The elf delicately maneuvered her body across the treelines, dodging the obstacles and sliding down the small hill toward the backdoor of the village gate. Alina readied her Lahmum while Lin prepared to shoot three arrows at once using her compound bow.  

"Are you planning to blow the gate open?" Alina asked. 

"Yes." The arrows on her bow glowed in bright orange before Lin released them from her bow. The arrows flew toward the gate, exploding into large three explosions, turning the gate into nothing more than sawdust. 

Lin then walked into the village. She pulled a smartphone out of her pocket while keeping herself vigilant with her surroundings. The smartphone displayed the last known signal of the diplomat's smartphone. 

They walked through the wooden house, meticulously looking at which direction the signal was coming from. As they walked, there seemed to be an execution happening in this place not too long ago, evidenced by the dead bodies in the area, naked dead bodies, to be exact. 

"Should have told them, really," Lin muttered as she looked down on her phone. 

"Told what?" Alina asked. 

"When dealing with tribals, no matter how peaceful your intention is, stay heavily armed, only God knows what will happen if you piss them off," Lin said, looking at the dead bodies in the village, some were mutilated. 

"These are his security details?" Alina asked, looking at the body. 

"Her, but yes," Lin replied. 

As they advanced deeper into the village, the GPS signal on Lin's smartphone grew stronger, guiding them toward a larger structure at the center of the settlement. The building, unlike the others, was made of stone and reinforced with wooden beams. It was more majestic than the other, with proper windows instead of hut and a large garden. 

Reaching the entrance, Lin gestured for Alina to hold her position while she peered inside through a small window. The dim interior was lit by flickering torchlight, casting long shadows that danced across the stone walls. Alina crouched down right on the corner of the house, waiting for further command. 

In the central room, six figures were standing, one was tied down while the other five were standing with their weapons aimed right at the door. The diplomat was also wounded, with bruises and lacerations on her face. 

"Shit, the gas doesn't enter the house," Lin cursed. "She's there, along with a couple of guards. It looks like they're expecting us."

"Any suggestion?" Alina asked. 

"Let's wait for Rusty," Lin answered, standing near the window. She then used the earpiece on her ear to contact him. "Rusty, Lin, we got a situation. The gas doesn't enter the structure. We're waiting for you, over." 

"Copy that, Lin, we're on our way," Rusty replied. 

Moments later, the ground vibrated slightly under Alina's feet as Rusty approached, his large frame moving with surprising speed for an ogre. His face was dirtied by the blood from the druid's massacre, but there was no missing the determined look on his face as he neared their position.

Rusty arrived at their hiding spot, his broadsword gleaming in the dim light filtering through the trees. "Ready to make an entrance?" he asked.

"Six people inside, including our diplomat, extraction will be hairy, I bet," Lin said. 

"Hey, healer, cover me, alright?" Rusty signaled to Alina and she nodded. 

Rusty took a deep breath, then charged toward the building's entrance. His approach was anything but subtle—the very antithesis of stealth. He slammed into the door with his shoulder, the impact resonating like thunder. The door, though sturdy, wasn't a match for the ogre's brute strength; it splintered under his force, allowing him entry.

"Knock, knock, motherfucker!" Rusty shouted. 

The druid already prepared their weapons, rifles, and spears were already aimed at Rusty's direction. With her fast response time, Alina immediately blitzed to the far corner of the room, ambushing the druids from behind. 

Her magical gun fired three Aether beams at the druids, wounding them at once. Alina then wounded the other two druids before they had any chance to react to Alina's teleporting ability. Alina then quickly approached the diplomat. 

[BP +3,000]

"I'm Alina, are you alright?" She then put her hands on the diplomat's face, trying to mend the wound on her face. Her hands glowed in a faint yellow color as her Regeneration gradually mended the wound on the face of the diplomat. 

She patted the diplomat for any sign of wound, evidently, she saw blood flowing from head. Tracing it back, she saw two large holes that went as far as her scalp. The blood dripped from those two holes, flowing down in a thick concoction down her black short hair. One thing though, her blood color was dark blue. 

"Ms. Lisbell, are you alright?" Rusty said approaching the diplomat as Alina tried mending her wound. 

"Little bit of pain," Lisbell answered, holding down her head, "Those tree huggers pulled my horns out of its socket, what a prick. The bodyguards are dead too, they killed them. I shouldn't have been here." 

"We can talk later, ma'am," Lin added, signaling the group to go outside. However, as they turned their head toward the door, a druid showed up. 

The druid was chanting in a fervent, harsh tone. His hands were raised, directing his energy towards the dense forest surrounding the village. Green flow of energy began to flow from all around the forest, right into that druid's body. 

The druid's body transformed quickly, its skin turned into that of a tree trunk, and it grew larger and larger. Roots began to appear from the ground, stabbing the druid in multiple parts of his body. 

Within seconds, the earth outside the building ruptured as a massive tree-like creature tore its way from the ground. It stood towering over the building, alongside with destroying half of the building they were in. The large humanoid creature stood tall, with its length as tall as the tree surrounding the village. The druid was swallowed by the creature entirely. 

What the fuck was that? 

Curious and scared, Alina scanned the creature with her skill. 

[Forest Golem - Lvl. 35]

"Damn it!" Lin cursed, nocking another arrow to her bow, this one glowing with a bright, fiery aura. 

"Motherfucker... this is bad," Rusty added, looking at the giant monster outside. 

The giant monster swooped its hand, and from his left ear, Alina could hear buildings, and rubbles sweeping in her direction. Alina hugged the diplomat and she used her ability to blitz into the space at the back of the golem. In a matter of seconds, both of them moved away from the danger. 

The hand stroke was true, smashing the building into tiny bits, and eventually, destroying the house they were previously. The group managed to run away but not get away unscratched as the giant golem managed to throw rubbles in their direction. 

With her hand glowing in Regeneration and Lahmum at the other, she then shot at the giant golem relentlessly. The aether beam flew through the air, hitting the golem with each beam making a small explosion on the golem's body, but it was not enough. 

"How fucking thick are you?" Alina shouted, she then blitzed away from her previous firing position into Rusty's position, who prepared his large broadsword to swing at the large golem. 

The other two were also there. Lin already prepared another five of those explosive arrows to be fired at once while the other two already imbued their melee weapons with magical spells. Their weapons flowed in multiple colors, from blue, and orange, to yellow. 

"Fucking golem, we need a plan to run, our weapon wouldn't do shit to the core, it will only regenerate," Lin added. 

"I have a good idea," Artyom added. 

"Throw away," Rusty added. 

"Alina and I will distract the golem, you two then run as fast as you can," Artyom suggested. 

"Are you crazy?" Lin protested. "That thing can kill you easily." 

"Well, it can kill you easier, Lin. I can move stupidly fast, while Alina, well, she can teleport," Artyom said. 

The golem moved slowly, its eyes were gazing back at Alina and the group. She felt danger was coming at her, but Artyom had a fair point. The diplomat needed to get out of here quickly, and maybe, they needed a distraction so the large thing wouldn't kill them at once. 

"Deal, we move quickly, here's the car key," Alina said, handing her car key to Lin. 

"Are you crazy? I don't need your stupid bravado," Lin protested, refusing the offer.

"Hey, what matters is that you all arrive at the consult alive, right?" Alina asked. 

"We don't have the time, sir, give the order," Artyom said. 

Rusty then sighed, "That's an order, Lin." 

"Fucking hell, come back alive, you hear?" Lin said. 

Artyom just smirked, "When will I won't?"  

Alone, he charged toward the golem. Alina still stood in silence, trying to know what the weak point of the golem was while Lin and Artyom evacuated from the village. She looked for any weak point, probably something glowing or something that seemed to offer an opening for her.

FOUND IT!