337 Children
Ebony stood at the edge and looked at the storm whistling in the forest from afar—it was Floral, who was using high-level Storm spells in pursuit.

When the other party disappeared from his line of sight, he turned around curiously and asked William, “Why didn’t you… do it yourself?”

From the spider monster’s fear of William, Ebony could sense the deterrence of the strongest magic chanter in history.

Moreover, if half of the legends he had heard since he was young were true, as long as this legendary figure planned on dealing with the scene in front of him, he could perfectly resolve it with a raise of his hand.

Therefore, why did he have to unnecessarily expend his precious enchantment items and get Floral to handle them in his place?

Especially when Floral was clearly out of it.

William looked at the frozen sutured monsters and lamented, “There are some things she needs to figure out herself. Even I can’t help her on this…”

As William spoke, he walked to the only ice sculpture that still maintained its human form and gently pressed his hand on the ice sculpture’s head.

“Figure out what?” Ebony couldn’t help but ask curiously.

“Her own fate… Be it those that were imposed from birth or those that were later given to her, only by understanding her fate can she make the right choice. I don’t want to interfere with this process. Therefore, let’s take advantage of this time to do something easy.”

William exerted strength in his hand and the ice sculpture under his palm began to crack inch by inch. Quayle Wolfspeak, who had been frozen by Floral, was released intact by William.

Quayle’s frozen consciousness instantly woke up—he clearly felt the bone-chilling frost a second ago, but in the next second, he felt like dried fur. His entire body emitted a smell as if he had been baked in the oven.

“Oh… I…”

Quayle, who was completely out of the situation, half-knelt on the ground. He looked at his shadow that was constantly emitting steam on the ground and let out an incomprehensible sound in fear.

A shadow covered him, overlapping his own shadow.

Quayle couldn’t help but raise his head mechanically and stiffly. In his line of sight, a person stood in front of him like a mountain.

As the person had the moonlight highlighting his silhouette, preventing Quayle from seeing his expression. However, from his clothes and hair color, this person was the human magic chanter he had spoken rudely to.

Without a word, the aura emitted by the other party made Quayle feel as if a cold hand was gripping his heart.

“I…”

“I don’t need you to introduce yourself.” The person interrupted him before he could speak and said in a tone that didn’t allow for any doubt, “You only need to tell me where the people who got you to come here are.”

…

The tree spirit and the empire ambassador escaped in two different directions. Logically speaking, Floral should have chased after the tree spirit who could easily hide in the forest.

That ambassador is definitely not human…

This was a thought that naturally appeared in Floral’s mind during the pursuit.

The ‘ambassador’ was fleeing through the forest on all fours—she didn’t look pathetic. Instead, she exuded a strange elegance.

Even without the help of any spells, the other party seemed to ignore gravity and ran along the thin branches as if they were flat ground. Her movements were coordinated like some multi-legged arthropod.

However, even though the other party’s jumping speed between the trees could be said to be godly, the Wings of Wind formed by the storm circling Floral still closed the distance between the two of them.

Floral’s attainments in Storm spells weren’t high, so she couldn’t calm the violent souls in the storm and make them quietly take effect. Therefore, although she flew quickly with the Wings of Wind, the intense roar also exposed her location.

Perhaps hearing the gradually approaching roar, the empire ambassador felt that she couldn’t pull away. Suddenly, as if all the bones in her body had been snapped, she suddenly stretched her slender limbs. Then, like a butterfly trapped in a spiderweb, she swayed back and forth in a strange posture and stopped in midair.

“Your Grace, how about we part ways here?” the ambassador, who was swaying in midair, looked at the oncoming storm and said.

Although her voice wasn’t loud, Floral could still hear her clearly amidst the storm’s roaring.
Floral immediately dispelled her spell and stopped on a branch as thick as an arm. She looked straight at the person in front of her and said coldly, “What do you mean by saying that I’m no longer blessed by the Matriarch?”

Wasn’t the so-called Holy Tree Matriarch’s blessing something she had long given up on?

In order to escape the blessing named Curse and spend her life pursuing that ridiculous mission, she chose to study magic that the Forest Elves regarded as taboo. She didn’t hesitate to convert herself into a lifeless lich and sacrificed her most precious things.

But now, someone was telling her that she had given up everything in exchange for another form of blessing?

Upon hearing this, the suspended ambassador first nervously observed Floral’s back for a long time. After confirming that the Calamity had kept his promise and didn’t come after them, it felt relieved and said, “If I tell you the reason, can you let me go?”

Floral didn’t reply, but the cold air that gradually filled the air replaced her answer.

“That’s not how you negotiate…”

Before the ambassador could finish speaking, it felt a faint sting on its cheek, followed by the warmth of sticky liquid.

It subconsciously touched the wound and gritted its teeth, about to flare up, but the other party raised her hand to show it something.

It was a knife made of pure frost—a very basic Frost spell that solidified Frost magic power into a temporary weapon. Even an apprentice who had just learned Frost magic could do such tricks.

However, the key was that the knife was stained with its blood.

This instantly made the ambassador’s expression turn ugly.

What injured it wasn’t a long-range spell that it couldn’t see clearly. Instead, the other party came to its side and slashed its cheek with a knife before returning to her original spot.

All of this was done while time was suspended with Zero Entropy in place.

In other words, the mana stored in the item the Calamity had given this fellow was so massive that the other party could squander top Divine Realm spells at will?

Then, what was the point of fighting?

Originally, its only chance of winning against the Holy Tree Duke was to exhaust her mana and wait for the other party to use up all her mana stores. It ended up with the other party directly using Inverse Entropy just to take it down a notch?

Since you want me dead so badly, can’t you just give me a clean death?

Was it fun playing with me? Or did she want to enjoy the process of victory like a Moon Realm spirit?

Are you a Moon Realm spirit, or am I?

After cursing the Calamity in its heart, the ambassador gritted its teeth and said,

“Alright, if you must know… But I think it’d be better for you not to know some things…”

At this point, the Webweaver couldn’t help but narrow its eyes.

Telling this person the truth might be an opportunity for it to escape…

Therefore, it went straight to the point and concluded, “You and Nehe from more than a thousand years ago… That’s right, the Judge you succeeded. Both of you are actually the children of the Lady of Starvation, Camilla.”

…

“What did you say?”

Even though Nizemar felt that she had seen a lot after following the Presiding Judge for so long, she couldn’t help but stop in shock when she heard Remides say this. She felt her jaw drop.

“Nehe is Camilla’s child. You should have heard me clearly,” Remides replied.

“You mean child as in the child I understand? Not a metaphor or symbol?” Nizemar looked at the emotionless High Elf and continued asking.

The other party’s expression didn’t change at all as she said, “Child as in literally. That was before Camilla was still Camilla. Back then, she resonated with the faith of Ravenwood’s Earth Mother and became the second main god-level Authority holder here, the incarnation of darkness and tyranny that the Mother faith still lacked. And in order to complete that ritual, she devoured all her children. However, as a mother, her last bit of rationality, or rather, human nature, allowed her to make that soul box and preserve all her children’s souls inside.

“The real Nehe already died during the conversion ritual. Ravenwood’s lich conversion spell was adapted from a ritual to awaken Mother Goddess. It’s not to preserve the converted’s soul, but to use that body. In fact, the Nehe we know originated from the soul of Camilla’s child thousands of years ago. It controlled the body of the Forest Elf named ‘Nehe.'”