Chapter 32: Tree Sprites

Caizher hunted another wolf to use as his mount and explored more areas of the forest. However, most of the monsters he saw were goblins or wolves. It became too redundant and boring

Caizher whistled in boredom and continued. After some time, he heard some humans gasping for air. In curiosity, he destroyed the vines along the way and entered an area with sparse trees

As soon as Caizher saw who the humans are, he immediately 'regretted' giving in to his curiosity but it was too late now

"Caizher you jerk! We don't have any contact with you for a long time!" Sheena said angrily

"Why do I even need to contact you?" Caizher asked while rolling his eyes but the woman just grinned at him

"It's because you are the base's leader now!" Sheena said in as a matter of fact tone and Caizher looked at her as if she's insane. This fueled the woman's rage once more

"When did I become someone that important?" Caizher said sarcastically. Why are they giving him the position of leader? He doesn't want to have such a troublesome position

"Because you forced Bruce to flee and you are the strongest mana user in the base!"

"I don't want to!" Caizher declined the position and looked at Sheena and her team who were panting hard. Some of them also sustained injuries on their bodies

"Anyways, how can you all be in such a pathetic state? Is there a powerful enemy nearby?" Caizher asked excitedly

Although he's stronger that Sheena but the woman is still quite powerful on her own. Anyone who can force her team into this situation is bound to be a strong opponent!

Caizher'a insulting rude words incur the wrath of Sheena and her team. But of course, they still knew how Caizher's mind works and won't bother telling him to be nicer

"Up ahead is the territory of what looks like as tree sprites. They are about as big as a human palm but they are very adept at magic. And with us being in a forest, they are very troublesome to deal with. If we didn't manage to flee, all of us would have died already" Sheena said while sighing. Dungeons can make people stronger but it was also accompanied by great dangers

One wrong mistake and you will lose your life without you knowing it

"If you want to, you can fight them. But I'll warn you, they are very powerful! All of them are mid-Tier 2 Servant Rank!"

With humans entering the Dungeon, they finally learned a lot of things. Whether it be cultivation manual, skills, or important knowledge, the Dungeon has it all! It was simply a haven for all people who wants to become stronger and learn about the world

The humans learned that they are all just at the Servant Rank even though they gained power beyond the comprehension of the previous era. This made them to feel bitter and also drive them to become stronger. Who knows if beings above Servant Rank will enter their world? That would be disastrous if they remained weak

Caizher's face brightened like a puppy seeing its owner. "Where are they? What direction?" The man asked excitedly

"H-hey, are you serious? Think before you try to fight them! When I say they are powerful, I really meant it!" Sheena said with a grave tone but Caizher won't back down

As long as those tree sprites are not like the bats numbering in about a thousand or even more, Caizher would want to fight them

"I absolutely need to fight them!" Caizher said seriously and Sheena doesn't have a choice but to comply

"Fine! But we'll go with you!" With Caizher, they might have some chance in defeating the tree sprites and since those creatures are powerful, they would dropped precious items, right?

"Alright, but don't expect me to save any of you" If those tree spirits are really that powerful then Caizher needs to give all of his attention to them. He can't afford to save anyone

"I understand!" All people who entered the Dungeons must be prepared to die any second. It wasn't a playground!

Sheena guided Caizher to where the tree sprites are and arrived at a place with more trees than usual. "We are here, if you take one more ste-" Sheena gritted her teeth. She's still not finished on what she is saying but Caizher already charged at the territory of tree sprites

Several small beings appeared out of nowhere. They have a human like appearance except that they are palm size, have longer ears, and translucent green wings on their back. Their bodies also glowed with a green light

There are about ten of them and Caizher took his sword on his back and coated it with mana

"[Darkness Style: Dark Slash!]" Caizher shouted and slashed his sword in the air. A black sword light flew from his sword to kill the tree sprites

Caizher and the other humans can also do this before without the Dungeon's help but there was a huge difference in power. Before, they simply shape their mana and let it travel in the air. It was as simple like that

However, Caizher and the humans' attacks are different now. They aren't as crude as before and contained some technique in them

Seeing the sword light, the tree spites didn't panic at all. One of them shot a green light that entered one of the trees and its branches disconnected to it

The branches that glowed with green light then formed a shield that blocked Caizher's attack. The sword light cut the wooden shield in half but it also used up all of its energy in the process

Caizher looked at the tree sprites with amazement. His dark slash can destroy one or two tree trunks but with the tree sprites' help, he only managed to cut the branches in half

"Wow! They are really strong!" Caizher exclaimed but he wasn't discouraged at all. It just made his body to tremble in excitement

The tree sprites shoot out green lights that entered the surrounding trees. Branches, vines, leaves, roots, basically everything that a tree has was used as an attack

Caizher coated his sword with mana again and easily destroyed the branches coming to him

"[Ice Style: Freezing Fog!]" Sheena used her skill too and a cold blue fog was generated on her palm. Any leaves that met those blue fog froze and fell on the ground

Sheena's team were also not idle and used their own skills to defend themselves

The branches coming to Caizher are numerous and he doesn't like to be in a passive situation. His eyes glowed with a dark light and decided not to use the normal mana he has and instead use the dark energies inside his stomach

"[Darkness Style: Dark Slash!]" With dark energies as its fuel, Caizher's sword light had a deeper shade of black. It easily cut all the branches it met and even corrupted the part that had a physical contact on it. Those parts would then turn black before being reduced into ashes

However, even with this, the tree sprites are still powerful. Some of the tree sprites hold out their palm and multiple small balls of green lights formed

Those green lights attached to the sword light but what the tree sprites' expecting to happened didn't come. Their attacks were also corrupted by Caizher and wasn't able to do their wonders

With the surprise element, two of the tree sprites that weren't able to dodge were cut in half. Their bodies were turning black as the dark energies corrupted some part of them

To the humans's and Caizher's shock, although two tree sprites were cut in half, they still didn't die. The sprites merely remove the corrupted part and reconnected their bodies. But this time, the green glow on their bodies visibly dimmed

It was as if the tree sprites are angered and the trees' attacks become frenzied forcing the humans into a dangerous situation. They didn't care about mana expenditure anymore and used their skills to defend

"Are they energy-based race?" Caizher asked. In some sense, he is also like an energy-based life form although there are some differences

"Seems like physical attacks won't work on them" energy lifeforms have high immunity on physical attacks and no ordinary attacks will work on them

Caizher threw his sword in the air and just like most beings, the tree spirits also followed it with their eyes. Caizher only use that sword because using a weapon and coating it with mana will make the power stronger as it will be a combination of physical attack and energy attack

However, now that he doesn't have to use the sword, he abandoned it. Caizher's body sinks on the ground. But the tree sprites have superior senses and attack the small darkness that Caizher left above ground to use as his vision

Caizher doesn't have a choice but to retract his darkness every time that an attack will come to him. From below of one of the tree sprites, multiple black tentacles coated with mana emerged to kill it

The tree sprite waved its hand and crescent shape green light cut some of the tentacles. Too bad that it wasn't able to destroy all of the tentacles and one landed on it

With its size, it was almost swallowed by the tentacle and it died in one hit. The tree sprites' body dissolved and left a green color stone like thing

Caizher doesn't have any time to check it and retracted his darkness to prevent any further damage. But the tree sprites are really not an easy opponent. The other sprites managed to destroy more of Caizher's darkness

The tree sprites then gathered in one spot to cover each other making it harder to kill them

"[Wind Style: Wind Push!]" One of Sheena's team shouted and used his palm to direct his attack. From his palm, a strong pushing force was made that forced back the tree sprites' attacks

The tree sprites really want them dead and the humans are constantly being in a disadvantage. They weren't even able to get close to the tree sprites and can only passively defend themselves

However, to their surprise, the attacks coming to them halted. When they looked at Caizher, they saw him emerging from the ground in his quadrupedal/beast form. In front of Caizher's claw was a ball made from mana that has a changed on its nature

Caizher managed to kill yet another tree sprite but all the tree sprites' attacks are directed to him now. Branches, roots, leaves, and vines all attacked him but they all just pass through his body

Attacking using tree parts as long as they aren't coated with mana is still considered as physical attack and Caizher has high immunity to that

Too bad, just like what Caizher predicted, the tree spirits have an intelligent glint on their eyes and started using energy-based attacks

This is the reason why Caizher defended himself from the branches at the start. He doesn't want the tree sprites to know this crucial information. It seems like, not only humans have a certain level of intellect in this Dungeon!

Caizher returned on the ground again but some of his darkness were still destroyed. This time, he didn't leave any darkness at all and decided to judge the things happening above through his sense of hearing. To hear things clearly, he didn't sink too deep on the ground

The tree sprites that lose their target directed all of their attacks to the humans again. Sheena and the others were forced to defend themselves if they don't want to die

Caizher heard those attacks moving in another direction and used this chance. Still on his beast form, he reappeared above ground. His claws condensed huge amounts of mana and a black line of mana advanced at the tree sprites' direction

The tree sprites tried to block it but those in the front was forced to take the majority of it. The tree sprites' body started to break down and two of them died in this attack

With more tree sprites dead, the pressure on humans significantly lessened