The first night wasn’t very eventful. The First Walkers managed to kill 19 goblins from which I had killed 8.
I returned when the sun had risen and aided in the reinforcement of the trees. My tree faced a major problem; the grove had a central grassy area surrounded by 26 Zapis Trees which were all the spawning regions of new sprites. I was the only sprite to spawn from my tree. All other trees had the constant protection of a Lesser Hamadyrad, a wooden spirit, or both. Mine on the other hand, was completely unguarded.
All the fae helped me to reinforce the wood of my tree with layers. Then, I spent an enormous amount of mana to cover the entire bark upto the branches with hard roots to give it an extra protective cladding. I was the only fae who had the required skill level in 『Nature Growth』or in my case 『Nature Manipulation』to perform this feat.
Although this made my tree stand out from the rest and entice jealousy in other fae, all of them were powerless against my『Pheromones』and『Seduction』and were convinced that the Forest Sprites should indeed have a special tree.
In my free time I began to brew and store as much liquid 『Pheromones』in my house as I planned to reserve a secret weapon against any unexpected dangers the goblins could put up. The sun set and then came the night before the storm. The First Walkers had two new members who had gained sufficient skill levels by labour during the daytime. Although they were moving with us, officially they were to form a group called ‘The Second Walkers’ with all the other combat ready fae in the coming few days. We moved out to proceed with the disposal of rogue goblins and decided to meet in the grove two hours before sunrise.
----------------------------------------
My plan was progressing quite well. We had killed another 23 rogue goblins and only 2 hours were left for the sun to rise and the goblins to arrive. The trees were now several times thicker and sturdier. The grassy centre in the grove was filled with numerous hidden wooden thorns. I had personally aided in digging a concealed pit in the centre. Several roots were used to dig and outline said pit and the bottom had numerous long wooden stakes. While digging we had found a small blue marble which was the size of my palm at most but we decided to store it in my tree house for the time being.
----------------------------------------
I instructed all fae to rest for some time as not much time was left till the invasion. I was quite proud of myself for what I had managed to pull in these 48 hours. There were 6 sprites other than myself who were part of the ‘Walkers’ and had both the skills and battle experience to back it up.
The Lesser Hamadyrads and Wooden spirits were pretty strong near their home trees but were basically bound to it. All normal fae, 61 wooden sprites to be exact had their『Nature Growth』skill around LV4.
One could say our power wasn’t that bad to handle a couple of weak goblins.
Finally 48 hours passed and a familiar sound rang in my head and the surrounding fae.
Quest: You have been reincarnated in another world as an apprentice fairy magician and have completed your first task of protecting your Zapis hometree from the first survival exercise of the goblins. The goblins retreated but plan to bring their new ones to once again swarm the area. Coordinate with other fae folk to protect your Zapis grove.
----------------------------------------
Objective: Protect Zapis grove from savage goblin tribe. (0/1)
“Everyone!! Take your positions!!” I screamed and the fae readied themselves on the respective trees and I stood right above the trap in grass. My weight was too light for the grass to fall and reveal the deadly hole below so I decided to gamble my position and lure a few goblins here with me. The Walkers took positions surrounding the trap in a hexagonal formation.
A few minutes passed and we started hearing grotesque screams from all around the grove.
The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.
“GAJVSADKFJDKKJ!!!” Dozens of goblins entered the grove from all directions and started slashing at the trees. The Sprites immediately started using wooden spikes in vulnerable places like the eyes and joints of the goblins while the wooden spirits and lesser hamadyrads used their minimal nature powers to attack. The goblins moved in the grass fields and were greeted by painful sensations under their feet. I and the Walkers who were around the hidden trap stimulated the wooden thorns under the goblins to grow them as large as possible.
This was a technique I had taught these sprites when I recollected how I killed the goblins during the tutorial. Let the goblins come in contact with smaller spikes then grow them to pierce their bodies effectively killing them.
----------------------------------------
Hours passed and the goblin numbers were reduced to nil. All fae had collapsed in exhaustion other than me, the Walkers and the lesser Hamadyrads.
The trees were in a bad state but the lesser Hamadyrads had already begun the healing process. It was something I learnt later on but they had the innate ability to the increase vitality and healing qualities of nature and nature spirits around them. For us this turned out to be a great advantage as the trees were healing at an increased speed and the sprites and wooden spirits were slowly recovering.
The Walkers, including myself were in a terrible condition. No goblin had managed to reach the trap but we were out of stamina and mana. I myself had used four Beginner Mana potions by exchanging 80 Tokens. We had never fought in the vicinity of the lesser Hamadyrads so we too were experiencing the increased recovery effects. These were applicable during the long battle too, but we were too occupied to notice.
The area around us was a mess. Wooden stakes enamoured by mutilated goblin bodies and green smelly blood filled my vision and the trees seemed closer to the horizon than to us. The grass had all vanished and I was atop the last batch which, too, was fake as it was hiding a trap. The other Walkers started retracting the stakes in the ground slowly when I suddenly had a bad premonition.
“The goblins have stopped coming. Doesn’t this mean the quest should be over? Why did I not get a notification?” Seconds after I felt this tingling sensations, the silence and fatigue of the fae was broken by two loud and deafening roars, “GRAWAHAHSWSDXAAAAAAAAAAAA”. Two big grey orcs broke down a tree in the circular grove and roared in anger again.
“Is this a fucking joke. We cannot handle those monsters. They took down that tree with the push of their hand. The wooden spirit there and the three sprites are dead. What the actual fuckery is this?!?!?” All fae were paralyzed in fear and couldn’t move. The orcs looked at me when I was cursing and started moving towards me. The spikes imapaled their feet but they kept grinning and slowly moving forward.
“Shit shit shit shit shit..” I quickly used 『Sap Steal』on the dead bodies around me and started increasing the size of the spikes. Woken up by my actions, the Walkers and other fae joined me.
The orcs were annoyed by this but probably more annoyed as they saw their comrades’ dead bodies and blood moving towards me and disappearing. They couldn’t run to me due to the continuous damage we were inflicting on them but their hands were enough to kill me and the other fae who were no more than ants in their vision.
Their screams and roars kept slowing down the other fae but I was less affected probably due to 『Emotional Damage Nullity』which kept me from feeling any emotional disadvantage like fear.
Then an idea struck me, I immediately activated three skills at the same time exhausting all my mana other than 1 MP.
----------------------------------------
The wooden spikes retracted and the orcs were free. There feet were badly damaged but they could move more freely now. The started walking towards me ignoring the other walkers and slight grin just before reaching me. Both of them then proceeded to dash towards me ready for a hammering attack but my body suddenly disappeared in a cloud of smoke and the ground beneath them disappeared.
----------------------------------------
What happened in reality was that I had activated『Illusion Magic』in conjunction with『Pheromones』and『Seduction』. An invisible gas covered them numbing their senses according to my will and they saw an illusion of me standing alone completely defenseless. 『Seduction』enforced the illusion and they willingly walked onto the spikes and inside the trap.
As soon as they fell, we assaulted them with a barrage of attacks. Moments later I heard the voice ring in my head.
Quest complete: You have successfully protected your Zapis grove from incoming attack of goblin tribe.
----------------------------------------
Result: Protect Zapis grove from savage goblin tribe. (1/1)
Invading Goblins killed (89/89)
Invading Orcs killed (2/2)
Personal Achievements: Invading Goblins killed (57/89)
Invading Orcs killed (2/2)
Commanded fae (57/57)
Zapis trees enhanced (26/26)
Zapis trees evolved (1/26)
----------------------------------------
Rewards: Miracle Marble (1/1)
Sacred Zapis Grove Authority (1)
Tokens (2,500)