God-Tier Extraction Talent: Reincarnated in a Game-like World! Chapter 671: Fight for the Sacred Forest [1]

"These are mine too."

The instant Gabriel’s voice sounded, the silver-masked captain moved.

Of the seven black-robed ritualists, one could barely move his left arm, another bled beneath his robe, and a third stood unsteadily beside the outermost nail. The captain looked past their injuries.

"Pull out the remaining nails!"

The ritualists reacted quickly, but Gabriel was already moving.

The stone beneath his feet exploded as he crossed more than ten meters in an instant. Crimson Judgement descended from his shoulder, though its target wasn’t any of the ritualists.

It was the second dark-red nail.

"Stop him!"

A bloodied ritualist thrust both hands forward, condensing three layers of gray-white mana barriers between Gabriel and the withered root.

Crimson Judgement shattered the first barrier and tore through the second less than half a second later. As the third layer formed, Gabriel released one hand from his sword, lowered his shoulder, and continued forward.

Bull Rush!

The final barrier caved inward with a boom and colpsed completely.

The ritualist’s face turned pale. Gabriel’s shoulder struck his already-injured chest before he could retreat, and the sound of breaking bone carried across the altar.

He flew backward, struck the side of the altar, and collapsed without getting up.

Gabriel reached the nail, wrapped one hand around its dark-red surface, and pulled. The withered root trembled as gray-black energy crawled across his wrist, carrying the same decaying presence he had sensed from the first nail.

The pressure settled along his wrist as he tightened his fingers around the metal. The root resisted, and the pressure grew stronger, but he kept his hand in place and pulled against it.

The dormant Godslayer Bloodline Spark stirred faintly within his blood. Gabriel ignored it and tore the nail free.

"Second one."

The silver-masked captain’s sword came at him from the side.

With one hand, Gabriel raised Crimson Judgement and blocked the attack. Steel rang against steel.

Instead of contesting strength, the captain changed the angle of his wrist the moment their blades touched. His black longsword slid along the greatsword like a venomous serpent before cutting toward Gabriel’s right hand.

Releasing the nail, Gabriel allowed the blade to sweep past his fingers.

The captain immediately reached for it, but Gabriel kicked him in the chest before his hand could close around the falling object.

The captain crossed one arm to block. The impact still sent him sliding several meters across the altar, his boots grinding against the stone.

Gabriel caught the nail before it struck the ground and placed it inside his System inventory with a thought.

The first nail was already there, its divine residue extracted and its remaining structure rendered inert. The second was still active, but Gabriel had no intention of processing it in the middle of a battle.

"That nervous?" he asked.

"You have no idea what you absorbed from the first one."

"I do."

Gabriel rested Crimson Judgement against his shoulder.

"Divinity."

"And you still dare touch another?"

"Why wouldn’t I?"

The captain fell silent. His gaze dropped to Gabriel’s wrist and rose again to his face.

The residue inside the nails wasn’t mana or some rare elemental energy. Contaminated and incomplete though it was, it had come from something far beyond ordinary lifeforms. Gabriel had already drawn it into himself, survived, and reached for another nail as if collecting loot.

The captain stared at him like a madman.

"Keep him away from the others!"

Three ritualists turned toward Gabriel, but before they could approach, Sophie frowned, and the roots answered.

Three massive roots tore free from the soil at the edge of the altar. Two ritualists retreated in time, but the third was too slow.

A root swept across his waist and hurled him more than ten meters. He crashed into an ancient tree and lost consciousness before his body struck the ground.

The other two ritualists stopped, as did Sophie. The force of the blow had surprised her.

The six elven warriors stood in a defensive half-circle beyond the corrupted altar zone. Aelira had sent them to protect Sophie, and none had abandoned their positions. Gray-black currents still crawled through the soil between them and the altar, preventing them from entering without being attacked by the corruption. Their weapons were drawn, and every visible approach was covered.

Sophie looked from the fallen ritualist to the roots. She had wanted the men kept away from Gabriel and the forest had answered without waiting for her to shape a spell.

Until now, whenever her emotions had surged, the forest had struck at their source in the most direct way it could. She hadn’t chosen how. Gabriel’s advice had made the connection clearer: she could decide who must be kept away, and the forest would act on that intention. The feeling was unfamiliar, yet strangely natural.

"Sophie!" Edgar’s voice came from behind her.

The wounded operative from the original thirteen had circled around the altar using the broken pillars as cover. One hand pressed against his injured side, but he had still managed to pass between two currents of corrupted energy and approach within twenty meters of her.

The six elven guards quickly started toward him, only for the corruption between them and the altar to flare. The two warriors in front were forced to stop before it struck their legs.

The operative had found the only route they couldn’t reach in time.

He made no move to kill her. Even now, he was trying to capture Sophie alive.

This time, Sophie didn’t panic.

She looked directly at him and raised one hand.

"Stop."

The operative froze in the middle of his next step as the ordinary grass beneath his feet began growing wildly. Thin vines wrapped around his ankles and climbed his legs before coiling around his waist, arms, shoulders, and wrists.

Within seconds, his entire body had been restrained.

Mana erupted violently from him, snapping several vines, but dozens more emerged from the ground to replace them.

"Get off me!"

His protective mana blasted apart the vines around his chest, allowing him to pull one arm free. Before he could tear away the rest, however, the branch of an ancient tree swept in from the side.

The branch struck him across the back and smashed him into the ground. The vines quickly covered him again, binding all four limbs before he could rise.

Sophie remained where she was. Her raised hand had hardly moved, yet the operative lay bound and alive.

Edgar glanced at her and couldn’t help but comment. "You learn fast."

Matthew was still secured on the moving platform of interwoven roots behind Edgar. Both of his legs were broken, his chest was partly caved in, and several living bands held his torso in place so the platform’s movements wouldn’t worsen his injuries. Whenever Sophie and Edgar moved, the roots carried him with them; walking was impossible.

Matthew’s expression darkened as he watched the vines hold the operative without crushing him. He had seen no new spell or elven nature technique. The forest itself was adapting to her, following an intention precise enough to bind the man without killing him. If that continued, he couldn’t imagine what it might eventually do for her.

Seeing the look in his eyes, Edgar was about to question him again when another collision erupted at the center of the altar.

Gabriel had already shifted his attention toward the third nail. The silver-masked captain followed his gaze.

"Destroy them!"

One of the ritualists who had retreated from Sophie’s roots was already beside the third nail. Instead of attempting to pull it free, he raised his longsword and aimed directly at its center.

If they couldn’t take the remaining contamination mediums away, they would destroy them.

His blade descended, but Crimson Judgement met the sword with a clang before it could strike the nail.