168 Wood Ambush.
[Friday chapters 1/3]
"All those corpses," Jack growled, "They don't seem to have died in a fight."
Withered, with no visible wounds or bruises. No sign of burning or smoke. Something killed all those fairies without inflicting damage.
[From the look of it, they starved to death. Lack of Mana.]
Arad approached one of the infected trees, touching the trunk with his eyes closed. "It's faint, but isn't this thing absorbing magic?"
Aella walked to Arad's side, touching the tree. "You're right, but it isn't absorbing all magic."
[Every living creature absorbs magic to stay alive. It's the same as their need for air. Those pixies are small but they need a lot of mana to survive. They suffocated to death.]
~Be careful! It's reacting!~ The fairy appeared on Arad's arm. He grabbed Aella by the arm and jumped back. Veins burst from the ground stabbing where he stood.
BAM! Lydia rushed on, stepping on the treant's arm and leaping up. [Holy smite] CLAP! She sliced the upper part in a single swing. "I got him!" She smiled, landing in the back.
"Nice reaction!" Arad smiled.
"I won't remain useless," Lydia growled, puffing her chest. But that didn't appear since she wore heavy armor.
~There are more!~
The smile disappeared from Arad's face. "Everyone, there is more."
Green veins started growing from where they buried the fairies. "That's elder wood!" Mira gasped seeing the veins wiggling like snakes. They formed humanoid bodies the size of an adult, glaring at Arad and his party.
"Blights?" Jack gasped, "They usually don't get bigger than a goblin!" He pulled his daggers.
"They are made of elder wood." Mira glared at Arad.
"They grew from the fairies' graves. It's using them as cores to grow stronger." Arad growled.
"It doesn't matter!" Lydia lunged forward, swinging her sword and cutting one of the blights in half. "They are normal sized so I can cut them." She said with a smile. The blight she sliced wiggled.
"Lydia!" Jack shouted and veins exploded from the sliced blight. It engulfed Lydia and lifted her up.
Lydia glared down, her eyes glowing golden. "You dare touch a maiden?" CLAP! Her sword burst with a golden flash, tearing the veins. Thud! She landed standing and swung her sword at the blight again. Ripping it apart.
The blights surrounding everyone extended their arms, sending snake-like veins toward everyone.
Mira hid behind Arad as he caught some of the veins with his hands. Aella jumped up, dodging the attack while Jack rolled toward the blights. Lydia stared back, taking a deep breath. BAM! A faint golden mist covered her body. [Banner of the Crusade] She lept forward at a tremendous speed, slicing the veins. Thud! Thud! She didn't stop moving and charged at the blights. Slicing and dicing with each strike exploding with [Holy smite]
[She's fast when facing humanoids. She isn't used to facing giant monsters.]
Arad smiled, "I won't lose." He pulled on the veins he caught, dragging seven blights at once. "Let's see you spin!" He started spinning them in the air, before smacking them at the ground.
The blights regenerated, their bodies jerking to life right after falling.
SLICE! As Lydia sliced, she noticed something in the monsters' chests. "They have a fairy corpse where their heart should be! Slice that and they would die!" She shouted.
Aella smiled, "Thanks for the information!" BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! She pulled her bow and started firing. In a matter of seconds, she has dropped all the monsters.
Lydia stared back at Aella with a scared face, "What kind of power was that? I have never seen an arrow blast through veins like that."
Aella smiled, "This is a steel bow made by Mira here. The draw weight is off the chart."
CRACK! As they talked, more trees around them rose as elder wood treants, and they got back on guard. [Mom, how could I kill those fast?]
[Lightning. A good load will force water inside them to evaporate and they will explode. Fire will take time to burn them and ice will also take a long time to freeze them.]
^I thought wood is resistant to lightning.^
[When dry, yes. Those things are filled with water and salt. Also, all lightning magic creates powerful lightning bolts.]
^I can't use that in front of Lydia and Mira, can't you think of something else?^
Arad smiled as he heard Mom's second idea. "Mira get away from me and hide behind Jack and Aella."
"AH! Yes!" She turned around and rushed back.
Arad squatted. The muscles on his legs started bulging. CREEK! His pants tore as he took a deep breath.
"GUH!" Lydia gasped as she was the first one to sense the magic flowing from Arad's body. She instantly knew something was off. No human could secrete such pressure unless they were at Alcott or Nina's level.
Arad's back bulged and his shirt exploded as his massive black wings emerged. CLAP! Mira gasped, those are the wings that scared her before.
"Obsidian wings," Lydia gasped.
BAM! Arad jumped to the sky, opening his arms. [Gravity Magic] He pulled all the treants to the sky with him at once. FLAP! FLAP! FLAP! His wings flapped rapidly as he flew to the sky.
Lydia fell to the ground as she tried to walk back and looked at the sky, "What is he?" she couldn't believe her eyes. A single man is carrying over five treants with magic and flying to the sky.
Aella stared up with dead eyes, ^What did happen to keep a low profile?^
Arad smiled as he reached the sky, the veins on his arms bulging as he swung up, throwing the treants. [Flame blade] He created a large sword with compressed flame.
Flapping his wings. Arad flew between the falling tree ants, slicing their upper halves. The wind pressure from them falling rapidly put the flames out. And they crashed down without causing any wildfires.
BAM! Arad fell from the sky, landing and standing on his feet. The ground beneath him cracked as he absorbed the wings back into his large torso.
"Can't you solo this mission alone?" Lydia gasped.
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