Infinite Paths: The Raging Phoenix

The landscape below revealed towering, giant trees that seemed to be moving. The sight immediately put the group on high alert, their instincts urging them to be cautious in the face of the unknown.

However, as they descended further and the giant trees continued their subtle movements, the group couldn't sense any ill intentions emanating from them. These colossal structures appeared to be more than just vegetation; they resembled living monsters.

While their appearance could be mistaken for monstrous, the absence of any hostile signals indicated that they either hadn't detected Rain and the others or simply didn't view them as a threat.

When the group landed ready to fight, they soon saw what was happening… they looked like monsters, but they also looked like animals. The creatures were trembling around and their roots were shaking a fair bit.

"Are they treants?" Sakaki asked.

"It seems so…" Rain said while furrowing his eyebrows.

The green treants stood tall and imposing, their massive trunks covered in vibrant, mossy bark that seemed to pulse with life. Towering branches extended from their massive forms, adorned with an abundance of lush, emerald-green leaves that rustled in the breeze. The treants' bark was textured with intricate patterns, resembling the wrinkles and knots of ancient wood.

Their eyes glowed with an ethereal, forest-green light, adding a magic quality to their appearance. As they groaned, the sound resonated through the air like a deep, rumbling harmony, blending with the natural symphony of the surrounding woods.

The groans carried a sense of wisdom and ancient knowledge but pain as well as if the treants were the guardians of the secrets hidden within the depths of the forest.

While their bodies looked full of life, their roots were a bit withered and grey… almost like they were giving their lives to the land instead of the other way around. That was curious, but the group didn't have time for that… or so Rain thought at first.

"... Maybe the enemies are taking their mana as well, instead of the world alone," Rain said.

"It would make sense, given the type of monsters that they are," Sakaki said. "You have recovered a bit of your healing knowledge, haven't you? Larisa? Your powers are supposed to be similar."

"Maybe, I can't tell since it is incomplete," Larisa said. "Still, I can feel the ground pulsating with mana while the mana of those creatures are always being drained. Regardless, do we have time to talk here?"

"This is important since it reveals how the enemies operate," Rain said. "Nevertheless, we truly have to find the entrance of their corridor underground. Even if the barrier is physical, there should be a part where the mana crosses that we can use."

Rain touched the ground with his hands and then used his mana to check the area. It was annoying, but the enemy barrier actually kept going even deeper underground. Still, just as Rain aspected, very deep underground, the barrier had an opening for the corridor, and Rain could feel massive amounts of mana being drained through it.

"Are they already charging the cannon?" Rain asked.

"We can't see it from here for some reason… but an attack fired by that thing would make all planets tremble, right?" Reca asked. "Stop speculating endlessly and focus on the mission."

Being scolded by all people was annoying, but she had a point. In the end, Rain quickly controlled the earth and then opened a massively long hole that would take them to the corridor that, at that point in time, was starting to look like a tube designed to drain the mana of the whole world.

Rain jumped on the hole and then began to slide toward the entrance, and the others soon followed him. Still, after going down for several minutes, they could not help but wonder how deep the place was. It was also amazing that Rain found the place and still had enough mana to create the path without hesitation.

"Hey, Rain. Did you break the limits of your earth magic skills as well?" Jori asked.

"Don't shout here… you don't know what covert means?" Rain asked while facepalming, and then he opened his domain again to muffle their voices. "The answer is yes… I guess it is better to keep things like this until a fight breaks out. They shouldn't have magic sensors everywhere, so Water Mirror will come in handy."

"If you don't mind, we need to take some time to gather information about the technology here, the power of how to drain mana from the environment would come in handy," Sakaki said. "As long as it is controlled."

"You can't do that, even though you can use heat and kinetic energy?" Rain asked.

"I could do that before, since I made that facility become part of my body through my domain, things are different now," Sakaki said.

Only now he tells Rain that… Rain wondered why everyone wanted to make him frown at such an important time. In any case, eventually, they reached the massive corridor and before falling, they saw waves of mana being absorbed by the walls to the round corridor. After entering the place… they spent five minutes falling before they finally landed.

"I am getting dizzy at the massive proportions of this place…" Terra said.

The group looked around but didn't see anything aside from darkness. The walls were glowing in blue while the mana was being absorbed by magic circuits that were moving toward the end of the corridor.

"The corridor is on the same proportions as the cannon, and they are just longer…" Rain said. "Regardless, it looks like no one has discovered us yet, so we will advance as fast as possible… silently."

Using his domain for that would be better, but Rain needed to recover his mana as much as possible. Besides, there was no point in using the water mirror technique when they couldn't feel anyone's presence around. With that in mind, everyone nodded silently and began to use Impulse.