The Dawn of the New World

Although the miasma had already covered more than half of the atmosphere, somehow it could not enter the cave area where the Barbarians were huddled up.

Most of the air outside had turned into a thicker gelatinous substance that was hovering a meter or so above ground level. Hao Xuan used his shield to push through them and trudged along the surface, going to one barbarian after another.

But he did not forget to visit any pits that were in the way either. Although not every single one had the golden teardrop crystals, by the time he reached Iska, Hao Xuan had managed to collect five of them and stored them away in Baracus's storage space so as not to bring any unwanted attention.

With his body in close to perfect condition, it was quite an easy task to accomplish especially with the help of Burak's shield. One by one Hao Xuan brought the unconscious barbarians back to the cave entrance, out of which only Isak was still somehow able to stand on his own.

Hao Xuan didn't know if he was just being obstinate or he just hated Hao Xuan's guts, but Isak did not readily accept his help. Only after did he pass Burak's shield over to him did he trust Hao Xuan's words and forcibly walked back while Hao Xuan guided him.

But while Hao Xuan was busy moving the barbarians, neither he nor anyone else noticed the strange things happening in the background. The withered old white trees that lined the entire surface had started moving.

At first it was only just a few inches but the more the miasma spread and the thicker it grew, the larger their movements became until even Hao Xuan noticed the peculiarity through the yellow screen that surrounded him.

The lightning bolts had almost stopped. There was one every 30 to 40 seconds if even that.

When Hao Xuan crossed the halfway mark with Isak in tow which was where the first barbarian had melted into a puddle, he came to an abrupt stop. The entire path in front of them was blocked by multiple rows of white trees.

"Why did you stop?" Isak's uncertain and somewhat displeased voice came from behind. He was holding onto Hao Xuan's shoulder while walking behind him and ended up running into his back.

Hao Xuan's eyes narrowed into slits as he surveyed the area ahead.

'Did I get turned around?' Hao Xuan's first thought was that maybe he had gone the wrong way but upon noticing the melted remains of the barbarian to his right, he became attentive.

'No, it's the right way, then how...?' he didn't even have to finish that line of thought before getting the answer. His gaze was attracted to the base of the trees where he saw something move from the corner of his eye.

Hao Xuan stared where they were connected with the ground without even blinking until he saw what was behind that earlier movement.

There was a face at the base of one of the trees. It rotated its 'head' which was the bottom of the tree itself when it thought Hao Xuan wasn't looking and peered towards him, meeting Hao Xuan's unfaltering gaze.

For a second, both it and Hao Xuan were frozen stiff. The tree because it was not expecting Hao Xuan to be looking in its direction and Hao Xuan because...well, a fucking tree was looking at him with black eyes and a wide smiling mouth.

Hao Xuan hadn't even processed what he was already seeing when multiple white tentacle-like veiny roots popped out of the ground and the tree stood up.

The very base of the tree trunk was a face from the side of which all the roots were coming out off. It shook away the black dirt that filled the crevices of its extremely human face and stared right into Hao Xuan's eyes in silence.

If it didn't open its mouth, Hao Xuan would not even be able to tell it was dangerous. He would have considered it to be some sort of a tree spirit or something similar based solely on the face because it actually looked so human.

Only when it opened its gullet that was twice the size of the rest of the head and lined with sharp triangular teeth similar to those of a shark, did Hao Xuan wake up from his dazed state.

Feeling the movements of the first, a moment later most of the other trees 'woke' up as well.

They all had identical features, neither masculine nor feminine. Depending on the angle one could call them with either pronoun, not that it would be a smart idea. Just one look at their faces was enough to fill Hao Xuan's heart with an unsettling feeling.

These things observed what he was doing and waited to cut him off at the very last juncture. They were smart enough to know when the best time to strike was.

Hao Xuan craned his neck left and right until he caught a glimpse of the cave entrance behind them. It should be no more than 60 meters away but from the looks of it, it was slowly being blocked by the miasma.

"Human! Tell me what is going on!" Isak asked again, this time much louder than before.

Hao Xuan let out an anxious sigh, 'Can you fight still?'