Our trip back to Virelia is faster than before. I refrain from using mana as much as possible to restore it as I carry the battered members of Group 4 in arms of mana.

The three of them are all missing legs and are all currently unconscious, something Lily did with the rest of the mana she got from my arm. She also used what was there to restore her legs and now walks next to me. Missing her arms, but on her own two legs.

Tess is scouting ahead of us with Obelia, while Isola and the rest of the group, and Myrra, run beside us. We do not hurry, but we also do not move slowly, and I notice Lily constantly staring at me.

“You were amazing, Lily,” I really mean it. The young girl had to endure the strain of keeping me alive while I was dealing with the stronger ants, and constantly use sacrifice to save our group members.

For me, it's fine, but it's hard to imagine how stressful it must be to use all of your limbs powering your skill and then have to rely on someone else, unable to move, and barely able to do anything. Such weakness is something I never want to feel, yet Lily did it constantly, something that once again confirms how far from normal some members of Hell difficulty are.

“I will do anything you want when things are a bit calmer,” I return her gaze, “All within reason, obviously.”

“I see,” she smiles, but it's a tired smile. “Can you please tell me again I did well? That it was worth all of this?” the pain is still apparent in her eyes.

No matter how used she gets to it, or how much she pretends to be ok. Without a skill like my [Focus], it must be terrifying.

“You did well, really well.” I step closer to her and for a moment pull her armless body close. “We saved them thanks to you."

She nods energetically, the tears flowing down her cheeks, and she doesn't say anything else.

A bit of time passes as we get closer to Virelia, until some of Obelia’s scouts and enforcers seem to panic and speed up, as we keep pace.

It doesn't take long, and I feel it as well. The presence of the Living Tree.

Then we see it as well, the colossal tree has fallen just outside Virelia. There is still some remaining mana, but the Calamity is dead, and there is not even a text over it.

Most of the walls around the city are gone as well, cracked and revealing the inscriptions etched inside them.

One of the enforcers starts crying, and more of them join in, with even Myrra lowering her ears and her tail just hanging down.

“What happened, Myrra?” I ask carefully.

The white-haired lynthari turns to me, tears in her eyes. “The Matriarch is dead, feral one.”

For a moment, I just stare at her and then toward the city and the tree.

Slowly, all of the lynthari with us turn towards Myrra all at once and lower their heads, getting down on one knee and facing her.

Myrra ignores their gazes and continues to look towards the city, tears rolling down her cheeks.

After we reach the city, we split up and quickly find the rest of group four, all of them fine, yet bearing signs of a big fight.

Isabella comes running and hugs the unconscious Sophie. For a few minutes, she refuses to leave her and continues to listen to her older sister's heartbeat and breathing.

Then she jumps in between me, Lily, and Tess, and thanks us, her small body hugging us with all the strength she can muster. The entire time, Noodle stays coiled around Isabella's arm and watches it all with weird interest.

(Safe.) Biscuit sends me.

“Thank you,” I tell him and caress his head. “I’m sure you did well.”

The best doggo woofs and then wobbles on top of one of the walls of what's left of our house, and seems to keep watch.

Cute.

“The Veilwalker guild master was one of the traitors,” Hadwin and Maya sit next to Tess and me, while Min-Jae stays with the twins, a worried expression on the young boy’s face.

Maya continues, and I notice that she barely has any mana left and her gear is nearly destroyed, all upper-grade rare items. “He was either controlled or worked with the Colony for some time. He attacked and injured the Matriarch while she fought the tree.

Hadwin sighs. “The Matriarch fought it, using the trees in the city. Meanwhile, we had to work with a few lynthari to fight Lorven and his guild members."Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“How did the tree get there?” Tess asks.

Maya meets her eyes. “It flew. We could feel its mana from far away, it moved really quickly, and Tess, let me tell you, it was so eerie that it's hard to describe,” she shakes her head. “The Matriarch apparently activated inscriptions she had built all over the city over hundreds of years and fought against it. Some lynthari even shared their mana with her.”

As I listen to her, the image of young Eris calling me underling is shown in my mind.

“How did the Matriarch look?” I ask, bearing a bit of hope.

“She had two tails and was taller than any other lynthari,” Hadwin crushes even the last of those hopes.

“I see,” I say while looking at my hands.

“I can still feel the air shaking as they fought. The tree tried to use its weird mana particles, but the Matriarch stopped them by creating some kind of pressure and then fought against it by creating rifts and some kind of weird radiation while confusing the tree. She even used the leaves of the giant trees in the city,” Maya shudders.

“How did she even kill it?” Tess looks between Maya and Hadwin.

Hadwin answers her, “In the end, she activated some array, and that killed the tree. It made it dry out, and it just fell down, along with the Matriarch. The other lynthari took her then.”

“Nothing about the Floor quest?” Tess asks.

Maya shakes her head. “Nothing. I guess we didn’t do enough for it to count as our work.”

She then starts to ask Tess about what happened and wanting to catch a break, I stand up and walk towards our half-destroyed house. No one stops me, and I shift some of the debris and enter what remains of my room. The armchair I like to sit in is dusty and torn in places, but I plop into it and pull out the strange, blue mana stone from my pocket. The one Eris bought for me at the auction, it now radiates a bit of mana, and I don’t even know when she inscribed it.

I set it on a piece of debris in front of me and send a bit of my mana through, which activates it.

An illusion of Eris forms around the stone and looks at me, “I guess that's it,” she smiles, hiding her hands behind her back. “You listening to this must mean I was unable to deactivate it, and there can only be one reason for that, can’t there?”

The memory she left behind is even capable of reacting to its surroundings, and it jumps up to sit on the wall nearby, short legs hanging over and kicking the air.

“I left messages like this for most of the people I cared about. Then, for a long time, I was wondering if I should leave one for you,” the memory turns to me. “You know, I hardly know you. In my long life, you are barely a memory.”

I don’t even answer; the memory wouldn’t be able to process it or say anything other than what it’s been made for.

"Yet, something made me change my mind and I left a message for you., as Eris, the personality I created to mess with my lynthari and humans," she smiles diabolically, then sighs, "What was I even thinking at my old age, messing around like that," even then she giggles.

"But it was fun, you know. I don't even remember how long it’s been since someone put me on his shoulders and carried me around the city. How long has it been since I sat on someone's knees and stopped worrying about things and just acted like a kid for a few moments. How long has it been since someone wanted to bully and mess with me with such a cheeky look in his eyes."

The memory sighs, a smile not leaving its lips, "It was fun and I thank you for that," she turns to me and adds, "Underling," her tone is almost as if making fun of me.

"The Living Tree is on its way to the city. It's an out-of-control weapon I helped to create a long time ago. We sent it against the old capitals of humans, so I will be the one to deal with it. I will pay for the crimes against humanity I helped commit. I'm too old to avoid it and soon I will be too weak to deal with it and that would only leave the tree behind to threaten my city. My lynthari and my dear humans."

Eris jumps down from the wall and emanates a hint of mana detecting me and steps in front of me so the message can continue.

"I suspect it's all the work of the First One; he was always smart. The moment he sensed your friends' skills and detected them reaching Virelia, he probably increased his efforts to manipulate the Living Tree. He’s been trying for years." Eris smiles, "What a creepy ant, right? He even kidnapped your friends the moment you left the city. For some reason, he is just as scared of you as he is of the Fallen Hero."

Eris sighs, "I got lazy, my skills dulled over the years of peace and stalemate, and now I will pay for it. As for you, underling, never let the First One get the opportunity to take your friends' skills. I would tell you to kill them if needed, but I suspect you would tell me to screw off, such is your Pride," she giggles. "But know this, the moment the First One evolves his [Hive Mind] will be the moment another being with the potential of reaching the rank of Champion is born."

Her eyes meet mine, "Myrra is childish at times, but she will be a good replacement for me, and in the future, she will grow much stronger than I ever was. But, underling, there is something I wanted to ask of you too. Please, don't hate the lynthari." Her hand reaches to me and passes through my cheek, "Every lynthari that remains is just a child, born after the war, none of them know about what happened before. So please, do not hate them, do not fight again, and try to live with them as I always wanted."

The memory starts becoming a bit more transparent and slowly disappearing, "Hating me and those lynthari who did fight in the war is fine, but the others are just kids, so please, get along."

She becomes even more transparent.

"Nya... I wonder what that word means," she giggles, her voice becoming weaker, "I hope you had as much fun messing with me as I did messing with you, my dear and last underling."

For a moment I feel as if our eyes meet.

"Farewell then, stay well... nya." She flashes me one last smile that stays on her face even as she grows and turns into the tall lynthari woman with two tails.

She then turns around and, after taking a step away, the memory disappears and all the mana from the blue stone is gone.

For a long moment, I stare at the blue mana stone in my hands and try to send my mana into it, to activate it again, but it doesn't work. The intricate inscriptions are gone.

That's when I hear a movement and Tess walks from behind the wall.

"Sorry, I heard most of it," she apologizes while sitting on the armrest of the armchair I sit on.

"It's fine," I reply.

"So that was the matriarch and the little girl we met during the auction."

"Yes," I nod, "we now know who was behind all this."

"Are you sad?" she asks.

"I barely knew her."

"You didn't answer my question, Nat."

"I only met her a few times and we mostly made fun of each other, and I didn't even know she was messing with me."

"So that's how it is?" she asks.

"Yes."

I'm about to use [Focus], then I hesitate and stare at the blue mana stone, but in the end, I decide against it, and stay like that a bit longer.