Chapter 133: Unbreakable Walls

Chapter 133: Unbreakable Walls

Astrid tried blasting the walls with all her might. She cranked her psychic mana to the maximum, as the explosions rocked the earth. But it was of no use.

She attempted warping the metal-like roots for the doors. Nothing worked.

Shit, shit, shit. Astrid nibbled on her lip as she helplessly gazed at the closing walls around her, only for them to grind to a stop in the next second.

Shoulders slumping, she let out a relieved breath of air. But of course the tree king wouldn’t let her rest as the walls rumbled once more.

She was half expecting them to close once more, but that didn’t happen. Instead, the dirt on the walls shook, then fell to the floor as a humanoid was brought to the forefront. Two familiar faces appeared.

Level ??? – Tree Ent Warrior.

Level ??? – Tree Ent Warrior.

Preparing her sword, Astrid was ready for a fight. Thankfully, all the ground was already loosened up, ready for her to abuse the sight of the warriors. But it seemed the tree king wanted her dead as her area of mobility was cut in half thanks to the walls.

Of course, that wasn’t all. The same hardened roots that the solid doors were made of, emerged from the walls and floor as spikes.

Why can’t it just kill me by closing the walls in? Does it have to use the monsters? Astrid pondered, but the ent warriors wouldn’t give her the luxury of continuing her train of thought.

Smashing free of their restraints, One ent warrior didn’t even bother breaking its weapon free, while the other took the extra time to wait for its weapon to emerge from the walls. The weaponless warrior shot straight for her. Bloodllust shone within the monster's eyes.

Astrid noticed pain deep within. She wasn’t sure if she was able to feel her emotions, or see them through the tree ent’s eyes. Whatever it was, the only way Astrid knew how to release the monster from its pain–was death.

Not letting the monster get too close, Astrid pierced her sword forward, but this ent seemed to know some martial-arts as it dodged under her blade and moved closer.

Grinning, Astrid snapped her leg to its chest, sending it crashing back, and Astrid along with it. Astrid was sent back from the impact. Avoiding the spikes poking out of the ground, she was about to control her movement with Psychokinesis, but the room was too cramped. Her back smashed against the wall as the monster arrived in front of her once more.

Ducking under the punch, it thwacked through the air and slammed into the wall behind her. Astrid smashed her head into the monster, then used [Crash] along the floor.

Dust flew while Astrid’s peculiar eyes shone an eerie light. She amassed a large clump of matter behind the monster's back, then [Crashed] it. The dust was blown around the room. The ent warrior was thrown forward from the sudden blast. Astrid grunted as she took a step forward and pierced her voidbent blade straight into the heart of the monster.

It was killed instantly. Astrid was about to deal with the other as she could see it bolt toward her in her Psych Domain. She was expecting it to step to the side to attack, but it obviously wouldn’t abide by any rules.

The last surviving ent warrior swept its axe straight through the neck of the corpse. It was beheaded in not even a second as the blade continued straight for Astrid’s head. Only for it to slow, then clang against her Mind Barrier.

The ent warrior took a step back from the damage redirection effect of her stage 3 Mind Barrier. But it was only for a second before it managed to reorientate itself.

Astrid [Crashed] the air around it, sending its body smashing to the side until it was penetrated by some of the spears poking out of the ground. It was easy to finish off the injured monster after that with a swing of her sword.

You have defeated - Tree Ent Warrior - level 128

You have defeated - Tree Ent Warrior - Level 130

You have levelled up!

I still need to improve. Astrid cracked her neck. She wasn’t used to controlling the matter within her body for quick, twitching movements that sword fighting needed. Her control needed to be tighter, more efficient.

Nodding to herself, she was about to practise her movement a bit more before moving on, but the walls trembled.

With all the previous times, it obviously meant nothing good would come out of it. She half expected more tree ents to emerge from the walls, but instead they shrunk even further. At first she thought it was moving the battleground once more, but it was becoming too small.

Anxiousness gripped her heart. She fidgeted one hand as the other tightened on the grip of the blade. However, her worries were abated as the interlocking root door opened with a rumble.

Astrid acted as if she was given a lifeline and bolted forward. The walls inched closer and just as she was about to be crushed by a mountain of hardened dirt, Astrid blasted down the passageway and emerged into a different room.

Or cave, to be exact. There were tens of different passageways all of varying different sizes. Some went up, while others went down. It was as if an oversized ant colony had randomly begun tunnelling through the earth with no plans.

Sending her mana towards her mind and activating Psych Domain, she wasn’t able to make out anything. The only image she could make out were just endless tunnels that meandered this way and that.

Sighing, Astrid closed her eyes, pointed her finger forward, then swayed it from side-to-side. She moved her arm fast until she randomly stopped. She gazed down the passageway where her finger had landed.

It was nothing but a wall backdrop. Astrid approached it, then looked down. A pitch black tunnel that was clearly a sheer drop of unknown depth entered her vision. Even with dark vision activated within her void eye, there was a limit to the range she could see.

Astrid hesitated in going into another tunnel. Going up would obviously make more sense, but she was reminded of a memory of her and Freya when they were younger. A shiver ran up her spine. When they were younger, Freya had once told her that if she didn’t abide by the finger pointing rules, she would be haunted by resurrected monsters her entire life. Although she doubted Freya had such abilities, it wasn’t something she was willing to bet on. So, the deep, dark, steep hole it was.

Shit. Astrid grit her teeth, then jumped straight into the hole.

At first she controlled her speed with Levitate, but it was taking too long for her liking, so she let go of all control. Astrid screamed in excitement at the sudden plunge. Her speed increased tremendously as gravity yanked her downward. Her hair tousled, and the wind licked at her eyeballs, causing them to water.

After falling for what felt like a few minutes, the end of the drop was rapidly coming to a stop. Astrid connected to the matter in her body and slowed down, but it wasn’t enough. The bottom was approaching too fast.

Clenching her fists, she increased the amount of mana that was coursing around her body until she Levitated to a stop. The extraneous matter control within her body made her feel a bit woozy, but other than that, she was fine.

With her dark vision activated, she gazed out at a wide expansive cave. If it could be called that. If it wasn’t for the ceiling and the stalactites that hung high above, she would have doubted it was a cave at all, but rather another world entirely.

Strange, alien foliage covered the walls and vivid flowers of every colour sprouted from the earth. Glowing mushrooms on the wall, ceiling, and littered around the trees provided a good amount of light throughout. It looked just like a forest, but glowing... and deadly.

A cluster of mushrooms seemed to shiver. Astrid took a closer look, when two eyes shot open and glared in her direction. Just like the monster above, it had the same common pink eyes that would presumably cancel her psychic abilities just like the rest.

Thinking of her psychic abilities, she attempted to create something from Psych Warp, but the mana wouldn’t listen to her commands. A sinking feeling pervaded her stomach. She attempted to use her other Skills, but they wouldn’t even start up, let alone fire.

The only Skill she was able to use was Omni-Kinesis, which she wasn’t sure why–but she was grateful. It would be her key to survival.

Astrid took the moment before the mushroom monster attacked to gaze at her surroundings. There had to be a way to negate the tampering of her psychic mana. Something like an area-of-effect that was airborne, or something.

It was clear it wasn’t because of the monster's eyes that stopped her.

Along with the mushroom that moved, more joined its place, until most of the underground forest was trembling as if in excitement.

Monsters of all differing sizes and shapes emerged from the ground.

Astrid stumbled back in a panic. They were zombies.