16 Protector of the forest

"I´m Agnes." the woman chimed in.

"Owen" said the burly man.

"Mark" he said grabbing the hoodie full of leaves and carrying it away.

When he arrived at the riverside Mark asked the raid leader who had her hands covered in blood from dismembering the kelpie. "Where should I put them?"

Without taking her eyes off the meat she answered. "Far away from the river."

'Something more specific would be nice, but okay.'

Mark dumped out the leaves on the ground and swiftly returned to the woods.

The two tanks were ready to take down another tree, but when the fighter stuck his ax into it the tree wasn´t happy at all. It made a crackling sound and started pulling its roots out of the ground.

"Retreat!" shouted Lucas from a distance.

Listening to his commands the group stepped away from the treant in a hurry.

Before the treant looked like a normal tree, maybe a bit too thick for its size, now when it stood upright it was about 12 meters tall.

The animated tree was getting closer to the hunters at a slow pace, but its every step made the earth shake.

Standing quite a distance away was the support group. They noticed the monster quickly enough to help out the fighters.

Owen aimed his staff at the ground. A tiny droplet of water appeared on the top of his staff and fell to the ground.

The ground around the treant started rupturing and thick green vines coiled around it like snakes.

Owen managed to stop the monster in its tracks for a moment. This gave Lucas enough space to not worry about being smashed to death. He ran towards the monster with a golden glowing sword.

However, the treant didn´t stay idle. It ignored the hunters and started ripping out the green vines holding it back.

Mark realized that he should stop watching them fight from distance and instead give a helping hand.

'Page 3, Automatic rock spikes, modifier: multiple strikes'

Several long needle-like rocks sprouted from the ground and completely impaled the creature.

At this moment the treant couldn´t do anything. It was completely immobilized and defenseless. It couldn´t protect itself or the forest anymore. The only thing it could do was watch.

Lucas jumped around the treant cutting off its limbs like nothing.

In a second the treant was reduced to just a stump. Its arms were left in the air being supported by the countless rock spikes.

Lucas then jumped off the ground at great speed and decapitated the creature with one swift strike.

"Leave some pussy for the rest of us, dude! shouted Arthur from the distance causing Agnes, who was standing right next to him, to chuckle.

Although Lucas´ face was getting a little red he tried to keep his composure and commanded the fighter-type hunters. "Drag it to the riverside! The wood is extremely hard, great for making equipment."

"Your wish is my command, junior." the two tanks told him grinning from ear to ear.

When Evelyn wasn´t in sight the atmosphere in the team was quite relaxed. It was much easier to joke around when your boss isn´t around.

"Agnes, you´re also a magician, right?"

"I´m the most magical magician you´ll meet. Why do you ask?"

"Alright then could you show me a spell of yours?"

"Okay, is it just like for fun?"

"Research purposes."

"Yeah, that explains everything." she said in a sarcastic tone.

Agnes then aimed her hand into the sky and a magic circle appeared, but seemingly nothing came out of it.

"Is that it?" Mark asked in disappointment.

"Don´t pity me, it´s just hard to see." Agnes proceeded to aim the spell at the ground.

A ray of light instantly charred the grass and blinded the hunters around.

"Please stop, Agnes. I think he doesn´t want to go blind." Owen asked in concern.

Despite Mark not being able to see he wore a smile on his face. "Thank you very much."

With a chuckle, she told him. "You´re welcome. I can do it again if you want."

"Fuck no!" Arthur spoke up.

"I´ll go take a break for a minute." Mark told the trio and headed back to the riverside.

Watching Mark leaving Arthur blurted out. "Huh? Wait, what? You just started."

However, his words didn´t reach Mark who was already out of sight.

"Leave him be. He could be stressed from the red gate." said Owen.

"You´re too kind for your own good. Did I tell you that you couldn´t teach anyone with that attitude?" Agnes told him.

"Countless times."

"Really? Hmm... well, you should´ve listened the first time." she said jokingly.

While the group was collecting leaves Mark arrived at the riverside. Evelyn already butchered the horse and now she was making a shelter from the wood the group carried got here. The treant corpse was lying on the ground next to it.

Mark got a pencil out of his backpack and started writing down another spell.

'Page 12, Sunstrike'

After half an hour the whole team gathered in the camp. Evelyn managed to build their shelter and stuff it with leaves so they don´t sleep on the ground. It wasn´t just some lousy tent this thing was big enough to house ten hunters and their loot.

"Are you sure you weren´t living in the wild? It would explain a lot of things, especially your temperament." commented Arthur.

"Excuse me?" asked Evelyn with her eyebrow raised.

"Nothing."

"Leave all the unnecessary weight inside the tent and let´s go make a fire."

"Yeas, ma´am!"

Meanwhile, most of the hunters started taking off their armor and backpacks Owen noticed Mark writing in his grimoire and walked up to him.

"What are you writing?" he asked watching over Mark´s shoulder.

"It´s a new spell, with very minimal mana cost. I thought about it when I saw Agnes' magic"

"Let me ask you. Why did you decide to become a hunter?" Owen asked leaning over.

"It´s just fun, I guess." Mark answered without much thought.

"Listen. There are many people who decide to become a hunter to pay off their college or medical bills. If you are in such a situation, then just tell me. You don´t have to risk your life."

Mark looked up at Owen with a smile and said. "That´s really generous of you, but I´m doing this because I want to. This is the only thing I have. If I wasn´t a hunter then what else?"