CHAPTER 263: THE DRUIDS' MASTERPIECE

Hoisting the corpse of the druid over his shoulder, Wang Yu sprinted toward Avia and Sif.

Though he still had no idea what this rapidly proliferating moss was, the condition of the mushroom they had encountered earlier made it likely that this rampant vegetation was anything but benign.

"These mosses are magical flora, saturated with natural mana and teeming with vitality. Judging by their composition, they originate from beneath the earth,"

Avia murmured, gently tapping her brow to adjust the Perfect Fractal lens hovering before her right eye. Through the lens, she scrutinized the explosive spread of the moss, which crept outward in waves.

After Wang Yu and the others eradicated the mushroom colony and its mycelium, these mosses erupted from the depths like underworld thugs rushing in to seize the territory left behind.

The green tide surged outward, alive with motion. Unlike ordinary moss, these enchanted growths writhed and twisted, their fine roots squirming as they slithered across the earth. A verdant carpet unfurled in every direction.

"Are they... fighting for territory?" Wang Yu muttered. He frowned. He rejoined Avia and Sif while continuing to watch the vegetation spread with disturbing intent.

They had come to the Sorensen Mountains to investigate a supposed "corruption," yet all they had found so far were mushroom folk and now highly active moss.

For a land supposedly in decay, the Sorensen Mountains seemed surprisingly lively.

"..."

Avia remained silent. She observed the mosses through her fractal lens, collecting more data without comment.

Data without comment.

"Wang Yu," she said at last, "bring that druid's body over here. Sif, could I trouble you to imbue it with natural mana using the words of nature? I have a hypothesis I'd like to test."

As the tide of moss rolled across the terrain, its emerald waves mirrored in the girl's eyes, Wang Yu's thoughts returned to the inscription the druid had left behind. A certain thought coalesced in his mind.

"Got it."

Without hesitation, Sif extended her fingers, summoning a cluster of green light. She pressed it gently into the druid's remains.

At once, a lattice of glowing sigils spread across the druid's bones. An invisible force radiated outward.

"Hm?"

Sif blinked in surprise as the familiar wave of energy passed through her. It was a technique well known among Elven rangers, one that accelerated plant growth using natural mana. But this... this was different.

Unlike the usual spell, the energy emanating from the druid's bones wasn't simply encouraging plants to grow wholesale. It was directed and purposeful. Sif furrowed her brows as Avia peered intently through her fractal lens.

"This druid committed ritual suicide. These magical circuits etched into the bones—he formed them while still alive. He knew he would die. He prepared for it."

Avia's voice was hushed, almost reverent, as she traced the gleaming runes that pulsed across the corpse's bones. The druid's own skeleton had become the foundation of the spell.

It was a clever design. Just as a magician's body could become a vessel for arcane forces after prolonged exposure to magic, so too could a druid's body become saturated with nature's power—an ideal conduit.

"In other words," Avia concluded, "this druid intended his death to spark the transformation of these fungi. But why? No—he already told us. Famine."

Wang Yu had identified the single word the druid had etched before death as something of importance.

With Avia's insight, its significance now became chillingly clear: this transformation, this wild overgrowth, had been deliberately induced.

"The pattern engraved in his bones," Sif said slowly, "is a kind of druidic formation. It accelerates plant growth when life energy is abundant. But there's something more... it's guiding the transformation, shaping the affected flora into a specific form."

Indeed, the moss and fungi weren't merely growing, but instead evolving under guidance, mutating into something feral and ravenous. They devoured life from the soil and even from intruders, desperate to satisfy an unquenchable thirst.

"It's just as you read on that bone shard, Wang Yu," Avia said. "These druids weren't mindlessly corrupting nature—they were fighting back against the famine. Their methods are strange, even brutal, but the intent... it's survival."

Wang Yu nodded, murmuring to himself. Then, his gaze met Avia's. In an instant, understanding passed between them.

With a roar, the power of the Chariot burst forth, commanding the earth itself. The soil churned and split beneath his feet, forming a deep pit.

Beside him, Avia extended her will downward. Her magic reached into the depths, manipulating hidden materials and drawing them upward.

A cylindrical mass of soil, compressed by earth magic, burst from the pit. Avia had taken a sample of the land beneath the Sorensen Mountains.

She ignored any supernatural traces and focused on what she could see in the material world. Through her fractal lens, she examined the soil directly: it was pale, gray, dry—wholly lacking in vitality and fertility.

"Just as I feared," she whispered. "There's nothing left. No nutrients, no moisture, no humus. This forest rests on a bed of barren dust."

The land beneath the lush surface was worse than the most depleted desert on Earth.

"So that's the famine?" Wang Yu said, staring at the dry clod in her hands. "No plant could survive like this."

"I believe so. And yet, the forest thrives. It contradicts everything we've just seen..."

Avia nodded. Somehow, the forest lived despite the barren soil.

"It's these things... and the sun," Wang Yu marveled as he raised an eyebrow.

He couldn't help but admire the ingenuity of the druids.

Somehow, these dark elves had used wild, enchanted lifeforms to forge a new ecosystem atop dead ground—one that operated on principles alien to the natural world.

The fungi leeched life from the trees, but also returned key nutrients to them. It wasn't theft. It was symbiosis.

It was an inefficient and draining cycle, one destined to degrade, but a cycle nonetheless. And the final key ingredient was... the sun.

Photosynthesis: the cornerstone of natural growth. Just like Earth's sun, this world's sun provided a bounty of light and heat that allowed plants to generate their own nutrients, enough to perpetuate this fragile balance. In this way, the druids had conjured an oasis upon a desert of death.

"...Unbelievable," Wang Yu whispered.

The ingenuity of this design—the sheer will and creativity it required—filled him with awe. The people of this world continued to shatter his expectations.

"These were dark elves?" Sif asked, her voice low. "To think they could achieve all this..."

She too was stunned—but for her, the shock came not just from the feat itself, but also those who had accomplished it. The dark elves, scorned even among their kin, had crafted a delicate miracle.

"Then the mosses... they're not here to conquer territory," Avia realized. "They're here to replace the trees we destroyed, to keep the system from collapsing."

Moss couldn't match trees in photosynthesis, but it could serve as a temporary patch, preserving the balance until recovery was possible. Fragile though the system was, it was far more resilient than it appeared.

"So those ‘mad' devotees of the god of life... maybe they did find a solution to corruption. If famine was the result of that corruption, then this ecosystem was their answer.

"Given enough time," Wang Yu murmured, "this system might even replenish the land beneath, restoring what was lost. If Holo were here, he'd be proud. I hope he returns soon. With his help, this ruined earth might truly heal."

He shook his head in awe. Who would've thought that these bizarre fungi held such a noble role?

"Those mushrooms might have ended up incredibly combative as a result, but it doesn't diminish the brilliance of this design," Avia said with a small smile. The Sorensen Mountains, it seemed, was in far better shape than they had feared.

"Then the druids already solved the corruption?" Wang Yu scratched his head. "Does the Tree of Life have nothing to do with it?"

The puzzle only deepened.