Chapter 282: An ancient forest

I took off into the sky, leaving the ruins of the citadel behind. My next destination was the southern human kingdoms, where I would assist the humans against the Shade threat. I continued my flight passing over the vast, barren lands, all the while constantly scanning the horizon for any signs of danger.

For a while, nothing seemed out of the ordinary, that is if I didn't count the disgusting tainted aura that the Shades had polluted this place with. As I flew, however, I quickly noticed a strange disturbance in the air, as if something was interfering with the natural flow of magic. The world here seemed to work in different laws, they had no mana stream, yet the elements still existed all over the plane. The only difference this made, however, was making using certain elements all the much harder.

With the stream, although most of the time you wouldn't need to, you could still pull mana from it should you fall into a dire situation. Here, however, things were different. It was hard to find the elements outside of their natural habitat.

And so, Intrigued by the disturbance, I changed direction and flew toward the source. It led me to a surprisingly dense forest, with massive towering trees, where I could sense the presence of something odd.

I landed on the forest floor, my claws sinking into the soft earth. The trees towered above me, casting an eerie shadow across the forest floor.

The forest was dense, with towering trees that stretched up to the sky. It was a surprising sea of green, with leaves of varying shades and sizes covering the forest floor, making it hard to see anything beyond a few feet away. The trees were so massive that even my dragon form looked more normal and small in comparison. The bark was rough and gnarled, with deep crevices that seemed to hold secrets of their own. The branches spread out in all directions, creating a canopy that blocked out most of the sunlight, casting the forest in a dim, eerie light.

As I moved through the forest, the underbrush rustled and crackled beneath my claws, the sound echoing through the silent trees. Birds chirped and sang, while the occasional rustling of small animals could be heard in the distance. The air was thick with the scent of damp earth and decaying leaves, mixed with the scent of something foul lurking within the shadows.

Despite the beauty of the forest, I couldn't shake the feeling of unease that crept up on me. It was as if the trees themselves were watching, waiting for me to make a mistake.

As I made my way deeper into the forest, I couldn't help but feel a sense of unease. The trees towered over me, their trunks as thick as several dragons, and their branches stretched out like massive fingers, creating a dense canopy overhead that blocked out the sun. The air was thick with an ominous presence, and the sound of rustling leaves and snapping twigs echoed around me.

I could feel a strange energy pulsing around me, as if the very forest itself was alive. And then, I saw it. The trees themselves were writhing, their branches twisting and snaking around each other, as if they were alive and sentient.

That was when the sudden realization hit me. The forest was not just a simple grove of trees, but a living, breathing entity!

My heart raced as I realized the implications of that. The disturbance of magic was a trap, I suddenly realized as I quickly felt the surrounding elements disappear under my shocked gaze, sucked by the trees themselves. The trunks grew with a visible speed as they drained the mana, and soon I was left standing with no elements around me.

"A whole damn ancient corrupted forest? That's a bit of an overkill, don't you think?" I chuckled weakly as the trees twisted and shook dangerously.

Although mana was missing here, It was a different matter for me. I was carrying an entire world inside of me, full of magic. I quickly reached out to my soul space and summoned a few water elements, but to my immediate shock, before I could even shape them into a spell, the forest's aura surged and the elements disappeared, causing my spell to break and collapse.

Rage built up inside of me as I quickly realized what had just happened. Although it was nothing but a small amount, the bastard stole my magic, my mana, my elements! How dare a mere forest! Anger threatened to overwhelm me, but I quickly thwarted it.

I growled low in my throat as I realized that my elemental magic was useless here. Now was not the time to let my rage consume me, I had to be smart about this. I tried to reach out to my cosmic mana, it stirred inside of my soul space, but to my surprise, it didn't move. I was unable to connect myself to the stars, the damned forest was interfering somehow.

It was then that the forest seemed to sense my helplessness, and it launched its first attack. The branches whipped out at me, sharp thorns slicing through the air. I jumped out of the way, barely avoiding being impaled. The trees themselves uprooted, roots snaking towards me like serpents.

I used my wings to dodge the assault, but the roots and branches kept coming at me. I roared in frustration, lashing out with my claws and teeth, but the forest was too vast and too strong. It had control over everything here.

I opened my mouth and quickly released an anger-fueled dragon breath, destroying a few dozen trees instantly, and burning a few more. The forest shook and roared in pain, disorienting me for a second.

"Oh, so you do feel pain!" I roared and unleashed another dragon breath around me, clearing the area for a few seconds and giving me enough time to breathe and gather my thoughts.

I raised my head, the sky was nowhere to be seen, with only a few streaks of sunlight escaping through the gaps in the branches. One more dragon breath materialized before my mouth as I aimed it above me this time, and sought to clear a path.

The forest, roared once more, as the trees and ground itself shook intensely. But I cared not, for my path of escape was already laid before me. With a fierce roar, I launched myself into the air, wings flapping furiously.

To my astonishment, the forest was quickly closing in on me, with trees recovering and approaching at a speed that should be impossible. Its vines lashed out at me, wrapping around my legs and dragging me down.

"Mother fu-"

I crashed to the ground, feeling the impact reverberating through my body. The forest seemed to grow stronger, more vibrant, as it tried to suck the life out of me. I struggled to free myself, but the vines held me tight, and I could slowly feel my consciousness slipping away.