Reincarnated With The Van Helsing System - Chapter 702

Chapter 702: Challenges, Alfear Princess version (part 7)
Within the thunder-like explosion caused by Tessa’s technique going off, there was another loud sound, the sound of the devil tree general screaming to be more accurate.

“Ahhhh!”, the reason is simple, the moment the whip landed on his armor which by the way cracked just under the pressure of the alfear princess’s attack, the thing exploded in countless pieces that in part flew in every direction and in part turned into sharp projectiles that sank into the body of the tree.

Now, the enemy didn’t have flesh and blood perse, but it did have a physical body, in other words the small trunk which was covered in that black inked liquid which formed his limbs and head, that were protected by the dark crystal acting as his skin, which used to be further reinforced by the devil armor.

So, the devil armor which was of course harder than the devil general’s skin, worked as a perfect projectile that dived all the way to the tree’s physical body, that was the origin of the pained scream we heard a moment ago.

But wait, there was more, as in the actual impact from the Tessa’s whip, which basically tore all the previously mentioned layers of protection, and carved a deep diagonal line into the main body of the devil tree general.

“Crack!”, surprisingly there was no scream coming from the enemy, that was the sound of him breaking many trees as he was sent flying into the distance, the reason is simple, the eyes of the devil tree general actually rolled backwards, his mind shut down for a second in order to protect him from the pain, he would have felt.

“Hssss!”, of course with his life on the line, the tree reacted as fast as possible, the wound left by Tessa’s whip started releasing black smoke and while the line carved up in the trunk was healing really slowly, the black inked substance conforming the body and the dark crystal which acted as skin, did instantly recover, just in time for Tessa whose body was cladded in that intricate smooth wood armor, to appear above him.

Interestingly enough, the vine whip was coiled around her right arm, instead of being held by her, instead of that, her pretty right hand was closed to form a fist with which she punched at the devil tree general.

“Black Death Devil Shredder Claws!”, with bloodshot eyes, the tree slashed his right gauntlet cladded hand at Tessa’s incoming fist.

“Booom!”, upon contact a strong shockwave and sparks wee produced as a sign of the strong impact those two’s attacks carried, there was a temporary stalemate which made the tree feel incensed, he should be pushing the enemy backwards in a strength contest.

“Don’t get ahead of yourself you damn bitch!”, he shouted as he proposed himself to channel more mana into his attack, or that would have been the case if the vine whip which was coiled around Tessa’s arm, didn’t suddenly move by itself.

“Jungle Knight, Emerald Tree Python”, following Tessa’s words, the vines grew in size and were then cladded in bright green energy, which gave it the form of an ethereal python but with a physical core, namely the vine whip.

In case you haven’t noticed, yeah, that’s basically the same principle the devil tree general used to adopt this form, in other words, Tessa was using a technique similar to his.

But with a maybe small, but high impact difference, the snake’s eyes were shinning in a bright green light, as a sign of intelligence, it had consciousness and it was of course the one from the wood thorn knight, Tessa had proportionated the tree a temporary body to inhabit, since she was using its roots as armor as of current.

“What!”, now imagine the tree’s surprise when the python opened its mouth and shot a stream of green-gray light, which dispelled the extra mana the tree was about to use against Tessa, ultimately resulting in the tree’s technique to… lose.

The tree who was forced backwards had an expression of disbelief, in a direct clash and when using a spell, he lost against a simple punch from the alfear princess, in other words the roles had inversed before he even had the chance to enjoy overwhelming the enemy.

“What, did you think there are only trees in a jungle?”, mockingly said Tessa as she saw the expression of disbelief in the face of the devil tree general.

“Bullshit, what kind of abomination are you, that damn tree you command uses a death-related energy and now you are using animals, aren’t you a descendant of those tree-loving bastards!”, exclaimed the devil tree general, to which Tessa softly snorted in response.

“Well, it’s an unpopular, no, a “taboo” stance in my race, but my respect isn’t reserved only to the life of vegetation, animals are also part of nature… and so is death”, said the alfear princess as she gazed at the ethereal green snake in which the secondary consciousness of the giant tree was contained as of current.

Unlike other alfear, Tessa lacked the prejudice against negative oriented things just because of what they are, perhaps it was a combination of her calm personality and the fact that she herself has darkness affinity, though it was not only dormant, but for some reason also undetected, even by Adam who was eyeing the alfear princess.

It’s worth mentioning that the previous had nothing to do with Tessa having nature affinity, because there have been others like that in the Alfear race, and they loathed any negative oriented thing, just like other members of their race.

Needless to say, but the tree was outraged at the explanation given by Tessa, he was born from death and darkness, among the information he had managed to obtain from his lineage, he knew that he was one of the worse enemies from the “tree-loving” bastards, he parasitized vegetation and consumed them after all and here he was, listening to such absurdity, it only enraged him even more.

“In that case, let me kill you out of respec…”, before the devil tree general could finish his sentence he was interrupted by Tessa, coldly saying.

“The fact that I don’t discriminate due to one’s innate nature, doesn’t mean I tolerate pieces of trash, after all that other tree was in a similar situation as you and yet he resisted despite knowing that he couldn’t win against Marcus, I can respect him, unlike a coward who sold himself to Marcus”.

That made the tree feel a chill running down his spine, he didn’t understand how did Tessa know that the very second, he came to be, he swore loyalty and flattered Marcus, of course the alfear princess reached that conclusion thanks to the information she got from using nature’s memory.

What a joke, the preparations Marcus made to create those two trees were exactly the same, there wasn’t even a single different symbol in the circles used for the ritual nor the materials he threw into them, in other words the devil tree general was lying to the second tree when he affirmed to have been chosen by marcus from the very beginning.

Marcus originally didn’t care about whom will end up being the final product, he only started favoring the now devil tree general because of his quick flattering response, and that’s all.

And as if that wasn’t enough, the alfear princess took a page from Sarah’s book and mockingly added.

“I wonder if you even stopped to wonder, why would Marcus go through all the trouble just to give you a humanoid form, you might have saved your life but in exchange you are “attracting danger” your way now”.

“You!”, of course the tree knew what Tessa was talking about, it was a known fact that any special “favor” from Marcus had to be repaid at some point, in terms of body of course and now he… had a body of some sort.

“Enough, Black Death Devil Altar!”, angered due to embarrassment, the devil tree stopped all the breaks, black ominous mana exploded out of his body, to then condense behind of him in the form of a rudimentary altar made out of black bones with a giant skull with horns which was covered in dry blood stains, in the center of it.

Naturally, Tessa doesn’t have the “weakness” of a hero, so she is not going to let the villain do his move in peace, which is why she nodded at the energy vine python that was controlled by the wood thorn knight’s consciousness, and the thing detached itself from Tessa’s right arm to then flash towards the tree.

“Clang!”, surprisingly the vine energy python’s charge was stopped in cold by a semi-transparent black mana cupule which surrounded the devil tree general, the impact produced sparks and the sound of metals colliding, very much to the tree’s amusement.

“You want to interrupt the ritual, dream on, master knew you lowlifes would feel urgency the moment you gazed upon the glorious devil altar, so he granted us “absolute defense” during the process!”, excitingly roared the tree to then place his hands on the ground.

The black crystal claws of the devil gauntlets the tree was using, turned red and countless pulsating red veins, like the ones he had when he was in tree form, spread all over the place, covering the ground until they reached the nearby trees.

“Jungle Knight, Nature Judgement Prison”, unfortunately before the tree could make his next move, the alfear princess got ahead of him, bright green energy covered Tessa as footstep marks lit up all over the place, out of which thick green energy pillars emerged, raising from the ground until they converged high into the sky.

The result was that an ethereal wood cage covered the area where Tessa and the tree were fighting, but as imposing as the tall cage was, the important part is that it completely severed the red veins that had just reached the other trees in the vicinity.

“Hsssss!”, to top it off, the red veins were burned on the spot, which made the tree scream in pain while blood exploded out of his mouth.

“Aghhh!”, unfortunately the devil tree general was still being protected by that barrier, so the vine energy python couldn’t land his own attack, on the other hand, seeing the frustration in the face of the tree, the wood thorn knight knew how to get back at the enemy for meddling in his fight.

“Crack!”, strong cracking sounds came from the body of the vine energy python as it lit up in green-gray energy, which was absorbed into its body, making it grow from its previous three something meters, to a whooping total of a hundred meters of size.

Of course, the vine whip which was the core of its body remained the same, the increase in size was because the wood thorn knight injected a huge amount of energy into the technique casted by Tessa which created the python projection around the whip.

With a “swoosh”, the now giant vine energy python wrapped around the cage to then slowly but surely, release green-gray energy, completely isolating the tree from the outside world.

“Mmm, let’s call it “Emerald Death Python Seal”, casually said the alfear princess, as she saw what the wood thorn knight did, she of course only leisurely stopped to name this new technique, because the tree was still being protected by that barrier.

Speaking of the tree, he was about to go crazy, first Tessa’s technique cut off the veins which he was going to use to obtain the necessary “materials” to use the devil altar and then, the vine energy python isolated the cage, interfering with the connection between this sub-altar and the main one.

“Pieces of trash like you guys are so easy to read, you’ll always resort to use those that have nothing to do with the fight as sacrifices, so of course our team captain told us to look out for that, if you want to use that disgusting altar, pay the price yourself”, coldly said the alfear princess as she gave the tree a disdainful gaze.

This was a benefit of being in the dark while the enemy operates in “daylight”, you get information about the enemy’s powers, patterns and tactics, while the other party doesn’t know anything about you, which amusingly should have been an advantage working in Marcus’s favor, but Daimon was better at playing this game.

“Damn it!!!”, the devil tree poisonously glared at Tessa while cursing, he was had, and now he had only one possible play, because of course such a strong barrier to protect him against external interferences, without the protected having to pay for it, had a time limit.

‘Fucking bitch, should I try to target her as a sacrifice… no, if she is strong enough to resist, the ritual will fail and I will end up with nothing!’, cursed the tree to his insides, to then say.

“Fine, let’s see who dies first you bitch, Black Death Devil Immolation!”, the red veins which were still in the ground retreated all the way to the tree, to then cover his own body, integrating with the dark crystal which was acting as his skin.

“Arrrrghhh!”, the devil tree general let out a beastly cry as red mist was poured out of his body, to then be devoured by the giant skull placed in the center of the altar which had opened its spike-toothed mouth.

The eyes of the giant skull lit up in a dark red light and as a show that the “offering” was accepted, black light gathered on the four corners of the altar to then fly towards the tree who absorbed it the next second.

The previously humanoid looking devil tree had his body “wither”, his limbs became basically bones with skin stuck to them, and he had those red veins pulsating all over himself as well, that being said, his appearance didn’t reflect on the fierce black mana which was revolting around his body.

“Hsssss!”, an area of three meters around the devil tree general was instantly corroded and turned into a puddle of a black viscous liquid, still the tree was literally getting closer to death with every second that passed, so without words this time, he instantly charged at Tessa.

“Boooom!”, just the tree moving, without any movement spell, caused the ground to explode on the spot, luckily for the tree Tessa didn’t want to just dodge until the tree’s life ran out and win for default, but honoring the wood thorn knight who was making sure there were no external interference in her fight against her respective opponent, she also went all out, a bright green flame-like energy lit up around her armor cladded body.

“Jungle Knight, Blooming Radiance”, mumbled Tessa as she also turned into a flash of light, which shot towards the incoming enemy.

The atmosphere around the alfear princess changed, she was now radiating the power of the Arch rank, which of course made the tree who was charging at her, grit his teeth, the enemy wasn’t taking him seriously until now.

For a good reason, this consumed both her stamina and the energy of the armor, so it was a temporary boost only.

“Clang!”, two straight energy flashes one black and one bright green clashed in the air the next second, since the alfear princess was freed from the shackles of the ground, due to her energy reaching the Arch rank for as long as this technique lasted, the fight moved to the sky.

Well, thanks to the prison around them, the battlefield didn’t grow as large as it would have originally become.

“I bet you regret limiting the battlefield now, if you ran away, I would have lost no matter what!”, roared the tree as he threw his right arm backwards to then claw his hand at the alfear princess, who answered by closing her pretty right hand to form a fist.

“Boooom!”, a loud shockwave was produced as those two’s attacks collided, and then they turned into green and black light streams which flashed through all over the battlefield, with each clash cracks could be heard coming, either from Tessa or the tree.

Neither of them was using any technique, nor weapons, it was simple close combat brawl, while reinforcing their bodies their own way each.

At least until the tree who saw that despite Tessa’s armor getting new cracks with each clash, the fierce light in her eyes didn’t waver in the slightest, grew anxious.

‘Crazy bitch, is she actually trying to die with me, no, I even swore loyalty to that guy to survive, I won’t die here!’, cursed the devil tree general in his mind.

“Black Death Devil…”, the tree who had broken the unspoken agreement to fight with only his fists, out of fear for his life was stopped in cold, as he wondered why had his body frost against his will, a giant elegant looking bright green energy hand materialized around the tree.

“Looks like you blinked first, what a shame that in this state not only do I not need to call out any techniques I want to use, but there is no activation delay time either”, said the alfear princess as she floated towards the restrained tree.

In other words, she wasn’t using techniques not out of fear of shortening the temporary boost, she simply wanted to see things to the end in close combat, but the tree was too coward to really fight with his life on the line, unlike the second tree who to the end was willing to die fighting instead of being enslaved, and it was due to that same reason that he had lost, he didn’t want to suffer so he half-assed sacrificed his life.

The fun part is that had he gone all out from the moment he took this path, he might actually could have had a chance to defeat Tessa head on, not kill her because there were was a proper “safety net” in place to prevent that, courtesy of Daimon, but she might have lost the fight, which is understandable, even if fake, she was fighting against a peak Arch rank enemy, with temporary early-stage Arch rank energy, without the help of the wood thorn knight.

“Partial Domain, Jungle Knight’s Execution Hand”, with a few words, the bright green energy hand, which was actually a part of the way the alfear princess envisioned her future domain as an Archmage, but manifested through a technique used with the energy she was granted by the Blood Prison realm, started burning in green flames.

“Damn it!”, feeling the overwhelming sensation of death, which was amusingly caused by Tessa’s nature energy, the devil tree tried to break out by this time actually burning through everything he had, it’s a shame that it was too late for that.

Black, grey and red particles coming from different areas of the battlefield, turndc into chains that wrapped around the tree.

“What the hell is this, aghhh!”, the tree felt his energy being drained by those chains, interestingly enough Tessa wasn’t doing anything now, and those particles came from the areas where the armored and energy branches of the tree “died, as well as the area were the remains of the grey branches of the second tree were still lying around.

“Noooo!!!”, the tree which was dragged downwards from the sky, landing on the ground, before the giant hand descended smacking the tree, and instantly killing it on the spot, leaving behind only his dying scream which couldn’t even leave the prison.

A giant hand print carved into the ground was everything that was left, and so the first fight of the group came to an end.