Awakened: SSS Ranked Soul king

Falling into a dark underground, Guilliman's way was illuminated by a bright and beautiful figure with silver flowing hair dripping off her shoulder.

It was a beautiful scene, one that could touch the very heart of whomever saw it.

However, it was bound to come to an end as, all of a sudden—

—Boom!!

A shockwave blasted out from below them, signifying the fall of Barthold and the mythic tree.

Quickly snapping out of it, Guilliman signaled to her to quench her flames so he could help her avoid a crash landing. However, Victoria shook her head, only reaching out to him as if to say there was no need to worry about the flames.

He was a bit skeptical, of course. He had seen the flame burn bright, eradicating everything in its wake, yet she was calling him to hold her hand? Strange.

He trusted her, though, so he reached out and was embraced in the flames from her. It didn't burn at all. In fact, he didn't feel any heat upon touching her.

"Okay," nodding his head, Guilliman activated his rabbit braces and kicked the air slowly during their descent until they landed softly on the ground.

Soon after, they both bore their arms and scanned the surroundings. They had descended in the general location where Barthold and the mythic tree fell, but because of the thick darkness they couldn't find them.

"Soul pulse," Guilliman quickly used his soul pulse ability and scanned around. Even when blind, he could still see soul pressures; he didn't need too much.

As he scanned, he felt a few other signatures, none too threatening. Clearly, this place was also crawling with monsters; however, they weren't as strong as he thought.

"There," he said, pointing in a particular direction in the darkness. There were two energy signatures rushing towards each other from afar. These signatures belonged to Barthold and the mythic tree.

"Hmp!!" Victoria nodded and dashed in that direction, her glow still illuminating the darkness.

"No sense of security, that girl," Guilliman shook his head. He could understand using her flames to brighten the fall so they wouldn't lose themselves, but now they were on the ground, surrounded no less—and yet she was using her flames still?

Of course, he didn't account for the fact that she couldn't see in the dark like him.

"Whatever," summoning Ghost, Guilliman climbed atop and rode him forward as the three rushed towards the mythic tree from all sides.

One barreling marauder, one flaming silhouette, and a young man on the back of a wolf.

The first person to reach was the giant marauder; he jumped from within the darkness and smashed his shield against the tree, sending it back several steps. The marauder's face was covered in blood beneath his helmet, his teeth shone with blood, and his armor glowed with a red light.

Using the mace in his hand, he smashed it against his shield and steadily walked forward, taunting the beast. His chest had been caved in, his armor gripping his flesh in a mangled mess.

He was in pain, but he kept moving forward; in the distance, a flaming light could be seen rushing forward—it gave him hope, hope that he would survive. But first he had to endure.

—Boom, boom, boom, boom.

His feet steadily moved forward in a hurried manner, smashing against the root tentacles of the mythic tree. Every attack was heavy, and he barely pushed them away.

If not for his good physique, he would have even been crushed by now.

"Forward, keep going forward!!" Barthold screamed as he slowly pushed forward, steadily reaching the main base of the tree in no time.

Just as he finally reached it, a blazing figure fell from the sky, her sword cutting through several root vines in quick succession.

Victoria had arrived.

"Good!!" Barthold smiled and said.

He had done significant damage to this harrowing tree—from the explosion to plummeting from the hall above—several chunks of its body were gone, and so were its main branches. If there was any time they could kill it…it was now.

—Roarrrr!!!

The tree released a terrifying roar from its hallowed body, stretching one of its branches down to take a swipe at Victoria.

It was about to launch a full-on frontal attack.

"Brace yourself!!" Victoria dodged and appeared next to Barthold. Barthold raised his shield and took an attack.

Boom

At the same time, Victoria stepped forward and cut down the root vine with one cleave.

"Hmm!!" Barthold nodded upon seeing this and pushed forward. The two of them would tag this beast.

Deep in the dark,

Guilliman's figure could be seen looking at the fight from afar. He had a dark look on his face.

Although Victoria and Barthold seemed to be holding their own, he could see that they weren't dealing as much damage as they thought they were.

Sometimes, Barthold would tank an imaginary attack, and Victoria would slash down at empty space. It looked, in all honesty, like a spectacle.

"Sigh, that devious thing," Guilliman gritted his teeth.

He could now confirm that its ability had to do with mind and confusion. Even though they were attacking it hard, it was still able to give enough space to maintain its health.

What it was doing was trying to exhaust them.

'There's only one way to kill this thing, and it's to do it in one fell swoop. However, how in the hell am I supposed to achieve that? It's a mythic beast of the king code, at least.'

Guilliman was frustrated. He couldn't think of anything—nothing in his arsenal could achieve what he wanted to do.

"Victoria… Barthold, maybe… will it work?" Thinking of a solution, Guilliman frowned; he wasn't even 30% sure this would work. It was a gamble.

However, he did know that if it didn't, he could simply take them and escape. The mythic tree didn't seem to have that much mobility after all.

Tapping Ghost, Guilliman pushed forward.

A few seconds later,

[Victoria, can you hear me?]

A voice suddenly resounded in Victoria's head, causing her to pause and look around. There was no one there.

"Guilliman?" she asked, dodging a swipe from the mythic tree.

[Yes, it's me—don't ask how I'm doing this. We have to be swift; that thing…it's manipulating your perception.]

Victoria, hearing Guilliman's voice in her head, felt a bit out of place, then looked to the towering tree in front. Yes, she knew it had mind-manipulation abilities.

If not for that, why would she barrel headfirst toward it at the beginning of the battle? She did so to reduce its influence. However, she was of the opinion that she was immune.

What Guilliman just said was confusing.

"How do I know I can even trust you? For all I know, you're the mythic tree trying to get me to retreat."

She couldn't be too cautious; at the mythic stage, beasts began to formulate thoughts and develop the ability to be cunning. Falling into the hands of one would be stupid.

[Yeah, that makes sense, but would a beast tell you to keep attacking it? In fact, I want the two of you to use your destruction abilities right in the middle of the trunk… that's where the heart is.]

[I'll guide you from back here, where its influence won't affect me; once you've done enough damage, I'll come in.]

Victoria quickly looked around, her gaze landing on Guilliman's silhouette standing atop a small hill structure far away.

"Okay, lead the way," Victoria nodded and patted Barthold on the back.

A few seconds later, the intensity of the fight went up by several degrees. Not because they were fighting harder, however—no—it was because Victoria and Barthold were now attacking the true body more steadily.

The mythic tree kept trying to manipulate their perception, and it was in fact succeeding. But for some reason, they completely ignored its manipulation and went right for its true roots.

[Take a quick left, that's the path to the main body!!]

Guilliman's voice sounded in their head simultaneously, causing them to turn abruptly and rush forward.

Guilliman's plan was simple: the contact attacks had really weakened the beast; now all they needed was something that would really rock its world.

Victoria and Barthold would be in charge of that, since they weren't sure if it could kill it; Guilliman would observe from behind and get them out if things went south.

This was the plan.

"Ready?!" Victoria asked as they rushed towards the mythic tree. In an instant, her body was engulfed in a purple, destructive flame that boiled the blood of whomever was in close proximity.

For Barthold, his body was covered in a bloody red light that shone, creating a larger figure resembling him.

"Burn!!" Victoria's voice echoed as she was grabbed and thrown toward the beast.

—Boom!!

That was the first attack, and a second later, the mythic tree was covered in an unquenching flame, one that immediately caused its outer body to char.

—Boom!!!

The second came when Barthold, descending with his massive figure, broke through the trunks—already charred and weakened—revealing an orb structure made of vines.

For the third and last attack…

A figure came crashing down from the sky, a shield in one hand and a blade in the other.

—Boom!!!

Like a comet, the figure connected with the tree and stabbed directly into its vine heart.

[Your echo has been destroyed]

A sound resounded in Guilliman's head as his swordhorn cleaver broke… his eyes were filled with shock and frustration, but he didn't give up.

"Suit yourself!!" he barked; then, with the sharp side of the shield, he began pummeling the mythic tree's heart repeatedly, breaking apart its vines one after the other and causing the tree immense pain.