Chapter 212 – The curse of the tree

After Elias and Lauren left, Luke used his telekinesis to unearth tree roots from the ground and imprison Rosalie and Armand, tying them up with numerous thick roots.

“Happy?” Luke asked, looking at Enid with a slight frown.

“Yes… thanks,” Enid said, nodding as she noticed Luke’s bad mood. She knew this wasn’t the smartest strategy if she wanted to get back with him, as she was basically confirming what Luke had told her before about why they weren’t compatible.

But Enid would stand firm in her decision. She didn’t believe that everything that moved had to be killed, staining one’s hands with blood when they could be easily defeated.

Luke expanded his domain, covering the entire camp area. His feet lifted a few inches off the ground, and he began moving in a random direction since he didn’t know exactly where to search.

Flying a few inches above the ground was much faster than walking or running using his outcast strength.

“Hey, wait!” Enid exclaimed, following Luke.

With his domain, Luke started analyzing the entire surrounding area of the camp. He noticed the different cabins used by the campers for sleeping.

The cabins were in ruins, some due to time and others due to the fire—though not all because of the latter. He could see some blackened wood with burn marks.

There was also a ruined building that seemed to be a communal area or a dining hall where all the campers ate together and gathered. Additionally, there was a section that appeared to have once been a bonfire site.

Luke gave these areas a quick glance before continuing his search elsewhere. He didn’t believe his parents would have hidden the evidence here, as they were undercover, and if the camp had been full of people, they wouldn’t have been able to conceal the evidence so easily.

‘The lake,’ Luke thought, flying quickly toward the body of water that wasn’t far away.

He scanned the entire lake with his domain, but there was nothing out of the ordinary.

Luke stood by the lakeshore, lost in thought. At that moment, his body began to change. The effects of the gender-swapping potion had worn off, and within seconds, he returned to his male form.

‘Finally… Goodbye to that stupid potion,’ Luke thought as he looked at his masculine hand. He shouldn’t have to use his Tuesday identity anymore. Natasha still had a large stock of potions since she had made plenty, not knowing how long they would need them.

‘At last, I can see his face,’ Enid thought, staring inquisitively at Luke’s face. It had been a long time since she last saw it—or at least, longer than she would’ve liked.

Luke noticed Enid’s gaze on him and how she was taking small steps to get closer, but he said nothing. Her behavior was strange, to the point that he couldn’t understand what was going on.

Did she still have feelings for him?

However, now wasn’t the time to dwell on that. He continued analyzing the rest of the campgrounds. A particular area, about three kilometers from the cabins and two kilometers from the lake, caught his attention.

There were two routes to reach this area. One was a rocky path that started from a small, ruined dock at the lake. The other was a lonely trail that could be accessed from the cabins.

What drew Luke’s attention to this area was a very peculiar tree—one unlike the others. Its bark was thick, and its branches stretched out as if trying to grasp something. A few meters from the tree stood an old water well, worn down by time.

Luke quickly flew toward the site. He had a gut feeling about the tree, as if something was calling him.

“Wait for me!” Enid called out, beginning to run in Luke’s direction. Even with her super strength and impressive agility—perfect for running through forest terrain—she couldn’t keep up with Luke’s flight speed.

Noticing her plea, Luke slowed down slightly so he wouldn’t leave her completely behind. Enid smiled foolishly at the small gesture.

Within minutes, they arrived at the site, standing before the massive, thick-barked tree. The tree’s diameter exceeded three meters. As for the old moss-covered stone well, Luke didn’t even glance at it—his attention was fixated on the tree, a strange feeling stirring within him.

“Is there something here?” Enid asked, arriving right after Luke and scanning the area. Unlike the path leading here, there weren’t many trees around. The terrain was flatter, with only the massive tree and the well standing out.

“The tree,” Luke replied, nodding forward.

Enid looked at the tree, and her small nose caught a scent—strange yet familiar. She began sniffing, growing more certain that the aroma was something she recognized.

“What are you doing?” Luke asked, noticing Enid’s not-so-subtle sniffing.

“I smell a scent similar to yours on that tree…” Enid replied with a strange expression. She hadn’t expected to find a scent like Luke’s on a tree in the middle of Shadyside and Sunnyvale.

“What?” Luke murmured in confusion. Was Enid’s sense of smell really that sharp? He hadn’t expected that.

What he didn’t know was that Enid had been secretly sniffing a piece of his clothing that she had kept, in addition to the handkerchief he had used and returned the first time they met. One should never underestimate the sense of smell of a werewolf obsessed with someone.

The strange thing was that Luke had never been here before, so Enid was also confused as to why she could smell his scent.

Luke and Enid exchanged glances, then turned their eyes toward the tree and slowly began to move forward. One step, two steps, three steps…

When they were about ten meters away, it happened. A monotonous, robotic voice echoed in Luke’s mind. The same thing happened to Enid.

[Stop. Leave this place. You will not remember this tree.]

Luke immediately recognized it as mind control—much more direct and to the point compared to vampires. Since he was a blue aura user, he had mental defenses and was able to resist the commands.

It was harder than he expected, as the robotic voice continued to echo in his head, seemingly growing more forceful upon realizing it wasn’t working.

[LEAVE. GO AWAY. YOU WILL NOT REMEMBER THIS TREE]

‘Whoa… it’s getting angry,’ Luke thought, focusing all his mental strength to fight off the mind control. It was actually a good opportunity to practice strengthening his defenses.

But Enid wasn’t a blue aura psychic. The only mental defense she had was a family necklace her mother had given her, which wasn’t anything extraordinary. She couldn’t resist the tree’s command.

She turned around and began sprinting away at full speed, as if she were compelled to obey with every fiber of her being.

Luke glanced at Enid’s retreating figure, then back at the tree, debating whether to take the evidence since it’s obvious that after this they must be there.

‘Damn it,’ Luke thought, clicking his tongue before taking off after Enid at full speed.

He caught up to her about 500 meters from the tree and quickly sent her a mental command to stop. Enid came to an abrupt halt, her feet nearly digging into the ground.

“Hey, are you okay? It looks like that tree has psychic defenses. It must’ve been my mother,” Luke commented, a theory forming in his mind.

Enid slowly turned around, and then the multicolored claws on her right hand emerged, slashing toward Luke’s face at high speed.

With sharpened reflexes and his clairvoyance, Luke swiftly moved his head to the side, watching as Enid’s claws passed just centimeters from his cheek.

Enid didn’t stop after her first failed strike; she continued attacking, aiming directly for Luke’s head.

Luke dodged with agility, making precise movements at the last moment. It was as if he predicted all of Enid’s attacks and avoided them just in time.

‘Why am I evading like this?’ Luke wondered. On Enid’s next attack, he created a telekinetic barrier that pushed her back several meters.

Enid dug her feet into the ground to stop her momentum and, with a growl, launched herself at him again, shifting into a quadrupedal stance that drastically increased her speed.

‘Looks like that damn tree gave her more than one mental command,’ Luke thought as he extended his hand toward her.

Enid suddenly froze in midair, caught just as she leaped at Luke—completely immobilized by his invisible telekinetic force.

Trapped, Enid struggled with all her strength to break free, but Luke knew it was futile. His telekinetic force exceeded ten tons—far beyond what a young werewolf like Enid could match, even with her lineage and immense talent.

Luke was about to dive into her mind to cancel the command—or whatever the tree had implanted in her—when he noticed something alarming. Enid wasn’t calming down despite realizing her helplessness.

Her body started shaking erratically, her muscles tensing and convulsing as if on the verge of collapse. Her breathing was forced, and her jaw clenched so tightly that her teeth audibly ground together.

Luke frowned. ‘Why won’t she stay still? You can’t escape… you’re only hurting yourself,’ he thought.

The trembling worsened. Her veins seemed to bulge from the strain, and her muscles spasmed violently as they contracted and relaxed in quick succession.

Luke cursed in his mind. If she kept this up, she could seriously injure herself. Without hesitation, he released her.

Enid landed on the ground and immediately lunged at him again without a second thought, though her speed had diminished slightly.

Luke shifted his focus. While defending himself—either by dodging with his clairvoyance or blocking with a telekinetic barrier—he entered Enid’s mind.

It was a much more difficult process that required far greater concentration, but he had to do it this way if he didn’t want Enid to get hurt.

After a few minutes, Luke successfully nullified the mental command. He was lucky to be a blue-aura psychic—otherwise, bringing Enid back to normal would have been impossible.

Enid remained motionless. Her eyes, once filled with blind fury, now seemed dull, as if her consciousness had been pulled from a deep trance. Her exhausted body lost all tension and collapsed forward.

Luke reacted instantly, catching her before she hit the ground.

“Hey, Enid… are you okay?” Luke asked, holding her by the shoulders.

Enid’s eyes reopened after a few seconds. She looked at Luke in confusion, and then the memories of what had just happened flooded her mind.

“I… I attacked you. I’m sorry!” Enid immediately apologized, pulling away from him with an embarrassed expression. She had promised to help him, yet all she had done so far was cause trouble.

Luke shook his head.

“It doesn’t matter. That tree’s mental command was powerful… What else did the tree order you to do other than get away from there?”

Enid remained silent for a moment, as if her thoughts were still scattered.

“So that was a mental command…?” she murmured to herself before looking up at him. “It ordered me to kill anyone who saw the tree,” she replied.

“Anything else?” Luke asked.

“After that… I was supposed to kill myself,” Enid said with a dark expression.

“That’s… creepy,” Luke murmured, surprised.

This was far more powerful than an average blue psychic’s mental command. The human mind—whether normie or outcast—always retained a sliver of resistance, a crack through which free will could slip.

When Luke faced an outcast and commanded them to stop, the resistance they could put up depended on their strength. At best, he could gain a few seconds of advantage—or even less. And in battle, that was a huge edge.

But this tree’s mental command seemed like a directive engraved deep into Enid’s very being, not just dominating her mind but rewriting her survival instinct.

It didn’t matter if she was aware of the danger. It didn’t matter if she knew following the command would kill her. Her body kept moving forward no matter the damage she suffered, as if she were a puppet controlled by invisible strings.

And that’s considering it’s an outcast, not a weak normie.

‘Wait… could this tree be the cause of the camp closure?’ Luke thought, recalling what Elias had told him.

He said that a boy killed his girlfriend and then killed himself. It’s very likely they approached the tree, then moved as far away as possible, and then fought to the death, killing each other. The survivors then took their own life.

The same could be true for the three campers who drowned in the lake. Maybe the survivor took the two bodies with them and then committed suicide by drowning in the lake.

After all, the directive was meant to keep people as far away from the tree as possible. Otherwise, if all these people commit suicide just a few meters from the tree, it would only attract attention, and rumors could spread that it’s a cursed tree.

“Luke?” Enid called.

“Let’s go back to the tree. You stay away; I’ll get closer. What I’m looking for should be there,” Luke said, and with Enid, they quickly returned to the spot.

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