Chapter 73: The Furious Ancient Tree

The response to the Ogre King was a storm of arrows sweeping across the battlefield. Magni hoisted the enchanted battle axe, "Giant Slayer," mounted his celestial steed, and, in a resolute voice speaking for all his people, declared to the ogre lord, "The noble Algonquin will never bow to bandits for mercy!"

Young Verdant Druids followed at Magni's side, faces unflinching as they chanted invocations, transforming the powers of nature into flames and lightning, launching them at the ogre lord.

"Stubborn humans, you are courting your own destruction!" Shrek cursed, raising his tower shield to parry from left and right. His mythic strength was nearly spent, and he seemed beleaguered under the furious assault of the Asa tribe warriors. Fortunately, his ogre warriors soon rushed in behind him, following their king through the city gates to relieve his burden.

The first to reach Shrek's side was Cassio, the court bard, riding a snow-white steed. He wielded his steel-crafted lute as a shield, deflecting arrows from every direction.

"My lord! Don't waste time entangled with the enemy here. Our most urgent task is to find Yggdrasil!"

Cassio's words reminded Shrek, who nodded gravely and instructed the poet, "I will lead the dragon cavalry forward. The foot soldiers are yours to command—hold the enemy and buy me time!" With his orders given, Shrek took the bronze horn from Cassio, sounding the charge himself.

Among Shrek's forces was a "heavy cavalry company," riders clad in fine breastplates and wielding ten-foot spiked chains. These "ogre chain fighters" rode not ordinary warhorses, but a herd of fully equipped "Pachycephalosaurs." These bird-hipped dinosaurs, common in the Deep Forest Valley, fed on leaves and fruit, their beaks resembling those of birds. They walked upright on powerful hind legs, like a flock of scaled ostriches, their bodies larger than any warhorse—fit to carry a fully armored ogre on long raids.

The ogres' domesticated Pachycephalosaurs, true to their name, had heads covered with thick, hard bone plates, like protruding helmets. Driven by their riders, they lowered their heads and charged at the Asa warriors. The herd's solid skulls acted as battering rams, scattering those who blocked their path, smashing through the defensive lines and surging forward alongside Shrek's armored bear.

Asa warriors, under Magni's command, raised long spears to fend off the rampaging dinosaurs. The ogre fighters on their backs swung their spiked chains, roaring like steel tornadoes, sweeping aside the spears thrust from both flanks and flinging the Asa militiamen aside. Shattered armor and blood flew everywhere.

Magni saw the ogre cavalry about to breach his lines. He spurred his mount forward, intent on intercepting the ogre lord himself. Suddenly, a familiar figure darted past him, and he instinctively called out his sister’s name.

Conti turned back from her raptor mount, shouting before her brother could scold her, "The ogre chief is charging toward the ash grove! Joan is still in the woods—I have to find him!"

"Reckless girl, you'd better look after yourself first!" Magni snapped irritably.

While the siblings exchanged these brief words, Cassio was not idle. On the battlefield, he cradled his lute and played. The bard’s music held a mysterious power over its listeners’ emotions: the same melody produced very different effects depending on the audience. For the ogres, Cassio’s song filled them with frenzied excitement, their eyes bloodshot, driving them into a berserk fury and greatly increasing their fighting prowess. For the Asa tribe, the music was a jarring cacophony, unsettling their minds and making it hard to concentrate. The spellcasters suffered most—Verdant Druids, distracted by the harsh magical noise, struggled to focus; any lapse led to casting failures.

This shifting balance plunged the Asa defenders into desperate combat. Magni had to leave most of his forces to hold back the ogre infantry, taking only a cavalry company in pursuit of Shrek’s troops. He could do little about his sister’s insistence on following him, but consoled himself—at least she was close by, where he could protect her.

Shrek led his ogre cavalry through the defenses near the city gate. No further resistance worth mentioning blocked their path, and they rode straight into the ash grove, searching for the location the Soul Stealer Chaniqu had indicated with Wind Swift. Soon they saw a clearing ahead.

A lush tree stood at the center of the clearing, its branches glowing golden under the afternoon sun. Shrek sensed the mythic power emanating from the giant white ash, and instantly knew he had found his goal—the "descendant of the World Tree," the Algonquin tribe’s sacred Yggdrasil!

"Yggdrasil, the hidden spring of wisdom! Shrek has finally found it!" the ogre lord cried out in triumph.

At the same moment, the ancient sacred tree seemed to sense Shrek’s malice and awakened from its slumber. An aged, majestic face appeared on its trunk, its deep gaze scrutinizing the ogre cavalry.

"Huff, huff... Fat-headed, big-mouthed thieves! You shouldn't have trespassed in my woods, and you certainly shouldn't have woken an old man from his sleep."

The ancient tree’s displeasure echoed in the air. Suddenly, a ring of thorny hedges rose at the clearing’s edge, isolating Shrek and his followers. The ogre cavalry swung their spiked chains to break through, but the elastic thorns, once struck, rebounded with double force, lashing back like countless barbed whips, punishing the intruders. Chain fighters were swept off their dinosaurs, falling screaming into the thicket. The more the ogres struggled, the more wounds the thorns inflicted, leaving them bloodied and mutilated.

Protected by the thorn wall, Yggdrasil calmly chanted divine prayers. Its glowing branches touched nearby trees, animating low shrubs into "Vinespawn" monsters that dragged their tendrils toward the ogres, pulling terrified raiders from their mounts and binding them fast. The taller trees, infused with greater power, transformed into sentient "Treants," uprooting themselves and marching forward on tangled roots. Their massive branch-arms swept across the battlefield, knocking ogres from their dinosaur backs, leaving them battered and dazed.

Shrek tried to regroup and charge, but even his armored bear and all the mounts refused to obey, unwilling to attack Yggdrasil. Briefly surprised, Shrek realized the ancient sacred tree possessed a druid-like ability to commune with beasts, using its mind to compel the bear and dinosaurs to remain neutral, refusing to serve their masters with violence in this battle.

Most of Yggdrasil's awakened treants were temporarily animated by magic and would revert to trees once the spell ended. Only the black oak was different. "Little Black," who had migrated here from Delin Town, was a true sentient plant, able to become a treant without Yggdrasil’s magic. Naturally, it led the host of animated plants, commanding the "Green Guard" of Vinespawn and Treants in a fierce and merciless counterattack against the invaders.

...

Joan had experienced more surprises than he could count in this long day. He had yet to find the "mythic creature" he sensed earlier, when suddenly the village alarm bell rang, distant shouts of battle echoing—an enemy was attacking.

Joan stood atop the tree, gripping a branch as he peered toward the alarm. His gaze crossed the city walls, seeing many figures rushing from the northern woods, though their identities were unclear. He could only guess they were related to the cultists who had been active near the village lately. As he hesitated about joining the defense, the "Tear of God" issued a warning: another mythic creature was approaching fast, one rank higher than the previous.

This sudden turn of events convinced Joan to stay in the tree and observe, wondering what was happening—rare mythic creatures seemed to have agreed to show up together! He certainly wished to seize the opportunity to hunt one and complete his first mythic trial, but he knew his own weakness, unlikely to survive a direct clash. His only hope was to hide in the tree and wait for a chance.

With this in mind, Joan shrank deeper into the canopy, holding his breath, watching intently in the direction indicated by his mythic sense. Soon, he saw a troop of ogres riding dinosaurs charge into the woods. The leader, wearing a golden helmet and wielding a massive club, rode a heavily armored bear. His towering frame was like an iron fortress—the second-rank mythic creature detected by the Tear of God. At first sight, Joan knew it was the infamous Shrek the King, ogre lord of Deep Forest Valley, whom Magni had spoken of.

Joan glanced at the ogre king’s spiked club and wiped cold sweat from his brow. The club alone was thicker than his waist—a single swing would shatter every bone in his body. Now, his priority was not how to hunt this powerful mythic ogre, but how to survive surrounded by the horde!

As Joan desperately searched for a way to escape, unexpected events unfolded. First, "Old White" awakened, conjuring the "Wall of Thorns" to block the ogre army, then animated the surrounding trees to strike back at the raiders.

This succession of surprises left Joan at a loss, until his own hiding place—the black oak—also uprooted itself, marching toward the ogres as a treant. The sudden tremors nearly threw Joan from the tree; he quickly clung to a branch, forced to follow "Little Black" into the battle.