Life Hunter

The squirrel screeched and ran for his life. He rushed inside the 'green' area and soon disappeared from Arima's sight.

Rex repeatedly nodded with a happy expression and laughed, "It feels good. Damn good. That little guy would always talk to us that way. But we couldn't harm him without killing him by mistake and we also needed to keep a neutral relationship with the dryad."

Hieran also smirked, "We also couldn't destroy those barriers without causing unnecessary damage. You have a great understanding of space."

Arima shrugged at Hieran's praise and started walking toward the dryad's territory, "Let's go."

Inside this 'paradise of verdure', the leaves, grass, vines, flowers, and any other kind of plant were outright disproportioned. Just a simple leaf was two times bigger than a human. In the end, because it was annoying to cut and shove away all the plants on the way, Arima jumped on Hieran's back and sat down.

"Sorry about that."

Hieran laughed, "Don't mind."

While he was on the dragon's back, Arima observed the surroundings. This area was maybe around five hundred hectares, pretty small compared to the entire size of the forest. But this place was really 'green' with a lack of a better word. All plants here shined with a spotless and beautiful light green.

It didn't take long for the trio to reach the center of this zone. In that same center, a really imposing tree was erected. The trunk was maybe around a hundred meters large and it raised toward the sky for almost two kilometers.

At its roots, stood a tall woman wearing a green dress. She had refined features, emerald green hair, and pointy ears. Arima instantly recognized her as the dryad but surprisingly, even after her barriers were destroyed, her expression didn't express any anger.

Arima jumped from Hieran's back and landed beside Rex who was slightly closer to the dryad.

The beautiful woman frowned when she spotted Arima, "Are you the one who slashed my arrays?" She asked with a clear voice and cold voice, "Miane informed me that you wanted to meet me. What is it for?"

Arima glanced at the trembling squirrel, Miane, who was trembling at the dryad's feet and smiled, "I'm here because I require your assistance."

"Go away. I won't help someone just because he wants it," She responded with an indifferent tone and waved her hand.

"Don't break those barriers again. It's bothersome," She uttered and turned around.

"There's a reason why you will help," Arima stated and Evergreen froze. "And it's your forest's integrity."

The dryad slowly turned her head and stared at Arima, "Miane told me about something like a savior of the forest… you're the one who prevented that 'thing' then. But that doesn't meet the requirements."

Arima shook his head, "You got me wrong. If you don't help me, your forest will burn."

Evergreen was stunned and glared at Arima with eyes that could kill, "Do you think you can threaten me?"

Her eyes glowed with a green light and each plant around her followed the example. A wave of spirit surrounded Arima and assaulted him.

The dryad was expecting Arima to bolt or beg for his life but what she got instead was just a smirk and a clap, "So, can I take this as a provocation?"

"(What? What do you mean provoking you?! You did it first!)" Evergreen shouted in her mind and gritted her teeth to suppress her anger, "…More importantly, how can you still be able to stand there like that?"

"Mh?" Arima tilted his head, "The real question is; how are you still standing?"

"Wha-" Evergreen suddenly paled and fell on her knees. She grabbed her shoulders and hugged herself. She started quivering while sweating buckets. She raised her head with difficulty and looked at Arima. With every second she gazed at him, the chill in her heart grew stronger

She struggled to open her mouth, "What…did you do?"

Arima grinned, "You tried to attack me with your mind, right? You tried to enter in my mind and you suffered a recoil."

"That's…impossible…" Evergreen was breathing heavily, "What kind of mind is that supposed to be? I used the forest's spirit to confront you. There's no way a human, no, a thinking being could possess a mind like that… unless you've gone completely crazy."

Evergreen used not only her own mind but also the one coming from the forest to attack. Even if it's a plant, everything has its own spiritual existence. When a dryad uses the spirit contained inside a forest, they are said to be able to make thousands of people lose their minds. But with that, Arima actually overpowered it, by literally just being who he is.

"Crazy, huh?" Arima snickered, "Mh, well, maybe it's more accurate than madman at least."

Evergreen inhaled and her mind calmed down a bit, "…What kind of help does a crazy man like you need from me?"

Arima pointed at the sky and smiled, "I want to you to help me find something."

Evergreen looked up and scowled, "What do you mean?"

"Remember the meteorite from a few days ago? I want you to help me find out who or what sent that asteroid here and also his or its position. When I said your forest will burn, I meant that thing may very well target this planet again."

"That thing was sent by someone?" Evergreen was shocked and mused, "…I don't think I can do it. Even if I use the power of the entire forest, I won't be able to do it. I'll be short on mana very quickly."

"You don't have to worry about that. I can provide you with mana, and backup if you lose control."

Evergreen pondered, "If you have enough mana then it may work…Come with me," She calmly stood up and headed toward the huge tree.

"Hey, aren't they being a bit too much friendly right now?" Rex whispered to Hieran.

"Who knows, but it seems that they're getting along pretty well indeed. Perhaps, we just didn't realize before… but those two are probably very similar."

Rex hummed, "Maybe you're right. They both appear to have a great ego. Furthermore, I think Arima is the one with the biggest one."

"Well, we can only wait now."

"Go home you two. Why are you still here?" The dryad heard them talking and coldly chased them away.

The two beasts' expressions sunk and they both left with a drooping head.

Evergreen approached the tree and placed her hand on the trunk. The wood deformed for her and she effortlessly went through. Arima stopped just in front of the tree and knocked on three times in curiosity. The wood warped and produced ripples on the barks. He then followed Evergreen and passed through.

Arima found himself in a room illuminated by a dim yellowish light. Evergreen leisurely sat down on a bamboo chair in the middle of the room. She exhaled and pointed at another chair on the side for Arima.

He quietly sat down and Evergreen poured some tea in a cup that was on a table there. She handed the cup to Arima and then poured one for herself before drinking it.

Arima's expression twitched. He was trying to oppose the awkwardness of the situation. He forced a cough, "Can we start now?"

The dryad strangely smiled, "Start what?" She asked and Arima's mouth twitched. She put down her cup on the table and giggled, "I'll help you at one condition."

Arima sighed, "So it's like that in the end… go ahead."

"If you let me explore your mind, I will help you," She said and Arima knew that she was speaking seriously.

He eyed her and took a sip of tea, "Fine, but you can't look into my memories."

"Sure, I'm fine with that," Evergreen nodded and the walls of the room shined along with her eyes. A spirit wave emerged, but this one wasn't as intrusive as the last one and Arima also let down his defenses.

The room fell silent for a moment. Arima sighed again and continued to drink his tea when Evergreen suddenly stared at him, "Are you maybe impotent?"

Arima almost spat out his tea and the hand holding the cup shook. He stopped moving for a few seconds then swallowed the rest of the tea.

A vein popped on his forehead as he put down his cup, "…Did you do that on purpose or what? You waited for me to drink that before asking or what? And for your question, it's a freaking no."

Evergreen rested her chin on her hands, "Are you sure? While you were alone with me here, you didn't even think about a simple and basic romantic fantasy," She told based on the information she just got from Arima's mind.

"Do you want me to cut you? I don't need you alive if I take your life force, you know?"

Evergreen laughed at his threat, "Anyway, that apart, as I thought, you're crazy. Your mind is a mess, how do you even keep control of it?"

"Can we go to the main point here?"

Evergreen chuckled, she waved her hand and two white spheres came out of the ground below her and one of them soared toward Arima.

"Put your hand on it and infuse your mana," Evergreen placed her hand on the sphere and closed her eyes. Arima imitated her and circulated his mana.

When he closed his eyes, he felt as if he was looking at the entire forest from above.

"{In this state, you're directly connected to this mother tree with me as a medium,}" Evergreen's voice resounded in his head.

"{I see...}"

"{I will start by 'rallying' the whole forest. When I give you the signal, begin the mana transfer. Also, I need you to conjure a basic analyzing circle in the direction of that 'thing' you want to find. You determined the direction from where the asteroid came, right?}"

"{No problem,}" Arima answered and Evergreen immediately acted. Outside of the room, the mother tree's leaves glimmered, and like a chain reaction, every plant around began to lit up. More and more plants started to shine and this phenomenon spread around the whole beast territory.

"(It's like a giant satellite,)" Arima thought. Then, he did his part of the work and a huge blue magic circle formed in the sky above the forest and was gradually tilted toward a certain direction.

"{Now!}" Evergreen shouted and Arima started to share his mana. "{Eh? Wait, what?! Where the heck do you keep all of that mana?!}" She was astounded by the massive amount of mana she had just gained control of.

"{Concentrate, please. I'll make sure to conceal this link so that we are not detected or at least not traced back, to avoid being threatened by another meteor.}"

"{Y-Yes,}" The dryad focused. She concentrated her spirit and propelled her consciousness out of her body. She started using Arima's mana and her mind traveled faster than the speed of light as it scanned the outer space. Every information was also transferred to Arima in real time.

He took advantage of the situation to see what kind of planets there was in this galaxy. He only discovered one more or less viable planet which was similar to Mars.

After thirty minutes of scanning, they had already left the solar system they were in and entered another.

"{We can keep up for only thirty more minutes with the mana we have left.}"

Arima didn't reply rightaway, "{…That's enough. I already found what I wanted.}"

He probed into a planet that was around the size of the Earth and sensed a terrifying aura there.

"{This is…}" Evergreen noticed the same aura after Arima pointed it out. They then tried to look at the source of it. The image they received made them halt in shock and fear.

There was a giant humanoid monster that was lying down on the planet's surface, sleeping, using a rocky mountain as a bed. That giant was around ten kilometers tall. He had blue skin and a third eye on his forehead.

While they were viewing that monster, the latter's third eye suddenly opened wide and Evergreen's mind was instantly cut down.

She violently returned inside her physical body and coughed some blood while in contrast Arima just let out a dry cough before grinning, "This will be more interesting than I thought."