I am the Enchantress!

Chapter 52 The Long Road

After Cyrion and Gru finished smoking their authentic Karatu tobacco, the group began cleaning up the battlefield.

The association certifies that hunting tree monsters is done with their roots, and each complete root can be exchanged for five silver coins.

In addition, the living bark of the tree monster is an excellent material for making shields and cloaks, and can be sold for three silver coins per ten square feet.

It's worth the price not only because of its tough texture, but also because of a very special property—

Magic resistance.

It has some defensive capabilities against low-level spells.

However, the proportion of activated bark on the tree monsters is not high, which is why the Burning Hand can burn them to death.

In the end, the team cut about two hundred square feet (about nineteen square meters) of bark from the tree monster, worth sixty silver coins.

Including the fixed reward of 75 silver coins for the fifteen tree monsters, the total is 1 gold and 35 silver.

As is customary, Cyrion makes the allocations in advance:

"Wilder got the most kills, so as the captain, I'll provide the badges. We'll each take three, and Gru will take two. Is that alright?"

"No problem." Gru shrugged.

He had no objection to the basis for Cyril's allocation.

only……

He had been getting the fewest points on the recent missions, even surpassing the newcomer Wilder, which made the dwarf feel quite frustrated.

Perhaps I should consider going back to my hometown to learn the craft of ironware making?

But the girls from Blackrock Fortress were really lacking...

On the other hand, Wilder naturally had no objections.

He calculated that he would receive fifty silver coins, which solved his immediate problem of being broke.

As for buying a few more spell scrolls or getting a higher-level staff, we'll have to wait a bit longer.

After packing up their spoils, the team didn't linger and prepared to return to Ironweave Town. They were going to the tavern that night to celebrate Wilder's promotion.

On the road.

"Gru".

Cyrion returned to the topic of the battle, "I noticed your axe-wielding movements were much smoother earlier. Have you been practicing lately?"

"Yeah," Gru replied casually. "I went back to my hometown a while ago, and my dad taught me a couple of his family's fighting techniques."

"What combat technique?"

"Horizontal slash and vertical slash."

"Oh, I saw you use the horizontal slash, but what's the vertical slash?"

"A vertical slash, that's a vertical cut," Gru explained. "Starting from the head, you chop straight down to the groin, splitting them in two!"

Wilder followed behind and nodded silently.

The classic scene of tearing apart Japanese soldiers with bare hands in a ridiculous TV drama came to mind.

but……

How can a dwarf reach an enemy's head with an axe?

This is a combat technique that can only be used in civil war, right?

No wonder it has been passed down through generations.

Cyrion probably understood this as well, but being a rather upright man, he simply nodded without offering any further comment.

The group continued on their way.

They walked very slowly today because Lyle, who had the best eyesight, and Joffrey, who had the best hearing, were both absent.

but……

Is it too slow?

"Aren't we in Area A yet?"

Cyrion stopped and stared at the dense forest ahead, feeling that something was not quite right.

As an experienced adventurer, he didn't need a map; he could walk back to Ironweave Town from the outskirts of the Border Forest simply by looking at the position of the sun.

But the more I walked today, the more unfamiliar it felt.

"It should be right, right?" Gru pointed to the path in the woods. "We've stayed on the path the whole time, and haven't ventured into the dense forest. Since there's a path, it must lead through."

"Um."

Cyrion nodded, and the group continued on their way.

The sunlight grew stronger, indicating that it had clearly moved from midday to afternoon.

Wilder took out his water bottle from his backpack and found that it was already empty.

We walked for a long time...

Are you really lost?

He observed the flat and smooth road ahead, which looked like a passage to safety.

The ancient trees on both sides of the road obediently stepped back, as if deliberately leaving a suitable distance for travelers to pass through.

Just like...

It was designed to be the same.

"No, that's not right." He stopped in his tracks. "We must be going the wrong way."

"Yeah, we can't go any further." Cyrion gripped his dagger. "I marked the trees along the way. Although we haven't been going in circles, it's impossible for us to have walked this far."

"What's going on?" Gru looked at the bright sun shining through the treetops. "We're walking with our backs to the sunlight; we should be heading north."

"Could we have been misled by the tree?" Wilder asked.

"A tree?" the two asked, puzzled.

"Hmm, I always feel that the trees in front of us grow too neatly, as if they were deliberately left to create a path to guide us."

Cyrion's eyes widened in shock.

Glancing again at the road ahead, the trees on both sides are planted in a straight line, even straighter than the trees on the main street of the town.

"Illusion?" Cyrion asked.

Wilder shook his head; he couldn't figure it out either.

Just then, amidst the rustling of leaves, a faint, frivolous laugh could be heard.

"woman?"

Gru's sensitive nerves jolted. "It's a woman's voice, and she's definitely not bad-looking."

"Quiet."

Cyrion glared at him and slowly drew his one-handed sword from his waist.

The laughter grew closer and clearer, as if leaping from one tree to another, gradually approaching them.

Wilde drew his oak staff, and the structure of the [Burning Hand] was already subtly outlined within the ruby.

Sudden.

The laughter abruptly stopped in my ears.

next second.

A thick tree beside them suddenly trembled, and then its hard branches shot up high, swinging straight down towards their heads!

"Be careful!"

Cyrion stepped forward, raising his oak round shield to block in front of him.

The branch struck the thick shield with a dull thud.

"A damn tree monster! Is it worried I won't have enough firewood?"

Gru was in high spirits today, and he rolled out from under his shield, sweeping his long-handled battle axe towards the lower half of the ancient tree!

【Horizontal slash】

With a "bang," the axe blade sank into the tree trunk.

Strangely, the green liquid did not flow out as before.

Another burst of laughter followed, from left to right.

"right!"

Wilder suddenly shouted.

Before he finished speaking, the ancient tree on the right also trembled violently, and then dozens of branches crashed down in his face.

Cyrion reacted quickly enough, but in the brief moment when the round shield moved to the right side, his right shoulder was still struck by several branches, leaving several deep bloody marks.

Wilder immediately extended his staff beyond the shield, the ruby ​​at the top emitting a dazzling light.

[Burning Hand]

The blazing flames burst forth, quickly igniting the canopy of the ancient tree.

However, the tree burned silently, without emitting a single hum, like an ordinary, soulless plant.

"What the hell! Are they tree monsters or not?"

Gru rolled back behind the shield, panting and cursing.

"It seems like something is jumping around inside the trees, constantly changing position."

Wilder squinted. In the instant he cast the spell, he sensed a residual fluctuation of magical power in the tree trunk.

"It's a tree spirit."

Cyrion said in a deep voice, "It's only an adult."