"There are seventeen trees in total, and none of them are normal."
Those wedge-shaped wood chips were scattered around the fire, coming from different locations, different tree species, and different sizes. The only similarity was the same color stain erosion from the inside out. Craft kicked them into the campfire in turn, and the wood was not dehydrated.
It crackled during burning, and then quickly turned black. The loose spots shrank and rolled up abnormally, and water vapor with a burnt lake smell evaporated and mixed into the expanding smoke mass.
When people with good associative abilities saw the diseased wood chips, they invariably looked upward. The exceptionally abundant sunlight here gave those who looked up at the tree crown a kind of non-physical chill.
The branches and leaves are sparser than those in other forests, which leaks extra light to the ground, and this light does not promote the growth of more low plants. On the contrary, shrubs and weeds are particularly sparse, and even those that are still surviving tend to become wilted and low.
The crouching shape creates that special sense of flatness and openness.
Martin drew his sword and chopped down a clump of fungi that sprouted near the roots of the tree. He cut the umbrella cover and wood into two pieces. Only then did he realize that those tender things were not growing on the hard wooden surface, but were rooted in the almost dug out surface.
At the hollow root, filaments and wood fibers are woven into bundles pointing to the ground.
"Dig down." He ordered the retinue holding the shovel.
The shovel digs into the soil and digs out the invisible root system under the soil surface. Without cleaning, you can see the mesh-like adhesion on the mottled surface. The branches that should be tough are easily cut off, like moldy radishes that failed to be dried.
, showing a disgusting and corrupt softness.
The excavated mud gives people a delicate and fertile sense of vitality, depositing incredible humus nutrients, which seem to flow back from the forest and inject into the earth.
Along with the excavation, apart from these obviously unnatural images, the silent onlookers increasingly felt that something inconspicuous but important was missing.
The insects active everywhere on the surface and underground have not crawled out due to human disturbance, as if they have migrated collectively away from this land, or...like the hollowed-out parts of the trees, they have integrated into this land.
land?
【Mushroom Forest】
Kraft thought of the scene described by Martin. Fungi were everywhere, growing everywhere they could see. In fact, they were already surrounded by fungi, but in an invisible and more sinister form.
From the unknown depth of the ground beneath your feet to the tree crown more than twenty meters above your head, fungi thrive in invisible places.
"What is going on?" Knight Barrow observed Kraft and Martin, feeling that there was some unspoken understanding between the professor and his colleagues, which led the team here, "Some kind of tree disease?"
"Probably." Kraft took the shovel from the guard's hand, plunged it straight into the hole, cut off a tree root, picked it out, and easily crushed it with his boots.
The erosion and combination of mycelium in the roots is much greater than that in the trunk. The infection spreads from bottom to top, forming a predatory and symbiotic attitude with the trees, turning these tall plants into part of the mycelial network, and in their decline
In the process, it provides nutrients to this huge whole and promotes their expansion.
From the first appearance of the abnormal sensation in their memory to the time they set up camp, they walked on the fungus's body for at least half a day without realizing it.
"But... this shouldn't have anything to do with us, right?" Hu, who was digging the hole, asked in a low voice. Being in a forest with a serious disease was not pleasant, and he soon realized that it was worse than at this time.
What makes him even more uneasy about the discomfort is "I just don't know if it will affect the wheat harvest."
As vassals of low-level nobles and reserves of knights, followers are far from losing their sensitivity to the land. People who have seen plant diseases will definitely remember the omen of hunger clearly. If this vision that penetrates into the land has
Spreadability will be a disaster more cruel than war in any territory.
If this area can be expanded, it will affect the town of Hudson sooner or later. In other words, it has already had an impact. They have heard complaints more than once that the output in the forest has decreased.
"That's none of our business. Let's mention it to the house officer when we get back. No matter how much the wheat harvest is reduced, the Duke will not miss your kid's rations." Seeing that the atmosphere was getting weird again, Barrow interrupted the retinue and forced him to
Bring the topic back to business.
"We are here to find the infidels. Maybe it was those ungodly guys hiding here that prompted Heavenly Father to punish us." He glared at him with his waist in his hands, turned around, kicked the soil back into the pit, and flattened it.
"Everyone go back and prepare to spend the night early."
The somewhat rough attitude had a very good soothing effect, or it was due to the residual power of the commanding guards, and the camp quickly resumed operations. Barrow stood there, waiting for the crowd to disperse, and called Martin.
"We agreed we were here to find the infidels, right?"
"That's right, it's that pagan religion that was particularly active some time ago." Without hesitation, Martin affirmed what he said when he set out, "You have also seen that they dare to put their hands into the church. What can they do if they continue to let it go?"
"That's weird." Barrow stared at Martin and the professor who seemed to have something to say, as if he wanted to drill a hole in his breastplate with his eyes, "Intuition, and what I mean to you
My understanding tells me that this is related to our purpose of coming, but there is something inconvenient that you didn’t tell me."
He pointed at the filled hole and stamped his feet on the loose soil, "I don't think you lied, but it's definitely different from what I thought."
From an angle that Martin could not see, Kraft nodded slightly with deep understanding, saying that he was half concealing and half making sure things went smoothly, which was in line with his impression of Martin.
"Then you have wronged me. I told you before we set off. These are an unusual group of pagans who master some vicious witchcraft. If you are afraid of death, don't come and join in the fun." Martin said sternly.
"Then what kind of 'evil witchcraft' is real?" Barrow looked a little surprised, but then his expression twitched, "So these..."
"Yes, this may be part of the 'malicious witchcraft'." Kraft answered the question for Martin, with a heavy tone. He had never thought that it would be such a scene, and he could not figure out what was going on.
"But don't think too much about them. The fact that they are still hiding in the woods shows a lot of problems. Of course, if you are afraid of going back on your word now, it's still too late."
"You are insulting the most important quality of a knight." Turning back is absolutely impossible at this moment. Barrow does not think there are any problems in the Westminster area that this team cannot solve. "Just to be on the safe side, I remember that we
You brought kerosene, right?”
"That amount is not used to set fire to the mountains. It won't be enough to light up this wet forest that looks like it has been soaked in water." It is also impossible to kill the mycelium hidden deep in the ground. "We have to find the source of these things."
It should be hidden deeper in this fungal forest, waiting for Kraft to discover and answer a question that comes with new discoveries.