Chapter 207: Trump card
After finally finding a good place to hide inside the hole in an ancient tree, Medea analyzed its interior and noticed marks of claws. Fearing the place may have already been occupied, the women hurried out.
However, destiny was cruel to her; as soon as she stepped out, she was met by a monstrous creature.
Octavia, who was collecting plants and sticks, left everything on the ground and reacted immediately.
She held her hands together in prayer. "Divine Protection!"
A brilliant golden barrier blossomed close to her, just as the beast’s claw crashed forward. The impact echoed like a bell throughout the forest. The barrier bent inward under the tremendous force, cracks spreading across its surface, but it held.
"We only have a few seconds!" Octavia shouted. "Medea, take our King and run! I’ll buy as much time as I can!"
Despite the order and the urgency of the matter, Medea didn’t move. She understood immediately that such a plan was meaningless.
The creature before them was on an entirely different level. Even if Octavia sacrificed herself, they would never outrun it with Shin unconscious. Running would simply delay the inevitable.
The wise succubus slowly closed her eyes and drew a deep breath, looking for more power inside herself. She knew she had something, but she still hadn’t mastered such power.
It was a gamble.
"No," she answered calmly. "Neither of us is dying here."
Octavia looked at her in confusion as Medea extended both empty hands. She began conjuring a spell whose effect she was not even sure about.
"You... you don’t have any mana left."
"I know."
"Then what are you—"
"I still have one final trump card," she smiled confidently.
Just at that moment, the golden barrier shattered with a deafening crack. Without hesitation, Octavia cast another one, her body trembling from the overuse of mana.
"Divine Protection!"
A second wall of golden light rose between them and the beast. Once again, the guardian slammed into it, filling the forest with another thunderous impact.
Blood trickled from Octavia’s lips as she forced more divine power through her exhausted body. Her complexion grew visibly paler, but she refused to stop.
Medea paid no attention and focused all her energy into that spell. Unlike every magic she had cast until now, she reached for no grimoire.
She did not need one, because this was the power she was born with.
"I discovered while reading that all elite demons possess an Ultimate Skill," she murmured to Octavia. "And we are no different from an elite demon."
Succubi are sex demons; as such, they follow similar rules. Martena’s Divine Milk and Yasmin’s Untouchable skill are examples of these ultimate skills.
The problem was that using this power did not come naturally. Martena had an extremely high affinity with her own power and was an exception, but both Medea and Yasmin needed the extreme adrenaline of facing death to fully see their own souls.
"Still, I’m sure of it," Medea said with a thunderous voice. Her earlier weakness and fatigue had disappeared in the face of the dangerous situation. "My ultimate does not require mana."
The succubus closed her eyes and extended her senses into the forest itself. She touched every blade of grass, every vine, every insect, every flower, and every ancient tree surrounding them.
Then she began to draw energy from all living things. Tiny streams of emerald light emerged from everything within hundreds of meters.
Leaves withered as their vitality faded. Flowers shrank into brittle husks. Moss turned gray. Even the towering trees lost part of their rich color, while birds dropped lifeless from their branches and small woodland creatures collapsed where they stood.
The forest itself was surrendering its life.
That stolen vitality gathered above Medea’s hands, condensing into a single sphere of deep emerald radiance. The spell grew brighter and brighter as an immense amount of energy began to condense.
"Fuck!" Meanwhile, Octavia coughed up blood as her second barrier exploded under a thunderous attack from the beast.
But she didn’t stop; once again, she gathered her magic, forcing her body to its limit. She refused to stop fighting so soon.
"Divine... Protection!" Her voice came out hoarse, her body trembling.
A third barrier formed, weaker than the previous two, yet enough to halt the furious attacks from the beast. Still, to keep it standing, Octavia needed to continuously pour her mana into it.
Her vision began to blur, and her body became heavier. The third barrier broke, and she desperately invoked a fourth one, which was able to hold the monster for a measly final heartbeat.
"It is enough," Medea declared, placing her hand on the woman’s shoulder, her voice resounding through the dying forest with absolute authority. "Leave the rest to me."
Octavia let out a long breath, her body finally relaxing as she stepped back. Then Medea floated in the air, feeling her body extremely energized by all the power she had absorbed from the surroundings.
"Show me everything you have," she said with a confident smile.
The creature answered with a loud roar, its massive body lunging forward instantly. The monster was furious, desperate to taste blood.
Medea smiled and snapped her fingers, making a small emerald sphere appear in front of her. Then she made that ball of pure life energy shoot forward.
The accumulated life force of the surrounding forest erupted into the guardian, flooding its enormous body with devastating energy.
The bark covering its limbs cracked apart, glowing sap burst from every fissure, and the creature released a roar unlike anything they had heard before as the spell consumed the vitality sustaining it.
When the light finally faded, the forest had changed.
The lush vegetation surrounding the hollow tree had become dull and lifeless. Countless plants had withered away completely, while others stood barely alive, their branches stripped of color.
It was as though years of life had been stolen from the land in a single moment.
Then Medea fell to the ground, exhausted.