Chapter 405 368 – Absolute Power

"It seems you've gathered quite a bit of information about me. Your judgment was very accurate."

Takumi smiled at Treyni, seeing straight through her thoughts.

That said, the choice she had made suited him perfectly.

He then asked bluntly, "What price are you prepared to pay?"

At his words, Treyni lowered her breathtakingly beautiful face.

"The treants and we dryads are both willing to join you and serve under your command."

"Straight to the point. I like it!"

Takumi liked people who knew how to read the situation.

Besides, he had already intended to deal with the orc army, which meant the treants and dryads were essentially free bonuses.

Seeing Takumi break into a hearty smile, Treyni immediately breathed a sigh of relief. She then revealed everything she knew without holding anything back.

"The orc army is currently being led by an Orc Lord—an individual known as the Orc Disaster. It should possess the Unique Skill [Starved]."

"To put it simply, the skill allows it to devour the flesh and blood of defeated enemies, steal their characteristics, and use them to strengthen itself."

"What makes this skill truly terrifying, however, is that it also affects the user's surrounding companions."

"The orc army now devours everything in its path like a swarm of locusts. It can even convert all nearby organic matter into magicules and absorb them."

Shizue's expression became extremely grave upon hearing that.

"In other words, the orcs aren't trying to eliminate the ogres, lizardmen, and the other dominant races of the forest."

"Their true goal is to seize those races' abilities and traits!?"

"If this continues, a Demon Lord may be born."

Shizue frowned slightly. Before fusing with the Angel Piece, her strength had only reached the level of a majin.

A Demon Lord stood far above an ordinary majin!

Shizue knew that she had become much stronger, but even she wasn't certain whether she could defeat a Demon Lord.

As Shizue exclaimed in alarm, Treyni added, "Furthermore, a high-ranking majin is secretly pulling strings behind the Orc Disaster."

"We have yet to determine which Demon Lord it serves, but we dryads will never allow them to run rampant within this forest."

As she spoke, an imposing aura surged from her body.

Dryads were among the most powerful beings in the forest. Even if the enemy truly was the subordinate of a Demon Lord, Treyni would neither retreat nor show fear.

"You've got some backbone. In that case, let's move."

"Since you were able to investigate even the Orc Disaster, I assume you also know the lizardmen's current movements."

"I don't need much from you. Just come along and show us the way."

Takumi rose to his feet and casually issued several orders.

This was already a god-tier carry dragging four teammates to victory. He wasn't expecting Treyni to contribute much.

Treyni was honestly somewhat dissatisfied by his instructions.

She was a dryad, after all. Why was he looking down on her like this?

It was as though she would be completely useless.

Although she was holding back a sulky resentment, Treyni still outwardly obeyed Takumi's commands. She merely wanted to wait for an opportunity to prove useful and finally hold her head high.

Hearing her inner thoughts, Takumi gave her an indifferent glance.

Her surrender was sincere, but so were those feelings.

He could understand such minor complaints and childish sulking.

Since she had no idea what heights the man before her truly stood at, he would simply let her witness it for herself.

"The plan has changed, Shizue. I'll handle this personally."

Abandoning his intention to slack off, Takumi snapped his fingers. In an instant, he, Treyni, Shizue, and Chloe were transported ten thousand meters into the sky.

Standing high above the heavens, Takumi gazed down upon the Great Jura Forest.

Lake Siss at the center of the forest was clearly visible. Even the massive orc army surging forward in the distance like a dark, overwhelming tide could be seen at a glance.

Treyni, Shizue, and Chloe all found their breathing coming to a halt.

Looking down upon the world from such an altitude, they suddenly felt that everything below was so very small.

Meanwhile, Takumi, standing before them, somehow seemed even larger than the vast earth beneath their feet.

"Th-This is… Eek!"

Treyni and Chloe clung tightly to Takumi, terror written across their faces.

Takumi glanced at them, then rubbed Chloe's head and reassured her that everything was fine.

Comforting Chloe was understandable, but why was Treyni screaming too?

"You're a dryad, at the very least. Why are you afraid of something this minor?"

"…You call this minor!?"

It took the trembling Treyni quite some time to recover.

After drawing several deep breaths, she finally looked at Takumi with confusion.

"Why did you bring us here?"

"Only to show you something."

Takumi let out a quiet murmur as the magicules within his body began to surge.

Golden and blue radiance appeared in his left and right eyes.

[Uriel, Lord of Creation]!

[Raphael, Lord of Wisdom]!

The two Ultimate Skills activated simultaneously, and an enormous quantity of data flooded Takumi's mind.

In the next instant, pitch-black lightning erupted around him and expanded outward at the speed of light!

Within only a few breaths, a sea of black lightning spread from Takumi as its center and covered the entire sky above the Great Jura Forest.

The once-bright heavens abruptly darkened. The tiny creatures below could only perceive that night had suddenly fallen.

Under Treyni and Shizue's utterly stunned gazes, Takumi softly uttered the name of his attack.

"Storm King: Annihilation Thunder Prison!"

An incomparable force of storms erupted from Takumi's body.

RUMBLE—!!!

A thunderous roar shook heaven and earth as black lightning symbolizing death crashed down.

In the next instant, lightning pillars as thick as barrels poured from the sky like a violent rainstorm, unleashing their fury and terror without restraint.

BZZZZZZT—!!!

The earth split apart, and mountains and rivers shattered!

Wherever the annihilating lightning passed, even the smallest insects were obliterated into specks of dust no larger than atoms.

The vast, pitch-black orc army surging forward like a tidal wave was instantly swallowed and pulverized by the overwhelming thunder prison!

More than a million bolts of lightning descended like a child's wildly scribbling paintbrush, marring the earth beneath them beyond recognition.

In the brief span of time that Treyni had held her breath, the orc army invading the Great Jura Forest had already been completely erased.

The army and power capable of overturning the entire Great Jura Forest had vanished just like that.

In its place remained only scorched black earth. No one would ever know that an army of two hundred thousand orcs had once existed there.

The Orc Disaster didn't matter.

The high-ranking majin behind it didn't matter.

All of them had been reduced to insignificant dust beneath that destructive lightning, lying silently upon the devastated earth.

[Ding! Randomly plundered entries: Starved (Purple), Monstrous Strength (Blue)…]

[Starved (Purple): Your appetite is endless and will even affect nearby living beings. When consuming food, there is a chance of claiming its abilities and characteristics as your own.]