The group reached the point where they had to turn off from the road and began trudging into the forest. The trees cast deep shadows over the party as they went further and further in. The trees all looked the same, and they began to get lost.

“Where were the slimes supposed to be again?”

“The request said they had been seen in the forest off to the left of the road after the 3 large boulders. I am definitely sure that those were the ones we saw. Perhaps the slimes were already killed by another party?”

“Anyway I feel at this point we should turn around and find our way back. Anne have you been keeping track?”

“Yeah sure we just have to head …” Anne was turning around with a confused look on her face, realizing it all looked the same, even to her. “Dally check for magical effects”

Dally sent out beams of light which bounced off the trees before returning to her. “Oh no. We’ve entered into a confounding tree range.”

“Fuck. I should have been paying closer attention. Any idea how close we are to it? Do you think you can still dispel it or are we too close?”

“I’m sorry but what is a confounding tree?”

“They are a type of tree which has a field in which it tricks people into heading towards it where it kills them. And no I can’t dispel it at this point. We have already gone in too far. We are going to have to take it down.”

“We can’t take it down, this thing is a bronze to silver rank threat!”

“Only if we get in close. If we plan this out we can take it out from afar. They are a tree so we need a lot of attack to take them down. There is a core pillar in the center that keeps it alive. If we can slice that and then wait for about ten minutes then we are golden.”

“Wait, If it is actually wood, couldn’t we just burn it down with magic?”

“Well no, Despite it’s very tree like appearance it isn’t actually made of wood. Did you guys leveled up last night?”

“I did, but only by one so no new skill.” Anne said.

“I didn't,” Dally said.

Rowan took a moment to gather himself up and said, “I leveled up last night and upgraded my class to [Shield Warrior]. I got the skill [Mirror Shield] Which allows me to make a duplicate of my shield and move it around anywhere within 10 feet of me.”

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“Wow congrats, Now you are a bronze rank too! Why didn’t you let the guild know?”

Rowan looked embarrassed. “I kind of forgot.”

“So how about we find this tree thing first ok?”

With this the group started heading towards the center of the field of strange mana. Anne pointed out a clearing ahead of them, and mason could see a large tree with dark brown bark and almost blue green leaves. Other than the coloration and the shape of the leaves it looked like an oak tree, which stood out from the rest which were pines. They stopped where they could see it.

“Anne, do you think your arrows could do anything to this thing?”

“No my arrows wouldn’t be able to pierce the bark by more than a quarter inch. It wouldn’t really work.”

“ Well my axe is fairly well suited for this. Dally I feel like your summons won’t really help in this situation, no need to risk them. How about you two try magic from afar first.”

With this dally and mason set about analyzing what they could do with their magic. Mason formed a very long vine, and hardened the tip while also shaping it into a drill. He had it snake across the floor, a decision which would reveal to him just how dangerous this could be. The second the vine crossed into the clearing, three roots shot out of the ground, Severing the vine. Mason pulled the rest back and began to try again, this time having it go along the branches overhead before finally dangling down next to the trunk. He quickly lined up the drill vine with the tree and began spinning it and pushing it forward. He saw it make some progress, but once it got past the bark, it seemed to notice and broke it with roots again.

Alright it seems like my idea won’t really work either. Perhaps we need to have more powerful instantaneous magics. Dally began working on a spell and when she released it she shouted “Hard Light Broad Axe!” With this a flash of light shot from her outstretched hands a broad axe appeared, parallel to the ground. It hit the trunk and did a not insignificant amount of damage. Dally appeared winded though. “That took more than a quarter of my mana so I can only do that twice more. With this she set about doing just that. Mason sat about thinking how he could do something similar. He decided to try an earth spell. With that he set about creating a ring of earth with sharp points on the inside. He sent it over to the tree, where it opened up and wrapped itself around it without touching the bark. He lined it up with where Dallys light axes

had hit before having it constrict and begin spinning. He quickly tore a ring into the trunk and compressed the entirety of the earth into that ring. Roots came shooting at the ring but it could only break a part of the ring which was quickly repaired. He continued tightening the ring until he reached about 20% mana. He let them know and withdrew the ring. Together they had gotten nearly to the core, and they began to plan out how they would finish this. They decided rowan would go in and use his axe for the finishing blow and would protect himself from the roots using his mirror shield and anne shooting any he missed.

Rowan began to hype himself up before sprinting straight towards the clearing. He summoned his mirror shield below him, Moving it at almost the pace he moved, so it was always right under him, but he never stepped on it. He approached the tree and some roots shot out from below him, striking the shield and knocking him into the air. With a crash he came down and rolled in the direction of the tree, getting on his feet just as another root shot out of where he just was only to be severed by one of Anne's shots. At this point he had reached the tree and wildly swung his axe at the crack in the tree, Using [Extended Strike]. He heard a loud thud as his axe hit the wood before sinking into something more liquidy. With this he ran back towards the group, using the same maneuvers, but the roots seemed less energetic now. Rowan looked back over his shoulders to see the tree leaking a bluish substance. With this the group sat down to wait.