The Astral soul system-Chapter 143: Killed by Alarune’s......

She suddenly pried herself off him, suddenly looking angry

"What the hell?! You just fucking come back after ditching me for the last three years?"

"Wait,Mao,i can explai-"

She suddenly threw her fist, punching him and sending him flying right into a tree and snapping it in half as he kept flying for a few seconds, destroying a few more trees in the process before crashing to the ground.

"Oh...ow"

Astarte groaned in pain and quickly noticed his last earring shattering

[HP: 0]

[You are dead]

"Shit"

Mao suddenly ran towards him with speed that made it look like she teleported. As she saw him transforming into light particles, she quickly brought a glowing crystal out of her inventory and threw it at him.

[Mythical item: Tear of Gaia has been used to revive you. HP restored to full health]

’Well that’s convenient, and a bit ironic’ Theia thought, looking at everything while hiding behind a tree.

"Asta,are you okay ? I didn’t mean to -"

"Yeah, I’m fine, sorry you had to waste the item. I could have just respawed and come back"

Astarte said, getting up

She shook her head

"I’ve got a dozen of those, it’s not important. I just lost my cool"

Astarte chuckled and replied

"It’s no problem. I-"

"What the hell! You just disappeared on me one day and stopped answering my calls, and right before our most important quest ever! I had to deal with the dragon god all by myself,we were meant to be a team"

She flashed the binding ring in her hand while looking at his

"Did you forget the meaning of this ? "forever and always" You basically left me at the altar!"

Astarte noticed her tone getting higher and tried to apologize but she cut him off

"I know,i just -

"I thought you died or something!"

"Wait...What?"

"It’s just... I’ve known you for YEARS, and you never forget to log in,so when you just disappeared and stopped and stopped answering my calls,i thought something happened to you"

They both went quiet. Was that what this was about? Astarte thought a bit and realized that if a close friend of his had been doing a particular habit for years with no exceptions and just suddenly stopped before cutting communications permanently, he’d probably assume something similar, and considering the fact that she told him she didn’t have many (any) friends in real life and he was her only friend in the game,it would make sense if she got a little paranoid

"Mao...I"

She once again flashed the ring, the words "Forever and always" clearly inscribed on it.

"I know we were just dumb kids but i thought this promise would at least mean something to you. You didn’t even call to tell me you were okay"

Astarte was at a loss of what to say. How was he supposed to tell her he’d been asleep for the past three years and his alter egos had disappeared for some reason.

She scoffed and turned her back to him

"So...?"

Astarte was panicking inside. He knew what she wanted was an explanation but he couldn’t tell her the truth.

’Zen! We are so going to have a talk about this ’

"Well... something did happen but it’s less about me... and more about my family"

Hearing that,her cold expression immediately softened and she looked at him a bit stunned

"Your family? Are your moms okay? What about your sister?"

He had told her about his family as kids but just said that he was raised by his mom’s with his little sister and didn’t give many details. If he remembered correctly, she also had a younger brother.

"Their fine, perfectly f.... well..."

He sighed.

"We got attacked, I’m still not sure what happened but something major went down,it took a while to recover"

"Attacked by who?"

Astarte answered, picking his words carefully

"The arcade definitely had something to do with it"

Hearing that name,a visible anger appeared in her eyes but it quickly died down as she looked at her feet, disappointment in her eyes. She looked at the ring in her hand that still had a faint green glow and muttered.

"You’re lucky I can tell you’re not lying"

Astarte chuckled, looking at his ring that allowed them to read each other’s thoughts to an extent.

"Is everyone okay?"

"...yeah-"

"That’s a lie"

Astarte sighed. He didn’t know why he even tried.

She walked towards him,her armor and sword disappearing into light particles, leaving her with common clothes.

"I still think I deserve a proper explanation... but it sounds like something pretty heavy happened, I’ll wait for you to be ready"

He sighed in relief and moved in for a hug

"Thanks Mao-"

She suddenly put her hand in front of her, stopping him.

"Oh no, you’re still in the doghouse. You don’t just come back after three years and expect everything to be the same"

Astarte sighed. That was the problem he’d been facing for a while now, nothing was the same.

"But...it looks like you went through a lot too so..."

She sighed and wrapped her arms around him

"This, Is the last time"

She said before pulling back

Astarte was a bit suprised but pleasantly so. He picked up his scythe and looked at her

"Thanks Mao. I... honestly can’t believe you’re still here"

"Yeah, guess a friendship of four years actually means something to me, unlike someone else"

Astarte chuckled awkwardly. She was clearly still sore but he couldn’t blame her.

"You’re a level one now?"

"Y-yeah. Guess I have to start all over. I should probably head to the farm and salvage whatever i still can"

"Oh,So i guess you came here to see Alarune"

His eyes brightened as he looked at her

"Yes,is she okay? Is she still alive? I didn’t see her at her post on the farm"

Mao suddenly avoided his gaze and inhaled through her teeth,her hands fumbling against each other

"Well..."

The light in his eyes died a bit but he kept smiling genuinely.

"Oh, well that’s too bad, guess I’m lucky enough to still have you at least"

Hearing that, Mao’s face suddenly dropped and she groaned exaggeratedly

"Seriously? Why’d you have to say that? It was funny before you said that"

"Wait... what?"

"Come on you big baby. She’ll be excited to see you"

She said, suddenly grabbing his arm and leading him towards the cave entrance

"Hey, wait. That was a joke? Not cool"

Mao rolled her eyes as they walked into the cave, brushing aside the vines blocking the entrance as they went inside.

Walking into the suspiciously deep cave, Astarte suddenly spoke up.

"I checked the farm first but nothing was there"

"Yeah I moved her here permanently when it was clear you weren’t coming back"

"Do you think she’ll recognize me?"

"..."

Astarte sighed. She wasn’t even looking at him to speak with him. It seemed he’d still need find someway to make up for his absence.

"Look i-"

"We’re here"

He looked up and noticed that they’d reached the main chamber. They passed through another curtain of vines and seemed to enter a completely different world with vibrant green grass along the floor, multiple exotic plants scattered everywhere with sunlight seeping in through a huge hole in the roof.

At the center of the place there was a giant flower, it’s massive roots deep in the ground with its green petals all covered up.

The second they stepped onto the ground it started trembling and the flower in the center of the room suddenly started unraveling, it’s green petals or leaves spreading out around it on the floor five meters around it, followed by thinner yellow petals and then vibrant and bright pink petals that were shorter but wider , multiple smaller pink flowers blooming around the green leaves

At the center of the flower suddenly emerged a figure with green skin suddenly emerged from the center of the flower,a golden liquid resembling honey or nectar dripping down her body.

Her figure resembled that of a naked woman except her body below her hips was the plant. Her hands stretched out as her voluptuous visible for all to see as she moved her hips,her breasts shaking hypnotically.

"She’s... grown"

He said, recognizing her immediately. How could he not? He was the one who planted and raised her after all

"Yeah, that happens with plants"

His eyes moved to her delicate green face. A little bit of fat, but that just increased the charm of her gentle features. Her green hair fell down to past her hips,roses sprouting randomly on it as it rested on the flower petals.

Her eyes suddenly opened , revealing a pair of cold golden red orbs staring down at Astarte.

Feeling a chill go downstairs his spine,he activated his all-seeing eye.

[Mythical forest spirit: Alarune]

[Level: ???]

[Strength:???]

[Speed:???]

[Defense:???]

[Constitution:???]

[Title: Guardian of life]

[Evaluation: Lethal/ Harmless]

’Hey there little seedling’

Astarte thought, gulping. Now he really hoped she remembered him.

The all-seeing eye could see stats a hundred levels above his,so the fact that all he could see was question marks was unnerving.

"Hey there, Alarune"

He said, carefully taking a step forward and returning his scythe to his inventory. It would be useless even if he wanted to fight her. Instead he brought out a large flower pot he had to hold with both hands.

"I got you something"

He said, gesturing to the flowers and other things he’d gathered on his way here. It seemed a bit stupid to do this considering that Alarune was already surrounded by flowers ten times more valuable and beautiful than he had but he wasn’t discouraged.

Alarune didn’t react at all and just kept staring at him with no visible emotions.

Dropping the flower pot in front of her, he looked into her eyes, preparing to dodge.

"Do you... recognize me?"

Before Zen could react,a thick vine suddenly wrapped around him, squeezing him tightly

[HP: -7]

’That’s not good’

He closed his eyes waiting for the plant to squeeze him to death but was surprised when he felt it pulling him towards Alarune. Her arms spread out to accept him as she suddenly hugged him, pressing his face into her chest as she suddenly spoke in a slightly whiny and needy voice.

"MASTER!!!!!"

He suddenly felt more vines wrapping around him, pulling him closer against her but not doing damage this time.

Astarte struggled to free himself,the sensation of her considerably large bust against his face mixed with the sweet smell of honey and nectar assaulted his senses.

"I’m... happy to see you too, Alarune. Can you...let me go now?"

However she ignored him completely and spoke again, hugging him even tighter.

"You’ve grown so big master. Why didn’t you come visit me in so long? I missed you!!!"

Mao chuckled

"Looks like you two need some time to -"

A vine suddenly grabbed her as well, stunning her and before she knew what was happening, she had her face getting forced into Alarune’s breasts alongside Astarte while trapped by tentacles and Alarune’s arms

"Stupid master! Why did you leave us alone? Didn’t you say you’d stay with us forever?"

Getting a bit choked, Astarte struggled to speak

"Let...go, Alarune "

"Stupid master, stupid master, stupid master!!!"

Astarte normally would have felt glad to see she still remembered him and even cared about him...if all two hundred and six bones in his body weren’t currently getting ground into fine dust!

"Alarune...let...go"

"No! Master is just going to run away again....huh?! MASTER?!"

Astarte’s body suddenly turned into light particles as he was crushed, dying in Alarune’s arms as his gear took his place on the ground.

Mao hurried to reach him and save him again but was too late,he was gone. She facepalmed, struggling to free herself from Alarune’s grasp

"You literally killed him with your tits you monster"

Mao freed herself and told Alarune to stay here while she got Astarte back.

Once she was a good distance away from the cave she looked at her ring and sighed, hoping this worked. Normally once someone died they had to wait ten minutes the first time to respawn, but that only applied to people without this mythic item, which was literally every one who played this game except the two of them.

She activated it and watched as half her health points disappeared. Now it was left to wait to see if he’d answer her summon.

Almost immediately,a bright light appeared in front of her and Astarte slowly rematerialized in front of her, this time in beginner clothes.

"You came" she said,her voice a bit elevated

"Yep" he said

"Looks like i lost everything though"

Smiling calmly, she returned his gear to him.

"Sorry about that,Asta"

"It’s fine. Can’t go much lower than zero"

"Still,i should probably have warned you that little plant girl you were raising became a.... I can’t think of any other word but MILF"