Magnus decided to rest on Cardys’ clearing for a few hours to catch some sleep. He didn’t know when the next time that he could rest in a relatively safe environment would be. Resting here meant he was surrounded by the now 6 friendly Ents. But first, he went to gather some fruits which were a few minutes away. Their location was provided unprompted by the Dryad Cardys. She said that Magnus looked pretty thin and was worried for him. He had no idea how she could see him, much less know that he was thin when he was the first human she ever saw.

On the way to the fruits, he was escorted by the Mage who would later help him with his mission. It didn’t have a name like the Ent Spearman. Cardys said that most Dryads name their Ents only after they reach their first Evolution at Level 10. However, she also said that something was weird. That her Ents were evolving at Level 5 instead. She thinks it might have to do something with the Integration. But who knows.

Half an hour later, he returned with a belly of delicious pear-like fruits. Magnus was happy to finally get out of the forest. He got a weird feeling from being in the forest. [Danger Sense] apparently agreed with him as it wouldn’t stop buzzing in the back of his head throughout the whole trip.

Sharing his worries with Cardys while lying on the ground, she revealed something quite important,” Yeah, that was probably one of the Matriarch’s guards. She has access to more variety of Ents, being Level 12 and all.”

Magnus blinked slowly and frowned, “When were you going to tell me that?”

Cardys laughed nervously, “I … Forgot? Sorry.”

Not being able to stay angry at the young-sounding Dryad, Magnus said,” It’s alright. I was already planning on challenging myself, I suppose.”

Getting tired from the conversation, with the exhaustion from the last few hours hitting him all at once, sleep took him over.

Magnus was standing over a suspiciously familiar forest, a small lake in the middle of it. Looking up confused him even more. Instead of the yellow crystal and the cave’s ceiling, a clear day sky greeted him, the sun shining warmly onto his skin like the crystal never could. He examined his surroundings and realized he recognized this place. The ground disappeared a few meters ahead of him, plummeting 10 meters down. Nearby a waterfall roared. It was the cliff near the cave’s entrance.

Scratching his head, he continued staring at the sky and breathing in the fresh air. Magnus sighed as a black dot rose up over the distant horizon.

“Can’t even have a nice dream, can I?” he lamented.

The black dot slowly grew in size until Magnus could make out its black wings. Six of them in fact. Horrible leathery gaunt wings. The flesh looked as if it was stapled onto a vulture’s skeleton by a demented madman. Their every flap invoked the smell of rotting meat into Magnus’ nose. Each and every one beat made a sound resembling a choir of screams. A cacophony. It sounded like what Magnus imagined hell must sound like. Their tortured screams made his ears hurt. He touched the sides of his head. The blood dyed his whole palm crimson. An ache started building up in his stomach.

Finally managing to tear his eyes away from the vile thing’s wings he made the mistake of looking at its now recognizable head. If the wings still resembled something vaguely alive, its head spoke the truth. Black spots of rotten flesh covered it. Maggots squirmed under its skin, occasionally poking out. The thing bled constantly out of its fiery green eyes.

Oh, its eyes.

In contrast to the rest of its head, they looked beautiful in a twisted way. Ageless. Full of wisdom, but also pain and hate. So much pain. It despised its life. The state it lived in. It envied everything that could live free of pain. Thus, it lashed out at everything around it.

The blood that rained down in its wake rotted everything it touched. The vibrant green trees became black and lifeless in moments after only a drop of blood touched them. The various forest animals decayed to lifeless husks like chocolate left in the searing sun.

Magnus vomited globs of flesh mixed in with his stomach juices. Even being in the presence of this being caused his Body and Soul to erode at a rapid pace. As it neared Magnus the sun itself took on a vile dark green tint. Only with the twisted dragon so close could he appreciate its scale. Its wings dotted with holes blotted out the whole sky.

A single gigantic drop started plummeting down towards Magnus and the idyllic forest. Just when wanted to give up and return to the earth he rose from, a deep but smooth voice spoke out,” What a bother. I am not dealing with this right now.”

Darkness. Then, a single yellow crystal slowly lit up in the now cavernous ceiling. Looking down, Magnus saw the source of the mysterious voice. An average-looking man stood in the middle of the lake, his blonde hair cut short.”

He wasn’t there before, or was he?” Magnus asked himself.

The sinister drop of green blood levitated above the man’s hand. After the man whispered a few short words, the drop size of a bus condensed into a crystal that could neatly fit in a hand. The man grabbed it with his left hand and gestured with the other one. The lake him parted away, as well as the ground underneath it. The lake’s surface wasn’t disturbed even a little bit. He carefully deposited the crystal deep in the hole and it closed back up.

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

Seemingly done with the drop of blood, the man sat down on the calm water surface.

Magnus opened his eyes back on Cardys’ clearing, feeling rested despite the intense vision. Shaking himself awake, he shuffled closer to Cardys and told her about the vision.

Cardys spoke,” That was the land speaking to you. Everything has a spirit. Every tree. Every rock. Every planet. Everything. I think this was a cry for help. But you shouldn’t be hearing it. Something is special about you.”

Magnus scratched his head and shrugged his shoulders. He was already trying to get to the bottom of this. If he helped the land, all the better.

Feeling finally fresh and ready he told Cardys,” I think it’s time for me to go. I will take the Mage as we agreed. We will first kill the rest of the corrupted Dryads to get stronger and then move on to the Matriarch. Thank you for the food,”

“No. I should thank you for your help. If you didn’t show up, I would be long dead before anyone managed to enter this Dungeon. Though how you got here so early I still have no idea. Good luck Magnus. Don’t die and return safe,” Cardys said as she waved her branches at him along with Caridus the Spearman.

Magnus waved back to the Dryad and motioned for the Ent Mage to follow him. Entering the dark forest, something instantly seemed off. The buzzing from [Danger Sense] immediately started back up again. Something must be following him specifically. Though with his increased Stats he felt stronger than ever.

Magnus Callahan

Level - 7

Body

Strength – 4

Agility – 4

Endurance – 15 + (+10%) – 16.5

Vitality – 6 + (+5%) - 6.3

Mind

Intelligence – 3

Focus – 2

Perception - 4

Soul

Might – 3

Will – 8

Aura – 2

The Stat Points he got from his 7th Level up went into Endurance yet again. It was getting quite monstrous. Much to his disappointment, it didn’t seem that 20 Endurance meant he was 4 times as durable as when he started. Either way, the difference could be felt. He suspected that the amount of venom he got injected with over the last 2 days would have killed the pre-Integration him at least a dozen times over. His resilience wasn’t the only place where changes were felt. His stamina was getting a lot better recently. The amount of energy he could coursing through his body was getting intoxicating.

Focusing back on reality, Magnus started looking all around himself. Thankfully, after a few minutes of walking, it didn’t seem that the stalker was going to do anything yet, as the buzzing was not growing any louder. He let the Ent Mage guide him. Cardys had told him that the Ents could naturally feel the presence of other Dryads, so Magnus was counting on the Mage to find their prey.

After half an hour of walking the Mage seemed to perk up. It slowed down and its footsteps seemed to get quieter. Realizing it probably picked up the scent of another Dryad, Magnus started sneaking as well. Feeling his intent [Stealth] activated, subconsciously making Magnus step more carefully and stick to the sparse shadows of the ironically bright underground forest.

Another 5 minutes of sneaking later, they finally saw the iconic clearing with a single tree in the middle. This one looked equally sick as all the corrupted Dryads Magnus encountered before. The fruits seemed so much healthier than the rest of the Dryad’s host tree. As Magnus came to learn from the idle conversation with Cardys, the Dryads didn’t actually require the tree to live. After their host tree died, they would return to the Spirit Realm where they came from. Cardys hoped that by killing them the Dryads’ souls would cleanse themselves upon their return to their true home. It made Magnus not regret killing them that much.

They were getting closer to the Matriarch and that meant that the Dryads were older and stronger. This one had 3 Level 7 Ents and 1 Level 8 Mage. Another one was slowly forming on the Dryad’s bark. After checking if the buzzing of [Danger Sense] didn’t grow any louder and feeling no difference, he nodded to the Mage. The Mage nodded back, started gathering Mana in front of its hand and shaping it into the shape of a spear that Magnus was quite familiar with. Just before the spear was ready, started rushing over to the closest Ent Sentinel.

He decided to first remove the Sentinels from the equation, seeing as a direct hit from the Mage was a lot stronger than any attack Magnus could manage in his current state. Before the fight, they picked the spot closest to the enemy Ents so their ambush would be the most effective it could be. Just as they hoped the Ents didn’t notice Magnus before it was too late and he managed to get the closest Sentinel into a chokehold. The spear shot out from the forest the moment he had the Sentinel in his grip. Afraid that it would manage to go all the way through the struggling Ent he let it go and shoved it in the way of the spear. It hit a few centimeters away from its core. Either way, it wouldn’t last long with the deadly thorns growing out of the spear.

Dodging out of the way of an incoming enemy spear, he set his sights on the Mage that fired it. It was surrounded on both sides by a Sentinel. Magnus didn’t need to think long on his next course of action before another spear shot out from the cover of the forest. This time it was aimed at the feet of the left Sentinel. He faked running to the left Sentinel before suddenly changing his direction and rushing the Mage. Seeing as the flying spear was covered by his body, the Sentinel couldn’t dodge in time and was pinned to the ground, ugly-looking thorns slowly spreading on its legs. At the same time, Magnus swung for the Mage that was preparing another spear. Remembering the trick that already got him one time Magnus feinted a haymaker. The wooden spear transformed into a spiked shield and Magnus kicked out the legs of the Mage.

Pouncing on the Mage like a wild animal, Magnus broke it in a few seconds. Getting out of the battle rage, Magnus came to and saw the previously uninjured Sentinel already with a spear stuck in its side. Smiling, he took a short time finishing off the 2 survivors. He learned that the Mages used the mana stored in their cores to fuel their attacks, so he couldn’t let his ally exhaust too much of his reserves before the final fight. At its Level, it could manage only a close to dozen spears before running out.

After they took care of the Dryad that was still desperately trying to form another Ent and soon continued their hike through the forest. They couldn’t waste time now, with the Matriarch being onto their plan. Walking through the forest, everything was good.

Wait.

The buzzing was gone. It wasn’t stalking them anymore. [Danger Sense] screamed as a dark shadow struck out at Magnus from behind a tree.