SSS Frost Sovereign: Rewinding The Apocalypse!-Chapter 78: Getting close!

Just as the timber was about to overlap above his head, a localized upheaval of earth shot upward like a surging pillar.

The blunt force of the rising stone acted as a pneumatic ram, physically tearing Liam from the roots’ tightening grasp and boosting him into the air.

"Ghh!" he grunted, the sudden vertical momentum wrenching his limbs free from the wooden tentacles.

Seizing the momentum of the stone pillar, he kicked off the apex, leaping through the dim air in a desperate arc.

He landed heavily but safely beside Dane, who was stationed behind the flank of a massive tree that stood between them and the titan.

Dane’s hands were still outstretched toward Liam’s previous position, his teeth clenched and brow furrowed with the effort of the elemental intervention that had just saved his raid party leader’s life.

Seeing the Treant’s focus momentarily shattered by Liam’s narrow escape, Alvin didn’t hesitate.

He scrambled to his feet, his face a pale mask of terror, and bolted.

He ran with reckless abandon, desperate to put distance between himself and the nightmare.

He might have escaped earlier if not for the Treant’s relentless, predatory pursuit.

The monster never truly let its prey go once the hunt began.

The Treant’s wooden torso let out a low, guttural grunt as it sensed Alvin’s retreating back.

Its attention snapped away from Liam, its malice refocusing on the easiest kill.

With a creak of shifting weight, it began to attack, its left massive hand elongating as the fibers unspooled like a reaching claw, stretching across the clearing to snatch Alvin before he could disappear into the gloom.

Just then, the earth groaned and shifted once more beneath the titan’s weight.

With a sharp grunt of exertion from Dane, the ground split open, creating a jagged fissure that destabilized the Treant’s massive footing.

The creature sunk partially into the churning soil, its momentum halted.

It was a calculated, temporal fix; the beast was far from defeated, but the intervention broke its reach for the retreating Alvin.

It was clear now that the situation had fundamentally shifted.

The time for avoidance had passed; they were locked in and clearly had to fight this spawn for them to get past it.

"Tch. I’m not wasting my mana on this," Liam mumbled to himself, his lip curling in a sneer.

To him, every ounce of energy spent here was a tax on his future glory, a waste of precious resources on a mere obstacle.

His head snapped toward the group that had just arrived with his party, his eyes landing on the leader of the raid party of five that had just arrived.

"Ned!" Liam barked, his voice echoing with a sharp, entitled command.

"Handle this crap. I can’t waste my energy on it!"

Ned, a man with a lean frame and a composed, analytical gaze, looked back at Liam.

Unlike the frantic Alvin, Ned was much more calmer, though a flicker of incredulity crossed his face.

He began to speak, his voice steady.

"But... a monster of this grade..."

However, he didn’t get to finish.

The Erwald perched upon Ned’s shoulder, Dekheim, had reached his limit with Liam’s blatant arrogance.

The grey-horned, monkey-like creature bristled, his fur standing on end as he interrupted his incarnation.

"There you go again, ordering us on what to do," Dekheim hissed, his voice a low, dangerous rasp.

"Who do you think you are, boy?" He glared at Liam, but Liam merely met the gaze with a chilling, blatant confidence.

"Have you forgotten you’re under me now? Huh?" Liam’s eyes hardened, his voice dropping to a predatory whisper.

"You submitted to Equin, remember? If you don’t listen to me, don’t you think you’ll piss him off badly? You’re a dumb Erwald if you’ve forgotten whose authority I carry."

Dekheim clicked his tongue in sharp annoyance, his tiny hands clenching into fists.

The blatancy of the threat was an insult to his experience.

This little squirt. Who does he think he’s addressing?

However, despite the boiling vexation, the Erwald forced himself to settle.

He was far too seasoned to let a brat’s pressure break his composure, even if the logic of the political hierarchy held them in a vice.

"You little bastard," Dekheim muttered, his malicious eyes fixed on Liam before he masked the expression.

He loathed following orders given in such a manner, but the alliance with Equin left them with no alternative.

Equin was way too strong to be messed with. And his species were quite powerful and ruthless.

Going against him now would be really detrimental.

And he would lose what he stood to gain from their alliance.

He exhaled a long, frustrated breath.

Ned looked from his Erwald to Liam, his face a weary mask of resignation.

"Go ahead," Dekheim said, his voice laced with a quiet, tired submission.

"We will take it on."

Liam huffed, his annoyance fading into a smug satisfaction.

"Of course you will."

---

Meanwhile, in a different sector of the grove, Albert, Luna, and their elite contingent were pushing deeper.

The environment had darkened significantly, the towering canopy overhead knitting together so tightly that only a faint, sickly green ambient light filtered down to the forest floor.

They ran through a landscape of gnarled, obsidian-barked trees and hanging, rope-like vines that looked like frozen serpents.

The light from their ultimate destination was beginning to pulse more visibly through the trunks, signaling they were close to the heart.

They moved with practiced efficiency, circling the massive obstacles to maintain the straightest path possible.

The forest was deathly quiet, save for the muffled, distant concussions of battles occurring elsewhere in the grove.

"This is that part of the gate, Albert," Gremit said, his quills vibrating as he paced alongside them.

"If you’re hearing sounds of battle, the Chieftain’s guards must have found the other parties."

Albert nodded, his expression grim.

This was exactly why he had been so conservative with their strength; he knew the Chieftain would be ringed by elite spawns.

He had simply hoped the encounters would happen closer to the center.

Nevertheless, he remained hyper-aware. They were in the kill zone now.

"I just hope we would have enough incarnations with the strength to take on the center," Albert said as they moved.

"We’ll need every body we can get to overwhelm the Chieftain."

Luna listened to Albert but she didn’t respond immediately; her head was tilted, her pupils dilated to catch the meager light.

Then suddenly, she skidded to a halt.

"Albert!"

High above them, nestled within the thick tangle of vine-ropes, a pair of glowing green orbs ignited.

And unlike before, it wasn’t a flicker this time.

The eyes moved, tracking them with a chilling, predatory focus.

This time, it wasn’t just Luna. Everyone saw it.

The group halted in a ragged line, drawing a hums of energies.

Estin, the leader of one of the accompanying raid groups, looked up, his face draining of color.

"Wha... what the hell is that?" Behind him, his party members shifted uneasily, their armor clattering in the silence.

"Hmm. Finally..." Gremit muttered, his quills standing perfectly straight.

The eyes remained fixed on them for a few heartbeats before the creature began to move.

It was eerily silent as it navigated the canopy, the only sound the faint rustle of vines as it slithered through the cover.

And then, it just dropped.

It fell through the air and landed quietly on the forest floor with a soft, cushioned thud.

It didn’t bounce; it simply existed on the ground, rising from a slight crouch with a fluid, terrifying elegance.

It was the Grove Sentinel.

Albert stared at the creature, witnessing one of the Upper D-rank guardians for the first time.

It stood tall and lean, its body composed of smooth, dark wood that looked more like polished stone than bark.

It slowly brandished a large sword. A jagged, blackened blade that seemed to absorb the green light around it.

It let the tip of the sword graze the ground, a silent challenge.

"If the Chieftain is C-grade, then its high guards would be close to it. Perhaps Upper D-grade," Gremit stated, repeating his earlier assessment.

"This is the same level as the Chieftain of a Yellow Gate."

A brief flicker of nervousness crossed Albert’s mind as he remembered the Chieftain of the Yellow Gate.

It was battle where he had stared death in the face.

But he immediately suppressed it.

He was stronger now. He couldn’t afford to be shaken by anything less than the final boss.

The Sentinel moved its sword slowly, the blackened edge trailing through the dirt.

It was a clear, hostile intent.

The raid parties stiffened, their bodies tensing in preparation for a clash.

They were prepared for a fight, but what they were utterly unprepared for...was the creature’s speed.

In a literal blink, the Sentinel closed the distance.

It didn’t run. It just blurred across the gap, its jagged sword already mid-swing.

It ignored the subordinates, its lethal focus aimed directly at the man at the forefront.

Aimed at Albert.