The Queen of Scrolls never admits defeat

Chapter 428 Someone in the Woods
When the seeds of the Black Death Tree are placed in water, they initially float on the surface, then continuously bubble and slowly sink.

When the seeds sink to the bottom of the water, it means they have absorbed enough water, are fully activated, and are ready to be planted.

However, as soon as the seed of the mutated black dead tree was placed in the crystal bottle, it sank directly to the bottom of the water without producing a single bubble.

That's not all; the power of death emanating from it continues to dissipate.

This is a mutated seed of the Black Death Tree! The power of death is like life itself to it.

"Oh no!" Sylph quickly scooped the seed out, but it was too late; the death energy on the seed was already extremely thin.

However, before she could declare the seed dead, she noticed that its dark outer skin seemed to have cracked open in several places, revealing a blackish-green color.

Sylph couldn't help but lean closer to look: "Am I seeing things? Is this... wood elemental power?"

Moran, Lilith, and Vasita also peeked over.

"It seems so, but it doesn't seem to be just wood elemental power, it also seems to have the power of death?" Vasida said uncertainly.

“Not only the power of death, but there seems to be another energy that is very similar to the power of wood element.” Lilith stroked her chin, trying to recall where she had seen this energy before.

“It’s the power of life. Wood elemental power is the elemental power that is closest to the power of life.” Moran said, mobilizing his magic to transform a ball of life power for them to compare.

She had been practicing healing magic and had a lot of contact with life force, so she recognized him immediately.

Although the life force looks very similar to the wood element force in the energy field, the life force is more active and has a more vibrant feel.

With comparison, they saw things more clearly.

"It's actually the wood elemental force acting as a buffer, fusing the life force and the death force together?"

Sylph rubbed the seed coat. The rough, black outer skin, soaked in water, peeled off easily with a gentle rub, revealing the smooth, round seed inside.

The seeds were black with a hint of green, resembling a fine jade bead. Within them, the power of wood, the power of life, and the power of death were intertwined, each containing the other.

“This seed is interesting. I’ve never seen the power of life and the power of death appear in a plant at the same time before!” Vasita said.

Sylph sensed it with her alien magic: "Still alive!"

She tried using a germination technique to encourage growth, and the seed quickly split open, sprouting two woody buds, one green and one black.

It's the same as the bud of the Black Death Tree, except that the bud of the Black Death Tree is pure black, while this bud is one green and one black.

The black area was imbued with the power of death, the green area with the power of life, and the wood elemental power was concentrated at the buds and roots.

Sylph planted the sprout in a planting pot, and then, as she had done with otherworldly magic before, nurtured it.

After nourishing it for less than a minute, she felt that it had reached the bud's limit and stopped.

The bud has now grown a bit larger than it did at the beginning.

The two buds, one black and one green, transformed into two small, tentacled branches, one black and one green.

Vasita gently poked the wooden branch; it was rock hard. "No wonder it's called the Black Death Tree. It hasn't grown a single leaf since it was a baby!"

"I just can't figure out what kind of mutation has occurred in this half-black, half-green thing," Lilith said.

Moran tried to listen to the little twig's voice using Tree Friend and Mind Friend spells, but heard nothing.

“Sylph, can’t you communicate with the mutated plants you’ve cultivated? Can you communicate with them now and get some information?” Moran asked her. “Not yet. It’s too small; its spirituality isn’t enough to form a perceptible consciousness,” Sylph said. “It’ll be fine when it grows a bit bigger.”

The distraction caused by the mutated black tree seed meant that by the time Moran and the others refocused their attention on the battlefield below, the skeleton squad and the zombie squad had already decided the victor.

“My mother’s zombie minions have won!” Vasita cheered.

The cloth markings on this zombie squad are red.

"The zombies won, so we should be able to collect some skeletons, right?" Lilith said happily.

After all, while a zombie's arms and legs can be used by a skeleton, a skeleton's arms and legs are rarely usable by a zombie.

As they were talking, the surviving zombie servants first picked and chose from the bodies of their dead companions, swapping out the parts of their bodies that were not working properly. Then they gathered up all the scattered corpse materials on the ground, packed them up, and dragged them away.

Whether it had meat or not, not a single bite was wasted.

They even took the worn-out parts they had replaced with them.

Only some rotten flesh remained on the ground, which was quickly devoured by insects in the forest.

Lilith, who was still thinking of scavenging some scraps from the corpses: "..."

“Alright, we don’t need to pick them up anymore, let’s just go north!” Moran said.

I've observed the undead creatures enough these past few days.

At first, she was a little disgusted by the bones and rotting flesh on the undead creatures, but now she can see some beauty in their body structure.

All she needs is some corpse material to personally create a humanoid undead servant.

The flying carpet traveled north, stopping and starting along the way. Several days later, high in the northern sky above the Black Forest, Moran, Lilith, Vasita, and Sylph stood on the flying carpet, gazing northward.

By this time, they were very close to the edge of the Black Forest, where the necromantic power had thinned considerably. Only a few undead creatures roamed around, having wandered from elsewhere; the final resting place was not located here.

"Is that Mino Town in the Kingdom of Watson over there?" Vasita said, looking at the blue sky and the rooftops peeking out from among the green mountains in the distance.

Lilith, referring to the map, said, "This is how it looks on the map."

“That should be it. The white pointed roof is the symbol of the Temple of Light in the Kingdom of Watson. That should be the temple in Mino Town,” Moran said.

"You even know this?" Sylph asked in surprise.

"I've seen a temple building that looks similar in Lady Tracy's picture book, 'The Architecture of Waren.'"

Moran then used the divination technique to re-divine the location of the corpse materials.

"Lilith, fly about a thousand meters further in that direction and we should be there," Moran said, pointing to a spot slightly to the east of north.

Lilith controlled the flying carpet and flew in that direction.

The necromantic power here is much thinner, and even in the daytime when the sunlight is strong, it can penetrate the gray fog and shine into the forest.

The Black Death Trees have all grown exceptionally thin and small, and there are no longer any undead creatures to be seen.

However, at this moment, they had no interest in observing the undead creatures; their attention was focused on one spot in the forest.

There's someone in the woods! A living person!
But he was already close to death.