Equipment Printing School Mage

"Lift the ban."

Just as Emya and Fenwe fled in a panic, Korhal regained his composure.

He transformed into a cuckoo bird and slowly flew down from the tree. Several other druids were surrounding him at all times, but they were ignored by Korha.

Keha simply locked his gaze on the two fleeing men and spoke slowly, "No matter why this restriction was originally created, it has now bound us all and put us all in danger."

"If the ban continues, this profane tree man may destroy the holy land. You should be aware that becoming the chief druid will certainly allow you to advance. However, if you fail to protect the holy land, you will be severely punished by nature."

"The Chief Druid carries a heavy responsibility. Do your slender shoulders serve any purpose other than attracting men?"

Just as Korha's cold words continued to come from behind the two of them, the damage caused by the desecration of the tree man finally reached a critical point.

The vines hanging from the surrounding sacred trees, no matter how tough they were, were snapped in two by an enemy of this size. There was no way to stop it, and they could only let it reduce the entire holy land to ruins.

Under the trampling of the blasphemous tree man, the entangled roots were broken and scattered. The splinters of wood kicked off one by one by the tree man's movement whistled past Emilia's ears like arrows, leaving bloody marks on his cheeks.

If he had been more unlucky, he might have been nailed to the ground by a broken log.

It is really infuriating that when you are constantly looking for opportunities, you are still being gossiped about.

The ban on holy sites has numerous loopholes.

Any form of fighting is prohibited within the holy land.

Therefore, the additional damage caused by ordinary actions was not within the protection range, which was also the main reason why the rampaging beech tree man could act recklessly. Although it caused huge damage at the moment, the essence of this damage was just the inevitable additional effect brought about by its huge size.

This ban is also the biggest shackle on Khar at the moment.

Once the ban is lifted, the best result they can achieve is to perish together with Korhal - with Korhal's strength, even if he cannot protect himself, he can easily destroy the entire Sacred Forest, or even the entire Sharptooth Forest, before he dies.

At that time, all the druids present will be punished by nature for this extremely serious dereliction of duty - they will be forced to embark on the road of atonement with their weak bodies unable to even lift a finger.

Is it worth it to kill Khar?

As long as this question arises in the minds of the druids, they will inevitably hesitate - then they will not even be able to die together.

And Khar is obviously more familiar with this game of interests than they are.

"If you are in a dilemma right now, let me show you a way out."

"——Chief Druid of Fenwë, I challenge you. The challenge begins here and now. If you fail, you will die in the forest. This is not a fight. If you retreat, you must also give up your position. This is the iron rule that all druids must follow."

Now Emilia was lying on Fenwe's back, and Fenwe finally had the chance to speak: "What if I accept your challenge? What will it cost you?"

"This is my natural right. Why should I give you corresponding conditions? Let me remind you that you don't have much time - I say again, the actions of the tree people have nothing to do with me."

"—!"

At this moment, Emiya said coldly: "According to the Druid's commandments, once a challenge is issued, it must be responded to...but what about the time and place of the challenge?"

Finwe whispered, "Theoretically, it's the challenged who decides. That's why Korhal demands the challenge be made immediately."

"So, when do you need to give an answer?"

Fenwei didn't react for a moment: "... Of course it's immediately... right?"

Emiya said silently: "You haven't made a final decision yet? Then how long is the consideration period?"

Fenwë answered as he darted through the forest, "Generally speaking, the chief druid will give an answer on the spot to maintain his dignity."

Normally, that was the case. But now, being chased, she was jumping up and down, so she didn't care about her dignity. If she could beat Korhal, would she still be in such a mess?

"So, what about the hard time limit?" Emilia calmly asked a shameless question. "How long can it last? Can I pretend I didn't hear the challenge?"

Such an outrageous question immediately silenced Fenwei.

Finally, the silent antelope dodged the flying logs by ducking down. "...If you're thick-skinned enough, it's probably indefinite."

Emiya took a deep breath. "...Then, it will probably take him some time to react. In that case, we should have won an extremely valuable window."

"Miss Fenwei, you now also have the authority to amend the Holy Land's ban, right? Can you adjust it to [the combatants will receive the backlash of their own attacks instead of the targets of the attacks]?"

Fenwei was stunned for a moment: "What do you want to do?"

Emiya answered decisively: "Remove the threat of this tree man. Let its long life become the rope that hangs it."

"Finally, force Korhal into a corner."

************************

Finwe, of course, didn't answer immediately.

This was not surprising; Korhal did not really want an answer from Fenwe, but was trying to put her in a dilemma and further weaken her condition.

However, this silence seemed to last a bit too long.

This immediately aroused Keha's vigilance. He thought for a while and couldn't help but look towards the west.

Time is passing by every second.

He happened to be the one who could least afford to delay among all the people present.

If the ban has not been lifted by the time the holy warrior arrives, or if he has not yet seized the position of chief druid, everything will be over.

At this moment, his eyes widened in shock.

The blasphemous tree man who was originally running around suddenly stopped at some point, and his palm also stopped in mid-air.

Khar was not sure what happened exactly, but there were countless spells that could cause this phenomenon, which were obviously masterpieces of enchantment spells.

This series of spells can generally play with the recipient's emotions, so changing hostility to friendliness is naturally no problem.

“Too good to play such a trick…!”

The old druid lowered his gaze.

"Very good," he murmured, "Shape Transformation."

As he chanted, the cuckoo changed back into human form, and then immediately began its second transformation.

His snow-white beard and hair were dyed with gold and grew rapidly in the air, from dry to smooth in just a few seconds.

It was no longer human hair, but a lion's mane several meters long, dense and slender, like a waterfall cascading from a mountain.

Leaning forward, his arms and legs transformed into the four legs of a lion. His shoulders lifted slightly, and wings shot skyward from behind his ribs.

But his face still vaguely retained his own appearance.

The sphinx has a human face and a body like a lion, but is so strong and sturdy that it pales in comparison to an elephant.

That is the sacred guardian called Sphinx, which is also within the power of the spell of shapeshifting.

Khar looked around and took in the figures of the four druids around him.

Then he looked in the direction of Emiya, and his pupils dilated instantly.

The Sphinx's true vision can see through disguises, illusions, and darkness.

Therefore, he instantly took in the true appearance of the wizard on Fenwei's back.

Short red hair, white robe, sword at waist and a cold expression.

Khar almost lost his voice briefly.

He was so slow to realize that the reason behind this series of misfortunes that befell him might be so simple.

Three shadow druids were captured, and a legendary paladin ambushed them in the inn.

At first he thought that maybe it was all done by the paladin.

Now thinking about it, there was another possibility: he thought he had already won the game, and those young people were doomed to fail.

But the legend of the dead is about turning the impossible into the possible.

Things might have been much simpler—the siege of the three druids and the shapeshifters was easily resolved, and they were even captured alive. Thus, their identities and origins as shadow druids were completely exposed. Meanwhile, the Emya mage named Lunia traveled day and night to the Sharptooth Forest to retrieve his sword.

He secretly handed the Confessor to Fenwe, so naturally, the young wizard and Fenwe were connected - at the same time, for various reasons, there was no serious conflict between the two. On the contrary, the two took this opportunity to form a solid alliance.

Therefore, it was Khara himself who stepped into the death trap.

The blood in his body rushed to his head, making Keha feel dizzy.

This is the accusation against the deceased.

If you don't see them die, they'll come back and repay you tenfold.

Khar took a deep breath and let out a terrifying roar.

There is power in the Sphinx's roar, and every time it roars, the power contained in it will increase.

All creatures that hear the roar will be increasingly suppressed.

The first time they hear the roar, they will lose the courage to approach the Sphinx.

The second time they hear the roar, they will lose the ability to hear other sounds and the strength to move.

In the end, they will be shattered into pieces in the thunderous roar, and the survivors will be knocked to the ground by the sound waves.

And now is the first roar.

"——Lunya's Emiya!!!"

Forty-eight Fires of Ambition (End)

The giant palm of the blasphemous tree man brushed past Emilia.

Emilia felt as if her back was about to be torn in half by the storm.

If there had been no ban, he might have been seriously injured.

Under the influence of the Holy Land's ban, they could neither harm the Tree People nor the Tree People harm them. This was also why the Tree People had never taken any radical action so far—all the damage they had caused could probably be classified as accidental.

Just like when a person accidentally steps on an ant while walking on the road, it is definitely not murder or fighting. The human being may not even be aware of the existence of the ant.

And the desecration of the tree man seems to be the case at this moment.

Emiya didn't know what instructions Khar or Moonson had given to the tree man. But at least so far, the beech tree man had never launched an attack.

There was no punching, no slashing. It simply wanted to catch them both in its grasp.

Even if the tree man couldn't crush them to death, he could imprison them in his hands, isolating them from the air, and then he only needed to close his hands slightly, and he and Fenwei would have to compete with each other for the little air that was left.

Mages and druids both have ways to gain breathing abilities in various difficult terrains, but these spells are so unpopular that no one would prepare them in advance unless they anticipated the situation they were about to encounter.

He could try to use enchantment spells to influence the treant's mind, but Korhal was clearly watching closely—the spell would likely be removed by Korhal before he could order the treant to do anything.

So, the tree man just had to hold his hands tightly, and the two of them would have no choice.

They couldn't harm the tree people, so they couldn't escape by force. The ban on the holy land was still in effect, so they couldn't use space spells to escape the fence.

At that time, they would either lift the ban on fighting and forcefully confront Korhal and the treants, or lift the ban and let Korhal go.

This seemed like a dead end, but Emilia had already figured out a solution.

The trap woven by the Archdruid is not without flaws.

The most important key to breaking the deadlock lies in the chief druid.

"Miss Fenwei, you now also have the authority to amend the Holy Land's ban, right? Can you adjust it to [both combatants will receive double the recoil of their own attacks, instead of the targets being attacked]?"

"Even the Chief Druid can only revise, add, or delete a law once a month! Are you sure?"

"I'm sure. I'm going to jump. Please adjust the ban immediately."

In his book on illusion, Bantli Mirror Shadow described the concept of illusion as follows:

"Some people believe that the strongest illusion is to make the other party believe the most unreal truth. But I think the strongest illusion is to make the other party feel that they are already in the illusion, but they are completely unaware of it."

Emilia prefers the latter.

Rather than making the other party unable to distinguish, it is better to let the other party not distinguish.

Among the eight types of spells, illusion and enchantment are both spells that are closely connected with the target's mind and senses, so the logic of their operation also has certain similarities.

Being able to forcibly distort the opponent's will and completely control the opponent's thoughts and brain - this is of course the ultimate goal of many enchantment spells.

But why do we have to give the instructions that the other party resists the most?

Emilia believes that it is a good idea to stimulate the other person and make him obey the most irresistible desire deep in his heart.

However, when the enemy gets carried away, the results of their actions will be quite different from what they expected.

The Desecrated Tree Man is the most suitable target for the experiment.

He didn't know what happened to the tree man who was desecrated, but no matter what, it was obvious that Khara and his team did not transform the tree man to help him cultivate his mind and character.