Soul of Searing Steel

“No. There’s some weird energy signature messing with our signal!”

The quintet of the Elite Party was gathering in front of a complete signal transmitter and watching it nervously as the screen flashed chaotically in unusual runes. Caster, at the fore, gave the keyboard a few random whacks before slapping his own thigh in rage. “Magic, psionic energy, Holy Light…” he seethed, “no signal can be sent out. This world is completely blocked!”

“Doesn’t that mean we can’t give our location to headquarters… that we’re trapped here?”

Rider, usually slow to catch up promptly became quick-witted at the sound of the bad news. “This isn’t good,” he murmured, frowning. “A blocked world, teleportation error, an environment same as the one back home… I think there must be something behind all this…”

“Something behind your dead body—shut up!”

Clergy straightened a finger to cast a silencing spell, sealing Rider’s Crow Mouth unceremoniously before turning to Priest. “What should we do then, leader?” He asked a little helplessly. “Teleporting is messed up, any signal’s blocked. If Headquarters did not dispatch anyone to look for us, we might really have to live out our days in this world.”

“Don’t give up just a yet.”

After a brief groan, Priest looked at the dense woods around them and said slowly: “The energy ripples that block the signals could either be the planet’s special form or some unique magical equipment… the same principle applies to our teleportation. There’s no reason that the Return Beacon would beam us here without reason.”

“There will be a way. A world’s form is changeable, just as any magical equipment can be stopped or sabotaged.”

At that, Priest paused for a moment and exhaled once, before saying, “Either way, don’t panic, we’ll just assume this is another ordinary otherworld exploration—is the camo cloak ready, Constantine?”

“Ready, leader.”

Throughout their conversation, Constantine the Alchemist had been preparing something at a corner, and now presented five green cloaks that appeared to have been made from moss, handing it to each of his teammates.”

“Clark, Said, Wayne. Keep the camo with you.”

After the camo cloak used specifically for bushlands had been distributed, Priest wore his helmet again before putting the camo cloak on. “We have sufficient resources,” he said quietly, “and there seem to be no lack of food source around here. Let’s find a vantage point first, we need to observe the conditions in this world here.”

***

The meaning of a team leader’s existence was to be a backbone for Priest, leading them in preparations. Soon, they were ready—all five of them, concealed beneath the cloaks turned into clusters of vague green phantoms as they carefully entered the dense woods around them.

Rider and Priest were up front clearing the path, silently pulling off creepers and drooping leaves, opening a small way amidst the forest. Although all five of them had Gold-tier abilities and were capable of moving through a few circuits around Mycroft’s Dark Forest, who would know if there would be a whole flock of Gold-tier monsters in this foreign world or some horrendous ‘Tyrant Creature’? Just like the Tyrant Squid they have encountered before, their colossal size, combined with psionic ripples that could sweep across half a continent, is able to rampage all that was beneath Legend.

Moreover, Priest only had a single sensation about the dense forest.

‘Unsettling.’

It was not just him either—the rest of the Elite Party were shockingly in accord.

A distinct malevolence had wafted to them from all directions when they first entered the forces. Even Rider, the one with the slowest spiritual sensory subconsciously pressed his hand on the saber hanging by his hip. It was as if all of nature was oppressing and opposing them, and while their camo cloaks could fool eyes and magical sensory, it could not trick the trees and the grasses right beside them.

That very sensation was truly bizarre, and yet Priest felt a faint but indescribable familiarity. The young warrior looked up and around him; he could see the excessively dense foliage covering all sunlight. It was also unusually dark and cold—thick creepers were wrapped around virtually all trees, forming a large net.

There were no cries from birds or insects, nor were there any beasts calling or signs of creatures moving. While it was almost evening at the moment, the depths of the woods were so dark they could not see their own fingers… the further they walked, the more vigilant Priest became as he now found that it might have been the wrong choice for them to simply enter the forest.

However, it would be immeasurably idiotic to fly and offer themselves as a target for unknown native creatures.

***

After walking for about an hour.

“Phew—”

Alchemists suddenly took off his helmet and took a deep breath. His eyes were now bloodshot, while his pupils were serpentine, vertical. After he was finished with that, he promptly whispered, “Leader! Something’s not right! My thermal vision and lifeforce sensory pick up nothing… there’s something about this forest!”

Clergy and Caster had paused together as well, both vigilantly raising scepter and crystal ball to prepare an attack. “The air is getting thin here,” he said a cold voice, “the plants around us are absorbing all air!”

“They are even repelling magical energy,” added Caster grimly, “these plants seem to be creating a no-mana zone! We must leave here as soon as we can!”

All three of the spellcasters in the team indicated that something was amiss. Priest certainly would not doubt that since he had sensed the unsettling atmosphere at well—that being said, Priest was able to tell that the plants in the forest around them is perfectly ordinary, just as the creepers were. Even if both emanated a sense of threat, it did not mean that they would suddenly turn into monsters…

‘Wait.’

For some reason, Priest suddenly remembered his younger sister, and her face as she pouted at a potted plant.

“Your sister is a talent in Nature’s Way, one who rarely appear in a hundred years…”

“She’s would make a fine druid who embodies Nature’s Way…”

Forest, creepers, trees, danger, attack…”

“Move! We’re going to the skies!”

Without hesitation, Priest burst out with violent gravity aura beneath his feet. Countless rotten leaves and fallen branches were blasted away, just as he broke through the thick foliage with a huge crystal shield in hand and arrived up in the air.

Priest’s solemn voice thus resounded from the skies. “It’s Nature Power! A droid is controlling the forest with Nature Power to attack us!”

Having heard their leader, the others did not hold back. With swift chant of curses, massive incandescent Holy Light combined with searing magical energy of fire elements, turning into a raging flow that flattened the woods around them. In an instant, the forest was incinerated by the tremendous power as veins of dark smoke billowed—within it, a sturdy, modified vehicle broke through the smoke and darted towards Priest’s position in the sky like a comet.

Thud.

Priest quickly got on the car, having gotten adept to that premeditated combination. If the exploration party ever had to escape from unexpected circumstances, Priest would be in charge of clearing a path with his shield drawing the first wave of attacks to himself while Rider would get the car and flee with anyone else.

Furthermore, their luck held this time since there was no need for Priest to draw the enemy’s attacks. The unknown enemy appeared unable to react in time, allowing them to leave safely.

Without a word, apart from Clark the Rider, everyone else was lowering their heads to look at the forest on the surface beneath—their pupils at once tightened, their expression in shock.

On the ground, most of the flames burning the forest, ignited by the two area of effect spells ‘Flame Nova’ and ‘Holy Nova’ had already been extinguished in seconds. Green radiance was gathering from other parts of the forest distinctly, calming the fires and growing new sprouts. After just ten seconds, the inferno that could have burnt off a huge chunk of the forests vanished entirely as puffs of green smoke.

Nevertheless, the part was not left astonished by that, but a dark figure that had appeared in the forests along with that green radiance.

“Elf?!”

Alchemist, whose vision was the best amongst them exclaimed in stifled shock. “It’s an elf?!”

After him, the others too managed to clearly see the figure and appearance of the person hidden in the forest—there was no question that they were elves.

There was one amongst them standing up front, who wore primitive clothing weaved out of tree leaves and a crown of deer antlers. He looked up at the car that kept moving afar, and shouted something the expedition party could not hear—instantly, dozens of elves appeared in the forest, leaping to the tree crowns and pulled their bowstrings, shooting wooden arrows at the flying car, raining bolts of pale-green Nature Power upon them.

However, the wooden arrows were not powerful despite being imbued with Nature Power. Priest just had to use a tinge of aura and distort gravity within a small area, and all the arrows at once deviated, unable to hit their target. The elves also appeared to have no other measures to stop the flying car after letting their arrows loose, and could only watch as it left.

“…”

The deer-antler crowned elven leader watched as the flying car turned into a small dot in the skies. He raised his hand to stop the other elves from pursuing them, and lowered his head in deep thought.

“They… are heading toward the ‘Sacred Mountain Altar’… fools, like moths to a flame.”

“There is no need for pursuit, tribal braves. We need only wait, and death would naturally fall upon those otherworld aberrations.”