Tree Spirit Possession (2)

Green looked out through the translucent carriage window and immediately recognized the cavalry squad's Holy Crusaders armor, as well as the stern-faced officer at their head.

"Huh? It's him! This fellow really has rotten luck." Green felt a little gleeful at his misfortune. He had never expected to run into Major Quares here. On second thought, though, it made perfect sense. Major Quares seemed to specialize in investigating the Nature Church. With suspected Nature Church activity in Rhine City, it was only natural that he should come to investigate and confirm it.

The fellow simply had poor luck. Last time, at Green Castle Manor, he had arrived a step too late to catch Peter Pan. Now he had encountered Tree Spirit Possession in Rhine City. Whether he could escape unscathed was uncertain; at the very least, the four Holy Crusaders accompanying him probably faced grim odds.

A short while later, Quares and his men reached the vicinity of the garden where the incident had occurred.

By then, the [Tree Spirit Possession] ritual had already ended. The tree spirit had fully merged with Mrs. Nancy's body. In an instant, powerful nature psychic energy nourished her frail, aging body, transforming an old woman who could barely walk into someone youthful and spry, her face rosy and her body brimming with vitality.

Then she suddenly stirred. As Mrs. Nancy opened her eyes again, a mass of emerald light swirled through her pupils. She swept a hand behind her, and with a ripping sound, the green radiance released from her palm severed a vine-like tube. Cloudy, pale-green nutrient fluid immediately spurted from the cut.

Severing that final restraint was like cutting a newborn's umbilical cord. Mrs. Nancy smiled in satisfaction, then gathered strength in her legs and sprang upward. After a few flickering leaps,