Chapter 127: Under the Old Banyan Tree

Aiksuuri rejected Morlo’s fawning proposal. A banyan tree that large was hard to miss; a guide was completely unnecessary.

Besides, the Dogman Tribe couldn’t be left without a competent leader. They made up ninety percent of the Young Dragon’s current followers; he’d be heartbroken if anything happened to them.

"Some little guys are born able to cast such powerful Magic, while a certain pair still has to learn from a Scroll on the spot," Aive giggled. "The difference is just too big, don’t you think?"

"How many types of Magic can it cast? And how many do I know?" Silvia asked, flicking her long white hair back. "You can’t expect Fireball Magic to solve every single problem, can you?"

"The path ahead is blocked by thorns. It looks like only someone with Delaford’s or a Kobold’s build could squeeze through," Aiksuuri said, looking at the thorn-choked road. "My breath and my claws and teeth probably won’t have an easy time clearing them."

Silvia: "Just wait, I’ll cast Fireball Magic."

"No need to go to all that trouble—Burning Hands!" Ron touched his thumbs together, spreading his other fingers. A jet of flame immediately shot from between his digits, incinerating the thorns and bushes before them. "Let’s go. Why use Fireball Magic for something a low-level spell can solve?"

The thorns here were unlike the ordinary ones in the swamp outside. Carnivorous Plants constituted the vast majority of them. Not long after Ron ignited them, the plants began to secrete a viscous, flame-retardant sap that rapidly extinguished the flames on their bodies.

"Looks like we’ll have to burn our way through again on the way back," Sera said, glancing back at the rapidly regenerating plants.

"These plants aren’t native to this area," Ron said, comparing the types of plants to the surrounding environment. "Even though they’ve been propagating here for a long time, their density and lack of variety aren’t natural."

"Some creature must have intentionally planted them here long ago."

"That was probably the Green Dragon’s doing, back when it was alive," Aiksuuri said casually. "Most Green Dragons are lazy louts who live off the land, but you still get a few industrious ones. They’ll cultivate the plants around their lairs to suit their own aesthetics and interests. But even so, its ’garden’ is a little too big—see that Old Banyan Tree? It’s still a long way from here!"

"Is it possible it planted these to guard against a Red Copper Dragon?" Delaford asked.

Aiksuuri was amused. "Guard against a Red Copper Dragon? It’s more like a Red Copper Dragon should be guarding against it! Those joke-loving, humorous Metal Dragons don’t have that much of an aggressive streak, nor are they some kind of do-gooder Defenders. Unlike, uh, gold dragons?"

Aiksuuri listened intently for a while, only letting out a sigh of relief after confirming there were no unusual animal calls from the jungle.

’Another successful day of bad-mouthing gold dragons and not getting caught.’

As they continued toward the Old Banyan Tree, the vegetation became more lush and diverse the farther they walked. This confirmed Ron’s suspicion—these plants were indeed not native, but had been deliberately planted here through external intervention.

However, the gardener’s technique was masterful and their Magic extremely powerful. Even now, after countless years, these foreign plants still held their ground firmly, standing tall amid the surrounding native vegetation, neither expanding further nor being encroached upon.

"Hey! Get over here, look what I found!"

Sera, who was leading the way, suddenly stopped and called to Ron and the others in a hushed voice.

"Why are there Undead Creatures here?"

From here, they could already see the Old Banyan Tree, rooted on a slope and so thick it would take nearly ten people to encircle it. Yet it was right here, to the RATTLE RATTLE of skeletal frames, that skeletons and zombies of various races moved about stiffly, as if patrolling and guarding the entire territory for their long-dead master.

"There are special plants implanted inside their bodies," Aiksuuri said, crouching in the bushes and pointing out to Ron and the others why these Undead could still move. "The Green Dragon ’hired’ them to guard its lair while it was alive. Now, even though it’s gone, the plants inside these Undead Creatures have survived and continue to fulfill their former duty."

"Simply knocking down their host bodies is useless. The plants inside will help them constantly reassemble and resurrect. To destroy them completely, you have to smash them into pieces like those fragments on the ground over there."

Aiksuuri pointed at the grass, where large amounts of skeletal fragments, nearly ground to bone dust, were scattered in some spots. They lay there, completely still, apparently dead for good.

"One thing to watch out for: don’t let them injure you. Otherwise, the plant seeds will likely take root directly in your flesh and turn you into one of the walking dead," Aiksuuri said, stopping Sera, who had been about to charge forward. "It’s best to destroy them completely from a distance."

Ron: "Understood. Let’s use Fireball Magic!"

This time, no one stopped the Fireball Magic from being cast. A massive Fireball with a radius of nearly seven meters was hurled by Ron. The tremendous explosion and searing heat destroyed every Undead Creature and the plants within them in the clearing ahead. Aive, Sera, and Victoria immediately followed, charging through the intense heat to quickly smash any stragglers and large remnants, ensuring they had no possibility of regenerating.

"HAWK—PTUI!" Aiksuuri spat a mouthful of Strong Acid onto a large, trembling skeleton that was trying to rise again. "That should do it. While we probably can’t completely eradicate the plants, at least these dead things won’t be bothering us while we explore."

"But where are the remains of that Green Dragon?"

A sixteen-meter-long skeleton wasn’t hard to find. Ron and his companions soon found the shattered, ghastly white bones inside the hollowed-out trunk of the Old Banyan Tree.

No one could move it easily, so even after countless years, it still maintained its posture from the moment of death—it looked as if it had been trying to crawl into the tree hollow and the lair below. In its abdomen, Ron found three slender skeletons.

"They’re all Elves," Aive identified the skeletons’ race at a glance. "They were all swallowed by the Green Dragon, but the Green Dragon was killed before it could fully digest them."

No Dragon Tomb, no Guardians, no Ghost Dragon; a Giant Dragon that died an unnatural death couldn’t hope for such things. It just lay here, together with the Old Banyan Tree it had hollowed out, which yet lived on.