Chapter 1386: The Gloommire Welcome

Seraphina heard Ethan’s command and immediately swept her wings back.

Layer upon layer of swirling air built behind her, the compressed wind rumbling. Ethan braced himself as the energy sphere in his palm grew denser. White lightning coiled around his wrist, ready for whatever might be waiting beyond the mirror.

Seraphina beat her wings with all her strength.

Her enormous body charged into the suction. Her horns entered the mirror first, sending circular ripples across its surface before it swallowed her and everyone on her back.

White light filled their vision.

A moment later, they emerged on the other side.

Seraphina burst out of the mirror without losing any of her accumulated speed. The air currents around her swept through the forest, flattening branches and leaves to either side. Thinner trees snapped in half as she passed.

But there were no enemies waiting for them.

Below lay a swamp covered in shallow water.

Twisted trees rose from the murky surface, their exposed roots tangled together. Dark mud coated the waterlogged ground, and the air hung heavy with moisture.

This was the place Idra had seen earlier.

Once Seraphina realized there was no enemy, she began to slow down, but her charge had already carried her too far. She flew past Idra and continued forward, her lowered claws nearly skimming the water.

A thick rope stretched across her path. It had been smeared with mud, blending almost perfectly into the swamp.

Seraphina didn’t have time to gain altitude.

Her claws struck the rope, and her enormous body immediately lost its balance. The rope snapped taut, triggering mechanisms hidden in the woods on either side. More loops sprang from the muddy water and wrapped around her ankles.

She pitched forward.

The people on her back were thrown from their positions and sent flying toward the trees ahead.

Not far away, Idra saw what happened and flapped her wings in exasperation.

Luckily, Auri was there.

Green energy poured from Auri’s palms and spread through the air into the nearby trees. Motionless branches extended toward one another, weaving themselves into a soft net.

Everyone landed among the branches and leaves.

Some ended up hanging from forks in the trees. Others were caught around the waist by vines, while a few plunged straight into the dense canopy. Their positions varied, but at least no one fell into the mud below.

They had barely steadied themselves when a series of mechanical scraping noises came from all around them.

Click.

Click, click.

Wooden panels opened across the tree trunks, and long barrels emerged from hiding. Red light glowed inside some of them before flames came roaring through. Others gathered energy of different colors at their openings, forming one sphere after another.

They had triggered another trap.

Jets of fire swept through the treetops first.

Energy spheres followed from every direction, snapping branches and blasting chunks from the trunks. Wood splinters and mud filled the air with every explosion.

Auri pressed her palms together, and her Fairy energy rapidly intensified. Deep green light spread through the branches supporting the group before closing around them as a shield.

Flames and energy spheres struck the barrier in rapid succession.

Its green surface repeatedly caved inward, only to recover under Auri’s control. But Seraphina’s dragon form was too large, and ropes were still wrapped around her ankles. The shield couldn’t cover her entire body.

A barrage of attacks struck her instead.

Flames spread across her scales while energy spheres exploded along her back and around her wings. Her tough dragon scales blocked most of the damage, but fragments still cut through several weaker spots.

Idra didn’t remain inside the shield.

She flew close to the tree trunks, tracking the flow of energy through the barrels in search of its source. Each time one of them fired, an energy fluctuation with the same frequency came from deeper within the woods.

Auri closed her eyes and extended her awareness through the nearby plants.

The branches of one tree suddenly parted.

A crystal sphere sat in the center of its crown. Energy from every barrel flowed into it through the roots and vines. Without Auri pointing it out, its faint pulse would have been almost impossible to distinguish amid the chaos.

Idra immediately changed direction.

White lightning gathered in her hand, its arcs compressing into a bright sphere. She swung her arm and hurled it straight into the center of the tree’s crown.

The energy sphere struck the crystal.

A sharp crack came from deep within the woods, followed by a plume of multicolored smoke. The moment the crystal sphere shattered, the light in every barrel went out. The flames still spraying from several of them quickly retreated into the pipes.

Silence returned to the forest.

Seraphina snapped the ropes around her ankles, then shrank back into human form. She lay helplessly on the wet ground, mud coating her clothes and hair. Several small wounds remained on her arms and shoulders.

The branches slowly lowered, returning everyone still hanging above to the ground.

Feylora hurried to Seraphina’s side. Green energy flowed from her hands and covered the injuries, healing the remaining burns and cuts one by one.

Ethan stood nearby, carefully surveying the swamp.

Idra soon flew over to him, water still dripping from her wings. She held a piece of blackened, waterlogged wood in her arms and eagerly offered it to him.

"Daddy, look! It really is wet here!"

Ethan took the rotten wood. The moment his fingers touched it, several drops of muddy water squeezed from the surface.

As he looked down, he noticed a wooden sign beneath his foot. He pulled it from the mud and used the rotten branch to scrape it clean, slowly revealing several lines of faded writing.

Gloommire Marsh. Wonderful Things Ahead. Please Do Not Leave!

Ethan finished reading and looked around.

Twisted tree trunks surrounded them, their branches blocking most of the sky. Bubbles kept rising from the soggy ground, and gloomy clouds hung low overhead. A gray, damp haze dulled every color in sight.

"Wonderful?"

Ethan read the sign again.

"This doesn’t look like a nice place!"

He tossed the sign aside and went over to comfort Seraphina, who had now suffered two accidents in a row while charging forward.

Elsewhere, unnoticed by the group, a narrow river flowed quietly through the woods.

Two people lay on the opposite bank.

They were covered head to toe in mud, with only their eyes exposed. The shorter one cautiously raised his head. When he saw Ethan’s group gathering themselves to leave, he lowered his voice.

"Bro, is it just me, or are they about to go?"

The man beside him immediately sat up and punched him on the head. The motion shook off some of his muddy disguise, so he quickly flattened himself against the ground again, leaving only a small bare patch.

"Keep your voice down!" he hissed. "What did the Witch teach us? Negotiate! Negotiate! We’ll report back first."

The shorter man rubbed his head, then glanced down at his mud-covered body.

"Negotiate? Looking like this? You really think that’ll work?"

Despite his complaints, he still got up and followed the other man along the riverbank, heading deeper into the swamp.

Neither of them noticed the tiny sapling following behind.

Its roots pulled free of the mud, then silently sank into the ground a little farther ahead. In this way, it followed them one step at a time.

On the other side of the woods, everyone had already formed a circle around Auri, shielding her from view.

Ethan poked half his head through the crowd. Once he confirmed that the two men were gone, he spoke quietly.

"Auri, do you know where they’re going? Nod if you do."

Green light appeared in Auri’s eyes.

She sensed through the small sapling for a moment, then nodded hard and pointed deeper into Gloommire Marsh.

The group immediately set off in the direction she indicated.

A circular building stood deep within the swamp.

The two scouts had already returned. They knelt on the smooth floor, mud dripping from their bodies and forming two filthy puddles beneath them.

A gentle voice came from behind the throne.

"How did it go?"