165 [Bonus chapter] Spreading Infection.
“What are you talking about?” Mira stared at Arad. “Those trees are all connected.”
Arad started walking. “Follow me. We should follow them since we don’t have any other leads.”
Mira looked at Arad and then at Aella, “We don’t have a choice.” Everyone started following him.
“What do you mean by them all linked to a single heart?” Jack asked, “Did you hear it?”
“Yeah, I can hear it beating deep underground. The forest is alive,” Arad touched a tree as he passed by it. “I bet the elder tree deep into the forest.”
~You’re getting closer. But you won’t find me~
The voice rang again in Arad’s head, “We are getting closer. I hope we won’t have to fight anything.”
Mira stopped walking and rushed to one of the trees. “Come look at this!” She started digging blew the trunk and revealed the roots. “The veins. The elder tree is close.” She smiled.
~That one doesn’t have much time. Child, would you mind pulling him out?~
Arad blinked, ^What?^
~Grab and pull, you can do it. Can’t you?~
Arad grabbed the tree trunk with his palm. “Are you sure?”
Mira thought he was talking to her, “This is a clue.”
~Pull him out. I shouldn’t let it spread.~
CRACK! Arad applied force. The veins on his arm expanded as his legs dug into the ground. BAM! A stone that was under his foot cracked, scaring Lydia and Mira. “What is going on?” Lydia gasped.
Mira crawled back to hide behind Aella.
The tree trunk cracked as it got pulled from its roots from the ground. Lydia and Mira stared at Arad with pale faces.
GRWAAAAAAAAAA! The tree growled for a second before falling silent.
~Look at the roots~
Arad laid the tree on the ground and started below its root. He could see a dark-brown batch of wood. It had faint ominous magic flowing through it.
The scared Mira blinked seeing the batch, “Elder wood?” She jumped from behind Aella, forgetting that Arad pulled the whole tree with one hand.
“Arad! This is the elder tree!” Mira cried, “It has died!”
~This isn’t the source. Find me if you can~
Arad looked at Mira and then at the elder wood patch on the tree. “This isn’t the elder tree. It’s infecting other trees. We have to find the original one and rip it apart.” Arad touched the tree. ZON! He pulled it into his stomach. “Let’s keep moving.”
“Wait, we need to rest,” Lydia sighed. “How could you pull a whole tree?”
“Gravity magic.” Arad lifted his hand and a dirt block levitated from where he plucked the tree. “Merlin taught me, she also taught me how to use storage magic,” Arad replied with the answer he had prepared.
“You’re a fire sorcerer, you shouldn’t be able to use other elements.” Lydia tilted her head. “But I can.” Arad looked at her, tilting his head with her.
“A Gravity fire sorcerer? I heard of mixed elements like water and lightning. But never something as extreme as gravity in a sorcerer.” She looked at Aella, “Are you sure this man is natural?”
“He is,” Aella sighed. Glaring at Arad. ^I told you to keep low.^ She cried inside.
Mira approached Arad, poking his arm with her finger and a stern glare. “They feel like leather.”
Arad looked at her, and her face had a faint blush on it. “Can you lift your arm a bit, like this?” She extended her arm forward.
Arad did what she asked.
Mira grabbed Arad’s arm and pulled her whole body up. “Am I heavy? Can you keep your arm extended?” She said, hanging from his arm.
“Yeah, you’re lighter than the tree.”
Mira then shifted her hands from close to his elbow all the way to his fist. Arad stumbled forward as his balance broke. “Hoi! Careful.”𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝘭.𝘦𝑡
Thud! Mira landed on her feet, “I dropped you down.” she smiled.
Arad glared at his arm, extending it again. “Try again.”
This time when Mira dangled on his arm, he used Gravity magic to glue his legs to the ground. He won’t lose balance again.
“Won’t you be able to use heavy armor and Greatswords?” Lydia looked at Arad. “I’m talking about the big stuff.”
“I saw Alcott use one. I don’t have the skill to use them.” Arad shook his head.
“No,” Lydia waved her hand, “Alcott is using modified great swords and heavy armor. Those get tapered along the edges to increase their size and limit their weight. Some even use magic crystals to reduce their weight.”
“Lighter means easier to swing, I know that.” Arad nodded.
“No always. The heavier the sword is, the more power a strike will have behind it. Some heavy armor and greatsword combos can reach over 250 kilos. When made of monster bones or adamantine. I bet Alcott’s set doesn’t weigh more than 40 kg.” Lydia talked with a smile on her face.
“Isn’t that a bit too much? How much does your armor weigh?” Arad sighed, staring at Lydia.
“My full set is 30 kg,” Lydia replied.
“Then how do you expect me to haul 250kg on my back? Weight-reducing techniques exist for a reason.”
“You pulled a tree from the ground with one hand. You won’t have a problem walking around with such heavy armor.”
~Wyrm child, hurry.~ the voice rang in Arad’s head again.
“We should move. He looked deeper into the forest.” For the rest of the day, Arad and the party kept getting deeper into the forest. He pulled each infected tree along his way.
When it became nighttime and they had to camp, Arad could already pick a faint putrid smell in the air. “This place stinks,” He growled, washing his nose with water. That only made the smell worse.
“I agree. I have a bad feeling about this.” Jack sat beside Arad, “You said you saw a little monster yesterday?” Arad had asked him as he did Aella.
“You think it’s funny?” Arad smiled.
Jack laughed, “It’s funny, but I remembered something.” Jack looked at Arad, “You’re technically still a few weeks old, a baby aren’t you?”
“Why does that matter?”
“Nothing important, but I remembered some of the children’s stories sister used to tell us. When we were starving in the winter on the street so we can sleep.” Jack looked at the sky.
“That was rough,”
“Yeah. She’s bad at telling stories.” Jack laughed.
“I’m talking about starving in the winter.” Arad sighed.
“In one of the stories, a family loses their baby in the forest after a bandit attack. They search for days but eventually give up, only to find him at the home door in his blanket, laughing.” Jack looked at Arad.
“Another story tells of a great flood that was about to swipe a city down. A toddler rushed alone to face the water, screaming at it to stop. The ground cracks and diverge the water away.” Jack looked at the campfire.
“Nature has a soul, and only children can hear it. Or so the folk tales say.” Jack picked a branch and threw it into the fire. “They are just stories though.”
Arad looked at the ground. “A single heart deep underground. I have an idea. But’s a scary one.”