Redwood was similar to Springwood, save that the elvish enclave here had grown or sculpted their wooden houses into the trunks and bases of the gigantic redwood trees that grew out of the branch of Yggdrasil.
Those same houses were heavily damaged in what looked to be the aftermath of a battle. A couple of trees had fallen, and the elves were somberly picking up the remains, enacting repairs and looking after the dead.
A few corpses of the Barbaric Baboons and Angry Apes lay here and there, felled by arrows, spears, swords or spells. Some were charred by flames or cut apart by wind. On the other hand, it didn't seem like there were any elven dead at first glance, but that was because the bodies were already moved by the survivors and being covered in shrouds. Just like in Springwood.
"You…"
One of the elves wearily approached us, his expression leaden with exhaustion. He bowed his head slightly, his pointy ears drooping. Eliza exchanged greetings with him, shaking his hand silently. He then nodded.
"You must be the reason why the Angry Apes, Barbaric Baboons, Giant Gorillas and Steel Kong suddenly turned around and left. That relieved the pressure on us and allowed us to counterattack the horde from behind, exterminating those that had invaded Redwood. You have our thanks."
"Not at all," Eliza replied solemnly. "We have taken upon the task to rescue the various Elvish Enclaves in Yggdrasil, and are embarking on a journey to rescue everyone. I only regret that we weren't here earlier, to prevent more casualties."
"It's fine." The elf nodded toward Sigmund Krieg and the rest of us. He must have recognized the black and silver armor and the huge sword. "We've been hearing reports about your group. You saved Springwood, didn't you? I also heard rumors that you helped out Murkwood as well, but that was before that swordsman joined you."
"I am ashamed to not have made it in time for the battle of Murkwood," Sigmund said. I shook my head hastily.
"No, no! It's totally fine! You were busy with your own mission! And we were able to help out and prevent any casualties in Murkwood, so it was all right in the end!"
The elf nodded. He looked about middle aged, which probably meant he was several centuries old at least. Not that I could tell. All I had were stereotypes to base my assumptions upon.
"Thank you for your help. Not just Redwood, but all the other enclaves that you've helped so far." He turned and gestured toward the village that was slowly being restored. "We can't offer much in the way of hospitality because we are still in the midst of recovery, but please make yourself at home."
"We'll help with the repairs!" Silvia said brightly, raising her hand. Sylvie nodded.
"Please let us know what we can help with. We know a few spells that will reverse the damage done to your homes."
"Very well. Over here."
I followed the fairy sisters and helped them out with repairs and other miscellaneous tasks. Being fairies, they used magic as well, setting up spirit arrays to restore the wounded wood and rebuild the houses we were assigned to. It was a pity I didn't have healing magic, but I wasn't some Mary Sue all-rounder who could do everything. I mean, I couldn't even learn spirit arrays properly, and I could only make use of booster spirit arrays that helped buff my summoned spirit beasts in combat. However, healing spirit arrays were too complex for me. I wasn't sure if they even existed, to be honest.
My summoned spirit beasts did heal and recover faster in my dungeon, though. Apparently, it wasn't because of spirit arrays, but because of the special properties that my dungeon had. I had dismissed my spirit beasts back to my dungeon for them to rest, and I doubted I needed to call upon them once more. My Construction Crabs wouldn't be useful here because they weren't experienced in building stuff out of wood.
Sometimes, I envied Kim Jin Woo and his Naga tribe. They were not only cute, but also flexible and competent. I liked my Construction Crabs and all the spirit beasts in my dungeon, and I had no intention of recruiting Nagas (it probably would violate copyright laws anyway), so I wasn't that bummed out, but reading Dungeon Odyssey made me feel like I might want a cute Naga plushy sometimes.
I mean, just look at them! They were so adorable!
"Jun Wen?"
"Oh, sorry."
I was brought back to reality when Myria called me. Looking around, I saw that we were done with our tasks. Even Sigmund was helping, having taken off his armor to carry away debris and pile the rubble elsewhere. His muscular torso gleamed with a sheen of sweat as he worked diligently. He originally wore a thin, black undershirt beneath his armor, but he had opted to take it off when he worked.
Unfortunately, I was nowhere as muscular as he was, so I didn't bother showing off and instead I kept my shirt on as I worked. In the end, I still summoned my Construction Crabs and Colossal Crabs to help out. Even if they couldn't sculpt wood as deftly and skillfully as the elves, they could at least help to move away rubble and debris, as well as transport material and supplies from one end of the village to the other. We also helped with chopping wood up as logs to help supply lumber, from which the elves used their magic to shape them into houses or plug holes and other damages.
Honestly, I wasn't sure why they couldn't just use magic on the trees right from the start, and why the requirement to chop down trees, ferry timber over and cut them into neat pieces. Later, I found out from Eliza that it was because it was easier to cast spells on chopped material (mostly because the trees were dead and no longer possessed mana to resist spell-shaping), and it was also less taxing to cast spells on material that was closer to the house that needed repairs rather than using magic to siphon materials from living trees over a distance.
Huh, interesting.
It took almost the whole day, but we finally finished helping out before the sun set. The elf who had come out to speak to us when we first arrived came to talk to us once more.
"Thank you so much for the help. Even though you're not obligated to help, you did so much for us. We owe you a lot. Not just our lives, but…" He swallowed, almost tearing up and unable to express his gratitude. "Thank you so much."
"It's fine," I assured him. "We only did what we could do."
"We have prepared a house for you guys to stay," the elf said. He paused for a moment and shook his head, smiling wryly. "Where are my manners? I'm Ralph Redwood, and I'm the chief of this enclave. May I have the honor of knowing the names of our saviors?"
We spent some time introducing ourselves, and Ralph took note before he bowed.
"Thank you all so much. Sigmund Krieg, Morten Pedersen, Myria Poseidon, Sylvie and Silvia, and Song Jun Wen. You as well, Ranger Eliza. You have assisted us in driving away the Angry Apes, Barbaric Baboons, Giant Gorillas and Steel Kong…no, not just driving them away, but also exterminating them. And then you even helped with repairs and recovery. I just…I can't thank you all enough."
"Giving us a place to rest and stay for the night is good enough," I assured him. Sigmund nodded, having put his shirt back on at some point.
"We're only doing our duty."
"At least allow us to offer you a meal. It's only a modest fare, but I'm sure you'll need it to move on."
We had rations, but having the opportunity to save them for later would be good. So we ate whatever grub the elves offered, which consisted of berries and some fruit-flavored meat. I was surprised at how tasty it was. Apparently, seasoning meat with fruit juice added a significant amount of fragrance that left a tangy taste on my tongue.
From the looks of the others, it appeared that they enjoyed the meal a lot too. It didn't take long before we fell asleep. I noticed that the system didn't issue me a quest or offer rewards this time, but that was fine. I doubted I would keep adding new spirit beasts to my dungeon every time I saved an enclave. Reality wasn't that convenient, after all.
This time, I could sleep in and wake up later than usual because the system didn't wake me up with the weird flashing alarm that it projected for the last couple of days. I was grateful for it being considerate and woke up feeling fresher than the last two mornings. It helped that the Redwood elves had provided us soft mattresses made up of cotton and supported by a bedframe carved from redwood.
Stretching myself, I got off the mattress long after the sun had risen. It was still fairly early, about 8.30am, but considering I had been getting up at around 5am before sunrise the last couple of days, I didn't feel guilty about sleeping in. My friends also woke up around the same time, and it didn't take long for us to prepare and set off.
"Everybody ready?" Morten asked shortly after breakfast, and we nodded grimly. There were still plenty of elvish enclaves to rescue, though Eliza had some good news. She paused and raised a hand, listening to the flying bird that had come to perch on her hand. It chirped actively, and she smiled.
"What's up?" I asked curiously. Eliza let out a breath of relief and turned to us with genuine joy.
"It's not just us. There have been reinforcements from plenty of parties from the human civilizations and many of them have made their way up to the other enclaves to help. So we are not doing this alone. At this rate, we can go straight to the top while leaving many of the other enclaves to the other parties."
"Sounds good to me." Sigmund nodded. "In the end, we need to tackle the root of the problem to resolve the crisis. It'll be better if we go ahead and confront the mastermind once and for all. Any reported sightings of Ricowen?"
"No, not that I've heard of. But there are reports of other demonic mages, though none of them are as powerful as Ricowen. I suspect that he's the strongest among them, though I don't know if he is the mastermind. When you fought him, it seemed like he was taking orders from another person."
"I can't imagine how much more powerful the other party might be if they're capable of ordering around someone as powerful as Ricowen." Morten shuddered.
"That's not necessarily the case," Sigmund said. "If you recall, I mentioned that I was pursuing a target who's most likely behind this whole attack on Yggdrasil. I said that he isn't as strong as Ricowen, but that doesn't mean he's no less dangerous. In fact, he's scheming and more cunning than Ricowen, who focuses more on strength and combat ability than strategy. I believe he's the real mastermind, and it's not inconceivable that he convinced Ricowen to help him. Perhaps he offered some form of payment in return for Ricowen's service."
"That makes sense." I nodded, feeling dismay. "Well, that just means we need to find them as soon as we can, or things will get out of hand."
"Let's set off immediately," Myria suggested, and nobody objected. Ralph Redwood showed up to send us off and pass us supplies.
"We will be honored if you take this with you," he said with a deep bow. "They might not seem much, but I hope they will go a long way in helping you in your journey."
"They will," I assured him. The fruit rations that he gave would provide both nutrients and fluids that helped in an arduous journey like this. It also meant we needed to spend less time hunting or gathering food when we ran out of rations later.
The journey to the next enclave that needed help appeared unimpeded for a moment, until we ran into another party. I was surprised to see that the members were all from Hua Xia like me, and one of them had gray, wavy hair and was dressed in a blue and black suit.
They had just finished off a bunch of ape and leopard spirit beasts that were infesting a branch and about to attack a nearby enclave, though we decided to join in at the tail end of the battle and helped them eradicate the threat. After the battle was over, the gray-haired guy in black and blue approached me, a sword in his hand.
"You are Song Jun Wen from Divine Path University, aren't you?"
"Uh, yeah? Um, who are you?"
"I'm Wang Teng from Huang Hai Military Academy." He then pointed his sword at me. "And I challenge you to a life-and-death duel."