-So… We just dump them…? Just like that? - I asked.

-I know, it’s wasteful. But I don’t think there’s any other way. That is besides just killing them on the spot.

Honestly, I didn’t want to admit it, but it sounded like the best option.

Was not going to say that out loud.

Not yet at least.

-Well, okay. So let’s go. But where?

-That can be discussed later - he replied. - If what we said is really true, we can’t be sure that someone isn’t listening in.

-Sure…

He turned his attention to the remaining group.

-Stay here. After we leave, go back to your home.

-Hmm…

-What, want me to say “home” or something?

-Nah, just wondering how well they can even follow the orders from far away.

-Should be well enough. Distance usually didn’t matter. I mean, you were the witness, that is if we were correct about them being controlled by something else.

-Fair enough. Let’s move.

He nodded and we started walking away.

At first slowly, we started picking up the pace when we lost sight of them. I was about to ask him if we wanted to enhance ourselves more, but he beat me to it.

-Let’s not go overboard with enhancing - he said. - This way we can see what they’ll do first.

-Okay.

Sure enough, they soon started moving.

I am uncertain what they thought was “after we leave” but it did seem like more than just leaving their sight.

-I guess we left their range of magical perception - commented Mike the moment they started moving.

-Hmm. Maybe.

That was most likely the case.

The two of us were a lot more skilled in that ability. But even then, it did take a considerable amount of time for us to get out of range.

Probably my fault to be honest. I was charged after all.

Oh, speaking of.

-Right… I was wondering, didn’t you want to use that leyline for something? We kind of got interrupted.

-Yeah. But it’s more important to get clear of those annoyances. I can find another one later.

-Those are that easy to find now?

-Check yourself. I bet you can feel it when we run past.

What was he even on about?

Leylines, sure, are under us almost everywhere, but it’s not like you can tap into them in any spot. The places where they cross usually have the weakest boundaries and leak into the environment.

Was he saying that those crossings were common here?

No, that’s impossible. There couldn’t be that many crossings anywhere close, but…

I did feel sudden bright spots when we were passing by.

Not crossings, though.

-What… What is this place? - I asked out loud, not sure what to think of it.

-It’s nothing special. It’s just what we made.

-What we made?

-You think our stupidity only affected leyline crossings? Hell no. We ripped even through regular ones.

-You’re telling me that it’s still leaking because of the first experiment?

-It’s healed a lot since then - he said. - It’s barely anything now.

-Barely anything? I barely can tell the difference between this and when everything started.

-You’re fucking with me.

-Told you that we messed up more than you think. But that doesn’t matter now. What about our would-be pursuers?

-Can’t you feel them yourself?

-Not any more.

Oh?

I guess I had more range than him.

That’s curious. What that many people absorbed, I thought he’d be at least as proficient at that as me.

That was good to know.

-Can’t feel much. As far as I am aware, they are retreating - I said after a moment of consideration. - But I can’t feel any spell-based mana.

-Just them?

-Yeah. Just them.

-Hm.

Yeah, it was a bit strange.

If they were really controlled, then for sure they would do something the moment we left them alone. At this point, we had to be outside their range of perception, right?

-This is tricky. I…

I think I spoke too soon.

The moment I was to voice my worries, I noticed a change in their behaviour.

It wasn’t something as noticeable as their mana shifting, or any other weird disturbance, no.

They were gathering together in one spot. Like someone had called a meeting or something.

-Oh, never mind. Something’s happening - I said and immediately explained to Mike what I noticed.

He seemed startled and a bit concerned.

-I guess… They gained back their sentience?

-Excuse me?

-Doesn’t that sound like they gathered to talk things out? You said gathering “like a meeting”, right?

-I guess. But weren’t they supposed to be some kind of military?

-Yeah. So?

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-Wouldn’t then they just make a line or some shit? A general would step up? Or whoever is in charge?

-Did it look like they had some kind of a leader?

-When they attacked, sort of? But now…

I focused again, but couldn’t tell.

Nor from power, nor from positioning. They were just a one big clump of people.

-Hard to tell. Fuck, I don’t know.

-We probably should assume that they are planning something.

-What about your command? They just ignored it?

-Maybe? At this point, I am not sure about those working at all any more.

A fair assumption.

I know how those types of magic were.

“Reliable” wasn’t the first word that came to mind.

-We probably should speed up - I pointed out.

-Mm… yeah. I guess there’s no point in waiting any more. If someone was to attack us again, they would’ve done that already.

-Probably. Let’s…

I stopped mid-sentence, because I felt something.

I didn’t notice any mana, really, it was more like some kind of instinct that made me hesitate.

Strangely, the same could be said about Mike.

-Something’s wrong… - he said, quickly scouting the surroundings.

-There’s no mana nearby - I said after confirming it once more. - But… you too…?

-What?

-I don’t know! I also feel like something’s not right…

He looked at me inquisitively, but said nothing.

And, a moment later, nothing was needed to be said, because we realized what the source of this unsettling feeling was.

It was below us.

At our feet, something shot up from the ground.

It was no wonder why we didn’t notice it’s mana. Since the soil was also infused, thanks to the nearby leylines and overall richness of the forest, it also had masked the approaching danger.

It was a long, greenish-brown vine.

It definitely had plenty of power, because the moment it emerged, I almost got blinded by its mana, and that’s an achievement in itself.

The creature, the moment it emerged from the ground, immediately grew another sprout, and sent both of them towards each of us.

I had to thank my strange instinct for warning me. If not for that, I wouldn’t be able to dodge the attack.

Hell, even with that I felt the green, spiky mass graze my cheek before I was able to jump away and slap it as hard as I could, draining some of its magic.

Even though it was “just” a plant, I could tell that it actually managed to leave a rather large scar on my face. I, of course, filled it in at a moments notice, but the fact that it had the power to crack the Origin Crystal was making me a bit nervous.

Speaking of nervousness...

Mike didn’t have that much luck.

He got pierced right through the stomach.

Even knowing how his body works… ir well, rather assuming a lot of things, it definitely got me startled.

I mean, seeing someone get impaled right in front of you was enough. And on top of that, the sheer force of the impact raised him off the ground, making him struggle in the air.

-AAH!

His yell reminded me that he, obviously, was not dead yet, so I immediately took action.

-Lmophu! - I said, slapping my right forearm and leaping towards the spike that he was hanging from.

As I reached the vine, my arm had already transformed.

I changed my right arm into one sharp blade, or rather just a sharpened crystal spike, with which I swiped at the vine, attempting to slice it off and let him down.

It… sort of worked.

First off, the creature was hard. Harder than expected.

Sure, it managed to wound me, but I didn’t think that if I was to put my mind to it, I would’ve had a hard time slicing it.

I did manage to give it a solid wound, but it was more like chopping a tree: I would need to swing a couple more times for it to fall.

Of course, I went ahead and started that process, but that’s where the creature retaliated.

I mean, I expected it.

It wasn’t just a random tree. But again, even if it was, I am not so sure if an insanely infused tree wouldn’t retaliate either.

In any case, it wasn’t just a tree.

From the ground, two more vines emerged, aiming right at me.

While I was pretty sure that it wouldn’t hurt me much, I decided to defend anyway.

Remembering my old dealings with vines and other creatures of forest origin, I recited a spell that I haven’t used in a while.

-Sophuk fi geksu, dosleyy nop, nus.

It’s been a hot second since I’ve used any full incantation, so maybe that’s why the spell was a lot more powerful than I expected.

That, or maybe it was the fact that I had recently absorbed a… little bit of mana from a leyline.

I intended to create a ring of fire around me to get rid of the plant, but instead I summoned an inferno.

It was just like I turned into an epicenter of a rather large fireball.

Enhanced or not, it worked almost instantly.

The vine got set on fire and the moment the flames started eating through the tentacle it immediately released Mike and dove right back underground.

It was pretty hard to see from under the fire, but I could sense Mike’s mana fall to the ground.

The following noise also made me certain that he was either unconscious or, judging by his mana being still very active, just weakened by the wound.

-Where did this come from?! - I said from behind the flames, but didn’t get a very encouraging response.

Instead, I just heard a moan of pain mixed with a bunch of cursing.

Well, at least I knew he was still present. Mindwise, that is.

Taking off my attention from him, I focused again.

Where did the creature go?

So far, I assumed it was just hiding under ground, but even though I focused on solely searching the soil under my feet, I didn’t feel a thing.

-I don’t know, but don’t stop! - I heard from him, a bit strained, but his voice was more annoyed than anything.

Of course, he was not going to wait idly.

-I’ll smoke it out, you burn it!

-Sure!

The moment he heard me agree, I felt a rather large mana pool gather and release right next to me.

It was directed downwards, and made the ground shake so hard I had trouble standing up.

While that was happening, I decided to take a bit more control of my own spell. Sure, it was mostly what I wanted, but not what I needed right now.

Following his example, I directed my attention towards the ground, and formed a barrier between me and the soil. If his spell had worked, the moment the creature appeared it would bounce away from the fiery wall at worst, and at best it would get turned to ash before it even managed to realize what’s going on.

But despite all that shaking and noise, nothing came out of the ground.

Both of us were waiting for it to emerge again, one passively holding fire on the ready, the other actively pouring his mana into an earthquake.

Finally, the attack came.

But not from the ground.

Something hit me at the back of the neck.

It hit at least as hard as the vine before, so expecting the creature I turned around, directing my flames at it…

Just for me to see a covered face of a person in a military uniform.

-The fuck…?!

Like some weird rain, people started falling from the portals opened far above our heads.

The hit I felt was one of those people straight up punching me in the head with the gloved fist.

The hell was that made of? Even metal would do less damage.

Being preoccupied by the vine-creature, I failed to notice them preparing portals leading right above our heads.

I didn’t have time to change my spell, nor would I really in the current situation.

After all, I had enough of those guys and some pain would hopefully teach them a lesson to not pester us any more.

But, despite the flames definitely reaching my target, he didn’t even flinch. He just swung his fist, this time hitting me square in the jaw.

-Ow!

He flew past me and another one appeared in his place, falling down.

It seems like our group that was supposedly ordered to leave us alone had teleported right above our heads and started an air raid.

And I mean that literally, because the moment they landed on the ground, they pushed themselves up, jumping high up, almost to where the portals were located a moment ago. Some still on fire from my flames that easily were spreading among them. And nearby trees.

-Damn persistent… Mike!

He wasn’t in a better situation either.

For a second, I thought that it might have been some kind of his plan, but seeing a rather large wound on his cheek and a bloody nose, I had to conclude otherwise.

-What do you…

I didn’t even get to finish my thought, not even mention the sentence, before I got hit again.

I swear they had metal inside those gloves…

Wait.

Weren’t those people the same ones that we were dealing with before?

Were they wearing gloves before?

I honestly couldn't remember, but that made me take a bit closer look at what exactly was hitting me…

And instantly realized why I was getting hurt.

Their hands were covered with crystals.