Chapter 645 – Angry Tree.

The Treant roared, and the sound carried in all directions. It was not merely noise but a call. Roland felt it ripple through the Rotten Forest like a strange echo. His sensors screamed warnings as figures appeared inside his helmet display. In the distance, multiple dots emerged, all moving toward them. The safe zone’s protection wavered, bending under the pressure of the monster’s presence.

‘That’s a lot of dots… They are coming from everywhere.’

From the darkness beyond the grass, the forest answered the Treant’s call. Roots tore free from the soil as smaller treants lurched forward, their bodies half rotted, limbs fused with fungus and something resembling bone. Mushroom men poured out from between swollen trunks, caps glowing with fluorescent moss as spores drifted around them like mist.

Thick-bodied toads dragged themselves from the marshy ground, throats pulsing as venom dripped from their jaws. Poison snakes slithered over roots and rocks alike, their scales dull and almost necrotic, eyes glowing faintly with corrupted mana. Behind them came other oddities, centipedes and flying mosquitoes the size of eagles, all moving in response to the Treant’s call.

‘I need to kill this thing fast before it calls the whole dungeon here.’

Roland understood the real problem instantly. The monster standing in the center of this supposed safe zone was the true danger. If it were slain and the call ended, the other creatures would likely disperse, or at least no new ones would be drawn in. This living tree was not just a monster but a trap, deliberately created for his group.

‘That’s quite the level for this part of the dungeon…’

He identified the creature quickly and now knew what he was dealing with. This was not the first time he had heard of such a creature, but encounters with it were rare. Several things about the situation did not add up. The monsters were not his only concern, as he could not be sure there was nothing more at play. While the Blacksmith might have been a loose end for a powerful adventurer, this was far too much force to justify killing a single man. A more likely explanation was that someone else in the group was the true target, though it was also possible that both were targets and multiple people in the group were meant to die.

‘I’ll think about this once this is over.’

First, he activated his spatial rune, releasing several of his floating golems into the surroundings to gain a clearer view of the situation. The sensors he had already deployed were insufficient, and with an elevated perspective, he could keep watch over the Blacksmith. At this point, the man lay only a few meters from his feet, having been dragged in by his gravitational magic.

A layer of concealment shimmered over the golems as they moved into the open and vanished into the darkness of the dungeon. The other adventurers were far too preoccupied with the monster’s spearlike branches, trying to impale them and its roots erupting from the ground to notice. Once the golems were gone, Roland tossed his robe aside, revealing his full suit of draconic-looking armor.

“Captain Varek, there are swarms of monsters approaching us from all sides. I do not think retreat is an option.”

“What?”

Varek had just managed to seize his two swords, a longsword in his right hand and a shortsword in his left, hacking through a wooden appendage as Roland shouted to him. He was the de facto leader of the group, but it was clear he had not expected this turn of events.

Roland could see on his display that they were already surrounded. Retreat might be possible for seasoned adventurers, but charging through swarms of tier three monsters would be deadly when they were outnumbered ten to one.

Roland could see the moment the realization hit him. Captain Varek’s eyes widened as he took in the edges of the clearing, where shadows now moved towards them. The Rotten Forest itself seemed to want all of them dead. The ground trembled as a massive number of Treants moved towards them.

“Damn it…”

Varek hissed, parrying another thrusting branch.

“The guild said this place would be safe for another three months! Did those bastards lie to me?”

This was news to Roland’s ears. It implied that Varek knew the monster existed in this area, yet the Guild had somehow assured him that it was still safe to stay the night.

“Leave the corrupted flesh-eating tree to us.”

A treant root burst from the ground near the porters, sending dirt and screams flying, but before it could strike, a torrent of blue flames reduced it to cinders. Varek paused for a moment. He was still the leader here, yet he seemed to realize something. That realization was the extent of Roland’s true strength, which surpassed his own.

“Form up!”

The captain roared, his voice cutting through the chaos as he seized control with authority.

“Shield line around the center. Protect the wounded and the civilians. Archers to the second row. Mage, start casting your spells.”

At first, Roland had not been sure whether Varek was friend or foe, but it became clear that the man had a good head on his shoulders. He did not question Roland’s words and instead focused entirely on the threat before them.

“Siegfried, you have five minutes, don’t disappoint me now.”

Roland nodded.

“I won’t.”

Soon, both he and Agni threw themselves at the tree. With his wolf capable of producing so much fire, the stationary treant monster quickly identified him as the main threat, just as Roland had foreseen.

“Keep your flames up, Amun. Don’t let up, keep it busy.”

“Awoo!”

Agni howled as he turned up the heat. As his flames shifted to blue and his body took on the sheen of sapphires, he retained all of his skills. He leapt into the air, surrounded by a veil of fire. His new skill, Ruby Prison, activated as he scattered his gems around the tree while it tried to strike him. Although the monster was a plant, it proved highly resistant to the flames, regenerating almost instantly from any damage.

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Roland, on the other hand, focused on locating the creature’s true weak point, a core hidden somewhere within. His golem drones flew overhead, feeding him multiple streams of data that he processed rapidly thanks to his Multiple Minds trait.

From a distance, it seemed as though he was doing little more than walking forward. In truth, a massive gravity field had been established within a ten-metre radius around the tree. Now, whenever it attempted to attack anything beyond that area, its branches were pinned to the ground, and its roots were unable to move at all.

‘There it is!’’