The tall lizardman was just about to lose his temper.
His gaze suddenly swept to the massive beast-skin pack behind Qimeng, which was stuffed so full it looked ready to burst.
“What is that?! That pack is huge!”
His cold-blooded, magical beast eyes bulged.
“Y-you guys! Look at that black-haired monster girl's pack!”
“Don't tell me all the treasures here were taken by her...”
The other lizardman shrieked, the greed in his eyes instantly turning into the fury of having his prize snatched away.
Was this some kind of joke?!
They had exhausted all their efforts just to break in here.
And yet, the real ringleader of the thieves had actually been sitting here the entire time, counting her loot?!
“Ha! And here I was, actually thinking about questioning you!”
The red-haired woman laughed out of sheer anger, pointing her staff at Qimeng and Yinzhi as she barked at them.
“You actually have the nerve to call us thieves?! Open your eyes and look! The real thief here is clearly you guys!!”
She glared mockingly at the heavily injured Yinzhi.
“My dear Spirit Maiden, so you and we are cut from the same cloth after all.”
“And here I thought you were so noble. In the end, you claim ignorance out loud while secretly teaming up with an accomplice to strike it rich behind our backs, huh? Come on, hand over that pack. Let's sit down and talk cooperation. We might even throw a ten-percent cut your way! Hahaha!”
“Sh-shut up! Don't lump us together with underhanded scoundrels like you.”
Yinzhi's face flushed with anger as she coughed violently, loudly retorting.
“Lady Qimeng is absolutely not a thief! She is the key to helping our tribe find the Great Spirit! As long as we can find the Great Spirit, we can revitalize our tribe. Our tribe can afford any reward she asks for! That is a reasonable thank-you gift freely offered by our entire tribe!!”
“The Great Spirit? With just this little brat of unknown origin?”
The red-haired woman sneered with disdain.
“What makes you so sure? This is nothing but hopeless, blind faith!”
“No, she can do it! If it's her, she can definitely do it!”
Yinzhi spread her arms, shielding Qimeng as a resolute, unyielding light ignited in her eyes.
“I can truly feel it—I trust her completely! You despicable invaders, stop defiling Lady Qimeng with your filthy thoughts!!”
It was a highly passionate and moving declaration of their bond.
Yet, the black-haired beauty shielded behind her didn't show the slightest hint of emotion.
Qimeng's emerald eyes were filled with irritation—the sheer displeasure of having her mealtime interrupted.
“So noisy. Is it really that hard for you all to shut up for a moment?”
The atmosphere in the once-noisy underground room instantly plunged to freezing point.
“Speaking of which, you mentioned earlier, didn't you? That unless this thousand-year Mother Tree collapses right now, we won't stand a chance of surviving. You did say that, right?”
Qimeng tilted her head, a mischievous, devilish smile playing on her lips.
“Since you're looking forward to its collapse so much, I'll show some mercy and grant your wish by making this tree disappear.”
The trio of thieves exchanged glances before bursting into unrestrained laughter.
Surviving? Saving themselves?
To them, this little magical beast who hadn't even reached the Intermediate Rank was probably driven mad by fear, actually harboring the delusion of bringing down a tree that had lived for a thousand years.
But before their laughter could even fade, the two black magic stones floating in front of Qimeng flared with dark light, letting out a strained groan as they reached their limit.
Crack! One of them shattered into powder.
“Oh? Isn't that the black magic stone unique to our demon race?”
The red-haired woman raised an eyebrow, the mockery in her eyes turning to greed as she stared at the powder.
“Interesting. What on earth is a little magical beast like you trying to pull?”
“You'll find out very soon. I'm about to let you all... see... the... light... of... day... again!”
Reverse flow, Devour All Things.
Maximum power, overload fully activated!!
Rumble!
A sudden, violent tremor shook the secret chamber.
Before the frozen expressions of the three thieves, thousands of white tentacles, each thicker than a barrel, erupted from Qimeng's back!
“W-what?! What is with this scale of magic power?!”
The two Intermediate-rank lizardmen stumbled back several paces in terror. Under the horrifying pressure sweeping through the area, their knees buckled, and they nearly collapsed to the ground.
Before they could even recover from their shock,
the overwhelming tide of tentacles, like the gluttonous maw of the abyss, wrapped around and tore at the remaining massive main root of the thousand-year Mother Tree, sucking it dry with absolute frenzy!
“You've... you've got to be kidding me... She's devouring the Mother Tree alive?!”
The composure the red-haired woman prided herself on completely shattered.
She shrieked at the top of her lungs, watching as the thousand-year sacred root—which even Intermediate-rank magic couldn't leave a scratch on—began to disintegrate inch by inch under the constriction and siphoning of those white tentacles!
And right at that moment,
the entire Wood Elf tribe on the surface began to shake violently!
“What's happening?!”
Everyone, including the Chief, the dozen or so Elders gathered around the Mother Tree, and the fully armed guards, looked up in utter shock.
The massive sacred Mother Tree, which towered into the clouds and had served as their racial totem and spiritual pillar for over a thousand years,
suddenly erupted from bottom to top in tens of thousands of dazzling, white feathers of light!
The massive, ancient trunk
instantly dissolved into a sky full of dancing, glowing green particles of light.
It was like a vast sea of fireflies on a midsummer night—magnificent, grand, yet carrying an endless desolation.
It was a sublime spectacle born of a single individual forcibly draining the Mother Tree dry.
The pillar of faith passed down for a millennium met its physical end at this very second.
“O-Oh my God... Mother Tree?!”
“The Mother Tree has faded away! Ahhhh!!”
In an instant, countless Wood Elf girls burst into tears, falling to their knees.
Even the strongest warriors, who usually stood firm, couldn't hold back their weeping.
The entire tribe was plunged into an indescribable, tragic solemnity.
“We respectfully see off the sacred Mother Tree...!”
“We shall eternally remember your protection that has shielded our tribe until today... Please allow us to see off the Mother Tree as she returns to heaven and earth!!”
“Sob, sob... Have a safe journey, Mother Tree!!”
The emerald-green specks of light drifting through the air brushed against the cheeks of the Wood Elves.
This beautiful yet desolate scene left the entire tribe steeped in the epic sorrow of an era coming to an end.
Yet at this moment, down in the underground room,
the culprit who had caused this massive tribal weeping
merely let out a satisfied burp, still wanting more.
As the remaining husk of the thousand-year Mother Tree was completely devoured,
a crisp crack echoed from within Qimeng's body.
*Pop~
The barrier that had blocked countless Novice Rank magical beasts was brutally shattered.
【High-tier Novice】, broken!
【Low-tier Intermediate】, broken again!
【Mid-tier Intermediate】, broken with unstoppable force!
【High-tier Intermediate】, perfectly achieved!!
In an instant, a qualitatively transformed magic power surged throughout Qimeng's body!
This was a leap in her life's order!
She felt her perception expand, and the complex structures of plants turned into green veins before her eyes.
To her surprise, during her breakthrough, she had directly gained a sudden enlightenment regarding the fundamental composition of the Wood attribute.
This meant that in the future, learning any Wood-attribute spells would be as easy as pie!
Rate on N.U.
