Chapter 133: A Small Heart In the Middle of the Battlefield

Before Maeve could understand what she meant, a gentle warmth suddenly flowed from the Mother Tree into her body.

[Let the warmth flow through you,] the Mother Tree instructed. [Don’t fight it.]

Maeve frowned slightly, but she still followed her words. She didn’t resist as the strange energy slowly entered her body. Instead, she relaxed and allowed it to spread through her.

Little by little, the warmth reached every part of her body and the strange feeling wasn’t painful at all. In fact, it was surprisingly comfortable.

Her tense muscles slowly relaxed, and her entire body became so light that she almost felt like she was floating on a cloud.

[Can you still see the battlefield?] the Mother Tree asked.

Maeve focused on the vision inside her mind and saw the forest was still there.

She could still see Ikarus, the Sylvara people, and the Obryx moving between the shadows.

Maeve slowly nodded. "I can."

[Good.] The Mother Tree’s voice sounded softer this time. [Now, don’t focus only on what you can see.]

Maeve’s brows furrowed. "What do you mean?"

[Feel them.]

Maeve didn’t understand at first, but she still tried. She stopped focusing so much on the battlefield and instead paid attention to the warm energy flowing through her body.

Almost immediately, something changed.

She could feel the grass beneath Ikarus’s feet.

She could feel the vines hanging from the trees.

She could feel the roots spreading deep beneath the ground and the branches moving gently in the wind.

It was strange.

Maeve knew her real body was still standing beside the Mother Tree, yet at the same time, it felt as though parts of her were everywhere.

She even felt the connection between her and nature was much stronger than before!

[Imagine that you’re reaching to the vine,] the Mother Tree said.

Maeve focused on a thick vine hanging from a tree near Ikarus and then asked, "What am I supposed to do?"

[Whatever you want.] The Mother Tree said.

Maeve hesitated before thinking about moving the vine.

The moment the thought appeared, the vine moved.

Maeve’s eyes widened as she watched it happen. The vine had only shifted slightly, but Maeve knew there was no wind strong enough to move it like that.

"I did that?" she asked in disbelief.

[Yes.]

Maeve’s heart immediately started beating faster, and then she tried again. But this time, she imagined the vine lifting itself from the branch.

Slowly, it rose and Maeve nearly opened her eyes from excitement.

[Don’t lose your focus,] the Mother Tree reminded her.

"Right. Right. Right." Maeve quickly calmed herself and looked through the plants again.

Ikarus was still fighting two Obryx, but the third one behind him was getting closer. His body slipped between the shadows until he appeared behind a large tree.

It seemed like the third Obryx was waiting for Ikarus to let his guard down. He even had already raised his curved blade, ready to cut off Ikarus’s head the moment he stumbled.

Maeve frowned and clicked her tongue in anger. ’How dare he try to kill my husband?!’

With anger rising in her heart, Maeve immediately gave an order to the vine. [Grab him!]

WHOOSH!

The vine suddenly shot forward and wrapped around the Obryx man’s wrist just as he was about to attack.

"What?! What is this?!" The Obryx looked up in shock.

Maeve didn’t give him time to react and shouted to the vine. [Pull!]

The vine immediately tightened around his wrist before violently pulling his arm backward.

The Obryx man, who had been ready to attack Ikarus just a moment ago, suddenly became the one being attacked instead.

Ikarus finally noticed the movement behind him and quickly turned around. His brows furrowed when he saw the vine moving on its own, but before he could figure out what was happening, another small vine near him suddenly rose from the ground.

It slowly bent itself until it formed a small heart.

Ikarus stared at it. For a moment, he wasn’t sure what to think, but then he remembered that back when he and Maeve lived underground together, Maeve often drew the same shape. She had told him it was a symbol of love back on Earth.

His golden eyes widened slightly. "Maeve?" he called out in confusion.

However, before he could think about it any further, another Obryx suddenly rushed toward him.

Ikarus immediately raised his weapon and fought back.

CLANG!

Their weapons crashed together, forcing him to focus on the battle once again.

Maeve, however, was far from finished.

Now that she knew she could control the plants from this far away, there was no way she was going to simply sit back and watch her husband fight alone.

Her vision quickly moved from one plant to another. [That one!]

A thick root suddenly burst from the ground and wrapped around an Obryx’s ankle.

The man barely had time to look down before—THUD!

He fell face-first onto the ground.

Another Obryx tried to attack Ikarus from the side. [Grab his leg!]

A vine immediately wrapped around his leg and pulled. "AH!"

THUD!

He fell too

Maeve’s lips slowly curved into a smile because she felt like this was actually quite fun.

Her eyes moved toward another Obryx who was preparing to shoot an arrow at Ikarus. [Absolutely not.]

A tree branch suddenly bent down and smacked the man across the back of his head.

SMACK!

"What the—?!"

The arrow flew completely in the wrong direction and Maeve almost laughed at it. [Again!]

SMACK!

The branch hit him again and the Obryx spun around angrily. "Who keeps hitting me?!"

Of course, the tree didn’t answer him.

Maeve was starting to enjoy herself a little too much, and then she noticed several rocks scattered beneath another tree.

Her eyes immediately lit up. [Wait... Can I do that?]

She focused on one of the thick branches above the rocks and the branch slowly bent backward.

Maeve carefully moved a vine, wrapped it around a fist-sized rock, and placed the rock against the branch.

A moment later, she released it.

WHOOSH!

The branch snapped forward like a giant slingshot and the rock flew across the forest.

BAM!

It hit an Obryx directly in the back.

"ARGH!"

The man stumbled forward and nearly fell on top of another Obryx.

Maeve stared at what she had just done. [That was amazing!]

She finally understood why ghosts liked to mess with the living, because apparently, watching people get confused was actually really entertaining.

Moments later, Maeve immediately searched for another rock.

Axan, who was standing beside her, had no idea what Maeve was seeing or doing. However, when he noticed the strange smile slowly spreading across her face, he raised an eyebrow.

Whatever she was doing that made her smile that widely, Axan was sure it had to be something good.

His attention suddenly shifted toward the ground when he felt a faint movement beneath his feet.

It seemed that more Obryx were trying to break through the barrier he had placed around the Mother Tree.

Unfortunately for them, Mount Troja was now filled with Aether Energy after Maeve saved the Mother Tree. With so much energy around him, Axan could keep adding more layers to his invisible barrier every time the Obryx tried to break through it.

The moment they damaged one layer, he could simply add another.

Axan began walking slowly around the Mother Tree, carefully paying attention to every small vibration coming from his barrier.

Since the Obryx were moving underground, he couldn’t see exactly where they were, but he could feel them.

Every time something struck or touched his barrier, a faint vibration traveled through it.

Axan stopped walking. His eyes slowly lowered toward the ground beneath his feet. "There you are."

Axan stopped directly above the place where the vibration was strongest. He could feel someone repeatedly hitting his barrier from below.

Axan’s lips slowly curved into a faint smile. "If you want to come in so badly, then come."

With a small movement of his hand, he changed the barrier.

Axan had always been able to decide who could and couldn’t pass through his barriers. That was why Maeve could freely walk through the barrier around the Mother Tree while everyone else was blocked.

Instead of waiting for the Obryx to break through, Axan slowly created another barrier around them and since he could already feel their exact position through the vibrations, he didn’t need to see them.

The invisible barrier formed underground, surrounding several Obryx at once.

Almost immediately, Axan felt them stop moving, but the moment the Obryx realized they were trapped, they immediately began attacking it from the inside.

Axan remained calm. He closed his eyes for a moment, focusing on the shape of the barrier and then he made it stronger.

More Aether Energy flowed into it, making the invisible walls thicker and harder to break.

A few moments later, the attacks from inside became more violent.

BANG!

BANG!

BANG!

Unfortunately, the barrier didn’t break. Then Axan slowly raised his hand. "Let’s see how long you can keep doing that."