--- Sea of Treas---
A slender man wearing an outfit of nettle-green cloth and natural tanned leather came jogging into the great hall. The big assembly house had a floor of hardened earth and a green ceiling of woven, living branches.
The sunlight falling through the gaps from above fell on the man's face and antlers, as he kneeled before his chieftain. Sitting on a throne grown from roots was a man twice his size. His clothing didn't differ much from the scout kneeling before him, only the thick golden torc around his neck and the silver circlet on his head identified his higher standing.
" Anzoni, you are disrupting the assembly. I hope you have something important to report that explains this transgression," he asked the scout
"The bird and the weird sky centipede have returned the western eye," the horned scout began. "But they are not alone this time. They are accompanied by a huge number of men, at least 200, and a giant beast eating the Blooming Trees like grass," he reported the advent of new visitors.
The chieftain's chiseled face stiffened in concern.
"What are they doing? Do you think it will impede the containment measures?" he asked.
They had only found the Western Eye recently and moved to contain it, although their effort had only managed to slow down the spread. This assembly was precisely to talk about the procurement of materials for proper containment.
Anzoni halted for a moment, remembering the scenes of lightning strikes, bright rays of light, and firestorms eradicating the outer ring of affected trees. The giant beast they had brought was seen eating a swath into the surrounding unaffected trees, widening the perimeter.
"If you allow speculation, my chieftain. I believe they are on the move to implement their own containment..." Anzoni finally said, causing the assembly to fall silent.
...
"Aren't those undead?" Cathirix asked his colleague as they watched a group of rotten knights swarm out along the scorched ring surrounding the tainted woods. Seeing the newcomer use chained spirits gave him just another reason to worry.
Within the ashen ground, he could already see fresh, black saplings raise their heads. With their wards gone, the spread would rapidly speed up. If they left this alone, there would be another mouth to deal with...
"I will go report to the leader. Not enough that they burn our temporary wards, but now they are sending out these things. This time, the group leader won't be able to stand back. We have to step in," she said, and stood up to run back to their camp. She was suddenly caught by a black chain.
"Where do you think you are going?" A threatening voice shook the forest.
The dark chain woven from magic was tightly strung around her hip. Holding the other end was a figure wrapped in black robes, black crystalline armor, and the thick aura of death. How had they not noticed an entity oozing danger and destruction like this? Cathirix's heart quivered.
They stood no chance. Before he could move to help Ricina, she was thrown into the clearing with a single pull of the dark chain. Her hands helplessly tried to grasp anything, but she only left traces in the soft, ashen ground.
She was thrown around, and a boot was planted on her sternum, pinning her to the ground like a bug
In horror, the horned one could only cover her face and accept her fate, tears shooting in her eyes.
"Oh, hey! You guys look like Uno and Tearlach! Are you also horned ones? Are there more of you?" Suddenly, the bright voice of a young woman echoed from the terrifying certification of death. Surprised, Ricina stared up at the being of doom that had caught her, only to find that it was a fairly attractive human woman, wearing a black crown and dark armor.
The aura she was exuding stood in clear contrast to the curious, almost friendly expression of her face. The pressure on her chest lessened, and even the chain around her hip loosened. They were not gone, Ricina felt less restrained, calming her just a little.
"L-Let Ricina go!" The two heard Cathirix say with a wavering voice, as he stepped out from the woodwork. He had his bow raised and an arrow aimed at the woman on top of her.
"Oh, you decided to come out? Don't worry, I just intend to have a little talk with you," she said amicably, as Cathirix was surrounded by silent undead from behind. It was too late by the time he noticed.
"Now, put down the bow and come with me. I'm sure we have stuff to talk about," she suggested with a smile that didn't accept a no. The horned one looked at the undead surrounding him. They were grotesque beast chimeras, vastly different from the undead knights walking around the clearing.
If it were the knights, he might have tried something, but he couldn't even start to comprehend these things. Defeated, he lowered his bow and joined Ricina in being brought away.
...
"Guys, look what I found," Evee suddenly returned to camp.
"Evee? Weren't you going to install the frame generators with your undead?" Alison asked her, looking at the Chosen of Persephone and the two people captured by an undead chimera walking behind her.
"They can do that on their own. But look what I came across. Don't they look like Uno and Tearlach? I think they are horned ones, and scouts at that. So, there should be more of them here, don't you think?" the necromancer suggested, as the two captives started sweating in the back.
"I guess so, but why did you capture them?" the alchemist asked, curious.
"Well, they had been observing the undead for a while when one of them suddenly jumped up to run away. I kind of instinctively caught her..." the immortal witch explained, a little embarrassed. It was an instinct trained during the weeks spent in a world where a returning scout could spell annoying trouble.
"Since you already captured them, we should at least ... interview them. Maybe they have info on the corruption," Idyllon Mo joined the conversation. Since they seemed to be part of a group of people that settled in the forest, the chance they knew something helpful was high.
"I-is that what you call the darkness?" the female-looking one of the two suddenly asked.
"Yes, if you mean the slowly spreading power that is swallowing this forest, we call that corruption," the space mage explained politely, earning a weird look from Evee and Alsion.
"You understood her?" Alison asked, surprised.
"Of course. You didn't?" the other countered, just as surprised.
"I can kind of understand them, but they use some words I don't know, and others are pronounced weirdly. It's probably the same for Alison?" Evee explained. " I guess, you can understand them without a problem, since this is a foreign world for you," the witch gave her verdict.
"I see-" the mage said as he was interrupted, when the female interrupted him.
"Then why are you destroying our wards? It was already hard enough to set up a circumference to slow down the spread, now the darkness will swallow a great part of the forest before we-" she suddenly started throwing blame.
"Now, now. I don't know about your wards, but we are currently setting up a barrier to contain the corruption. We have experience in this." Idyllon tried to calm her down and explain their operation.
"You are containing it?" the male horned one asked in disbelief.
"Yes, we flattened the forest to make space for the barrier anchors," Idyllon assured.
"Shield corner stones, I see. You are building a kind of henge to trap it..." the horned one mumbled to himself, but his word made the space mage cringe a little. Calling their highly developed barrier tech a henge was... somewhat offensive.
"Right, since we are talking about this, how about our other guests also join the conversation in the open?" Edward, who had only listening silently to the side, spoke out loud. His voice echoed in the clearing and spread in the forest.
It was silent for a moment before a huge horned one, wearing a torc and a circlet, stepped out from the forest, followed by an armed group of more horned ones.
"Very well, let us talk."