Awakened: SSS Ranked Soul king

Completely forgetting the attackers in front, several of the plant folk sent projectiles and spikes towards Guilliman hoping to claim his life.

At the same time, a green mass appeared out of nowhere and expanded, wrapping itself and turning into a massive circular shield. The impact shook Guilliman, and although most did not pierce through the shield, it was still a massive shock to be tossed like that.

However, it was part of Guilliman's plans as he was sent in the direction of the mythic tree.

-boom!!

Landing in the middle of the ground, he struggled to get up for a few seconds, but eventually, gritting his teeth, he was able to. He quickly scanned his surroundings and spotted a few enemies.

Quickly, he activated soul pulse, causing his eyes to glow in a radiant blue.

"Die!!" Guilliman cursed and sprinted forward, taking off the lives of several of the beasts in quick succession. In about a few seconds, he created a buffer zone around the mythic tree before facing it directly.

This thing had the ability to manipulate the mind; he didn't know exactly how it worked, but he could understand how to go against it.

For now, there was no time to understand it; he could only kill it with his immunity.

"There she is" as he stood before the towering mythic tree, Guilliman felt a tinge of heat emitting from not so far away as a figure, burning with an unquenching silver flame, made its way over.

This flame was quite different from the one she usually used; it was more subtle, yet it burned heavily.

"You've prepared the stage," Victoria's voice echoed through the burning flames as she slowly came to a stop a few meters away from Guilliman.

The two of them were about to siege this monster all by themselves. Without doing so, the others would not be able to come even close to reaching this mythic tree.

"Yes, can't have them interfering," Guilliman smiled, turning to the towering tree in front.

That thing felt more powerful the closer he got. But strangely, it had yet to attack—just swaying in the wind like it didn't recognize them or see them as a threat.

"Yes, good thinking," Victoria smiled and turned to the towering tree.

Guilliman was not so delusional as to think they could kill this thing on their own. They could only disrupt its power long enough for the rest to reach them. Only then would they have a sliver of opportunity to win.

-woosh

Victoria dashed forward, her feet leaving scorch marks on the floor as she ran forward. Her blaze had gone up by several degrees and the look on her face was one of determination.

"Hmp!!" Throwing his hand to the side, Guilliman quickly summoned everything in his soul.

Ghost, the sword fish, and his new shield.

In a split second he dashed forward with all he had and joined Victoria with his sword raised.

The mythic tree felt the movement of the two watching them multiply. It swayed and, all of a sudden, its roots were pulled from the ground and sent directly towards them.

The first person to face the full brunt of the root attack was Guilliman. It struck at his chest, sending him flying backwards in an instant as he suddenly coughed up some blood.

"What the hell?" Guilliman was stunned; his eyes danced around the figure of the tree. That root just weighed several tons!! At that speed, it could cave in the heart of anyone capped at yellow in an instant.

"Victoria, don't let it hit you!!" Guilliman shouted, alerting her of the dangers of the creature's weight. Thankfully, she was able to dodge in time and slash at the trunk with her burning sword.

Victoria's flames immediately ignited, covering the root in flames, but it quickly died off, leaving some scorch marks.

"Hm," Guilliman frowned. Flames were the bane of plant folk, and Victoria's flame specifically was like poison. However, this thing just shook it off so easily? This thing was too monstrous.

"We just have to keep it at bay for a while, exhaust it, look for weaknesses. We really don't have a choice," Guilliman preferred to know what he was trying to kill before trying to kill it.

He knew, of course, that this would not always be the case, so he had to fight.

"Ghost," he patted the wolf underneath him and looked up.

Thanks to the blade skin gunlet, not only had his sword been elevated to grand stage, but his tortie shroud had also been elevated temporarily.

With his speed and Ghost, he was the best to distract this monster, with Victoria causing as much damage as she possibly could.

"Godspeed," Guilliman pushed forward, riding Ghost as he rushed towards the tree once more. This time, of course, he was diligent enough to dodge all attacks from the beast as he moved closer.

Though they became more and more intense, he kept pushing forward, even taking away all the attention from Victoria and placing the burden on himself.

He wasn't afraid; he knew they could beat this thing. It was just a matter of time. So he struck at the tree roots and got struck by them—he was bruised, thrown, and smashed. However, he kept going.

He kept drawing its attention, holding it down, while Victoria set fire to its roots on the side.

The tree was struggling against an unyielding cockroach and an insane pyromaniac.

Time passed,

"Shit!!" Guilliman cursed as he felt his body fly back involuntarily.

Fatigue was already setting in.

After fighting those monsters for about 20 minutes, he was tired and overwhelmed. His femur seemed to have been dislocated, forcing him to rely completely on Ghost to fight, and he was bleeding all over his body.

This thing was clearly not in the same class as them.

His eyes panned around towards Victoria's figure on the other side of the battlefield, impaling and severing a scorched root off the tree.

She also looked tired, but for some reason she didn't have a sense of dread in her gaze; instead, she turned to Guilliman and smiled.

Seeing the strange expression, Guilliman tilted his head as if asking why the hell she was smiling—they were clearly losing this fight!!

All of a sudden, she moved her mouth, saying the voiceless words.

"He is coming, get ready."

"Who's coming?" Guilliman quickly turned to understand who she was talking about; however, before he could even see the person, his massive figure dashed past him, causing the ground underneath to quake.

Following the figure, his mind kicked into overdrive as he tried to understand the situation. However, seeing Victoria rush forward to protect the massive figure, he did the same.

It was Barthold; he had always been part of the plan from the very start. They were meant to help him take in enough energy and store it for a killing strike. That was, of course, not possible since they had to improvise.

But that didn't mean he couldn't do so on his own. Right now, he was brimming with unbridled energy, ready to explode.

It was like delivering a bomb to a target.

-slash

-slash

-slash

Using Ghost as a base of attack, Guilliman and Victoria cleared a path towards the giant tree, with Barthold running right behind them, glowing with a dangerous red glow.

The mythic tree didn't know what was going on, of course—it simply did what it had always been doing: trying to stop them from reaching it.

Unfortunately for it, it did not account for someone like Barthold.

Taking the full brunt of the tree's last line of defense, Victoria and Guilliman cleared a path allowing for Barthold's figure to rush through.

In the next second.

-boom!!!

A destructive explosion resounded throughout the hall, shaking everyone who stood firm. It was seismic, obliterating everything in its path and severely injuring the mythic tree.

Barthold had really stored a lot this time.

The smoke soon settled; however, the scene in front caused both Guilliman and Victoria to panic.

There was a massive hole in the floor, and both Barthold and the tree were nowhere to be found.

"Shit!! They fell into the down below," both of them echoed, rushing towards the hole together.

The two of them couldn't kill that thing together—what would then happen to Barthold? They had to go help him.

But they involuntarily stopped at the edge and looked into the dark. Whether it was the natural fear humans had for the dark or the thought of sacrificing themselves for someone, they couldn't help it—they stopped.

But after reasoning it out for a few, they shook their heads as if saying,

"We are not cowards."

"Ladies first," Guilliman threw his hand forward in a gentlemanly manner.

Victoria smiled and ignited the flames around her once again. Without a second thought, she threw herself down into the down below.

Her flaming silhouette shone in the darkness like a star as her aura spread to all the dark corners below.

"It's always something," Guilliman smirked and tapped on Ghost, pushing himself into the down below right after Victoria.