“Ah, this is dangerous…”

Rosewood hurriedly said, tucking the violin under his chin.

As soon as he gently strummed the strings with the bow, a thick rose scent burst forth. I felt as if the intangible fragrance entangled the dryads of Siedling like a spider’s web.

The air, which seemed to burn on contact, improved as the Elder focused a barrier on me.

If you pour everything into me, what about the other dryads? They all look like they’re barely enduring!

Looking around, I was the only one benefiting from the barrier. Even the caster, the Elder, was enduring the heat by relying on a thin barrier.

“Run away now, even now. I’ll draw enough attention to save your life.”

Who are you to tell me to run away? Did I ever ask you for that?

Siedling, acting as if it were my guardian, annoyed me.

Just because you have a high level, or rather, a much higher level, you think you can look down on me! It’s not like I asked you first, ‘Hey, is this hunting ground a bit too high-level for me to play in?’

If I were going to listen to being told it’s dangerous, I wouldn’t have come when Mesquite warned me outside the Terrarium!

If I were to run away after hearing Siedling’s words, it would feel like I was admitting that my dryads lack skill, and I hated that. It’s me who’s lacking in skill, not my dryads.

Suddenly, the ground began to rumble as if an earthquake were happening. It didn’t feel like a natural disaster, but something different. It felt like standing near a passing train.

The intensity of the tremor grew stronger, and I could feel something extremely heavy and massive approaching quickly.

At the same time, a wall of fire erupted around the ground we were standing on with a sudden loud crackling sound.

It was like a barrier cutting off communication with the outside. No, more precisely, it was blocking escape from the inside. Like herding prey into the center and trapping them.

We had become like rats in a trap.

Damn… This feels completely different from dealing with regular fire…?

Well… Even if I had intended to run away, it was already too late.

“Use Mesquite. She has high fire resistance, so she can break through the wall of fire.”

“Who are you to tell me to use my dryad or not?”

“It’s too late! Siedling, don’t waste your strength fighting among druids. We need to cooperate now!”

“Yeah, it’s better to leave it nearby and guard it.”

Belladonna and Kalmia said. Who wants to just be protected? My dryads are amazing! The more I listen, the more it grates… Ah! What is that?

Mesquite shoved me, Elder, and Daisy back, stopping firmly in place. A sandy, blinding light burst from the shield she held, expanding in size.

The massive shield enveloped in light finally blocked the thing that had revealed itself.

It was a carriage. A carriage blazing with fire. It was clearly a death carriage, one that had just risen from hell. It was much larger than the overturned carriage we had found. A house-sized carriage, blazing with fire, scorching every path it traveled into lava.

They say fire has a habit of transforming to follow the strongest form in the ecosystem, but does that include objects? Could that be the fire that supposedly wiped out the dryads of the overturned carriage?

Damn, this feels just like a boss fight… a raid…?

In games, if you want to solo a boss fight, you can’t be just any stagnant water.

You need to be petroleum-level stagnant to take on a hundred enemies alone and monopolize the boss. To take that thing down alone, I’m not even stagnant—I’m barely dew that’s just formed.

I looked at Siedling. Should I team up with that guy?

No, wait—he looks high-level, can he take it alone? If I ask to join, he might ignore me, saying he’ll handle it himself.

Siedling seemed like the kind of arrogant guy who wouldn’t be into cooperative play.

Even the dryads who had effortlessly swept away the fire that gave us trouble noticeably darkened their expressions when facing the carriage.

Ah, so that carriage boss is tough for them too? Still, my side’s anxiety weighed heavier.

Damn, looks like this wasn’t a beginner quest after all. That’s definitely hell-mode endgame! A boss monster for sure. And the worst situation—jumping in without even knowing the attack patterns beforehand.

“Siedling, the situation is serious. Ask that druid for cooperation. We can’t finish this fight without any injuries. They have a high-grade recovery-type dryad in their group, and I’m restricted unless they’re tied as allies.”

While I was deliberating, they lowered themselves first. But that was just the dryad’s opinion; the druid master’s expression seemed far from willing.

“But you’re small.”

“Wake up! That person is a druid! Not a dryad! You think saplings need protecting because of the long teachings of the dryad who raised you, but this is different!”

“There’s a real sapling over there, isn’t there?”

“Don’t ignore our Daisy!”

I tried to argue that our child wasn’t a seedling but just looked like one, when a preemptive attack burst from the carriage.

Like a red carpet, a straight river of lava spewed from the carriage. Mesquite didn’t bother to block it and instead pulled us aside to dodge.

The attack had no cooldown. It blasted lava continuously in the direction it faced, scattering all the gathered dryads.

Tied to Daisy’s stem, I was stubbornly clinging to Mesquite, thanks to the kid’s quick reflexes.

Siedling’s dilemma didn’t last long. Belladonna, who nearly came our way while dodging, stopped and chose to take the lava hit, getting injured. Why on earth?

The carriage, finally landing a hit, writhed and blazed even more fiercely.

“My master, Jae. It seems she has the ability to harm her surroundings just by existing on the field. I know of beings that use similar abilities. As she said, the more we act separately, the more her actions will be constrained.”

“Hey! Did you hear that? Stop being stubborn and apply to join the party! Your dryad’s hurt!”

I don’t know how to apply.

Suddenly, the terrarium artifact on my wrist vibrated, and my phone rang loudly.

At this timing? The dwarves wouldn’t call me. I took out my phone, whether the elder was carrying me to dodge or not.

On the black screen, large red letters were embedded, flashing brightly.

Wallet mode change. Stonehenge mode ON

“What’s this now?”

Artifact network connecting

The flashing letters disappeared, and other text appeared. Then a spinning loading icon showed up. It looked just like the icon that appeared when I was connecting to Wi-Fi.

Adjacent terrarium artifact: Siedling

Connect?

[YES] [NO]

Geez, was this what the party system meant? It’s not like I’m using tethering or anything. A hollow laugh escaped me. I touched ‘YES’, and the screen changed.

Artifact network formation complete

The barrier between terrarium artifacts is temporarily lifted, and a Stonehenge is formed.

Stonehenge leadership: Siedling 90%, Jae 10%

My body trembled as if I’d been jolted or electrocuted.

Before my eyes, a vision of tangled roots appeared. White light spreading from the ends moved toward one spot, crackling like an electric current.

My gaze followed it instinctively, and at that moment, I met Siedling’s eyes.

So creating and joining a party wasn’t all there was to it. The feeling was fundamentally different. The emotional distance between us was vast, yet strangely, it felt close at the same time.

“I’m not keen on this.”

The elder moved behind the carriage, set me down, and grumbled.

I rarely agree with your thoughts, but isn’t this hardly the time to be picky about such things?

Mesquite moved to a spot a bit farther from us, waiting in case the carriage’s head might turn our way. Daisy seemed busy batting away the sparks spewing from the carriage.

With a slight breather, Elder planted his staff into the ground. A white light spread across the entire area trapped within the fire barrier, and Elder’s petals rippled under the feet of the Dryads and even the Sheddings.

Belladonna, who had been injured, quickly recovered except for her tattered black robe.

“Impressive. That druid’s soul must be bigger than I thought. Elderflower’s specialty has bloomed, hasn’t it?”

Rosewood started playing the violin again, and this time, a thick rose scent clung persistently even to my own Dryads.

So he was a Dryad with a bard specialty—buffs through music. Elder’s area-of-effect heal, boosted by Rosewood’s buff, became even stronger, both in the intensity of the light and the abundance of petals.

“I’m really envious of healing-type Dryads. I wish we Sheddings could have one tucked into our bouquet.”

Kalmia, now relentless in attack, fired off light-pink pellet-like projectiles. Despite their cute appearance, they were powerful enough to make the carriage falter with each turn.

From the opposite side, Periwinkle’s whip lashed out nonstop, and together their assault pinned the carriage’s direction. The carriage kept firing lava toward empty spaces, acting foolishly.

I wished it would keep acting that stupid, but since it was a boss monster, its pattern changed. The carriage shuddered in place, and the tightly shut doors swung wide open on both sides. Flames burst out, just like when the stove lid was opened.

Someone shouted for everyone to scatter, and as I reflexively pulled back, Daisy stepped in front of me.

Flowers exploded continuously all around. Humanoid figures of fire burst out from the carriage all at once. At the same time, a massive flame shot up from the ground beneath the carriage, high into the sky, obscuring its form.

Drawing on our experience facing similar fire-type foes, Mesquite quickly regrouped with us and formed a battle line. The number of fire figures emerging from the carriage seemed enormous.

“Crazy… What kind of fire hell is this now?”

It’s devoured so many Dryads! How many did it eat that zombie fires start pouring out like people spilling from a packed bus?

Before we knew it, the Shedding had joined the battle, swinging its sword. I felt like I understood where that fire’s strange behavior—seen in the dandelion fields—had been learned from.

Even though we were acting as a team, the fiery horde’s momentum was overwhelming, pushing us back little by little.

“Considering what happened at the dandelion colony, I can’t just recklessly cut them apart! But the situation isn’t good enough to abandon defense and focus on attacking!”

Mesquite shouted as she knocked back the approaching flames with her shield. Daisy managed to deflect the attacks fairly well, but she still seemed unable to land a decisive kill.

And yet, Elder couldn’t stop casting area-of-effect healing to pour buffs, as numerous dryads relied on his healing to maintain their momentum.

“Bella!”

Siedling pushed the flames back with his greatsword and called out to Belladonna. She had been attacking the flames using a long staff resembling a spear.

When the tip of her weapon pierced the flames, a dark, violet gloom burst forth, emitting an unknown, potent odor. The flame struck by her weapon then stopped moving, frozen in place as if paralyzed.

At Siedling’s call, she withdrew her weapon and thrust it into the ground. Using the long weapon as a support, like in pole vaulting, she jumped and flew straight to Siedling. As her outstretched hand touched Siedling, something amazing happened.

Like in my case, the terrarium artifact on his wrist emitted a brilliant light. A transparent dome-like barrier grew from his wrist, expanding until it reached the shield barrier.

Suddenly, the ground began to rumble. It wasn’t from the carriage wheels. Massive rocks started rising from the earth, and the blackened land began to tinge with a pale gray hue.