Chapter Fifty-Eight

Just in case they recovered, Arden descended into the forest and shifted, making sure he wasn’t in sight of them. Not that any of them were in a state to see him. He snapped off branches, then activated Nature Manipulation.

With almost comical ease compared to his last crafting session, he formed ten rectangles then trotted to the nearest downed intruder.

As a test, he targeted the furthest away intruder, the one who turned back.

He bent down and activated Nature Manipulation once more, then slipped the wood rectangles over his wrists and ankles, then turned the card off. As soon as he disconnected his control, the wood rectangles solidified into restraints. Arden gave them a few yanks, earning a groan from the captive, but nothing else.

Interestingly, when he inspected the restraints, he spotted dim Ortus bracelets peeking out from the armor. It was like they entered cool down or.

Arden’s eyes widened. Just like when someone entered a city. All Ortus bracelets went into a suppressed mode inside cities. The suppressed mode only allowed the opening of the Ortus menu to manipulate one’s deck and the activation of passive cards. The only way to avoid it was special authorization from the territory owner, which of course only extended to distinguished people or security.

He always thought it was some restricted enchantment, but it seemed to be an effect of the territory itself. That would come in handy. Even if they had wood manipulation or another card to slip from his restraints, they couldn’t use it.

Pure strength was still an issue, especially with the heavily armored leader, but that just meant thicker wood.

Maybe defending their territory was easier than he thought. If the intruders couldn’t use their cards, the only thing they had to worry about was pure mana enhanced strength and bloodlines.

Suddenly Arden froze as he remembered how the pond came to be.

How did she create the pond if the territory suppressed her bracelets? Did she use magic without the bracelets? No, he remembered clearly visible bracelets shifting between several colors. Somehow, she avoided the suppression. Maybe she was too strong to suppress.

A shiver ran through him. She was right. They weren’t safe hiding in their paradise. Already they had intruders. There would be more to come and those may break through their defenses, cards or not.

Though he had a feeling the snake would expand her death trap, which turned out to be far less deadly than he thought. Effective but less than deadly. Well, as long as they didn’t reach the colorful wall of misery.

Misery wasn’t the right word for it. The mushroom defenses did a number on their mental awareness. By the time they made it to the poison wall, they would be barely lucid. At least based on their first intruders. They needed more testing to know for sure.

Maybe that was how she planned it. Sit back and collect prisoners or execute them after the defenses incapacitated them.

At the thought of the hidden murder noodle, he sensed her watching from high above in the capital tree. He spoke to her while walking toward the next pair of intruders. “What do you want to do with them? This situation is a mess. They are from the faction who claimed the dungeon in our territory to the west. I already created conflict by claiming the dungeon and destroying their portal, but if we kill them, there might not be a peaceful solution.”

“Bring them to the clearing.”

A spark of annoyance sprouted. “Help then. I’m not carrying them all the way back.”

The answer came quickly, followed by a flash of nervousness on her end. “Preparing accommodations.”

Arden released a long sigh, then eyed the trees once more. He would need more wood. No way was he carrying them one by one. That meant he had to build something.

He glanced back at the restrained captive, ensuring they were unconscious, before dropping the rest of the rectangles. Then he used his materialized staff to swat down a pile of branches from the nearby trees. He almost felt bad breaking branches off, but they were low hanging and probably wouldn’t stay alive once the canopy recovered. Besides, they were going to a good cause.

Arden arranged the branches into a rough rectangle. Then he used his Nature Manipulation to weld them together before grabbing another branch from the pile. This time, he used his knife to help as he curled the branch into a circle, then filled in the open center with more branches. Once complete, he rolled the disk, finding it slightly off but close enough for his uses.

After creating five more wheels, he welded three sturdy branches to the bottom of the large rectangle. The center and one end axle had a solid weld to the frame, but the last axle had a rotation point.

He popped the wheels on the axles, making sure they spun and remained on the axle by thinning the spot the wheels rested while thickening the axle on each side.

Last, he used the remaining branches to connect a handle to the rotational axle.

When he flipped it over and pulled it, finding it rolled. He smiled, proud of himself. It was crude, but it should make it easier to transport the captives.

That smile turned to a frown as he eyed the forest, which thankfully wasn’t as thick as the trial dungeon. He might have to make himself a path, but it should be possible.

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It was crazy what manipulation cards could do. No wonder everyone wanted the manipulation card for their attunements. Even the base version was so useful. As long as he had wood nearby, he could make so many things.

He hadn’t even used the other aspects of his Nature Manipulation card either. Wood was more useful for building stuff than the others. Well, plant manipulation could help too. He could probably make better bowstrings and clothes by manipulating the right plants. Something added to his long list of things to do.

Arden pulled the cart to the already restrained captive and heaved him onto the cart. For good measure, he welded the restraints to the cart, ensuring he wouldn’t drop the captive by accident.

Fortunately, the large wheels had no problem rolling over the still hard ground of the barely alive trees at the edge of the resurrected forest. However, by the time he reached the duo, who bashed their heads in by tripping, he felt the wheels dig in. He might have to make modifications.

The duo were fairly light, with a similar build to himself, so it wasn’t too hard to get them on the cart and weld them down. Now he had three captives welded atop one another. He winced as he eyed the bottom captive, but fortunately for him he was fairly big, so he should be able to handle it, hopefully.

Instead of going to the nearest intruder, who was the heavily injured lithe gymnast, he rolled the cart toward the downed leader. Or at least he tried to. The extra weight proved too much for the narrow wheels. They didn’t break. Instead, they dug into the soft ground.

Since he expected the issue, he immediately got to work. With a few branches, he widened the wheels by almost triple. The extensions didn’t perfectly match the original wheels, nor were they completely round, but they were close enough.

He didn’t care about a smooth ride as long as they rolled. If he wanted a better cart, he would spend more time on it. Or he could perfect the current one once they delt with the intruder situation. It seemed like a useful tool to have.

With the wider wheels, the cart rolled through the forest, but another issue presented itself. All the traps Sola set up created obstacles he needed to move out of the way.

Fortunately, Nature Manipulation plus a whack from his staff cleared the path. If she wanted her defenses to remain intact, she should have collected her prey herself.

Once he reached the downed leader, he eyed the massive man well over two meters in height. He gave the man a tug, finding him too heavy to lift on his own with all the armor on.

As he eyed the armor, an idea sparked. He used Conjure Root to create a root on the opposite side of the man. Then he used Nature Manipulation to control the root to lift one side of the man while he lifted the other himself.

Even then his muscles strained, and a headache formed, but he held on just long enough to stack him atop his teammates.

As soon as he let go, pained groans escaped the people underneath the leader, but he ignored them as he welded the leader’s restraints to the others.

With a slight sway in his stride, he walked toward the last intruder. This one he didn’t bring the cart. The intruder should be light enough to carry and besides, her injuries were too severe to give her the same treatment.

Once he arrived, he scooped her up in a princess carry, wincing as he felt her body contort in ways it shouldn’t. Defiantly some broken bones. Good thing she was unconscious. The silent forest wouldn’t be so silent with screams.

Despite her injuries, once he reached the cart, he restrained her and welded the rectangles to the top of the leaders, ensuring none of them would go anywhere.

The cart creaked ominously, but it held. Based on the wheels digging into the ground, it wouldn’t be long before the cart wouldn’t roll, so he had to move quick.

Arden stared at the colorful wall of misery, then back at the stacked captives. Sola would be mad, but yet again, if she wanted her hellscape to remain intact, she should have collected them herself.

With the ever-useful Nature Manipulation, he opened the wall with his staff, ensuring it was wide enough to not touch any of the captives.

After he put in so much work, he didn’t want them to die from grazing some deadly plant.

His muscles bulged and his bare feet dug into the ground, but he got the cart moving. Unfortunately, with the weight and soft ground, no momentum built, so he had to keep pushing.

A sigh of relief filled him when he spotted the colorful ring not far away.

Sola turned away from the colorful jail cell and stared at the hole in her prized wall with a blank expression.

Arden ignored it as he pushed the cart inside. Then he removed each captive from the cart by rolling them off, except for the severely injured one, who he laid down as gently as he could.

With a glance at her melody, he found she appeared stable, at least for now, not that he had anything to heal her with if she wasn’t. Maybe a dip in the pond would help, but why would he do that for an intruder?

He laid them next to one another before yet again fusing their restraints. Not that they would escape the death trap Solanine set up. Better to make sure, though.

Once done, he stepped outside to find a platform next to the jail cell. Did she want to show superiority by looking down on them? There didn’t seem to be another reason. The jail cell was only waist height.

The answer came soon after, as Sola returned her attention to the cell. She walked inside and inspected each captive before bending down over the leader. Her fingers dug under the collar of his armor and pulled out a necklace.

After glancing at it, she yanked it off his neck, then with a pulse of mana the entrance closed, and the jail cell soared in height.

It stopped at several meters in height, forcing Arden to climb atop the platform to see inside.

When he looked down, he saw Sola trembling, but with hard eyes she eyed the prisoners. Through the bond he felt terror far stronger than he ever felt from her before, but also a stubbornness.

For the first time since escaping the trial dungeon, she shrunk into her snake aspect. Then, fast as lightning, she struck each prisoner, pumping a dose of venom in each.

Even in her snake form, she twitched as her anxiety flooded through the bond.

Instead of transforming back, she slithered under the cart and stared at the broken necklace, waiting for something to happen.

Almost a minute passed in silence before the necklace started shining.

Solanine tensed, causing Arden to follow her example, hand clenched around his staff.

With a pop and a bright flash of light, a figure formed.

Even before the light cleared, Sola struck. In a blur, she bit down at both of the figure’s ankles, causing them to collapse to their knees.

The light dimmed to reveal a man dressed in grayish green armor wielding a sword and shield looking ready for battle.

Too bad the battle was over before it even began as Sola struck several more times, disabling his arms causing the sword and shield to fall from numb hands.

Panic flashed in his grayish green eyes visible through his helmet, but with his arms and legs disabled, all he could do was kneel and survey his surroundings.

Those same eyes hardened as he took in the poisonous wall surrounding him and his restrained charges.

During that time, Solanine slithered under the wall and out of the jail, then immediately shifted back to her Fae form. She dropped to her knees, tears in her eyes, but after a few silent tears, she climbed to her feet and wiped them away.

As if nothing happened, she strode toward the platform and joined Arden. With an impassive gaze, she looked down at their captives just as the only conscious captive looked up to meet their eyes.