Guardian could not afford losing Cynthia. He needed her alive. He quickly ran to her rescue. Rocky reacted too but it was too far and too slow to get in time

Swamplings were just about to swarm over Cynthia. Guardian realised tha he will not make it either, he had to do it. He stretched his arm out willing his mana in it and then released the energy with a blast. The critters were blown away from a little girl like the leaves in the wind.

“Are you okay?”

“I will live. What was that?” She was curious about this blast. It looked like magic, she did not know he was a caster too.

“No time to explain, later.” He was very busy keeping the little monster from getting to her.

Finally, the golem rushed to help its master. Both Guardian and Rocky surrounded the girl, protecting her from waves of monsters. They were completely encircled, there were at least a hundred of them now.

“What now?” she asked anxiously.

“We keep killing them until all of them die or they give up. I see no other choice.”

It was only possible because golems did not tire and he himself had a formidable stamina. The critters launched small probing attacks but after some time they just stopped it. Monsters held their prey as captives for a while.

“Why did they stop? They are not attacking anymore.”

“I do not know, this is odd. Do they know they can’t win maybe?” Guardian offered his best guess at what was happening.

“Shall we launch an attack instead and try to break this encirclement?”

Before Guardian could answer that question the swamplings began to make weird clicking and clacking noises. They raised their spears in the air and were making a silly dance. Jumping from one foot to other whilst moving from side to side and clicking their tongues.

The ground rumbled and trees made a cracking noise as another monster emerged from the overgrowth.

It was even bigger than a golem, taller and broader than it. It looked like a monster made out completely of living wood. All of its body was covered in green mossy bark. Its libs were crude and misshapen, it wobbled when it walked. Two green orbs glowed in the holes of what must have been its head.

It roared in displeasure and all the clacking stopped.

“What is that?” Guardian asked hoping Cynthia knows something about it.

“I am not sure. But if I had to guess it is some sort of treant.”

“How dangerous is it? What is its weakness?”

Yet again he did not receive the answer. It was because he was knocked to the ground by some weird green blast. It was so quick and sudden that he had no chance to react in time.

“Nooo!!!” Cynthia shouted seeing Guardian knocked down like that all of the sudden. Guardian took quite a powerful magic attack directly to his chest. If it was her she would have been obliterated here and then.

“Say something! Are you okay?”

“Oaaahh.” Guardian groaned in pain. A huge patch of flesh in his chest was burned away. Remnants of magic were still eating it away.

“I will live.” He groaned while standing up.

Cynthia was pleasantly surprised he was able to take that and live. However, there was no time for celebrations. Another blast of green light was cast towards them like before. This time it hit the golem. Rocky stood its ground while the magic fizzled away.

“It… it is fine?” Guardian blurred out through pain…

“It is resistant to most magic attacks. It is a war golem after all.”

“Then…”

Cynthia cut his sentence “I know. Rocky take that tree down and turn it into splinters!” She shouted.

They knew that they cannot defend anymore, someone had to attack and take care of the ranged caster.

As soon as the golem started to run towards the treant the critters parted away, they could not stop the golem and did not want to get splattered under its feet. They directed their attack towards targets made of flesh, that is guardian and Cynthia.

Guardian had to do his best to protect Cynthia then the swamplings swarmed them again. Even then injured he was doing a good job.

Rocky clashed with the treant sending wood splinters into the air. The tree monster roared in displeasure and punched back at the golem with its stumpy arms. Both of the creatures were taking a good deal of damage.

Cynthia was completely useless as a fighter, all she had been doing was staying behind him and avoiding the critters. Guardian had to work hard at keeping her alive. They were lucky the swamp creatures did not use those pods again, or else Cynthia would be dead by now.

“Let me buff you.” Cynthia offered.

“You can do that?”

To his reply, she touched his tail and chanted something a few times.

“It is fortify and minor speed enchantment. It should help you.”

“It does.” He could feel an odd energy enveloping his skin. He was also able to react quickly and move slightly faster.

Guardian’s body was now able to weather swamplings attacks easier. His skin was cut, bruised and pierced in numerous places. His chest was still burned badly. But he was holding out, he was able to keep nasty creatures away from Cynthia.

The critters were punched, kicked and clawed at. Their limbs were severed or broken, their heads were crushed or slashed severely. Their number decreased slowly as more and more died or were unable to stand anymore.

Rocky did well too. Its rock made body proved to be more durable than hardened wood. The treant went through all the trouble to enchant and reinforce itself as its magic attacks did no damage to the golem. In the end, it still stood no chance. Its bark was splintered and shattered, the golem was able to literally punch through its defences. He launched a powerful final punch to the head of the treant. The fist connected with overwhelming force sending chunks of it away and cracking it open. The glowing green orbs dimmed out and the tree monster died. The critters realising what has happened clicked in fear and fled back to the depths of the swampy forest.

“Rocky did it!” Cynthia cheered.

“Ahem! We did it.” Guardian corrected the girl. If not for him she would have died a long time ago.

“Let’s go check on it.”

The two weaved their path around the bodies of the little critters. Half of them were lying dead on a soggy soil. Nothing but a food for the scavengers of the forest.

Rocky did not look too good either. It won, but its body was missing large chunks of rock. It also has lost half of its arm.

“Rocky is badly damaged, this is not good.”

“But we are alive and we got what we come for.” Guardian pointed at the treant.

“I guess so.”

He took a closer look at the huge monster inspecting it. He tried cutting the bark but he couldn’t even dent it; it was too hard.

“Get your construct to help me open it.”

The golem hit it a few time cracking its bark open. Then the Guardian and Rocky split the treant’s chest making a large hole in it. It leaked thick sap as he forced his arm inside squishier bits of that monster.

“Here it is.” Guardian pulled a fist-sized core out.

“I have seen it before, but nothing of this size!” Exclaimed Cynthia.

“The bigger and nastier the monster, the bigger the core. All you have seen must have been the pebbles dire wolves and the like might have in their bodies.”

The girl nodded in agreement.

“What now? Shall we go back to the village to tend to your wounds?”

“No, not yet. Also, do not worry too much about it, it will heal. I am fine.”

Cynthia doubted that. His chest wound was very nasty, not to talk about the smaller holes and cuts which still were leaking blood. If he was a human he probably would have died form a disease or infection the next day. They were in a swamp, after all, and will have to go through mud and murky water again. Cynthia tried to convince him to go back to the village now but he just ignored her.

“I am fine! Just help me with this.”

He was trying to separate bits of enchanted bark from the treant.

“We got the core. We can go now.”

“The core is for you and what do I get?”

“…” you will get paid latter was what she wanted to say.

“Rocky will have no problem dragging all of this.” He wanted to take an entire treant body with him.

“That is just plain greed.”

“Hey, I am helping you to get that potion so help me a bit. This is valuable don’t you know.”

“I am not an alchemist. But I guess I can help.” Cynthia got tired of arguing with him. The sooner this was done the sooner they will be able to get back to the city.

They tied the treant to the golem using the vines. Then Guardian went around inspecting the swampling corpses.

“Do they have cores too?”

“No. They are too small and too weak, I am looking for something else.”

He found it. One of them was injured and pretended to be dead.

“You will come with me, little fellow.” He grabbed swampling by its legs and raised it up. It flailed around but failed to do any damage.

“Why are you taking that thing?”

“I am interested in it. They were smarter than most beasts. I want it.”

Cynthia just shrugged that off. He seemed odd to her.

Guardian took not one but three such creatures. They were injured but still brimming with the will to stay alive. He had to knock one out because it was too rowdy and then tied the critters with vines. The remaining two were more obedient after seeing what will happen if they resisted too much. The critters were stuffed in a bag and he carried them on his back.

“I am good now.” Guardian was ready to go.

“Are you sure you don’t want to take the rest of the swamp with you.” Cynthia mocked his behaviour.

“I would if I could. Thank you for taking the treant.”

“Thank Rocky not me, he is dragging it.”

They traversed the swampland slowly. The golem would get bogged down at times and they had to help it. The massive corpse of the monster tied to it did not help.

It took hours for them to reach the village.

The villagers swarmed the golem looking at the monster it was dragging behind. They were gasping, pointing fingers and talking boisterously between each other.

“This is the reason why people were going missing.” Cynthia explained what they were dragging.

The villagers gave an honest thank you to the two adventurers, they felt safer now.

“So it was a monster after all. Is it safe to go deep into the forest now?” asked one of the villagers

“Not really, no. Look at this.” Guardian took out one of the swamp critters.

“It is so ugly! What is it?”

“I hoped you will be able to tell me.”

“First time seeing it.” Other villagers said the same thing.

“The swamp is swarming with these things. We killed many but I am sure there are more.”

“I wouldn’t go into the swamps. They are infested with these things and they use strange poisons to kill anyone who gets in their territory.” Cynthia added.

“I see… Why is it still alive? Just kill it already.”

The tone of the voice upset the creature and it started to flail and click its tongue angrily.

“I need them alive. It is for study purposes.”

“You did not strike me as a scholar.” Said the man surprised.

“I agree… We also need to talk about that blast thing of yours.” Added Cynthia.

“Cynthia, I will tell you about that when we are away from the prying eyes.”

“Guys, you must be tired. You know what, just stay in our village as a thank you for killing this tree monster.”

“We don’t want to impose.” Cynthia was trying to be nice.

“What are you talking? Can’t you see children want to hear your story? Even us adults are keen to know about this adventure of yours. Stay here and tell us everything about it.”

They have agreed to stay for the night. The man was speaking the truth, they were tired and hungry. Not to mention the fact that Guardians wounds could use some healing salve. He made a huge mistake not taking any of Aiu’s produce with him, it would have helped immensely. He would make no such mistake again.

As they talked about their adventure all of their needs were met. Food was brought to the table and the wounds tended by the village herbalist. Rocky was left to play with the children not too far from the swamp creatures. The critters were locked in an animal cage, two domesticated wolves were watching them in case they escape.

They chatted with the villagers till the midnight and then headed to sleep in one of the barns. They did not want to impose on the private lives of other villagers as no one had room to spare. Most huts had only a single room anyways.

The pair of adventurers laid on a straw getting ready to sleep.

“So not just a caravan guard, alchemy merchant but a caster as well. Any other surprises?”

“No, not really.” He liked to keep his secrets secret.

“So what was that blast thing?”

“A type of magic I can cast.”

“What else can you cast?”

“Basic flame vine spell and that is it.” He knew he better answer this, otherwise, she will pester him nonstop.

“Oh, that is only a few spells.”

“How about you? Do you know many spells?”

“I wish.”

“So you are no better than me. What can you cast besides fortify and minor speed?”

“I can cast ward, which is a shield-like field designed to ward off the magic. Also, I can do a short overwhelming might buff which makes my ally two times stronger for a short amount of time. I am still a fledgeling at this, it lasts only for a few punches. Sometimes it is all the Rocky needs to crush someone into the pulp. The rest of my spells are utility magic for repairing and maintaining the golem.”

“I see.” That ward spell could have come in handy before he got blasted by the treat. Guardian thought about it but did not complain, he knew that the girl had no time to react and cast it.

“You know you should have told me that you are a caster so we can work better. Why did you keep it a secret?”

“If the word gets out it might get me into the trouble, don’t you think? A person who can do melee and cast spells. Some noble would go over his head just to force me to do his bidding or I would end up in some sort of a war I do not want to fight.”

“I understand. My grandpa feels the same. They are leaving him alone partially because he can no longer make war golems. His illness prevents him from that.”

“We have the core and I am feeling positive that this will cure him, or help to lessen his affliction.”

“I sure do hope so.”

Their conversation died down and the two slept peacefully throughout the night.