Imp to Demon King: A Journey of Conquest-Chapter 393: The Forest Awakens

Oberon slammed his sylvester throne’s armrests, his intricate white suit fluttering hard enough for the floral jewellery pinned to his chest to almost fall. His golden crown, inlaid with scarlet gems pulsing with mana, swayed over his silver hair as if trembling because of its owner’s anger.

But Oberon wasn’t angry. His golden eyes seemed about to spew fire with how scrunched his nose was. Enraged. That’s what he was.

"Mab." A guttural hiss left his lips before he peered at the ocean of somber figures marching to his city. He ground his teeth, hatred flashing in his eyes. "It’s that opportunistic mortal’s fault. He freed her from my grasp, helped her recover, but to what extent?"

"Do you need to ask?" Lush hair akin to dew-covered grass tickled his neck. Two small yet gentle hands covered in dark gloves wrapped around his chest from behind, Titania’s sweet scent filling his nose and her warm breath caressing his neck. "She rotted for millennia in that cell. Even if she built herself a new body, her powers are far from what they once were."

Oberon turned to face his wife, appreciating her perfect skin showing through her sleeveless dress.

Gold swirled in intricate arabesques that circled her chest and extended down her perfect stomach. Thin, dark gloves wrapped around her arms, ending before the shoulders in beautiful leaves, three red gems nestled in their center like fruits.

He could watch her long neck covered in necklaces for hours. Not now, though. They were taken off guard, and war was at their doorsteps, threatening all they had snatched from Mab’s vicious clutches.

His lips curved, and his scrunched nose relaxed. "You’re right. Even if she were to recover to her peak by some miracle, she would have little hope of competing with us. Time is cruel, and we improved for millennia while she slumbered."

He slapped his white jacket and turned toward the window, the silky fabric fluttering as he laughed. "Show her who the new queen of magic is, while I’ll teach Adam the difference between an ancient and an arriviste divinity. We won’t even need outside help."

Everywhere his eyes fell, dense clusters of fairies scurried over the verdant city. Glinting weapons hovered beside them, and mana danced around their flapping wings. With their living walls and natural defences, he would teach Mab that if he had defeated her once, he could do it again—in less than an hour this time.

Titania nodded, her verdant wings flapping. She soared with grace, enveloped in countless particles shining like stars.

The world itself seemed to rumble beneath the soft twist of her slender fingers. A barrier erupted from the ground. Thick as a tree, it stretched into an impregnable dome over the sharp-eyed fairies.

They roared in acclamation, weapons spinning around them.

"The queen protects us!" "Fight without fear, brothers. Demons will never prevail!" "I’ll kill a thousand on my own. Who wants to compete?"

Titania covered her smile with her gloved hand, chuckling. "I’d like to see that... if they ever reach us, that is."

She observed the invading army halt and organise its ranks at the forest’s edge. Then, she raised her hand at eye level, the movement deliberate enough for all to see her snap her fingers.

Colossal amounts of mana, thick enough to form a descending green pillar, erupted from her figure. It crashed on the soft soil, sprawling into its depths like veins connecting to the surroundings.

Several kilometers away, Adam frowned in front of his army. He had seen the barrier rise, but didn’t mind it. At least, not until this sensation of imminent danger scratched the back of his head. Was Oberon taking the initiative?

Eyes narrowed, he gripped his god slayer’s hilt. Dark plasma erupted from the round guard, and his lips parted to warn his generals.

However, the rumbling ground drowned his voice the next second.

The forest’s scents magnified, mustiness and crumpled leaves filling the air. Woods cracked, and something heavy whipped the soil around his army. But the most worrying thing was the strange mist rising.

His scarlet and blue eyes narrowed into blazing slits. He didn’t know what it could do and would rather not discover it.

With the fluidity of a river freed from its dam, he lunged at the cracking noises. Before identifying the threat, his plasma blade roared in a scalding arc. It crashed into a crooked tree’s bark, slicing and setting it on fire like mere paper.

Yet, his frown only deepened. The forest was... coming to life, marching on his army’s rear with vengeful abandon. From the front he had just left, he could hear the whistle of sharp projectiles and the crackling spells piercing the air.

’A pincer attack? No, something’s wrong.’

His eyes darted between his soldiers’ determined faces and raised weapons. Even Garduck and his other leading figures watched the fairy capital sternly... oblivious of the attacks raining from above and the surrounding threats.

’Damn it.’ He returned his god slayer to his belt and rushed to the center of their formation.

The fairy duo’s powers surpassed his expectations—they were in lethal danger. Yet, he only pursed his lips. There was no way he would allow his soldiers to die before the actual war even began. Better still, he knew what plagued them. After all, he only needed to put two and two together to understand it.

"I’m immune to mental manipulations and illusions. The mist... the trees... the fairies." He halted at the center, dark plasma blazing around his clenched fists. "I’ll burn everything to the ground!"

His arms cut overhead, a dark inferno guided by the movement rising. The temperature reached unbearable levels instantly, turning soil into charred basalt and air into streams of steam. The flames reached for the sky, drowning its azure color in a scalding dark radiance.

Caught in the conflagration, the trees dissolved into ashes, vaporised, and then blasted by chaotic winds. The barrage of spells and the mist fared no better; their structures collapsed upon contact.

In the eye of the inferno, Garduck recovered first, his emerald eyes narrowing into slits. "What happened? One second I was assessing their defenses, the next I’m under the veil of your flames?"

Controlling his essence not to vaporise his own troops, Adam sneered. "Nothing much, Garduck. They’re just sending us their regards."

Garduck clenched his jaw, the feeling of not knowing what had happened pressing on his shoulders. "We should return the civility, then."