes and will arrive in another five minutes. Those two might already... No, I hope that those two are not close to that being." Oscar kept maintaining his composure while thinking about all possibilities.

Unbeknownst to them, Noel and Anna were actually in the middle of the storm.

"I underestimated the seal and the Ancient Demon Tree..." Anna clenched her fists. "Instead of an hour, I'm afraid we only have a few minutes."

"What do you mean?" Noel asked while turning around as if he was preparing to escape.

"You surely remember the Advance Level Demon we met previously, right? That demon would surely come here to check about the intense Spiritual Energy. When that happen—"

Before she finished her explanation, Noel threw a rope to her.

"What?" Anna was startled while catching the rope.

"Tie your body up. At first, I thought we could use the water to break our fall a bit and utilize our Spiritual Energy to lessen the damage, but the water is now gone. Falling from that high is the end, so we should use this rope." Noel explained while tying the rope on his waist.

Anna understood Noel's concern and immediately tied herself too. This way, if one of them fell, the other two could help them.

"Don't forget to match our movement and if possible, use your sword to climb the tower. Our grip might not be enough to take the force from the fall."

"Don't worry, I know." Anna nodded with a serious expression.

"Although I want to understand the situation right now, we don't have too much time, right? In that case, I just want you to answer one question. Can we defeat it?"

"The Spiritual Energy shocked me, but the Ancient Demon Tree is indeed only at Mid Level Demon range." Anna nodded. "We can... no, we will kill it."

"Five minutes then. We'll slay this demon within five minutes."

"Got it."

Anna smirked as they stood next to each other.

As soon as they exchanged nods, they ran at the same speed, heading straight to the Ancient Demon Tree that had yet to be aware of their presence.

Noel could also see the giant face fifteen meters above the ground. It was close to the top of the tree, considering above the face was only a small area that could be said to be its brain where the crystal was located and the branches.

As if sensing the incoming presence, the roots started to emerge from the ground. Each root had a diameter of two meters, making them even bigger than Anna or Noel's height.

"Seriously?" Noel widened his eyes and shouted, "Anna!"

"I'm the vanguard, so follow me." Anna replied with a confident face.

Since they were attached by a rope, Noel nodded and followed her.

Anna leaped onto one of the roots and continued running, approaching the tree.

When Noel followed her, there were a few other roots that came out from the sides, trying to squeeze him to death.

"Kh. I'm not going to be left behind." Noel gritted his teeth, utilizing his Spiritual Energy to strengthen his two feet.

After that, he leaped into the air in Anna's direction, avoiding the roots.

As expected, those roots actually attacked Anna, but she skillfully and quickly avoided them, so he was the one that got attacked instead.

Luckily, the rope was five meters long or else they wouldn't be able to do anything.

"Where are we going?" Noel shouted while realizing Anna had been moving around the tree instead of going straight to the trunk.

Anna didn't answer him because she thought the Ancient Demon Tree could understand their conversation. She only told him to follow her.

"Tsk." Noel clicked his tongue and followed her. He soon noticed that they were rising bit by bit just by going around. It turned out the roots were overlapping each other because they kept swarming at them to kill them. 'So, she's using the roots...'