"What the... My heart almost jumped out just now..." Tiran rubbed his eyes and crawled out of the sleeping bag. He felt his chest and put on his coat before walking to the window.
"Not sure, the sound came from that direction..." Aya pointed in the direction where the sound came from and then noticed that the skyline there suddenly brightened.
It didn't look like the faint light when the sun rises, but a blazing red.
"What's that? Forest fire?" Aya placed her right hand on her forehead and looked into the distance.
"If you want to find out, just go and see." Tiran tidied his clothes and casually equipped himself with two swords. He jumped out of the window and unfolded his light blue ice crystal wings, flying towards the direction of the fire.
Aya didn't think much either, and she followed Tiran, releasing a shrunken dragon winged form that was proportionate to her body, flapping her wings to catch up with Tiran.
Both of them were flying at a fast speed. Although the fire was not close to the location of the skyline, it would only take them a few minutes.
Soon, the head of the fiery Yuan appeared in their field of vision.
"What the heck! Is this some burning buff? Does the attack come with a 200% fire effect or something?" Aya was startled by the scene in front of her. She quickly stopped in mid-air, staring at the flames below with suspicion.
Tiran also stopped beside her and pulled out a short sword from his waist, squinting as he looked down. "Isn't this the misty tree spirit we saw during the day?"
"Huh?"
Upon closer look, although the body was engulfed in raging flames, they could still determine that the creature with the fiery body was indeed the ancient tree spirit.
"Indeed, I thought it was a lava giant or a hellfire demon." Aya sighed, "Speaking of which, why is this big guy on fire? Aren't tree spirits afraid of fire? Is it a mutation? Or did they lose the battle against the lord of the mountains during the day, so they are now training hard to resist fire?"
"Heh heh." Tiran laughed dryly, pointing below, "First of all, be careful when you say that next time. If Mimi hears it, she'll probably teach you a lesson. Secondly, this is definitely not any kind of fire-resistant training, right—"
Before he could finish speaking, several brilliant golden-green flames burst out simultaneously from the body of the misty tree spirit. After the flames exploded, the fire on the tree spirit's body intensified even more, and even Aya and Tiran, who were overlooking from mid-air, could feel the waves of heat.
"Are they fighting? Are they... besieging this misty tree spirit?" Aya carefully surveyed the terrain around the misty tree spirit, her excellent dragon vision allowing her to spot several figures hidden behind caves and rocks in the vicinity.
One person stood out, wearing a white robe that was clearly visible even in the darkness due to the reflection of the fire, holding a walnut wood staff high. The magic crystal at the top of the staff shimmered with the same golden-green light, and it seemed that those brilliant bursts of flames were the work of this person.
"These guys are not Elves, huh." Aya glanced carefully and said with some surprise.
Under normal circumstances, besides the fallen dark Elves, the Elf race, which is close to nature, would never burn trees like this, and those bursts of golden-green flames were high-level fire Magic, completely different from the natural Magic of the Elf race.
"Well, this is getting interesting." Tiran glanced at Aya and smirked. "I mean, you should recognize these few people down there, right, Aya?"
"Huh?" Aya was stunned.
...
"Old man, you're impressive! If you keep working hard, we won't have to do anything!" Behind a huge rock, a lightly armored spearman whistled at the white-bearded old mage who was casting spell after spell, trying his best to strengthen the spatial imprisonment of the misty tree spirit. At the same time, he took out one after another high-level fire Magic scroll called "Incinerating Golden-Green Blaze" from his storage ring and threw them out to intensify the fire on the tree spirit's body.
"Don't let your guard down, Lancel. That's an ancient-level monster after all. It's not that easy to kill." The air behind Lancel suddenly distorted, and then a faint gray shadow appeared there, a gloomy and hoarse voice transmitted into the ears of the spearman.
"Are you being overly pessimistic? We have already defeated dragons before. And now we have a perfect battle plan. Can that monster really withstand hundreds of Flaming Golden Flames? How ridiculous! Do you really think that all soldiers are just "Lucky E"?" Lancel dismissively replied.
On the other side, the archer Justin, protected by the ax and shield berserker, focused his attention on the struggling treant that had been bound by spatial restraints, ready to provide support at any moment.
...
"The Dragon Slayer Adventurer Group, one of the top five mercenary teams in the industry. Though they only have five members, each one is a highly skilled expert."
"Byron, the Blood Axe Berserker. Lancel, the Black Death Lance. Dominogo, the Silver Mage. And Justin, the Shadow Dagger Assassin, also known as the Nuclear Arrow Fairy..." Tiran quickly identified the specific identities of these individuals from their white-robed mage appearance and their proficiency in spatial magic.
"The last title seems a bit off, doesn't it? You definitely made it up, right?" Aya raised an eyebrow.
"Don't worry about it. Remember when the Grand Knight Commander of the Temple Church, Hussein, asked for their help to cause trouble for you last time?"
"Now that you mention it..." Aya's distant memory slowly resurfaced. Oh right, those guys. Didn't the spearman shatter the barrier the old mage used to trap me with just one shot? Wait a minute, those jokers? Dragon Slayer Adventurer Group? Are you kidding me?
"Well, they may be a bit of a joke, but each one has the power of a level nine. They have truly worked together to slay dragons," Tiran sighed helplessly.
"Alright, that's not important. What I'm more concerned about is how they managed to enter. If such strong humans entered, there's no reason the Elf King wouldn't have told us," Aya frowned in thought.
"Maybe they managed to sneak in somehow? Who knows."
"So, what do we do? Go back to sleep?"
"Let's observe first. You said this is an ancient-level behemoth. It shouldn't be so easily defeated, right?"
...
"Damn, why isn't it dead yet?"
The five members of the Dragon Slayer Group began to feel nervous. The bearded old mage had already used up half of the magic scrolls stored in his ring, but the entangled treant continued to struggle and roar, showing no signs of weakness. Instead, its struggle became even stronger.
They had clearly taken advantage of its weakened state after its battle with the lord of the mountain range and launched an attack. They even had high-level flame magic scrolls specifically designed to counter natural creatures. They had originally expected that using over ten scrolls would weaken it enough for a coordinated assault. But now it seemed they were too naïve.
"However, it doesn't matter. We have prepared hundreds of scrolls; we will wear it down," Lancel comforted himself. We have slain dragons. We have slain creatures that are said to be the strongest race. Why should we fear this?
Well, they were unaware that even Aya, who was a golden dragon, had been pressed against the ground by a city-level behemoth.
"I still feel somewhat uneasy."
The assassin known as Shadow Dagger said in a low voice, "The guy who provided us with so many high-level magic scrolls and spared no expense to help us teleport into the World Tree realm... How could the thing we are dealing with be so simple?"
"There's nothing we can do. We have already started the fight, so there's no use hesitating. Shadow, it's up to you whether you join in or not. If you're scared, just stay back. It would be a shame if you, a squishy, get killed."
"Hey, aren't you also a squishy?" The assassin retorted unhappily by raising his middle finger, "I'm just worried and reminding you to be cautious, so you won't get caught off guard."
"Can you two shut up for a moment!"
Two voices simultaneously penetrated their ears using sound transmission magic. The voice of the bearded old man exploded in their ears.
"Yes, yes, we'll be quiet. By the way, old man, if you can't handle it, then retreat and let us handle it," Lancel lazily said, placing his trident spear on his shoulder.
"You talk too much! Stay by my side until the magic scrolls are all used up. Don't mess around... Oh no, get back quickly!"
Right after Dominogo completed a sound transmission spell, the spatial restraints suddenly showed a slight disturbance.
The treant immediately seized this opportunity, countless vines bursting out from its body, striking the weak spot of the spatial restraints. This time, however, the treant's entire body emitted a green glow, contrasting clearly against the flames.
Accompanied by the green light, a strange ripple emerged, and in the next moment, the once unbreakable spatial confinement shattered with a loud noise.
With the release of the spatial confinement, the Misty Treant let out an angry roar, and its flaming giant arm smashed towards the white-bearded mage who had trapped it for a long time -
As a backline long-range profession, the Mage has the characteristics of high burst damage, high output, and extreme fragility. Moreover, most of Domingoson's magic was used to maintain the spatial confinement and the Magic Scroll, leaving no spare magic power to set up a protective boundary. If the giant arm hit him, the Dragon Slaying Team would lose one member.
Fortunately, Domingoson had made preparations in advance, and although he didn't have a protective boundary, he still had an emergency teleportation scroll. The teleportation spell was activated instantly, and his figure disappeared from the spot where the giant arm was about to hit. Then, the burning giant arm destroyed a small hill where Domingoson had previously stood.
"It's your turn... cough, cough..." In a cave about five hundred meters away from the battlefield, the terrified Domingoson leaned against the wall and slowly walked out from this pre-set teleportation point, using a message-transmitting spell to notify his teammates.
But in fact, there was no need to notify them at all. In the instant they saw the spatial confinement shatter, the remaining four team members all rushed towards the Misty Treant almost simultaneously.
