21 Grove defense 1 !

{A/N: Important announcements in the authors note!}

Glory. Money. Fame. Women. Family. There's a lot of reasons people become adventurers. But there is one fact that doesn't change. Most people even those who have the money to afford guards die. Being an adventurer is harder than being a soldier and because of that, the average soldier is weaker than the average adventurer. The reason for this is that monsters even the average ones are a more formidable foe on the chaos of the battlefield than the average human or demi-human soldier will ever be.

In the first years of the guild opening and accepting people who can fight we had a casualty rate of 7/10 people for the first two months of active duty. Because of this, the guild decided to make an entrance exam in which one would be trained to handle the rigors of being an adventurer. Those that failed this exam wouldn't be allowed into the guild unless they took it again and passed.

After the implementation of this exam, deaths went down as low as 5/10 and the average adventurer became superior to the average foot soldier. While it made the chances of survival for an adventurer higher it also raises the chances of them developing psychological disorders by a significant amount. Especially with the higher survival rate. But this is all for the sake of pushing back the smaller bunches of monsters the military doesn't handle, and for the benefits, the victor gains in the process.

-Excerpt from pocket guide to being an adventurer by Johnna Firehoof

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(Adventurer Lorner POV)

His screams just wouldn't end! He was a fool to have thought it was a good idea to run off on his own when only the weakest amongst them died and getting hit by that dust stuff. But it didn't matter now that he went and got himself killed. It just means I get a nice and juicy bonus for when this mission is complete.

His screams. They stopped. Must mean that he's dead. It's a pity. He was someone who passed the exam in the same group as me. Just barely though. He was always the weakest in mind of those who passed. Now though he at least no longer had to continue fighting monsters with his weak will. Looking around I can tell most of the others weren't too phased by his death. Especially the more seasoned adventurers. Which makes sense. There's a lot of death in our line of work and our comrades would quite often die in horrific ways.

Sometimes right in front of our eyes. But it would all be worth it. The money from jobs like this will help my family. My beautiful wife and daughter. I just got married a bit over a year ago and our daughter was born just a month ago. I had to take up the sword to make enough money to prevent our home from being taken away from us by that lecherous noble of the territory we lived in. Just wait. Papa will be home soon to protect you. Now that I think about it didn't that guy who just died have an unborn daughter back home…?

"Everyone prepare yourself! We've arrived! The other teams have mages that will attack the dryads. So, it will be our job to prevent the dryads from attack the mages!" Esmeralda announced to the others pulling me from my thoughts. That was dangerous. I can't afford to get lost in my thoughts out on the mission.

Looking up ahead I could see the grove where the dryads live. They were all arranged in a circle of a dozen different types of trees. Some were pine trees, others birch trees. But the two biggest trees were an oak tree that towered over the rest and a maple tree in a close second. Those two must be the oldest two trees of the grove and by extension the strongest. Inside the circle of trees was a small circle of mushrooms.

Fairies? No, it couldn't be. Dryads are extremely territorial and wouldn't allow fairies in their territory. At least that's what the manual says. Already I could see the other team coming into view. They both had six members. Two members of both teams were mages for a total of four mages. Not as many as I'd like for a mission like this but at least there were plenty of other people to take a hit for me.

I tightened my grip around the handle of my sword. This would be a bloody fight. But I'd survive it. Just like every other battle.

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(Joe's POV)

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Damn, they already arrived at the grove. If only I was able to take out a couple more of them before they arrived. Oh well, beggars can't be choosers. I'm still surprised they didn't lose much morale despite my ambushes on them. They must have balls of steel and a mind of iron. That will certainly make them tough to fight head-on.

Wait. I see another two groups arriving! Why!? I killed that last dude to prevent leakage of my capabilities to the guild! With this many people, all gathered it'll be even tougher to prevent the guild from catching wind of what I am capable of. Wait. Four of those adventurers have staffs and staves instead of typical swords and stuff…. Don't tell me. They are the infamous mages!!

Why couldn't I be reincarnated in a world where it's difficult to learn magic!? Now I had to deal with four mages who can probably shoot fireballs! Or even worse weedkiller spells! This unwelcome invasion was getting more and more complicated as time goes on. And I don't like it one bit!

The adventurers were beginning to form up with several people equipped with large tower shields in the front row. As soon as they were within reach Amelia's branches whipped forward crashing into the shields sending over half of the adventurers lying while the other half were pushed back several feet. Upon seeing this two of the mages pointed their staffs at their allies and began to chant.

As soon as they began chanting large glowing white runes began to manifest themselves in front of the mages. Following this, the runes turned into a white mist and covered the adventurers on the front lines before being absorbed by said adventurers. The adventurers let out a hearty battle cry and pushed forward shields up and met Amelia's and the other dryads' branches head-on. This time however the branches would only succeed in pushing them several inches at a time.

The other adventurers took advantage of the defender's effort to hack and slash at the branches chipping away their health to slowly weaken them. Upon seeing the success of the support spell, the other two mages began chanting, but instead of glowing white runes, smaller orangish-red runes manifested and fireballs came rocketing out of them. Said fireballs crashed into several trees including the birch tree which promptly caught fire as it ate away her leaves and smaller branches.

She began to broadcast with her pheromones the pain and rage she was feeling as she and the couple other trees who were hit by the fireballs desperately beat their branches against the ground to put out the flames. But it was too late many of the smaller branches and their bark was already charred black as the flames continued to eat away at them. I need to intervene and quick!

Dashing for while activating my stealth skill I kept myself low to the ground to minimize the chances of anyone spotting me. To make doubly sure I circled around to approach from the mages back. There were a couple adventurers placed around the mages to guard them, but I'll just need to get through them or a few well-placed thorns. As I came within range the mages who have yet to notice me were firing a second volley of fireballs were completely defenseless with the warrior adventurers being in front of them facing the larger threats rather than being behind them where there was thought to be no foes. Big mistake on their part!

I released a dozen of my vines and allowed them to slither up the legs of the mages under their protective clothing. Following this, I used my thorns to slash their Achilles tendon (Turns out its named after some greek dude and without it, people can't walk! And people say biology is useless!) bringing out various pained and confused yelps as they collapsed face-first having lost their ability to stand. By the time the adventurers noticed my presence I already was on top of one of the mage's face and revving up the teeth and tearing apart his throat before he had a chance to resist.

[Human mage slain. Total of 9 XP earned. Mage role entry unlocked to read. 3 skill points and 3 mutation points collected. 50 MP absorbed.]

Ha! So much delicious MP!

I leaped to the side just as a mace crashed into the place, I was just at caving in the skull of the corpse I was standing on. The two warrior adventurers were both looming over me. The other one launched the attack swiping downwards with his sword just barely missing shaving off several petals in the process. With the two adventurers now flanking me I did the best possible option for a flower that's about to get smashed or slashed. I ran.

I ran on my roots as fast as they could take me at first the adventurers were about to give a chase, but I noticed they hesitated when looking at the mages who were now crippled and using healing spells to stop their bleeding. With them choosing to protect over attack I successfully halted the spell bombardment. Take that ya dang mages! Always hated how overpowered mages got in videogames but now I'm the anti-mage!

Aha! Just as I had hoped the moment the mages stopped launching fireballs the tides of battle shifted in our favor. The adventurers who were previously defending against the branches were now starting to lose members without the buff spells provided by a mage and it was brutal. Every once in a while one of the attacking adventurers who got a bit too daring in their attacks would get swatted and end up soaring in the sky before finally landing on the ground as a deformed bloody human pancake.

And now even the fairies were finally beginning to emerge to assist in the fight! The entirety of the fairy swarm was gathering around the mages and. Oh god. Oh god! It's terrifying! The fairies which looked like little adorable children last I saw them showed an entirely new side as they opened their mouths impossibly wide revealing two rows of razor teeth (my mana vision has improved significantly, and I regret that now)!

The fairies swarmed the two adventurers who chased me away from the crippled mages ad started to slip under their armor and attack any unprotected spot. My attack methods were brutal, but this was on a whole other level. They literally CHEWED their way INSIDE of the adventurers before EATING their way back out! This went beyond cruel and unusual. Far beyond it.

This. This has got to be the strangest and most brutal battle I have ever seen. Time to cause some more chaos….