A thunderous CRACK echoed through the forest as a shockwave of displaced air exploded outward, incinerating the obsidian bark through sheer kinetic friction. The Elder Ent didn't dissolve into magical dust; it collapsed into a mountain of splintered, lifeless timber.
While the "Hero" delivered the crushing blow, Maddy didn't waste a second.
She turned toward the final few Green Men that Johnn had dropped in the thicket. They were the last remnants of the forest's theft, their bodies twitching in the dirt as the Elder Ent's death knell shuddered through their parasitic vines. With the same clinical, merciful speed she had shown before, she stepped through the brush.
She moved with a heavy, grounded efficiency, her blade ending the cycle once and for all. By the time the dust from Johnn's impact settled, Maddy was already wiping her blade on a patch of moss.
