Chapter 474: Encounter in the forest.
On Aramis, there was a race of creatures called Dryads.
Of this race, there was a particular subspecies of them that seduced the males of intelligent races and preyed on them for nutrients.
There were only female dryads and they were all exceptionally beautiful, with no shortage of men falling prey to their wiles.
Now then, why was this being brought up at this point in time?
It was to give context to Arthur and Evan’s current situation.
Both boys were currently being embraced by a group of five nearly naked women, with clothes that left little to the imagination and extraordinary proportions.
To understand how they got into such a situation, we’d have to backtrack to right after Arthur handed the unconscious Margaux over to the Military Police Inspector.
◇ ◇ ◇
The cube-shaped spatial map that Arthur had picked up from Margaux held coordinates for a location deep within Elven territory.
Naturally, it was not the territory of the dark elves which were just arriving on Aramis but the indigenous Light Elves of the planet.
Much to Evan’s chagrin, Arthur decided to waltz over there like it was the most normal thing ever, and of course, he dragged Evan along just because.
They didn’t go over immediately though, first going to Sloklens to inform Rachel that Margaux had been found, then headed over to the Mercenary Guild nearby.
Arthur had Evan gain an Aramisian identity in the Mercenary Guild, so Evan was now considered an SS Tier Merc and this rank gave him a pass to use the Teleportation Waypoints to go into Elven territory.
From there, Arthur employed multiple casts of the Greater Teleportation spell to whisk them across Northern-Eastern Gledea and to the location.
They found themselves in a forest and as they wandered the woods, they found a massive tree that was bathing in sunlight.
It looked pretty, but what drew their attention towards it was the strong magic power they sensed from it.
Coincidentally or not, it also happened to be the location marked by Margaux on the map.
When they got closer, some figures emerged from the forest around them. It was a quintet of female ’elves’, and these elves appeared wary of the two ’humans’ who had found their way into the forest.
Evan and Arthur explained they were ’just travellers’ and they ’came in peace’, before posing questions about the tree in front of them, curious about the source of the magic power.
Although still wary, the elves offered to explain, while Arthur silently began using his cosmic energy to try peering into what was beyond the seal he sensed under the tree’s roots.
Was it confidence in the fact that they were stronger and could easily defeat them? Or perhaps because they simply didn’t see the elves as that much of a threat?
Whatever it was, it was why Arthur and Evan didn’t act immediately when they sensed the Elves activating skills.
Arthur was more curious about the seal underground, only delegating a portion of his consciousness to watch out for any hostility or attacks.
What came for them, however, were not ’attacks’ or hostile intent, but ’desire’.
The skills that these ’elves’ had activated, were charm-type skills.
They had activated these skills immediately after they were spotted, so Arthur and Evan assumed they were preparing for a fight and activated combat skills.
Even after they had explained why they were here and taken a fight out of the equation, the ’elves’ didn’t deactivate these skills and the two boys believed it was because they were still wary.
The ’elves’ had drawn closer to them when explaining about the tree, putting the two teens in range of their skills’ maximum effect.
It was then they shed their elven guises and revealed their true, mesmerising forms.
Their skin, now visible in its natural hue, had the warm, inviting tones of fresh bark, and their hair cascaded like autumn leaves, shimmering with a subtle, entrancing light.
Each dryad exuded an aura of enchantment, their eyes glowing with an irresistible, hypnotic allure.
The dryads’ eyes sparkled with a myriad of colours, each hue shifting and blending into the next, creating a captivating, kaleidoscopic effect that held most men spellbound.
Every breath the dryads exhaled was a delicate whisper of magic, an intoxicating fragrance that filled the air and invaded the senses.
The scent was a heady mix of blooming flowers and ripe fruit, sweet and tantalizing, making it difficult for the one to think clearly or resist the dryads’ pull.
The gentle sighs and soft words spoken by the dryads seemed to echo in the one’s mind, their voices carrying an enchanting melody that lulled them into a state of dreamy compliance.
With every touch, the dryads’ charm deepened.
They moved closer, their fingertips grazing the boys’ skin with feather-light caresses. Each contact was a conduit for their magic, intended to send pulses of warmth and pleasure through the boys’ bodies, heightening their senses and dissolving their willpower.
With an intense, predatory gaze, the dryads observed the teenagers, noting the empty, entranced look in their eyes, a sign that they had succumbed to their charms.
However, the dryads were calculated and deliberate, choosing not to pounce just yet, instead opting to further enthral the boys, drawing them deeper under their spell before making their move.
It was then that Evan finally opened his mouth to speak.
"So, Arthur. When are you going to stop pretending like this shit actually affects you?"
[...eh?]
One of the Dryads who was about to lean in and kiss Evan’s cheek let out a dumbfounded sound as she could not understand how the boy was capable of coherent thought in this situation.
What’s more, his words implied that Arthur was also unaffected by their charms as well.
They instinctively rejected such a notion, believing it impossible. Yet, Arthur proceeded to shatter their beliefs in the next moment.
"Dude...you could have waited a few more seconds. I was almost done deconstructing this place’s security."
Arthur replied with a sigh, raising a hand to press his forehead and seeing this, Evan was slightly taken aback.
"Oh...my bad."
"Don’t worry. Enough time has already passed, I’ve unlocked it now."
The moment Arthur spoke, he grabbed the arm of the dryad holding his shoulder and flung her with all his strength, which sent her flying through dozens of trees and smashing into a nearby stream.
[Wha-!?]
The other couldn’t even have a chance to complete her exclamation when Arthur grabbed her hand.
At that moment, she realised that targeting Arthur and Evan was a BIG mistake.
She tried to run, but how could she, a mere grandmaster, escape Arthur’s grip?
All Arthur needed was a ’light’ tug and he nearly pulled her arm right off her shoulder as he flung her over his head and onto the ground.
His nose twitched as he perceived the smell of burnt flesh, turning to see Evan clamping the mouth of one of the dryads shut while tongues of prismatic flames licked her hands.
Tears ran down from her eyes as she tried to scream but Evan’s powerful grip was backed by magic that muted the sound.
As for the remaining two, they didn’t hesitate to flee and abandon their companions, but Arthur wasn’t about to let them go scot-free.
With a flick of his fingers, he rotated the gravity that affected them and generated a pulling force that dragged not just them, but their other comrade who had been flung into the forest earlier.
Evan then turned towards one of them, narrowing his eyes as he said.
"You, you’re the one who tried to alter my memories, right?"
Although the dryad shook her head with fear-filled eyes, Evan did not care and instead grabbed her head, a chill permeating through the air as he proceeded to freeze the woman’s head with ice.
The ambient temperature rapidly dropped by the second, till it got to a level where even Arthur was beginning to feel ’cold’.
Such a temperature was enough to turn the dryad’s body into a frozen statue.
Evan then proceeded to thaw it with his flames, then freeze it again, then thaw, then freeze.
He repeated this process multiple times while Arthur and the other two watched—with tears in their eyes.
The dryads begged for mercy, but Arthur had one simple question for them.
"If you were successful in charming us, you were going to drain out all our magic and lifeforce as nutrients for that tree, were you not?"
"?!"
The way they flinched when Arthur asked that was enough of an affirmation for him, so the boy proceeded to deliver his judgement.
Evan’s Danger Sense skill blared alarms in his head and his ’Survival Enhancement Mode’ activated as Arthur raised his hand and released a beam of silver light.
When the light died down, the three dryads in front of Arthur had seemingly disappeared and Evan raised a brow in confusion as he saw the Progenitor casually walk over to the tree.
It was then that his eyes caught onto particles of fine dust being blown his way by the wind, carrying with them the scent of the dryads.
’Did he...turn them to dust?’
Evan questioned this as he looked at Arthur who was tinkering with something at the tree’s roots and tossed the dead dryad in his hands onto the floor, stepping over the unconscious body of the other one whose arms had been turned to ashes as he asked.
"Damn bro, you turned them to dust."
"Uh-huh."
Arthur casually admitted it as he conjured a magic circle and began tweaking it while Evan questioned.
"Wasn’t that a bit overkill?"
"Was it?
I’m someone who lives guided by my pleasure and displeasure. They tried to turn me into nutrients for this tree which they were born from, and that displeased me so I simply acted to clear my displeasure."
