Van and the group left the fort half an hour later riding on the back of Rosy. Luna had put a rug-like bedding on Rosy’s back to which she can lay on, then positioned her head on Agnès’s legs. After that, she asked Agnès to feed her the snacks she brought, one grape at a time.

“Why am I doing this?” Van asked, waving a large fan that Luna gave him in her direction. “And where did you even get this fan from?” pausing a moment to look at the feathered fan. “Also, isn't Rosy a bit too big for this mission? How are we supposed to scout if people can see us from a mile away?”

“You ask too many questions…” Luna said as she lay her head on Agnès lap. “We just got married, let’s enjoy ourselves!”

“You're the only one enjoying yourself right now,” Van said.

“Not true!” Luna replied with a smile. “My happiness is everyone's happiness! So with that in mind… fan harder!” she said as she tried to stop herself from grinning from ear to ear.

Van sighed and continued fanning for a while longer, mostly out of love for her. After a while though, he got tired and Anna asked if he would like to also lay down for a lap pillow. Which he gratefully accepted, laying his head down on her nice soft thighs.

As they traveled to the designated spot on the map, Gwen was fervently writing down in her notes all the plants she saw that could be used for potion-making. The other Anna that was brought was at the head of Rosy, giving her directions towards their objective and making sure they didn’t get lost.

Iris, the three-tailed fox that was the queen of the east forest, was also tagging along. And not only her but the three imps as well who were also tired of being cooped up in the fort for so long and wanted out. Even Bell, left with them, following close behind, wanting to return to the forest for a bit. As they traveled, the imps landed on Van’s chest and got comfortable, taking a short nap on him as he laid down on Anna’s lap.

It was actually quite peaceful…

By the time they reached their destination two hours later, the group was well-rested and feeling good. They had at first worried that such a lax attitude would bite them in the butt, but Van’s search magic that he kept on at all times since they left revealed that nothing dangerous was around them the entire trip.

Slowly, Rosy came to a stop and Agnès got up from Luna’s lap from when they switched places and the group looked over at the small meadow in front of them.

“Don’t you think it’s odd…” Van said, getting up from Anna’s lap. “For all the noise we made, we hadn’t seen a single creature on our trip here…”

Luna shrugged. “I found that when you become as strong as us, most threats tend to leave you alone so long as they know you're coming. Just one of the few things I learned while traveling around the forest. It probably doesn’t hurt that we have two queens of the forest with us either.” jumping off Rosy's back and landing in front of the group.

Gwen then took flight and started to do an aerial scan of the area for any threats and plants that might interest her. The imps then woke up from all the commotion and from falling off Van as he got up and went to scout the area out their own way.

The red imp gave a mean glare back towards Van for not waking them up before he got up, making him feel a bit bad, so he gave a silent apology as they left to watch the surroundings.

Soon after Rosy shrunk down to a smaller size, forcing Van to hold on lest he fall off, by the time she stopped shrinking, he was sandwiched between Agnès and Anna, who he held onto so they wouldn’t fall off either.

“Give us a warning next time,” Van said to Rosy, who responded with a low growl of apology.

Van gently got down and scanned the area.

It was a meadow of sorts, a large open piece of grassland with a small lake near the back with many small shoots of flowers and other small plants cropping up all over the place. The area had an almost serene quality to it that was only emphasized when a gentle breeze passed by caressing the grass and making it flow like waves on the ocean.

“Huh… there's practically nothing here…” Van said, as he looked around. “I would have expected at least something… considering we’re so close to enemy lines… but… nothing… I can’t sense anything around us at all...”

“It is odd…” Anna said next to him, joining him in scanning the area. “But perhaps Luna was right? Maybe no monsters or enemy troops wanted to come by because we have two queens of the forest with us,” she said thoughtfully.

“If that was the case then why did they attack the fort yesterday? Or the day before that? Doesn’t seem like it was a problem for them then.” Van said.

“Maybe because they had the numbers with them to make them think it was worthwhile?” Anna said.

“Maybe…” Van replied.

Agnès for her part was looking around perplexed for some reason alongside Bell, but as Van’s and Anna’s conversation continued, they became more and more fearful of their surroundings. Soon the both of them started panicking and became agitated, looking everywhere with dread. And when Agnès saw Luna bend down to pick up a beautiful flower, her face went as white as a sheet.

“Luna! Don’t! This is Mandrake territory!” She shouted, Bell also adding her yelling as well to grab Luna’s attention.

Van and Anna turned confused and worried in their direction.

But sadly it was too late, as Luna turned towards the group she left behind, she had pulled up the flower… which was attached to a head… and a body…

The mandrake shrieked a cry so loud it rattled Van’s eardrums despite being at the very edges of the meadow. He winced, his improved hearing coming back to bite him as he covered his ears with both hands, trying his best to block out the sound.

Luna fared the worst of it, her eyes swirling, she wobbled back and forth like she was half-drunk then fell on her ass.

“Shit!” as Van watched Luna fall, “why didn’t I sense them!? Could it be because their lifeforce blended in with the background vegetation!?”

Soon, more mandrakes popped out of the ground and began shrieking their deathly wail. Then slowly, small mounds of grass and leaves began to form, taking on humanoid forms with glowing green eyes.

“Leshies!” Bell tried to yell out in warning, though her voice was mostly drowned out. “Be Careful! They could be poisonous!”

The Leshies carried crude bone weapons and armor, with a few wearing skull helmets, probably from the many animals they have hunted over the years. They jittered in strange noises, their voices sounding like what might be heard when someone blows a grass whistle or when a wind blows through crackling leaves.

Van immediately stopped his magical scanning and dulled his hearing using magic in order to regain some semblance of control over himself. Feeling the wailing that disoriented him losing power over him. Quickly, his mind began to rush with what actions he could take to change this situation around and save Luna who had passed out, now surrounded by little green women with flowers on their heads.

Agnès wasn’t fairing any better, she had also fallen, her nose bleeding. She looked like she was about to raise her staff to attack with a gout of fire, but hesitated as she no doubt feared catching Luna in that attack.

Rosy and Iris were not doing any better, both were down trying to cover their very sensitive ears. The imps had quickly come back to check up on the noise, but couldn’t get close without getting dizzy and falling to the ground. Anna seemed to have taken a page from his book and dulled her hearing, forming around him and prepared to go on the attack as soon as he was. He created a mental link with her so they can talk mind to mind and communicate with each other without using words.

Bell was the best off, at first she was just as affected as Iris and Rosy, but quickly shook her head, her wolfish eyes glowing a greenish-blue which seemed to do something to offset the mandrakes attack. For no sooner did her eyes turn, did she rush the distance towards Luna to stop the mandrakes from dragging Luna off somewhere.

Van’s eyes turned a little red in anger as he saw his beloved dragged away and the numbers of his enemies grew, starting from a few dozen to well over a hundred. With a will, he opened up his shadow and two dozen shadow wolves moved with eerily grace out of it. They were bigger, with more defined features and redder meaner eyes. They growled menacingly, and with a thought, they rushed the small army of walking plants, tearing them to pieces.

Van then put his hands on each of the Anna’s shoulders who were standing side by side with him. “Dark enchancement!” soon, shadowy energy flowed from him and into them, coating their bodies in a menacing dark aura, making them stronger and faster, as well as protecting them from the mandrakes' sound attack. No sooner had he finished than they rushed off to attack the leshies before them.

Almost as if in response, greater leshies started to appear, going from around three to four feet tall to four to five feet. The mandrakes, seeing that their sonic attacks did barely anything to the shadow wolves who were semi-incorporeal to their voices, changed tactics and began releasing pollen that was to poison and paralyze over a wide area.

When even that did not work on the many wolves attacking their ranks, they started to lose hope and some retreated, while a few stayed and instead started casting magic that created roots that entangled themselves on the wolves to slow them down. Van and Anna were immune to the pollen due to the fact they were releasing a harsh energy force around them and were largely able to avoid the entangling roots.

Rosy was trying her best to be helpful, staying in her smaller size so as not to get in the way and attacking any of the larger leshies that drew near, she was thankful that the mandrakes stopped their sonic and pollen attacks, for she had no immunity to them. Iris was the same, she jumped around using foxfire to attack the leshies, and a few illusions to cause confusion in their ranks, making them think there were more or less of them around than there actually was. The imps came back and started just fighting wildly, working together to cause confusion in the enemy ranks or distract them enough for a wolf to attack from a blind spot.

Agnès had the worst of it, with allies and enemies so crowded together, she couldn’t unleash her full power without catching them up in it, or accidentally creating a wildfire due to all the grassland around them. She was forced to attack one at a time, controlling her fire just so that it would kill the leshies without spreading too far out.

Van and the group pushed forward, but no matter how far they went, more and more leshies appeared, with greater leshies becoming more common.

“What the hells is going on!? What are all these leshies doing here? And why are they doing this?” Van thought as he pushed his group forward, using his magic to empower his forces to attack. Halfway through the meadow, large mounds of green started to appear.

“Shit! Green mounds!” Van thought aloud as he saw the evolved version of leshies appear before them.

The green mounds towered over them, a good ten to eleven feet tall made with twigs. Leaves, grass, and a bunch of other vegetation with even a few rocks mixed in. they moved forward with prodigious strength and with a step was able to smash one of the shadow wolves back into darkness.

“Rosy!” Van yelled, and the bear growled with a battle cry, growing in size and attacking the green mound before her. “Anna! Agnès!” he then shouted, and the two Anna’s nodded and made their way to intercept the other green mound with Agnès backing them up with her spells. “Iris!” Van said finally, using his magic to empower her as she casted an illusion spell to make it seem like there were more shadow wolves than actually were, confusing the leshies on which ones were real and which ones weren't. Gwen then fired bolts of magic from above, providing air support to the group below.

Van then fired arrows of darkness that when striking a target would expand rapidly in a spiked balloon sort of way, sometimes exploding the leshies from the inside out and flinging the mana core that made them outward, sometimes destroying it.

Like this, they fought their way through towards the middle of the meadow, but no matter how much they progressed, there were still more and more enemies that got in their way. Soon treants and flower sprites started to join in the fight against them, bogging them down and slowing their way towards what appeared to be a fairly large tree in the middle of the meadow, which itself was surrounded by a small lake.

“What the hells is going on!” Van thought for the second time so far. “Why are all these creatures attacking us!? Why are they kidnapping Luna!? Could it have something to do with that large tree there?”

Van didn’t want to have to do this… but he brought out the reserves of his shadow wolves, another two dozen to help offset the difference of the growing numbers of enemies that now started to slowly surround them. Casting a few last-minute spells, such as a haste spell and mana barrier, he prepared the girls for an all-out charge.

“If we get bogged down here, we will never save Luna! We have to charge through! Get ready! On my mark!” Van shouted, getting the others ready the best he could with a few more spells.

“Charge!”

The group then pushed forward using the new found power they gained from Van’s spells. Killing dozens of Leshies and taking down a few green mounds and treats in their way. Once past most of the of the monsters that got in their way, Van ordered most of the shadows wolves behind to block the pursuit of any that might follow.

Van charged forward, a spear of shadow in his hand that he threw at a nearby treant that was in their way. A part of it exploded in wood chips from the impact, but it still came in charging, trying to stop their own charge. Agnès then threw a few spears of fire at its legs to topple it and Anna moved in for the kill, lopping its head off, all the while they did their best not to lose momentum.

Leshies then carrying crude bone bows started firing bone arrows at them from a distance at the behest of a mandrake that seemed to be leading them. Van conjured a ball of black flame and fired it at the mandrake, but the leshies had already committed to their task and continued to fire on their own accord.

Rosy tanked her way through the leshies in their way, opening up a path for which they could follow. Van had to help Agnès by picking her up so as not to get out runned by the rest of the group. Agnès not being used to running so much and having no stamina for it, he mentally ordered what few shadow wolves he took with them to form up around them to protect them from any counterattacks that may come.

As they drew near what appeared to be a shallow land bridge to the large tree in the meadows center, Van put Agnès down and reached towards a large folded parchment that he carried with him. Unfolding it revealed it to be a large magical circle, pre-drawn and ready for use.

“Buy me some time!” he shouted as he started to channel mana into the circle, fully trusting his friends to do so. Soon a light appeared from the circle and the Anna that was in charge of the temple in his soul realm formed in its center.

It was something Van had been working on for a while since now he can’t just simply summon things from his soul realm anymore, he created a method using magic circles that could circumnavigate that problem. It took a lot of effort, but it was worth it in these kinds of situations.

The priestess Anna, while still technically a neophyte, was actually stronger than the average Annas with a list of spells at her disposal. With a thought, he ordered her to take up the rear and protect them as they charged through the land bridge and onto the small island in the lake. Which was thankfully mostly clear of enemies.

As they fought their way through, Van noticed a small group of alraune at the end of the bridge, the evolved version of mandrakes. Their green bodies were covered in many flowers and instead of being one to two or three foot tall, they were as tall as three to five feet, with glossy hair and vines tangled across their bodies.

But as they reached the end of the landbridge, instead of attacking them… they did something strange instead…

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