Chapter 335 A Fishy Situation
In the very core of the forest, a huge tree towered above all as the area around it was completely barren, a contrast to the rest of the frost. From afar, it seemed as if the tree had consumed all the vegetation in the surroundings. Like a parasite that had settled itself fin the heart of the forest and kept on devouring the whole forest.
The trunk was dark while it's leaves were blood red. The veins that went through them pulsed with the same reddish energy as it spread around an eerie aura of death. In front of the tree were five monsters that had their heads lowered in front of the tree, as if worshipping it.
"Have your armies retreated?" A voice thundered in their minds. Hearing the commanding voice of the tree in their mind, their bodies shuddered as fear gripped their hearts. These were the lords of the forest and they had been the lords for quite some time. However, the sudden influx of energy in the core had alerted them and when they reached the core of the forest, they found a small tree that was growing rapidly.
At first, the lords didn't take it seriously and thought of it as an uprising from a new lord and they prepared their armies for that but that changed when the armies they had prepared stopped listening to them and their armies started working for the new tree they had seen.
Fearing the tree and its strange powers, the lords had planned to give it a visit themselves but that was their biggest mistake as they found themselves striped of their armies as soon as they moved out if their respective areas. The lords were stunned and then, their fear was used against them. They heard the strange voice in their mind and felt something resisting their will. As if apart of themselves didn't belong to them anymore. Before that, they were preparing their armies to expand the forest against the human that had settled outside of it but it all went to waste.
The tree had access to their minds, memories and thoughts. They had no choice but to submit and that was what they did. They unwillingly submitted to the tree's control as that moister robbed all the beasts inside the forest of their free wills.
Right now, the lords were kneeling in front of the tree and received their orders, "The humans are coming deeper into the forest. Pose resistance to them and weaken them but don't stop or kill them. I want you to lead them to me," The tree said as the regional lords nodded, having an inkling to the tree's plan but they kept themselves shut. A lord had previously tried to revolt against the tree ad the outcome he suffered was something none of the lords wished to face.
As the forest lords moved, the tree kept on watching the human envoy that had entered the forest. It focused on the head nurse and zest as it marked both of them as problematic individuals that it would have to deal with extra care. The head nurse because of her strength and Realm while Zest for his strange ability to copy himself. As for Kashish, the tree didn't see her at all. It wasn't able to spy on her and it was because she had a few magical items upon her that escaped any means of detection. Those were the things she had been given by her mother, the Queen before she came to Earth and right now, those magical items were helping her avoid a great calamity.
As for Aella, the tree did see her but dismissed her as a weak individual because throughout the expedition so far, Aella hadn't done much and had been on the passive side of the team. Other than helping with strategies and stuff, Aella didn't do much nor did she use her abilities or powers.
Outside the forest,
Strange vines had erupted from the ground as they closed up all the paths that led into and outside of the forest. Slowly, the forest was changing itself and as the expedition team passed by a certain area, vines would cover that area and close it up.
Unbeknownst to the expedition team, they were slowly being led into the very core of the forest where the tree resided and even though they wanted that, they didn't know that they were walking into a grave trap.
"There is something wrong," Kashish stopped moving as she looked afar from the tree sje stood on.
"What do you mean?" Asked the head nurse.
"We are being followed and not just that, i feel the forest changing with each step we take. As if something is purposefully luring us into the forest," Kashish spoke and as she did, she raised her hand into the air as a huge vine erupted form the ground.
The vine was green in color and had spikes protruding out of it as Kashish controlled the spike and stepped on its tip. Then, the spike slowly started to rise further and further above in the air but as it did, the trees and vegetations around it started to move. They kept closing in onto the vine and slowly blocked its path to the top.
After reaching higher and higher, the vine stopped going up as the path above had been blocked while those below looked at it all with their mouths wide open from shock. Not knowing what to say or do, a few even started to hack around at the trees and vegetations around them.
"Stop!!" The head nurse roared in anger as she controlled the mana around her, only to notice that the mana in the surroundings was extremely thick. As if something had already scucked in most of the mana in the area.
"Kashish, come down," The head nurse spoke and then she ordered everyone to make camp in the place where they were, "We won't move till we have a definite plan. Till then we make camp here," Saying those words, she glanced at those closest to her.
Noelle, Zest, Aella, Kashish and a few more people were invited by her inside her camp as she asked them of their opinions.
"I would say that we destroy the surroundings as i think its a conscious plant based beast that is causing all this," Zest suggested but just as he did, Kashish shook her head as she countered him by saying, "Take it from me when I say that its not the work of some mere beast. It is probably something in the Calamity Realm or worst, the Celestial Realm,"
"Outrageous!!!" Another close member shouted as he couldn't believe the words that Kashish had spoken.
"No, she is right. It has to be something in at least the Calamity Realm because only a Calamity could cover this wide of an area and empty the mana in the air," As the head nurse said, she kept looking at everyone and asked them, "I'm sure you would have felt it as well. The mana in the air is very thin. To the point that is a quarter of what it previously was,"
Everyone nodded as they had noticed it and felt it as well, "What do we do then?" Asked Noelle nervously as she really felt scared to face an enemy in the Calamity Realm.
"Well, what else other than doing what it wants us to. Either that or we use our powers and cause mass destruction to just free ourselves from this and then face the beast in a weakened state. Not to mention the hundreds and thousands of beasts that reside in the forest, amongst whom i am sure multiple are in the Calamity Realm," The head nurse spoke as she had made her decision.
She looked at everyone gravely and said, "We will keep moving but we all wont move at once. Break into three and confuse the enemy. We move in different parts of the forest and then converge at the same point. I'm sure it has methods to keep watch over us so we will use it top our advantage and confuse it so it can't know what's we are here for," The head nurse ended her words and with it the meeting.
As everyone walked out of the meeting, the head nurse stopped Kashish and Aella and spoke to them, "You both, take this cube and keep it safe. It is a teleportational portal and if we are in grave danger, just insert your mana into it and it will teleport you to Ray's location,"
"Why are you giving this to us?" Aella asked.
"Because I find it all too fishy. There is great danger deeper into the forest but i can be wrong too but if I'm right, then we need to have backup plans and to be prepared. So if the time comes for it, use it and ask Ray to help us. He is strong, i trust him to do the right thing,"
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