Drip.
A drop of the black liquid fell to the ground.
The ground was about to turn black.
Crack!
A tree trunk pierced into the spot. The originally brown trunk turned black while the ground returned to its original color.
"…This, just what is this?!"
One of the Empire's knights subconsciously shouted out before his body started to shake. He raised his head after feeling an odd sensation.
"Aaaaaah!"
Shhhhhhh-
A large black trunk brushed past above his head as leaves fluttered.
"Crazy. The trees have gone crazy."
He plopped down on the ground.
He could see all of Section 7 as he sat there and looked out.
It was alive and moving.
This large area called Section 7 was roaring and moving. It was all because of the large tree trunks that suddenly started to grow.
Baaaaang! Baaaaang!
The Empire's forces could not run toward the airship even as the dead mana bombs were going off. They could not do so even if they wanted to run.
Shhhhhhh-
Their bodies curled up in fear every time they heard the leaves rustling.
There were trees that were darker than the night by their feet and above their heads.
They wanted to run, but the trees were faster than them.
These trees that should be staying in one spot were freely running wild all over Section 7.
"W, what kind of tree is that?!"
The alchemist in charge looked pale as he held onto the railing of the airship.
All he could see were the tree trunks following the red-haired commander's hands in order to gobble up the dead mana bombs.
"I, I must inform the superiors!"
He gave an order to one of his subordinates next to him.
"I, immediately contact the Tower Master-nim and his highness! A, and, and!"
He started to think as his lips were shaking. However, he could not think properly after seeing this unexpected variable.
Trees that ate up dead mana had appeared.
There were no areas of Section 7 that were becoming desolate. In fact, black tree trunks were appearing by all residential buildings in order to protect the homes from the explosions.
Boom!
The alchemist turned his head after hearing a noise.
He looked to the South.
The golem at that entrance was falling down.
He could see someone looking at him from that area at the same time. He couldn't see the gaze to be specific.
However, he could tell that the person there was looking in his direction when he saw the black robe facing toward him.
That was Mary, the famous Roan Kingdom's necromancer.
She was the only necromancer on the Western continent, the last of her kind.
This alchemist-cum-black mage could not hide the scorn and disgust he had for the necromancer.
He could see the black mana shining around the necromancer. She had probably absorbed the remaining dead mana after she purified the black despair.
The necromancer soon swayed and had to be supported by a Dark Elf.
'She's still much weaker than the Tower Master-nim.'
Thinking about that fact cleared the alchemist's mind. He turned away and looked forward as he gave the order.
"Detonate the bombs as quickly as possible!"
The subordinate's gaze became serious.
Detonating the bombs faster meant that the airship would depart faster as well. The alchemist nodded his head at his subordinate's gaze and continued to speak.
"And-"
The person at the center of this change.
He pointed to the person that the tree trunks had gathered around to protect.
"…And attack Cale Henituse as much as possible! No, get in his way!"
The mages and knights quickly started to move after hearing his order.
"Prepare to attack! Cast fire-attribute spells!"
The mages on top of the airship started to draw large magic circles in order to launch fire spells. It was because they had determined that smaller scale spells would be useless against those black tree trunks.
The knights charged toward Cale who was at the center of Section 7 at the same time.
"You think you can stop all of us on your own?!"
Cale sighed after hearing that from one of the knights.
'He's using such a stereotypical expression.'
It was exactly the type of thing the bad guys fighting against the main character said in fantasy or martial arts novels. Cale felt like he understood how those main characters must have felt experiencing the same thing.
"I'm alone because I can handle all of you."
'Can't you even think that far?'
Cale ignored the corners of his lips going up as he leisurely started to move his hands. He heard Raon's voice in his mind as well.
– Our human is not alone! I, the great and mighty Raon Miru, am here!
But Raon had more things to say.
– But human, you look scary right now!
Cale's smile became thicker.
'I know.
I know how I look right now.'
It wasn't hard for Cale to imagine how vicious he looked as he smiled while being surrounded by these black tree trunks that were moving like snakes.
He moved a couple of these snake-like trunks. He then thought about what the glutton priestess had said to him earlier.
'She can only defend?
I don't know about that.'
Cale was thinking that the glutton actually had a stronger weapon than the fire. That weapon headed toward the enemies who were approaching from all directions.
"Dodge! That tree has eaten dead mana! Dodge it!"
Baaaaang! Bang!
The knight heard the explosion of another dead mana bomb and the sound of a tree trunk that was probably gobbling it up, however, he made himself ignore it as he shouted toward his subordinate knights.
"Cut them using your aura smokes! It should be fine as long as you don't touch them! Move in groups of twos!"
The knight raised his sword and slashed down.
Slash-
The black tree trunk that was heading toward him was easily sliced.
Plop.
The sliced tree branch dried up and fell to the ground. The knight's eyes sparkled after seeing this and he quickly shouted to inform the others.
"They are easily cut! They are normal branches other than the fact that they have dead mana in them! They do not have that much attacking strength!"
The size of the large tree trunks alone could be used to attack, however, there were almost a hundred knights surrounding Cale right now.
Slash-
Slash slash-
"Cut them! Cut and cut again as you move forward!"
The knight sneered at Cale who was surrounded by the black tree trunks and continued to advance. The other knights followed his lead and slowly advanced as well.
Cale looked like a rat caught in a jar.
He had looked scary while commanding the black trees from the darkness, however, it was not as scary as the knights had originally thought.
"We will pay you back for what happened during the battle with the Whipper Kingdom!"
The morale of all of the knights was going up.
Slash!
They were even able to cut through multiple branches using a sword covered in aura smoke. These trees really were regular trees. There was no need to be afraid.
The knight in charge started to smile.
"…my!"
'Hmm?'
The Empire's knights suddenly heard some soldiers shouting at that moment. The shouts became louder and louder until the knight was able to hear it clearly.
"It's the enemy! The Jungle has invaded!"
'What is he talking about?'
The Jungle and the Roan Kingdom are already in here.'
The knight heard a sharp noise cutting through the night before he even had a moment to ask his question.
Wiiiiiiiiing- Wiiiiiiing-
He heard a siren going off from the airship.
It was at that moment.
Boom!
Boooom!
The remaining two golems broke down.
The knight peeked toward the direction of a golem before his eyes opened wide.
He could see brown-skinned people who were faintly visible in the darkness.
He could see warriors climbing over the castle wall and the destroyed golem.
"Grrrrrr."
"Grr- grrrrr-"
He could also hear the growling beasts whose eyes sparkled even in the darkness. He could see the Jungle warriors entering Section 7 on foot or on these beasts with their weapon in their hands.
There were a lot of them. He could see something within the group of warriors that climbed up the tall castle wall.
"Roooooooooooooooar!"
A large black panther roared while underneath the moonlight and the starlight.
That large yet agile body soon started to run. It was heading toward where the last golem was falling.
"Ten!"
Ten lowered his body after hearing his name and a woman jumped on his back.
There was a large spear in her hand.
None of the people climbing over the castle wall and the golem were shouting in order to raise their morale. They were slowly and stealthily moving in.
The knight subconsciously gulped after seeing the enemies that were moving in like a wave. He heard someone's voice at that moment.
"Weren't you aiming for me?"
The knight jerked his head back.
He could see Cale Henituse's smiling face. He heard another noise as he felt chills after seeing Cale quietly smiling at him.
Shhhhhhhhhhhhhh-
The sound of the leaves that he had been hearing since earlier was much louder now as Cale's sleeves started to flutter. The knights rushing in flinched before slowly retreating backwards.
The knight urgently shouted.
"Retreat!"
Hundreds of tree branches suddenly shout out with Cale at the center.
They started to grow as they shot out.
The black trees were becoming thicker and stronger.
"Roooooar!"
The black panther, Ten, jumped up into the air.
Tap.
However, a new ground was soon created under Ten's paws.
It was a black tree trunk. A large tree became the ground for Ten to step onto.
A mage shouted from the airship at that moment.
"The magic circles are ready to activate!"
The alchemist in charge had veins popping out of his neck as he gave the order.
"Immediately activate the magic circles! Kill Cale Henituse!"
The black tree trunks around Cale were weaving together with each other as if they were a spider web.
They were above the ground and in the air.
They did not care about where they were as they weaved together in order to create a path.
The branches were heading toward one location.
The palace.
The branches were rushing toward the spot right underneath the airship.
Bang! Bang!
They also gobbled up dead mana bombs along the way.
Nothing seemed to be able to stop them.
"Hurry up!"
The magic circles activated as the alchemist urged them on.
Ooooooooong-
The magic circles and the magic stones above them started to shine.
However, the alchemist on the airship started to frown.
He was looking at the castle wall. There was something flying up into the sky from underneath the castle wall.
It was someone whose hair was as red as the fire spells that the Empire had prepared.
Rosalyn was flying toward the airship. Red mana was swaying around her as if it was a cape.
'Damn it!
Just how much did they prepare?!'
The alchemist slammed down on the railing. His gaze then turned toward the person at the center of the approaching enemies. He could see the red hair above the now black Section 7 ground.
Cale, the owner of that red hair, started to speak. He gave an order to the tree trunks.
"Grow."
Keep growing.
Grow to the point that the enemies will fear you.
"Stretch out."
Keep moving forward.
Move to kill the enemy.
Cale shouted while looking at the spiderweb-like path made of tree trunks.
"Charge!"
"Rooooooooooar!"
The black panther Ten roared as he kicked off the tree trunk. He then started to run. Litana aimed her spear forward with one hand.
"Let's go."
Choi Han stepped on the tree trunks that reached toward the North and started to run toward the center. The two Dark Elves followed behind him.
It was the same for Mary and Tasha. All of them were running along that wooden black road.
They heard Cale's voice once more.
"All units, charge forward!"
North, South, East, West.
The Jungle warriors who were used to running on trees more than anybody else all started to run across the tree trunks.
They weren't the only ones.
Some of the people of the Jungle who had been quietly hiding started to climb the tree trunks that had been shielding their homes like shields.
Some of them were riding animals while others were running toward the same location.
They were all running toward the airship that was located above the palace at the center of Section 7.
"N, no!"
The alchemist subconsciously took a step back after seeing all these people running toward him. He felt a pressure as if a black tsunami was headed toward him.
Screeeech-
The airship clunked at that moment.
"W, what the…?"
"We've been captured! Leader-nim, we're caught!"
"What?"
The alchemist urgently looked down after hearing the desperate voice of the pale subordinate.
He looked at the bottom of the airship.
There were black tree trunks grabbing onto the bottom of the airship.
Cale started to smile.
"Got you."
Everything within Section 7 was caught in Cale's hands.