"Then go ahead. Do whatever you want."
Hayden shook his wolf head, his mind made up.
"I've already set up a concealment barrier in the ley lines these past two days, so I shouldn't be discovered... No. Screw it. Even if I am discovered, it doesn't matter."
The clay figurine still has some anger.
This big company not only dumps sewage into the suburbs every day, but now it has even developed a super vacuum cleaner, claiming it is for the benefit of the people, and is going to crush Hayden and his gang—even the most submissive person would be furious at this moment.
To endure in silence? To avoid being discovered by big companies? Screw that.
Even a common man can have his anger!
Hayden scratched the ground with his wolf paws, and with a grim face, said something he had never said before:
"Angela, you're going to give me a surprise."
When Angela says this, she is not joking.
As expected, Angela smiled broadly and gave an even more terrifying answer:
"Yes, I will live up to your expectations."
128: I will give the fruit of the tree of life freely to the hungry.
After receiving Hayden's permission, Angela seemed very happy for some reason.
"Don't stay hiding in the burrow anymore. Come here."
First, she addressed the demi-humans,
"Come with me up the mountain."
Upon hearing this, the demi-humans looked at each other in bewilderment, but without hesitation, they all crawled out of the burrow and obediently followed Angela away.
Hayden, watching from the side, seemed a little bewildered: "...What are you trying to do?"
In response to Hayden's question, Angela turned around and replied with a smile, "I want to give my master a surprise."
噫
Although Hayden himself had said these words before, hearing her say the same thing again sent chills down his spine.
What exactly do you want to do?
Hayden didn't actually ask that question.
But Angela probably saw through Hayden's expression and said with a smile, "I'm going to do something that no one has ever seen before."
"I want to do something that no one has ever heard of before."
"I want to do things that no one has ever even thought about before."
"I want to do the impossible."
As far as Hayden knew, this was the most terrifying thing he had ever heard in his life.
But since he had already said he would leave it to Angela to do as she pleased, Hayden hardened his heart and stopped worrying about it. Instead, he asked another question: "You want to take care of these demi-humans, but you don't need my help?"
Angela shook her head.
“Master, don’t always think about relying on yourself, and don’t be ashamed to ask me for help.”
She tilted her head and said, suddenly revealing a thoughtful expression.
"I know my master is not yet willing to rely entirely on me. But that's alright. This time, please observe what happens next and then do as you see fit."
what?
Before Hayden could even react, Angela had already leisurely led the demi-humans up the mountain, toward the place where Hayden had planted the apple saplings.
Hayden hesitated for a second, but quickly followed.
The tiny apple sapling still stands in the open space where the spiritual vein node is located. The slender sapling sprouts tiny, bright green buds, looking as if it would break at the slightest touch.
Angela walked over and, without saying a word, blew a breath toward the open space. The clean breath flowed across the ground, instantly transforming the polluted gray earth into a lush green lawn.
That's nothing special. Angela's power can even turn the filthiest parts of the sewers into beautiful gardens. Hayden wouldn't be surprised by that anymore.
However, Angela's matter is not yet finished.
She picked up twelve palm-sized stones from the ground, stood them up on the lawn, forming a shape like a city wall, enclosing the small apple sapling in the middle, and then dug a circular trench outside the square.
Then she turned around and said to the demi-humans following behind her, “You take buckets of water and water the apple trees three times, then fill the ditch as well.”
Without hesitation, the demi-humans immediately followed the instructions.
Hayden, standing nearby, felt increasingly uneasy.
He didn't understand the ritual, but that wasn't the point. The point was that no matter how bizarre Angela usually did, she would just poke her with her hand or blow on her, or at most sing a couple of lines. Yet even the most terrifying magical rituals Hayden had ever seen couldn't compare to even one percent of the incredible things Angela did normally.
Then, an unknown being who could usually bring miracles with a breath was now tinkering with complex ritual magic.
To be honest, Hayden is a little scared now.
Generally speaking, the more complex the magic, the more powerful its effect. What can Angela accomplish with her complex magical rituals?
Maybe she'll conjure up an upside-down tree with roots in the sky and branches reaching across the earth, smashing the existing world to pieces, and then flowers will bloom all over the land... Uh, that seems too far-fetched, unlikely.
Meanwhile, while Hayden was lost in thought, the demi-humans had finished watering and emptying the pots. So Angela stepped forward, clasped her hands together, and began to blow. Her breath turned into a handful of snow-white salt. She sprinkled the salt on the stones, in the ditches, and in the water.
It's too late, but it's soon.
Hayden, with his keenest intuition, immediately felt an unnamed chill seep into his spine, filling him with a transcendent fear and bewilderment. It seemed even the ground beneath his feet was trembling.
"What are you doing—"
But Angela had already stepped into the circle and started singing.
"In the beginning, the world was created, the mountains stood tall, and the moon shone brightly,"
"No trace remains of the rocky stream, the azure sky is high and vast."
"I sing of the breeze, the breeze that blows through the branches, and listen to it gently caressing the leaves."
"I sing praises to the leaves, the leaves that sprout in spring, watching them adorn the earth."
"In the beginning of the world, the mountains were verdant and the stars were like crowns."
"I sing the name of every blade of grass, every tree, and every stone."
It was a warm and melodious song, like the gentle murmur of flowing water, yet it was also full of power, incorporating all things growing on earth into the melody.
Everyone present felt it now. Whether it was Hayden or the demi-humans, they all felt a will pressing down from the sky. Gradually, gradually, Hayden began to lose track of where the singing was coming from. He could clearly see Angela singing, yet the sound seemed to come from all directions simultaneously, sometimes deep like the sound of the earth, sometimes clear as if it came from the heavens, and all harmoniously combined.
As the song played, lush green grass began to sprout outside the circle, spreading outwards like waves. Before long, the grass covered all the previously polluted land.
Meanwhile, the water in the ditch suddenly began to overflow, bright as crystal, flowing out continuously and forming a river that grew wider and wider, flowing through the entire mountain.
The entire abandoned mine was transformed into a picturesque landscape in an instant.
At the same time, Angela's singing voice also changed.
"More dazzling than the stars, more precious than the most expensive jewels."
"It shines brighter than the moon and outshines the glittering silver."
"Warmer than fire, in this dark earth."
She sang a new song as she walked back and forth in the circle. Her voice was louder and more confident than the one that had previously moved heaven and earth.
"The storm of curses cannot be overturned, nor can the tower of death be blocked."
"I am here, I will build the Eternal City here, and I will give the fruit of the Tree of Life to the hungry!"
Hayden stood motionless, waiting in silence and astonishment. He could sense something in the air. He could perceive something gathering within the ring. It was stranger than any magic Hayden knew, almost incomprehensible. This being had been gathering very slowly before, but now it was accelerating. Growing stronger and stronger.
As for the other demi-humans, they all knelt in a circle, completely motionless. Their expressions were filled with the utmost reverence.
No sooner said than done. In the blink of an eye, the tiny apple sapling had grown, as rapidly as a flag being raised on a flagpole. It didn't instantly become a towering tree, nor did it suddenly grow to the height of the atmosphere, but its lush branches already covered their heads. Its outstretched branches cast a patch of light, not a shadow. And beneath each leaf, one could vaguely see silver apples, like stars.
Not only that, but something else appeared around them. Countless new plant shoots sprouted on the high hillside, growing extremely fast, increasing in size and size at a rate visible to the naked eye. In just a few seconds, Hayden realized:
"This is a city wall!?"
The roots of grass and trees, along with enormous vines, formed tree walls, houses, and—city walls.
The mountains, the earth's veins, and the plants all responded to Angela's song, building a tree city here.
As luck would have it, almost at the very moment Hayden realized what was happening, the colossal dark typhoon slowly moved to the outermost edge of the barrier and crashed into it.
Hayden had already erected a protective shield on the ley lines. Many light red hexagonal patterns rose up one after another from around the mountain, piecing together the shape of a barrier.
The storm crashed directly into the protective shield.
It was enormous and extremely heavy.
The barrier emitted a screeching, ear-piercing sound when only the outermost whirlwind collided with it.
The hastily prepared protective barrier couldn't stop the company's giant vacuum cleaner after all? But since it was just enhanced by Angela, perhaps there really is a chance?
However, before Hayden could even feel a spark of hope, the protective barrier emitted a sound like shattering glass. The pollution curses and toxins that had been swirling around the outermost edge of the storm surged in, eroding the barrier.
So it still doesn't work!?
Not only did Hayden's eyes widen, but a commotion also arose among the surrounding demi-humans.
Only Angela seemed unconcerned.
“benave████pakedeluvanumehraban——（In the name of purity, kindness, and generosity██——）”
As she chanted familiar yet wondrous verses, she gently flicked her finger, pointing towards the breach in the protective shield. Instantly, a row of dark green fir trees sprang forth from the ridge hundreds of meters away, forming a second layer of defense. Moreover, clusters of lilacs, roses, and lilies bloomed on this tree-lined wall. The filth that had surged into the barrier and eroded the shield was instantly absorbed by the flowers.
"...Dream Flower?"
Hayden could naturally tell what those flowers were.
Countless dream flowers absorbed pollutants and toxins, purifying them and transforming them into more energy, growing even more dream flowers. In less than a minute, the entire mountain was covered by an endless sea of grass and flowers.
The apple tree was planted on a clearing at the top of the mountain, and everyone in the mountain was now gathered around it. The filth spread upwards from the foot of the mountain after passing through the barrier, but more than 90% of the toxins and pollution were absorbed by the Dream Flower Sea halfway up the mountain.
“█”
Then Angela pointed into the air again. Hayden couldn't hear the word she uttered. His ears and brain couldn't grasp it; it was as if it automatically bypassed his perception.
At the same time, Hayden sensed that the ancient wind-repelling spell he had previously written in the leyline barrier had been activated. Angela waved her hand and invoked the spell—and its effect was far stronger than before! The wind-repelling spell eliminated the black winds that had broken through the barrier and rushed in, scattering them like wisps of smoke.
It wasn't until this moment, until he saw this scene, that Hayden truly realized what Angela was doing.
It was only at this moment that Hayden realized what Angela meant by "don't rely on one person's strength."
Because Angela is mobilizing, amplifying, and amplifying the power of everyone in this "city".
She used Kallen's Dream Flower at will, manipulating the Peacock family's purifying power, even making it stronger than Kallen originally intended.
She effortlessly harnessed the power of the mountains, plants, and the earth's veins, as well as the barrier Hayden had prepared beforehand and the various spells within it.
She was harnessing the power of this "city"—the power of all life within it. Because a city, by its very nature, is a concept formed by the aggregation of everything within it.
Strangely enough, although Angela kept infusing life energy into the mountains and plants to strengthen them, and kept injecting more life energy into the barrier that Hayden had prepared in advance and Karen's dream flower to amplify them, Angela's energy did not decrease at all.
In fact, as Angela sings and spins around, her energy seems to increase. Instead of drawing power from the city like a goddess, she bestows immense strength upon it; and as all life in the city grows stronger, Angela's energy not only doesn't diminish, but actually increases!
What kind of perpetual motion machine is this, endlessly exploiting bugs?!
But Hayden also realized that this was indeed as Angela had said before. It was something that no one had ever seen, no one had ever heard of, and no one had even ever thought about.
The idea that giving away one's energy to others will actually lead to an increase in one's own energy is utterly absurd, illogical, and impossible.
But it did happen, right before Hayden's eyes.
The energy that never runs out is right here.
...That being said, Angela is not invincible at present.
Ninety percent of the pollution, toxins, and curses were absorbed by the Dream Flower Sea, but less than ten percent of the filth still swept towards the mountaintop.
"it's time!"
Realizing what was happening, the demi-human chieftain immediately shouted to his tribesmen.
"The Lord God is fighting to protect us! Let us dedicate our lives and our victory to the Lord God!"
The demi-humans nodded in agreement, and were about to pull out their bone knives and stab themselves to death, offering their lives and flesh as a sacrifice to Angela.
These demi-humans, loyal as they may be, are like leeches that can't change their ways. Half a month isn't enough to completely stop them from doing the horrific things they've done in the past.