Chapter 231: ·The Formless Spawn

“Kayan! Execute the plan!”

At the sound of the command, Kayan, who had been fighting on the very front line, did not hesitate for even a moment. He slammed the Cross Staff in his hand heavily against the ground, producing a deep, muffled thud. The face that normally carried the gentleness of a scholar was now burning with fervor.

“By your command, my lord!”

Yet before he could act, the scene around them underwent an even more horrifying transformation.

Shrieks far more agonizing than before erupted from the Wood elf civilians corrupted by the tainted power.

“AAAAAH—!”

These were not cries born merely from pain. They were the terror-stricken screams forced from the deepest depths of the soul as a living being’s very form was violently twisted and remade. The screams tore through the sky, not from a single person, but from an entire crowd.

Several of the Wood elf civilians who had previously staggered against the defensive line like puppets suddenly froze. Then, before everyone’s eyes, their bodies collapsed and melted apart in a grotesque manner. Their flesh liquefied, yet instead of spilling across the ground, it gathered together unnaturally into enormous bloated masses of meat.

Black whip-like tentacles burst from the surface of the flesh, writhing and lashing wildly. Some swept through tree branches and houses, sending splinters flying as tree dwellings shattered apart.

Several giant mouths split open at the top of the mass, each lined with jagged fangs. Foul green mucus dripped constantly from within, hissing as it corroded the earth below. Beneath the rotting mound of flesh, thick stump-like hooves grew outward, supporting the nauseating body as it slowly rose upright.

A monster nearly four meters tall was born before them, its silhouette resembling some twisted and corrupted giant tree. Its shape looked like a blasphemous mockery of a living tree: the short, thick legs formed the trunk, while the tentacle-covered body became its grotesque canopy.

This had already surpassed Coldsteel City’s understanding of what an “enemy” could be. These were abominations crawled straight out of the deepest nightmares.

And the horror before them was far from an isolated case.

Centered around the ritual nodes where the blood-red pillars pierced the sky, more and more identical creatures were being born from the remains of the Wood elf civilians. In the blink of an eye, there were already more than a dozen of them, and the number was still increasing. The nearest one stood less than a block away from the entrance to the Hall of Tree Shepherds.

Nolan’s gaze turned cold. He recognized the creatures instantly.

The Formless Spawn.

In his previous life, during this very storyline, these “Formless Spawn” had served as the absolute main force among the mutated monsters that emerged. They were loathsome abominations birthed by the Crimson Corruption, a fusion of the forest’s twisted will and the rotting flesh of the Wood elves, shaped together beneath the power of a god’s incarnation.

Right now, these malformed creatures were only three or four meters tall. But their most terrifying trait was that, given enough “nourishment,” they could grow without limit.

Nolan had once personally witnessed a fully matured specimen standing fifteen meters tall. With a single strike, it had reduced the towering walls of a knightly domain in Demont Province to a field of shattered rubble.

The newborn Formless Spawn immediately revealed their bloodthirsty instincts. Waving the black tentacles covering their bodies, they seized nearby Wood elves who had not yet been transformed. Ignoring their struggles and desperate cries, the monsters brutally stuffed them into the enormous mucus-dripping mouths embedded in their flesh.

Crunch… crunch…

The sickening sound of flesh being chewed mixed together with the Wood elves’ hopeless screams, turning what had once been a peaceful homeland into a living hell.

At that moment, a sorrowful cry echoed from the deepest reaches of Forest Home, resonating within everyone’s hearts. It was the voice of the World Tree, Gondos, the very body of Forest Home itself.

A faint green light emerged among the colossal branches, transforming into countless gentle vines that tried to stop the abominable tentacles from slaughtering its people any further.

But under the erosion of the Mark of Silent Extinction, its power had already grown far too weak.

The moment those green vines touched the Formless Spawn’s black tentacles, they were corroded and dissolved. At best, they created only the slightest hindrance, utterly incapable of changing the situation.

The sight before them was enough to shatter the courage of any mortal army.

Yet the soldiers of the Holy Hammer Division showed not the slightest trace of fear as they witnessed this hellish spectacle. Nolan’s Lord’s Authority enhancement had already elevated their fighting spirit to extraordinary heights. Meanwhile, the Dragon Blood’s Oath had granted them the trait Dragon’s Might. Not only could it suppress enemies with overwhelming pressure, it also rendered them immune to most fear and intimidation effects while granting immense resistance against all forms of mental oppression. More importantly, every one of them had been personally selected by Kayan from the Mother Goddess Temple, chosen as the most devout young believers of the faith. At this moment, the only thing filling their hearts was pure and blazing fury toward these defilements that desecrated life itself and polluted the world.

The instant Kayan heard Nolan’s order, he immediately understood. Raising the Cross Staff high above his head, he chanted at the top of his lungs, “Divine Grace Radiance!”

The soldiers of the Holy Hammer Division moved in perfect unison the moment they heard the command. Dropping to one knee, they planted their war hammers before them, bowed their heads, and began a solemn prayer.

The power of faith could do more than forge an unbreakable heart. Those who devoutly walked the Eightfold Path were themselves the natural bane of all evil.

One hand reciting scripture, the other wielding the war hammer. That was the very foundation upon which the Inquisition of the Cross stood.

Bzzzz.

As the prayers continued, dazzling golden light began to radiate from every soldier of the Holy Hammer Division.

At the same time, lines of golden exorcism scripture that had once been invisible to the naked eye gradually lit up across the surfaces of their black armor, emanating an aura both sacred and majestic. Every one of those scriptures had been personally inscribed by the soldiers themselves, stroke by stroke, under Kayan’s guidance. This had originally been one of the Mother Goddess Temple’s deepest secrets, but Kayan had once been the former archbishop’s most prized disciple. Naturally, he had gained access to the temple’s core inheritance. Golden scripture now covered Kayan’s own hands as well, while the Cross Staff in his grip shone brilliantly, resembling a divine scepter forged from pure holy power. 

The Mother Goddess never directly answered the prayers of Her followers, yet Her power remained with them at every moment.

Besides, Kayan had long since told them the truth. The Lord Nolan standing behind them was proof that the incarnation of God walked the mortal world. With such an unwavering pillar supporting them, the faith within every soldier became incomparably steadfast. As long as he stood with them, they feared nothing.

While the Holy Hammer Division blazed with golden radiance, Rehanna was not idle either. She knew full well that she had to buy enough time for her companions. Her flame-colored hair danced wildly without wind as she drove the Ice Wolf sword fiercely into the ground.

“Crystal Garden!”

A wave of extreme cold erupted outward from her position, sweeping in every direction.

Though it was another application of ice-based power, this was entirely different from Fenrir’s destructive Frostbite Domain.

Rehanna’s Crystal Garden was far more delicate and controlled.

Crack… crack… crack…

Every corrupted Wood elf touched by the freezing aura became immobilized where they stood. A thin layer of frost formed over their bodies, restraining them without directly taking their lives.

Flexible yet precise, Crystal Garden was more versatile than Frostbite Domain.

In the distance, the towering blood-red pillar and the surrounding ground froze into eerie pink crystals beneath the cold.

That was the color of blood frozen in an instant.

Naturally, the nearest Formless Spawn was not spared either. Its enormous body became completely sealed within thick ice, even its writhing tentacles frozen motionless in midair.

However, after only three to five seconds—

Crack!

A sharp sound rang out.

A visible fissure split open across the thick layer of ice.

Then—

BOOM!

Accompanied by a deafening explosion, the Formless Spawn forcibly shattered the frozen prison through sheer monstrous physical strength alone. Countless ice crystals burst outward in every direction.

Shaking the remaining frost from its body, the creature slowly turned all of its fang-filled mouths toward the Holy Hammer Division, who were still in the midst of their ritual.