novelDon't come to the imperial ball (6)
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Chapter 95: Chapter 95 Don't come to the imperial ball (6)
Right after Sir Owen said that, Dylan kicked the tree hard as if he could not give up. As he kicked several times, stone debris fell from the top. A faint beam of moonlight flowed in through a tiny crack.
It was a very fine light, but thanks to that, they could identify themselves vaguely. Sir Owen looked at the light-emitting from the ceiling and Lard's face alternately, waiting for his order.
Lard soon ordered them to secure an escape route upwards. Several knights climbed on each other's shoulders and groped for something upwards.
"Ugh!"
"Push me a bit more!"
But the situation was not optimistic. As if fragments of the building were piled above them, the columns of the trees covering the ceiling would not move despite how hard the strong knights pushed.
All the hope they pinned on the moonlight shattered. It was literally a tiny crack. They couldn't think of escaping because of the overlapping trees and the debris on top of them. They began to be agitated.
"Sir Schroder!" Wendy called him suddenly as if she had decided something, "Please lift me up here."
Lard looked at her hesitantly. If she could make another plant grow again here, it would confirm her mysterious power to everyone. Lard shook his head. As if she was aware of his concern, she held his hand.
"...I think we had better hurry up. If there's a heavy load on top, I don't know how long the trees will last."
He looked at her with a serious expression. He could only vaguely see her face because of the dim light, but he could see what expression she was making.
He reluctantly wrapped his hands around her waist and lifted her up. He was afraid of what kind of consequences this little woman's power might bring about.
"Push me a little more to the right!"
Reaching out to the ceiling, she touched her index finger as close as possible to where the light leaked in. She didn't know whether the tree would grow or shrink as she intended, or what could happen unexpectedly in the middle, but that was all she could do at the moment.
Ironwood. She recalled the tree once again. If there was one difference between the trees she grew and ironwood, its shape was very curved.
A little later, a small plant began to grow in the place where she touched her finger.
The plant pushed its fast-growing stems through the tiny crack. The trunk of the ironwood rolled up between the cracks and gradually expanded the crack. The yellow green stems became hard with dark brown bark. The round-shaped tree gradually opened up the cracks like a man was opening his clasped fists. As the plants grew, stone debris from the top began pouring down.
There was a loud noise as the plant grew larger. The tree was broken and cracked here and there. The knights felt a sense of crisis that the ceiling would collapse anytime. They were extremely tense at the moment.
Even during that moment the ionwood did not stop growing. Stones piled up on the ceiling were pushed away by the ironwood's growth. It pushed out new shoots and removed the piles of stones, but the knights didn't know what was going on.
It was a cruel moment when they were holding their breath. They were just looking up to the ceiling with a firm expression. They did not fully understand what was going on.
'How can the plant grow in such a short time!'
They could not explain it with any common sense or scientific theory.
The more the ceiling shook, the more debris fell. In the end, they had to lower their heads as they couldn't open their eyes.
Ironwood's continuous growth stopped at some point. Falling debris also disappeared.
One by one, they opened their eyes and looked up at the ceiling.
"Oh my...!" Again they began to groan at the spectacular scene before them.
They could see the open space in the center of the ironwood where the stems had grown
It was spacious enough for an adult male to escape.
Moonlight poured in through it. The pale twinkling moonlight illuminated Wendy beneath the tree her hair, her face, and her shoulders looked so white and shiny. Everybody watched the woman in the midst of gathering dirt with awe
After getting out of the ironwood enclosure, the knights felt ashamed toward each other, showing various gestures. One of the knights, with brown hair and dark eyebrows, avoided her eyes when he bumped into Wendy.
When she turned her head away, he looked back at her furtively. When she looked at him, he again turned his head. It happened several times. Other knights also looked at her with great interest. This was a rare scene in a situation where all of them had been engaged in a deadly fight with the enemies. Ignoring their attention, she raised her chin. She wanted to get away from the place, but there was still someone inside the ironwood.
"Pull harder!" Dylan Lennox and a blonde knight pulled the last one up. The tired knight grabbed their arms and came up.
"Is there anyone else left inside?"
"I am the last one."
"Sir Owen, check them all!"
He checked the number of survivors as soon as the last one was pulled up.
"Eleven including me, all told, " Sir Owen said with a firm look.
Lard finally looked inside the ironwood and ordered the knights to move.
Only then did they turn their eyes from Wendy.
While moving on the plain ground to avoid the debris, she made a decision. She carefully thought about which was her wisest response in the coming days, but she knew the answer already. She felt calm now as if she had been prepared for a day like this for a long time.
The surroundings were deadly quiet. She could find neither intruders nor reinforcement forces. Only a few of the knights watched the surroundings to check for the enemies' possible attack.
A cold night breeze blew over them. It was a wind smelling of death and blood. As the wind blew, she trembled like a rain-drenched bird.
"What happened to them?" Looking at the rubble of the collapsed building, she asked Lard.
She was referring to the intruders inside the building.
"They couldn't avoid the explosion. I think they couldn't get out."
He took off his jacket and put it around her shoulders. It was bloody and dusty, but her bare shoulders seemed to bother him. When he took off his jacket, there were red blood stains all over his white shirt. She saw blood stains growing along his side, too, as if bleeding hadn't stop there.
Her face darkened quickly at that. She quickly opened her hand, thinking of Bahazman fruits that had been in her hand. They were crushed. Some fell on the floor during the turmoil, so there were only a few left. She picked up one in a hurry and blew the dust off.
"Open your mouth."
He stared at her with a puzzled look.
At her repeated urging, he opened his mouth.
Soon she squeezed a fruit into his mouth. She imitated chewing as if to ask him to chew it quickly. He did as instructed, with a curious look. After confirming he swallowed it, she seemed satisfied.
"How does it taste?"
"... Sweet, " Lard said awkwardly. There was a faint smile on her face.
"It's not an ordinary fruit, " she lowered her voice to whisper."You just had a Bahaman fruit."
She looked at him with a triumphant look. He nodded silently.
In fact, he wanted to have one more of anything she put in his mouth, no matter what it was.
At that moment, a loud noise came from the place where building debris piled up.
It was the sound of the ironwood crumbling after they came out of it. The traces of ironwood trees disappeared in the blink of an eye and building debris piled up in its place.
If the knights had delayed a little more, they would not have survived.
As if they all thought about the same thing, they stopped caring for their own wounds and turned their eyes to her again.
She shrugged as if she was conscious of their intense gaze. A shallow sigh came out of her lips. Now she had no other choice but to confront them. She was long prepared for this situation. She tried to pull herself together.
Shortly afterwards, she pursed her lips as if she was determined and looked straight at them. As the tense moment continued, the knights stared at her more seriously. The woman with yellow hair in her dark green dress with a torn hem stood before them like an unknown being in a forest.
"What you think deep down is correct."
All of a sudden she said something like an announcement. It was the knights who were more surprised. The pale-looking prince looked at her curiously.
"Did you say what we were thinking about is right?... What do you think these guys here are thinking now?"
She turned her eyes to the prince and said, "...Who do you think saved them from the explosion? If you can answer my question, that will be my answer, " she said in a relaxed voice.
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