"The Tree of Rotten Wisdom" (First Stage)

Having survived the chaos caused by a pyrokinetic arsonist, Ayato, Isolde, and Vera have reached the heart of the Black Iriswood.

Or what remains of the forest...

The fog dissipated after the fire, and before them rose a monstrous figure:

The Tree of Rotting Wisdom, a colossus of black roots and rotting bark, perched atop what had once been a royal library.

Its columns were swallowed by black vines and tumorous roots that pulsed like veins, connected to the gigantic tree that loomed behind the structure, its branches reaching like claws against the gray sky.

Each root seemed to suck life from the ground and spit it out, transformed into mushrooms that illuminated the ruin with a sickly glow.

Isolde lifted her chin, surveying the panorama.

"A library devoured by a parasite... The perfect symbol of human scholarship: books that end up rotting like forgotten meat..."

"Thanks, Isolde, I needed that extra dose of optimism!" Ayato said sarcastically upon witnessing a Pseudo-Demonic Castle.

For those accustomed to the stereotypical Victorian Gothic castles depicted in every installment of the Vampire Slayer franchise, this one seems more like a reflection of its ruler.

Vera, on the other hand, was fascinated.

Her hazel eyes shone with innocence as she pointed to each strange-looking mushroom with childlike excitement.

"Look! This one looks like a miniature skull. And that one... it looks like a crown. What a marvel of nature!"

"If by 'marvel' you mean 'slow, wet attempted murder,' yes, you're right!" Ayato retorted.

As they go deeper, the air thickens.

Ayato took a deep breath, cursing himself for doing so.

His throat burned with the stale humidity.

"Great, now even oxygen tastes like rotten mushroom-flavored instant soup..." he murmured, using his sword to slash away a cluster of mushrooms that pulsed as if with a heart of their own.

Isolde walked a few steps ahead, the edge of her sword flickering in the mist. She seemed unfazed.

"It's no different from any palace I've frequented. A rancid smell, curtains of dust, unwelcome voices in the darkness..." she said coldly, though her smile was more fang-like than friendly.

So the three ventured towards the first stage of such a decadent structure, which would be the ruined library.

***

Meanwhile, in the Gloomy Mansion, Azrael is watching Ayato and company's exploration of the Pseudo-Castle from a large crystal sphere, as if it were that world's equivalent of a typical surveillance system.

On the other hand, it's the stone table where occult rites were performed. Rydia (the Succubus) and Zeltha (the Dark Elf) were sitting, seemingly placing bets on a world map of Luminovia with some chips, which resembles a bizarre board game.

"Haha! I knew my Champion would beat yours, pointy ears~," Rydia said, boasting of her victory, moving a chess piece shaped like an adventurer wearing a jester's hat to knock over another shaped like a humanoid flame.

"It was just a bad prediction..." Zeltha displayed apparent apathy toward the situation, although deep down, she felt humiliated at losing to Rydia of all the High-Ranking Dark Servants.

"And in reality, all of this happened because Isolde and that girl named Vera were involved in the equation, or else that Candidate of yours wouldn't have survived on his own..." Zeltha said, searching for logical scenarios to justify how a dead weight like Ayato, who doesn't know how to properly use his abilities, could have dealt with a man with destructive power like Tatsuya.

"Go cry somewhere else! While he's a mess, at least he's not a maniac who gets carried away by the heat of the moment~" Rydia took the jewels and a spellbook that Zeltha put up as bets.

Azrael approached the two, who were having fun with this battle for the Dark Lord's throne.

His expressionless face turned to Zeltha.

"How is your reckless pyromancer's condition?" he said, as a blue glow emerged from his empty sockets, displaying a cold neutrality.

"He's almost cured, except he inhaled a dangerous amount of those hallucinogenic spores and plants..."

The Dark Elf's words imply that Tatsuya's condition isn't normal poisoning, but rather an overdose.

The Grim Reaper's gaze shifts to the Succubus with an unnatural twist, pointing a finger at the token mockingly representing Ayato on that board.

"And as for you, Rydia... Keep that nuisance Candidate of yours at bay!"

"Don't worry, Azrael. The ones you really need to watch out for are Isolde and the other Goofy Pumpkin..." Rydia appears quite confident about who the dangerous ones are, the potential threats, and the useless ones on that meager team.

"And as for the Court Jester, I have my... Assets~"

Boing, boing...

Rydia emphasizes her large breasts, as if her species-specific seduction skills were more than enough to keep Ayato under control.

Zeltha facepalmed herself upon noticing her comrade's crude method of controlling the Candidate.

Azrael places three more tokens at random points on the world map, representing other Lone Demons.

***

As the three ventured toward the labyrinthine, corridor-like library, it was filled with enemies composed of mutant plants, giant insects or smaller but annoying swarms of them, and animals/people being parasitized by the Cordyceps fungus.

Isolde seemed to be the only one focused on reaching the center of the place, as Vera was distracted by reading fairy tales contaminated by moss.

Ayato, on the other hand...

Crack

"Will you stop breaking objects and windows with your sword... For just five minutes!?" Isolde sounded legitimately indignant, given his seemingly senseless actions, attracting the attention of his enemies.

"It's to see if I can get hearts or some secondary weapon that allows for ranged attacks..." Ayato continued to cling to the "video game logic" in a place where the laws of reality are conspicuous by their absence.

Worm-eaten shelves rose like wooden corpses, and the aisles were a labyrinth of petrified roots that forced one to proceed with caution.

Each book was fused to the wood, as if the pages had sprouted into new mushrooms.

Once the three reached the center of the library.

Suddenly, a sound reverberated from the ceiling: a large figure falling and breaking the ceiling with a stomp.

The entity rose to reveal its figure.

"This must be a sub-boss from a Hack-n-Slash game, but on a low-budget one..." Ayato said, seeing the grotesque creature say.

"Silence, in the reading room!"

The Guardian of the Library, once a colossus in ceremonial armor, was now a hollow body teeming with mycelium.

His helmet was covered with horn-like mushrooms, and his arms were deformed by throbbing roots.

He still held, with an almost solemn expression, a book in one rotten hand and a mace in the other.

"Great... a zombie librarian with a bonfire complex. I'm not going to return the book in time, just in case," Ayato muttered, adjusting his sword.

The monster roared in a cavernous voice, releasing a cloud of spores that filled the room like a storm.

Which was a feint for him to attack ferociously with his mace.

The fight was brutal and suffocating. Each blow from the Guardian made the ground shake, raising fragments of wood and roots.

Isolde moved with surgical precision, her swords piercing the soft spots on the creature's body, while Ayato tried to avoid being crushed under the mace that could split columns as it ran.

Vera, on the other hand, ran around with a grimoire in her hands, casting spells that looked more like attempts to light a fire than actual attacks.

"Almost there! I just need the right angle!" Vera shouted excitedly as she stumbled over roots.

The guardian used his mace to crush Vera, while Isolde intercepted the attack with her swords, while the creature used its giant book to counterattack, while Isolde quickly turned into mist so that its attack failed.

In that moment of vulnerability, she allowed Ayato to reach the monster's back by leaping high, plunging his sword into the mushroom core pulsing in the creature's neck.

The colossus let out a muffled roar and collapsed, its body crumbling into a cloud of thick dust that left them coughing for minutes as Ayato comically fell to the ground.

"Well, that was... educational," Vera gasped, spitting out a piece of mushroom that had stuck to her mouth.

"To me, all library guardians look alike," Ayato replied, adjusting his sword, having no remorse for using his companions as bait.

Silence. Only the distant creaking of the great tree.

Then, the roots of the parasitic tree descended from the hole the guardian made in the roof, as if presenting a makeshift ladder.

"And this is just the beginning..." Isolde said, elegantly putting away her sword.

And then the three of them climbed toward the second stage of the Pseudo-Castle, where the vertical section would be.