The First Settlement

The ten of them moved forward along the stone path while defending themselves.

Rena walked at the very front. She appeared to be observing the road conditions, but in reality, most of her attention was focused on the black roots outside the path.

Only some of them were attacking; the remaining roots kept slithering slowly along the ground, not rashly crossing the edge of the stone road.

Besides, with the treant's immense strength, there was no reason it couldn't wipe them out all at once.

Perhaps it was holding back on purpose to simulate the conditions of a “caravan” on the road?

“There's something on the left.”

Ryan suddenly raised his arm, and everyone looked in the direction he was pointing.

Beyond the thick fog, the black roots outside the road kept twisting upward, gradually wrapping together into a thick trunk.

Immediately after, a wooden burl the size of a leather ball slowly bulged out from between the bark.

A slit split open on the surface of the burl, and a golden pupil rolled out from the crack, staring coldly at the crowd on the stone road.

Zhou Yi was startled at first, but then a look of sudden realization appeared on his face.

“That must be the treant's weakness!”

“I think it looks more like some kind of surveillance,” Su Xiaoman said in a low voice, instinctively shrinking behind Xu Zhiheng.

Ryan had already notched an arrow. At the same time, the 【Lookout】 wooden badge at his waist grew slightly warm.

This reaction made Ryan even more certain that the thing before him was definitely related to his identity and duties.

“Leave this to me.”

Reece frowned, however, and pressed down on his arm.

“Wait a moment.”

“What is it?”

Ryan's fingers were still pressing the bowstring, his expression somewhat impatient. “The wooden badge just reacted. Since we found something abnormal, we can't just pretend we didn't see it.”

“Discovering it and attacking it are two different things,” Reece said in a deep voice.

Ryan squinted one eye and aimed his arrowhead at the center of the wooden burl.

“I'll only shoot one arrow. If there really is a problem, it's better than being blindsided by a sneak attack.”

With that, he released the bowstring.

The 【Wind-Pattern Arrow】 tore through the thick fog and pierced the golden burl.

Most of the arrowhead sank inside, and golden sap slowly oozed out along the crack on the pupil.

Everyone immediately gripped their weapons, waiting for the roots to launch a counterattack.

But the twisted trunk made no move, and no new root-tendrils burrowed out nearby.

Everything was eerily quiet.

Isolde immediately looked at the treant's status panel.

【HP: 5800/5800】

No change.

Ryan's arrow just now hadn't dealt any damage to the treant.

“It didn't lose any health?”

Xu Zhiheng had obviously seen the numbers on the panel as well.

Ryan's face looked a bit grim. “Maybe I shot the wrong place.”

As he spoke, he drew a second arrow from his quiver.

“Stop.”

Rena suddenly spoke. Ryan's hand paused as he was about to notch the arrow, looking somewhat irritated.

“Tsk, what is it this time?”

Isolde didn't answer. She noticed that the golden sap oozing from the wound of the shot golden burl was no longer flowing downward.

It remained hovering around the area, gradually condensing into tiny specks of light that slowly rotated around the wound.

They looked like a swarm of fireflies trapped on the bark.

No, that wasn't right.

It wasn't that the arrow hadn't dealt damage.

It was just that the damage wasn't reflected on the treant's health bar.

Seeing her remain silent, Ryan suppressed his anger and said, “Since it didn't do any damage, I should shoot a few more times. Maybe after a few consecutive attacks, the outer shell will break. You're not new to being a mercenary, are you?”

“Go ahead, then,” Rena said, turning her face to look at him coldly. “If something goes wrong, you'll take full responsibility.”

Ryan: “You—!”

When there were more people earlier, Ryan had dared to join the others in questioning her.

But now that he actually had to risk his life to test it, he hesitated instead.

His fingers on the bowstring tightened and loosened, but in the end, he didn't shoot the arrow.

“If you're not going to attack, then let's move.”

Rena withdrew her gaze, her tone still quite blunt. “The road marker ahead isn't far. Don't waste time on something that doesn't lose health.”

Under Reece's persuasion, Ryan finally lowered his bow and arrow reluctantly.

The party began moving forward once again.

However, Isolde did not push the anomaly she had just witnessed to the back of her mind.

The golden sap, the unchanged health, and the specks of light rotating around the wound...

No matter how she looked at it, it didn't seem like a simple case of damage immunity.

It was more like the result of that arrow was being temporarily held back by some force.

A root-tendril suddenly poked out from the right side of the road, sweeping toward her leg.

Isolde sidestepped to dodge it, drawing her short blade with her left hand.

The blade swept across the root, leaving a moderately deep cut.

The root-tendril recoiled outside the stone road as if in pain, but the cut remained on its surface.

Isolde memorized the damage she had caused and sheathed her short blade back at her waist.

After walking a bit further, a rotting old wagon appeared outside the road.

Most of the wagon's bed had already collapsed, its blackened wooden planks sinking into the decaying leaves, leaving only a lopsided wheel leaning against the stone road.

Several thick roots were wrapped around the wagon's frame. They never crossed the stone slabs, nor did they take the initiative to attack anyone.

Isolde slowed her pace, pretending to check if the wagon's wreckage was blocking the path.

She bent down to brush away the decaying leaves piled next to the wheel and found a black root the thickness of a wrist hidden underneath.

It was quiet and non-aggressive.

Blocking the others' line of sight with her body, she quickly and lightly dragged the tip of her blade across the bark.

A shallow cut split open on the bark, and just like before, it didn't counterattack.

Memorizing the length and depth of the wound, she casually sheathed her short blade and stood back up.

The treant's health still showed no change.

It seemed the golden burl wasn't anything special. Even these root-tendrils, whether they were attacked or not, didn't seem to deplete the treant's main health pool.

Isolde tightly gripped the 【Guide】 wooden badge at her waist.

There was still too little information right now.

If she wanted to obtain more information, she had to reach the road marker ahead first.

Kolo, walking near the rear, suddenly turned her head and happened to see Rena sheathing her short blade and standing up from beside the wagon as if nothing had happened.

Kolo originally wanted to step forward and ask, but after taking half a step, she stopped.

Rena hadn't harmed Milo, nor had she violated their deal, so it was best for Kolo not to pry.

Kolo just couldn't quite understand.

If she wanted to test that root, why not just slash it directly?

Why did she have to be so secretive, acting as if she had done nothing at all?

Humans always liked to beat around the bush.

How troublesome.

After fending off a few more root-tendril attacks, the party finally approached the first road marker.

Most of the stone monument had collapsed. The broken body of the marker was covered in dark-green moss, with a rusted bronze bell hanging from its top.

There were no roots around the road marker, and even the thick fog was much thinner here than elsewhere, allowing them to faintly see the ancient tree in the distance that had swallowed the carriages and skeletal remains.

However, the stone path beneath their feet cut off right in front of the road marker.

Further ahead, there was only a vast expanse of churning white mist and tangled roots.

It was as if the next section of the road would only grow out from the mist once the rules here were completed.

“We're here.”

Rena raised her hand to signal everyone to stop.

Damon planted his iron shield in front of him, while Reece walked halfway around the road marker, crouching down to inspect the carvings on its surface.

“There's writing on it.”

“What does it say?” Zhou Yi immediately leaned in.

Before approaching, he didn't forget to cast a glance at Xu Zhiheng.

This kind of task—bending down to read words and gathering information—was naturally meant for a lackey like him.

Xu Zhiheng only needed to stand in the back, posing as the one in control of the situation, which would make Zhou Yi look up to him with immense admiration.

“It's too heavily worn down.” Reece raised his hand to wipe away the dirt on the marker's surface. “I can only make out a few words.”

He squinted, slowly identifying the letters along the damaged carvings.

“Enter route... verify... and, settlement.”

Settlement?

Isolde looked up at the rusted bronze bell at the top of the road marker.

It wasn't strange for this word to appear on a trade route.

Once a caravan arrived at a station, they naturally needed to take stock of their cargo, verify their losses, and rearrange their subsequent itinerary.

But they didn't have any cargo in their hands at all.

What was it planning to settle here?

Before Isolde could think any further, the bronze bell above her head suddenly began to ring on its own.

Clang—

The sound of the bell wasn't loud, but it traveled far along the empty stone path, lingering in the thick fog for a long time.

All the writhing roots on both sides of the road stopped simultaneously.

The wooden badges on all ten of them also lit up with a dim dark-red glow one after another.

The next moment, Ryan's shoulder suddenly jerked backward.

A bloody hole appeared on his shoulder without any warning.

Blood sprayed from the gaps in his leather armor. Ryan let out a muffled groan, and the longbow in his hand clattered to the ground.

“Ah!”

Su Xiaoman was startled by the spraying blood, quickly taking a few steps back to avoid getting splashed.

Ryan looked down, staring at the wound on his shoulder, his face filled with nothing but bewilderment.

“What is this...?”

There were no roots near him. This wound seemed to have burst out of his flesh from thin air.

Zhou Yi glanced at the bow and arrow on the ground, then at the bloody hole in Ryan's shoulder, his voice trembling slightly.

“Could it be... that arrow from earlier... returned to you?”

At the same time, a slight stinging pain came from Isolde's fingertip.

She lowered her gaze and saw a shallow cut appear on her fingertip.

The length and depth of the wound, and even the slight upward curve from when the blade had swept across...

...were exactly identical to the mark she had left on the root beside the wagon just now.