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Li and the party traveled quickly through the Darkbeast infested territory. 

Li simply trudged his way forwards, taking up a brisk pace with his hands behind his back, like he was an old man going out on a casual stroll. Launcelot and his party members kept up behind him, but they were still high-strung, highly uncomfortable with going at a pace faster than a slow walk because of how deeply the fear of Darkbeast infested territory had been ingrained into them.

"As I said before," said Li as he opened his eyes wide and cast [Focused Moonbeam] through them, shooting out twin beams of pale, ghostly white that flashed forwards and crashed into the torso of a sizable Darkbeast several meters ahead, utterly torching it into an uniform pile of ash before it was even recognizable what amalgamation of beast parts it was. 

"Have faith in a god\'s strength."

Li felt so much more comfortable using his druidic spells that he no longer felt any mental discomfort expending mana. To be sure, he knew that he was expending magical energy, but there were no physical or mental links to its loss. It also let him do nifty things like being able to now shoot the [Moonbeam] spell through his eyes instead of his hands. 

It made this sort of extermination of insignificant beings that much more impersonal and easier. All he had to do was look, and a Darkbeast died. It was fast, clean, efficient, and Li did not have to get his hands dirty.

Extermination did not get much smoother than that. 

"By all the gods and however many hells there are," remarked Faye as she saw Li tilting his head to torch a flying Darkbeast that fluttered in the treetops. Its burning body dropped like a smoking rock, sinking into the marshy forest floor with a squelching impact.

"Launce, you worried for Riviera\'s safety when it has thisto protect it?"

" \'This\' sounds like objectification. I would prefer you not to use the term," said Li as he beheld a pack of dog-like Darkbeasts sprinting towards him, their agile and sleek frames topped by heads that opened apart into long, grasping tendrils tipped with spines.

Li looked from side to side, directing the [Focused Moonbeam] in a fanning motion to torch the entire pack of twenty or so in one swift instant. 

As the Darkbeast corpses crumbled into flames that quickly dissipated into ash, the forest itself remained unharmed. Another good thing about the [Moonbeam]. It did not harm what Li did not want it to.

The only real downside of the spell was that it was only C-ranked, but even a C-ranked spell boosted by Li\'s monstrous stats was more than enough to annihilate most beings in this world. 

"I feel utterly useless," remarked Faye as she crossed her arms around her fire wrapped, levitating form. "He even does the burning things part better than me. I\'d always thought myself the best at that."

"I quite like it," said Ava as she tucked her light green hair behind her ears. "Never before have I waded into these depths without feeling a pit of fear welling up within my stomach. And for once, you cannot complain that you always do the most work, dear sister."

Celeste nodded, though she was still a little tense as she tugged at her thick robes, inherently more fearful than the others. 

Launcelot looked at Li in utter and complete awe, his blue eyes wide and his shield, for once, lying slack in his grip. "Truly, I knew him to be a man of great strength, capable of wondrous feats of strength, and, in recent times, a seer to a faith once forgotten, but never would I have expected this.

Not even the greatest of priests can channel the Light to the extent that he brings forth divine radiance. To me, he seems far more than Seer, more akin to an incarnation of divinity upon this world. Were he to claim himself an avatar of divinity straight from the heavenly halls of Valhul, I would not doubt his words for a moment."

Well, in a way, Li thought, Launcelot was right.

"Then, Launcelot, witnessing this, can you find hope within your heart?" said Li. "Remember when you gave the speech to the bronze ranked adventurers in the Winterwoods? When you proclaimed that you would lay your life down for them not so that they could flee, but instead so that they could fight to their fullest?

That is what I am offering you. Riviera, I consider part of my garden, thus, I will not let it fall. Take solace in that knowledge to live a life without regrets."

"I feel ashamed that all I can grant you is words of thanks," said Launcelot, his eyes downcast. 

"You are a good man, Launcelot, and thanks that comes from a good heart is treasure enough," said Li.

=============

As they neared the heart of the Chattering Forest, the ground became even more unstable. Li\'s footsteps sank him knee deep into black, squelching mud that oozed with a liquid that looked unpleasantly like oil. 

The trees were still thick in this area, but they had grown to adapt to their environment. Their roots elevated them above the mushy soil level, making them look like tall, overgrown mangrove trees. In turn, the roots were thorned, and by virtue of the forest being so cluttered, they grew and twisted around each other in much the same way the tree branches did, creating spiked barriers that prevented further entry. 

Li came close to the wall of roots and put a gentle hand to them. He closed his eyes to listen. 

"There is another path around," said Launcelot. "The tides of this swamp lie lower to the eastern side opposite of here. There, we will find sturdier land unmarred by root growths." 

"Or I can torch a way through," said Faye. "Though you would do that far better than myself, come to think of it." 

"That will take too much time, and I do not want to bring destruction upon innocent life," said Li. He focused his hearing even more, straining to hear the life beat of the trees. 

It was faint, distorted as if being played underwater, but he could still make them out. The trees and vegetation might have been twisted by the Darkbeast influence, but comparatively speaking, they were in far better shape than the creatures of the forest.

He could still tap into them. Hear them. Call to them as a Guardian. 

Li slowly removed his hand from the roots, and as he did so, the roots shuddered before they pried apart from each other, retracting, and making a path for the Guardian. 

"Oh, so he can do that too," commented Faye, her head cocked. She sighed. "You know, perhaps I should stop being surprised now."

"Do go on," said Launcelot. "Not much surprises you, but when things do, your face lights up with quite the hidden charm."

Faye crossed her arms and looked bashfully away from Launcelot. "Are you implying that my charm is usually hidden?"

"Let\'s move on," said Li as he trudged forwards, now waist deep in not just blackened mud, but a distinct layer of dark liquid as well. It felt uncomfortably like he was stepping in someone\'s innards, like he was knee deep in the still pulsing, raw guts of a living being. 

==

Strangely, even as they made good progress to the heart of the forest, they did not encounter Darkbeasts for a good hour. 

"Something is certainly wrong," noted Faye as she looked around, making sure nothing was attacking them. She, Ava, and Celeste floated above the swampy muck of the forest floor, all of them capable of some kind of flight.

"We are nearing the deepest of depths, where the most Darkbeasts should be. I should have expected swarms upon swarms upon swarms crashing upon us."

"The Darkbeasts themselves are birthed at this heart," noted Launcelot. "It would stand to reason that the brunt of them would reside here."

Celeste hugged herself tightly while Ava put a hand on her to comfort her. 

"I can hear them," said Li as he trudged forwards, not at all slowed down by the fact that he had to wade through the thick black mud and corrupted waters. "Many of them. Enough that I should say that it is the entire forest\'s population of them."

Before his words could scare the adventurers, Li continued. "But they are not coming towards us. No, they are actively avoiding us, heading towards where we ourselves are headed – the heart of the forest."

"They aim to protect it in a concentrated effort," remarked Launcelot. "Like soldiers withdrawing to protect their king." 

"Yes, and that proves that there is some sort of intelligence that\'s controlling these creatures," said Li. "It may be that your hero corpse is not as dead as you may think it is."

"Then the threat we are to face will be massive," said Launcelot. "An entire encampment of Darkbeasts – not even an army of one of the five great banners of Soleil could hope to match such a formidable force."

"Look at it with optimism, Launcelot," said Li. "It is convenient that they all gathered into one place - it will make it that much quicker to dispose of them."