Another vein-like branch moved before anyone had time to react.
Whoosh!
It struck the Silver Birch at the end of Ezra’s left side, passing dangerously close to Samuel, who had been walking slightly ahead of him.
The thin trunk shook from the impact.
Snow fell from its branches in a sudden shower.
For a moment, nobody understood what had happened.
Then the entire group turned toward the sound.
"Dry Ents!"
Agnes shouted, her voice cutting through the quiet forest.
Her expression changed at once.
She no longer looked relaxed.
Her eyes moved across the trees, searching for the source of the attack.
"I can’t see where they are!"
Samuel said as he looked around.
He immediately reached into his Space Bag and pulled out a small wooden plank, gripping it firmly as he prepared to ignite his Wood Alchemy.
Hugh also moved.
He pulled his spear from behind his back and lowered his body slightly, ready to attack anything that appeared.
Emily stepped closer to them.
She looked around the forest with growing fear.
The trees looked exactly the same as they had a moment ago.
Thin Silver Birches stood in every direction, their trunks covered in snow, their branches swaying gently in the cold wind.
Nothing seemed unusual.
There were no monsters.
No movement.
No glowing eyes staring from between the trees.
Nothing.
Then...
"Ahhhhh!"
Jeremy screamed.
His body suddenly jerked upward.
A vein-like branch had wrapped itself around his leg.
It had emerged from the side of a tree so quickly that he hadn’t even noticed it until it had already caught him.
The branch tightened around his leg.
Jeremy’s body was dragged off the ground.
"Get me down!"
His voice echoed through the forest as the Dry Ent pulled him higher.
The branch continued tightening.
His body rose another few feet.
Then...
Slash!
Diane moved.
She jumped forward and swung her thin sword in one clean motion.
The blade cut through the vein branch before it could drag Jeremy farther into the trees.
The severed branch fell away.
Jeremy dropped.
"Whoa!"
He twisted his body in the air, trying to control his fall.
As he came down, he brought both hands together.
Clap!
Cognis immediately moved through his veins and gathered in his arms before flowing out through his palms.
A dark-purple Alchemy Circle began forming beneath him.
The lines appeared one after another.
Before Jeremy touched the ground, the circle had already been completed.
Bam!
He slammed both hands against the snow-covered ground.
The Alchemy Circle ignited.
Dark-purple Cognis spread outward in the shape of lightning.
It crawled across the ground and through the surrounding trees, moving from one place to another like cracks spreading across glass.
The forest changed.
The camouflage covering the Dry Ents began breaking apart.
One tree that had looked completely normal suddenly moved.
Then another.
And another.
The brown surface of their bodies slowly separated from the surrounding trees as their forms became visible.
Samuel’s eyes widened.
"I can see them now."
The Dry Ents were everywhere.
Dark-brown wooden bodies stood among the Silver Birches.
Their bodies were thin in some places and thick in others, with roots extending beneath the snow.
Their arms were not normal branches.
They looked like long veins that could stretch, bend, and wrap around anything that came within their reach.
Samuel’s grip tightened around his wooden plank.
There were more than he had expected.
Then the Dry Ents opened their mouths.
Or what looked like mouths.
The wooden parts of their faces split apart.
"KRRRRAAAAAAACK!"
"KRRRRAAAAAAACK!"
"KRRRRAAAAAAACK!"
Their cries echoed through the snowy forest.
The sound wasn’t like the roar of a normal monster.
It sounded like several large trees being torn apart at the same time.
The branches around them shook.
Snow dropped from the trees.
Birds suddenly flew from the forest canopy.
The Dry Ents began moving.
Their roots tore through the snow as they advanced in a pack.
The trees around them were pushed aside as their bodies forced their way forward.
One Dry Ent wrapped a vein branch around a nearby tree.
The branch tightened.
Then the creature pulled.
Crack!
The tree bent toward it.
The Dry Ent used the tension like a spring.
The vein branch suddenly shot toward the group.
"Incoming!"
Jeremy shouted.
He kept pouring Cognis into his Illusion Alchemy.
He couldn’t afford to stop.
If the Dry Ents regained their camouflage, the group would lose their biggest advantage.
The incoming branch moved straight toward them.
Hugh reacted immediately.
He turned sharply.
His spear moved behind him as he pulled his arm backward, gripping the weapon with both strength and control.
"AHHH!"
He jumped.
Cognis flowed into his legs, strengthening his muscles and pushing his body higher.
The incoming branch passed beneath him.
Hugh twisted his body in the air and drove his spear forward.
Boom!
The spear pierced through the thin wooden body of one Dry Ent.
The impact cracked its body.
Wood splinters flew outward.
Hugh forced himself through the creature, breaking apart its upper body before landing on the other side.
His boots struck the snow.
He immediately turned around.
But before he could attack again...
Something passed him.
Fast.
Hugh’s eyes widened.
Ezra had flashed past him from the right.
For a moment, Hugh didn’t even understand what he had seen.
Then Ezra raised his E-V 26 MK.II Shotgun.
Bang!
The first shot exploded through the snowy forest.
The Dry Ent in front of Ezra jerked backward.
The pellets tore through the wooden surface of its head, leaving several holes across its face.
Before the creature could recover, Ezra had already shifted his body.
His right foot stepped forward.
His upper body rotated.
The shotgun moved with him.
Bang!
Another Dry Ent on his other side was struck.
Ezra didn’t stop.
He kept walking.
His movements were smooth rather than rushed, with each step already carrying him toward his next target.
Bang!
Another shot.
The Dry Ent’s head snapped backward.
Ezra turned again.
Bang!
Another.
Then another.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Each shot was aimed toward the head.
He wasn’t firing randomly.
Every movement had a purpose.
His feet adjusted his position.
His waist turned with his shoulders.
His arms followed the movement of his body instead of fighting against it.
The shotgun rose, fired, lowered, and moved toward the next target.
By the time Hugh had recovered from his first attack and prepared to join Ezra, several Dry Ents were already lying across the snow.
Hugh stared.
"What the hell?"
He couldn’t hide the shock in his voice.
"His too fast."
He said, almost forgetting his grammar as he watched Ezra move through the Dry Ents.
Ezra’s movements were too quick for Hugh to follow properly and even the Dry Ents were not having it better.
It wasn’t simply his speed.
It was the way he moved between targets without wasting a single step.
One moment he was facing a Dry Ent.
The next, his body had already turned toward another.
He fired.
Moved.
Turned.
Fired again.
The Dry Ents were being destroyed before they could surround him.
But on the other side of the battlefield, Diane was dealing with the monsters in a completely different way.
She didn’t even use her Frost Alchemy.
She didn’t need it.
Diane stepped directly into the path of the incoming Dry Ents.
Her thin sword remained in her hand.
A vein branch snapped toward her.
She jumped.
Her body twisted through the air.
Another branch passed beneath her.
She turned her shoulders to avoid a third.
The thin branches moved around her like a net.
Diane calmly slipped between them.
Then her sword flashed.
Slash!
One vein branch fell.
She twisted again.
Slash!
Another branch was cut.
But one branch was deliberately left untouched.
Diane reached for it.
Her hand closed around the wooden vein.
Then she pulled.
The Dry Ent resisted quickly.
Its roots dug deeper into the ground.
Krrrk...
The snow around its roots shifted.
Krrrk...
The ground began cracking.
The Dry Ent pulled backward with all of its strength.
Its roots dug into the frozen earth, trying to hold its body in place.
Diane simply pulled harder.
Her natural strength overwhelmed it.
The creature’s roots began tearing free from the ground.
CRACK!
The Dry Ent was ripped from the earth.
Dark-green liquid leaked from the torn roots and dropped onto the snow.
The sight made the white ground look stained.
Diane’s light-blue eyes followed the movement of the monster.
The Dry Ent was being dragged toward her.
She tightened her grip on her sword.
Then she pushed forward.
Slash!
Her blade passed through the monster’s body.
The Dry Ent was cut into two.
Krrk...
The wooden body shook.
Krrrkk...
The roots twitched against the snow.
Then...
CRACK.
The creature’s body split farther apart.
CRAAAAACK...
A strange wooden scream came from it before the Dry Ent finally stopped moving.
Its two halves fell heavily onto the snow.
Diane landed a short distance away.
She swung her sword once.
The dark-green blood coating the blade slid off and fell onto the ground.
She didn’t stare at it.
Nor did she hesitate.
She simply moved toward the remaining Dry Ents.
"You two should protect Jeremy."
Agnes said calmly.
She looked toward Samuel and Emily.
"I’m joining Lady Diane Bergwyn."
She immediately left after saying those words.
She didn’t wait for either of them to answer.
Samuel was already acting.
He dropped the wooden plank in his hand.
The clapped his hands, beginning the Alchemy ignition process.
Cognis flowed to his palms, the Alchemy Circle formed, and the Wooden plank began getting influenced by the Wood Alchemy Circle.
Wooden structures rose from the ground and blocked several of the vein branches that had managed to break through the main battle area.
The branches struck the wooden barrier.
Thud!
Another slammed into it.
Crack!
The barrier shook.
Samuel gritted his teeth and poured more Cognis into the Alchemy Circle.
"Stay near Jeremy!"
He shouted toward Emily.
Emily nodded quickly.
She remained close to Jeremy.
Jeremy was still maintaining his Illusion Alchemy.
Sweat had begun forming along his forehead.
His breathing was becoming heavier.
His Cognis was continuously being consumed as the dark-purple lightning spread through the forest and prevented the Dry Ents from returning to their camouflage.
If he stopped, the creatures could disappear among the trees again.
And the group would lose sight of them.
So, he continued.
Even as his arms began to tremble.
Even as his breathing became rougher.
He continued feeding Cognis into the Alchemy Circle.
On the other side of the battlefield, Hugh finally reached Ezra.
The two began fighting together.
Hugh thrust his spear into a Dry Ent’s body.
Ezra moved around the creature and fired into its head.
Another Dry Ent attacked from behind.
Hugh turned and blocked the incoming branch with his spear.
The impact pushed him backward through the snow.
He planted one foot firmly.
Then he pushed forward.
Stab!
His spear pierced through the Dry Ent’s chest.
Ezra fired at the same time.
Bang!
The creature’s head exploded apart.
The battle continued.
The Dry Ents attempted to surround them, but without their camouflage, their greatest advantage had disappeared.
The group could see them.
They could track their movements.
They could predict the direction of their attacks.
One by one, the Dry Ents fell.
The forest slowly became quieter.
The screams stopped.
The snapping branches stopped.
The sound of weapons striking wood gradually disappeared.
It took the group several hours, but eventually, the final Dry Ent collapsed.
Hugh stood over it.
His spear was buried deep inside its head.
He pulled the weapon free.
The dead creature’s body dropped into the snow.
"That’s the last one."
Hugh looked around.
Broken branches were scattered across the forest.
Dark-green blood stained several patches of snow.
Some Silver Birches had been damaged during the battle, their trunks cracked and their branches hanging at odd angles.
Hugh rested his spear against his shoulder.
"This type of Dry Ent is particularly weak since they couldn’t use their camouflage ability."
He smiled.
Then his eyes moved toward Jeremy.
Jeremy was sitting on the stone platform.
His breathing was heavy.
His shoulders rose and fell with every breath.
Maintaining the Illusion Alchemy for that long had consumed a large amount of Cognis.
Hugh gave him a look of respect.
"I now see why Professor Nine mentioned that your Alchemy Path is a weapon against the Ghost Crawler."
Agnes approached from the other side of the forest.
Diane walked beside her.
Both of them had finished dealing with the Dry Ents in their area.
Agnes looked toward Jeremy.
Her expression had become more serious.
"Your ability really is useful against creatures like these."
Jeremy gave a tired laugh.
"I’m glad someone thinks so."
He leaned forward slightly.
Then Ezra looked around the forest.
His eyes moved over the damaged trees.
The Dead Dry Ents.
The broken branches.
The blood covering the snow.
His expression didn’t change.
"We need to leave this area."
Everyone looked toward him.
Ezra wiped the dark-green blood from his coat with a piece of cloth with a clean white handkerchief.
He then cleaned the blood from his black gloves, before adjusting his white scarf.
"The noise from this fight must have alerted some monsters around this area."
He looked toward Jeremy.
"We shouldn’t stay here."
Jeremy listened.
He was tired, but he understood the reasoning immediately.
The forest had been silent before the battle.
Now, the area was filled with the signs of a fight.
Any monster nearby could have heard the Dry Ents screaming.
Any creature capable of tracking blood could eventually find the remains.
And they had no idea what might be living farther inside the forest.
Jeremy pushed himself up.
"It’s already getting late."
He dusted the snow from his clothes.
His breathing was still a little heavy, but his voice had returned to its usual calm tone.
"Let’s advance a bit more, find a camp location, and finally rest for the day."
He looked toward the forest ahead.
"We should increase our pace a little, so that by two days from now, we will already be close to the location of the Ghost Crawler."
Everyone nodded.
Nobody argued.
The group gathered their belongings and prepared to move.
Ezra was the last to look back.
The Dry Ent corpses remained scattered among the snow-covered trees.
The dark-green blood slowly sank into the white ground.
The forest had become quiet again.
Almost as quiet as before.
But Ezra couldn’t help noticing one thing.
The birds that had fled during the battle had not returned.
He looked toward the trees.
Nothing moved.
No branches swayed.
No creature appeared.
Only the wind passed through the Silver Birches.
Ezra turned away.
The group began advancing again, leaving the dead Dry Ents behind.
Their footsteps disappeared deeper into the snow-covered forest.
And behind them, the damaged trees stood in silence, their broken branches pointing toward the path the group had taken.
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