Gene loved their new body and hadn’t given Synexus enough credit for the freedom he gifted the once tree. Soaring over Goldhill with their black wings spread far, the wind rustling through every feather, the owl looked down at the citizens sitting above a disaster level problem.

  They took a minute to soak in the experience. The sights, feelings, and sounds were extraordinary. Something they never thought they would feel. But, on that day with its perfect weather, they felt it all. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a lot of time to enjoy it.

  Within minutes, Gene spotted what they were looking for. In front of the King’s palace, an army was forming. At the front of the said army was Vorin and Prith talking with someone in leadership. Magical lights were being passed out amongst the ranks and the owl figured Vorin was discussing if they would be useful against the magical darkness the skinwalkers had deployed against the group earlier.

  Diving down through the sky was exhilarating and was their favorite part of being an owl. That and how quiet their new wings were.

  Gene landed on the ground right beside the leader of the king’s men to the surprise of several soldiers around their vicinity.

  “Don’t worry, Gene is with us.” Vorin said to the guard captain and then turned to Gene. “Did something happen?”

  “No, Zuls made it back to us and wasn’t sure how everything played out. A decision was made to enter the mine on a quest to save Synexus and Kumo in an hour no matter the situation. However, it seems we will have backup after all.”

  “Yes, the King saw the threat for what it is and agrees that eradication is the best scenario. We will be marching for the cave momentarily. Can you fly ahead and inform the others, so they don’t rush in. Have Zuls start to clear the cave in.”

  “That I can do. I’ll leave immediately.” Their wings unfurled and they were about to flap into the air once more when the guard captain stopped them.

  “I know we are on a time schedule, but I must say, I’ve never seen an owl so beautiful and intelligent. What are you?”

  “I’m unfortunately, quite unique.” Before the guard captain could reply, they were in the sky.

  ***

  Back at the cave opening, Zuls and the others were watching the skies for any sign of Gene. The clock was ticking down, and they were ready to save their friends. In their minds Synexus and Kumo could be fighting for their lives as they just sat there watching a hole full of rocks. Impatience grew until it was almost unbearable.

  “That hour was too long of a time frame. I think I might go crazy sitting here.”

  “I feel the same way, Zuls. My insides are raging like the sea during a storm.”

  “We need to trust our friends. You know more than I that Kumo would never let anything happen to Synexus and that’s true the other way as well. For all we know, they could have already wiped out the infestation. We must also give our other friends time to accomplish their tasks. We will have a better chance of saving them, if they need saving, if we go in there as a united front.”

  Zuls and Shell sighed after the sphinx spoke. Her words were true, and they both knew it. Still their instincts screamed at them to move. To blast through the cave in and find their friends. It was unnatural to sit and feel helpless.

  Luckily, Gene dove from the sky moments later and landed on Yu’s back.

  “I can’t wait until I can fly again. I miss it dearly.”

  “I know Yu. Synexus and I are working on it. We will be able to fly with each other soon.”

  “Enough of that, what happened?” Zuls almost exploded with anticipation.

  “Very well. Vorin wants you to start clearing the rocks from the mouth of the cave. They are marching with an army of two hundred as we speak. Once they get here and the cave entrance is clear then we enter the mine once more.”

  “Finally!” She called out Element instantly and they got to work clearing the mouth of the tunnel.

  They were finishing up stabilizing the entrance when the sound of hundreds of feet stopped them. At first, the group thought a horde of skinwalkers were running for the surface, but then they turned around.

  Vorin and Prith were walking towards them with two hundred class chosen in tow. Each one had a glowing magical light attached to their armor. There were some in full plate armor, while others were wearing various kinds of light armor, and in the middle were at least a dozen people in mage’s robes.

  “Alright, maybe the wait was worth it.” Zuls said.

  “Yes, we will be able to save our friends for sure now.” Shell added.

  “Patience can be hard, but it often rewards you.” Yu commented right as the large army arrived.

  “Oh good. The entrance is already clear. Has anything else happened?”

  “No all has been quiet from within.” Gene answered.

  The royal guard captain started shouting orders to the army of men.

  “Rows of four! The tunnel is narrow. Mages in the middle. Heavy armor users in the vanguard along with anyone that can manipulate the ground. Light armor users find a placement that best utilizes your class. Two scouts head in. We have two lost souls to track, and I will not accept failure. Afterwards we need to find the nest and end these monsters who have dared to invade our home!”

  Cheers erupted from the army as they fell into formation. He turned around to the party to speak with them before going in.

  “I’d like you all to be in front with me. We need to do our best not to have any casualties.” He stopped talking and looked at Yu. “Wait, are you a sphinx?”

  “That I am.”

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  He went to speak and stopped himself several times before finding the right words. “Well alright then. I guess that doesn’t matter right now. Let’s head out.”

  With that the party at the front of the army entered the cave entrance and started making their way down the mine. It wasn’t until twenty minutes later that the scouts reported back for the first time.

  “Captain! We followed the instructions from Vorin and encountered the area where we believe the magical darkness was. There was a line of tracks coming back up the tunnel which we believe to have been the main bulk of their party. Then we found faint footprints heading into a side tunnel. However, it wasn’t just two people. It looked like a whole other party went that way.”

  “Clever. The skinwalkers must have imitated us to trick Synexus and Kumo.” Vorin interrupted.

  “Well, that’s stupid of them. I bet Synexus figured it out quickly and Kumo ended them even quicker than that.” Zuls added.

  “We, unfortunately, didn’t find any evidence of an altercation. The tracks led to a wall and at first we thought it was stone, but on further inspection it was a series of tree trunks.”

  “Tree trunks? Are you sure?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  The royal guard captain turned to the party and saw them all shaking their heads.

  “What do you know of this?”

  “That’s our friend Synexus making sure none of those creatures followed them.”

  “Thank you, Vorin.” He turned towards the larger group. “We need any stone mages up here front and center as well as any druids? If we have any.”

  To no surprise of the captain, they did not have any druids. When the stone mages inspected the trunks, they were able damage the trunks, but it wasn’t easy, so only one was taken down creating a choke point for the forces. A mile up the tunnel they found another wall of trees and the mages realized that they were going to leave the mine more exhausted than they initially thought. However, the trees were a good thing since it let them know they were on the right path to find Synexus and Kumo. Stone tree breadcrumbs.

  The trackers ran back to report their findings every twenty minutes or so. Stone mages started running ahead with them to keep the army moving at a steady pace. Most of the reports were about another tree blockade, but an hour after a new report came back.

  “We found signs of a fight. It seems they were able to take on their fake party after all. After that we found several rooms with multiple tunnels. Thanks to the trees we have found the correct tunnels to take.”

  “Thank you, Brexit. Let the others know to keep up the pace. It’s strange we haven’t run into any of the creatures. I fear that it means the two lost class chosen are keeping their attention.”

  ***

  “I’m done!”

  “Finally, you’ve been sitting there for hours.”

  “Has anything changed?”

  “No, a few more humans were brought in and stripped of their clothes before joining the others in the cage. Luckily, none of them have been eaten since you’ve been playing with your plants.”

  Synexus had formulated a plan but needed to work on some new plant variations to make it work. Some were complex changes, but he was able to pull them off and now their plan could be again. Before they started, he looked at all the notifications that had been pinging in his mind.

  Mana Wire has been created!

  Mana Wire (Unique): By altering wire vine, you have created a near invisible wire specifically for the transportation of mana over great distances. This wire was made from plants and can be grown; however, it does not have any requirements to sustain itself making a truly unique material.

  Mana Battery Stone Fungus (Unique): Using the unique properties of mana battery stone, and combining them with a common fungus, you have created a stone mushroom capable of storing a small amount of mana for future use.

  Mana Thief Sap has been created!

  Mana Thief Sap (Unique): The slight sapience and thievery of the thief plan combined with the properties of the time sap found on the clockwork tree have led to the creation of this sap. This sap can be used to steal mana from a target at a given time. Thicken the sap for a longer time delay.

  Volatile Liing Explosives have been created!

  Volatile Liing Explosives (unique): This variation of the liing plant has been infused with weaker chemical bonds. With exposed to mana, a mass amount of energy will be released as the bonds attempt to form stronger bonds. Extremely dangerous. Do not use in close combat.

  Irresistible Vibrating Plipio Snapdragon has been created!

  Irresistible Vibrating Plipio Snapdragon (Unique): The petals from this flower will vibrate violently spreading their unique scent that will draw in any foe. Several specialized flower variants were used in the creation of this new species.

  Razor Hydra has been created!

  Razor Hydra (Unqiue): Upgrading the razor death plant variant has led to the creation of this variation. Like the legendary beast, this plant can regenerate even if its stem is cut. Using a hyper propagation gene along with rapid regeneration, even the smallest part of the plant will grow into a new plant if separated from the original. This plant variation borders on the edge of the genome of a beast. From root to stem, it is hard as steel due to the influence of the razor grass variant. It started from the base of a thief plant except instead of treasure it now seeks out its foes. Its roots will dig into enemies sucking their life and mana dry to sustain the generative properties of the plan like the leech moss variant. The leaves that line its body are more like steel spines that will cut through most armor. The more enemies it consumes, the more it will grow.

  Progress Garden has levelled up to level 19!

  Genome Perfection has levelled up to level 33!

  Element Modification has levelled up to level 33!

  With that done he stood up and started on the plan. It was pretty simple once his creations were made. He was going to use a lychee to sneak his way around the room. Using Progress Garden he would implant the liing explosives into the ceiling of the cavern. Then he would grow mana wire from the explosive down into the closest tunnel where he would connect the other end to the sap sitting on a fungus. When the time delay of the sap ended, it would suck up the mana from the fungus which would then send the mana through the mana wire into the explosive setting them off simultaneously causing a massive cave in that would kill most if not all the skinwalkers.

  To increase the likelihood of that outcome, he created the new variant of the plipio. He’d grow several and have Kumo use a breeze to push the petals into the center of the crater. Once they all gathered then the explosions would go off and more would be crushed.

  They could have simply put the explosions into the crowd, but Synexus thought that raised the chances of their location being found.

  The razor hydra plant is the contingency in case their plan fails, and they have to take on the horde two against thousands.

  Working his way around the room, he set up his plan while keeping an eye on the prisoners. That was the only issue with this plan. If the cave in was bigger than expected then they would be in danger, but that’s where Kumo would come in. She was ready to create a strong gale to keep the rocks from falling on them.

  The only other thing Synexus was worried about was causing a sinkhole in the city above, but they were so deep underground that he didn’t believe it to be of any consequence.

  He finished his loop and set up as many of the explosives as he could without feeling like it would endanger them or the prisoners. Kumo nodded at him, and he grew the plipio snapdragons. She created a strong wind and all the petals flowed along through the air. Their vibrations started and a sweet scene overpowered the stench of death and rot. Instantly the skinwalkers looked up and started following the petals as they made their way to the center of the crater.

  Once there, Kumo started to create the gale around the cage that would protect the prisoners.

  She barely made it before a bigger explosion than either of them had ever witnessed detonated above the nest of the Skinwalkers.