The entry to the forest was surprisingly close by, even while lowering their speed to allow Shanks to keep up, the group arrived there within half an hour from departure.

Uresha and Rotte were waiting for them.

"Ha? Why aren't you searching for Lairs? Are you too scared to go in without us?"

Cranberry put her hand on her hips and tilted her head in disbelief while Shanks was wheezing, trying to catch his breath.

The two Dandelions looked at each other with sour faces and then pointed at the ground right when the line of trees was starting.

A single arrow with bright feathers was sticking out of the ground looking surprisingly menacingly.

"Graough? (What, we're you attacked or something?)"

Zombie growled and walked tight towards the arrow and picked it up.

*thunk*

Immediately after, another arrow silently pierced the air and made a sound only when it got embedded in the ground right next to Zombie's foot.

"Graough... (Wow, whoever it is, their aim is really off...)"

Zombie snorted, picked up the other arrow too, and returned to his master's side.

"Graough. (Here.)"

He groaned passing it to her with an indifferent expression.

"...wh-why are you giving this to me...? Elven craft, it's probably a warning shot... haa..."

Cranberry got honestly confused, but took the arrows anyway and examined them.

"Graough! (So you can practice your throwing skill!)"

The blue boy responded cheerfully with a bright innocent smile.

If anyone except the red-haired girl would be able to understand him, they would undoubtedly be shocked.

But they weren't, so they weren't.

"Well, we know for sure that the elves are here."

Rotte breathed out and shook his head, looking nervously towards the treetops.

His armor would barely classify as a medium weight, and although it provided the necessary protection from claws, fangs, and blunt damage, it wasn't designed for perfectly protecting him from the piercing damage.

That what he had his shield for.

But an arrow flying at him from his blind spot without making the whistling noise wasn't something that he could protect himself against even with that.

Uresha was a different case, with her plate armor, heavy helmet, and an enormous tower shield, turning her into a walking fortress.

She didn't have to worry about the arrows.

But the shock spells, that the elves could use freely, were a different matter altogether.

"Haa... Have you tried asking them whether a foreign elf showed up here around yesterday or not?"

Cranberry breathed out and asked, massaging her forehead.

Since the living were talking, Zombie zoned out and was scanning the surrounding area in search of the familiar life signature of the last member of the Dandelions.

"Yeah, we've tried. They're not very talkative."

Rotte shook his head with a bitter expression and Uresha nodded in confirmation.

As they were talking Zombie frown seeing that the closest life signature, that was hidden in the tree branches around a hundred feet away, was gathering energy just as if it was preparing a skill.

"Honestly, with what's going on with the Envys, I'm not even surprised that they act like that but..."

"No, they are idiots."

Uresha was smiled weakly, doing her best to look at the situation from a wider perspective, but was interrupted by the annoyed Cranberry.

"Wha...? Why would you say that?! If their family members get abducted all the time, why shouldn't they protect..."

"And what exactly are they protecting by announcing their presence to anyone that comes close?"

The large woman tried to argue but her argument was shot down instantly.

"They're idiots, nothing more. Since they're already staying away from the villages and towns, they should just stay put and mask any traces of their presence and not play around by shooting the warning shots at every passerby." Just as she spoke those words, Zombie stepped in front of her.

*cling*

An arrow with bright feathers hit him in the middle of his chest and bounced off with a metallic sound.

If Zombie didn't move in to protect Cranberry, the arrow would hit the red-haired girl square in the forehead.

Without waiting for anyone to react, the blue undead leaned back as if he was breathing in the air for a shout.

His body started glowing violet, his eyes shone white, and then he leaned forward and opened his jaws.

But instead of a roar, a geyser of venom erupted from his mouth.

"!!!!"

Everyone, including Cranberry, backed off in terror.

While shooting out venom under enough pressure to dig out a trail in the ground, Zombie raised his head and the constant stream of venom shot up and pierced through the trees, only losing the power and raining down on the vegetation a hundred feet further.

/Middle-level player defeated

Master and servant receive the EXP

/Proficiency level reached

Servant's title exclusive skill unlocked

Throw (level 1) + Envenom (level 5[max]) »»» Venom canon (level 1)

Every living thing, whether a plant. an animal, or the elven sentinel hiding in the branches high in the trees, died and started rotting within the first second of being sprayed with gallons of the highly pressurized venom.

"GRAOUGH! (AND NOW I'M COMING FOR YOU!)"

Zombie roared.

"Graough. (Cranberry, it's dangerous, so don't go anywhere without me.) Graough. (I'll come back right away with someone we can ask some questions.)"

He quickly growled at the confused red-haired and shoot out into the rapidly decomposing forest.

"..."

"..."

The Dandelions and Cranberry looked at each other in dead silence.

Shanks wanted to ask the red-haired girl what in the world just happened, but the look of utter bewilderment on the girl's face was more than enough to figure out that she also couldn't comprehend what had just occurred.

"...ha..."

Cranberry closed her mouth and straightened her back.

"We... should just wait and see who will he bring back."

She said awkwardly and swiped the nonexistent dust off her baseball bat while blushing.

"Bring back? He's going to bring someone back?"

Shanks asked while looking at the purple vapors of death being released from the rotting plants, disintegrating in front of their eyes.

Thankfully the wind was keeping them away from the group.

"That's what he said..."

Cranberry nodded and also looked at the destruction that kept spreading all the more while the venom kept soaking into the ground.

What at first was a straight line of around hundred feet long and a foot wide, was now over two hundred square feet, and the rotting didn't show any sight of stopping.