The Final Boss Has Returned — Episode 68
Vwooom!
As Hellen resonated with the surrounding nature and raised her mana, the earth trembled faintly, and soon trees and thickets began to sprout from the ground.
One of a Druid’s ultimate skills: Will of Nature!
It was the manifestation of a skill that covered the surrounding field in thickets, maximizing nature’s mana to create an environment favorable to her.
As Will of Nature manifested, mana surged rapidly through Hellen’s body, and she immediately severed the flame chains binding her.
“You shall face nature’s wrath!”
Overflowing power!
With this power of nature, she would pass judgment on the outsiders who dared violate the sanctuary.
The very moment Hellen made that resolve.
“Primordial Flame Hell.”
A detached utterance that cruelly crushed Hellen’s expectations flowed from Ignis’s lips.
Fwoooooosh!
And with it, the vegetation began to burn!
The light vanished from Hellen’s eyes as she watched nature burn.
“Wh-what in the world… what kind of monstrous event is this!”
Will of Nature!
Not just any Druid, but a Master Druid’s Will of Nature had been dispelled in mere moments.
Just how powerful was the enemy!
Hellen felt despair.
Fwoooosh!
While everything burned all around, the enemy’s attacks continued to fly in.
Ice and flame, two opposing magics continuously battered Hellen’s body, and potions exploding intermittently grated on her nerves like grenades.
She was barely holding out using tremendous vitality and defensive skills, but the Drakan Party had no intention of giving Hellen an opening to counterattack.
A completed damage cycle! The relentless barrage from the Drakan Party continuously rendered Hellen’s casting useless.
“You cowardly scum!”
The moment Hellen let out a shriek at the continued attacks, a man in black armor appeared through the blazing flames.
It was Drakan.
Hellen’s gaze turned to the blue flame sword in Drakan’s hand.
The moment she saw that sword—radiating an aura diametrically opposed to the life and natural forces Druids mainly handled, a sword forged from death and vengeful spirits—Hellen realized.
“Laevatein! The Undead King! You lot… you were the Undead King’s pawns!”
Laevatein!
The legendary weapon the Undead King was said to be creating to oppose Mistilteinn.
That weapon had now appeared, held in the hands of an outsider.
Only then did Hellen realize her mistake.
Undead could not enter the Winter Forest, which was abundant with life force.
The Undead King’s gaze, which overlooked the entire North, could not reach the Winter Forest either.
For that reason alone, they—the Druids—had grown complacent.
Because as far as they knew, the Undead King and the undead had never cooperated with the living.
But that common sense was shattered today.
The Undead King!
He had infiltrated the living into the Winter Forest, violated the Druids’ sanctuary, and finally reached the Snowblossom Spirit Tree.
Killing intent filled Hellen’s eyes.
“Pawn of the Undead King! I shall kill you here!”
She still didn’t know why they were targeting the Snowblossom Spirit Tree of all things, but Hellen could easily tell that their purpose was not something beneficial to the North.
The expeditionary force that had set out with the goal of completely conquering the North and executing the Undead King—a long-cherished desire for two thousand years since Archdruid Kazan’s sacrifice—had not yet achieved its objective.
The expeditionary force!
For their sake as well, that pawn of the Undead King had to die here.
“Nature’s Judgment!”
Hellen squeezed out every drop of mana in her body and used the Druid’s second ultimate skill.
Nature’s Judgment!
As befitting its name, massive amounts of green mana condensed and surged, and soon a giant spear made of trees shot up from Hellen’s chest and rushed toward Drakan.
At that very moment.
“Iron Wall Shield.”
A female knight clad in plate armor, Queenhani, landed in front of Drakan and used the skill.
Shwshwshw!
Along with it, a translucent silver shield unfolded with dazzling light, blocking Drakan and Queenhani, and Hellen’s final blow collided directly with the Iron Wall Shield.
BOOM!
An explosion that shook the entire grotto containing the Snowblossom Spirit Tree!
But the victor was the Iron Wall Shield.
There was no reason for a defensive skill that had even blocked the Pirate King’s ultimate skill, the Cursed Magic Bullet, to be pierced by a mere Druid’s offensive skill.
Of course, Hellen was no ordinary Druid, but a Druid was a hybrid healer class, not a pure DPS.
Compared to the attacks of the Pirate King, who had been a pure DPS, the power of Hellen’s attacks amounted to only about half of his.
“A-aaah. Aaaaah!”
Despair settled in Hellen’s eyes as even her ultimate skill was neutralized.
BOOM!
Even then, the damage cycle continued to spin relentlessly, hammering Hellen’s entire body.
Drakan grinned and swung the flame sword Laevatein in his hand toward Hellen.
“Berserker Sword!”
An explosion of dark red aura covered Hellen’s entire body.
* * *
[Level Up.]
Dry as it was, it was a level-up notification that always felt good to hear!
I smiled as I heard the level-up notification.
I had finally cleared even the last obstacle.
The old Druid!
If the Druids’ sanctuary had been a dungeon, the old NPC Druid was definitely strong enough to have served as a boss monster, but his misfortune was that his matchup was very bad.
Ignis the Flame King!
The compatibility between Ignis, who freely wielded flames, and the Druid, who handled plants and beasts, was the worst possible.
Moreover, our party’s damage cycle was truly perfection itself!
So from the very beginning, this was a fight we couldn’t lose.
Step. Step.
I quietly moved my feet and approached the Snowblossom Spirit Tree.
The flames from the Primordial Flame Hell had already died out.
Despite the fierce battle nearby, the Snowblossom Spirit Tree still contained tremendous vitality.
[You have discovered the Snowblossom Spirit Tree, a spiritual being of the North.]
[Snowblossom Spirit Tree]
[The Snowblossom Spirit Tree is a spirit tree that grew from the staff embedded in Archdruid Kazan’s grave. It harbors immense life force accumulated over more than two thousand years, and has long guarded Kazan’s remains and the Winter Seal carved beneath them.]
[All stats permanently increase by 10.]
[HP temporarily increases by 50%.]
[HP regeneration temporarily increases by 100%.]
[MP temporarily increases by 50%.]
[MP regeneration temporarily increases by 50%.]
Just looking at it, the Snowblossom Spirit Tree gave an incredible buff!
Reading the description window that seemed to appeal with its entire being that this was no ordinary object, I smiled.
‘The Winter Seal was here too!’
Winter Seal!
The fact that the legendary seal which had sealed the eternal winter of the North lay sleeping beneath the spirit tree was written in the information window.
If I examined the sequence of events strictly, it was reasonable to surmise that Archdruid Kazan had performed the Winter Seal here first, and after he died in battle against the Undead King, the Druids had buried his remains atop the Winter Seal.
Without a word, I raised Laevatein.
[Laevatein reacts to the Snowblossom Spirit Tree’s life force.]
After checking the notification window, I plunged Laevatein directly into the spirit tree’s thick trunk.
Thud.
Blue sap flowed down from the spirit tree’s body like a stream of blood.
[Laevatein absorbs the Essence of Life.]
The notification was dry, but the change it brought was anything but.
The spirit tree that had been in full bloom with snow-white leaves like snowflakes!
As its leaves rapidly fell, the spirit tree’s branches and trunk, which had shone pure white, instantly began to wither black.
The change was not happening only to the Snowblossom Spirit Tree.
Not only were the green sprouts near the spirit tree yellowing and dying, but the clear water that had flowed with life was also beginning to turn murky.
Death!
That’s right.
Literally, death was descending upon the surroundings.
[Laevatein has completed absorbing the Essence of Life.]
Crumble.
The moment the notification window appeared stating the essence absorption was complete, the blackened, dead spirit tree turned to ash and scattered into the air.
And amidst it all, a beautiful blue flame sword was suddenly aflame.
As if entranced, I checked Laevatein’s item information.
[Laevatein]
[Grade: Legendary]
[Type: Sword]
[A sword created by the Undead King to oppose Mistilteinn. A million souls were smelted into fire through flames of resentment, and it has finally absorbed the Essence of Life to be reborn as a complete weapon.]
[There is nothing the complete Laevatein cannot burn.]
[Effects]
[Flame Attack Power +200%]
[Life Steal +200%]
[HP Regeneration +200%]
[Dark Attack Power +100%]
[HP-Based Damage +10%]
[Nature Attribute Resistance +100%]
[Random Curse on Hit]
[Summon/Dismiss Function]
[Wraith Liberation: Temporarily liberates a portion of the million souls comprising Laevatein to serve you.]
[Soul Absorption: Absorbs nearby souls to recover the owner’s HP and MP.]
[Undead Rise: Resurrects the dead as undead to serve you.]
[Life Incineration: Deals damage that ignores defense through the eternal flames of souls. This significantly decreases the durability of the item ‘Mistilteinn’.]
[Usage Restriction]
[Undead King]
[Demon God’s Contractor]
The completed Laevatein’s options were truly on a terrifying level!
It was indeed worthy of being called the final weapon prepared by the Undead King.
I smiled as I looked at the options.
It always felt good to obtain good items, but now was not the time to simply bask in that joy.
“Summon Laevatein.”
As I uttered the command word, Laevatein floating in the air was grasped in my right hand.
I looked at the spot where the spirit tree had disappeared.
A white skeleton that appeared to be the remains of Archdruid Kazan lay resting there.
And beneath the skeleton, a magic circle engraved in complex patterns was faintly emitting a blue light.
It was the Winter Seal.
[You have discovered the Winter Seal.]
Watching the notification window appear without fail, I unhesitatingly swung Laevatein in my hand down toward the seal.
[The Winter Seal has been destroyed.]
[Eternal winter returns to the North.]
At that moment, eternal winter once again raged through the North.