nyslfriends Chapter 11 Red Currant Forest
Chapter 11 Red Currant Forest
The fog grew thicker and thicker, to the point where you could hardly see your hand in front of your face. If Snowball hadn't been black, but instead the same color as its name, it probably would have blended into the fog long ago.
Of course, in such a foggy environment, a black fluffy ball flying in mid-air would look even more eerie, but the familiar Hakimi still gave Zag a great sense of security, even though Snowball's combat power was negligible.
The rustling sounds in the thick fog grew clearer, like a group of crawling creatures darting through fallen leaves and mud. Zag stared intently at the seemingly calm ground, his breath almost frozen.
Soon, Snowball shouted, "I smell it! It's the smell of a Modo! A live Modo! A live one!"
Snowball's words gave Zag a much-needed boost.
Having been missing for nearly three days, Zag wasn't optimistic about whether the apple-faced girl was still alive. But at this moment, Snowball's report of encountering living people surrounded by magical creatures gave him a glimmer of hope.
Even if she wasn't the client's daughter, it's still good to be able to save someone.
Zag simply cast a Fireball spell with his left hand as well.
He's an expert at dual-wielding mages!
"Flame, burning, destruction—"
Just as he subconsciously uttered the words to activate the spell, several vine-like plant roots suddenly surged up from the ground, waving wildly in the thick fog.
They were thick and powerful, covered in wet clumps of mud, and interspersed with huge, eye-like scars, resembling some indescribable creature.
Zag was startled, and the fireballs in his hands went out with a "poof". But when he subconsciously tried to cast another fireball to attack the "vines", he found that they did not attack him at all.
It's more like... trying to scare him?
"Flame, burning, destruction—"
However, his deep-seated fear of insufficient firepower led him to follow his heart and conjure an even larger fireball, which he then hurled at the vines that were two or three meters tall.
"boom--"
With a deafening roar, Snowball's anxious voice emerged from the thick fog: "No! Stop! Zag! Don't do it! That's a tree spirit! Don't do it!"
It's a bit late, but at least I managed to stop Zag from casting another [Fireball].
The vines that had been bombed were now waving wildly, almost as if they were sentient. Several of the burning vines were rolling on the ground, seemingly trying to extinguish the fire with the soil.
The black smoke that billowed out after the fire was extinguished, mixed with clods of earth, gravel, and fallen leaves, stirred up a thick fog, making the surroundings chaotic.
Whether it was his imagination or not, Zag felt a suffocating pressure in his chest, making him somewhat irritable.
He forcibly suppressed this strange feeling and pressed Snowball for answers: "Tree spirit? What's that?"
By this time, the flames had been extinguished, and the vines began to wilt. A smell of burnt wood wafted from the mist, and the oppressive feeling grew even heavier, as if one's body was filled with lead, making it difficult even to lift one's arm.
"Wait me a moment!"
Snowball didn't answer Zag's question. Instead, it shouted and nimbly darted into the scorched and withered vines.
Zag jumped in surprise: "Snowball!"
"don’t worry--"
Snowball's indistinct words came from deep within the vines, but Zag was far from reassured.
Although this harpy has a foul mouth and a big appetite, it not only accompanied him for more than a week, but also really helped him understand and integrate into this world. It's practically a harpy version of emergency food in another world. As a partner, Zag naturally worries about its safety.
After waiting for several minutes, Zag even tried to search through the original owner's memories for information about "tree spirits," such as "The Story of the Seven Tree Spirits and Princess Lunaland," "Betty's Adventures in the Tree Spirit Kingdom," and "The Tree Spirit's Hut in the Forest"...
It's all fairy tales! There's nothing of value in it!
Just as Zag was about to burn down the surrounding vines with a fireball—as for the potential forest fire, he decided to deal with that later—before he could even go find the snowball, the surrounding fog suddenly dissipated considerably, and the vines retreated back into the soil.
Snowball excitedly flew back from the depths of the thick fog and said to Zag, "Zag! It's alright! They really are tree spirits! These guys are easy to talk to! Don't worry!"
"Tree spirit? Isn't that a monster?"
"Of course not! Tree spirits are magical creatures, but they're natural magical creatures native to this land! Those long-eared ones are the best at dealing with them, but we fairies also have ways to communicate with tree spirits!" Snowball proudly puffed out his dark, furry chest, then added, "These tree spirits just moved to the Redcurrant Forest. To be honest, something's not right. Tree spirits don't like living too close to humans, but they said the dense forest near the Dark Realm is more polluted, and many of their kind have died, so they had to migrate… Hmm, I suggested they head west to find those long-eared ones, but they seem to have a bit of a disagreement with the long-eared ones of Lunaran. Who knows! I don't care about that!"
"Then... Rosa..."
Rosa is the client's daughter, the girl with the apple-shaped face.
"Yes! Rosa! Rosa is inside! She got lost and was attacked by the Black Hounds, but the tree spirit saved her! She was unconscious for two days before she woke up!"
"Well, actually, they only woke up briefly before passing out again—the tree spirits were just burned by your spell. When these natural magical creatures are injured, it causes a temporary change in the magic power contained within their bodies, which in turn causes abnormal fluctuations in magic power..."
"Modo can't withstand this abnormal fluctuation of magical energy, so poor Modo has fainted again. It seems we can only wait for her to wake up before we leave..."
Snowball was surprisingly reliable, even flying ahead to lead the way while saying, "Come with me. Treants aren't difficult to deal with, although they are very straightforward and have a bad impression of the Norse—but I mean, on the entire Dawn Continent, what magical creature race has ever had a good impression of humans?"
"These are minor issues. At least they once lived alongside the Gore people and are relatively friendly towards humans. As long as you don't offend them, we can still coexist peacefully, um... maybe."
"But expecting you Northrends... I mean, those Northrends, to live in peace with magical creatures is harder than expecting you to become the father of the gods!"
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【Dawn Magic Encyclopedia】: Tree Spirits are among the oldest magical creatures on the Dawn Continent. Some schools of thought also believe that tree spirits can be classified as highly intelligent beings, so they should be considered one of the many intelligent races on the Dawn Continent, just like elves.
However, the mainstream school of thought does not accept this view, arguing that tree spirits do not have a systematic writing system, nor do they build dwellings. Even as an intelligent race, they have long been enslaved by elves, so they cannot be considered an intelligent race, at best pets, just like the classification of fairies.
In addition, because they often bring troublesome vines and dense fog, and even cause an imbalance of magical elements, they are usually classified as level 2 or higher magical creatures.