Oscar ran passed trees and bushes as he approached the place where the chaos was taking place. While he was rushing forward, the trees that had turned into treants pulled their roots and made way for him to go.

And finally, the opening space was right in front of him. He leaned and peeked from behind a tree together with Luna in his hand. Following that, Midnight jumped out from his shadow and crawled up the tree to have a better look of the scene before her.

There, they found a swarm of goblin zombies with white mushrooms growing all along their body. And deep inside the sea of undead, a black goblin was jumping around with a black scimitar in his hand. Zombies’ head and limbs were sent flying into the air each time he swung his arm.

“Seems like that poor goblin is gonna die in just a matter of time, nyan. There is no way to survive inside that army of undead, nyan. On top of that, their regeneration ability is very scary...”

*K-Kun.”

Both Midnight and Luna were shocked by seeing such a messy battle unfold before them. But Oscar was different. He had been watching this event developed since the beginning by using his [Share perception] with the birds around here.

“We must be very fortunate if it ends that way…”

“Nyan!? Are you saying that that goblin can survive from this? That’s impossible, nyan!”

*Kun! Kun!*

Even Luna agreed with Midnight. Surely, anyone seeing this scene could only sympathize for the poor goblin. Even Midnight had shuddered in fear when she imagined herself being swarmed inside that mess instead.

“It may be possible,” he smiled wryly, “That goblin is very skilled and his sword has a weird ability after all.”

“But the zombies can regenerate themselves anyway, right? So, why must it be an issue, nyan?”

“No no no, their regeneration isn’t perfect. Look at their limbs closely.”

Midnight strained her eyes and looked at the arms of the zombies that had just regenerated.”

“...Their arms are weirdly bulging, nyan. What are those?”

“The mushrooms can’t extend their body from the severed sides which were coated in that weird mist. They grow out from the side of the limbs instead and this makes them weaker every time they were cut.”

“So, will they buy enough time for us, nyan?”

“I...don’t know, but I think we should quickly go get Lunus.”

He ran across the field full of fruits and berries. Oscar had ordered the treants to stop their assault since Gugaga engaged in the battle with Gogin, but there were surely many of these fruits lying everywhere.

“I’m pretty sure that this grass field must turn into an orchard afterward, nyan.”

“Eh, they won’t grow that easy, you know? The ground here is too malnourished and firm… Come to think of it, I shouldn’t throw them here in the first place.”

“But that can’t be helped, isn’t it, nyan? There is no way we can approach Lunus without them anyway. Maybe master can turn them into a treant afterward and move them somewhere else?”

*Kun!*

“Ah, that’s a good idea. Thank you, you two.”

“It’s not a big deal, nyan~”

*Kun! Kun!*

Every time Oscar stepped on the ground, he crushed the fruits and splashed their juicy meat around. He must be careful not to step on the skulls, especially those of the squirrels else he might accidentally kill them. And finally, he was right in front of Lunus’ skull.

“I’m glad that you’re safe, my lord. I never thought that you would grow up this much during these past two days. I’m really glad…”

“I said it didn’t I?,” he gave Lunus a big, shining smile, “Oh, I almost forgot to introduce you. This rabbit in my arm is Luna and this black cat is Midnight.”

*Kyu~*

“Nyan, long time no see, White stag’s chief~”

“Shadow peeker!?”

Luna raised her paw from under Oscar's arm and waved to Lunus. Following that, Midnight jumped out from Oscar’s shadow and welcome him like an old friend.

“Eh, you two know each other?”

“That’s of course, my lord. This shadow peeker has lived even longer than me and she is very knowledgeable about this forest.”

“Nya~, calling a lady older than you is a taboo, you know? I never thought that a little fawn who ran away from me and hid behind his mom would grow up this rude, nyan.”

“...Please stop teasing me in front of my lord, shadow peeker. And isn’t that story from a very long time ago? Why do you still digging it up?”

“Nyan? Because it’s fun, isn’t it? And stop calling me shadow peeker, nyan. Master already gave me a name, so call me Midnight instead~”

Seeing the two quarreling each other, Oscar quickly understood that they were old friends. He felt relieved from seeing that Lunus still had someone he knew. Back at the time when he met him, Lunus was very unstable from having his whole herd slaughtered over a single night. And he didn’t want him to be like that any longer.

“Heh, come to think of it, who are these two?”

Next to Lunus, there were two girls: a cherry-pink hair one and another one with curly blonde hair. And both of them were unconscious.

“It seems these two humans were captured by the goblins, my lord. They were knocked out by mana depletion and… probably because of the fruit rain.”

“Eh? So the humans that you told me about their clothes were these? I see… they were actually similar to that old man.”

Oscar was distracted for a moment before he noticed that everyone was staring at him.

“Ah, leaving that aside, we should get going for now. I don’t know when will that goblin make its way out of the zombies,” he said, lifting Lunus’ skull up from the ground.

He flipped him over. And on the severed end of the vines bundle, he could see black mist coating them and preventing them from regenerating.

“I hope that we can take this mist out somehow. Like this, I feel bad for you who just received a new body and yet-”

Before Oscar could finish his words. The black mist stretched out from the severed vines. It spiraled in the air and approached Oscar who had became frozen from the unexpected event.

“Eh!?”

“Nya!? Master!”

*K-Kyu!*

“My lord, what happened!?”

The mist flowed straight over his head and was absorbed by his black antlers, leaving no trace behind. The severed vines were now free of the mist and were starting to regenerate themtself. Fresh and soft shoots were making their way out and spreading their leaves.

While everyone was still dumbfounded, Oscar flipped Lunus’ skull back and looking into his flame-flickering eyes.

“Err, right now, can you regrow you vines?”

“Eh? Oh, yes. Right away!”

There, Lunus’ vines quickly stretched out and grew back to its usual length in just a few seconds. Oscar slowly placed Lunus on the ground where he could finally support his body with his own vines.

“My lord… My vines… Just how?”

“I-I don’t know either, but it seems my antlers had absorbed them all…”

“That’s right, nyan, I saw it with my own eyes, nyan.”

*Kun!*

Oscar hurriedly touched his antlers, but there seems to be no change in them at all.”

“This is weird. Just what are these antlers and how could they absorb the black stuff?”

“Maybe it’s your ability, my lord?”

“It might be… Wait, if that is the case, it means that your vines won’t be affected by the mist as long as you are close to my antlers, right? Then what if we do this?”

Oscar raised Lunus up once again and placed his skull on top of his head, wearing him like a helmet. His black antlers that should be in the way turned into thick black mist and gently covered his head, absorbing all the weight of the skull.

“Wah, this black thing is all over my face... and I can’t see anything. Wait, if I use my [Share perception] with Lunus, then that might work!”

And as he thought, now he could see things from Lunus’ eyes. The viewpoint was a little bit taller than usual, but there was no problem in that matter.

“Now master look really like… a shaman, nyan?”

Oscar had worn Lunus’ skull as his helmet. Lunus’ vines were covering his back like a mantle and the black mist that spread over his head made him looked even more mysterious.

“How is it? This way Lunus can fight the goblin without minding its sword, right?”

“I’m glad for your concern, my lord… But fighting like this, I fear that it will cause too much burden on your body and it will make you into a dangerous spot…”

“Ah… I totally forgot about it. So this is no good, huh?”

“Yes, master would surely become a burden if Lunus have to fight like this, nyan.”

“U-Umu, that’s too cruel, Midnight.”

Just slinging his body from trees to trees could make his shoulder dislocated several times. With this fighting at Lunus’ speed is absolutely impossible for the current Oscar.

“I guess this isn’t a good idea then… Eh?”

“What’s it, nyan?”

“I-It won’t come out! I can’t take Lunus away from my head.”

The event had turned awkward as everyone was trying to pull Lunus away from Oscar’s head. And at that moment, none of them had realized that they were still in a hurry, not knowing that a murderous glare was aiming at them.