Chapter 11 Fire... A Bad Thing.

[Humans have entered the forest. There's more coming than last time. Hostile intent detected, though unsure of the target.]

Lief, who had been chatting with Krow to learn more about the world outside the forest, was suddenly interrupted by a warning from Silvester.

Noticing his new chatting partner's distraction, Krow spoke up.

"Is something wrong, Guardian Lief?"

Lief slowly stood up.

"We seem to have some uninvited guests."

Krow's tail wagged as he offered up his services.

"I can help you deal with them, if you'd like?"

If it weren't for the fact that Lief knew the demon beast was offering to kill the intruders, he probably would've accepted Krow's offer. He didn't want to deal with the humans, especially if they were the ones he had already warned.

"I'll go check it out first."

Lief shook his head slightly in refusal. He wanted to check out the humans before deciding on a course of action. If they were the same humans from before who were trying to call his bluff, perhaps then he could consider taking up Krow's offer, but if they weren't, he'd probably let them off with a warning.

He didn't want to kill anyone unless he really needed to.

Lief headed through the forest, following Silvester's directions.

He could've used Shadow Travel, but it was more convenient to just run on his own two feet. Shadow Travel was about the same speed or just slightly faster than running, and just as tiring.

When he reached the group of humans, at first he hid behind a tree to watch them, just like last time. Though this time around, he had his Dark Fog skill active so it would be harder for them to see him.

It was another group of adventurers, a larger group that is.

The group also seemed to be led by what he could only describe as a crow's (the bird, not the wolfish demon beast) first love. Gold accented and jewel embedded everything. The armor practically screamed "rich boy".

The entire outfit was extremely blingy and shiny and impractical. Gold had very little capabilities to serve as actual protection, and the pure shininess of it all would basically rule out the possibility of a sneak attack or hiding and retreating.

If this were a video game from his old world, the shiny man would definitely be one of those p2w (pay to win) players who spent a ton of money just to get a cooler looking outfit.

With Lief's fog that dimmed everything else and blurred the visibility of duller colors, the shiny suit of armor practically became a beacon for all to see.

Lief activated Shadow Travel to appear in front of the group. Following Silvester's translations, he warned this new group of adventurers.

"Leave this forest now if you don't want to get hurt."

Unfortunately for Lief, the adventurers seemed to have no intention of leaving as they drew their swords and prepared their magical sticks.

The shiny man leaped forward, trying to slash Lief with a sword that had just as many jewels as his armor.

Lief easily caught the man by the ankle with his tail, causing the man to immediately faceplant into the earth.

He reached out to drain some of the shiny man's vitality, using his sharp claws to cut open his armor.

Two of the humans with the magical staffs started to chant and fireballs appeared in front of them, growing in size with every word they spoke.

Upon seeing magic that could potentially burn down his forest, Lief panicked and almost instinctually swung out at the two fire mages, throwing them to the ground.

He lashed out again against the humans who were still standing, sending several of them flying only for them to quickly crash land on a shattered and splintered dead tree.

~~~~~~~~~~

William finally spotted the other group of adventurers, but before he could breathe a sigh of relief, he noticed the two glowing red orbs in the fog ahead of them, as well as the state of the other humans.

The noble was on the ground, his previously perfectly polished armor torn to shreds, his life and death unknown. Several of the other adventurers were in a visibly worse state, a good distance away from the creature and smashed against withered trees, splinters and dirt mixing into their wounds.

Ignoring the worried shouting from his teammates, William rushed forward to confront the creature, arms raised in a universal gesture of surrender.

"Please wait! I mean no harm, and simply wish to talk!"

The creature that was most likely a Kisan paused its movements and turned to look at him with a curious look. Or at least, William assumed it was curious as its skeletal head could not actually express any emotions.

Meanwhile, William's teammates hurried over and began giving first aid to the injured.

William stood in front of the creature, trying his best to hide the fear in his voice.

"Oh mighty forest guardian, I humbly beg of you to grant mercy to these foolish people who did not realize your greatness and angered you so. Please allow me and my men to bring these ignorant fools out of your forest. The fool in the gilded armor is the son of a powerful person among us humans, and his death could cause you some trouble or annoyance."

Luckily, the creature did not immediately attack them. Hopefully, it was considering his words.

~~~~~~~~~~

Lief hesitated as he listened to Silvester's translations of the human man's words. He wasn't sure whether it was just how Silvester translated it, or if the human language was supposed to sound like it came out of a Shakespearean sonnet or medieval stage play, minus all the "thee"s and "thou"s.