Chapter 615: The Forest Answers

High upon the central knoll of the ancient willow grove, Eirwen stood with her unstrung bow resting against her hip while scouts marked the roads below.

Eirwen raised one hand to still the scouts and listened to the change in the grove’s roots before letting anyone approach the lower relay.

Deep beneath the loam, the colossal taproots vibrated with alarming violence, humming with the discordant frequency of thousands of enslaved minds.

The Choral Incarnation unleashed its full national command wave, sending a tidal surge of psychic poison crashing through the subterranean channels.

The hostile frequency sought to overwrite the patient conduits Vella prepared, intending to burn out every civilian brain connected to the relay network.

"Hold the evacuation lines!" Eirwen shouted to the tenders, her clear voice ringing like a silver bell over the rising wind.

"Get those injured militia members into the warded trenches before the feedback spikes reach critical mass!"

The three arborists rushed between the root stations, frantically unhooking civilian stretchers from the humming copper grounding rods.

From the tree line, a dozen armored choir infiltrators charged with drawn blades, attempting to slaughter the tenders and sever the grounding wires.

Eirwen strung her recurve bow in a single fluid blur, nocking three goose-feather arrows between her slender fingers with practiced ease.

She drew the bowstring to her ear and released, sending three shafts whistling through the misty air in blinding trajectories.

Each arrow struck an approaching infiltrator through the throat, dropping the lead trio into the briars before they could reach the clearing.

She pivoted smoothly on her heels, drawing and firing in a relentless barrage of non-magical archery that pinned the remaining attackers behind boulders.

Two infiltrators attempted to flank through the southern ravine, their curved scythes raised to cut the irrigation bypass cables.

Eirwen leaped onto an elevated boulder, releasing a double-draw shot that pierced both attackers through their breastplates before their blades touched copper.

A hostile skirmisher lunged from the shadows with a notched hatchet, aiming a vicious overhead chop at her unprotected bow hand.

She did not flinch, ducking smoothly beneath the arc of the weapon while driving the horn tip of her lower bow limb into his throat.

The concussive counter-strike dropped the attacker onto the moss, where a quick point-blank arrow permanently ended his advance.

Her pinpoint marksmanship held the perimeter completely secure, buying the tenders the vital minutes they needed to pull the last patient clear.

"All civilians evacuated into the secondary trench, Commander!" the elder arborist called out, waving his cap from the earthen redoubt.

"Every grounding line is decoupled and secure... the grove is clear for domain release!"

With the mortal lives safely sheltered, the elven ranger turned her attention back to the colossal willow trunk at the center of the grove.

The bark creaked under the immense strain of the surging choir wave, oozing glowing sap as hostile purple runes burned along its ridges.

’The network stored every drop of natural resonance we cultivated over centuries... and now it returns every ounce of force!’

Eirwen stepped onto the central root boll, closing her eyes and pressing both palms flat against the ancient bark.

Her twelve royal Shards flared into brilliant emerald radiance, spinning in a synchronized orbit that resonated with every living seed in the valley.

[ Domain activation: The forest remembers ]

[ Harmonic network: Complete living circuit engaged ]

[ Stored natural resonance: 100% discharged ]

A titanic pulse of primordial green energy erupted from the ancient willow, shooting upward into the bruised sky like an emerald pillar.

The blinding light spread outward across the canopy in expanding concentric rings, illuminating the entire mountain range in brilliant verdant radiance.

Deep underground, the living root network acted as an unstoppable harmonic mirror, reflecting the choir’s own command wave back into its conduits.

Centuries of patient arboreal growth rose up to reject the synthetic choral abomination, returning its discordant frequency with tenfold momentum.

The counter-surge shattered the converging structure of the hostile attack, blowing out the choral relays in an apocalyptic cascade of green sparks.

Throughout the three regional districts, the dark possession frequencies fractured and collapsed, severing their centralized command hold.

The immense expenditure of power drained the living network completely, turning the glowing emerald leaves back to ordinary, quiet foliage.

The ancient taproots ceased their violent trembling, settling into deep, dormant slumber that would require years of patient tending to wake again.

Eirwen fell to one knee against the moss, her breathing ragged and her hands trembling from profound spiritual exhaustion.

She emptied the national network to the very last drop, sacrificing her domain’s immediate reserve to break the enemy’s crushing offensive.

"Hold on!" Hajin called out, sprinting into the clearing and catching her shoulder before she could collapse onto the damp loam.

"I am conscious, summoner," she murmured softly, offering a weak but triumphant smile as she leaned against his steady arm.

"The attack is broken... their centralized command structure has completely disintegrated across all three districts."

"Look at the regional relays," she whispered, pointing with a trembling finger toward the valley below.

Throughout the distant lowlands, the blinding glare of the choir’s purple runes sputtered and died, leaving only isolated, flickering embers.

The massive collective network was shattered, exposing the individual possession cores nestled within the regional hubs.

"The cores are exposed," Vella announced, stepping into the grove with dark mana crackling across her fingertips like dancing lightning.

"Our archer bought us the opening... and now I am going to tear their remaining puppet strings to ribbons!"

The spirit maiden knelt beside Eirwen, pressing a small vial of soothing herbal tincture into the exhausted archer’s trembling hand.

"Drink this immediately," the healer commanded gently, "it will restabilize your core temperature and soothe your frayed meridians."

The elder arborist emerged from the earthen trench, escorting the clearing crews back into the grove with stretchers and field dressings.

"The civilian channels are completely silent," the arborist reported with awe, checking a severed copper lead.

"The hostile feedback died before it could cross the municipal threshold... not a single soul was lost!"

"Every arborist in the western valley owes you their breath today, Lady Eirwen," the old foreman added, bowing his gray head with profound reverence.

"Keep your tools moving and clear the irrigation lines," Eirwen answered with a faint, breathy chuckle, waving her hand toward the outer perimeter.

"Our work is far from finished until every trench is safe and the surviving seedlings are inspected."

The clearing crews hurried down the embankment with lanterns and ropes, calling out station numbers to ensure no smoldering embers touched the roots.

Ferra jogged up the ridge with her oversized wrench resting across her shoulder, inspecting the scorched couplers with a critical eye.

"The feedback melted the outer casings," she said, tapping one ruined junction with the flat of her tool, "but the primary conduits held."

"That means Vella gets an open path straight into their central network without fighting through residual static."

Earth viewers sent donations through the celestial broadcast as Eirwen’s released forest light faded and Vella reached the exposed conduit.

[ Seoul_Tactician: "The Forest Remembers discharged at full national scale! That was the most breathtaking domain release ever written!" ]

[ StarlightScholar: "Eirwen sacrificed her entire domain reserve to protect innocent civilians, an absolute queen through and through!" ]

[ IronVanguard: "Vella is stepping up now. Give her a clear line to the severance point!" ]

The summoner helped the exhausted elf sit comfortably against the quiet willow trunk, wrapping his own wool cloak around her shoulders.

"Rest now, Commander," Hajin told her gently, his split-colored eyes blazing with fierce, protective resolve.

"You gave us the victory... now watch our healer finish their broken chorus!"

Loccy and the twins fanned out across the ridge, securing the perimeter to protect the exhausted archer while the main assault commenced.