The Record of Unusual Creatures

Sirens rattled throughout Leyton. Church Knights draped in white robes and clerics on horses hustled through the streets, looking for any residents who may have fallen behind. Wind mages also flew from the church to the entire town, announcing the evacuation order.     

Groups of knights left for the villages and stations scattered in the north and south. In the master hall behind the church, teleportational light columns constantly lit up the sky, sending personnel to the other parts of Beinz to enforce the evacuation order. The lowly populated Beinz, which was half covered by mountains and forests had many small villages scattered around the line of defense apart from Leyton. These villages formed part of the line of defense and were gazetted for military-civilian use. Meanwhile, knight stations and sentry posts in between these villages were the sacred lake's line of defense. Now that people had to be evacuated from Beinz, the most mobile personnel were deployed for this purpose while knights were responsible for the nearby villages. Magi were also teleported to evacuate people from remote areas. It was a race against time as those people had only two days left.     

The sudden mass evacuation order had left the people and soldiers perplexed. No one knew what it was all about as all personnel irrespective of clerics or not were ordered to leave Beinz in two days. If not for Bishop Gelton and Marshal Ophra jointly signing the order, chaos might have erupted. The four ascetics had also issued a joint statement to enforce the order. Since no one in the Beinz Diocese was purely a civilian, and almost everyone was associated with the military or church, the evacuation was able to be carried out rather smoothly. But then, even if there were civilians, they would have now moved along under the leadership of the clerics.     

Of course, Gelton was not credulous at all; the old bishop was known for his cautiousness. When he was back in town, he had already dispatched his men to the Gnarled Grove to scout out the place. He only issued the evacuation order after he was convinced that the forest was indeed pervaded with a strangely dangerous energy, and monsters of the forest were becoming violent.     

Hao Ren and his team were in the king's house, catching some rest while they still could. However, the disturbing atmosphere in the streets was making them nervous. Lily in particular was unnerved. "What should we do? Are we really going to fight that hundred-kilometre monster? It's suicide!"     

Y'zaks clenched his teeth and said, "I've got the meteoroid ready—extra large, enough to level the Gnarled Grove entirely. You won't you stop me again, would you?"     

Looking at the meteoroid maniac, Hao Ren finally saw Y'zaks' tendency to smash people up with meteoroids as a good habit. "We're all counting on you. Or else, I may have to call for back up."     

Vivian had been sitting near the window with her brows drawn together in thought. Now looking up, she asked, "Do you think it's a coincidence? This place has been peaceful for the last 3,000 years. Just right after we arrive a few days ago, the Gnarled Grove decides to wake up?"     

"It must have something to do with that spaceship." Sucking his teeth, Hao Ren was having a bad feeling about all of this. "If that kilotonne-spaceship hadn't created a bloody hole in its backyard, the thing wouldn't have woken up. I'm afraid as sweet as the lullaby sounds in the Divine Sarcophagus, that thing's not going to calm down."     

Suddenly, Y'zaks fell into deep thought before saying, "There's another reason: the maelstrom may have damaged the Divine Sarcophagus and in turn, the lullaby has stopped playing."     

That sounded possible, but it was meaningless to harp on it. Becky was wiping her sword over and over again, and mumbling something nervously. Hao Ren came closer and heard, "...May Grandpa protect me, may Grandpa protect me. You've studied history all your life, now your granddaughter might be history soon..." She paused for a second and continued again, "...Life's three greatest joys are to get hung on the wall, get hung on the wall and get hung on the wall... There's nothing to worry about. I might be a heroine this time..."     

Hao Ren almost laughed out after he heard her murmurs. He could not help but pat Becky on the shoulder. "Take it easy. Worse comes to worst, we can always disconnect. We're not going to die."     

Out of nowhere, Becky was overtaken by a sudden change and she said, "I've decided not to run away."     

"What?" Hao Ren was surprised.     

"This is my home." Becky lowered her head and kept wiping her sword. "The First Born may be very powerful. If it escapes from Dragonspine Ridge, I'm afraid no one in this world is going to survive. They have no place to run, so I'm not going to run away too."     

Hao Ren was almost impressed until he saw Becky folding the sword in her arms and murmuring again with her eyes shut. "But, you can always bring me out of here by force, right? Don't you forget that..."     

"..."     

What a confused little maiden!     

Suddenly, Lily's ears twitched. She slid down from her chair and pressed her ear against the floor like she was listening to something. "Did you guys hear that?"     

Hao Ren exchanged looks with the others. "Hear what?"     

"There's a rumbling sound." Her other ear was tilting. "It's coming from underground..."     

Cold sweat immediately trickled down Hao Ren's back. "That quick? Shouldn't it be in two days?"     

Before his voice trailed off, commotion could be heard from afar. Then, the siren went off again. This time, it sounded even more urgent!     

Everyone looked out through the window and saw an army of heavily armed warriors running back, and further out was a sea of fire chasing after them.     

Y'zaks was the first to run out. "Let's go and have a look. Something's wrong!"     

Hao Ren and company got out into the street and ran towards the noise. People were running back in a panic from the direction of the fire. Becky stopped one of them and asked, "What's happening?"     

The person was almost scared out of his wits and said without even looking at Becky, "Monsters! Monsters are coming out from the ground!"     

Hao Ren's stomach churned, thinking that it definitely had something to do with the root system!     

He ran ahead of the team and bumped into many residents, who were running in his direction. When he got past a row of houses, he finally saw what it was all about.     

Tentacles were bursting out from the pavement and attacking people indiscriminately!     

It was the Gnarled Grove's root system!     

These scary subterrainean creatures had struck fear into the people. People finally knew what the evacuation order was all about. Everywhere, there were civilians screaming in fear and groaning in pain. The tentacles were inflicting great damage and casualty to the town. People were running, sometimes aimlessly as they tried to escape from the never-before-seen monsters. The Church Knights engaged the monsters in hand-to-hand battle, relying on their heavy body armour and their specially enhanced strength to ward off the monsters. However, they struggled to keep the powerful enemies at bay. The mages on the other hand, had been observing and they managed to figure a way to ward off the tentacles—fire.     

The blazing fire Hao Ren had just seen from afar was the idea of the mages.     

But the warriors and mages were in a situation of David versus Goliath. In the face of the ancient creature, they were no way near David. With just a swing, the tentacles were able to send a handful of heavily armed and armoured warriors flying 10 metres back. The fireballs, which the mages had been using could only scorch a little layer of scalp off the tentacles' skin. Soldiers used themselves as human shields to bog the monster down, but the situation quickly turned south as more tentacles broke out from the earth!     

Suddenly, a ball of fire burst out from Y'zaks' body. He rolled straight towards a tentacle as he called a soldier in a loud voice, "Go! Inform Ophra and Gelton! Meanwhile, we will handle this!"     

Hao Ren pulled out his gun as he motioned the others and said, "Attack!"