Korr slipped back over the wall just as the sun began to start shining. Chris saw him land, likening it to a shadow detaching itself from the darkness. The strangle vines rose to meet him, their needle-flowers tracking his movement, but they didn't strike, instead waiting and watching, asking him to let them strike him, to make him hurt for putting their grower in danger. He hadn't even needed to look to his side to know Sera was already there. Her sword was drawn before Chris could blink. "You set us up." She all but spat.
Korr's hands didn't move toward his weapon. Instead holding his hands up in surrender, his eyes locked on her blade for a few beats before turning to Chris. "I didn't." He began only for Sera to speak again. "It. Wasn't. Empty!" Her every word held barely contained venom as she spat them towards Korr, Chris could hear the anger coiling beneath every word. "You said it was just a tunnel! But instead, it was a back door to the dungeon's depths." Her grip tightened on the hilt. "That thing saw us." Korr's jaw tightened but didn't try to deflect the accusations.
"I didn't know the dungeon could expand like that, or reach out that far. The fissure was empty when I scouted it a few weeks back! There was nothing there. No beasts or even any form of link to the dungeon, I even rested there for a few nights before moving on which is why I suggested it!" His voice rose, frustration bleeding through. "It was a valid plan based on what I knew! It was supposed to be simple, you go in, drop the core where it would sit and the dungeon would need to work to retrieve it, turning its focus there over you two who would have run back here! It was to buy time. That. Little girl was how it should have went!"
Chris could still feel his hands faintly shaking as he remembered the way the core felt, the pulsing of the dungeon. Those echoes still lingering as a dull pressure behind his eyes that hadn't fully faded even now. The bark-like ridges on his arms were more visible now in the morning light but thankfully could still be passed off as an extreme tan unless someone looked closer. His mind kept drifting back to the yellow eye that had snapped open in the darkness and how it seemed to glow, to the voice that had dug in deep enough, taken enough control over him to speak through him. You could have kept it. Used it. Made them all listen. It said, once more whispering its poison before he shoved it down once more. Since the old man's passing it had grown worse but in recent days it had become far more persistent and constant.
"The core is back where it belongs now though," Korr continued, his voice steadier now. "That was your original plan and now you did it in the end." Sera's sword didn't lower. "We almost died." "But you didn't and this actually led to you just accomplishing what you wanted to originally do without risking being torn apart by the beasts." Korr told her sternly as he met her gaze. "I gave you the best information I had for an alternative little girl. I admit I was wrong and it just ended up with the core returned. But you must know there is a big difference between a mistake and a betrayal girl."
Chris wanted to speak, wanted to step in before their argument got worse but he wasn't sure which side he was on. Korr had given them bad intel, and intentionally or not it had almost gotten them killed. They'd ended up returning the core instead of buying time and if it wasn't 'tainted' or had whatever the Ancient Ent mentioned happen to it the dungeon would no doubt already be on them. That was when the Ancient Ent's voice cut through his thoughts, calm and steady. Telling him to give the demon a chance to prove his words, how it could recognize a man with nothing left to lose, how he truly seemed to have believed his plan would work without thought that it may fail. That there was a clear difference between negligence and malicious intent.
His words caused Chris to hesitate. Sera's judgment had been solid since she arrived. She'd seen through the bandits, could feel intent, had been accepted by the plants already and, as reluctant as she had been at the start had chosen to stay. Trusting her had never led him wrong. But the Ent hadn't steered him wrong either. He let out a slow breath, forcing his hands to still. "Let him talk Sera." He finally said, possibly louder than he thought as she turned to look at him.
She didn't lower her sword but he did notice something flickering across her face. Disappointment? Concern? She didn't press forward but he could tell she wasn't happy with his words. Korr's gaze also shifted to him. Those red eyes passing over him, his trembling hands, the ridges on his arms, the exhaustion written across his face from lack of sleep, worries and stress. Then he nodded sharply once. "I can help you, as a means to make up for the harm I almost caused, but not with the dungeon. Not yet at the very least but rather with this place." He gestured at the walls, the gate, the plants still bristling at the edges of the village and then the village itself. "You've built something here. But it's not a fortress or even something that can defend itself. It's a garden with teeth at best, but if you want to survive what's coming? It needs to become a beast or its various teeth, your plants to become far more organized fighters, to achieve this you need to have a mindset of a warrior or soldier. Not a farmer."
Korr began to walk around the village in silence, not bothering to wait for a response. Sera followed a step behind, her hand never leaving her sword but had lowered it. Chris trailed after them both, Korr's words bouncing within his mind as the little world tree's root wrapped around his wrist like a child refusing to let go, slinking across the ground now next to him. They stopped first at the gate. The bamboo shoots weaving themselves into a multi-layer lattice that was thicker than before.
He watched Korr study it for a moment and then shake his head. "I saw this was your only opening in the walls, if something breaks through like what happened the other night you would be stuck, right now you only have one way out and one way in." He looked at Chris. "You need a secondary exit somewhere. Even if it's just a gap in the wall you can seal behind you. A bottleneck works both ways boy, and that is exactly what this is." Chris nodded, realizing what Korr was doing, pointing out flaws and areas that needed to be improved. Making a mental note of it he listened to the bamboo's response, the drill-sergeant voice muttering something about obvious improvements that it would implement immediately now that they had some decent guidance, the words stinging slightly and making him wince.
Korr didn't notice his reaction, having already moved to the wall where he noticed they were made of Ents. Their branches swayed slowly, tracking any movement from the Barrens, but they moved independently. Each tree clearly watching its own section. Each tree guarded its own patch of ground. "They swing at whatever's in front of them and that's not a defense boy; it's a brawl at best. You need them working together, one blocking while another strikes. Some kind of formation and unity between them." The Ancient Ent's voice carried through the morning air, speaking aloud with notes of indignation and mild heat. "They are still finding their roots. But I have noticed the same after the last conflict. I assure you; they will be more flexible during the next conflict." Korr's eyes flickered toward the old tree in surprise before it became something like recognition passing through them. With a nod he moved on, stopping in the center of the village.
"All of them seem to fight independently, when you unknowingly created synergy." Korr said bluntly. "The bamboo could easily launch your tight spike balls. The spike balls could drive beasts onto the pain causing vines of yours. The strangle vines could drag in and finish what's left over. But instead of that everyone does their own thing." His gaze shifted to the Ancient Ent. "They're soldiers without a commander. They need to know where to be, when to strike, when to pull back and what to do."
He soon walked back to the front of the village, his gaze going to the scream flowers, watching them pulse ever so steadily. "You're using these as your early warning?" Chris nodded slowly at that question. "They trigger when something gets close." His words made Korr scoff. "Close? You'll already know something's attacking when it's already at your walls. That's too late of a 'warning' to be effective." He gestured at the mobile vines coiled near the gate. "And those can scout, but I already noticed how quickly they begin to dry out when away from your village, clearly needing a lot of moisture, they can't stay out long. That leads me to believe you have no eyes beyond a short distance around here."
Chris didn't mention the world tree's roots. They'd spread rather far out beyond what he could imagine but because it had spread far it couldn't be aware of everything through them. It had to focus and only noticed when something significant happened, needing to concentrate in order to see through its roots. It was already stretched thin just keeping track of the village and a short distance around it. Korr must have seen something in his face, because he didn't press. Instead, he crouched down and began drawing in the dirt with his blade. "You need layers," he said, sketching rough lines. "An outer wall that slows their advance and then a middle ground that weakens them, lastly an inner ring that finishes whatever survives the outer and middle." He added symbols along his sketches, a square for the gate and a few circles for what he called kill zones and then a few lines for fallback positions. "You will need a solid form of communication. Those scream flowers pulse differently depending on distance, this will be a better use for them. One scream for a warning. Two for an attack and then three to call a retreat. That will create a network many armies would kill to have."
Sera, running her gaze across his diagram couldn't help but give her reluctant agreement to his words, her anger hadn't faded but was clearly interested in knowing more. "What about the medical grass or the healing plant of his? If we're creating fallback positions, we need to ensure there are places where the wounded can retreat, where those plants can be most effective." Korr glanced at her, something almost like approval in his expression as he smiled. "I agree. That's why there will be designated safe zones along with the fallback positions. We will have the healing plants concentrated there, having our fighters know where to go if they're hurt. If we ever get humanoid fighters." The Critic's voice cut through his mind at that, sharp and snide, questioning if this was another stray he had taken in before reluctantly adding that his idea for a dedicated healing ground had merit, far more so than the 'hybrid' field a certain idiot kept trying to get working with little success making Chris wince slightly. Korr's lips twitched slightly before giving him a questioning look. "The grass has opinions." He tried to explain. "I can kinda hear the plants I grow and the grass has many opinions." He added.
Korr straightened. "I have a few suggestions on what you can grow if you're willing to listen. Plants from the demon lands are far hardier than what you're using and should be better suited for defense or offense if used correctly. They also manage to grow faster in poor soil, an issue that shouldn't be too big of a factor from the fertility I have noticed has begun to spread here."
Sera's eyes narrowed at his words. "Demon plants?" She questioned earning a nod. "Many of them have survived and spread in the Barrens for a reason." Korr met her gaze. "You're free to advise on human-side flora if you feel you have to but I'll be recommending what I know. A few of them could greatly improve things around here." Sera was quiet for a long moment. Then, reluctantly nodded. "I'll give it some thought and recommend what I can." Her voice hardened. "But I will have him be extra careful in growing whatever you suggest, I don't trust you not to use this as an excuse to have him grow something poisonous to humans." Korr's smile sharpened. "Fair enough."
The plants seemed to take to the new strategies faster than Chris expected. The strangle vines had been hostile at first, their needle-flowers tracking Korr with undisguised aggression. But when he explained about kill zones, how they could funnel enemies into a trap without risking their bases, how they could let the other plants weaken prey before moving in to 'play' with them, their purrs shifted from anger to consideration. They could only eat so fast, Korr explained, mentioning how he had dealt with other variants of them in the past, explaining to them to let the bamboo and spike balls do the heavy work so they can feed once they are done or on the softened meat. They could even deal with what got through as final protectors. The vines had slithered back to their positions, proudly stating how they had already begun extending their reach, how they were excited to try and form a funnel even if they may need to grow more of themselves. Something Chris knew they were extremely reluctant about in the past.
The bamboo took to his words and advice far more enthusiastically. The male-voiced bamboo—the drill sergeant—responded immediately to the new military structure, commenting that finally there was someone who spoke its language. It began reorganizing the shoots into rows, having the Ents pull them up and the spike bushes create fresh holes for them to be replanted in order to create the choke points while having them spread their seeds along with its own wherever Korr suggested. It wanted to know more about launching spike balls, loving the idea of it and wanting to practice, realizing the ones growing onto the Ents would be ideal to use, coming off rather easily, far lighter and more spread than the other variants. Chris realized it was another mutation of the spike bushes he hadn't noticed had formed. The scream flowers pulsed in new rhythms; he watched as they easily learned the signals from Korr, practicing them steadily. One quick scream to warn about someone or something approaching, two to call for their own to attack and lastly three to call for a retreat. Their pulses spread along the wall, through sound and pulses they seemed to already be learning to pass messages faster than Chris could follow. Even the mobile vines had begun practicing coordinated strikes with the help of the Ancient Ent's roots. Two would grab while one would strike high. They weren't fast yet, weren't smooth, but they were trying and clearly improving.
Chris stood in the center of it all, watching his village reorganize itself into something he barely recognized anymore. All happening because someone else had stepped in and told them what to do while actually knowing what to do. Someone came who actually knew what they were doing.
Korr had moved to the edge of the village, watching the dungeon in the distance with a rather serious look on his face, calling Chris over. He came as told, the little world tree's root still wrapped around his wrist and giving a small squeeze of support. "How do you know any of this could work? That putting them into these formations will prove a good defense?" Chris knew he was a general and a soldier, but being good at something like this was different than being good in a war.
Korr was quiet for a moment. When he spoke, his voice was lower, rougher and far more tired. "I once held a fort for six months against an army ten times the size of my own. We held it until supplies ran out, even when my men ran out of arrows we refused to give, even when we were denied reinforcements we refused to give up." He didn't look at Chris. His gaze stayed fixed on the cliffs. "I wasn't allowed to lose that fort because the cost of losing it for me would have been far heavier than just a strategic point." When he seemed to not be willing to talk further Chris found his gaze drifting towards Sera. If it was truly such a significant event, she would probably know the story, or at least the human side of it. He made a mental note to ask her later, when things had settled. When Korr wasn't standing there with that look of defeat and resignation on his face, looking exactly like the Ancient Ent had described. A man with nothing left to lose. Someone with nothing to return to.
Just before night settled Korr left once more, refusing to stay inside just yet, claiming his camp was enough for now and that it would allow him to keep watch if the dungeon tried something. The little world tree said he was muttering to himself, reviewing what they had managed to accomplish while planning for the coming days.