Elemental Cats

The Rat King sensed Hugh and his, in comparison to everything else on the plane, body filled with mana and rich vitality. Despite not even seeing the dust cloud that followed the Rat King, Hugh felt a chill run down his spine when the King looked in his direction. For some reason, Hugh instinctively knew that the Rat King was targeting him. Whether it was the weight of the gaze locked on to him or something else was irrelevant.

When up against the Rat King, it would be better to accept the instinct as truth instead of disregarding it and luring the Rat King to his squad. While the Forest Janitors had excellent teamwork and would frequently subdue enemies with greater individual strength than themselves, they wouldn't get the chance to properly prepare against the Rat King, an enemy described as making numbers meaningless, regardless of whatever type of teamwork was used.

Hugh hadn't heard much from the messenger, but one thing that she had been told to make certain Hugh understood was to not fight against the Rat King. Even if the situation worsens and he has no choice, drag out the fight as much as possible. Don't try and go for the kill and needlessly waste energy. The Rat King won't die, but Hugh will, and in death, help the Rat King grow stronger.

Surrounded by a forest, Hugh was confident that even if he couldn't defeat the Rat King, he could at least stall it and help his Janitors evacuate before fleeing. If Hugh were to group up with his Janitors and try to force a fight, he might instead lead them to their doom and give the Rat King enough strength to easily take him down as well.

From his understanding of the Scorched Earth Rats, fighting the Rat King in the forest might also provide it with some form of nourishment, but Hugh didn't have a choice as he would most likely need the buffs fighting among trees gave him.

The symbol of his inclination shone on his right bicep as he summoned a lumberjack's tree-felling axe with the same appearance as the symbol on his arm. Aside from the head being of wood instead of metal, it looked exactly like an ordinary axe with a slightly curved blade and a handle almost a meter long.

Hugh's inclination could be said to be better suited for work as a lumberjack since he trained his mana by felling trees, but Hugh had seen it differently. Just swinging away at ordinary low level trees won't help him reach higher levels, for that special trees are needed. And the best place to find rare trees is in the wilderness. With that background, Hugh had started working as an explorer, and eventually, he ended up as the leader of a small squad calling themselves the Forest Janitors.

There were a few ups and downs along the way, and while Hugh was currently in a slump as his mana training hadn't proceeded smoothly in a while, overall, it had been one hell of a journey. He had found a few interesting trees that greatly strengthened the axe in his hands, but nothing really extraordinary, nothing that would shock everyone, not just a tree freak like him.

Part of wanting to find special trees was to get stronger purely in terms of mana levels, but also because his axe absorbed the qualities of every tree he chopped down. Felling a really sturdy tree would make his axe slightly more rigid, and a softer tree would add some flexibility.

In the beginning, a single tree could change almost his entire axe, but as time passed and he felled more trees, he needed to fell even more of a single type to acquire those qualities, unless the tree was a lot stronger than himself or possessed extraordinary abilities.

Felling high level trees were difficult, not only because of the powers of the tree itself but also because of the area they could be found living in. Not a single high level tree would happily live in a low, or mid level plane where the density of mana is so low. But both Hugh and his squad were too weak to freely explore high level planes and danger areas, so he was forced to settle for quantity over quality for the time being.

However, if Hugh could find and sell a valuable treasure, then use those funds to help strengthen his squad, he could reduce the time he needed to wait before he could continue growing stronger. That would have been optimal, but instead, Hugh was forced to give up the hunt for the treasure and would instead engage in a fight with a beast that had the middle names 'Calamity' and 'Disastrous.'

As an unofficial lumberjack, Hugh got his power from the trees, and as he stood in front of the forest tightly gripping his axe while awaiting the Rat King, he felt the support the forest gave him. He felt full of energy. His muscles were tightening as they filled with strength and he could more accurately feel the flow of the world surrounding him. There was also intangible emotional support stemming from the trees' wishing for his success.

While trees rooting for someone chopping them down on the regular might seem weird, a forest too dense won't thrive, and if it can't maintain itself, someone else needs to. As long as Hugh controlled himself, all he was doing was trimming the forest. Cutting a few trees down in order to let the remaining ones prosper.

While the trees weren't actively thinking, Hugh's inclination interpreted the world through mana and, like magic, manifested it in various ways. The forest was part of the world and could, in some sense, despite not being conscious, know what would happen if the Rat King rampaged unchecked. The forest could also tell that Hugh was going to try and stop that Rat King.

With the forest at his back and the axe in his hands, Hugh stood ready to face the Scorched Earth Rat King.

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