The number of forests within its territory had reached double digits. Thousands of trees were under its command, supporting its domain. Inside, there was TreeCity, which was enveloped in a circular crown of trees.
Below was RootCity, where humans resided. Consequently, a vast forest had been established for the protection of the inhabitants and to prevent the invasion of foreign soldiers.
Obviously, this was to prevent and defend against invaders, the soldiers of the Wood Kingdom. Despite having War Treants in its vicinity, it couldn't protect the inhabitants, so it had established plantations of hundreds of trees at various locations. This way, it could appear anywhere and be alerted to any situation. No one could escape its watchful eye.
At the same time, Noah was exploring another piece of land, even stranger than the corrupted lands . To the west of its territory. Before it lay a torn land, a hellish red in color, with lava descending from the mountain. It had reached a new intersection, touching the edge of the plain beneath its mountain, about a hundred kilometers away.
The mountain was even larger than the one upon which its main body sat. Above it, a huge vapor and smoke rose into the sky, followed by volcanic dust falling downwards.
And on the lands beneath the mountain, small shapes were moving, as if they were accustomed to living in these conditions. Curious, Noah began to approach these peculiar forms.
Inside these lands were humanoid beings walking with purpose. In their hands were clubs and daggers made of an unknown material. He only knew that it had the texture of rocky stone.
Perhaps it was one of the materials constituting these mountains, but he did not yet know their durability. He only knew that these clubs looked dangerous, perhaps even more so than the bite of a magical beast.
Their appearances were ugly, they were small in stature with hunched backs, about 1.20 meters tall. Generally smaller than humans, their skin was a reddish hue, rough and scaly at first glance.
They wore tattered clothing in places and only a small gray tunic, likely impregnated with volcanic dust.
At the same time, their aesthetic features were not as good as their bodies. Their faces were distorted, with yellow eyes, and their sharp noses curved downwards.
Noah was hesitant and began to doubt his own eyes. He had the perfect appearance of a goblin but strangely different from his previous world. Compared to the basic form of a goblin, the one in front of him was red.
He thought it might be a goblin variant. Perhaps their environment had changed their appearance. After all, in his world, goblins adapted to their environments just as well as humans.
What surprised him was that there were goblins in this world too! And not only that, they were strangely intelligent and armed. How should he proceed with his activities? His thoughts became even more complicated.
While he continued to contemplate the situation below, a hundred red goblins were still monitoring the surroundings like soldiers sent to guard the territory.
Inside a small forest with red leaves, a hundred goblins emerged with animal corpses on wooden sticks, levitating above the ground. They seemed to be moving in an unknown direction.
At the back was a goblin different from the others. It notably wore a black leather tunic and had a strange pendant hanging from its neck. Was there a goblin village nearby?
Realizing the discovery of a new species and a new habitat close to his own, he tried to approach before encountering a strange barrier.
There were no trees within his territory, and he couldn't go any further. He felt frustrated and tried to look from a distance at a strange shape rising high.
Unfortunately, he couldn't see very far, mainly because of the eruptions and the rising smoke that obscured the territory, much like fog. He would have to cross the territory if he wanted to search for the goblin village. Perhaps they were peaceful.
With a glimmer of hope, he began to think intensely about his next actions.
Having finished his reflections, he appeared in his avatar form and walked inside. At the same time, he placed his wooden leg into the edge of the mountain, detaching the plain from the mountain. The goblins turned in his direction and stared intently at him.
Anxious about so many eyes, he began to speak hastily. "Um. Hello?"
After finishing speaking, the goblins started running towards him. Why did they all have expressions as if their loved ones had been killed by him? Had he caused harm before? He shook his head.
Suddenly, a red goblin leaped onto his position.
Noah frowned and dodged the first club strike aimed at his head, still trying to reason with the goblins before him. "I am peaceful! I don't want to fight! Do you understand my words?"
"..." They continued to attack him relentlessly like wild beasts and even tried to cut through his wooden mouth.
No matter how much he insisted, the goblins paid him no heed other than hostility. They did not seem to understand his words. Perhaps they spoke a foreign language, a goblin language.
And with goblins attempting to take his life, he was not very eager to learn it.
With a sigh, he said, "Don't blame me. You started it." He began to retaliate and kill the goblin in front of him, then turned to the next goblin and killed those who approached. The goblins tried to resist but could not stop the Vine Strikes, however fast they were.
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Just as the goblins were about to be exterminated, a very fast shadow appeared behind him. Alerted by an unknown intrusion, Noah quickly turned around and lost consciousness in part of his upper body.
He felt being stabbed in the eyes, then being cut in two and sliced before even realizing it. He felt a sharp pain throughout his body and sensed a murderous aura targeting his heart.
Instinctively, he quickly abandoned his avatar before going insane and dying on the spot. The transparent smoke of his soul soared into the sky and drifted in an unknown direction.
The unknown individual in question simply watched the smoke rise and held the lifeless upper body of Noah before tossing it to the ground. "..."
At the same time...
Finally, he returned to his main body in the forest, and Noah woke up with a start. His branches trembled, and the animals fled. He looked around to assess the situation and recognized his War Treants surrounding him, providing him with security.
Then, after regaining his composure, he began to think rationally about the situation. No matter how he thought about it, he was still dumbfounded.
What had happened?
A drop of sweat appeared, noticeable on his body, and a strange thought came to his mind. Had he been killed without realizing it, making him like this?
He had managed to detect his weakness and had been stabbed where he had hidden his vulnerability! His avatar had an inert body that was useful but had a certain weakness. A core hidden in a part of his body.
Of course, creating an avatar was not easy. He had to use mana to materialize it and also mana cores. No matter how he thought about it, losing an avatar was hard for him.
He felt saddened. He shook his head. If he were to die, he needed to know the identity of the person who had killed him!
Directly, he wanted to know how he had died and went to the lava mountain, to the exact spot where he had been before abandoning his avatar.
After searching for a good while, he could sense a familiar aura. It was his avatar's aura. He continued to advance and found the border between the green and red plains. He glanced and saw his avatar dissolved in the lava.
Noah was stunned.
His avatar was dissolved in lava? Where was the person who had killed him, and how had the lava reached his location?
He was certain that the lava hadn't appeared where he had been. He had also chosen a location away from the volcanic eruptions of the high mountain. Unfortunately, these questions had no answers and only continued to accumulate.
With a sigh, he gazed at the surrounding landscape for a good minute before shifting his attention back and returning to his body. Regardless, the territory remained unchanged, and he could come back when he was stronger.
He began to drift off to sleep, visualizing the massive mountain that covered the sky. In the meantime, he would keep an eye out for any strange occurrences at the border.
[Year 58 Month 8]
A defense meeting consisting of about a dozen people was gathered inside TreeCity, in a building constructed for its specific needs.
Inside a rectangular table, Noah was seated on a wooden chair with Christine to his right and Maestros to his left, followed by other less important subordinates. Noah nodded, and an elf stood up. "Here's today's news. An army of approximately 40,000 soldiers has been sent to subdue TreeCity. At the same time, scouts have been sent to gather information along the way. It is believed that an Archmage may be among the enemy ranks."
Following this, many people in the room began to gasp in response.
Noah raised his hand and gestured for the elf to continue. The elf stood up straight and said, "Currently, Wood Kingdom is not treating us fairly. The appearance of humans in our lands disturbs the Wood family, and they are attempting by various means to subjugate us, even resorting to killing all humans. At the same time, we received a letter." He paused and looked at Noah.
Noah nodded and encouraged him to continue once more. "Here is the message: 'Traitors of Wood Kingdom, you have allied yourselves with our long-standing enemies and acquired our legitimate territories. We will no longer tolerate this outrage and will annihilate all of you if you resist.' Signed, Wood." After finishing reading, he fell silent and sat down.
At the same time, the discussions became more animated.
An angry human stood up and exclaimed, "What is this affront?! We are no longer the humans of the past! We have changed and acquired good manners. Who are they to label us as enemies? We have done nothing wrong!"
"It's true!" shouted several other humans.
Maestros joined them. He scratched his beard and sighed. "We settled here to live peacefully, to avoid magical beasts, and to show gratitude to our lord. But no matter how we try to explain it, we've become the problem."
"Grandfather!" Marianna slammed her hand on the table and called out to her grandfather.
Maestros ignored her and continued, "I would prefer to avoid conflicts and withdraw our people from your territories. For the sake of everyone and the well-being of your jurisdiction, I will remove my people from your lands," he said sadly.
Now, Christine also slammed her fists on the table. "This is reckless!"
"You may have survived thanks to our Lord's assistance, but you won't be able to avoid Wood Kingdom's pursuit! No matter if you withdraw, Wood Kingdom won't withdraw easily," she declared.
Noah, who had been silent, nodded in agreement. Everyone focused on him and fell silent. After a few minutes of contemplation, Noah spoke up. "Indeed, Christine is right. No matter if we leave, they won't withdraw and will attempt to invade us. So, it's better to stay here."
The first to voice opposition was an elf. "Why help them?!" he protested.
Christine, in response, stood up and slapped the elf. "Silence!" Her actions startled the elf into silence, and a palpable sense of fear overcame him. He meekly returned to his seat.
Noah sighed coldly. The other elves began to grow uneasy. "Obviously, some may be against this decision, but I won't tolerate opposition. Next time, it will mean death. Understood?" he declared with a menacing look.
The elf nodded faintly and discreetly withdrew from the room.
Noah was hesitant. He didn't want to say such things, but he felt compelled to do so. To be an effective leader, he had to command authority and instill fear when necessary. He hoped to establish an unassailable and inviolable sense of authority in the minds of those present.
As he glanced at the faces in the room, he could discern the division between the two heterogeneous races. Humans were separated from elves, and elves were separated from humans. The division was apparent no matter how one looked at it. Noah knew he had a challenging task ahead in uniting these two groups.
Regardless of how one looked at it, discrimination was evident. Noah couldn't tolerate such division within his council. He knew that political divisions often resulted in disaster, and he was determined to find a way to unite these two groups.
After several minutes of silence, Noah finally spoke. "Alright. We'll conclude the council for now. We'll prepare defense troops in response to the invasion."
Christine and Maestros nodded in agreement. But just as they were about to rise from their seats, Noah stopped them. "The council is not over yet. Please, have a seat again."
They were confused, but they halted their movements and sat back down. They were curious about Noah's intentions and waited in anticipation. The wait wasn't long, and Noah began to explain. "Humans and elves have divergent histories and their own grievances," he said.
They all nodded in agreement, acknowledging the truth of his words. Everyone was aware of this, so why did Noah seem so uneasy?
Then, Noah dropped a bombshell. "For this reason, I have decided to unite TreeCity and RootCity. Humans will now live alongside TreeCity, for the sake of security and integration. We must come together," he said with a smile.