Chapter 261: Adventuring Mother Meets the Mind Behind the Woods.

With unwavering focus, Maddy launched a long reaching, precise slash. The trajectory was perfect, piercing through a formation of aligned Mandrakes that had tried to use their roots as a shield. The blade’s Diamond like Sharpness thinned out the advancing foes instantly, leaving only silence in its wake.

Maddy stood up slowly, her breathing steady, her expression calm. The clearing, which seconds ago had been filled with a nightmare of arboreal rage, was now a silent, shattered graveyard of broken timber, severed vines, and inert fungal dust.

Not a single monster remained standing. She looked down at her blade, a single, clinical drop of sap sliding down the pristine steel, and gave a small, contented sigh.

"Release complete."

The forest was active, and she had just absorbed its primary power structure.

"Twenty four Elder Ents, Thirty One Ents. Fifty two Green Men. Two Hundred Walking Mushrooms and... Three hundred Mandrakes," Maddy recited, her voice returning to its quiet, analytical tone.

"An efficient harvest, a really good way to release!"

She stood amidst the carnage, her eyes glowing with a faint, predatory hunger. She looked at the piles of wood and the scattered remains of the Wood Witch. Her mouth felt dry with anticipation. The traits of a Wood Witch would give her total control over the local mana, allowing her to bend the very trees to her will.

"I can turn this whole forest into my own fortress," Maddy whispered.

She reached out her hand to begin the ingestion, but her fingers stopped. A cold sensation pricked the back of her neck. Through her Vibration Sensitivity, she felt the ground beneath her vibrating. It was not the fading heartbeat of a dying forest. It was something fresh. Something much stronger.

"Why is the mana still rising?" Maddy asked herself. "The Alpha is dead. The forest should be quiet."

Suddenly, the world twisted. The massive ancient trees surrounding the clearing didn’t just fall; they dissolved into the earth like sinking stones. In a matter of seconds, the dense canopy vanished. The dark, tangled woods were replaced by a vast, empty plain of grey soil. The sudden silence was terrifying.

Maddy’s Acute Predator Awareness screamed a warning.

"Move!"

She ignited her Explosive Glands, triggering a blast beneath her boots that launched her ten meters into the air. The moment her feet left the ground, a massive, mature oak tree erupted from the exact spot where she had been standing. It didn’t grow slowly. It shot out of the earth like a spear, its branches sharp and jagged.

Maddy looked down from the sky and saw the ground churning. More trees began to sprout. They emerged in a frantic, violent wave, each one aiming for her shadow. Even more disturbing, smaller trees began to sprout directly from the bark of the larger ones, creating a lethal, interlocking wall of wood designed to impale her mid-air.

"You want to play gardener?" Maddy hissed.

She used her Flexible Joints to curl into a ball, spinning like a saw blade. She drew her sword and began to descend.

"Wide Slice!" 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

She hacked through the rising forest as if the heavy timber were nothing but dry weeds. Splinters rained down like hail as she cleared a path back to the earth. She landed on a fresh branch, her Extreme Adhesion locking her boots to the bark, and looked toward the center of the new clearing.

There, standing calmly amidst the erupting nature, was a figure draped in robes made of living leaves. He held a staff carved from a single piece of white wood. He didn’t look like a monster. He looked like a scholar, his eyes bright with a calm, disciplined power.

[New Monsterpedia Entry Added: Wood Wizard]

[Wood Wizard (Rare Alpha Form) — Habitat: Forests / Sacred Groves / Ancient Ruins]

[A RANK — Magic: 500,000 | Might: 500,000]

[A rare forest bound spellcaster who has mastered the flow of natural mana without fully surrendering to it. Unlike Wood Witches, Wood Wizards retain greater control over their will and identity, channeling the power of the forest through study, discipline, or ancient rites. They can manipulate roots, vines, surrounding flora, and even the earth itself with precision, shaping the terrain or binding enemies from afar. Wood Wizards often act as wardens or observers of the forest, maintaining balance between its creatures and intruders. Though not inherently hostile, they will respond decisively to those who threaten their domain. Their presence is often subtle, felt as a quiet shift in the forest rather than seen directly.]

"A Wizard, of course! If there’s a witch, there has to be a male counterpart!"

She said it almost casually, still observing the creature with genuine fascination.

"So I just killed your partner, huh. I’m not bitter, but I never expected this active forest to be managed by freaking wood mages!"

Her eyes narrowed as she scanned the data unfolding in her vision.

"Talk about the rank... A rank! This is the first time I’ve seen one. Magic and Might are perfectly balanced. This isn’t a mindless beast. This is clearly a genius—look at how it stands. Calm. Controlled."

The Wood Wizard slowly raised his staff. No roar. No rage. Only silence. He tapped the wood once against the grey soil.

"You... talk... too much... for... an intruder..."

Maddy blinked, her posture stiffening. She had expected a beast; she had prepared for an A rank onslaught. She hadn’t expected a lecture on etiquette from a pile of sentient firewood.

A sharp, incredulous huff of laughter escaped her lips, though the sound held no warmth.

"A talking plant," she murmured, her golden eyes locking onto his.

"And here I was worried I’d have to interpret grunts and screeching for the next hour. You’ve got manners, I’ll give you that."

She tilted her head, her hand tightening around the hilt of her blade until the leather creaked. The "calm" the creature exuded didn’t intimidate her; it annoyed her. It was the same clinical, superior aura she had seen in so many high level targets—the kind that thought they were above the food chain just because they could string a few sentences together.

"You’re right, I do talk a lot... especially when I’m talking to wildlife."