The goblins that had been teasing her breasts were now trying to run away, but they stopped when something wooden that almost looked like a spear had pierced through them. It was sticking out from their chests, but Eridia couldn't see what it was.

She watched the green monsters shriveling up as if all the blood got drained out of them without leaving a single drop behind. Their empty remains crumbled away like dust while the decay in the forest clearing was spreading further.

Only now did she notice the giant tree with dried leaves and dead petals slowly falling down from it. A Drywood Ent had showed up from the deeper parts of the forrest. It was draining the life from everything it touched with its dark roots or ashy vines.

Hopefully, the warding stones would prevent it from entering further. Eridia wondered how it had managed to attack the goblins since there were no visible cracks in the barrier.

She hurried back to the middle of the glade where she had dropped her bag to search for something that could help her. The hollow eyes of the ent were following her movements while it was draining the nearby trees too, causing them to fall before they broke apart.

The Drywood Ent had finished sucking all the life out of the last goblin and was now moving towards Eridia. It flinched at the sight of her taking out her hatchet before its wide, empty mouth turned from a scared expression into a wicked grin.

Eridia had thrown her small axe to the side and grabbed the spark stone instead. The slow decay caused by the ent spread even further. Almost all of the flowers and grass around them had wilted and it didn't seem to stop any time soon.

Holding the small stone in her hands, she began to pour mana into it. The runes began to glow and sparks started flying off of it, but Eridia didn't stop and kept going. She was overloading the spark stone until it glowed a bright orange-red.

Only when it turned white and emitted enough heat that it almost burned the fur on her arms did she throw it at the top of the wooden monsters head.

The overloaded spark stone burst in a fiery explosion that caused quite a few of the shards to melt while they flew in all directions, some of them even landing near Eridia.

A loud roar, anger mixed with surprise, was let out by the Drywood Ent. It's top had burst into flames, stopping it in its tracks before the monster pulled all of it's vines and roots back toward itself.

Cracks began to run through its bark, starting at the branches that had caught on fire. A dimly glowing light could be seen from each crack as well as it's hollow eyes and deep mouth. There was a loud creaking Sound followed by an outburst of heat while the flowers on its head began to bloom all of a sudden, turning into dark-red blossoms.

Burning leaves and flakes of ash were falling down when the Ent shook it's head as if it was just waking up from lethargy. Even its roots and vines had changed from their dried, dark-grey looks to a coal-like black with a bright orange glowing out of the openings. Another roar, this time filled with bloodlust and rage, was let out by the Blazing Ent.

It wasn't unheard of that monsters could evolve after they had fulfilled certain conditions. Glowing roots and burning vines moved towards Eridia, undeterred by the invisible barrier. The fiery monster grabbed some of the warding stones and threw them away while laughing. It was a loud, deep and ominous laughter comming out from the Ent's fire spewing maw.

She grabbed her nearby lying hatchet and hurled it at the Ent. The trees around it had turned into charred husks, further illuminating the monster. All she did was enraging the Blazing Ent by getting her small axe stuck right between the eyes of the monsters face. Eridia reached for two warding stones closest to her while the Ent reached out to wrap it's hot roots around her her arms.

She hoped that channeling some of her mana into the small enchanted rocks would be enough to ward of the walking, burning tree monster. Each stone in her hands crackled with a pinkish light before it bursting into flames without harming her. And yet, the Ent's vines where slowly closing in on her while the monster used charred black roots like tentacles in order to move towards her.

It was fast for its size. Fiery vines reached out and grabbed her arms, lifting her up while she screamed in a mix of fear and pain. The heat that each vine was emitting seared the runes of the warding stones into the fur below her wrists. The smell of burning skin reached her sensitive nose a few seconds later while she could feel the sensation of something being branded into her.

Her passive skill Enduring Defender was already in effect, but it couldn't dull or prevent any of the pain. Eridia even tried to release some of her mana in a desperate attempt to keep the heat at bay, but she was never the best when it came to shaping pure mana. The Blazing Ent grinned before letting out a sadistic laugh while it moved Eridia closer to its gaping maw.

The pink flames from the warding stones spread around her hands before they clashed with the fire that was released by the Ent's vines. A muffled explosion suddenly rang out when the enchanted stones in her hands crumbled to sand while the wooden monster released her from its grasp with a loud wail.

Eridia landed on the last spot of soft grass before it wilted and turned into dust, just like the rest of the glade. She was now lying on the ground right next to her bag, but there wasn't anything in it that could be of any help in this situation. She closed her eyes and waited for it to be over quick.

But nothing happened even after a few seconds had passed. Eridia opened an eye lid to see what was going on only to be met with a downpour that drenched them both. The rain season had started all of a sudden. It caused the Ent to scream and stagger back while steam began to rise into the air from wherever the water landed on the wooden monster.

It panicked and tried to hide from the heavy rain by burrowing itself into the ground. In an attempt to find shelter, the Blazing Ent used some of the remaining nearby trees as cover too before most of it's branches and vines could fall down from on top of it. Meanwhile, Eridia gathered all of her belongings and put them into her water resistant bag before they became too wet.

All of the goblin cum, urine and blood on her naked body got washed away by the heavy rain. Luckily it wasn't cold which meant that she could walk around in the nude instead of risking her Blue Mage robes getting dirty. The mud would slide off eventually, but the added weight could make walking harder for her. Eridia ran as fast as she could without slipping and found a cave after a while.

A large overhang prevented the water from flowing in, forming a small stream that flowed away. Eridia sat down at the caves entrance and tried to wring her shoulder long hair as dry as possible. She looked around, not noticing that she had walked through a feintly shimmering veil. Her stomach grumbled despite all the thick goblin seed that she had been forced to swallow. The taste of it was still lingering in her mouth while she could smell it with every breath she took too.

She rested for a short while before taking some bread and dried meat out from her bag, eating a quick meal followed by washing it down with some rain water. The food got rid of the goblins lingering aftertaste in her mouth, but she still put two or three drops of the nectar-like tree sap on her tongue afterwards just to taste something sweet. It was delicious.

Eridia looked around in the cave, but there were only stalactites and stalagmites as well as a dim glow that flickered in a deeper part. She began to shiver from the cold wind while the rain kept pouring down. Even putting on her Blue Mage robes didn't help warming her up. If only she had packed a few towels as well as spare spark stone or at least an artifact enchanted with a rune to emit some warmth.

There wasn't even anything to start a fire with in the damp cave or inside her bag. The raining seasons had just begun and it could rain nonstop for several weeks. She could either go out and get soaked to her bones while walking to the nearest town that wasn't her home or explore the deep cave in hopes of finding something else to do.

She walked around, but there was nothing except for the rocky protrusions and the dim light in the back. Eridia walked carefully towards it after she had put a broken stalagmite in her bag. There were two flickering Will-o'-Wisps, each trapped in an opaque lamp which illuminated a frame without a door. She couldn't see what lay beyond it. A sign to the right had some words engraved on it, but they had faded away over time.

——————

Georghiz and his four other party members had entered the forest a few minutes after Eridia and followed her slowly so she wouldn't notice them. Arthok, an experienced Arch Druid who they had hired, helped them keep track of the young Blue Mage by using his Shared Senses skill in combination with a summoned Thunder Hawk.

Zirinua had to hold back her laughter while she watched how the slutty Panthera got gangbanged by a group of lowly goblins. The appearance of an Ent and its evolution was unexpected, though. They kept watching instead of helping Eridia despite the plans that Georg had for Eridia.

When it started to rain, the Archon just used a spell to keep everyone in his party dry while they kept following Eridia. They watched her enter a cave from a safe distance and waited for half an hour. When Georghiz tried to enter, he got repelled by an invisible wall and almost fell on his ass. A notification popped up, informing him that he had to wait until the current challenger had left.