God's Tree-Chapter 156: The Saint Beast Awakens

A sound like wet stone grinding against bone.

Argolaith stood slowly, every instinct sharpening in an instant. He didn't move toward the noise. He didn't speak.

He simply turned his head, eyes narrowing toward the far end of the crevice—where the stone curved and bent into shadow.

And in that shadow, something stirred.

Two glowing crimson eyes opened, vertical and unblinking, set deep in a face covered in jagged white bone. Muscles rippled beneath thorn-covered hide. It was twice the size of a war beast, with six clawed limbs and a maw that opened sideways to reveal rows of spiraling, blood-stained fangs.

A Saint Beast.

And not just any.

One of the old ones.

Argolaith didn't waste a second.

He turned and sprinted.

The moment his boots struck stone, the creature let out a screeching roar that shattered the silence and shook the walls of the crevice. Roots cracked. Rocks fell. The Saint Beast launched forward, claws sinking into stone, tearing its way up the slope in a blur of bone and muscle.

Argolaith moved like a shadow through the tunnel of roots and rock, slamming his hands against the slope for speed and grip, feet scraping for leverage.

The beast shrieked again.

Hot breath grazed his back.

He vaulted off a root, grabbed the lip of the crevice, and threw himself up just as the creature's claws swiped inches below his heels.

Argolaith burst from the earth in a streak of motion, dirt and pebbles flying behind him.

"GET READY!" he barked.

Kaelred jumped to his feet mid-bite of dried meat. "What?!"

"SAINT BEAST!" Argolaith shouted as the ground beneath them exploded.

The creature erupted from the crevice like a bolt of lightning, its body a streak of jagged white, blood-red eyes locking onto Argolaith with pure, unfiltered bloodlust. Magic leaked from its body in waves, so dense it burned the grass beneath it.

Malakar drew his obsidian sword with a hiss of void magic. "Formation."

Kaelred cursed loudly and drew both daggers, his eyes already glowing with borrowed elixir energy. "You had to poke the cursed hole!"

Thae'Zirak's wings flared, his body tripling in size in a blink, claws glowing with burning sigils.

The Saint Beast snarled—then charged.

Malakar moved first—teleporting with a crack of shadow, his blade slicing across the beast's ribs. Sparks flew, but the hide didn't break. The Saint Beast spun, its tail smashing through a tree like it was paper, forcing Malakar back with a vicious sweep.

Kaelred lunged next, striking for the eyes. The Saint Beast caught his dagger in its claws, twisting with impossible precision—but Kaelred let go, flipped backward, and drove his second blade into its exposed shoulder.

It roared and threw him off, crashing him into the dirt.

Argolaith came in low, drawing his sword and aiming for the legs. His blade flared with alchemical enhancement—he struck at the joints, precise and fast. This time the blade bit—shallow, but enough to make the beast stumble.

"NOW!" he shouted.

Thae'Zirak dove.

The hybrid dragon slammed into the beast's side, driving it ten feet back into a boulder. Stone cracked. Trees split. Thae'Zirak opened his jaws and unleashed a cone of silver flame, searing across the Saint Beast's chest—

Only for it to lunge through the fire, claws slamming into the hybrid's chest and sending him crashing into the canopy.

The Saint Beast stood, hide smoldering, its maw dripping with drool and hatred. Its breath rattled the earth.

It was not dying.

It was enjoying this.

Malakar reappeared beside Argolaith, sword flickering with new runes.

"We won't win by force alone," the lich said. "Its body is reinforced by divine marrow."

Argolaith growled, "Then we fight smarter."

He glanced at Kaelred, who wiped blood from his chin with a smirk.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Kaelred asked.

Argolaith nodded. "Blind it. Bait it. Break it."

They moved again.

Kaelred vanished in a flicker, zigzagging to draw the beast's focus. Malakar hurled a spell—dozens of skeletal hands erupting from the soil to wrap around the Saint Beast's limbs. Thae'Zirak circled in the air, preparing a second assault.

And Argolaith—

Argolaith charged directly toward the beast's front.

It lunged.

Just as planned.

And Argolaith threw something into its face—a vial.

It burst in a flash of blinding green smoke.

The Saint Beast screeched, flailing as its vision vanished in a swirl of burning herbs and acidic powder.

"NOW!" Argolaith roared.

All of them struck at once.

Daggers, shadow-blades, flame and claw, one synchronized attack.

The Saint Beast screamed, staggered—wounded. Finally.

But it was not finished.

Not yet.

The Saint Beast shrieked as smoke hissed from its face, the green alchemical mist searing its eyes and forcing it to thrash blindly.

The earth trembled beneath its massive frame, claws carving deep gouges into the forest floor as it lashed out in every direction.

Argolaith didn't wait.

He darted in again, sword flashing in the haze, aiming for the gaps in its armored hide. He knew he couldn't wound it deeply—its hide was reinforced by divine marrow, as Malakar had said—but he didn't need to bring it down in one strike.

He just needed to keep it bleeding.

Kaelred zipped past the beast's left flank, blades flashing like silver fangs in the air. "This thing just doesn't die!"

"Because we haven't found the weak point yet," Argolaith called back, ducking under a swipe that tore an entire tree out by the roots.

Above, Thae'Zirak wheeled in tight circles, flame leaking from his mouth as he timed his next dive. His new collar shimmered faintly, inscribed with Argolaith's name—his bond sealed, and his loyalty fierce.

"I will distract it," the dragon hybrid growled into Argolaith's mind. "Strike when it opens its chest!"

Malakar moved like a shadow, flickering between points in space, sword drawn across the Saint Beast's back. He carved a series of runes mid-air, sending them spiraling toward the beast. They exploded in bursts of necrotic force, forcing it to stumble again.

But still, it kept coming.

Each wound sealed slower than the last—but it healed all the same.

Argolaith grit his teeth.

No matter how much they struck, the Saint Beast fought like it enjoyed the pain. It wasn't just surviving.

It was learning.

Argolaith could feel it in his bones—the gap between himself and the others. Kaelred danced with lightning speed, fueled by elixirs and instinct. Malakar wielded dark magic like a scalpel. Thae'Zirak burned the air with every breath.

And Argolaith?

Still no magic.

Just a blade, grit, and every drop of skill he'd earned with bruises and blood.

But he didn't back down.

As the Saint Beast roared and swung again, Argolaith dropped to one knee and let it pass over him, then rolled forward, slashing upward across the joint of its back leg.

A clean hit.

Not deep enough to cripple, but enough to make it notice.

The beast turned toward him with pure hatred, blinded but enraged, blood dripping from fresh gashes across its body.

Argolaith stood tall, blood on his cheek, sword held low in a reverse grip.

"I don't need magic," he muttered. "I have something you don't."

The Saint Beast roared again and lunged.

Argolaith ran straight toward it.

Kaelred saw the move a heartbeat before it happened.

"Oh no. NO—he's doing that again!"

But Argolaith was already beneath the beast, sliding under its body as it crashed down, jaws snapping. He slammed his shoulder against one of its limbs, forcing it to shift weight.

That was the moment.

"NOW!" he shouted.

Thae'Zirak dove from above.

With a shriek, the hybrid dragon slammed into the Saint Beast's back, claws glowing with raw kinetic energy. He drove the beast into the earth, forcing its chest to expose for just a heartbeat—

And in that instant, Argolaith drove his blade upward.

The most uptodate nove𝙡s are published on frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓.

Right into the soft, glowing seam at the base of its ribs.

The heart-node.

The beast let out a distorted roar that became a scream. Its body jerked. Thrashed. Flame gushed from its wounds. The air pulsed with raw power.

But it didn't regenerate.

Not this time.

Its claws twitched.

Its breath slowed.

But then—

It collapsed.

The forest fell silent again.

Not peacefully.

Respectfully.

Kaelred leaned against a tree, panting, blood trickling from a cut on his forehead. "Tell me we're done."

Malakar lowered his sword. "For now."

Thae'Zirak loomed over the Saint Beast's corpse, smoke rising from his nostrils. "It was strong. Arrogant. But mortal."

Argolaith wiped his blade clean and sheathed it. "I'll mark the location. No one else should wander down into that crevice."

Kaelred coughed and groaned. "Let me guess. You still want to stay the night here?"

Argolaith smiled faintly. "Of course. The plants were worth it."

Kaelred groaned louder. "Unbelievable."