Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

---Tree Station 8---

In the newest Tree Station and the first that was directly in the direction of Ypselon, Karina was busy cultivating housing trees for future occupants, when a commotion distracted her. She felt the chimera's footsteps running toward her before he appeared in her vision.

"Lady Karina, people have appeared from the direction of Y-City," the left head of the two-headed chimera reported.

"Merchants?" Karina asked unperturbed. Although the mountains had become quite dangerous, there were still more than enough people willing to take the risk to travel for profit.

"Unlikely, for now, its a group of men observing us from afar. I don't think they have good intentions."

"Okay, I will come to take a look," Karina said, stopping to feed energy into the growing building.

The tree was still a sapling barely 200m tall, its crown only 300m in diameter. It would grow bigger in the future, but it would have to do so with its own power. The way to reach the edge was not long, here she found that the team of chimeras she came with had taken formation behind the curtain of vines.

"What is the situation?" she asked friendly as she joined the rows of chimeras in silver armor.

"They just started to move," the chimera captain said, pointing at the ridge.

She saw a group of well-dressed people in the distance. At their helm stood a man wearing a white lab coat and rectangular glasses.

"Since everyone is here, let's see what they are capable of, to dare and challenge the Scene!" he suddenly shouted, as if he had only waited for Karina to appear at the scene.

From behind the group, a flood of bodies poured over the mountain and toward the lone tree standing in the middle of snow and wind. Again with the human wave tactics? The chimeras were anxiously watching as the first line of defense activated.

As the flood entered the ring of soul whisking formations the mindless people suddenly had tails of smoke and dust floating behind them, like a vampire in the sun. However, to their shock, they were not stopped by the soul-whisking formation.

Their tailor-made clothes hang loosely from their bodies that looked skinned, or half disintegrated, but were quickly healing as the horde stormed toward the tree. The best weapon they had against the immortals had failed! How could that be? The chimeras got ready for battle, but Karina stopped them with a swipe of he hand.

"Get back, further toward the trunk;" she commanded them, her voice had lost her friendly warmth.

Something had awakened in her when the Guardian Tree was born. A second nature that had been dormant. It was a cold and cruel feeling, but she had realized that it was fundamentally part of her. It was not a dehumanizing violence that asked for blood, but a righteous vengeance born from her love for others. A glorious lust for murder towards anyone who tried to harm what was hers.

Between the formations and the tree, there were no other protective measures set up, yet. The enemy was free to cross the space. She felt pity for these creatures. Humans that were mutilated and now used as pawns, but it changed nothing. Before they could even reach the curtain of vines, the frontmost line of attackers suddenly jerked to a halt, before being pulled under the snow.

Only the spraying snow indicated what happened to them, as they were rapidly pulled towards the tree and then up into the crown. This was the Hangingtree. Cold and cruel, she could feel the branches and roots pierced through the bodies of its victims, sucking them dry of blood and energy. Not just feel it, it was at her orders.

It didn't matter that they were immortal, they would just become a constant source of sustenance, as networks of roots penetrated their bodies, turning them into parts of the tree. It didn't matter how many enemies there were, it was only a growing number of strangled bodies decorating the branches of the Hangingtree.

As the branches were laden with lignified bodies, the older ones slowly turned into lumps and bumps on the bark, as the tree grew at a visible rate. The tree became their grave and the struggling beings were integrated and buried in it. Forced into eternal slumber. It was Karina's act of mercy, hoping to end their mindless suffering.

...

The people standing on the ridge, executives of the Scene could only watch in stupor, as the tree continued to gobble up their troops, they had reared and grown over the weeks and months.

"Stop this, call them back;" Glasses commanded. "Are you sure?"

"How would I not be sure? As it is, we are just feeding their tree! Who would have expected the tree to be such a big problem? If we want to use the Serks, we have to get rid of the tree first..."

But this was a bigger task than one might think. As big as it already seemed facing a massive flesh-eating tree. The last report from Mount Agra said that the Tree of Agra had even managed to strangle the avatar of a god, that the Tuatha De summoned, to a hold.

Either they had to get rid of the tree, or catch them when they left it's protection. Seeing that nobody from the other side attempted to come out of the protection they decided to return.

"Let's return for today..." Glasses finally said, after what was left of the Serks had returned. They slowly returned to their temporary camp not far away, from where they could observe the tree and the people of Minas Mar.

In his tent, Glasses brought out a communication device. It was a device created by mixing modern and arcane knowledge and allowed video communication. Of course, they had communication orbs, but those were not cheap. Their devices based on smartphones were much easier to produce.

"Glasses? Report." the face of a serious man with a seriously bushy mustache appeared on the screen.

Glasses explained to his superiors what had happened to the Serks they sent in. The tree was like a fortress and it would take a lot of men, actual adventurers not their throwaways, to overcome just one of them. To make it worse the tree was also healing and growing over the course of a fight.

"I advise against trying to conquer them with infantry. Large-scale bombardment through magic or artillery and siege are better options," Glasses concluded his report.

"I will further your report. Stay where you are and keep an eye on them. Try to cut off their supplies and harass them once they move on. We will send you some reinforcements," the order came through the communication device.

"Sir, are you sure we should let them proceed?"

Glasses didn't know if it was a good idea to let them continue to plant trees, as they got closer and closer to Y-City. It was not hard to imagine how difficult it would be to get rid of them.

"Trust our leader. We have to end them for good in one fell swoop. If that means inviting them into our house, then that is what is necessary. Understood?" it came back through the speaker.

"Understood."

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