Chapter 31

It was hard to describe it as a person. It had a head, arms, and legs, but it didn’t have eyes, nose, or mouth, and its posture was awkward, so... yeah... yeah! A zombie? It looked like a zombie.

If I had to describe it, it was a zombie that had been melted and was surrounded by fire, but it was moving slowly, turning everything around it into ashes. It was walking. Crazy, does Darwin's theory of evolution apply to fire? Why is it walking on two legs?

“Is that fire? No, it must be fire since it’s emitting flames. But why is it walking like us? Damn, thinking about it makes me feel creepy. Why is the fire walking?”

I feel so bad. What is that thing, walking? What makes it walk on two legs?

“My master, Jay. The power of fire is suppressed near the Terrarium, which is blessed by the World Tree. It’s in the best state to maintain its strength under external pressure, like being bunched up.”

Mesquite raised her shield, and everyone took a battle stance.

“The fire, once away from the power of the blessing, unleashes the suppressed strength. It tries to consume and burn everything around to become stronger. The desire to become stronger can also manifest in imitating something stronger. The strongest usually refers to the apex predator of the surrounding ecosystem. You said another druid cleaned up this area, right? This fire, which somehow survived, probably saw the druid as the stronger entity and imitated its form.”

Creepy. There’s no way that druid looked like that. Is it just imitating and ended up looking like this? If it keeps imitating, it might even start talking, right?

The sand flowing from Mesquite’s shield was absorbed into Daisy’s feet, and the fire noticed us. Enormous flames burst from its awkwardly flailing arms, making the surroundings suddenly scorching hot.

I can’t stand heat, so I can’t even go to a sauna!

The area turned into a sea of fire, and the heat hit us so intensely that our skin tingled. I wanted to take off my robe, but Elder stopped me, saying it would cause burns if we exposed our skin.

With no choice, I took out a water bottle from my pocket and poured it all over my head. It felt a bit better, but only for a moment. The water became hot like warm water... damn...

This was definitely on a different level from the small fires we encountered in the low-level hunting grounds.

Mesquite wasn’t wrong to be cautious about going further. If we hadn’t leveled up by sprinkling diamonds at the beginning, we would have been completely wiped out. But what kind of druid came here first and cleared out all these things?

My dryads are strong enough to hold their own, so what kind of dryads does this guy have? Or is his level several times higher than mine?

The fire, in human form, suddenly started swinging its arms wildly.

I hid behind Elder’s barrier, wondering what the hell it was doing. It looked like it was swinging a baseball bat, or maybe a sword.

The problem was that every time it swung its arms, enormous flames hit us. Damn, where did it learn to do that?

Mesquite stood at the front, blocking the flames with her shield. Elder’s barrier, which glowed red from her ring, blocked it twice, so we didn’t take direct damage, but it was still too hot.

Crazy, thinking about it makes me angry? This is just the second hunting ground after the beginner’s area, the next level after the low-level hunting ground! How can the difficulty jump so much?

If this were a game, the balance would be so off that players would complain! I’m reminded of a game’s hellfire difficulty! Do I have to stay up for three days and nights to clear this?

Mesquite, who had stepped back with her shield, suddenly lunged forward with her lance.

With a huge roar, the flames flying at her split to the sides. The lance, like a bullet, pierced the fire’s abdomen, causing it to explode.

With a bang, the fire’s head and limbs split into five pieces. If it were a human, it would have been a gruesome sight. Just thinking about it makes me shudder.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t a one-hit kill. But the five pieces of fire, now divided, were much smaller and couldn’t maintain the same intensity as before.

Daisy quickly moved in to finish it off, and Elder swung her staff to give her a buff.

But something felt off.

I’m not that perceptive, but I had a gut feeling. It was more like a sudden intuition through my soul’s connection with Mesquite. Daisy shouldn’t move forward.

“Daisy, come back!”

It’s not easy for someone running at full speed to stop instantly.

But Daisy instantly shot out vines from her arms, which dug into the ground, and she skidded to a stop, making a scraping sound.

She was pulled back a bit like a rubber band, but she stopped.

And my gut feeling, or rather, the intuition through my soul’s connection with Mesquite, was right. The fire, which seemed easy to handle, was not so simple.

As Mesquite’s shield was embedded in the ground and a huge sand wall appeared in front, the five fires simultaneously spewed something. It looked like glittering powder.

It reminded me of pollen from flowers in spring or the unpleasant feeling of glitter flying in the air when you spill it.

The sand wall looked sturdy, but it didn’t completely surround us, so Mesquite could easily be caught in the strange attack.

My actions were almost instinctive. I didn’t think; I just reacted.

When our souls were firmly connected, we almost shared each other’s thoughts.

I understood what she meant when she said my will is the main dryad’s will, and the main dryad’s will is my will.

So, I instantly disconnected from Mesquite and connected with Daisy. No preparation was needed. Everything moved as I intended.

Daisy’s eyes, connected to my soul, glowed sharply. Sharing my thoughts, Daisy extended vines that wrapped around Mesquite’s waist.

Daisy’s strength, though small, was enough with the team’s attack buff and Mesquite’s quick leap from the ground.

Daisy pulled the vines, and Mesquite was quickly pulled away. Elder surrounded Mesquite with a barrier, and I reconnected with Mesquite to give the team a defense buff. Just as we did, a massive explosion occurred.

A dust explosion, the most dangerous type of explosion in a chemical plant, enveloped us in black smoke like a bomb going off in front of us.

Elder covered my nose and mouth with his large hand and quickly threw himself backward. The sound was so loud that I thought my eardrums would burst.

Mesquite’s sand barrier, caught in the explosion, shattered into large fragments that rained down on us. Though they were deflected by Elder’s barrier, the smoke from all sides couldn’t be blocked.

The fragile barrier glowed red, the same color as the ring on Elder’s finger.

The damage was so strong that Elder had to use his full strength, even pulling out combat bonuses.

It was so hot and suffocating that I felt like I was about to die, but suddenly a refreshing sensation filled my chest.

Amidst this, one of the stupid fires, caught in the explosion, was defeated, causing me to level up.

Fortunately, when I level up, my dryads are affected. Just as my fatigue is restored, theirs is too.

The injuries from the battle remained, but their energy was reset to the initial state before the battle.

The party was scattered in the smoke. I was with Elder, but I couldn’t confirm Mesquite and Daisy’s positions.

The black smoke was thick. Elder’s hand, like a breathing apparatus, made my eyes water, and I squinted to look around.

Just then, a lance cut through the smoke, and a doll-like figure appeared.

Mesquite, with burn marks all over, was kneeling on one knee. Her shield was surrounded by a yellow glow and had grown to twice its size.

Fortunately, Daisy seemed unharmed, protected by Mesquite. She had some burn marks but didn’t look exhausted.

When Elder planted his staff in the ground, a wave of white petals spread out like a ripple.

The light, like the first snowfall, touched the dryads and quickly melted. I had only seen him use single-target healing before, but this was the first time I saw him use area healing.

“It absorbed power.”

Mesquite clenched her teeth and glared at the fire. Her amber eyes burned with anger, more intensely than the fire.

Four fires, glowing like will-o'-the-wisps, were visible in the distance. But their size didn’t seem to have changed despite absorbing power.

“If it gets smaller, it might use the same attack again. Can we finish it in one go?”

“Yes!”

In response to Mesquite’s words, Daisy gripped two daggers in her hands and shouted.

“I’ll take the two in a straight line. Can you take the other two?”

“No problem!”

Mesquite stood up and raised her lance, and her shield returned to its original size. Elder swung his staff toward Daisy, who was in a ready stance.

The light and swirling petals were familiar. It was the buff Elder used on Mesquite when she was rooting to find Daisy, a buff that increased luck using Elder’s characteristics.

“Aim for a critical hit. Right in the center. Make it disappear immediately after the attack!”

“Yes!”

As the two dryads aimed their weapons at the fires, unfortunately, the fires twitched again.

Is there a way they can use the same deadly move again? Do they have no cooldown? As the dust was about to spew out, Elder suddenly extended his hand.

Elder Flower’s mother branches sprouted around the fires. The flying white petals stuck to the dust, forming clumps.

“If we fail, the fire will absorb my mother and grow stronger. I’ll block the dust, so finish it in one go!”

In response to Elder’s words, the two dryads lunged forward simultaneously. Mesquite’s lance, like a bullet, pierced the two fires in a straight line, causing them to explode instantly.

Daisy, with the long cooldown luck buff from Elder, threw her daggers, accurately hitting the centers of the two fires on either side, finishing them off.

My level increased instantly. A refreshing feeling, like when I first caught fire near the village, spread through me.