…In the period Alfraed was searching for the ingredients, he wondered about this place that was too good to be true, and suddenly remembered that his master never went here, and gave a warning to him if he ever needed to go to this area.
"Beware of…"
Unfortunately, Alfraed could not recalled what the warning was about. Did he daydreamed at that time? At first, he thought it was related to the swarm of beasts inhabiting this area. Sure, they were more dangerous and endless, but it was not something outside his ability to cope with, and his master should knew this. Thus, he concluded that his master just worry too much, how cute…
...Well, Alfraed was badly mistaken, the realization came right after he finished collecting all the herbs he wanted into his space magic incorporated-backpak that could store a lot more than it looked, and the daylight had fully faded, when a towering creature silently appeared in front of him.
Alfraed knew every beast stated in the three volume of beast encyclopedias, and he was absolutely confident this particular creature was not in it!
Or, maybe there was a new volume? Also possible, Alfraed had not visited a book store in Anspia yet. Furthermore, book was expensive.
The creature stood upright on two limbs that supported an eerily humanoid body made of what appeared to be wood and branches grew out of its shoulders. Its head was, an animal's skull, topped by a pair of antlers. In addition, it seemingly lack any functioning eyes, mouth or any features expected from the head of a living creature, enabling it to withstand the sleep gas that still lingered in the vicinity.
The only features that would make sense were its long pair of arms, which end in razor-sharp claws, and the four meters tall creature was wildly swinging it in a pace that was too hard to follow by untrained eyes. There was no technique, nor elegance. Only a raw display of savageness, and single slash was enough to leave a deep bloody gash on its victim. As evidenced in this wound-covered land. However, amid this brutal assault, not a drop of blood had been spilled.
"Grhh!" one way or the other, by utilizing his senses to the limit, Alfraed was able to dodge that ridiculous assault. Though, for how long?
From its bizarre appearance, it was doubtful the creature had the necessary organs to perceive information from its surrounding. Yet, it acknowledged how the object ahead was jumping nimbly-bimbly from side to side, similar to a feline, causing none of its attack to land.
...The creature was unhappy.
Corresponding with its negative emotion, the ground trembled, as if something below were forcing its way through. Numerous tentacle-like woods rose from beneath the creature, and Alfraed. The target of those menacing living things were, without doubt, the latter.
"Really?!!"
Evading had now become extremely difficult for Alfraed, as he had to deal with both the claws and the creepy extension of the creature's biology that could move independent from it. As such, unwanted wounds started appearing on his body. Fortunately, his dependable healing magic was always there to deal with the wounds… Though, in the curing process, he felt unpleasant sensation that interfered.
The next instant, the wriggling woods bonded together to form a massive weapon with rotating tip, and the sole purpose of its existence was to skewer its prey. Alfraed constructed a barrier to stand up to that monstrosity. But, shattering his expectation, the weaponized woods could easily pass through the barrier, forcing him to roll to the side to avoid it.
His previous place was gouged out, leaving a gaping hole.
"...No way…"
Alfraed had a personality that was far from arrogant. Having said that, he had confident in his barrier magic that even his master had no choice but to praise it. Thus, seeing that barrier could easily be taken down turned out to be quite a shock for him.
But, this was no time for such meek sentimentality.
The rotating weapon was coming again for him, and he tried constructing a second barrier to halt its advance. Yet, once again, the barrier could not hold it off.
Though, it was not in vain, this time, he could see what happened. His barrier did not break, it was erased. That meant, this creature, as well as the woods, had the ability to cancel magic, and disrupt a living being's flow of mana, as what was happening to him. Alfraed had difficulty activating his healing magic to heal wounds caused by the creature. Fortunately, all of them were shallow wounds, so it did not hinder his movements, for now.
When the creature thrust its claws to him, he managed to stave it off and moved closer to its torso, afterward, supported by his body rotation, swung his fist, with the very intention to wreck what was in front of him.
A breaking sound escaped from the collision of his strike and the creature's wooden body, and the latter was blown ten of meters away.
Sensing an opportunity, he decided to do what every sane person would do; retreat.
Alfraed had no intention to continue the fight with this troublesome creature, or finding out whether he could overcome his limit or not during a fight. He would gladly leave that kind of thing to someone else.
With strong legs that could produce astonishing speed, Alfraed quickly left the creature behind, and made way to leave this area. On his way, another woods emerged from the ground, attacking him like whips and trying to grab him, but he managed to elude it, and carried on with his escape.
When he though he was finally free, another wood came out, bringing the creature along to block his way.
Alfraed's mind went blank at that moment, unable to believe what just happened, causing him unable to block a thorny kick launched by the creature.
The creature had no intention to let its prey getting away.