The Spirit Forest hasn't been researched in much depth because it teleports before researchers even have time to obtain a sample. Thus, for the Foundation, the Spirit Forest is totally unpredictable. Many ecologists and biologists believe it to be sentient, while others think this is merely a spatial phenomenon—that only the forest is under some kind of space-distorting effect, having nothing to do with the forest itself. Moreover, the Spirit Forest often lies within God's territory, making it even harder to track and research without triggering divine wrath.
But now that the Spirit Forest has encroached upon the Foundation's territory, it presents the perfect opportunity to study it. However, the King had given orders to burn it to the ground—a decision made against his own principles.
The King held his head inside the tent, which was completely empty except for the captured Blake and himself. He tried to find a solution that would allow him to save face and call off his own attack. Jay had already started flying toward the Spirit Forest at maximum speed; it was only a matter of minutes before he would touch down and begin burning everything. The King thought to himself, "I can just blame everything on the elves, and everything will be good." He had told many lies in the past and present, but now it was a matter of reputation.
Finally, the King made a decision and contacted Jay before he could burn the forest while airborne. But due to the intense noise, Jay couldn't hear the call. Neither the ringing nor the constant vibrations of his phone reached him—the wind and flight had already overwhelmed his senses.
Now sweating, the King didn't panic. Instead, he contacted Vania.
King:
Vania, change of plans. Do not burn the Spirit Forest. Instead, find every exiled elf and catch them alive. Today, the elves will cease to exist.
Vania gave a one-word answer:
Vania:
Understood.
She dismissed all the fire mages under her command and instead took mages skilled in other attributes, such as earth and water. She had them stand by near the forest, with orders that only in a dire emergency would they take the extreme step of burning it down. But she prayed it wouldn't come to that. Vania was excited to see the forest for herself—when she lived in the tall, cold mountain, she had read about the Spirit Forest, and her mother told her stories about that mysterious place. From then on, Vania had always wanted to visit it at least once. Now, her dream was coming true, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity brought about by many unfavorable variables. Though excited, she never let it show on her face. Her expression remained still while she felt happy inside. She accidentally let slip a smile, but no one noticed.
Thus, she rallied her troops toward the Spirit Forest, which for her seemed like a field trip—finally away from the cold mountain. Her unit consisted of sixty troops organized into fifteen squads, each squad leader reporting directly to her. Each squad specialized in a different type of magic, though none possessed rare attributes like lightning, wind, or metal, which were uncommon even in these lands.
On the other side, Phoenix and Roy focused on a counterattack. Phoenix proposed sending remote detonatives carried by drones to target important locations such as storage depots, bunkers, and the commander's tent.
Phoenix:
Senior Roy, I think sending drones is the best idea. This way, we won't lose personnel. By remotely controlling them, we could hit decisive locations and also conduct reconnaissance for future missions.
Roy:
There are angels among their ranks. They might spot us—angels have much keener senses and combat abilities compared to humans. The moment they detect even a single strike, they will actively hunt down any threats.
Phoenix:
What if we station drones at the required locations and then blow them up? Hmm, but that also risks discovery. What about sending personnel in stealth cloaks to make them transparent?
Roy:
They would have to cover a distance of at least a hundred kilometers, and the enemy is already on alert because they know we have no restrictions on striking back. So both drones and personnel are no-go.
Phoenix considered that firing missiles would be useless since angels could shoot them down with light arrows. Then he had an idea—fast and furious.
Phoenix:
Senior Roy, I have an idea. I call it Operation Firestorm, with at least a 90% success rate.
Roy:
Let me guess—you want Jay to prioritize our mission and send him to the enemy base camp, then come back after giving him the targets.
Roy smiled a little.
Roy:
This is the best idea you've had yet.
And so a call was made to the King. After hearing the plan, the King once again called Jay, who had just set foot in the Spirit Forest.
The forest was dark, but dim lights were illuminated by the spirits inhabiting it. Jay, who still hadn't heard the call, lit his hands on fire and touched a tree. The tree immediately caught fire.
Then Jay noticed his phone vibrating.
King:
You don't need to burn the forest anymore. Instead, I want you to wreak havoc on the enemy faction's camp. If you've lit anything on fire, put it out immediately.
Jay looked at the tree he had set ablaze. He immediately started kicking it to stop the fire, but in his urgency, he kicked so hard that he accidentally broke the tree into pieces. Those pieces were on fire, and the wilted leaves on the ground also ignited, spreading the flames further. To combat this, Jay crafted a huge metal slab and placed it over the burning ground to prevent the fire from spreading. He managed to contain it, though the initial stump was still burning. He wrapped the stump in flimsy aluminum and finally extinguished it.
Jay:
You should have told me earlier, before I started burning it down.
He then checked the time the call had been placed, immediately put his phone in his pocket, and flew into the skies—pretending he hadn't been called for the past fifteen minutes.
Quest: Sabotage
Mission type: Stealth
Rank: Changes depending on alert level
Description: Destroy strategic points and return, or cause immense damage by slaughter.
Rewards: Depends on rank. The higher the rank, the better the rewards, up to SSS rank.
Jay smiled as he flew even faster and deeper into enemy territory, making sure to fly low so he wouldn't be spotted easily. After an hour of flight, he finally reached the enemy location. Unlike the Foundation, the Godly faction had mechanized shelters operating on ID scanners, mixed with tents. Constant fumes rose as they burned the bodies of the deceased, one by one, inefficiently. They were wasting the mana of fire mages to cremate their dead and finally put them to rest.
Jay couldn't help but feel sympathy for them, remembering what Blake had said when he was drugged:
Blake (imperfect recreation):
"Don't worry, we'll escape, and tomorrow we'll show them hell."
Jay landed somewhere safe, away from prying eyes, and slowly approached the camp. He thought his outfit might not fit the theme—just a red overcoat this time, purely for style, with armor plating inside. But he blended in well enough, since others wore whatever clothes they had on them. Jay could simply walk around the camp.
He knocked on one of the mechanized shelter doors—at least four to five inches thick. He politely metal-bent his way inside and found food supplies. He threw some flame inside, left a gap for oxygen, and watched as the shelter began burning slowly and controllably. Jay did this many times, burning tents and patches of grass, sometimes connecting things with gunpowder and lighting them from a safe distance, until the entire camp was in flames.
The angels began searching everywhere and used water magic from above to extinguish the fire.
That's when Jay received a message on his phone:
Difficulty has been increased.