505 505 Field Resources
Wolfe continued his work to protect the villages and pass on the ssage to help the mundane army as much as they safely could all the way to the coast, where he had first t with the local leaders to discuss their alliance.
That was where he learned why the witches from the other continent were so uptight about magical gardens. The one that they had created for the eting was still here, though the Garden Charm that had created it was long gone now, and there was a full on war brewing between the enraged monsters over the leftovers that had grown after the locals had departed.
It looked like they were absolutely ravenous, most likely mana starved after their rapid growth and unable to help themselves.
If that was the normal behaviour of monsters on the other continents, it made perfect sense that they were terrified to grow gardens around Rank Three and Four Monster hordes. They would go berserk and tear down even the best guarded city walls in a short ti at this rate, and that was only over a small patch of magical plants that would only feed a few of them.
The fighting was getting more and more intense as more monsters sensed the magical plants growing and joined the fray. This could be valuable information, so Wolfe hid himself in the bushes and activated [Detect Hidden] to its highest power, searching for Cursed Amulets or anything else that could give him a clue about why their aggression was so high even with each other.
If they always killed each other on sight when there was food nearby, there wouldn't be many of them left. The casualty rates would be insane, and most of these creatures were carnivores and not herbivores to begin with. No matter how great the magical plants were, they shouldn't have any interest in them.
They didn't eat them, and they didn't have any use for them, but Wolfe could see that they were still trying to get to the plants. Could they think that it was so sort of cure, or was it part of the curse?
Wolfe watched with interest as the fight wore on, until finally, one of them managed to sneak past and get a bite of the plants. From what Wolfe could see, it got a mouthful of cabbage, and almost instantly, it began to calm down. At least, it started to, before the calmness led to distraction and one of the others killed it in an attempt to get the last scraps of the head of cabbage.
It was only a few bites, but the monster began to look a bit more rabid and ravenous as it fought for the rest of the small garden.
The monster was getting its wits back, and with so of the hunger sated, it beca much smarter and began to tear apart its enemies in a thodical pattern, eliminating them and keeping the area around the garden clear.
That gave Wolfe a great idea, and he channelled a bit of raw mana into one of the nearer monsters, a Rhino type beast. The familiar cunning returned to its eyes, and the beast charged through the horde, throwing monsters aside with its horn, then turned aside at the last second and circled the garden, keeping itself opposite the other recovering monster as they tore apart the rest of the horde.
They had almost cleared out the group when a pair of Witches appeared in the distance, flying fast on brooms. If they had good eyesight, they might spot Wolfe, so he shifted further into the underbrush, relying on his ghillie suit to keep him hidden from sight, and waited to see what they would do.
"It looks like two of them made it to the reagents before we could get here." One of them sighed.
"That's fine, clear the rest out, I still sense a lot of plant life here." The other replied with a shrug.
Vines rushed up from the ground and began to impale and crush the monsters, clearing the area with the efficiency of two Rank Three Witches working together.
The entire horde took them less than a minute to clear, but Wolfe could sense that they were exhausted, and their auras were thinned with use.
Clearly, they didn't have a Familiar to pull mana through, or at least they hadn't brought it here with them, so there were at a disadvantage so far from ho.
"Shit, look at this. It's not a reagent patch, it's a bloody magical garden, right out here in the open. There isn't even a village near here. The General interrogated those scouts, and they marked all four of the villages near here."
Depending on how close they were talking about, there were at least ten villages. None of them were more than five minutes from here by broom, especially for a witch of their strength, so Wolfe would call that 'close.'
The captured scouts had done a good job keeping the villages hidden from the Witches, though it likely cost them everything.
Wolfe watched as the two witches gathered everything from the garden and took out a radio to call back to their unit.
"Team Seven to Command. False alarm. It was a naturally growing magical cabbage. The monsters ate it before we could get to it." One of the witches announced.
So, they weren't going to tell the boss that they had loaded up on the good food, were they? That was brave, given how the monsters here reacted to it. Or perhaps they were planning to eat it before going back.
[Understood Team Seven. Continue your search for reagents. There are multiple likely high mana spots near the coast, and we need those resources.] The Commander replied.
That didn't co through Wolfe's radio, so it was transmitted outside the frequencies that the mundane army used here. The Witches heard the order clearly, but neither of them moved. Instead, they began to set up a small camp in the ruins, sheltered from the elents and from sight.
They used their magic to grow branches for a fire, which they lit with kindling and a striking stick that threw sparks. Very primitive, but effective. Not as effective as magic, so they really must not know any Elental Magic at all.
They looked like they were waiting for soone or sothing, so Wolfe settled in to see what showed up. If their words had been a signal, he might have gotten lucky and found a whole search zone at once.
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