Chapter 58: Ensnared Aramlians

Kruger let out a slow and steady breath, trying to still his rapidly beating heart. Mud coated his sand colored fur and various gashes covered his upper torso. With blood pouring from those same wounds, and disheveled clothes baring numerous tears and slashes, the young Aramlian looked as if he had gone through a deadly battlefield.

Which wasn’t too far from the case.

Rising onto his feet, Kruger surveyed the area just beyond the Parthenon’s invisible barrier. The same area he had just narrowly escaped from.

Growling, hissing, snarling. Beasts that Kruger had never seen before in person prowled the perimeter, bloodthirsty eyes locked onto the Fennelis with dripping saliva and snapping jaws. Beings made up of a glowing moss, monster lizards that looked like scaly bushes, goblin-like figures with skin the color of a puke green. A collage of entities that wanted nothing more than to tear Kruger limb from limb.

And they almost had.

Right after the ground had started shaking, when the gigantic tree had first made its appearance, Kruger had taken it upon himself to step out and see what was happening. Meru, the former slave girl that had been helping him, had left towards the Supper Hall around an hour after Jak and Makos departure at his insistence. At the time, he had wanted to be alone and had sent the young Water Spirit under the guise of her enjoying the Bredalik and maybe working off some of her own aversion towards people.

So, being the only remaining individual within the Parthenon, Kruger could only rely on himself to get things done.

After stepping outside and seeing the newly formed World Tree and its enormous roots, the beastfolk immediately wanted to head back inside. However, after a small self pep talk and some logical contemplations, Kruger stepped past the Parthenon’s boundaries and began making his way over towards the Supper Hall, cutting his way through the dense foliage with thick, dual Scimitars.

He didn’t even manage to make it a full half kilometer before he ran into his first monster.

A unusually large MossHead about 5 meters tall appeared in his path, halting him in his tracks. Though more than a bit confused, Kruger readily dispatched the slimy beast with a few slashes. The true problems arose after the MossHead had fallen. Monsters of all shapes and sizes began pouring out of the woodwork, both figuratively and literally.

With no other choices, the Fennelis was forced into a hasty retreat. The plant based creatures chased after the Aramlian, attempting to surround him at every turn. For every one that Kruger managed to pick off, five more would appear in its place.

Flash forward to the present, Kruger had just barely managed to get to safety, slipping back into the Parthenon’s barrier.

Now, with NorthClaws library completely surrounded, Kruger was forced to rethink his strategy.

"Now what am I supposed to do?" The Fennelis grimaced, wiping blood from around his eyes. "Wait here for help? Who knows how long the barrier will hold. If only I was stronger, maybe I could collect some data on everything happening."

Then, things changed. Starting with a bang.

BOOM!

Kruger glanced toward the sudden eruption of sound, his long ears perking up. Another explosion followed closely after the first, allowing the Aramlian to better pinpoint the direction of the noise.

"It sounds like fighting!!" Kruger clutched his Scimitars, turning towards the unknown detonation.

Judging from the angle and positioning, the Aramlian quickly deduced a range to 200 kilometers from the Parthenon. Tightening his fist, Krugers eyes narrowed in determination as he took a step towards the enormous root separating him from the echoes of conflict.

BOOM! BOOM!

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

What had once been a relatively quiet night within the destroyed city of NorthClaw was shattered, flipped on its head as explosions of blue and red rocked the area near the city’s edge. Enormous chunks of condensed flames and waves of highly pressurized water tore through the newly developed forests like a rock against wet paper, carving a path towards the World Trees base. Leading just ahead of these bursts of volatile magic were Jak and Mako, heads of bright hair bobbing about as they remained on the move.

Just outside of the explosions, monsters could be seen wading inwards towards the young Adventurers like a angry colony of ants. Gone were the measly 6 to 7 MossHeads from before, replaced by a horde of bloodthirsty beings that never seemed to end.

BOOM!

Jak kicked off the shoulder of a MossHead and leapt into the air, somersaulting over a group of ravenous Vine Goblins. Mid jump, the fiery redhead twisted in the air and summoned a line of magic through Masamune, fire running along its sharpened edge.

"Flame Manifest: Red String"

Slicing downwards, the built up mana shot out in the form of a crimson arc. The moment it made contact with the snarling beasts, it exploded, engulfing the goblins and those nearby in a storm of heated flames. By the time Jak landed on his feet, a small patch of the following monsters and surrounding foliage had been reduced to ashes and burning vegetation, save for a few MossHeads who had barely survived. Not even the cores of those deceased monsters remained as the redhead continued his run forward, not looking back.

Mako wasn’t too far behind, cutting his way through with speed and precision, battle staff twirling and striking fast enough to cut and pierce, even with a blunted edge. Every swing, every thrust equated to dead monsters. No attack was wasted as the blue haired individual plowed through the opposition. Whenever the beasts threatened to surround him, he would summon forth a blast of dense liquid and send them scattering backwards. Though most monsters would be killed by the blast, the MossHeads closest merely used it as a source of strength, freely tanking the explosion with little effort.

"There’s just no end to these things." Mako leapt over a few Poison Gecko’s, falling in step with his flame wielding compatriot. "They aren’t strong but these freaks just keep spawning in."

"I think they were made to take care of any stragglers," Jak responded, raising his voice over the snarling of nearby beasts. Sidestepping a MossHead, he cleanly severed it from the middle without pausing. "The actual spell itself was probably conjured up to deal with the stronger Aramlians. Everyone else who wasn’t caught up in it would be overwhelmed by sheer numbers."

"That’s why we didn’t hear any fighting. They’re either captured or dead." Mako frowned, not exactly pleased by the news. "Though captured is the more likely result. It would take more than one spell to kill the entire BloodGuard, even if it’s a True Magic Spell."

"Maybe."

Jak was hesitant to agree but also couldn’t disagree.

There was a distinct lack of information on what they were dealing with, with the duo only able to make pure guesses as the situation unfolded. When it came down to fighting regular adventurers with Elemental Magic, it was rather easy to deduce their abilities when their base element was known. The opposite was true when facing True Magic users. Nearly anything was possible, especially when next to nothing was known about the adversary. Jak and Mako had yet to even get an IDEA about their foes identity, let alone meet them.

The only thing they could do was wing it and hope for the best possible outcome.

"Either way, let’s close the distance to the Parthenon." Mako gestured towards the towering root they were rapidly approaching. "It should be a bit beyond this Great Wall Of Bark."

"....That joke was-" - Jak

"Yeah. I thought it was bad as well." - Mako

"Grrrrr" - Knox

Weaving his way into the picture, the Vox Lion slaughtered dozens of monsters in a number of seconds. Having disappeared the moment the two rookies started getting serious, Knox always seemed to do whatever he pleased. Though, seeing as how the feline decided to tag along on his own volition, it wasn’t too much a surprise.

"Okay. Lets cut a path." Jak put on a burst of speed, cutting down various creatures with no hesitation.

Following suit, Mako picked up the pace. Knox easily matched them, almost looking like a light jog compared to the youths fastest run.

It took them a moderate amount of time to actually reach the root. The main reason for this was the waves of spawning monsters and constantly regenerating MossHeads, monsters that only served as a nuisance.

However, it got a lot easier when the trio were about a half a kilometer away from the giant wall of wood. At a certain point, the monsters halted their movements, as if hitting an invisible forcefield. Though an interesting bit of information, Jak and Mako merely noted it before continuing towards their destination.

And stumbled upon the answer as to the fate of the Aramlians.

As the duo approached the the root, Jaks eyes were drawn to a number of ’bubbles’ lining the sides of the enormous structure, bubbles that had been too small to see from far away. These weird looking spheres were spaced out in weird and nonsensical patterns, taking on different shapes and sizes. A deep green color, the embedded spheres had vines growing along the the surface, making it difficult to see inside.

Needless to say, it was among the first things the two adventurers investigated when they arrived at the base of the World Trees root.

"It looks a lot uglier up close." Mako scrunched up his nose slightly as he took everything in. "I can see why the monsters wanted to keep their distance."

"If looks could scare them off, then why did they chase you?" Jak calmly touched the surface of one particular bubble, poking at the vine covering it.

"Cause they know quality when they see it obviously." - Mako

"Right." - Jak

"Anyways. What are these weird bulges?" Mako tapped one of the bubbles with the tip of his battle staff. "Monster cocoons? Maybe the trees life source?"

Jak didn’t offer up a response as he picked apart the weeds, vines, and moss covering the outer section of the sphere. At first, the vegetation refused to be removed, the ends of the vines attempting to regrow the moment the redhead cut it off. However, after lightly burning them, they stopped and allowed Jak to fully take everything down. After it was all gone, the two individuals could see the murky green liquid residing just underneath the bubbles ’shell’.

The liquid was closely followed by a face. Shocked, Jak leaned back slightly.

"Is that....."

"Yeah." The redhead quickly regained his composure. "It’s a resident of NorthClaw. These bubbles aren’t deformities or monster pods. They’re Aramlians."

Just as Jak finished his sentence, a voice pierced through the darkness, high above the youths heads.

"I finally found you!!"