Why was there such a dead space in the Forest of Death?

  The answer turned out because one monster took it all. Be it plant or animal, nothing was spared. It even took all the nutrients and water from the soil, leaving none for its surroundings.

  The regular goblins seem to have been clueless about their purpose, now knew the purpose behind the trip. Fearing for their lives, the smaller goblins all began to run. The three hobgoblins immediately stepped in to blocked off their escape path. While the three hobgoblins may not have been enough to stop twenty regular goblins, their mean looking appearance was enough to halt the retreat momentarily. That was enough for the shaman to start chanting and with a wave of its staff, the fleeing goblins all dropped down in slumber.

  This whole scene both horrified and fascinated Rowan. He watched as the hobgoblins dragged the helpless goblins in front of the tree and then took a stepback. As if routine, the branches speared down into the slumbering goblins one by one and dragged them towards its trunk Rowan realized the tree never attacked the hobgoblins or the shaman goblin. After the tenth goblin was swallowed up, the tree branches no longer attacked the sleeping goblins. Seeing the tree satisfied, the shaman nodded its head towards the hobgoblins.

  It looked like the first part of the gruesome ritual was over. What did the goblins get in return for their offerings ? Rowan couldn't help but be curious. Now it was time to see the results.

  The hobgoblins began by kicking the remaining goblins awake. At first, the smaller goblins were confused by their sudden awakening. Then joy and relief were expressed on their faces as they realized they will be living another day. Then came the pain as the hobgoblin that woke the goblins gave them a few extra blows to make sure they were awake. Once all the other goblins were awake, albeit with a few extra bruises, the shaman motioned for all the goblins to walk towards the tree.

  Remembering what had happened before it fell asleep, the smaller goblins hesitated to obey. Seeing that their numbers were reduced, a few of them had already realized what happened to the missing ones. Seeing the smaller goblins hesitate, the hobgoblin growled to enforce the order. One of the hobgoblins became impatient, grabbed a goblin by the neck and began dragging it towards the tree.

  The hobgoblin then began to peel the bark off the monster tree. Blood could still be seen on the bark, but the hobgoblin was unfazed. It motioned for the goblin to follow its action. The smaller monster followed and ripped off a piece of bark. It shuts its eyes in fear of retaliation.

  After waiting and nothing happened, the goblin opened its eyes once again.

  Thwack!

  The hobgoblin smacked the goblin head for taking too long and then motioned all the other goblins to do the same. While the tree would no longer attack, the hobgoblins showed that they were not afraid to employ physical force at any time. In fact, the hobgoblins relish at harming the monsters smaller than them. This fear caused the remaining goblins to run up to the tree and began scraping off the bark.

  As Rowan watched the goblins work, he came to a sudden realization. The armor that the hobgoblins wore were made of wood and they had a similar color to the back that the goblins were currently taking from the tree. If the bark came from such a terrifying tree was turned into armor, then the armor must be of decent quality. Even if the bark was old and no longer part of the tree, it would still serve as sufficient protection against the monsters of the Forest. The goblins quickly helped the tree shed the old bark in preparation for the tree's new skin. The goblins must have somehow come to the same realization and worked out this ritual with the tree. How the goblins ever figured out how to conduct this trade was a mystery in itself. However, one thing Rowan was sure of.

  This was not the first time the goblins have done this. The ritual that they conducted must have come at the price of hundreds, if not thousands of goblins' lives. The cost of such a ceremony was unimaginable to Rowan.

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  Another question suddenly popped up in Rowan's mind. How come he never detected such a terrible tree? All the time he spent on observation through the mana exchange with the Mother Tree, and this bloody tree never even once appeared. Rowan sent out a mana pulse from where he was hiding to see if he could perhaps discover the why.

  However something else noticed his mana pulse first. The goblin shaman head immediately snapped towards Rowan’s hiding spot. Rowan could only cling closer to the ground and held his breath, hoping the shaman wouldn’t come over and reveal him. After a tense moment of waiting, the shaman went back to supervising the rest of the goblins' work.

  Sending a mana pulse had been a mistake. Rowan belatedly realized that the shaman must have some way to sense and handle mana. Otherwise it would not have been able to send the other goblins to slumberland. The shaman must have detected the mana pulse he sent out. Fortunately it seems the shaman decided to overlook it. At least now he knew not to carelessly handle mana near the goblin shaman. A disaster had almost occurred for Rowan.

  There was another good thing that Rowan found out. He knew the reason why he never found out about the tree. It was because his mana disappeared once it got near the tree’s vicinity.

  No, his mana didn’t disappear. It was devoured.

  That would explain why Rowan never detected the tree. His detection ran on scanning an objects mana by entering and leaving. However if the detection was devoured before being able to scan meant that the scan ended at that point. The sudden realization hit the teenage boy like a ton of bricks. How many other monsters were capable of absorbing the mana? If so, what if the limits that he had been detecting through the Mother Tree was some monster absorbing the mana that was sent out. The limits he saw weren’t actually limits but powerful monsters instead blocking the way. What if these monster could absorb and sense where the mana came from? That would immediately put a target on Rowan’s back.

  Many questions and ideas rose in Rowan's mind. He needed to get back to camp and figure the answers to some of the questions right away. Forget about experimenting today, there was something more urgent he needed to figure out.

  Just as Rowan began to silently move, he paused as he sensed something moving underground as the dirt rumbled around him. Whatever it was, it was moving fast and had just passed him. Chills ran down Rowan back as he tried to keep still in order to not attract its attention. Fortunately the moving organism didn't seem interested in Rowan and was going after the goblins and the tree.

  It didn’t take long for the goblins to notice, but at that point it was too late. A large monster with a long body and thousands of legs erupted front he ground. Taken by surprise, the goblins all froze. This earned the monster time to charge and pierce through a hobgoblin body with its pincers. Its pincers cut the surprised hobgoblin body in half, armor and all. Rowan soon realized what the monster was as it wasn’t his first time to see it.

  It was a centipede.

  A giant centipede.

  The same one that had passed by when he hid in a tree.

  The giant insect immediately began slaughtering all the goblins in the vicinity. The green monsters didn't stand a chance. The hobgoblins and shaman saw that it was a losing fight and had already begun to run away, leaving the other goblins behind as bait. That was fine with the centipede as it made quick work of the remaining goblins. It antenna twitched as it moved towards its actual prey.

  The tree.

  The giant insect coiled around the trunk as if to strangle the plant. Its legs and pincers cut into the tree with each movement. It slowly began to constrict itself around the plant, crushing it with each movement.

  Finally the tree couldn’t take it anymore. The branches immediately began to try and stab through the centipede’s body, but was unable to pierce through. That didn't mean the branches were the only trick that the tree had. Roots erupted from the earth to entangle the insect and prevent its movement. The centipede could only close and open its pincers helplessly as it tried to force its way through the branches and roots. Shrieks of frustration could be heard from the giant bug as it tried to force its way through the branches and roots.

  It was a deadlock with neither monster giving way.

  As much as Rowan wanted to witness the end of the battle, he knew he couldn’t. The human boy began to slink away. Both monsters were at the master level and he was nowhere near it. He would be torn apart in a matter of seconds if either monster found him. Whoever won the battle would no doubt be injured and a human would be a tasty snack to help heal up. Rowan didn't want to stick around for that to happen.