"Say what?"

With all the surprises and changes to the monsters' reaction, Fen finally allowed his hope of resolving this conflict peacefully to take a root in his soul, quickly leading to yet another downfall of his morale. Instead of letting him go, they were about to bring him to their queen's face? Unless those beings developed some kind of advanced society where the leader was chosen by a complicated set of heritage laws or some kind of elections, that only meant putting Fen against the strength of the absolutely supreme being that resided in this entire damned forest!

"I warned that it will our startle you. But don't take it the wrong way. It's not that we need Queen's help to deal with you, it's more like she is the only one capable of resolving the current situation. Jeliar, tell him."

Given how there was only the three of them here, and Fen was quite sure that Jeliar wasn't his name, there was only one being that could be referred to with that word. Moving his head slightly and turning his sight from the bear-like beast to the elemental who the young man was holding in the death grip, the young arcanist apprentice could only wait to be enlighted about what did that beast wanted him to know.

"Even when you offered us your deal, we couldn't afford to take the risk of the news of invasion leaking. Be it church or arcanists as you call them, it doesn't really matter. After we would convince you that you would be safe, before you would manage to pull your hand away from my core, I was going to poison your own element with enough of mine to make sure it would suffocate you from the inside. Not even calling your master here would be able to change anything."

It was strange with how open those beasts dared to be about explaining their initial plan to get rid of the young man. Or was it? Fen couldn't really decide what to make of the entire situation right now. At one hand, they openly told him what they were intending to do, implying that it was no longer the case. But to go and visit their queen?

"Still, I do not know you guys. What you are telling right now can be just another way to distract me. After all, once I lose control of this Jeliar guy, what will stop you from killing me on the spot? For all I know, everything you said is just another ploy at putting me in even worse position! And now you want me to let go of him and go visit your queen? Don't be ridiculous!"

For a moment, Fen could feel his confidence returning. Lashing with just his words at those monsters was enough for him to feel in control once again, watering down the seed of hope that was slowly growing in his soul.

Only for it to be crushed the very next moment.

"You don't need to go anywhere to meet me, though?"

Instantly turning his head around towards the source of the voice, Fen could only stare into the thick bushes of the forest, devoid of any presence at all.

"Who are you?!"

As obvious as the answer to this question was, the young man was simply too shocked by the current situation to notice it. Given how he was about to look for a way to escape from the clutches of those monsters, with another beast appearing, even despite how it was the very first monster that he met in his entire life who had clearly a feminine voice, Fen could no longer hope that any trick of his could work in his favour.

"Isn't that obvious?"

It was as if the rain started falling upwards. With droplets of moisture appearing on the blades of the ever-present grass, they suddenly started rising in the air, before forming a delicate, humanlike form.

Snap.

As if this watery form solidified and broke down at the same time, what looked like a weirdly shaped clump of liquid, turned into what could only be described as the pinnacle of female beauty!

About as high as Fen himself, every single part of that monster's body reached the absolute perfection. From her long legs, through the slim waist all the way to the ample bosom and cute face covered in a storm of blue hairs, if not for the situation in which this being appeared, Fen would be sure to pray to let the clumps of water that covered her most important parts to disappear!

"I'm Raksha, the queen of this forest."

Spreading her arms as if she wanted the young man to focus all of his attention at her, this human-looking monster didn't even need to move her legs in order to get closer to the young man. Simply floating on the ground, she nearly instantly appeared in front of the arcanist apprentice, raising her hands to Fen's head.

"Don't worry, let me prove to you that I don't have any bad intentions."

With how quickly everything was happening, the young man didn't even have the time to react, before his vision split!

"Keep calm, I made sure you will still be able to control yourself, to not make you think I just want to save Jeliar. But once you focus on what I will show you, you should understand what kind of gift I'm offering as a sign of my good-will."

So far, this strange monster didn't give any hints of danger. While it was obvious from how perfectly well she could control her aura and body that this being reached the level beyond anything that Fen could imagine, the fact that this queen was completely deprived of any hostility had a somewhat calming effect on the young man.

After all, faced with such power, what good could his little threat do?