Chapter 762: Seron

At that moment, the Sacred Tree’s roots writhed like massive snakes turning over, cracking the ground.

They twisted together, possessed by abyssal wraiths, gradually forming huge, twisted, and evil treants.

These treants stood twenty to thirty meters tall, swinging dirt-caked arms and letting out hoarse roars as they charged the coalition soldiers.

"Boom!"

With a deafening crash, a dwarf fighting bravely was smashed flat on the spot, blood and flesh splattering onto his comrade’s face.

"Damnable beasts!"

Several dwarf warriors gathered, riding mountain rams, charging at the treants like knights assaulting a mountain peak.

Their hammers slammed into the root-woven bodies with dull thuds, scattering splinters but failing to truly harm them.

A treant swept its arm sideways, instantly flinging the dwarves high into the air. Against such force, the dwarves, all under one and a half meters tall, could hardly resist.

The treant grinned, plunging its arm into the ground, roots drilling into the soil.

"Boom!"

Roots burst from the earth, skewering the airborne dwarves, gutting them. Their bloody corpses hung from branches, a gruesome sight.

"No—"

Zain’s face twisted with fury, eyes blood-red. He raised the Hammer of Stone, leapt high, and roared, "Monster! I’ll have your life!"

Seeing the dwarf leap, the treant sneered again, whipping its arm like a long lash, thinking Zain just another dwarf rushing to his death.

"Good!"

Zain’s hammer swung with immense force, smashing into the treant’s arm and breaking it clean off, sending thick roots flying.

The enraged dwarf king spun the heavy hammer in a wide arc, slamming it into the ground. The earth split, and sharp stone pillars erupted.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

One pillar over twenty meters long shot up beneath the treant, skewering it from bottom to top, killing it as it had killed the dwarves.

"Long live King Zain!"

"Crush them!"

The dwarves raised their weapons and cheered for their king’s valor.

From that sturdy frame, they saw the image of King Aed and were deeply moved.

But the Silvermoon Elves hesitated before the treants, uncertain and unwilling to attack.

Since childhood, they’d been taught the Sacred Tree was sacred and inviolable. Even corrupted by abyssal power, they hesitated to strike.

Rhea noticed this, blinking into place at the front line against the treants.

She swung her sword in midair. A crisp sword cry rang out, and a massive treant screamed in pain, toppling, its gnarled body sliced in half, the cut clean and blackened.

"My kin—do not hold back! These are not the true Sacred Tree, but parasites feeding on it!"

"Her Majesty Catherine’s greatest goal here is to eradicate these pests and return Serenia to the pure light of the moon!"

"General Rhea is right!"

"For Serenia! Fight to save the Sacred Tree!"

With battle cries full of resolve, the Silvermoon Elves loosed flaming arrows, forming ranks to battle the vicious treants.

The ancient gold dragon still circled above, watching the chaos, then dove and exhaled searing flames, turning several beasts to char.

Just then, a hoarse growl came from the Sacred Tree’s crown, and robed figures appeared in the distance.

"You traitors—you are Serenia’s betrayers, the sinners of the elven race!"

Venomous chants echoed, and thick poisonous fog rolled over the battlefield with a cold wind, surging toward the coalition.

"What is that?"

"Danger—we must retreat!"

Seeing the oncoming poison fog, the front-line soldiers’ instincts screamed, and they withdrew.

But the fog spread too fast, like a tidal wave or a scythe-wielding reaper, eager to claim every life.

Abyss-tainted monsters moved freely within it, roaring as they pounced.

"Get up!"

A Silvermoon Elf named Leander turned back, reaching for a fallen comrade.

But his comrade shoved him away, shouting, "Go! Leander!"

The fog engulfed the fallen elf.

His pale skin corroded instantly, shriveling and revealing raw flesh.

Breathing in the fog, he coughed black-red blood, eyes glazing over, and soon became a twisted corpse.

"No... Karl..."

Leander, spared by chance, ran with tears streaming, not daring to look back.

"Stand behind me!"

Rhea’s voice was steady.

Facing the choking fog, the half-elf paladin showed no fear, raising her silver sword.

Dusky light shone from the blade like starlight, shielding dozens of elves behind her.

This was the legendary paladin’s Aura of Protection.

Yet despite her effort, many elves could not reach her and perished in the fog.

"Death fog... they’ve gone mad, using such vile means."

Catherine’s eyes flashed with pain but she rallied, mounted her unicorn, and raised her scepter.

"In the name of Shahanni—purge this land of poison and sin, and restore its peace!"

Silver light rained down, purifying the fog instantly.

Monsters burned under its glow, screaming before crumbling to ash.

Mages of the Arcane Hermitage also lifted their staves, summoning gales to drive the fog back.

Zain drove the Hammer of Stone into the ground, raising a stone wall hundreds of meters long to block the fog.

High above, the gold dragon beat his wings, conjuring a burning storm to counter it.

Together, the coalition halted the fog.

From the Crown of the Sky descended a robed elf with pointed ears.

His cracked skin was aged, and eight bristled limbs sprouted from his back.

His eyes were pure black, with four more clustered beneath, like a spider’s face.

"What a terrifying creature..."

"Mother Goddess... is that even an elf anymore?"

The Silvermoon Elves whispered in disgust.

Catherine, Rhea, and others froze in shock.

They knew him—the High Elder of the Elven Council, the "Silverleaf’s Voice," Seron Korlen.

Catherine had never imagined her mentor, almost like a father, would become a half-spider abomination.

He had taught her history, divine magic, and the tales of the Moon Goddess.

To her, Seron had been Serenia’s hero.

Decades had changed everything.

Now she was the rebel leader, and he a servant of an evil god.

Catherine’s face was complicated. "Long time no see, Elder Seron."

"Or perhaps the Seron I knew is dead."

"What remains is a monster who murdered him, a bloodstained servant of an abyssal god."

"I am still Seron, the one who guarded the Sacred Tree for a thousand years, who saved Serenia."

His fanged mouth dripped venom as six eyes fixed on her.

"You’re too young, Catherine. You know nothing."

"If you were wise, you’d stay in your palace. Look at the dead—they died because of you!"

He pointed at the bodies hanging on the Sacred Tree. "They are dead because of you!"

"We once needed only a few sacrifices a year for the Mother Goddess’s protection. Because of you, I had to give over a thousand lives—"

"Enough! You pitiful monster! You killed them for power, offering them to your abyssal god!"

"No! Without me, Serenia would have perished! I saved you! I kept you alive!"

"You should all worship me! Did your so-called true gods save you in your darkest hour?"

"It was I who gained the Eight-Armed Mother Goddess’s power to stop the Fadlan Empire’s invasion!"

"Three hundred years ago, I repelled an ancient evil and banished it to the Astral Plane!"

"Five hundred years ago, I closed the Gate of Chaos and drove out the demons!"

"What have you done for Serenia? Every crisis in the past thousand years—I faced them!"

"Enough." The gold dragon stepped forward coldly. "Your hypocrisy sickens me."

"Now you’re just a monster who’s fallen into the abyss. Her Majesty Catherine is the true queen of Serenia."

Seron sneered. "Dragons are the greatest hypocrites. You’re an outsider—you can’t understand my sacrifice."

"I don’t need to. I only know I’ll avenge the dead and make the one behind this pay." Rhea’s voice was firm.

"Shut up! You’re a half-blood mongrel unworthy of the Sacred Tree!"

"Elder Seron..." Catherine’s gaze was steady. "Look at yourself—you’re drenched in blood, twisted and ugly. Do you not hate yourself?"

"For your past service, I’ll give you an honorable end, as a respected elder."

"Don’t make more mistakes, or Serenia will suffer more."

"No, I am not wrong. I gave everything for Serenia! You rebels are the problem!"

He spread his arms, eyes blazing with madness. "When I offer your head to the Mother Goddess, Serenia will be at peace again."

A massive shadow formed behind him, the poison fog swirling into a terrifying vortex, as if to devour everything.

The vortex churned louder, pulling debris and bodies toward it.

The coalition braced for impact, shields and wards raised.

Catherine’s unicorn reared, its horn shining as she prepared a counterspell.

Rhea moved closer, silver sword ready.

Zain planted his feet, gripping the Hammer of Stone with both hands.

The gold dragon circled lower, heat waves shimmering from his scales.

Seron’s six eyes glimmered with fanatical light.

The vortex roared, a herald of the next clash.

The battlefield held its breath.