Kim Hajun exhaled and took a seat on a decently sized boulder. He stared at the sky before shifting his gaze downward over the edge of the cliff. If he had to climb up the sheer mountain side by himself, he’d need to master a few resistance skills first to protect himself from the extreme heat and extreme cold on the way up. Luckily, he had a dragon to escort him; though, the ride was a bit uncomfortable.

Vur stood on all fours not too far away from Kim Hajun. On top of Vur’s head, Tafel was standing while looking around with her hand shielding her eyes from the sun. After confirming there was nothing but trees and flowers here, Tafel slid off of Vur’s head, and into Vur’s waiting claw. “What exactly are we looking for?” Tafel asked as Vur lowered her to the ground.

“You’re looking for insect gold,” Kim Hajun said and stood up, turning around to look at Vur and Tafel. “Insect gold is the sap produced by the aulertu tree. Like humans can’t resist the allure of money, bugs can’t resist the attraction of insect gold.” The cloaked man gestured towards the center of the mountaintop. “In my prophetic dream, an explorer made their way up here and discovered these aulertu trees. He found out the sap attracted insects, and he managed to make a name for himself as the insect king. Shortly after, the insect-type Oebu Sin made their appearance, and I’m almost certain it’s because of the insect gold.”

Vur glanced at the trees surrounding him. In the distance, beyond the mountaintop he was standing on, there were more mountaintops with trees on them. “Are those aulertu trees too?”

Kim Hajun nodded. “These mountains are called the sword mountain range because”—he gestured towards the sheer mountains in the distance—“they look like sword sticking out of the ground. There are hundreds of these mountains, and all of them have aulertu trees growing on them.”

Tafel raised an eyebrow. “For a place flooded with insect gold, I don’t see many insects,” she said. She squatted next to a stone and lifted it up, checking underneath it for bugs.

“The plants are hostile to the insects,” Kim Hajun said. “Well, they’re hostile to everything, but mostly only the stray insect can get up here.” He frowned as he looked up at Vur. “With this knowledge, how are you going to stop the Oebu Sin from invading? I suppose it shouldn’t be too difficult for you to burn down all the trees since you’re a dragon. If there’s no insect gold, the insect-type Oebu Sin won’t have any reason to show up.”

“That’s a pretty cowardly way of thinking,” Tafel said and shook her head. “Even if we burn the trees down, and the Oebu Sin don’t come to us, they’ll still be there as a looming threat. I thought you wanted to save the tower from the Oebu Sin.” The demon smiled. “What better way to do that than to get rid of the Oebu Sin altogether?”

“Get to work, Deedee,” Vur said to the brown runes on his arm. “We’re packing up all the trees.”

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

The mountaintop rumbled as the ground around the trees rose up, the dirt pushing the roots out of the earth. “Where am I supposed to put them?” Diamant asked as a tree was fully expelled from the ground, its roots spread wide for all to see. They seemed to kick about like the tentacles of an octopus.

“Root bracelet,” Vur said, extending his front-left leg forward.

“If you say so,” Diamant said. A moment later, the tree was brought in front of Vur, transported by the ground moving underneath it. The root bracelet on his wrist flashed amber, and the tree disappeared.

“Wait,” Kim Hajun said, a deep furrow in his brow. “I gave you the information about the insect-type Oebu Sin for you to deal with the threat. If you gather all the trees and concentrate them into one place….” He stopped speaking upon seeing more and more trees pop out of the ground, wriggling as their roots were exposed. He had mentioned the insect-type Oebu Sin swarm could be delayed; he assumed Vur and Tafel wanted to know how to delay it, so they could deal with the other threats first. From Vur’s actions, it was clear the dragon was going to gather all the sap in one place to attract the Oebu Sin swarm.

“What’re you thinking about, Vur?” Tafel asked while looking up at Vur’s face. He was squinting, his eyes staring off into the distance.

Vur lowered his head to look at Tafel while bringing his front-right paw up to his belly. “I’m just thinking about what Kim Hajun said.”

Tafel raised an eyebrow. “That we shouldn’t be provoking the Oebu Sin at this time?”

“No.” Vur shook his head. “A while back, he said the Oebu Sin were delicious.” He looked Tafel in the eyes and nodded. “I’m thinking about if they’d taste more like lobsters or more like turtles.”

Tafel shrugged. “Maybe like crabs?” she asked and looked off into the distance as well. The valleys between the swordlike mountaintops were obscured by a layer of white fog, making each peak seem like an island of green in an ocean of white. “It’s going to take a while to collect all these trees, huh?”

Vur bent his knees, bringing his belly towards the ground, careful not to squish his wife. He exhaled through his nostrils before resting his chin on top of his left paw. “It’s alright,” he said. “Deedee and Zilphy will do it for us.”

“You hear that?” Zilphy asked, her voice coming out of Vur’s shoulder. “Just Deedee and me. There’s no need to butt in Mistle.”

“Sure,” Mistle said, the runes on Vur’s back flashing. “Have fun doing manual labor for the next few hours alone with….” The ocean elemental’s voice trailed off. After a second, the runes flashed twice. “Vur? I’m going with them, okay?”

“If that’s what you want,” Vur said and peeled off his root bracelet. He handed it to the small, brown boulder that had appeared by his side. A green boulder and blue boulder were standing behind it while glaring at each other.

“Since it looks like we have some time, I might as well use it to train,” Tafel said and exhaled as she placed her hands on her hips. She paused, and a wrinkle slowly appeared on her forehead. “Wait a second…. Did we forget to tell Mary we were leaving?”

Vur blinked. “We have to do that?”

“Yes,” Tafel said. “It’s called being polite.”

“Oh.” Vur said, not bothering to nod his head since it was already resting on his paw. “Well, when she sees we’re gone, she’ll train some more or do whatever until we get back. I don’t think she’ll care.”

Tafel scratched her head. “You sure? I don’t know,” the demon said and bit her lower lip. “I feel kind of bad.”