In front of Oscar’s eyes, Lunus’ head and the others’ were sent flying away by countless shadow blades. Their head sprung into the air altogether like using a knife to scrape off corn kernels. Their vines, without their head to take control, spread on the ground motionlessly like entangled ropes.

“Lunus!?,” Oscar shouted out in panic.

He sprinted toward his friend with an intention to help with every bit of power he could muster. However, just before he stepped into the opening space, black tentacles grew out from his shadow. They entangled him and forced him into a stop.

“Why do you stop me, Midnight? Don’t you see that they are attacked? It will be too late if we don’t help them right now!”

Midnight jumped down from his shoulder, sat in front of him, and gave him a cold gaze.

“It is impossible for us, nyan. We know nothing about those blades that had killed your friend in a single swoop, so how could we win against them, nyan?”

“But Lunus is still alive! He must be alive!”

“Then that means master have a plan, nyan? Or do you plan to recklessly charge into that mess, nyan?”

Not knowing how to change this the tide of this event, Oscar went on all four as he felt utterly helpless under this critical moment. He was depressed. But under that depression, he was still racking his brain to find a possible way to help Lunus.

Luna who was released from his embrace hopped in between him and Midnight. She looked back and forth between the two not knowing how to change this awkward moment.

“...My lord, do you hear me?”

“!?! Lunus, is that you?”

“Yes, it’s this humble servant. It’s a shame, but we are totally caught off guard.”

Under this chaotic scene, Lunus had contacted his lord through their [Mind link]. It was fortunate that he was still alive. But considering the event before Oscar’s eyes, he couldn’t say that this could be considered a good news.

Luna and Midnight couldn’t eavesdrop the conversation between these two. But seeing a spark of hope was lit inside Oscar’s eyes, they quickly understood that he must know something about Lunus’ current conditions.

“Are you… alright, Lunus? I saw that your head was sent flying into the air. What exactly is going on?”

“My lord, I’m not quite sure either, but… it seems these black-colored green warts are different from the one we had subjugated. They are strong and can hide inside our shadow.

As for me, I’m still well and alive, but somehow there is a black mist covering the places where we were cut. And this thing prevented us from regrowing our vines.”

Oscar stared inside the chaotic scene. There, he could see around 10-20 black goblins with an ebony scimitar in their hand. They were jumping around and beheading the forest protectors that tried to fight back. However, the goblins had a clear upper hand since none of the vines had reached their body even once.

On the other hand, the vines of the forest protectors that were cut by the scimitars were unable to recover. It was due to the black mist that enveloped the scimitars and spread out every time the goblins swung their arm.

Not knowing how to deal with the goblins and their mysterious swords, Oscar turned toward Midnight and asked for her opinion.

“Midnight, do you know what are those weapons and the mist that they spread out?”

“Nyan?”

He briefly explained to her what he had learned from Lunus and his observation.

“As I thought, nyan. Those blades were magic weapon imbued with some darkness magic, nyan. And those black goblins also seemed to be proficient in dark element, nyan.”

“So, can you remove the mist if I can retrieve Lunus back here?”

“That’s impossible, nyan,” she shook her head, “I might be able to do something if it’s a shadow magic, nyan, but that black mist doesn’t seem to be one.”

Oscar’s hopeful face turned grim the moment he heard what Midnight said.

“So that is impossible… I see, but we can’t just abandon Lunus here. Who knows what will the goblins do with him after this.”

“My lord… I appreciate your kindness, but… please leave us here.”

“Lunus!?”

Oscar was perplexed. Why did Lunus say something so cold-hearted like this? How could he just abandon him and run away with his tail between his legs when his dear friend was in front of his eyes in such a terrible state.

“These green…, I mean goblins, are too dangerous. I know that my lord can heal yourself, but I fear that even your healing ability won’t work under the effect of this black mist. And unlike our vines, if my lord are beheaded like us, you might not survive like me.”

“But that doesn’t mean I should abandon you here and run for my life! How could I throw your life away to save mine?”

“My lord…, please cherish your life more than this. You are a forest god, the hope of all forests. If you die here today, it would be a big loss for us. If the goblins are going to kill us and continue pillaging this forest… let them do it. But my lord must stay alive! You can’t avenge us if you die here before your true power fully awakes.

You can abandon this forest… for now. Seek shelter in another forest and sharpen your fangs before taking this forest back from these hateful goblins. And if you feel like it… you can even live in other forests for the rest of your life. As my lord is a forest god, I believe that there are uncountable forests worthy for your presence. So,-”

“Stop it at that, Lunus!,” Oscar shouted back through both his voice and his [Mind link].

Midnight shuddered from fearing that the goblins will find out their whereabouts. So, she had enveloped the three of them in a black dome and took all of them inside the shadow of the trees around that place to avoid being found out.

“Lunus, you know what? I can’t simply abandon you and this forest just like this! You are one of my precious friends. And this forest… everyone here is kind to me and it is the most perfect forest I could ask for. So why must I run away when I can still help you?”

Over these past few days, Oscar had grown attached to this forest. When he used his [Mind link] to the fungal colonies to contact the trees in this forest, he was talking to every tree all at once. And that made him feel like every single plant here was his friend or family.

Running away from the goblins to hide in another forest meant that he must abandon all these friends he had grown attached to. There was no way he would do something like that even if he had to risk his life to fight against the goblins.

“Please don’t be childish and look at the reality, my lord. Our enemies clearly have an upper hand. They wield an unknown power, and their skills as a warrior can’t be neglected either.

This might be hard to swallow, but I think there is no way for my lord who are yet to awake your full potential to fight these strong goblins alone.”

Hearing such a harsh word from his friend, a flame of rage was lit in Oscar's eyes as he glanced around the battlefield with his sharp eyes. Under the shadow, the scene above the ground was reflected on their head like a water surface. His gaze laid on the mountain of the goblin corpses and then an idea popped up in his mind.

“Lunus, you misunderstood something. Who said that I will fight them alone?”

The edge of his lips curved into a crescent moon as his childish face turned into a sadistic one.

“I will show them what does it mean to be a forest god. I will make them regret pillaging this forest and hurting my friend. And also, I will show you how much I had grown up during these past two days!”

He dove inside the dark world of shadow, leaving Midnight with Luna on her back to follow after him. He jumped back onto the surface before his slim arm extended toward a small object on a tree branch and grasped it in his hand.

“What are you thinking, my lord. I thought that you can’t control the goblins and their corpses. Are you going to make vines take control of their dead bodies?”

“Not the vines, Lunus,” Oscar said, “Vines don’t have memories to move on two legs. And since I have no authority to govern the goblins, I can’t just turn them into a forest protector. But don’t worry, I have a better choice to play that role.”

He smiled while looking at the thing that he had snatched into his hand. In his small palm lied a mummified ant with a mushroom growing on top of its head.

“I will prepare a nightmare for them.”