As we went deeper into the forest, we had to fend off more Phantom Stumps and Tree Revenants. Fortunately, my own army of Phantom Stumps and Tree Revenants discouraged them from attacking us. It wasn't so much their strength but more of their shared connection. After all, Phantom Stumps and Tree Revenants wouldn't attack their fellow ghost and wood type spirit beasts. Much like how most humans wouldn't attack each other for no reason.
Unless you were a criminal, but that was another case altogether.
"Do you have any clue where to find the World Tree seed?" Myria asked, hopping over an outstretched root as she kept up with me. We were surrounded by my Phantom Stumps and Tree Revenants, and so didn't have to fight. Not only did I have my wood and ghost type spirit beasts out, Xiao Huo and Xiao Huo Long were accompanying us as well.
"No idea, but I figure it's deeper inside the forest." I peered at the digital map on my smartphone and tried to extrapolate our position in it. "Apparently, there's a…ruin right in the heart of the Spectral Forest that's rumored to have one or two World Tree seeds fall into it when it blossomed the other year."
"Heh…"
We proceeded inward, and there were a few clashes here and there. Nothing of note, thanks to my procession of Phantom Stumps and Tree Revenants, who fought off swarms of bug type spirit beasts and living trees. Any that got too close were incinerated by Xiao Huo and Xiao Huo Long. a swarm of Menacing Mantises had sliced at us with their scythe-like claws, and I had my regular ranked Phantom Stumps retreat to minimize casualties, only to divert the horde of Mantises straight to the flamethrowers from my three-tailed fox and Charred Salamander.
"…yeah, not interested in Menacing Mantises," I muttered, poking a scorched carcass with my foot. Good thing I was wearing shoes, or I wouldn't want to make physical contact with them with my bare feet.
"What do you mean?" Myria asked. I shook my head.
"Nothing. Just looking for suitable spirit beasts to add to my summoning army."
"Hmm…anything specific you have in mind?"
"I don't know. Maybe something cool?" Then I stopped when I caught sight of a flash of orange further in. My Phantom Stumps and Tree Revenants had stopped too, realizing that there was an encounter with a horde not of their brethren right ahead.
That meant hostilities couldn't be averted this time. We could detour and try to avoid the pack of spirit beasts ahead, but they seemed to be coming straight for us. As if to confirm my doubts, the lead Tree Revenant turned to me and emitted a low, rattling whistle.
"Damn. They spotted us and are charging straight for us. I think they don't like Phantom Stumps and Tree Revenants much. A rival species of spirit beasts, perhaps? I hope they aren't my Phantom Stumps and Tree Revenants' natural predators."
I caught sight of a flash of orange, even as I organized my army of wood and ghost type spirit beasts into formations. The three Tree Revenants served as the core, a staunch pillar in each platoon, mustering their individual squads of Phantom Stumps around them to execute a military styled formation.
Well, I say that, but it wasn't something that impressive. Rather, it was simply their signature Forest Curse, which cast an illusion on the targets. Fortunately, it appeared, and the charge from the orange spirit beasts faltered.
"Oh? What are those?"
Even though their advance had stalled, enough of their vanguard had come into view for me to see clearly what kind of spirit beasts they were. My eyes widened when I recognized them, and I grinned in delight.
"Ghost Pumpkins…and even three Mystic ranked Pumpkin Wraiths!"
"…Ghost Pumpkins?" Myria asked incredulously. "What kind of name is that?"
"Hey, be glad they decided not to name them Pumpkin a Boo. That would be pretty lame."
I watched the stumbling Ghost Pumpkins, their plump figures pretty recognizable. Their lower bodies were round, orange pumpkins with a pair of nubby legs. Carved into the pumpkin portion of their bodies were two holes that passed off as eyes and a long curving gap underneath the eyes that served as a grinning mouth, and visible from all three holes was a ghostly yellow light shining from the animus that possessed the cute little spirit beast. A black stem covered the crown of the pumpkin, almost resembling tufts of fur.
The way they grouped up and hovered in the forest like will-o'-wisps reminded me of ancient legends that claimed that Ghost Pumpkins were the couriers of the souls of the dead. Storing wandering spirits within their bloated pumpkin bodies, they would transport them to the afterlife.
Honestly, they resembled jack-o'-lanterns. Cute jack-o'-lanterns with a tuft of fur and two nubby legs at the bottom. Like the Phantom Stumps, the basic form of this particular spirit beast was only regular ranked.
On the other hand, just like the Phantom Stumps who evolved into the Mystic ranked Tree Revenants, the Ghost Pumpkins similarly evolved into the Mystic ranked Pumpkin Wraiths. And both forms of the pumpkin spirit beasts were also ghost and wood type. Perfect for my dungeon and the ghost forest that I was trying to grow in there.
The Pumpkin Wraiths were much larger than their pre evolved Ghost Pumpkins, though they retained the jack-o'-lantern pumpkin body. However, while the glowing holes that functioned as their eyes and fanged grin remained, the tuft of fur had greatly changed, draping down past the back of the pumpkin body like a cloak and extending to a black, almost humanoid body below. In other words, the pumpkin portion now looked like the head rather than body. The wraith-like body of the Pumpkin Wraith appeared to hold onto a long blade of black grass that curved over like the scythe of the grim reaper. Actually, I thought that the Pumpkin Wraiths were essentially a grim reaper with the head of a jack-o-lantern. Similarly, the legends tell of Pumpkin Wraiths ferrying the souls of the dead to the afterlife, reaping the lives of those who attempted to cling into this world despite having reached the end of their lifespans. Superstitions, but the dreadful air around them made me wonder if there was some truth to them.
Very interesting.
"Yup, I want those guys for sure."
"HUH?! Seriously?!"
Myria turned to gape at me, but I ignored her. I was already sending mental commands to my ghost tree spirit beasts forward, and the Phantom Stumps engaged in vicious battle against the Ghost Pumpkins, using their little horns to leech off the bloated orange bodies in midair. Meanwhile, the Tree Revenants lumbered forward before hammering away at the oversized jack-o'-lanterns, who responded by parrying the thick branches with their black grass scythes. Ghostly energies collided and exploded, turning into spectral shadows that chased each other across the ground. It was almost as if a metaphysical battle was taking place not just in the material world but also another plane.
"Ghost type spirit beasts are pretty cool," I explained. "They are usually associated with fear, death and the afterlife. Pretty big on the spiritual attacks, that's why Forest Curse causes illusions. They are highly resistant to physical attacks and poison, and you actually need to use elemental techniques to hurt them. They are pretty strong against all other elements, super effective against psychic and other ghost types, and no notable weaknesses except to dark type spirit beasts."
"Yeah, Hei Ba and I will be able to beat them up easily. And your current targets have the wood type, so they would be weak to fire techniques from Xiao Huo and Xiao Huo Long."
"Whoa!" Both Myria and I jumped when Long Wang suddenly spoke up. I glared at him. "When did you get here?"
"Just."
"I mean…why are you even here? I have the situation well in hand."
Even though the Phantom Stumps and Tree Revenants were normally evenly matched against the Ghost Pumpkins and Pumpkin Wraiths, my summoner ability buffed their attack and defense by 20%, and they were noticeably overwhelming their opponents. Furthermore, it appeared that my Phantom Stumps and Tree Revenants normally possessed a higher attack power, whereas the Ghost Pumpkins and Pumpkin Wraiths specialized more in defense. No wonder they were such fierce rivals.
This was an interesting mix, and if I could get both of them, I could have them cover each other's weaknesses. Generally, Tree Revenants were good tanks who could absorb a few hits and then recover health through wood techniques, such as ingraining their roots into the soil and absorbing spiritual qi or directly hitting their opponents with horn leech and sucking their targets' vitality to replenish their own, but if I wasn't mistaken, the Pumpkin Wraiths were better walls that could endure far more punishment than Tree Revenants due to their greater defense, and had a few tricks up their sleeves. Their counterpart signature technique to Forest Curse was Trick or Treat, and no, it doesn't add the Ghost type to their targets. This wasn't a certain monster capturing game, and I would be slapped with copyright lawsuits if I tried to rip off that game. In any event, Trick or Treat had more to do with tricking the enemy while gaining benefits for the pumpkin spirit beast.
Their unique abilities would definitely help me both in shoring up my dungeon defense as well as give me a wider arsenal when summoning them in combat.
Unfortunately, their tricks weren't working against my buffed ghost tree spirit beasts, who were slowly but surely overwhelming them. As such, I wasn't sure why Long Wang bothered to show up. I wondered if he abused the automated summoning system to bring himself here. Xiao Huo and Xiao Huo Long looked just as puzzled as I did when I glanced at them, while Myria looked amused. Long Wang, on the other hand, had an answer ready for me.
"I'm here to play the role of Tania, my lord."
"…Tania?! Who the hell is Tania?"
"You know, my lord. The dragon girl in the beast tamer party."
"Dude, you really have to stop watching so much anime. I shouldn't have installed the streaming service and set up the computer for you in the dungeon…"
"I'm serious, my lord. You'll understand why you need an ultimate species such as myself by your side later."
"Can you stop with that ultimate species nonsense? You're going to get all of us into trouble."
Bam! One of the Pumpkin Wraiths were hurled to the ground when one of my Tree Revenants slashed at it with shadowy claws. Another hammered his pumpkin opponent to the ground, swatting aside the black grass scythe with his shadow claw before slamming his thick branch into the poor foe's gut in a sledgehammer blow.
With my Tree Revenants claiming clear victories over the Pumpkin Wraiths, my Phantom Stumps were stirred into ghostly fervor, their spirits lifted drastically, and they tore into the reeling Ghost Pumpkins with relish.
"Stop!" I had to rush forward and restrain them before they got carried away and slaughtered the pumpkin spirit beasts. "That's enough! All of you, take a rest!"
At a mental command, I dismissed them back to my dungeon. It was just as well. after the long march and now vigorous combat, they should be exhausted. No point keeping them out here to expend more energy when they didn't need to. The pumpkin spirit beasts withdrew a little, relieved by the sudden disappearance of their enemies, but I didn't give them a chance to counterattack.
"You guys are mine. System!"
-Would you like to make a spirit contract with this Ghost Pumpkin? –
-Would you like to make a spirit with this Pumpkin Wraith? –
"Yeah." I nodded and confirmed that I would like to use all fifty regular spirit contracts and three Mystic ranked spirit contracts for the beleaguered swarm of pumpkin spirit beasts in front of me. "Spend them all and teleport them into the dungeon. We're going to start growing a ghost forest in the Deep Sea Palace."