Once he brought the elves to the caves he noticed that they had hard-to-read expressions on their faces, he asked the high chief what that was about but the elf just brushed it off saying “It’s Okay.” He led the elves to the corrupted spring where some of the water had replenished already so he harvested it using [Harvest Material].

“What do you think, can you cleanse this corruption?”

The elf looked at it deep in thought. “With the right ritual, I am sure we can.”

He smiled hearing the good news and patted the chief on the shoulder. “I’ll leave it to you then.”

The chief scratched his head awkwardly. Actually, all of the elves looked slightly out of their element, but this was to be expected since they were so far away from their home. However, he knew there was no need to worry because all of the elves assured him multiple times that they want to come to the mountain and he will make sure to send them food parcels.

So with that out of the way, he left. Or maybe not quite. Just further away, at the same large cave where he first encountered The Great Worm of Oberon, he had some business there. He dug a small ground in the mulch-like cave soil and deposited [Myconid Matriarch Spore]. It was a crafting material he had no good use for, so after much thought he decided to just plant it and see what happens.

“If it turns evil, cut it down.” He instructed one of the spider guards.

“Understood.” The spider glared at the spore menacingly, never blinking or taking its eyes off it.

It was commendable the spider took this so seriously, but the spore probably will take weeks to grow into something.

On the way back home he visited the Kobold leader and informed them about the elves. The kobold seemed to be happy as long as there weren’t Lamia and no one was trying to stew any kobolds. The kobolds had stocked up on a very large quantity of dried mushrooms (myconids), so there was a good opportunity for a new trade.

“Would, you trade some mushrooms to me? I can give you cloth or even weapons.”

“Kobolds need no weapons, we have our claws. But cloth you said?” The kobold leader grabbed the King’s tunic between his fingers and tugged at it. “That looks fun.”

“Fun? I can even ask spiders to craft you clothes.” He offered helpfully.

“Yes, yes. That would work.”

They went through small details and once it was over he left with a large amount of mushrooms all stuffed in the bags and tied to the backs of the spiders. From now on, the Lamia Boar Stew will be even more flavourful.

…

Back at home, he had completed the task of kitting out his spider warriors, or should he say spider people because they looked like people. For some reason, they were the most evolved from the whole lot of spiders doing various jobs. It was funny when he remembered that their ancestors four or five generations ago were nothing more than trouble-loving spiders he once had referred to as Jesters. And now they stood as tall as him, their forms alien but vaguely resembling a humanoid. They had six legs and two arms, and a big head with a set of large mandibles and four round yellow eyes. Like all of his spiders, they were obsidian black.

He didn’t have much metal yet so the gear the warriors were wearing was made out of the produce he grew here. Yes, it was pretty much all grown and very organic. The materials were: robust obsidian eggshells, durable blue ropes and twines, sturdy triangular leaves from PurpleM vines, tanned leather extracted from enchanted boars, and other little things made out of chipped bark from Iron Oak. Everything was Reinforced +1.

The gear itself was an improved form of thorn armour plus thorn shield and chitin axe. He thought the spear would be better for them, but his warriors had opinions of their own so he didn’t press them to use the weapon they disliked. All in all the design was quite spiky giving the warriors Reflect Physical Damage 10% in total. And in the end, they looked quite formidable, like any warrior should.

He gathered the evolved warriors into a small clearing, the force was not that big only 500 spider warriors plus another 500 normal spiders for odd tasks and jobs.

He thought it was a good time for a speech so climbed on his mount, the largest spider of them all ­– the warrior leader who refused to evolve. He projected an Aura of King

“Spiders! No, my people, I have gathered you all because we have an important mission. Our Ally needs our help, the forest of The Great Ancestral Tree is under attack by those who seek to destroy it. I have seen the fires with my own eyes and those axes they use with no mercy. We must go and show that we mean business, that we can protect our friends. But! I urge you to refrain from hostilities because we will not go to war, only to negotiate.” He stressed the latter. “It is humans we are against, so you must be strong. If they know that they can’t mess with us then they won’t. I am sure they will see reason and stop their hostilities. So, my people, let’s go and greet these Humans so that they know we exist, that there is The Kingdom of Spiders and that we protect our allies!”

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

The spiders raised their axes and shields high and then cheered. “For The Kingdom. For The King.”

He waved the spiders to get moving. As he walked he saw Lamia Queen waving him goodbye, she was dabbing the corner of her eye with a cloth to soak up a stray tear. There was no sadness in her yes, she was just impressed with the speech; he was certain of it.

They traversed the web fields and emerged into the barren clearing and then went towards the familiar road leading to the forest. There was a long journey ahead of him, but he had his mount, and his spiders had six legs making them quite speedy.

[You have left The Dreaded Place], the message informed as he was just about to enter the forest. It was interesting that some places did have this and others didn’t; The Oberon Mountain didn’t. Actually, aside from his jungle and The Ancestral Tree, he didn’t know any other places.

Just as he was nearing the area previously known as Elf Encampment… Or was it a city, or settlement? – Either way, it was now something entirely different, maybe that’s why the system gave it a name.

“Hello, King of Spiders.” A green wisp greeted. “We see you are finally ready for war!” the wisp expanded in size.

“Not war – negotiations.” He corrected.

“Dryad – Druid; both not so different. The humans can’t be allowed to continue.”

He agreed on that.

“Will your dryads join me?” He asked curious because he hadn’t seen any recently.

“They had been set free. Returned to the forest. But I will come with you.”

He didn’t want to sound ungrateful but he was sceptical of the powers of someone who was just a large floating orb of light. “You can fight? Cast some spells?”

“I can Heal and Buff your spiders.”

“Oh…”

The wisp wasn’t done. “We can command animals and plants. They will aid us in our quest.”

“I see.” He just shrugged because it kinda made sense. He shouldn’t expect fireballs coming from someone who was serving the forest. If the Great Ancestral Tree had powers of destruction it would have never struggled against the human invaders to begin with.

“Let’s go. The trees are dying as we speak.” The wisp urged.

He looked at the dense forest, there wasn’t even a road yet and from memory he knew that the edge of the forest was far; it will take a lot of time to reach it. It will be days if not weeks, but he came well-supplied.

…

The trip was better than he had expected. All he had to do was ride on the warrior leader while others pushed forward into the forest, clearing the obstacles in their way. Surprisingly the wisp didn’t mind, it understood the need for a clear path. And that speaking ball of light made quite a companion; it was interesting to listen to its stories.

Apparently, it had lived a long life, where the word long was an understatement. It started as a sapling and grew into a very large tree. But all which live must grow old and then return back to the soil. It too was old, too old, parts broken and parts rotted. It was time for it to go but then it was gifted consciousness by the forest spirit and its form changed and it became a Lesser Dryad. Its body was small again but it was full of energy, it felt like a sapling again, plus it could move freely around the forest. The dryad played and frolicked in the forest occasionally running an errand or two for the spirit.

The time went on and Lesser became Greater. The Great Dryad was the bestest of the best servants of the forest spirit, entrusted with the most important tasks.

In the forest, there was a wandering tribe of elves. Still young and primitive in their ways, they were lost without guidance. The forest spirit decided to provide the elves with a purpose so that they can grow into something better. It was the Great Dryad who gifted the elves the seed of the forest and told them to rear it into a tree. He told them that If they guard the seed they wouldn’t need to wander and seek for food, the forest would provide it. And the elves agreed; they settled. And all was well, a small group became a city and a seed into a towering tree, but there was trouble. There always was, because life was chaotic and the Great Dryad knew that.

Sometimes a monster would be born, too large and too vicious, too greedy for its own good. Some trees were too old and decrepit, they were standing in the way of new life. Bugs and infestations, curses and plagues would come to the forest uninvited. The forest spirit provided the elves with their ancestral tree so the elves had to protect the forest. And all worked, it worked for centuries. And then it just didn’t. Life was chaotic and sometimes what works just stops working and there is a need for a change. A change the elves were unable to make.

The rest is history. The Great Dryad fused with The Ancestral Tree and took the role of the forest guardian.

There were more stories, some interesting and others mundane, naturally, he liked some and disliked others. The less interesting one was about the avatar of the forest, a simple white squirrel which roamed the area spreading love and making friendships with other animals. That one turned out to be quite boring, there was just no conflict in it.

Just then the wisp was about to start another story it pulsed rapidly as if in anger. He looked ahead but there were only trees so he looked up. He couldn’t see well but above the tree canopy, there was a column of smoke stretching across the sky.

“We are close.” The wisp warned.

He called his spiders closer and told them to move silently. They were getting close he could hear the sound of axes hitting the wood.

“There are people here. I see them with my sight.” The wisp moved towards the direction of the sound.

“Wait, let me deal with it.” He patted his spider mount and then dismounted

He left the spiders just behind him and walked casually towards the sound. And finally, there it was the clearing and three familiar axemen.

“Hello!” He waved at the three projecting the Aura of Friendliness.