Dragon King's Harem Chapter 588.Roots and Dragon II
Dragon King's Harem Chapter 588.Roots and Dragon II
Marissa nodded instantly, eyes following the same direction even without my skill. “The green-black channel. Cut that first. If you cut the gold first, it might rebound into Seranaya.”
Sela’s face hardened. “I’ll hold her still.”
“Don’t get stabbed. Her family like that move very much.”
She looked at me flatly. “Your Majesty, that is not a strategy.”
“It’s a wish.”
Evelina stepped beside me, golden light gathering around her palms. Her hair was messy now, dress torn at one shoulder, cheek smudged with dust, and she still somehow looked like the only good decision I’d made in life. “I’ll shield Seranaya’s body when you cut.”
I glanced at her. “Even after what she did?”
Evelina’s gaze flicked toward Seranaya, who hung limply from the root, eyes half-open, blood staining her ruined bridal gown. “She still shouldn’t be eaten by her own mother.”
Yeah.
That was Evelina.
Too kind for this rotten hall.
Al’s shadows gathered beneath Seranaya’s hanging body. “I can slow the extraction for three seconds.”
“Three?”
“The queen keeps cheating by being enormous.”
“Fair.”
Seraphel raised her spear and burned through a root trying to sneak toward the evacuation corridor. “I’ll make an opening.”
The Fairy Queen lifted both hands, wind spiraling into silver ribbons. “I’ll clear the pollen.”
Good.
Everyone knew their part.
Which meant I had no excuse to mess this up.
Elowen noticed us gathering.
Her massive face twisted. “No.”
Roots exploded downward like spears from heaven.
Seraphel moved first. Fire flashed in a clean arc, slicing through the first wave. The Fairy Queen’s wind scattered the poison mist around them, driving it upward through the giant hole in the ceiling. Evelina threw a barrier over Sela and Marissa as they rushed toward Seranaya.
Elowen screamed and sent a root-arm straight at them.
I moved.
[Shadow Walk Activated]
I stepped from the shadow of a broken pillar straight onto the root-arm, boots landing on living wood. It bucked under me like a furious beast, but my wings snapped open for balance. I ran up the moving root, Nightmare burning in my hand, every step leaving frost and fire in equal measure.
Another root came from the side.
“Ice Lance.”
Ten lances formed and fired, pinning it to the wall.
Another tried to wrap my waist.
[Spell Breaker Activated]
The binding shattered into splinters.
Elowen’s face turned toward me, eyes wild. “You cannot save her and stop me.”
I grinned. “Good thing I’m married.”
Below, Sela reached Seranaya. Stone rose around her feet, anchoring her against the shaking floor. She slammed both hands forward, and earth cuffs clamped around Seranaya’s arms and waist, not cruel this time, protective. Holding her body steady so the root wouldn’t tear her apart when I cut.
Marissa’s flowers bloomed across the root piercing Seranaya’s chest, tiny blue-white blossoms forcing antidote into the wood. The green-black channel flashed brighter, exposed.
“There!” Marissa shouted. “Cut that line!”
Al lifted two fingers again from where he now stood half-crouched behind a broken table.
Shadow threads wrapped around the draining root, tightening like surgical strings. Elowen roared as the extraction slowed.
[Extraction Rate Reduced]
[3 Seconds]
I dove.
Wings folded.
Nightmare came down.
For that tiny moment, everything narrowed to one line.
Green-black.
Poison and life force tangled together.
I swung.
Nightmare sliced through the channel.
The root didn’t sever physically at first, it screamed. Mana screamed. A horrible shriek ripped through the hall as the poison pathway snapped, black-green light bursting outward like blood under pressure. Evelina’s barrier wrapped around Seranaya instantly, catching the recoil before it could tear through her body.
Seranaya gasped.
A real dying breath.
Weak.
Broken.
Elowen screamed louder. “My power!”
“Your parenting style is bad!” I shouted back.
Then I kicked off the dying root and turned midair toward the throne.
Because the moment the drain snapped, the second line surged.
The throne pulse.
Elowen’s regeneration stuttered, but she wasn’t done. The root network under the throne glowed brighter, trying to compensate by feeding her directly through Durharn’s stolen authority and Seranaya’s bracelet.
Sela saw it too. “Your Majesty! The throne!”
“I know!”
The Dwarven throne sat cracked beneath Elowen’s roots, still massive, still ancient, still stubbornly holding onto royal magic like old kings held grudges. Destroying it felt politically rude.
Unfortunately, it was currently helping a psychotic nymph queen become a city-ending tree.
So.
Rude had to happen.
I landed in front of the throne platform as Elowen threw everything at me.
Roots. Thorns. Poison. Stone chunks wrapped in vines. The whole villain buffet.
Seraphel’s fire cut the left side.
Fairy wind redirected the right.
Evelina’s barrier caught the overhead debris.
Al’s shadows grabbed my ankles, not to stop me, but to launch me.
“Fly badly, Your Majesty.”
“What does that mean?!”
He yanked.
I shot forward like a cursed arrow. “AL!”
“Efficiently badly!”
I didn’t have time to complain.
Nightmare flared.
[Elemental Mana Sword: Fire-Ice Dual Imbuement]
Fire wrapped one edge. Ice swallowed the other. Dark mana pulsed through the center.
I raised the sword over my head.
The throne’s authority flared defensively.
[Royal Artifact Defense Detected]
[Warning: High Resistance]
“Yeah, yeah,” I muttered. “Get in line.”
I struck.
Nightmare hit the throne with a sound like thunder breaking inside a mountain.
For one second, it resisted, but then it cracked.
I roared and pushed harder, wings flaring, boots grinding into shattered stone.
The blade sank in.
Fire burned the corrupted roots. Ice froze the royal mana flow. Nightmare’s dark edge split the throne from crown to base.
The entire platform exploded.
Gold-brown mana burst upward in a violent pillar, then shattered into harmless sparks as Evelina’s barrier caught the fragments and Marissa’s antidote flowers swallowed the poison mixed inside.
Elowen’s whole body lurched.
[Throne Authority Anchor Destroyed]
[Enemy Regeneration Severely Reduced]
[Root Network Stability: Collapsing]
Seranaya dropped into Sela’s arms, alive but unconscious.
Elowen screamed like the world had betrayed her.
I pulled Nightmare free from the broken throne and turned toward her, smoke curling from my shoulders, wings spread wide, grin sharp.
“Found the core route,” I said.
Then the floor beneath Elowen cracked open, exposing a pulsing green heartwood buried inside the root network.
My grin widened. “And there’s the core.”