“Damnit, is every tree in the forest an ent now?!”

Back in the forest the battle with the ents was still ongoing. Melissa and crew were fighting valiantly, but things were only going from bad to worse.

At the start the ents were hard to manage because some of them had started to group up, but now the ents were coming together far more frequently. A small group of three ents would join another group of five, and then that group of eight joined a group of nine, and so on and so forth. The ents were slowly forming an army that Melissa, Rickart, and Byron could do nothing against.

System Notification:

The ents of Blue Moon Forest have grown restless in the absence of the [Elder Ent].

Without the guidance of the [Elder Ent] the ents will turn increasingly hostile.

Quest [Appease the Forest] has been generated. This quest is a zone event.

Clear Conditions: Players must find a way to calm the ents of the forest, or eliminate them.

Clear rewards:

Calming the forest:

If players are able to calm the ents of the Blue Moon region, the region will enter a time of unprecedented peace lasting a month.

+25% to proficiency improvement rate for all profession skills used in the Blue Moon region for the duration.

+25% to item production rates in the Blue Moon region for the duration.

Removing the root of the problem:

If players are able to eliminate the ents of the Blue Moon region, the region will enter a time of unprecedented growth lasting a month.

+25% to combat experience gained in the Blue Moon region for the duration.

+25% to proficiency gain for combat skills used in the Blue Moon region for the duration.

Consequences of Failure:

Should players fail to either calm or remove the ents from the forest, the zone event will progress to stage two.

Time Limit: Two days.

The system was always true to its word, and as the ents grew more aggressive their army only grew larger and larger and eventually players couldn’t venture into the forest alone anymore. As a countermeasure the guilds of Blue Moon City had the players evacuate the forest, and called a meeting.

...

The meeting was held in a large lavishly furnaced conference room. The room’s tall glass windows and long draping curtains made it feel like the castle of a king during the renaissance period some hundred years ago, and in the center of the room was a large round table.

Seated around the table were many players, chatting. The players were grouped around the table according to their guild insignias, which made the table look a little like a pie chart. On the western side of the table were Melissa, Byron, and Rickart accompanied by several others.

Rickart was fiddling with his sword bored out of his mind, Byron seemed to be talking to someone privately through the system’s chat service, and Melissa waited in silence for the meeting to start.

After a few more moments of idle chatter, a loud voice suddenly resounded through the room.

“Quiet!” It said.

The voice belonged to a man seated at the eastern quadrant of the table, he had a blue moon shaped insignia on his chest, and the shine and lustre of his gear suggested that he was someone of great importance.

“Dispense with the idle chatter.” He commanded, and the room grew noticeably more quiet — with the exception of a few, “Hmphs,” that came from key people seated at the tip of every other cardinal direction on the table— but the man continued.

“We don’t know who did it…” He stopped to glance at the western end of the table.

“But someone’s triggered the start of a zone quest.” He continued.

Murmurs filled the room.

“As you all know, this particular zone quest is a common one. It exists by many names depending on the region it’s triggered, but we all know what it is.”

Silence quickly replaced the murmurs.

“Whenever a monster species begins to amass its members at the rates we have been witnessing, it has always been the precursor for one thing.”

“...”

“Gentlemen, it seems that some moron has triggered the start of a monster wave.”

The room grew loud again.

“That’s impossible!” Someone yelled.

“No one’s defeated the zone boss yet!” Another voice added.

“Yeah, we would’ve all been notified if someone killed the zone boss!”

Various supporting and conflicting views were tossed around the room, but the man wearing the blue moon insignia waited patiently for the noise to die down before responding.

“It doesn’t matter.” He said. “As you all know Blue Moon City is a relatively young city, the only one of its kind in the Blue Moon region. This has afforded us the time and freedom to grow our city without having to risk invasions from other guilds. It has also given us a monopoly on the item supply chain in this region… but as you all know, we are not equipped to deal with a monster wave of this caliber.”

“...” No one spoke, so he inhaled sharply and continued.

“This is the situation we’re faced with… if we don’t do something now we risk losing our guild foundations, our sponsorships, and the resources we have already invested...”

Once again silence reigned in the room— until a woman seated at the northern quadrant of the table spoke up, breaking the silence.

“What do you suggest we do then, Carlisle?” She asked.

The woman was dark, tall, lean, and beautiful. Her long green hair flowed down to her waist, and her black eyes reflected light like an onyx. She wore a green insignia on her chest that had the shape of a thorn.

Carlisle sighed.

“Unless someone knows how to calm down an ent… we only have one option.” He replied, to which a thin studious looking youth slammed a book on the table.

“Do you intend for us to kill the ents?” He shouted.

The youth sat at the center of the southern quadrant of the table. He was very thin, wore big round glasses, and looked very much like the stereotypical bookworm one might see in movies. His guild insignia was a black anvil stamped onto the book he’d placed on the table.

“I don’t intend for anything SunFei… we just don’t have a ch...”

“Of course we have a choice!” Sunfei interrupted. The tension in the room grew to palpable levels, but no one argued.

After a while a red bearded man wearing a red devil shaped insignia on his chest suddenly asked Sunfei,

“Sunfei” He said. “Do you know how to calm an ent?”

Sunfei wanted to say yes… but in the end he could only shake his head. He was sure that no one knew how to calm down the ents… so the man’s next words surprised Sunfei.

“I do.” He said.

The shocking revelation immediately caused the room to break out into murmurs, but just Sunfei stared at the man. He cleaned his glasses as if they had fog on them, even went so far as to clean out his ears with his pinky finger, then he looked at the man again.

“what?” he asked, and the man repeated himself.

“I do.” He said, then he stopped talking.

Sunfei waited for him to say more, but the man was silent. It was only a few seconds but Sunfei grew impatient so he opened his mouth to ask for clarification— but before he could get a word out the man continued speaking.

“You give it fertilizer.”

“Fertilizer?” Someone asked.

“Tell me, do you know what fertilizer an angry ent likes the most?” the man asked, but the only answer he got was silence.

“Get to your point Adam.” Carlisle snapped, causing the red bearded man to smile.

“The ent’s favorite fertilizer…” He paused to make eye contact with the people in the room, “is the blood of its enemies.” He continued.

“The truth is we never had a second option. We either kill them, or let ourselves be killed. Those are our only options.”

Silence. No one refuted Adam, they couldn’t, and soon the meeting was brought to a close.

…

After the meeting ended all the guilds and their members retreated to their bases.

At the red devil’s base Adam called Melissa, Byron, and Rickart to meet with him in their conference room. Unlike the conference room they had just been in, this one was dark. There were no windows… just a long rectangular table, some blood red banners hanging from the ceiling, and a throne which Adam sat on at the far end of the room.

Melissa, Byron, and Rickart were all standing, and Adam looked at them disgruntedly and sighed.

“Mission Debrief.” He demanded, and Melissa began to explain the happenings of the day.