CHAPTER 295: CHAPTER 291 – CROWN OF THE INFERNAL FOREST

This forest was vast. Sylvia had spent nearly a week exploring it, slaughtering monster after monster that emerged from the purple fog but what made her frown wasn’t their numbers, but something far more irritating.

"...the exp keeps getting smaller," she muttered, kicking the corpse of a massive monster that crumbled into black dust. "Floor 68 monsters shouldn’t be this pathetic."

She glanced back at the Hell Treant walking slowly behind her, its branches drooping as if apologizing.

"I’m not mad at you guys," Sylvia sighed. "It’s just... this isn’t efficient."

A few more monsters burst from the ground, bodies covered in spikes and glowing red eyes. Sylvia didn’t even need to lift a hand her Death Aura pulsed, and the monsters imploded without making a sound.

A system notification popped up, but the number made her sigh even harder.

EXP gained: 0.2%

"Annoying..."

Even the Hell Treant behind her lowered itself further, as if saying: Forgive us for being too strong, my Queen...

Sylvia patted the trunk of the nearest Treant.

"It’s not your fault. But at this rate, I’ll grow old before I level up again."

Without another thought, she decided to return to the starting point.

The Hell Treants formed a bridge of roots, lifting her across rocky terrain back to where she had first arrived on this floor.

As soon as she reached it, the hue of the purple fog shifted slightly and as usual, someone was already waiting.

Seere.

"I’m glad you’re done," he said with a faint smile. "It seems this floor doesn’t offer what you need."

Sylvia crossed her arms. "Yeah, it’s awful. The monsters here are basically decoration."

Seere chuckled softly, elegantly, and annoyingly calm.

"When someone is this strong and accompanied by an entire marching forest, I suppose the creatures of Floor 68 truly stand no chance."

Sylvia rolled her eyes. "So what’s next? Down to Floor 67?"

"Correct." Seere nodded. "But one thing... your little forest cannot follow you there."

The moment those words left him, the hundreds of Hell Treants filling the forest stopped moving.

All of them turned toward Sylvia, hundreds of glowing red orbs trembling with anxiety.

Sylvia bit her lower lip.

"I know... but it feels wrong to leave them. We’ve been together for a long time."

The nearest Hell Treant lowered its branches in a bow.

The others followed. A hundred giant trees bowed simultaneously, creating a gentle rumble through the air.

Seere raised an eyebrow. "They understand your intention."

As if responding, the largest Hell Treant let out a deep, hoarse voice:

"Queen... we... follow..."

Sylvia tilted her head. "Eh? The next floor has an instant portal. You guys are huge. How do you ’follow’?"

Suddenly

CRAACK! CRAAACK!

The largest Treant began to change. It wasn’t growing. It was... shrinking.

Its wooden body trembled as purple cracks of light crawled along its trunk.

In seconds, the four-story giant shrank to the size of a bus... then the size of a human... then the size of a child.

Sylvia stared. "Huh... could you always do that...?"

The small Treant looked up at her and swung its tiny branch, then pointed behind itself.

And what Sylvia saw made her mouth fall open a little.

All the Treants were shrinking one by one. From colossal trees to knee-high wooden dolls. Then the small ones stepped into slightly larger ones. The medium ones into the bigger ones. The larger ones into the now-shrunken giant.

The entire process looked like a living set of matryoshka dolls.

BOG!

POK!

TOK!

One into one.

Two into two.

Ten into ten.

Until finally, hundreds of Hell Treants condensed into one single tiny Treant no larger than a palm, shaped like a knitted wooden figurine with two soft glowing red eyes.

The little Treant jumped.

Plop.

Landing perfectly in Sylvia’s palm.

Sylvia blinked twice.

"...you’re seriously able to go portable like this...?"

The tiny Treant raised its little branch as if waving, then spoke:

"Queen... we... always... follow..."

Its small voice sounded like the murmur of children endearingly cute.

Sylvia smiled a true, wide smile she rarely showed.

"Alright then... come along."

She lifted the mini Treant and since it was so tiny placed it on top of her head.

And strangely... the Treant stood perfectly firm.

Didn’t fall. Didn’t wobble. Its branches even fanned out like a crown.

Seere covered his mouth, stifling an elegant laugh.

"Honestly... you look... adorable."

Sylvia immediately pinched him. "Shut up."

Seere winced but kept smiling. "Very well. Since you’ve completed Floor 68 efficiently... despite flattening half the forest... let’s continue."

Sylvia looked at the dark purple portal forming ahead.

"I’m ready."

The mini Treant on her head moved its tiny branch pointing at the portal, as if giving a blessing.

Seere stepped in first, and Sylvia followed.

But before she entered

The entire 68th floor rumbled softly, as if the forest itself was bidding farewell.

Sylvia paused and glanced back.

"...thanks," she whispered.

Then she stepped into the portal.

....

The portal closed behind them, replaced by the sharper smell of sulfur far stronger than on previous floors. Sylvia adjusted her eyes to the fiery darkness blanketing the area.

Floor 67... should be home to one of the Great Demons.

Seere walked beside her, sweeping aside the hot mist with his fingertips.

"Normally, this floor belongs to Amdusias."

Sylvia raised a brow. "Amdusias? The horse-shaped one?"

"Yes. Ruler of music, chaos, and war’s brutality."

Seere nodded... then his smile turned cold.

"Unfortunately, he made a foolish decision."

"Demon habits?" Sylvia snorted.

"He betrayed my father Belial. And no one betrays Belial without... consequences."

Seere looked at Sylvia, eyes glowing faintly.

"So Amdusias was beheaded and thrown to Floor 120 as food."

"Wow." Sylvia looked around. "So this floor... empty?"

"Not quite." Seere continued casually, as if discussing the weather.

"Since Amdusias’ death, there has been no ruler. Floor 67 became a pure wild zone. Monsters breed without control. They attack anything. Devour anything. This place... is paradise for your growth."

Sylvia frowned. "So... like a failed version of Floor 68?"

"More like Floor 68, alternate edition." Seere dusted off his clothes. "See for yourself."

And with that, he disappeared.

Just like that.

Sylvia closed her eyes, inhaled deeply.

"...I don’t understand why he always leaves without warning, but whatever. Habit."

She opened her eyes.

And regretted opening them.

Because tens of thousands of red, blue, green, purple, and black eyes...

were staring at her from the vast valley ahead.

Tens of thousands of monsters. Of every kind.

Fiend. Lizardborn. Bone Drake. Hell Serpent. Flesh Ripper. Shadow Beast. Demon Ogre. Abomination-Kin.

All mixed. All moving. All hungry.

An entire valley. Thousands of ragged breaths echoing in unison.

Sylvia narrowed her eyes.

"Okay... now this makes sense."

The mini Treant atop her head trembled not in fear.

In excitement.

Like a soldier ready for war.

Sylvia nodded, and the little Treant jumped down.

CRACK!

Its small body split into four, eight, twelve, then dozens germinating like a seed in seconds.

From those fragments, hundreds of tiny Treants emerged, scattering across the ground like living roots.

Then

WHOOOOSH!

They all grew.

In five seconds, hundreds of colossal Treants stood tall again. Just like before.

Except this time, they didn’t fill a forest, they filled a battlefield.

Sylvia nodded in satisfaction. "Good. Now split roles. You handle the big ones first."

The giant Treants nodded in unison, wood creaking like war drums.

Sylvia raised her hand.

"Hellhounds, out."

The system pulsed, opening a black rift as large as a castle gate.

GRRAAAARRRHHH!!!

WOOOFHHH!!

KRRRRHHHH!!

Hundreds of zombie Hellhounds leapt out, their bodies wreathed in black-purple flames wrapping their bones. Each one is two meters tall, fangs like molten obsidian.

Sylvia lifted her hand to the side.

Her Death Aura deepened pitch-black expanding like a storm of hellfire.

"Alright," she said softly, her voice shifting into a beautiful, chilling tone.

"Let’s begin."

And the earth shattered.

BRAAAK!!!

The largest Treant swung its branch like a whip, obliterating hundreds of monsters at once. Their bodies exploded into clouds of blood.

Hellhounds charged like black meteors, crushing skulls and snapping spines as if they were brittle twigs.

Sylvia moved within the chaos, dashing through the air like a streak of dark light. Every arc of her hand carved a black line that sliced down dozens of monsters in a single motion.

The monsters never touched her. They didn’t even comprehend what killed them.

Her Death Aura seeped into the air, poisoning everything that breathed.

A Treant on her left ripped a Demon Ogre in half. Another on her right stabbed massive roots into the ground sending a field of thorned spikes erupting to massacre packs of Hell Serpents.

The air filled with the sound of snapping bones. Blood fell from the sky like rain.

Screeches and roars formed the orchestra of slaughter.

Sylvia landed on a large rock, her dark hair whipping in the dust storm, crimson eyes staring at the ocean of monsters.

Tens of thousands of them now charged toward her.

She smirked.

"Well then. Plenty left to kill."

The Hellhounds howled, the Treants roared in their heavy wooden language, and the waves of monsters crashed like hellish tides as they collided.

The battle was far more brutal than the previous floor wilder, denser, more chaotic... yet that only made Sylvia more exhilarated.

This was the perfect place to level up.