Chapter 717: War? (4)
Amidst a cluster of towering ancient trees, a colossal wooden giant emerged, its form an entangled mass of mighty trunks.
Atop this wooden giant stood a druid, activating a technique. As the druid cast his spell, the giant's right arm began to glow, and dozens of chains sprouted forth, emitting a radiant light.
Shoo-whoosh…
Suspended in the air, each chain held a spirit bound to it, each possessing different attributes of the elements—air and earth, ice and fire, lightning. The spirits varied in form and strength, but restraining them was only a secondary function of the chains. The chains' true power lay in controlling these spirits.
As proof of this, the chains holding the spirits emitted a fierce glow. The beautiful spirits twisted into grotesque shapes, shrieking in anguish, their cries echoing in agony.
“……!!”
“…………!”
“……?!”
With their agonized screams, the twisted spirits assembled, wrapping around the giant's arm like assembled parts. They no longer looked like revered beings of nature; instead, they resembled mere tools, expendable items to be used and discarded.
This sight was far removed from the sacred creations that the gods had bestowed upon nature.
It was a horrifically twisted and profane spectacle.
Oliver observed the unsettling scene silently. Meanwhile, the wooden giant, now shrouded in spirits, drew back its arm, preparing to strike.
━━━━━━!!!
As the wooden giant’s fist descended, a tremendous roar and shockwave erupted, shattering all the nearby windows.
The giant's blow struck the walls of the Defense Corps headquarters, reducing them to mere dust.
The outer walls, resilient enough to withstand artillery bombardments, could hold out no further.
“……!!”
But the destruction stopped there. The wooden giant’s fist, wrapped in spirits, had only broken through the outer wall, inflicting no additional damage. This was because Oliver had extended his arm, blocking the giant’s strike head-on.
“Not at all…”
The druid with moose-like antlers on the giant’s head muttered, acknowledging that "blocked" wasn’t quite the right word. It was more accurate to say that the force itself had been neutralized.
Rather than countering force with force, Oliver had nullified it entirely.
Evidence of this lay in the fact that when Oliver's hand halted the giant's fist, no sound or impact arose. Instead of overpowering the blow, he had rendered the giant's fist itself powerless, despite it being shrouded in spirits.
Shivers raced down the spines of the druids standing on the giant’s shoulder and head.
The existence of someone capable of thwarting spirits—beings crafted by the gods to maintain balance in nature—in such a manner was a terrifying reality.
But not all hope was lost.
“It touched him…”
The druid with moose antlers murmured, his gaze fixed on Oliver's hand touching the giant’s hand.
Indeed, the druid was right—Oliver's hand had made contact with the wooden giant’s. Despite being immune to machine guns, lightning bombardments, and close-combat attacks, the power of the spirits had managed to reach Oliver.
Seizing upon this newfound hope, the druid issued a command.
“Restrain him!!”
The command was directed at the spirits bound by chains around the giant's arm. Responding to the order, the chained spirits extended their hands toward Oliver, reaching out involuntarily to seize him.
Like malicious water spirits, they gripped him tightly. With each spirit's unique attribute, Oliver's body was simultaneously frozen, burned, and shocked.
“We’ve got him! Charge, attack!!”
The druid with moose antlers shouted in excitement as he confirmed Oliver was restrained. The druids perched atop the wooden giant, specifically those from the Reformist faction, moved in unison.
These druids, who believed in mastering and utilizing nature for humanity’s benefit, were an influential faction allied with the royal family, holding sway over the entire direction of the druidic order.
They leapt from the wooden giant’s arm, which was shrouded in spirits, hurtling toward Oliver.
“Reformist druids. I’ve heard of you, but can druids really treat spirits in such a way?”
“Times are changing! We no longer worship—we use!”
As the world neared its end, the druids revealed their new philosophy, a genuine sentiment laden with complex emotions.
Resentment over being forced into druidic service, frustration from rigid traditions, and bitterness over reaching this rank only to face a world in decline.
Although the Reformist druids were said to have emerged under the influence of industrialization, it was clearly more than just that.
“Die, monster!!”
Now within striking distance, the Reformist druids forcibly summoned spirits, coating their teeth, claws, fists, and wooden clubs with elemental energy. They seemed convinced that the power of the spirits, entities from outside the natural world, would inflict real damage on Oliver.
It wasn’t a poor assumption, seeing as Oliver was currently restrained by the spirits.
But there was something they had overlooked.
Snap!
The sheer disparity in power between Oliver and the spirits.
With a single swing of his arm, Oliver sent the spirits’ hands scattering, regaining his freedom in an instant. The Reformist druids’ eyes widened in shock at the swift recovery.
“Aaahhhh!!”
Yet they did not falter, charging forward with even greater speed.
At this point, it was far too late to stop.
As the druids’ claws, fangs, and clubs were about to reach Oliver…
Thunk!
From the shadows beneath Oliver’s feet, numerous creatures burst forth, launching a counter-assault on the attacking druids.
“Yoo-hoo-hoo-hoo!”
Clown creatures with massive scythes entangled the druids' clubs and bodies, dragging them down to the ground.
“Ki-i-i-i-ing━━!!”
A giant creature with the head of a deer, the Wendigo, unleashed a massive ice fist, intercepting the druids’ blows.
“Clack! Clack!”
Under the direction of the Nutcracker Doll, squads of toy soldiers rushed forward with teeth and claws, blocking the druids’ assault.
Additional creatures—sack-wielding Grandfather, chick-headed soldiers, the chicken general, the cheerful chimp, and human-faced crows—charged at the advancing druids like an army of ants, not only halting their assault but also attacking the wooden giant itself.
As these creatures swarmed together like a colony of ants, the colossal wooden giant staggered back several steps.
Thud! Thud!
Each movement of the wooden giant shook the ground like an earthquake.
In the midst of the chaos, Oliver turned his gaze to a soldier who had collapsed, frozen in shock.
This soldier had witnessed, at close range, the overwhelming power of the wooden giant and the reckless disregard the military druids showed for collateral damage, leaving him visibly shaken.
Indeed, the military druid's recent attack went beyond merely ignoring collateral damage.
“You’re free to leave,” Oliver said, looking at the soldier who had narrowly escaped death.
Realizing that staying meant a meaningless death, the soldier stood up at once and started gathering his frozen comrades to lead them out of the building.
Just as they began to descend the stairs, the soldier turned and expressed his gratitude to Oliver.
And at that moment…
KWA-AAANG━━━━━━!!!
The wooden giant, swarmed by creatures like an army of ants, unleashed various natural disasters from its body—lightning, flames, ice, and violent wind—obliterating all the creatures that clung to it.
Such was the power of the spirits; the creatures disintegrated into dust.
Once the giant regained its composure, the druids leapt and summoned a massive tree, readying it to strike the building, while the giant clenched its fist and drew its arm back once more.
“…………!!!”
A wail and surge of spirit power, far greater than before.
As the giant prepared to throw its punch…
“Shadow,” Oliver called.
At his command, his shadow pulsed and expanded, extending countless tendrils that shattered the massive tree the druids were swinging, binding the druids.
Simultaneously, the tendrils lashed out toward the wooden giant, wrapping around its legs.
“Down,” Oliver commanded.
Just before the tendrils reached the giant’s fist, Oliver issued a secondary order.
The tendrils, originally poised to strike upward, sharply redirected downward, collapsing the giant’s legs.
KWA-AAANG…
With the sound of a landslide, the giant’s legs shattered, unable to support its weight, causing it to crumble from the base upward.
As the giant collapsed, the spirits bound to its body were released from their chains, attempting to flee to their original realms.
“Where do you think you’re going?!”
Just before the wooden giant completely fell, the druid with moose antlers leaped, swinging chains forged from twisted natural energy, and roared.
The chains once again bound the spirits. The druid aimed to reshape the spirits into armor, shields, swords, and spears.
“Seize him,” Oliver ordered his shadow.
Upon receiving his command, the shadow extended its tendrils once again. The druid with moose antlers tried to repel Oliver’s shadow with his newly captured spirits.
But it was futile. The gap in power was too vast; the spirits managed only slight resistance before being overpowered, and the druid was entangled by the shadow’s tendrils.
Screeee...
The shadow coiled tightly around the druid, extinguishing any possibility of resistance. But the druid, feigning composure, laughed out loud.
“Hah! How considerate of you! You go through all this trouble instead of just killing me…”
He was lying. Based on Puppet’s advice and his understanding of how Oliver had arrived here, the druid had some idea that Oliver would likely refrain from killing him.
Still, his words served only one purpose—to stall for time.
Oliver responded simply.
“There’s someone I need to meet. Until I meet them, I intend to avoid killing as much as possible… Besides, I find this all quite fascinating.”
Oliver cast a glance at the other Reformist druids.
Though he had seen them before on two or three occasions, his understanding of them was limited, as he hadn’t fully grasped their nature back then.
He had once thought of them as merely traditional druids, conservative and restrained.
But now he saw they were something entirely different. In some ways, the Reformist druids were even more twisted than the faction that sought personal freedom and pleasure, Enjoyment.
After all, even Enjoyment had never used spirits in this way, prioritizing their own desires over reverence for nature but without such blatant exploitation.
“You look at us as if we’re criminals…”
“Well… yes.”
Oliver replied with a weary voice, acknowledging it. In truth, they were indeed criminals.
Beyond violating the fundamental principles of druids, who were meant to revere and protect the spirits and nature created by the gods, these druids were guilty of numerous other sins.
They committed murder for personal gain, deceived others, and even aided in rituals that demanded countless sacrifices.
Though it wasn’t only a druid’s problem...
As mentioned before, everyone harbored sins.
There was the soldier he had saved earlier, another he had met before, even the civilians he had passed on his way here. People like Mari, Forrest, and Jo, those who were close to Oliver, were no exception.
This truth weighed heavily on Oliver.
“Hypocritical, aren’t you? Talking as if you’re pure,” the druid sneered, his bitterness and resentment outweighing his fear.
“No. I, too, am a sinner. A criminal tainted by my own sins.”
Oliver replied, recalling the mirror he had flipped away just moments ago.
He had turned it over because he couldn’t bear to see his own sins reflected in it.
He had willingly killed to learn dark magic, choosing the path of an enforcer for a comfortable life and study, embracing his own darkness.
“What a joke! This halfhearted attitude… and yet, such a creature is supposed to be the Prince of Hell destined to bring about the end of the world…”
The druid with moose antlers voiced his disappointment and anger, clearly displeased by Oliver’s weary demeanor.
In a way, Oliver shared his sentiments. The notion of him being the "Prince of Hell" was absurd to him as well.
“Puppet was right after all. I refuse to accept it. How could such a creature be entrusted with the world’s end? That’s not why I endured all that cursed time… Not yet!!”
The druid with moose antlers shouted into the void.
Boom!
As if in answer, a direct shell struck the Defense Corps headquarters, sending up clouds of debris and engulfing the surroundings in dust.
The bombardment continued, shaking the building to the brink of collapse. Amid the barrage, however, a different tremor rose…
Rumble rumble rumble━━━━━!!
It was not the shallow tremor caused by bombardment but a deep one, resonating from beneath the earth, like the onset of an earthquake.
Moments later, the ground, covered by massive structures and paved roads, split open. From beneath, something even larger than the building rose up, tearing through.
This massive entity, composed of earth, rock, and concrete, was another spirit. Atop its head was a crown, and dozens of druids stood there.
Together, they wielded chains made through a unique ritual, tightly binding the spirit’s neck and wrists, forcing it to move.
“Lord of the Underworld! Ruler of the earth… With a spirit of this caliber, not even you can—”
-Snap!
The druid with moose antlers was mid-sentence when Oliver snapped his right hand, his fingers wrapped in bandages.
In an instant, a tiny spark ignited along the chains binding the spirit of earth, and the chains were reduced to ash.
Freed from its restraints, the massive earth spirit raised a mighty arm, casting a deep shadow over the ground as it moved.
Its emotion was clear—rage.