The woodland creatures sprouted from the ground like wild mushrooms.
Some were as large as Gilhause's Scorpio summons. Others were slightly shorter than Goliaths. However, all woodland creatures looked more nimble than the earth element golems. They were more lively, indicating that Eren's intelligence stat was capable of supporting the consciousnesses of so many creatures.
The woodland creatures also started wielding wood-element maces, spears, and other weapons. Some woodland creatures were seen wielding wooden shields that looked as weak as a plank of old and brittle wood. However, the wood-element runes enhanced their durability.
The woodland creatures screamed and stared at Gilhause's summons with unmasked rage. As if each of them had a personal grudge against Gilhause's earth-element golems. These intentions made them human-like and more active than any other regular summons.
Eren was seen using Rey Remus' spells better than him. Eren had mastered wood-element summoning like he had spent his entire life doing it. Even the undead summoning Eren had performed was a cut above Goro's summoning.
This was like an inspired product getting more popular than the original one. As if Eren had stripped Rey and Goro of all they had and made something better out of their illegally obtained resources.
The woodland creatures stood in front of Gilhause's mini army in standard order. It made it look like two organizations were settling their disputes by having their juniors fight each other.
"What the fuck is going on?"
Gilhause mumbled to himself as he watched Eren's summoned creatures take shape in front of him. Woodland creatures were Rey Remus's specialty. At first, he thought that Eren using undead summons was a one-off thing. As if this was some sort of weird coincidence. Or Eren must have done something to claim Goro's powers. As bizarre as it was, it still somehow made sense to him if it was only limited to Goro.
Eren, using the woodland creatures, presented Gilhause with a pattern. That the butcher was a serial killer. He was especially targeting summoners from House Remus and luring them into traps in which they believed they were in charge.
"He… he wanted me here!"
Gilhause had a metaphorical bomb detonated inside his head as he thought of this possibility. It looked like he wasn't the most excited about the mission. The latter was also looking forward to it. The exit from the army was one thing but the butcher was also anticipating Gilhause playing dirty with him. So that he could use Gilhause the same way he had used Rey and Goro.
"How the… no… why… no… that's not it either. YES! How… the bigger question is the how part."
Gilhause started talking to himself. He looked distraught, shocked, angry, and afraid at the same time. He looked at Eren next before asking him in a grim voice.
"How the fuck can you do something like that? What kind of cultist ritual do you have access to and why didn't I hear anything about this?"
Gilhause's question didn't come as a surprise to Eren. Instead of answering, he chose to let his summoned creatures reflect his intentions.
"Kraaaaa!"
The rage-driven woodland creatures charged at their enemies with enraged momentum. They attacked the golems nearest to them. They started engulfing the golems in their vines to hinder their movements and agility which were already low, to begin with.
With heavy blows and powerful weapon swings, the golems tried to destroy the woodland creatures. However, they were too rigid and sluggish for the active and nimble woodland creatures. Instead, they would divert or dodge the golems' attacks and keep on using their bodies as fertile soil for their plants and thick green vines.
This was the case with the Goliaths fighting normal woodland creatures. The butcher also summoned woodland creatures with integrated spells. He had used the wood-element spells used by Rey Remus himself to empower his summons.
This special group of woodland creatures came equipped with movement spells, defensive body armor spells, and a variety of mid-range attack-type spells.
These sturdy and spell-enhanced woodland creatures started targeting the Earth Arachnides. They made up for their rank difference by attacking in quantity. The integrated spells were an added advantage.
Gilhause watched as Eren's woodland creatures absolutely dominated his earth-element golems despite the rank difference. The wood element spells were like the bane of Gilhause's summoning creatures. Something he wasn't aware of before because it wasn't Eren who was using these summons.
The battlefield looked like it would soon be taken over by quickly growing vegetation. The wood-element mana in the surroundings was so dense that the nearby trees also started showing signs of growth and evolution.
It looked like Gilhause's summons had gotten stuck in a green quagmire. The quagmire was using the essence of earth-element creatures against them. This collective essence was being used to fuel the joint AOE spell.
The more the golems fought with the woodland creatures, the more the latter's advantage started to become apparent.
Even though the woodland creatures did not attempt to destroy the golems, their cores were destroyed. The woodland creatures would just siphon the essence the golem cores had, drying them up.
The wrath mana provided the woodland creatures with the intention they were missing when they were summoned by Rey. With uncontrollable anger, they sought out the essence from the golem cores and used that to cage them.
This was similar to a sapling using the nutrients in the ground to grow and depriving the soil of its essence. The golem cores would be destroyed on their own after being subjected to this treatment.
For the first time in a long while, Gilhause felt fear. Fear of meeting the same fate as the other two Remus clan members who had stood before Eren a while back. Gilhause thought that they must have gotten cocky with Eren too, treating him as a minor nuisance instead of treating him like a real threat to their entire House. And both of them met a similar fate.
'No… I can't let that happen to me. I'll kill him with all my might.'
