Chapter 145: Chant

"...Wow...this is impressive," Nio says with a smile as the two of them stand in an immense open area, the area so enormous that it is larger than the entire area of Nio’s island, and in the center of this clear area stands an immense tree, its roots covering the grassy ground.

"Yeah, this tree seems to be spreading its vines throughout the entire area...and I don’t think it’s going to let us pass now...we’re going to have to defeat it..." Nioh murmurs with a click of her tongue.

"Nioh, seeing this makes me wonder, why did Yggdrasil create hell?" Nio asks as the two fly over the roots before starting the fight.

"Nio, you know how in the game you could revive your character when they died? That actually existed, but Yggdrasil didn’t like it, so Yggdrasil created heaven and hell to make it extremely difficult for someone to be revived," Nioh analyzes her enemy carefully.

"Nio, I think if we kill this tree, we can make staves for the both of us!"

"Oh, finally some good news! Another reason to kill this thing and move on. What magic can I use to attack? I don’t want to get infected by anything." The two approach close enough to become targets, and the tree’s vines shoot forward like projectiles, extending as they try to catch the two of them, who ascend higher. Since the tree is immense, they have plenty of space to fly.

"Use gravity magic, let’s crush the tree and the spores...let’s try doing it together. Go to the left, I’ll go to the right, and we’ll destroy this thing with a single attack!" Nioh beats her wings hard, skillfully passing through all the vines.

Nio does the same, preparing a gravity spell to combine with Nioh’s. Both make quick movements and skillful evasions, but Nio has much more difficulty dodging everything compared to Nioh, who avoids them gracefully.

Nio starts making spins and turns, wrapping the vines around one another because she can’t dodge well. She improvises by using one of her specialties as a player.

Both Nios meet on the other side of the tree, switching positions, and the vines pursuing Nio collide with the ones that were pursuing Nioh as they become tangled together.

"..." However, before they can even attack, the tree begins to wither. Both stop flying in confusion as the tree’s leaves fall and it "dies" on its own. Nio quickly reaches Nioh, confused.

"Did you do that, Nioh? I didn’t attack."

"No, I didn’t attack either. I mentioned using gravity magic specifically to avoid the spores, seeds, and sap of the tree...hey...look over there." Nioh points to the ground, where all of the tree’s "life" is accumulating in one spot of the bark.

The tree’s rotten bark cracks, and a woman emerges from inside with completely green skin. She has large breasts and a large pink flower on the upper left side of her head.

There is a large mouth with sharp teeth on her stomach, while her eyes are a clear golden color, like the tree’s sap.

"W-What the hell! A spirit? But why does she look like that?" Nio says in confusion at the spirit that was born directly from the tree. She knew spirits could be born in hell; there was nothing preventing that from happening, and it was actually common. What wasn’t common was for them to be born so abruptly like this.

"Maybe she’s some kind of mutant spirit? She looks like she used to be the tree, maybe she was feeding on the other trees to grow and awaken," Nioh murmurs, but before either of them can react, the plant girl is already in front of them.

She rises two kilometers into the air at a terrifying speed, grabs Nioh’s arms, and Nioh can’t dodge because she is caught by surprise. The spirit immediately gives Nioh a kiss on the mouth, lightly piercing her lips. Nioh immediately passes out from the spirit’s powerful venom being injected into her lips and reaching her brain absurdly fast.

"..." Nio spits Nightmare Flames at the two of them, creating an explosion in the sky while quickly flying down and grabbing Nioh, who is in free fall.

"W-What the fuck! A poison capable of knocking us out instantly?!" Nio realizes that she severely underestimated how strong a monster born in hell really was.

"..." Nio looks at Nioh’s face, where her veins become visible. A dark green substance completely flows through her veins while she gasps painfully.

"Can you speak?" Nio asks the spirit, who stays still for a moment until it assimilates the general information about communication through Nioh’s saliva, learning to speak and understand the language being used.

"I can now...that’s interesting, you communicate differently from plants..." The spirit licks her lips, imagining how useful the two girls in front of her would be as fertilizer, much better than most of the ones she had captured and trapped in her branches.

"Heh, you’re looking at me pretty greedily," Nio says sarcastically and confidently.

"And what could you possibly do? Your companion seems to have the same strength as you, and she lost." The spirit’s voice is slightly strange, a somewhat childish tone mixed with a deep, distorted high-pitched sound.

"Hahaha...what could I do, you ask? I’ll show you hell." Nio places Nioh on her back, speaking with a devilish smile.

"...Funny that you say that...is that the desperation of someone who has already lost?" The spirit can’t see how Nio could possibly defeat her, but ignores the fact that she only managed to hit Nioh because it was an abrupt attack.

"[In the deepest lake of the realm of death, the drop of despair emerges, crossing the world like the seed of sin]" Nio begins chanting a very unique spell among the magic she possesses.

"[That which would split the world, emotions, and reality apart, cutting the veil between fantasy and existence]" The spirit tries to attack Nio, but she keeps dodging without stopping her recitation of the spell.

"What do you think you’re doing, girl?"

"[Those who saw the drop of despair fell into the deepest valley of sin and fear, thus encountering the primordial Nightmare]"

The air around Nio seems to vibrate strangely as the color of the surroundings begins to shift into a strange purple and black, like a dense fog.

"[Those who heard the chant of lamentations fell before the Ninth Chant of the Apocalypse]"

The spirit uses magic, releasing an immense wave of plants to capture and poison Nio, but the plants die before they can even fully form.

"What?" She becomes confused and tries to use it again.

"[Special Magic: Ninth Chant, Reality and Nightmare]"

Nio finishes her spell, a very special magic to her. This magic requires three conditions: first, she must not have used any of the other eight Chants before this one for at least a week.

The target and she must be "isolated" from reality, meaning there must be no literal external observer nearby, and finally, the target must have wounded an ally in front of the caster.

In exchange, the Ninth Chant literally drains half of Nio’s Mana, but in return, it applies one of the most terrifying unique effects that exist: [Reality and Fantasy].

"Suffer for eternity, little spirit, for trying to touch what belongs to me." Nio’s voice echoes through the darkened space as her magic affects the spirit.

[Special Magic: Ninth Chant, Reality and Nightmare] Magic of the Madness Dragon Class that, in exchange for a high cost, specifically applies a unique [Reality and Fantasy] Debuff to the target.