Academic gathering with a lich-Chapter 577 - 530: Feast of Crimson

"The cool breeze kissed by the sun soothes my skin as well as the throbbing in my heart. My body stretches in the light, blooming with a vitality different from the eternal wasteland of Andrey, this feeling, it must be freedom..." Crimson walked down from his Blood Nest Great Tree, chanting improvised poetry with his hem of the blood garment crawling on the protruding rocks at the forefront of the hill, arms outstretched as if savoring flight in the wind. "Now, I am free and joyous, pure and untainted..."

Clang!

The shockwave from the Genesis Beam Bombardment lifted dust, and a stray metal shard slapped the self-indulgent professor on the face.

Lyle retracted his half-kicked right foot and coughed a few times behind Mr. Crimson. "It’s rare to see you in such a poetic mood, but..."

"But the air you just breathed is soaked with the scent of oil and welding fumes, and what stretches in the sunlight is the Blood Nest Great Tree. Have you forgotten, Crimson Mentor, that your real body still lies in the Blood Pool of the White Bone Forest, naked..." The Operand mercilessly exposed Crimson’s true appearance, making the ignorant SS back away a few steps. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"Shallow apprentices, hence your talents are not bad, but that’s all they are, nothing more." Crimson slowly tightened his arms as his figure under the blood garment formed an inverted triangle from the shoulders down. His body, dragged by the blood, slid across the ground, pale hands touching the tendrils that the Blood Nest Great Tree extended.

"Studying the part of flesh gifted by the Plague Doctor, I have perfected the connection between spirit and flesh. This emotional link buried beneath the flesh has long been replicated onto the Blood Nest. The Blood Nest relays its perceptions to me, and now, I am the Blood Nest."

"Using the physique of the Blood Nest Great Tree to increase the contact area between flesh and air, generating more Luo body sensory feedback. Worthy of the Primitive sect you are."

"I’ll take that as a compliment," smiled Crimson, waving his hand, eyes sweeping over the panicked tourists, "Where is the Plague Doctor? He told me he needed some assistance, so I came."

Adaptive made way, drawing Crimson’s attention to the black and crimson Flesh Missile screaming. "How did the Plague Doctor contact you? We built the Skeleton Gate for the second time and it connected successfully, even receiving your feedback and support from the other side."

"Through heartbeats." After a brief answer, Crimson’s blood touched the writhing tendrils on the surface of the missile. Tiny tendrils as thick as a pinky unraveled, revealing sharp teeth and splitting into a maw lined with more teeth that viciously bit at the hem of Crimson’s blood garment, swallowing the blood that by the next moment was spat back out, already twisted into black sludge, crawling up Crimson’s robe.

"Oh, you mischievous little thing." The robe was now half eroded, mouths sprouting on the back sinking their teeth inside. The Flesh Professor remained calm, even reaching out to touch the missile directly, before being devoured bit by bit.

"You hungry little thing," emerged another unscathed Crimson from a chamber of the Blood Nest Great Tree. These blood-crafted entities were just his avatars. "No wonder Lyle’s message for help was ’nourishment’."

"I need to feed this little guy."

"Excuse me, sir," SS raised his arm, gesturing the shape of the missile, carefully explaining its function to the bizarre-looking mystical professor.

"This is a missile with the Power of the Evil God, and I don’t think you should treat it as a pet. Lyle isn’t far from here, see? In that beautiful metal forest. What we really need is a launcher, something to make this missile serve an actual purpose. Can you provide that?"

Faced with the mechanized being SS, Mr. Crimson was momentarily surprised, then looked him up and down. After hearing SS’s explanation, he nodded thoughtfully, stroking his chin, "I see, so that’s the role of the genetic information within those flesh pieces. Alright, armored sir, I understand."

"Whether it’s a launcher or nourishment for the flesh, it just so happens that my creations can satisfy both."

The Blood Nest Great Tree moved its knotty pseudo-feet, and the activity of the huge monster elicited several screams, but none were as agonizing as the screeching of the Flesh Missile, until two vines entangled the missile, and black corruption began to eat away at the Blood Nest Great Tree.

"Dinner time, son of Lyle."

Ayyyyyyyyyy!!!!!

The crimson of the blood nest turned black, and after the last bit of red was devoured, the Blood Nest Great Tree let out a terrifying roar, its vine-like tentacles retracting back into the honeycomb rooms, its surface layer of acid rapidly thinning, the hexagonal chambers finally collapsing, twisting and shriveling like muscle spasms. The entire Blood Nest Great Tree resembled a quickly decaying, shriveled fig, but the roar only grew louder.

AAAAAAAyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!

The robust legs that supported the Blood Nest Great Tree had turned into deadwood, its internal nutrients had been utterly depleted, no longer able to sustain its bloated body. The fruits fell to the ground and exploded the moment they collided with it, aimed at the sky, the needle-like seeds covered in eyes and sharp teeth letting out a pitiful screech.

Dozens of Flesh Missiles had reached maturity.

The manipulator first observed the expression of Crimson Mentor; his face was solemn, staring intently at those twisted creatures born from what he had consumed.

"Crimson Mentor, your forbidden creation... you used it as food for the Plague Doctor’s creation." Forbidden creatures were the hallmark of every high-ranking Evocation Professor, precious entities imbued with the professor’s heart and soul. With the loss of the Blood Nest Great Tree, Crimson Mentor could well lose his position as the chief professor of Andrey’s Flesh Evocation. Could the Necromancer Mentors truly accept that?

"Though I revel in self-indulgence, I am a professor, my apprentice. To become the fodder for you all is our greatest happiness." Realizing he might have made the topic seem too serious, and that the flesh disguise had increased the Necromancer’s emotional force, Crimson Mentor did not enjoy that feeling.

"Actually, it’s not as serious as you think. The Blood Nest Great Tree exists for the storage and inheritance of knowledge. It is the legacy tree of Andrey’s evocation lineage. As long as we professors are here, or you apprentices, the seed of evocation will never die out."

"Well, I mean, actually, I have several forbidden creations, and they grow quite fast."

Crimson Mentor took out a round fruit from his chest, resembling a pomegranate. Crimson Mentor opened the lid, revealing red beads the size of corn kernels inside, picked out two or three, and threw them to the ground.

The Blood Beads, little larger than grains of gravel, grew upon hitting the ground, turning into towering trees in twenty seconds.

Three new Blood Nest Great Trees moved their pseudo-feet, arriving at the edge of the eroded and rotten Flesh Missile launcher. They tilted their heads to overshadow the screaming Flesh Missiles with their own.

"Still hungry, little one?"

AAAAyyyyyyyyy!!!