As if invisible drain valves had appeared on the ground inside the tree wall, the liquid level dropped rapidly and silently.
Blood, mud, tissue... what had almost choked the Holy Crusaders elites to death had now completely vanished, leaving only a damp ground seeping with blood.
Even the Life-Claiming Camphor that formed the tree wall seemed to be summoned by some force, opening the sealed tree wall and slowly moving towards the forest outside Valhalla.
The bound Tree Worship Church elites writhed on the ground like maggots when they suddenly saw a foot step into the muddy water in front of them.
A local Grand Knight Commander from Fir City looked up and saw that familiar face.
"Mo... Motley."
"It's me."
You're not dead?
"I'm not dead."
Motley answered calmly, stepping aside to reveal the Wild Hunt members behind him.
These people wore bitter smiles, their bodies seemingly pieced together from countless fragments, looking like ghosts who couldn't live but couldn't die, sending chills down the spines of the already bound Holy Crusaders.
Motley looked down at his former colleagues and felt that they still needed a lot of experience.
Thinking this way, he offered a word of comfort, speaking from experience:
"I'm not dead, and none of you will die either. So, everyone, welcome to the Wild Hunt."
"Boom!"
Behind Motley, the ancient castle, which had already landed on the ground, suddenly flew up and began to disintegrate in mid-air, returning to its original disordered, suspended state within a few breaths.
This is the original rule of this area.
Ed had only temporarily restored the castle for the sake of convenience in battle. Now that the battle of Valhalla is over, and he doesn't even need to do the cleanup himself, there's no need to expend additional Psionic Energy to maintain the castle's complete state.
Anyway, this thing isn't unusable even when it's Shattered; people can travel between the different parts by following the gravitational field.
However, it wouldn't be accurate to say that he had delegated everything to others; there was at least one thing that Ed needed to handle personally.
The Shattered Castle gates, now back in their original positions, suddenly swung open. Seraphina created a thick cloud in the air, and her enormous dragon body, with its wings pressed tightly against its body, instantly disappeared inside.
The next moment, a petite figure flew out from the other side of the clouds and stepped onto the gate of the castle. The huge impact caused the entire castle fragment to sink for a moment before returning to its original position.
Ed had also returned to normal, was waiting for something in the castle's hall, but judging from the slightly shocked expression on his face, it was probably not Seraphina he was waiting for.
But the Dragon Girl didn't care about any of that. Wearing old-fashioned noble boots, she strode forward and extended her right hand in front of Ed:
"Final payment."
"Not a buddy..."
"Final payment."
Seraphina repeated it again, and added:
"The price for participating in such a small battle is one thousand gold coins. You've already paid a deposit of two hundred gold coins; now it's time to pay the balance."
Ed's face broke into his signature smile, the kind that seemed sincere and gentle but was actually somewhat insincere:
"Can I delay for five minutes?"
Seraphina frowned:
"Can 800 gold coins be used to breed in five minutes?"
"Who knows, these things..."
I refuse to believe anyone will pay for you this time!
"Who knows...?"
Just as the man and the dragon were struggling for eight hundred gold coins, the cold wind outside the castle suddenly blew into the still-open gate.
A fragment of a priest's robe, still glowing with sparks, flew through the air and entered the castle, landing gently at a very polite distance from Ed.
Ed chuckled as he watched the slowly burning piece of cloth.
"Here it comes!"
On the surface of the cloth strip on the ground, the embers quickly spread into flames, soon engulfing the blood-stained rag. The carpet, however, remained unaffected, as if the flames and the carpet were merely two overlapping illusions.
The flames continued to leap upwards, as if an unseen hand was feeding fuel into them. A vortex of fire quickly appeared and then began to slowly transform into a human shape.
A tall, red-bodied demon with four arms tore through the burning flames and appeared before Ed and Seraphina.
The demon bowed, placing its two right hands, one above the other, on its chest, giving off an eerily unsettling feeling.
"The great primordial god..."
He was about to say something when the boy's voice reached his ears; it was a very sharp question—
"Is Duma the same as Marba, Marba the same as Duma?"
Seeing through one's own disguise is not difficult for a god who is in the process of revival.
Why bring this up now? Is it to settle scores with me?
The demon felt himself sweating non-existent sweat. To be honest, was he really afraid of Ed?
Not necessarily. If he were truly afraid of this resurrected god, he wouldn't have dared to test him so casually as a created race.
But as a demon with extensive combat experience, Duma knew he couldn't defeat the combination of a resurrected god and a young dragon whose power was on the rise.
Neither of these are beings to be trifled with. Gods are naturally a different story, and as for dragons, they are a race that can grow rapidly in battle. If I cannot achieve a swift victory, I may never be able to defeat this dragon.
The other party summoned the dragon back to its side, clearly wanting to have a discussion with it.
Duma, of course, had no idea that Seraphina was summoned not by Ed, but by the final payment.
But the power of the dragons and gods was undeniable; although he was of High Tier, he could not compare to them in terms of life form.
Sigh, if only there were other demons here, they might be able to help relieve some of the pressure.
Why aren't you saying anything?
Ed took a step forward, his movement very natural, and his mindset was actually quite calm.
He didn't actually want to test Duma; he simply wanted to go over the events that had happened with her.
After all, the fact that Duma came here on his own initiative shows that he has certain considerations about the Second Holy See and himself.
Since that's the case, wouldn't it be better for everyone to talk things out openly?
Duma had no idea what the young Tree God was thinking. Ed wanted to be frank and open, but Duma felt he wanted to be a riddle teller.
After much deliberation, this once-powerful demon, who had dominated history, slowly raised his head and, after a rapid thought process, gave his answer:
" Marba is Marba, Duma is Duma."