Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

"Since it's our king's wish to protect every Forest Spring Spirit, I can't let you go back now that you are here. You must stay here with your clansmen under our protection".

"No… no…" tears started welling in Cecilia's eyes and just when she was about to cry, Simon's voice that had an added depth of anger, rang out.

"Cecilia don't cry… nor do you have to say sorry anymore. You did nothing wrong. The situation is not as bad as you think".

This treant had been continuously looking down on him from the start, he could endure that. But when the damn treant made his little sister cry, as her brother how could he take it anymore?

Simon finally snapped as anger flashed within the depths of his eyes. If that piece of old tree thought that it could kill him and make his sister stay here, he was up for a rude awakening. Even if he can't kill that damn treant, unleashing his full strength he could still bring her along and escape from here.

In the first place, their power lied in their strength and defence, they were a race blessed with tough hides and superior defence but were extremely slow and their movement was extremely restricted.

Flashing a fearless smile towards Cecilia, he stated "If I don't want to stay here, no one will be able to stop me".

Cecilia stopped her tears from welling and nodded; however, she still didn't look convinced.

"Hoho… no one will be able to stop you? You have quite a big mouth for a demon. Very well then let me experience how you will escape today from my grasp" the old voice of Balsa was full of conceit and mockery.

BOOM...

The surrounding air visibly shook, the invisible pressure boring down on Simon intensified and spiderweb-like cracks appeared on the ground for a few meters around him.

Simon just flashed a mocking smile in return. ' Want to restrain me with just your aura? Fat chance'. Activating the skills [Super Strength], [Super Endurace], [Body Enhancement] he resisted the pressure without backing down.

The moment he activated all those skills at once, the pressure on him suddenly felt a lot less restraining.

"Hohh, it seems like you are somewhat able to resist the pressure from my aura. Is it because you are a demon noble? However, it is still not enough to escape from here" Balsa said.

The hundreds of spikes on his branches emitted a shallow green light before swiftly shooting towards Simon.

"Haaaaaaaaahhh" when Simon perceived the danger, he gave a demonic yell and was just about to activate his trump card [Ancestral Symbol Ignition], when an emerald green light started radiating out of Cecilia.

The green light was so piercing that it instantly covered a few miles in an instant and spread towards the other part of the forest. The spikes that were shooting towards him, was engulfed by that green light and silently faded away.

Looking at this scene, Simon was shocked, Balsa was the same.

After seeing that his attack had been easily dissipated by the emerald green light, he couldn't help being stunned. However, the fact that astonished him was when the emerald green light brushed through him, he suddenly had this indescribable desire to bend and worship.

'How can that be? In all my life I have only bent myself to servitude only before the king. How can I have such thoughts?' his mind ran rampant as Balsa had a hard time believing what he saw.

Cecilia when she saw the Ancient Treant attacking her big brother, she became anxious. Although she had confidence that Simon won't lose, she didn't want to see him get hurt.

To make matters even worse, the Ancient Treant decided to make her stay here under the protection of the Ancient Treants which finally made Simon snap. The situation escalated so fast that even before she could do anything, both the parties were ready to fight.

When she saw Balsa create thousands of spikes out of his branches she finally became desperate. Though she wasn't a combatant, she could still clearly feel the terrifying amount of natural energy that each of the spikes contained within.

She was helpless, she could only stand on the sidelines and watch her big brother fight alone. Cecilia didn't want that and so she prayed. Her calls were so strong that the mysterious speckles of light surrounding her, immediately answered her call.

The power sleeping deep within her, like an awakened beast, erupted with a vast ocean like power as an emerald green light erupted out of her and quickly spread towards the surrounding lands.

The moment the emerald green light shined, the forest became vibrant, all the surrounding treants bowed in reverence as if in the presence of a deity.

It wasn't like the treants wanted to bow before Cecilia but because the natural energy with the emerald green light was so pure that they subconsciously followed their instincts. That vast power felt like an ocean grand and endless when it swept through them.

It was as if they were in presence of a being that was in a completely different realm than them and in front of it they felt just like an ant. It wasn't just the ordinary treants. Even the Ancient Treants that were dozens of miles away, felt a similar presence and a feeling of devotion rose within their heart.

Not to mention Balsa who was right in front of Cecilia who experienced that same power extremely clearly.

Whoosh… the gale magic which was restricting her, swiftly dissipated and Cecilia landed on the ground stunned by the sudden change in the situation.

"Eh? What going on?" opening her eyes, she looked around her surroundings and saw that everything was still. However, she didn't delve much into it and hurriedly ran towards Simon. As long as her big brother was fine, she didn't have to worry about anything.

As she approached Simon she saw that even he had a look of astonishment as he stared at her. Blinking her crystal green eyes, she examined Simon and asked in concern.

"Big brother are you alright? Are you hurt somewhere?".

It took a huge effort for Simon to snap out of his daze as he awkwardly looked at the stupefied treants.

Balsa the Ancient Treant pointed at Cecilia with his whole body shuddering and asked "Young lady, what was that power right now? What did you just do?".

The power that came out of her was clearly unusual. To make an Ancient Treant like himself instinctively revere someone, even his king; the Ancient Titan Treant couldn't do it. However, no matter how he probed her now, he didn't feel the slightest presence of that majestic energy on her again.

What was going on? Just as he was lost in his thoughts, the earth shook once again, but this time the whole Ancient treant territory that spanned for hundreds of miles trembled.

The thick roots like a dense network that interconnected with the ground below lit up with a green light. A heavy Ancient voice that seemed to have come from aeons ago, along with a gentle gust of wind reverberated across the whole territory.

"Balsa… let those two pass. I wish to meet with the exalted one that had released such pure natural energy. Hahaha, this ancient one will be awaiting your presence. Nobody is to make things difficult for them. They have my permission to come and go as they please within my territory".

Right after saying that, the trembling of the earth and the green light that interconnected the roots inside the earth, disappeared along with the voice.

The ancient Treant named Balsa who heard the voice immediately restrained his aura and bowed its humongous body respectfully. Nonetheless, he was inwardly quite shocked. Even the ruler of Ancient Treants had addressed the young lady as an exalted personage and showed her such favour.

Balsa didn't dare to disobey a command from his king. His gaze fell on Cecilia and he couldn't help but wonder what was the identity of the young lady? Surely she wasn't some ordinary Forest Spring Spirit. Though he was curious, he knew better than to inquire.

Simon and Cecilia were also amazed by that ancient voice that came from the depth of the forest. A voice that had such prestige and power to make these treants submit surely had to be above even those Ancient Treants.

Simon guessed that the voice came from the ruler of the Ancient Treants himself. Since the ruler of the ancient treants interfered, he didn't have to worry anymore about these treants going hostile against him.

Now he can meet with the Forest Spring Spirits along with Cecilia without any trouble. Simon looked at Cecilia who was tightly clenching his clothes and couldn't help but pat her head lovingly.

"It looks like your powers had saved me back there… thank you Cecilia".

Cecilia was confused by his words and blinked "Eh? I saved big brother? But I was helpless and couldn't do anything other than pray".

Simon stared at Cecilia crystal green eyes and nodded his head. It seems he was right. Cecilia power was starting to manifest though very inconspicuously that even she didn't feel it.

Simon didn't want her to rush with the process so he didn't tell her anything. As time passes, she would become aware of the power hidden deep within her body and know about her existence in more detail.

He didn't know whether the awakening of her powers would change Cecilia but he hoped that she would still remain the same.