My world-tree system-Chapter 38 - 37: The forest falls

The next day:

- ’Captain Köflik! Lord Foster!’

The shout echoed across the large clearing, immediately attracting the attention of the warriors on duty. Köflik, who was supervising a patrol, turned his head sharply before rushing towards the new arrivals.

Foster, still on his promontory, observed the scene from a distance before rising slowly, sensing an unusual tension in the air.

He descended calmly, his footsteps echoing softly on the still fresh ground of the city’s new foundations. When he reached the small group, he immediately saw the faces marked by urgency and concern.

- ’Speak up.’

One of the scouts, a dark-haired elf with piercing eyes, took a step forward, trying to catch his breath after their frantic ride.

- ’Lord Foster, Captain Köflik...’ He inhaled deeply, fighting the urgency of his own words. ’We have spotted a huge army of Obscurus massed at the edge of the forest, some thirty kilometres from here.’

An icy silence fell over the assembly.

Köflik felt a shiver run up his spine, and Foster, at his side, clenched his jaw slightly.

- How many are there?’ asked the captain, his voice cold and sharp as a freshly sharpened blade.

The scout hesitated for a moment, then finally blurted out:

- Thousands. Maybe more. They form a compact mass... and are advancing methodically.’

Köflik’s fists instinctively clenched.

But that wasn’t all. The scout seemed hesitant, as if he was afraid to announce the worst.

- ’They...’ He swallowed hard before continuing: ’They’re felling the trees one by one to open a passage to Vollua. They’re destroying the forest. Devouring its roots, staining its soil...’

A glint crossed Foster’s eyes. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

He could already imagine the carnage.

Trees thousands of years old crumbling under the weight of dark blades, forest creatures fleeing with a silent howl, rivers stained with sap and blood.

Köflik sighed heavily, clearly affected.

- They don’t just want to attack us. They want to raze our sanctuary to the ground before we can even raise a sword.’

- Cowards,’ Foster growled through clenched teeth.

His aura grew heavier, more oppressive. Some of the surrounding elves instinctively recoiled, sensing the raw power emanating from their lord.

He inhaled deeply, activating his [New King’s Will] trait, containing the emotion boiling inside him.

- We must see this with our own eyes.

Köflik nodded slowly.

- ’We leave immediately.’

Foster did not reply, simply staring at the horizon where the enemy was hiding.

Darkness was beginning to spread over the forest when Foster and Köflik reached the first heights overlooking the valley. They had been running relentlessly through the woods at breakneck speed, cutting through the air like invisible shadows.

Foster jumped with a fluid movement and advanced towards the edge of a steep hill. Köflik followed close behind, his features closed.

They looked up.

And saw horror.

Below them, a sea of black stretched as far as the eye could see.

An army.

A tide of Obscurus, innumerable, swarming through the valley like a putrid, corrupt flood.

The sinister torches lit up disciplined ranks, deformed creatures with blackened bodies and oozing flesh, titanic warriors clad in armour impregnated with evil spells, and creeping creatures with luminescent yellow eyes, slithering between the lines like hungry parasites.

At the centre of this horde stood gigantic war machines, bristling with spikes, chains and cursed steel.

But that wasn’t the worst of it.

What really chilled Foster to the bone was the sight of trees falling one by one.

Ancestral trunks were felled with method, severed by huge black axes, splintering bark and sap in a silent howl.

Where once giants of wood had stood, all that remained was ravaged soil, stained by the footsteps of the enemy.

Foster felt his heart twist under the effect of a pure rage that didn’t come from him but from the seed inside him.

Then he felt something else.

Two overwhelming presences.

Two immensely powerful entities, hidden amongst the mass of the army.

They weren’t like ordinary soldiers. They were much more.

Generals.

Like the one he’d fought and killed.

Foster took a deep breath.

Beside him, Köflik watched the scene in silence, his gaze hard and cold.

- We can’t let them progress,’ declared the captain sharply.

Foster remained silent for a moment.

Beside him, Köflik watched the scene in silence, his gaze hard and cold.

Then he turned his gaze towards him, his eyes briefly lighting up with a gleam.

- ’We won’t.’

He looked away from the enemy army, and an icy smile slowly stretched across his lips.

- ’They think they’re marching on Vollua?...’

His gaze hardened.

- ’Then we’ll remind them... why the forest never forgets.’

Foster and Köflik ran at full speed on their way back to Vollua. The wind whistled in their ears, carrying with it terrifying images of the army slowly devouring the forest. The urgency burned in their veins like poison. Every heartbeat echoed to the rhythm of their footsteps on the hardened ground.

When they finally reached the city gates, the elves on patrol immediately straightened up, feeling the heavy aura emanating from their Lord and their captain.

Without missing a beat, Köflik issued his orders:

- ’Assemble Giovanni, Yänn, Känn and Lorie in the council chamber immediately. We have a plan to draw up.

The soldiers did as they were told.

Foster, for his part, looked at the emerging city. Its colossal trees, its natural walls that were slowly taking shape, and the elves who lived there without yet realising the approaching shadow.

- More time and we wouldn’t have had any problems,’ murmured Foster.

[Ding, new quest activated]

[Survive the Obscurus invasion by keeping 150 of the 156 woods in the world of Vollua intact]

[Reward: Unknown]

- Escape has become impossible, which complicates matters.

An hour later, the council chamber was plunged into a heavy silence. A massive carved wooden table occupied the centre, covered with maps of the region. Pieces of wood and stones represented their strengths and those of the enemy.

Around the table, six elves sat, all looking grave and concentrated.

Foster was in the centre, his piercing gaze scanning the map. To his right was Köflik, his arms folded, his expression as stern as ever. Then came Yänn, his childhood friend, looking worried. Giovanni was to his left, concentrating, his finger tapping the table thoughtfully.

Then came Känn and Lorie, two strategists selected by Köflik.

Känn was a tall elf, formerly a scout and an expert in the art of spotting and ambush. He had led many missions and knew every corner of the forest.

As for Lorie, she was a former commander of the elven cavalry, a formidable warrior with a sharp intelligence. Her tactical vision was cold and effective.

Foster broke the silence with an implacable voice:

- ’The enemy is approaching. There are thousands of them, sixty of us. Faced with them, we’re a drop in the ocean. But...’

He let a slight humourless smile stretch his lips.

- We are a drop of water capable of chipping rock.

Giovanni raised an eyebrow.

- ’How are you going to do that? Because even a drop of water can end up crushed by the sea.’

- ’We can’t face them head-on,’ intervened Känn. ’They’d crush us under their sheer numbers.

- ’Then we won’t fight them as they expect us to,’ replied Foster.

Lorie nodded, intrigued.

- ’An ambush war?’

Foster planted his gaze in hers.

- Better. A war where we’ll never be where they expect us to be.’

Köflik tapped the map with his fingertip.

- ’Clarify your thinking.’

Foster inhaled deeply, then explained:

- They cut down trees to make progress. We have to slow them down. Every night we’ll attack their scouts, destroy their food supplies and sabotage their war machines. They must be scared to sleep.’

Känn smiled approvingly.

- ’If we harass them relentlessly, they’ll be exhausted before they even reach our walls.’

Lorie crossed her arms thoughtfully.

- It’ll be effective, but it won’t be enough. Especially as I have the impression that the obscrustes eat everything, they eat the trees they cut down, the grass on the ground and even hunt every animal they come across. And then at some point, they’ll understand the game and tighten their formation. What do we do then?’

Foster pointed to the still dense forest between them and the enemy.

- We’ll fragment their army.

Yänn frowned.

- ’How?’

Giovanni understood before the others.

- You want to manipulate the forest.

- Exactly,’ nodded Foster. ’We’ll force their columns to stretch. Natural traps, tree collapses, controlled fires to make them panic and break their formation.’

Köflik smiles for the first time since they entered the room.

- ’Force them to disperse...’

- ’And eliminate them one by one.’ added Foster.

Lorie put a hand on the table.

- So we’re going to attack their weak points.

Foster frowned.

- ’I don’t know yet, but I seem to have felt two presences as powerful as the Hell General I shot during their first invasion of Vollua.’

A heavy silence fell over the room.

- ’Then the final battle will be inevitable,’ Giovanni murmured.

- ’Yes.’

Lorie nodded, then looked into Köflik’s eyes.

- ’You want me to organise the final assault, don’t you?’

- ’Exactly.’

She raised an eyebrow.

- ’And where do you fit into this plan, Foster?’

He let the silence linger before answering:

- ’Slaughtering their generals, but I can’t take on both at the same time, you’ll all be assisting Köflik in dealing with the second and when the Obscurus army is weakened, disorientated and in chaos...’

He slowly pulled up the sleeve of his tunic, revealing the marks of the Avatar etched into his skin, which seemed to quiver in the dim light of the room.

- ’I will lead the final assault.’ He said as tattoos appeared on his skin and lit up slightly.

Köflik straightened up, scanning the room with his eyes.

- ’We have a plan.’

Everyone nodded.

Foster rose to his feet and said:

- We did not choose this war. But we’re going to win it.’

And so the Shadow War began.