"NOOO! STOOOOOP!"

These desperate words fell on deaf ears as Fox's blade tore through the Queen Ant's neck, carving into her flesh with barely a hint of resistance. As is tradition, it seems, with sovereign rulers the Queen's head hit the ground and rolled away.

Her body fell next, collapsing like a sack of potatoes as thick, viscous green blood spurted from the fresh stump like the centre piece of a gruesome fountain.

Dragging the flat of his blade against his arm, Fox cleaned the blood from his weapon before sheathing it, as every member of the group turned their attention to the figure that had spoken, someone who hadn't been their moments before.

Standing next to one of the identical trees, was a woman with deep brown skin, which had the same texture as the tree trunks around them. Her eyes blended seamlessly into her face, made entirely of wood just like the rest of the body. It was as if she was carved out of a singular piece of wood.

The only exception in her eyes was the evergreen glow of her iris', which were darting between the expedition members with a mixture of bafflement and confusion.

In place of normal hair, there was instead a cascading veil of leaves and vines that fell down her shoulders and draped down to the ground. As for clothing, she wore nothing at all, as there was simply nothing to cover up.

Made entirely of wood, with skin like layered bark, she might have had the figure of a human woman, with all the curves and bumps, but there was nothing beyond that.

Strangely enough, despite the fact that she was 'naked' it wasn't much of an alluring sight. She had no privates to cover, thus no need for clothing, nor anything to allure anyone with beyond a general figure.

Not unless the bark was her clothing and was perfectly blended in with her skin, but he felt that was unlikely. But the thought did help some cope mentally with the fact there was a, possibly, nude woman standing before them.

Perhaps, instead of standing they should have said that she was grown before them. Where feet should have been, her legs unravelled at the calves into a series of tree roots that dug themselves into the ground below her.

"You have killed her... You actually killed her..."

Her tone was calm and solemn as she stared at the Queen's decapitated head with an unreadable expression on her wooden face. She remained silent for a few moments, processing the events as they had unfolded before something unexpected happened.

She began to smile.

It was not a malicious smile, as if she was preparing to attack them or laugh maniacally. Instead it was a smile of genuine joy. The trees around them began to rustle in an invisible wind, the grass beneath their feet swaying. Somehow, extra droplets of morning dew simply... manifested themselves on the blades of grass, creating miniature rainbows as they refracted the evening sunlight.

Stepping forward, Seth shared a suspicious, and somewhat confused glance between the rest of the crew before speaking up as he slowly approached the wooden woman.

"You... don't seem that upset about it, yet you tried to stop it. Why?"

"I had no choice, I was ordered to. But now... I need not follow her orders."

Another smile spread across her face, the wood that formed her face cracking ever so slightly to account for the shift in expression. By the Ant Queen's body, the grass stirred and began to move.

Like a thousand tendrils, they started to grow. Slithering over the length of the Ant Queen's body, as well as her head.

When the blades of - now 2 metre long - blades of grass had fully wrapped around the body, they curled ever so slightly and gained some tension. The earth beneath the Ant Queen churned as the body began to sink into the ground, as if it was slowly succumbing to the pull of quicksand.

FWING!

Fox's sword leapt from his sheath once more, his hand curled around its hilt and kept it posed to strike. Hands were immediately raised, with sparks of lightning arcing between fingers or gas churning between armour.

A steel arrow rocketed through the air, stopping just short of this mysterious nature woman's throat while Alexandra, with her hands still in the ground, hardened the earth beneath the sinking Ant Queen.

The woman frowned in irritation, before the grass tendrils loosened their grip. Only loosened, however. Although they weren't actively pulling the corpse under any longer, they were still fully wrapped around it, ready to do so at a moments notice.

"Care to explain yourself?"

"I am simply taking care of the body. I assumed you would not want it since you have the others to fill your stomachs. I know humans have limited stomachs and it would be a shame to put it to waste."

"Maybe we do, but we have some big members. Our large, stone-skinned friend over there certainly has enough appetite for that beast and then some. Isn't that right Alexandra?"

"Aye, Too right little man."

Gritting his teeth at the nickname she gave him, Seth held back the urge to argue with her that he was, in fact, not little and that instead she was just stupidly big. But he was a gentleman and so felt it rude to point such a thing out.

Plus the last time he had done that it ended up with her patting his head like a puppy and he felt like that would ruin the interrogation. It wasn't exactly intimidating.

"See? She'll manage it fine. So you assumed wrong. Now, I'm sure you were just trying to be nice, right? But my friends here... They don't seem to have taken to your kindness all too well. So maybe you should just let the body go."

"Surely you can spare one body... You have killed them on my land therefore some should belong to me."

Narrowing his eyes, Seth scrutinized her behaviour. He might not have been an expert on reading the expression of trees, but he had enough practice - between Bob and Astra - at reading stoic and metaphorically wooden faces to be able to pick out the hidden details in this woman. Then again, such an ability was harder to use when most of her expression was not done with her face.

After all, When the weapons came out and powers were prepared, she didn't even flinch. At least not with this body.

The forest around him, however, did. The subtle wind that had been blowing through had stopped and the air had grown dreadfully stagnant as if the world itself was holding its breath.

The grass beneath their feet, which had previously been wet with dew was now dry as a bone, crunching under their feet as they shifted their weight.

It was hard to notice at first, but once he knew what to look for the answer was obvious. She was nervous, getting impatient about something concerning the body. The most obvious sign was her eyes, which she kept locked on the corpse that she had tried to steal, only looking at Seth when she was speaking to him.

It wasn't hunger. So it had to be something else... Power? Perhaps. She had said that she was following orders. But why would a woman like this follow the orders of an Ant Queen? More specifically... Why did she seem happy about not doing so any longer?

He glanced over his shoulder at Astra, raising his eyebrow at her in a silent question. Without speaking, or lowering her hand, she gave him the answer in the form of a nod. Chuckling softly, Seth turned back to the wooden woman.

"Sure, Boss Lady agrees that such a request is reasonable. You can have a few of the corpses..."

The irritation relaxed from her face, a slight smile appearing once more, although it wasn't long before Seth slapped it off of her once again. It barely had time to settle before he continued his sentence, utterly souring her mood.

"...But not that one."

"What?!"

"You heard me. You can have any body you like, any one at all. Except for that one."

"May I ask why? This seems... cruel"

"Hmm... I don't know. Boss lady, is she allowed to ask why?"

Seth turned on his heel, putting his back towards the tree woman and instead facing Astra with a cocky smile on his face, wriggling his eyebrows at her. Astra sighed softly, rolling her eyes ever so slightly at his antics before answering in a low voice utterly devoid of emotion that stabbed at the air like a dagger.

"No."

"Well... You heard her. Boss says No, sorry. Nothing I can do."

While his back was turned to her, Seth casually strolled between the wooden woman and the Ant Queens body that she was so desperately focused on. His body blocking the line of sight between them. It didn't seem like it was intentional, simply like he was pacing idly while acting cocky.

However, he used to opportunity to get a better look at the corpse for himself, and when he did so a dastardly smile brushed across his lips.

"Although, I myself have two questions. Personal ones if you don't mind. Firstly, What does this do?"

Spinning on his heels again, Seth held up his hand. Resting atop a cradle of his fingers was a watermelon sized ball of golden amber.