Maximus poured gushing streams of spirit energy into his seed, which began pulsing like a miniature sun, sending powerful waves of pure spirit energy, the very essence of life, into its small crystalline roots.
The roots squirmed like serpents before erupting forward and expanding through Maximus’s channels, widening them twofold as they spread throughout his entire body. The more energy he forced inward, the larger and stronger the roots became.
Not even five minutes into his insane attempt, the first stage of the Spirit Roots was completed, and now, alongside his channels, veins, and nervous system, an entirely new system existed, a lattice of crystalline, deep emerald roots that poured the raw power of life into his very being. As the roots finished growing, the overwhelming spirit energy surged through his body, nurturing it before flowing back into the seed and feeding it, allowing it to grow into a fist-sized emerald crystal.
As the energy continued to circulate and Maximus forced more into it, the seed expanded again, nearly doubling in size before cracking open, its crystalline shell crumbling and melting into a thick, viscous emerald liquid from which a small, transparent seedling began to sprout.
The seedling absorbed the liquid and grew to nearly ten centimeters before halting, sprouting four distinct leaves. Each leaf bore a different shape and color. The leaf pointing downward was dark yellow and nearly perfectly round. The second, heart-shaped and crimson, pointed toward Maximus’s chest. The third, shaped like a raindrop, extended to the left, and the final leaf, spiral-shaped and pale gray, almost white, reached upward toward the sky.
As the four leaves formed, the rate at which spirit energy was drawn in increased dramatically.
Maximus screamed as a sharp, mind-shattering pain tore through his entire being, his pupils turning pale white as World Sense activated on its own.
Before his eyes, four distinct numina manifested and merged with the queen’s spirit energy, guiding it more efficiently into his body.
His form, now laced with glowing green veins like creeping vines, pulsed in rhythm with the queen’s corpse, whose light began to dim ever so slightly.
Maximus screamed in raw agony again as his body started to crack, blood and thick viridian liquid flowing freely, dripping on the ground.
His echoing screams forced Lennox to stop his desperate assault on the barrier and turn around. “That is suicide…” he muttered, his face deathly pale.
Jane ran, stumbling and falling twice, smearing her white dress with dirt and flecks of green blood before dropping beside Maximus. She drove her staff into the ground and activated Holy Ground, placing her hands against his back as she poured healing into his rupturing body. “You can’t take this amount of energy, Red! This is suicide!” she cried, forcing more and more restorative mana into him.
“I must! Otherwise, we all die, and I’m not dying again! Not until I am old and shriveled!” he roared through the pain, unaware of the weight of his own words.
She ignored everything except his body and kept healing him.
Silex, Sprout, Embi, and Vesper rushed forward as well. “Max, you bastard, I’m not staying behind alone with this furry corpse! I’m helping too!” Silex roared as he began tearing into the queen’s flesh, devouring mana- and spirit-saturated meat.
“Boss, the damn gecko is right; we’re in this together!” Vesper snarled, joining him alongside his wolves.
Embi and Sprout followed immediately, both feeding on the overflowing energy. Embi dove into the queen’s body, spinning rapidly and forming a small vortex that drew in spirit energy, while Sprout merged fully with the Devourer puppet, driving its roots deep into the corpse and siphoning the excess power.
Tereza stood behind them, frozen, before collapsing to her knees as tears streamed down her face. There was nothing she could do, nothing at all.
Lennox approached and helped her to her feet. “We may not be able to stop this… but we can stand beside them when it ends,” he said, the voice of a man who had known too much loss and had long since made his peace with the silence that followed. He guided her toward Jane and pressed a bundle of mana potions into her hands. “Drink. Pour everything you have into him,” he urged, his voice finally fracturing.
Tereza nodded, forcing herself to move, scanning the battlefield desperately for anything, anything, that might help.
Then a faint glimmer caught her eye.
A small, shining stone lay half-buried among the broken remains. She grabbed it and activated it instantly, and the skill flooded into her mind. Her eyes flared with bright yellow light, and her expression shifted, hope igniting where despair had ruled moments before.
Without hesitation, she turned and rushed toward the piles of shattered, already-hatched eggs, digging frantically through the remains as if searching for something only she could now see.
***
Maximus felt his body crack and mend at the same time under Jane’s healing. Through the agony, he activated Sanctuary, using it to stabilize himself and support her efforts.
As Sanctuary flared into existence, instead of vines and seeds, massive trees burst from the ground alongside thick, human-sized tendrils and flowers of every shape and color. The forest expanded across the entire area, even beyond the Sanctuary’s range, forcing everyone to pause for a brief moment just to witness the overwhelming power of creation itself.
Maximus, however, noticed none of it as he fought to remain conscious and keep his body from tearing itself apart. The emerald seedling grew more tangible, its fragile stalk hardening into crystalline bark while its four small branches thickened and transformed, becoming fully crystal as the numina from the leaves seeped into them, tinting each in its respective hue.
The roots below continued to thicken, and as they did, their presence expanded Maximus’s channels even further, nearly tripling the capacity of energy that could flow through them.Maximus kept drawing in more and more energy, but soon noticed the growth beginning to slow. It seemed the seedling, the roots, and the leaves had reached a temporary limit. Whether it was the restriction of the skill, his body, or simply a stage that required time to develop further, he wasn’t sure.
Still, he continued forcing spirit inward until the seedling suddenly convulsed, violently expelling excess energy and causing Maximus to cough up blood.
“What is going on?!” Jane shouted in alarm.
“It seems I’ve reached my limit. This body cannot handle any more spirit energy,” Maximus said as he pulled his hands away from the corpse and examined it carefully.
“We need to remove about twenty percent more energy. That should weaken the explosion enough not to wipe us into ash instantly,” he added, wiping blood from his mouth.
“Boss, can’t we just destroy it?” Vesper asked.
“We can’t. That would only cause the energy to detonate faster,” Maximus replied, shaking his head.
Then he noticed Sprout. The puppet that once housed it seemed almost alive again before shrinking rapidly, collapsing in on itself until nothing remained but Sprout, who detached and teleported onto Maximus.
“You can show me later, alright?” Maximus said with a faint smile, understanding that Sprout had gained something from the process as well.
Moments later, Embi burst from the corpse, glowing like a miniature sun before diving straight into Maximus and merging with his crimson leaf.
Maximus frowned and turned inward, spotting a small sun-like rune forming across the surface of the leaf, his connection to the spirit deepening instantly. He’s evolving. He shifted his focus to the other leaves. It seems I’ll need to gather three more spirits…
A sharp skittering sound snapped him out of his thoughts.
A dozen small ants had emerged and were already feasting on the queen’s corpse. Tereza walked among them, carrying a much smaller ant, its shell the color of bloodstained bronze.
She placed the ant atop the queen, and it immediately began devouring alongside the others.
Tereza pulled out her whiteboard. “Sorry, guys. I found a skill stone and used it. It was a beast-related skill I could use as a Ranger. I wanted to help.” Her expression showed genuine guilt for taking it without asking.
“That’s fine. What’s the skill?” Maximus asked, his body still trembling as the vine-like green veins pulsed over his skin.
“It’s called Hive. It lets me hatch ants and control them mentally, and I can store them in a small subspace called an Ant Nest,” she explained.
“Well… it suits you,” Lennox said with a nod, clearly unconcerned.
“Now that you remind me, I have one last thing to do,” Maximus said as he pulled out his own egg, placing one hand on it and the other on the queen’s corpse.
Through him, the remaining spirit energy flowed into the wasp egg, saturating it with deep green, life-rich power.
The egg began to glow, pulsing steadily as if alive.
Five minutes later, it throbbed like a heartbeat.
[Energy to hatch: 100%]
[Time elapsed to hatch: 3 Days]
He stored it away and scanned the ant again. “This is the best we can do. It’s going to erupt soon. Anyone who has barriers, cast them now over the corpse!” Maximus shouted as he cast Wind Prison, expanding it as far as his strained control allowed.
Jane followed with a holy barrier of her own, while Vesper manipulated the thick streams of green blood, forming an eerie defensive shell around the queen’s corpse.
“Tereza, your ants have had their fill; store them away! Everyone, move to the far end and pray to whatever gods you believe in!” Maximus commanded as they sprinted as fast as they could. His body, barely held together, made moving difficult, forcing Vesper to grab and toss him over his back and carry him as they all gathered at the sealed exit, pressed against the shimmering barrier.
The queen’s corpse pulsed faster and faster until, at last, it ignited.
BOOOOM
The chamber convulsed violently as the trees that had sprouted earlier were annihilated in an instant, and the ceiling collapsed, burying the explosion beneath a storm of rock and dirt.
Waves of searing heat slammed into the group, and Maximus layered triple Wind Prison over them, alongside raising earthen walls that almost immediately crumbled, but shielding them as best he could while Lennox stepped forward, his body enlarging as he braced himself to act as a living shield.
Vesper summoned both his pack and his clone, forming a tight perimeter around the group, while Silex raised a crashing wall of pure azure water, adding another desperate layer of protection.
They endured what felt like an eternity; thankfully, since more than half of the queen’s energy had been drained beforehand, the detonation was far weaker than it should have been. Slowly, as the scorching winds and debris began to fade, they lifted their heads.
Lennox bore the worst of it, his body scorched and battered, while the rest were littered with scattered burns and countless injuries.
Maximus immediately began casting Nurturing Grasp, an ethereal verdant hand clasping each ally and beast alike, mending their wounds as Jane joined him, her healing magic washing over them in a warm, soothing glow.
“I’ll be damned… we survived, somehow…” Maximus exhaled as they collapsed where they stood, the barrier behind them dissolving into flakes of golden mana.
“Are you alright?” Lennox asked, his voice strained as his burns slowly began to heal. Somehow, the man was much sturdier than Maximus had expected. It was as if the man was kept in one piece by more than skills or blessings would allow.
“I will be… I think,” Maximus replied, nodding faintly before wincing as the vine-like veins over his skin pulsed violently, making his entire body flicker with an unnatural glow.
[Physical Condition: Enhanced Human Vessel (Overflowing with Spirit, Lifespan Exhausted)]
[Spirit Core Stage: Elemental Spirit Seedling – Elemental Leaves (Stage I)]
Through the pain, he brought up his status and forced himself to remain still, but his heart sank. I’m dying… He exhaled slowly. I was reckless. It’s only logical; no human body should withstand this amount of raw natural energy without consequences.
He closed his eyes briefly before whispering, Astrae… how much time do I have?
Until death: 3 Days 7 Hours 12 Seconds
Alert: It is recommended to find a way to evolve the vessel into a greater form, restarting your lifespan before the time is up.
Sometimes I think you might be on our side after all. Maximus exhaled softly. Thank you… I know what must be done. He gave a small nod.
“You’re suffering from mana overload, aren’t you?” Lennox asked, studying him closely.
“Not quite… but something similar,” Maximus replied, nodding as another wave of pain forced him to tighten his jaw.
“Then you’re going to die soon…” Lennox muttered, unable to hide the weight in his voice.
“Boss?!”
“Max?!”
Vesper and Silex both gasped while Sprout tightened its hold around his neck.
“I’m sorry, everyone, but don’t worry, I have a way to survive. Probably…” He smiled tiredly.
“The quest rewards should help as well… though it would’ve been better if I had the queen’s core, but that’s buried beneath all that rubble,” Maximus said with a tired sigh.
“What, this nasty thing?” Silex suddenly gagged and spat out a yellow-green, almost brown orb the size of a baby’s head.
“I don’t know whether to laugh or cry,” Lennox said, a reluctant smile tugging at his face as he watched the crocodile casually regurgitate the core.
“He really does eat everything, doesn’t he?” Jane said, half-disgusted, half-amused.
Maximus burst into laughter. “Thanks, buddy, I knew I could count on you!”
“You mean his greed?” Vesper snorted.
“Old Silex comes through once again!” Silex raised his head proudly.
“So… what now?” Lennox asked, his tone steady once more.
“I’ll need a proper place to prepare everything, a safe area where I can work without interruption,” Maximus replied.
“If we fortify this spot and hold it, it should be safer than trying to reach the City of Beginnings in your condition. With the queen gone, the ants should scatter,” Lennox suggested.
“Alright. I’ll set up a station in that corner and start preparing everything, but first… I think we’ve earned the right to check our rewards,” Maximus said with a faint smile as he opened his notifications.