Somewhere in a forest —Kingdom of Ceirth,
Late Summer, Heu'gh,1402 Year Cycle

 

"Everyone, save me!" Zaron saw two giant branches of a tree clutching Globrom in a deadly embrace. His legs were entangled between several small branches. Suddenly, the tree started moving.

Wait? Don't tell me?

The tree's lower trunk divided into what seemed like two legs. The tree pulled it's 'legs' free from the clutching earth. The ends of the two giant branches, which clenched Globrom, tranformed into two wooden hands. A face-like feature manifested itself in the tree's bark.

A treant?! How the hell did this guy managed to provoke this monster?!

It's eyes leered at the surrounding adventurers with an otherworldly menace. A grating voice boomed in the air: "Human, who dared to poison my domain with such filth…DIE!"

This is bad. Just what did this guy do?

"Shihle, keep it distracted so I can close in the distance!"

Their spellcaster responded to the order with quick fireball spells, hurling them towards the treant in succession. The treant growled and backed away a few steps in agitation due to the flames, it's grip on Globrom loosened for a moment, which Globrom took full advantage of by thrusting a dagger in one of it's eyes before retreating several steps.

"Ughhh!! You humans shall pay for this insolence!" It hurtled at the spellcaster in furious rage, changing it's target. Although she tried to make a run for it, but her feet were suddenly bounded by several vines that emerged from the ground beneath her, and wrapped themselves around her feet.

He saw her casting her strongest third-tier spell in panic: 「Snake Lightning」

White lightning appeared writhing like a living thing from her hand to her shoulder. A beat later it leaped off the end of her finger pointed at the treant. True to the spell's name, the lightening slithered towards the treant like a snake. Yet, as it hit the treant, the radiance dimmed and die out after awhile whilst the treant continued dashing towards her—unharmed.

"Aah!!" She screamed, imagining her imminent fate.

"Get down right now!!" Following his command instinctively, she got down. He immediately lept in the air from behind her, his sword glimmering with a silvery glow as he jammed it into the treant's second eye.

"Haaaaaaaahhh!" Having been robbed of it's sight, the treant screamed in great pain.

It worked—wait, why can't I take my sword out?

His sword was firmly stuck in the treant's eye and won't even budge. The treant, unable to bear the great pain, sent him flying with a punch, and then forcefully took out the sword with it's left hand.

He landed hard nearly a dozen yards away in a shower of dirt and grass, but the blow had very likely saved his life.

After standing up with great difficultly, he pressed his hands against stomach and coughed. He could feel the taste of blood in his mouth.

"Boss, are you alright?" A large burly hurried towards him, his voice filled with a tinge of concern.

"Y-yeah...though I think I must have truly enraged that monster," he said with another cough trailing off at the end. The treant was going wild with anger as it frantically punched everything in it's range.

"It can't be helped. Just stay still for a moment, boss. 「Heal Wounds」" The cleric casted his spell after placing his hands on Zaron's back

Zaron felt a sudden burst of warmth inside his body, alleviating his pain and causing his cuts to close themselves up. The burly cleric finally lifted his hands off Zaron after sensing that the latter was fine.

"Thanks, Blen. You once again saved my life."

"No problem, boss. That's my job. The Almighty Gurushu will surely condemn me if I don't even save the lives of my comrades," Blen replied with a good-natured smile.

"Yeah, I must offer my thanks to your god as-"

"Globrom, watch out!!" He heard Shihle scream. Turning around, he watched the treant yanking both of Globrom's arms apart, seemingly wanting to sever them.

Oh, no!! I won't be able to make it in time!

Realizing the intentions of the monster, an expression of dread crept over Globrom's face. He tried struggling free, but to no avail.

Resigning to his fate, he closed his eyes, so did everyone else. They did not want to watch the gruesome death of their comrade.

—It was then.

"Gwaaaaahhhh!!"

—that an inhumane wail thundered across the forest. After opening their eyes, they were greeted by the sight of the treant trembling in horror as it looked at its arms that laid on the ground just a few steps away.

Globrom was leaning against a nearby tree in one piece, though his shoulders heaved as he panted profusely. Zaron then caught the sight of a hodded man who held two dark daggers in both his hand. His crimson eyes leaked an uncontrollable bloodlust that sent a shiver down his spine. A scar ran down slightly below his right eye, making him look even more intimidating.

Cloven? He must have heard the sound of our fighting.

He focused on the treant's body. Vines emerged out of it's stumps, and interwined together to form barks that once again took form of it's arms, putting him under the illusion that they hadn't been severed in the first place.

What? It can regenerate itself?! Does this monster have a difficulty of 50?!

He now concluded that this was the type of monster even a four-star adventurer team like theirs couldn't take on without suffering any casualties.

But even after seeing this, Cloven remained indifferent with his usual stoic expression on his face. Readying his stance, he sprinted forward with an otherworldly speed at the treant. Having it's arms restored, the treant attacked with it's fist at the incoming Cloven. Yet, a heartbeat before the fist could come into contact with Cloven's body, he lept high into the air; he twisted his body sideways midair, his left hand grabbing hold of one of the treant's arm for a second to drive the propulsion behind his right hand as he used it to plunge his dark dagger at just below the treant's bark. It was a spectacular attack. He noticed that no movement was wasted.

Unfornately, that won't be enough to kill it.

—Yet

"Y-YOU…" The treant spoke with a voice laced with murder. Moments later, it dropped to the ground, unmoving.

—he was proven wrong. It was a fatal blow.

"How? How could it die like this? Why didn't it regenerate like before?!" He heard Shihle scream, her voice conveying bewilderment.

He, too, stared at Cloven for answers.

"It's heart crystal. I destroyed it's heart crystal," a hoarse voice echoed.

Upon a second glance at the corpse of the treant, he certainly noticed see a broken green crystal at the place where Cloven's dagger had struck. His mouth was now wide open, which showed a complete disregard for his own image. But, he didn't care. No, it was because he was too shocked to care. He wasn't shocked at how Cloven knew the monster won't regenerate if he destroyed it's heart crystal, but as to how this man in front of him was able make such a precise strike, placing it exactly where the attack will hurt the target most.

"Amazing...it feels like the rumors weren't false, after all," Blen, the cleric, leaked out a voice of admiration.

Recalling the rumors, he thought that they didn't sound absurd anymore. Hunting down the famous rank-four killer the Red Eye, subduing a fully-matured Umber hulk, saving the lives of the townfolk from a group of bloodthirsty demihumans were just a few of the achievements performed by them since their arrival.

This man and his other teammate had created a sort of legend in Bellmare due to their fast rise in adventurer hierarchy. In just two months, they had risen from one-star adventures to four-star ones.

This overturned the knowledge they had accumulated over the years about how an adventurer should go through the ranks. In addition, the most shocking thing was that their team only comprised of two men—a rogue and a warrior. This unbalanced party was even suspected to possess the strength of five-star adventurers. If true, then they would be the first five-star adventurer party in the whole of Kingdom.

"Woah, Zaron, that carelessness would be the undoing of you and your team. Had we taken our time coming here, I am afraid I would only get to see dead bodies. I don't even know how I would explain this to our client and your wife," a man made his way through dense thickets with a grin on his face. He was handsome with an oblong face, straight nose, piercing blue eyes and a sharp jawline.

"Yeah, I know, Malazan. I don't know how I could make such a newbie mistake," he held his head low in shame. A four-star veteran like him knew better than to get distracted during a fight.

"It's alright. Anyway, mind telling how you managed to provoke this guy right here?" Malazan said while pointing his index finger towards the dead treant.

"Trust me, I don't know any better. But I am sure there's someone who does." Everyone turned to look at Globrom who was scratching his head in embarrassment.

Treant were known for their peaceful nature. They preferred to while away their days, months, and years in quiet contemplation, but they reacted quite fiercely when someone or something threatened their woodland demesnes. Their comrade Globrom must have done something unforgivable to its land, otherwise it would not retaliated the way it did.

"Don't look at me like that! I just came here to pee. The next I knew, it was hell-bent on killing me."

"Blessed Mother, you have some gall to answer the call of nature in front of a treant! How courageous of you," Malazan laughed.

"No wonder it was so angry. Even I would have wanted to kill you if I were in it's place," Shihle kicked Globrom's leg in anger.

"Ouch, that hurts! How would have I know this place was it's territory?!"

"You almost got all of us killed because of your failure to survey your surroundings, Globrom. Make sure this never happens again," Zaron directed an admonishing glare at the man before bowing towards Cloven: "I must thank you for saving the life of my party's member." 

He was indeed very grateful for Cloven's aid. If the latter did not step in the moment he did, Globrom and probably his other party members might not have gotten the chance to see the light of day again. Following his lead, others of his party also bowed.

Cloven coughed in response, acknowledging their bow. Seeing this, everyone smiled wryly to themselves. After interacting with him for a few days, they had come to know that Cloven was a man of few words. 

"Alright. Mister Sablester would get worried if we don't return, so let us not dawdle any longer."

"Yeah. Cut of the ears of those demihumans. Make it quick, so that we can meet up with others sooner," he commanded everyone before setting his sight on Malazan.

 

"Is there something on my face?" Malazan inquired with a smile after noticing Zaron's stare.

 

"No, it's nothing," he replied and turned his head around, his mind lost in contemplation.

How did he know that I got distracted during the fight?