Chapter 370: Demonic Trees

After Mirra spoke, she turned to the side with a serious expression. Her gaze met Dandara’s, staring straight into her eyes.

"Dandan, take care of Pry..."

Priam felt a little strange—did he really need protection now? Still, a comforting warmth rose in his chest. It was a pleasant feeling, knowing there were people who genuinely cared about him.

Dandara nodded solemnly without saying a single word.

Mirra took a deep breath and turned back toward Priam. "Pry... I’ll come back... soon..."

She swallowed the rest of the sentence, on the verge of breaking down.

Priam slowly nodded and looked up at the figure in the sky. "Take care of her."

The figure calmly nodded and made a gentle gesture with his hand. Mirra felt her body slowly slip free from Priam’s embrace, causing her to float upward.

She continued looking at him as she rose, clenching her fists tightly to keep herself under control until she reached the figure’s side.

"I’ll begin teaching her immediately. This is where we part ways."

The figure’s emotionless voice echoed through the air. The next moment, the two simply disappeared into the void.

"..."

Priam took a deep breath and lowered his head, processing the farewell for a few moments. Dandara’s hand firmly wrapped around his, offering silent support.

It only took a few seconds for him to raise his head again with a calm expression.

When he turned around, he met Dandara’s eyes and gave her a slight nod. "She’ll be fine. Let’s keep going. You also heard about a strange place nearby, didn’t you?"

A faint smile appeared on Dandara’s lips.

She remembered what Lulani had mentioned earlier: to the north of where they were, there was a deadly and terrifying region that the Wyvern had never dared approach.

Priam had no intention of leaving the planet without investigating the place. With no fixed objective and plenty of time left before the thirty days were up, they headed in that direction to find out what was there.

...

Ten full days passed on that planet. During that time, Priam and Dandara continued moving north, uncertain about the exact distance to their destination.

If it took them more than five days to reach the place, Priam would be forced to give up, since they needed to be at the exit point when the deadline arrived.

On the 11th day... Dandara suddenly received a mental message from Lulani.

They had arrived. The Wyvern reiterated as best as she could that this was an extremely terrifying territory; setting foot there meant certain death.

Priam climbed to the top of a colossal mountain to observe the north—and became completely motionless at what he saw.

It was a dense forest of gigantic proportions. Each of those monumental trees rose for several kilometers, piercing the sky and blocking out the sunlight above the clouds.

The thick canopy and colossal leaves prevented even a single ray of sunlight from getting through, plunging the vegetation into a sinister, suffocating darkness.

"Does Lulani know the origin of this forest?" Priam asked.

Dandara tried communicating with the Wyvern for a while, and after a long silence, she sighed. "She can’t explain anything clearly. All she knows is that the forest is terrifying and that anyone who enters will be killed. When I asked her what exactly could kill us inside, she couldn’t even describe it."

Priam could only lament the lack of details. Then, the two of them began stealthily approaching the sinister forest.

Compared to the immense trees, the two of them looked like insignificant ants.

As they drew closer, Priam realized that something was deeply wrong. The environment was far too calm... a strange, deathly silence. A dense aura of death permeated the air.

Priam pushed his senses to their absolute limit. Strangely, these trees seemed to have... no energy at all, just like ordinary trees.

Moving forward without making the slightest sound, they suppressed their auras using their best concealment techniques—even sealing their own pores to prevent any scent from escaping.

It didn’t take long for Dandara to notice something.

’They’re not Demon Trees at the end of their lives,’ she stated mentally, causing Priam to turn toward her in confusion.

’This is a nature race. I’m sure they’re almost dead, since they barely emit any natural aura. When they’re nearing the end of their lives, they condense all the essence and knowledge they’ve accumulated throughout their existence into a single central branch. When the body finally dies completely, that branch breaks off and falls to the ground, giving rise to another tree of the same species. The new one inherits the entire legacy of the previous tree, becoming even stronger.’

Priam saw Dandara’s eyes light up with excitement. ’Is that a good thing for you?’

Dandara quickly nodded. ’The Goddess’s Inheritance also allows me to form contracts with nature races. Of course, they can’t evolve indefinitely like beasts can. Still... if I use everything I’ve learned, I can bring this race to the peak of its power in a short amount of time. They’ll be incredibly useful in the short and medium term.’

Priam nodded. It was the equivalent of forging a sharp weapon that would eventually become obsolete, but that would provide an overwhelming advantage in the present.

It was better to tame beasts with the long term in mind, but getting an immediate boost like this was still well worth it.

’There must be differences in their power, right? Look for the best ones and let me know when you find one with acceptable potential,’ Priam said mentally, and Dandara nodded.

They moved forward. As they went deeper into the forest, Priam realized that those trees were even more colossal than they had seemed from a distance. On top of that, they belonged to different species, though they were all still Demon Trees.

The silence of the place and its gloomy atmosphere were enough to take your breath away with sheer apprehension.

As she thought about the situation, Dandara quickly understood the logic behind the place. It was common for nature races to create sanctuaries where they could migrate in their old age, ensuring the preservation of their legacies.

The moment they died, their central branches would become valuable treasures for the planet’s beasts. Any beast could collect a branch and plant it in its own territory. Over time, an absurdly powerful tree would grow there, producing nutritious fruits exclusively for that beast.

So, for these trees, creating a place known to all creatures ensured that their branches would be found and taken away, securing the survival and protection of the next generation.

The danger Lulani sensed came from the fact that these trees, even when nearing the end of their lives, were still absurdly powerful if provoked before their time. Of course, their power came from the planet. Anywhere else, none of these trees would pose any danger to Sages, or even to most Mages.

On top of that, countless terrifying Primordial Chaos Beasts were probably patrolling the area regularly, searching for these central branches.

’THERE! That one is definitely dead! And it’s several times more incredible than all the others we’ve seen!’ Dandara pointed excitedly.

Priam took a deep breath. The tree she had pointed out had natural patterns on its leaves that resembled divine runes. Its trunk was also monumental—it looked ten times wider than the others.

His heart began pounding in his chest. Gathering his energy, he carefully started climbing up the trunk.

When he reached the top, he scanned the surroundings until he spotted a small branch about as thick as an arm. A peculiar energy flowed through the wood. This had to be it.

Approaching it, Priam pulled on the branch, only to discover that it was incredibly tough. It didn’t budge even a millimeter.

The realization left him stunned. With his current physical strength, he could shatter a weapon with his bare hands, yet he couldn’t even break a simple branch from a dead tree.

He decided not to rely on brute force. A branch of this level would make a deafening crack when broken. In that forest of deadly silence, making noise would be a terrible idea.

Taking a deep breath, he focused on condensing a cutting wind strike that would make a clean cut with as little disturbance as possible.

He extended his hand, grabbed the branch at the right spot, and prepared himself...

Suddenly, his eyes narrowed.

"!"

Priam’s expression changed drastically. The colossal tree—which even he himself had been certain was dead—shuddered violently.

Countless massive branches closed around him at terrifying speed, forming a living cage with no way out.