Once Erwin had calmed down, they moved further upstream.

The grass grew thick and hemmed in the party from both sides. Otto's knife had been covered in a corrosive liquid to make the bushwhacking more efficient. The elevation was rising slightly, and Otto, who was constantly swinging his arm, was beginning to breath heavily as the sun crested overhead.

Though he looked the most eager to continue, Erwin surprisingly ordered a break for lunch. Kynos cleared a patch of tall grass and weeds for a place to sit while Otto removed wrapped ration blocks from his pack. Once that they heard these had been handmade by Erwin, Kynos and Elise were ready to skip lunch. Erwin bit into his block, looking slightly hurt, and the lack of immediate health issues convinced Elise to try a nibble.

She quickly found that the taste was sweet but not overbearing, and the ration was crumbly but didn't dry out the mouth. After Kynos heard about the sweet part, he bit into his without reservation. The first one to finish, Erwin tested the water from the stream and found that it was strangely clean, almost as if it had been purified. The four washed down the lunch with some of said water and moved on, looking for the next unfortunate victim.

Suddenly, the tall growth of the grass and weeds stopped, and they burst into what looked like a large grove. The stream also spread into rivulets of water, which looked like they were running down a rocky slope leading down from a series of ponds. A few herbivores lazed around, grazing or taking a drink of water. Tall, gnarled trees and exotic plants of various types dotted the area but didn't crowd each other, giving the grove a tranquil atmosphere. Elise moved forward, captivated, but Erwin immediately stopped her and slowly forced the party to move back into the grass. Kynos, sensing a large amount of magic, immediately readied the Variable and voiced a question.

“What is that?”

Erwin crouched down and explained quickly in a low voice.

“That is a living grove. We so much as take one more step and everything alive in there will wake and attack us.”

“e-even the animals?” Elise asked tentatively.

“Especially the animals. These groves themselves are alive, and every living creature in it is bound by the same life magic.” Erwin gave a devilish smile. “And that's why these are some of the best experimentation grounds I could ask for.”

Kynos nodded slowly. He recalled that Eliza had spoken excitedly about trying to recreate an ancient living grove with her magic, which was what the garden with the giant hole was supposed to be. She was having trouble getting the life magic to circulate by itself and was mainly working on water purifying flowers at the moment. This grove easily explained why the water from the nearby brook was so pure.

As with the goblin nest, Erwin marked the area with the tracking potion, then the party returned to camp. Kynos was happy to see his fish trap bouncing with bounty.

They had grilled fish and berries that afternoon, and the insect night guard was increased by one slightly mutated alpha kobold zombie.