The War Ancient Tree's voice was distorted by anger, and as its fury rose, red light flared in its eyes.
"Alfred's single strike left me with wounds that took a full four hundred years to heal! The blade wounded my flesh, and its intent wounded my soul."
"For hundreds of years, my strength has barely recovered, yet I've made no progress."
"His family has no descendants, so my revenge is hopeless. My injuries healed, but my strength couldn't improve. How could I not resent this!"
The War Ancient Tree was so enraged it lost its reason, red light burst from its eyes, and dozens of emerald green vines shot out from underground, wildly thrashing like giant pythons!
Ezreal's smile faded; he hadn't expected to hear such an old story.
He couldn't comment on the story of Alfred and the War Ancient Tree.
Although the War Ancient Tree had good intentions, speaking those words for its friend's sake, a Summoned Beast is still a Summoned Beast and cannot truly understand human emotions.
At the family assembly, in front of the family's descendants and retainers, it advised an old general who had fought for the country for nearly a hundred years to switch allegiance to another country, and this was at a critical time when the nation was on the verge of collapse.
These words even shook the hearts of his own family's offspring and retainers.
It wasn't hard for Ezreal to imagine how furious Alfred must have been at that time.
Given the power of this Anti-Magic Knight, historical records called him the Sword Saint of the Faramir Empire, and he had once served as the Emperor's chief sword instructor. Even in his old age, killing the War Ancient Tree would likely not have been difficult for him.
After the War Ancient Tree's words, which were enough to erase his life's achievements and even shake the foundation of his family.
His angry strike only severely wounded the War Ancient Tree, clearly showing he held back out of consideration for their friendship.
Then he established a family rule that no family member should befriend a Summoned Beast, and finally, he proved himself with his own heart.
For his country, Alfred deserved loyalty.
For his friend, Alfred was benevolent and righteous.
But from the War Ancient Tree's perspective, the words it spoke, for the sake of its friend's peaceful old age, were indeed sincere.
If Alfred had just been an ordinary noble, he might have actually agreed.
But sincerity ultimately resulted in a blade that severed their friendship.
For a naturally simple Summoned Beast, this was clearly unacceptable.
To be honest, he found the War Ancient Tree's story quite moving, and it would have been even better if it hadn't used its vine whips to lash at him.
The War Ancient Tree, in a state of berserk fury, attacked Ezreal without warning, extending its hands fiercely towards Ezreal from a distance of about eight hundred meters.
Starting from its fingertips, ten thick vine whips twisted and lunged at Ezreal like giant pythons.
Ezreal waved his left hand, and all the Summoned Beasts around his body faded until they disappeared, sent back to the canyon.
Judging from its aura, this War Ancient Tree definitely had the power level of an S-Class Mage, and its magical power was astonishingly vast. Ezreal felt that the big guy opposite him had at least 50 times his own magical power.
It was definitely the creature with the most magical power he had seen in this world.
A War Ancient Tree of this power level, any casual spell would be something the Crimson Feathered Demon Wolf and its companions couldn't withstand.
Even the Red and Blue Stone Warriors, with their extremely high magic resistance, definitely couldn't withstand two attacks.
Instead of letting them be cannon fodder outside, it was better to recall them to the canyon, have them provide magical power to him through magic sharing, and add life sharing to provide vitality, increasing his fault tolerance.
Ezreal activated Arcane Shift, turning into golden energy particles and disappearing just as the ten vine whips struck.
The vine whips lashed the ground, causing the earth to crack and dust to fly.
When the golden light reappeared, Ezreal had already emerged on the branch of a towering tree, looking down at the War Ancient Tree in the distance.
"Starting a fight without a word like this is really bad form!" Ezreal said, clenching his left fist. The sapphire on the back of his hand glowed, and two blue energy streams extended from either side of his fist, forming a blue energy bow.
Ezreal supported his left fist with his right hand, and the front of his fist glowed with a brilliant white light. A massive white energy beam shot down from above towards the War Ancient Tree.
"Die, brat!" The War Ancient Tree's eyes blazed red, and it opened its mouth wide, spitting out an emerald green energy beam several times larger than the white light.
The white light and green light collided, and the shockwave explosively destroyed the trees near the point of impact.
Tree fragments and dust exploded and scattered in all directions.
The white light and green light only held their ground for an instant before being overwhelmed and swallowed by the green light, instantly blasting Ezreal away.
Ezreal flew backward, crashing heavily onto the ground in the distance, sending dust flying.
The War Ancient Tree pursued its advantage, taking large strides and rushing over, intending to completely finish off Ezreal. But after only two steps, it suddenly stopped, its eyes clearing considerably, and it stared intently at the cloud of dust.
"This feeling..." The War Ancient Tree looked at the large cloud of dust in the forest with suspicion and uncertainty. Ezreal's figure was obscured in the dust and unclear, but it felt a strong sense of danger emanating from that dust.
Within the dust, two massive shadows emerged.
"Next time we clash, I definitely won't stand on the left," Ezreal's voice came through, sounding full of vigor and a bit annoyed.
Heavy footsteps sounded, and two massive monsters, guarding Ezreal's sides, walked out of the dust.
Ezreal smiled, patted the dust off himself, and readjusted his goggles. The two monsters finally revealed their true forms.
On the left was a gigantic Stone Man, nearly five meters tall, like a majestic small mountain.
Its entire body was naturally formed from grayish-white rock, the rock's texture hard and rough, covered with traces of erosion from time, as if narrating past vicissitudes.
At the Stone Man's joints, blue energy light shimmered and flowed like nimble streams, emitting a mysterious and powerful aura.
A blue energy cyclops eye was located in the center of its head, deep and luminous, as if it could discern the secrets of all things in the world.
Its two massive fists were like two meteorites fallen from the sky, incredibly hard, with a rugged and powerful outline.
The tree monster on the right had the form of a giant turtle, about three meters tall, yet it exuded an indescribable sense of oppression.
It was on all fours, its claws strong and powerful, like finely forged steel, with sharp tips gleaming with a cold light.
Its body was skillfully woven from lush branches and verdant leaves, with branches interlacing.
The tree monster's broad back was particularly striking; a blazing red orb of light glowed in its very center. That orb was like a beating heart, continuously releasing surging energy, making the surrounding air feel scorching hot.
Its head resembled a weathered piece of deadwood, covered in cracked patterns, and its fiery red eyes were like two burning flames, shooting out majestic light that made people hesitate to look directly at them.
These two massive creatures were the strongest wild monsters he could currently summon from the canyon.
Blue Sentinel!
Brambleback!