Satyr Chief

The constant charges left the mounts beneath them visibly exhausted. Their breathing grew heavier, and their pace slowed.

Big Black, with Kalei on his back, was especially worn out. His tongue lolled from his mouth, white foam began to gather at the corners, and his legs trembled slightly. He was clearly at his limit.

Seeing the state of their mounts, Arenia had no choice but to lead the group to a halt and make a stand.

As soon as they stopped, the Furbolgs closed in from every direction. Their rotting claws scraped across the ground with a grating sound, and their murky eyes fixed on the group.

Surrounded in the middle, Kalei looked at the Corrupted Furbolgs, and a powerful sense of danger welled up inside him.

He knew that if he couldn't find a way to deal with the Corrupted Furbolgs, he and everyone here would face utter destruction.

He assessed the strength of the Corrupted Furbolgs and found that most were around level twenty or thirty. They weren't particularly strong individually; ordinary arrows and blades could injure them. What made them truly terrifying was their near-immortality.

Even if their heads were chopped off, as long as their bodies remained, they would still struggle to keep attacking.

Kalei knew the Corrupted Furbolgs were only immortal because the Satyr chief, hidden somewhere in the dark, was constantly channeling energy to them through the corrupted Magic Tree in the middle of the cave.

So the best way to break the Furbolgs' immortality was to cut off the Magic Tree's supply of energy.

Unfortunately, the Satyr chief controlled the Magic Tree. Earlier, Kalei had secretly tried several times to wrest control from him with his mind, but had failed. He had even nearly been struck back by the power of the Nightmare, so he had to think of another way.

After mulling it over, Kalei came up with the only option he had: use an outside force to awaken the Magic Tree from its slumber and sever its connection to the Emerald Dream.

And the only one capable of awakening it with an outside force was Ugo, whose strength was beyond measure.

But Ugo was still tied up with the two Nightmare Warriors and couldn't break away.

What could they do?

Kalei stole a glance at the battlefield nearby. Ugo was using his immense strength to keep the two Nightmare Warriors suppressed, but he had no way of knowing how long it would take to defeat them while they were backed by the power of the Nightmare.

After thinking it over, Kalei could only try goading him. He shouted, "Chief Ugo, mightiest child of Ursoc, there's no time left! Is the power your ancestor granted you really all you have?"

Hearing Kalei's shout, Ugo wasn't angered. He, too, had been asking himself whether the power his ancestor had granted him was all he had.

He looked at the countless Corrupted Furbolgs around him, Wumu's smug sneer, and Ulu and Una's perilous situation. An inexplicable feeling stirred inside him. Somehow, memories of his ancestor Ursoc began to surface in his mind.

Ugo, who had been starting to feel tired, suddenly threw back his head and roared. Then he raised one foot and stomped hard on the ground, shouting, "In the name of my ancestor, feel the power of Ursoc!"

As his foot hit the ground, a gigantic phantom, as vast as a mountain, suddenly appeared above him. It seemed to sense that its descendant was suffering. With an angry roar, it raised its foot alongside Ugo's and stomped hard on the ground.

With a thunderous boom, nearly everyone in the cave, including Kalei, felt the ground shake violently. The shock wasn't limited to their feet; it reached into their souls and left them reeling.

At that moment, everyone thought of the same four words: War Stomp!

This powerful skill, imbued with the force of the earth, was the signature ability of Tauren chiefs on the Kalimdor Continent. Who would've thought Furbolgs could use it too—and with such astonishing force?

When Kalei and the others recovered from their dizziness, they found that nearly every battle had ended. The two Nightmare Warriors and the old Furbolg Wumu had been killed by Ugo's furious claws while they were stunned. Dark red blood and entrails littered the ground.

The immortal Nightmare Furbolgs had also been awakened from their slumber by the tremor. The Magic Tree had lost its power over the Nightmare, and they all collapsed.

Everyone stood frozen, hardly able to believe they had won.

Only when Luna and the others tentatively kicked the bodies of the Corrupted Furbolgs at their feet and confirmed they had truly died did the group erupt in excited cheers.

But just as they were about to go congratulate Ugo on the victory, a sharp, grating voice rang through the cave again.

"Hahahaha! You fools! You don't really think you've won, do you? Now I'll show you the power my master granted me!"

Everyone looked toward the voice and saw that, at some point, the Satyr chief had dragged his wounded body up onto the Magic Tree.

The Magic Tree was now twisting and changing at a visible speed. Before long, it had transformed into a colossal treant, forty or fifty meters tall. It looked much like an Ancient of War, though its movements seemed more agile.

Under the Satyr chief's control, the colossal treant quickly attacked the group.

Faced with such a huge enemy, they were completely helpless. Even mighty Ugo couldn't withstand a single punch from the creature.

Everyone could only flee in every direction, and the air of celebration vanished in an instant.

Fortunately, though the treant was powerful, its massive size made it slow, even if it was relatively nimble. Compared with people, it still moved sluggishly, giving them a chance to dodge.

When the Satyr chief saw the treant's attacks miss several times, he had no choice but to change tactics. He controlled the Magic Tree and used corrupted nature energy to unleash twisting spells at the group.

Twisted thorns and vines burst up from beneath them, seemingly without end, trying to restrict their movements.

As everyone found themselves in danger again, Jinli swung her twin blades wildly, cutting through the thorns around her as she shouted, "Kalei, we can't do anything about this big guy. We can only count on you now, little one!"

Nearby, Ugo yanked at the vines, looking rather battered. "Wizard, I've shown my courage. Now bring out your wisdom as soon as you can."

Dodging as he spoke, Kalei called back, "I don't have a sure plan yet. We'll have to take a risk."

Jinli asked, "What kind of risk? Let's hear it."

Kalei said, "The Satyr chief controls the Magic Tree right now, so directly channeling nature energy to purify it is impossible."

"But I've discovered that the Magic Tree's consciousness hasn't disappeared. It's sealed inside the Ancient."

"I can use nature energy to wrest control of the Ancient from the Satyr chief, then try to release the tree's original consciousness. But with the energy I have now, I can't beat the Satyr chief unless you help me."

Riding her Stag, Arenia galloped up beside him and caught her breath. "Kalei, how can we help?"

Kalei said, "To focus all my strength on fighting the Satyr chief, I need to sit here and meditate to gather energy."

"While I'm doing that, you'll have to find a way to distract the Satyr chief and keep me from being disturbed. Otherwise, I could be struck back by the power of the Nightmare."

Arenia thought it over, then called out, "There's no time to think this through. I suggest that Jinli and I lead my sisters in attacking the Satyr chief, while Chief Ugo and the other two protect Kalei. What do you think?"

Ugo thumped his chest. "I'll give it everything I've got."

Ulu and Una, who had been following close behind him, gave the same assurance.

"Good. Sisters, follow me. It's time to punish the traitor!" Arenia charged ahead, leading the five women back to the battlefield, risking their lives against the Magic Tree.

Seeing Arenia and the others spring into action, Kalei forced down his panic so he wouldn't let them down. He climbed down from Big Black, who was already exhausted, found a clean, level patch of ground, and began to meditate.

Ugo, with Ulu and Una, stood in front of him and said in a deep voice, "Wizard, carry out your plan. I swear in the name of my ancestor that, as long as I'm still standing, I won't let anything interfere with you."

Those words calmed Kalei considerably. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, gradually cleared his mind, and began drawing in the thin nature energy around him, slowly entering a meditative state.

The Satyr chief, still perched on the Magic Tree, saw what Kalei was doing and quickly understood his plan.

He laughed. "Hahaha! You fools, you wretched pointy ears! You actually think you can wrest control of the Ancient from me? Did you really think I'd give you the chance? Die!"

The Satyr chief directed the Magic Tree toward Kalei, but before it could take more than a few steps, Arenia and the others attacked.

This time, determined to complete their mission, they went all out from the start and struck the Satyr chief head-on with magic arrows.

The Satyr chief was hidden inside the Magic Tree, surrounded by layers of trunks. Ordinary arrows couldn't pierce the wood or hurt him, but magic arrows were powerful enough to threaten him.

The Satyr chief cursed, "Go to hell, you pointy ears!" Then he used the Magic Tree to block all the magic arrows and continued toward Kalei.

But Arenia and the others were highly mobile. They moved to the other side of the Magic Tree and kept firing magic arrows, forcing the Satyr chief to defend himself again.

After several attacks in a row were thwarted, the Satyr chief was thoroughly enraged. He abandoned his attack on Kalei and launched a fierce assault on Arenia and the others instead.