Somewhere inside the dense forest where the entire vegetation had been destroyed turning into a mass of the pitch dark substance.
The previously green vegetation had been filled with deadly miasma which could disrupt the life process of living beings.
The grasses and trees had wilted and started to decay. There wasn't a single sign of living beings around the place which had been invaded by foreign substances.
The place looked quite desolate and filled with forlornness and it was around fifty kilometres away from the area where the battle was.
Alex is on the way to find the best of the undead but he didn't deal with them to save some time and arrived at the source of all trouble.
Alex analysed everything before diving deeper.
It looked as if a deadly virus has infected the area and the infection was slowly spreading far and wide
Alex sent a wisp of mana imbued with a light element and sure enough, it was able to turn back the things.
"The energy from that world had been pushed here and had taken the shape of a deadly miasma and seemed to spread like a plague. I need to seal the gateway and purify the land and all the trouble would be over."
From Alex's point of view, the solution to the problem was quite simple but it was only from his point of view cause he knew where the source of the problem lies.
While others would be wasting time searching for the source of the problem, great damage might have already occurred.
As Alex sped his way to find the source, the sun slowly started to set down.
Under the orange evening sky, Alex started to hear occasional bristling and rustling sounds.
The sound was similar to the screeching of insects and swaying of leaves in the wind but neither there was strong wind nor there were any insects around the place.
Even the trees were barren without a single greeny layer of the leaf.
Alex walked cautiously taking covers behind the rotten wooden trunks of the trees.
The sound started to grow louder and louder but except for the dark trees, Alex couldn't find anything and even his mana sensor wasn't able to detect anything.
Alex, who was perplexed for a moment, suddenly felt a small tap on his shoulder.
Alex's body reacted immediately and he turned around to see a long elongated branch touching his shoulder.
He jumped back quickly with a startled expression to back away but a small whip-like branch sprouted from underground and tried to pull Alex by wrapping the sleek branch around his leg.
"Attack from a tree!!!"
Alex's mouth opened wide after undergoing an attack from trees.
He quickly pulled his ankle and rotated his body, cut the branch and landed on the ground.
Alex's feet hadn't even touched the ground when many branches and woody vines shot towards him.
Alex's senses which were on an all-time high kicked in and as Alex pressed his sole to air jump, his body shot up towards the sky.
Alex waves his hand, and branches shot at were ignited with fire and brunt crisp.
"Is there a mage nearby who is attacking me?"
Alex muttered while looking at his map and also peeking around.
As Alex appeared above, Alex finally caught the source of the sound.
His eyes were filled with disbelief as he showed the scene of trees' vibrating and shaking on their own as if they had come to life.
Alex's breathing hastened as he wondered what kind of heavenly phenomenon was he witnessing.
He knows of almost all the monsters but he hadn't ever heard of tree monsters.
Looking at their odd shape, Alex wondered whether this thing was from the world of creatures of darkness but shook his head.
The roots of the trees uprooted and started to move, the huge trunks started to sway towards Alex.
The leafless branches shot towards Alex and took the shape of claws that wanted to tear him down at all costs.
Alex evaded the attacks by moving to and fro while observing a bit.
It seems that the miasma had corrupted them and given them a kind of ego that seemed to attack every creature except their species.
This might be also one of the reasons why there were no beasts and monsters here, they had either been chased or killed by these.
Alex cut the one which aimed for his life while preparing a spell to deal with them.
There was no need to go through the trouble to purify them as he can simply burn them.
A huge fiery mass of sphere appeared over Alex's head.
Alex looked down at the tree monsters that seemed to be flinching away after sensing the heat of the flames that were coming from the top of them.
Alex pointed his finger down and the huge ball of fire shot down towards the ground.
The ball of fire slammed on the ground and instead of exploding and causing a boom. It burst like a water balloon and the flames contained inside it surged radially outward.
Like waves of the sea, the flames surged outward spreading far and wide and burning all the trees.
The loud crackling sound of the burning of twigs resounded from everywhere.
After a while, Alex dusted his hand dealing with the aftermath.
"I hope no one has seen this. If anyone would witness such a scene, I may have been locked up in prison for causing a forest fire."
"Husshh!"
Wiping off the sweat from their forehead, Alex traced the flow of the miasma which led towards a small river.
"Oh!"
Alex lifted his brows as he noticed a rift-like outline underneath the river which looked dark like polluted water.
There seemed to be a secret hideout where something heinous might be going on.
There was a sleek path that leads to the cave on the other side from where the poison was thrown out.
Alex's lips curled upward as some people whom he was looking for appeared on the map.
"I should go and meet my friends."
"I hope they like my greeting."
