"Hmm... sorry!"
Only then did Rujierd come to his senses.
A rare hint of embarrassment appeared on his face.
Under Rujierd's lead, the four cautiously approached.
They headed toward the location of the "Demon Wood" he had sensed.
It was a stretch of low stone pillars, with oddly shaped gray rocks scattered among them.
The group soon spotted their target:
-a tree whose color blended almost perfectly with the surrounding rocks.
It looked like a strange tree that had died and turned to stone.
It was indeed the "Demon Wood" Rujierd had mentioned earlier.
(Demon Woods were monsters formed from trees.)
(Any tree that absorbed excessive magic power, mutated, and began attacking people was collectively known as a Demon Wood.)
(Demon Woods were further divided into many varieties.)
(First were small Demon Woods, whose presence had been confirmed all over the world.)
(These were monsters formed from young trees.)
(They generally mimicked ordinary trees and attacked humans.)
(They were neither strong nor fast. Even an ordinary adult man without extensive training could chop one down with an axe.)
(If a small Demon Wood absorbed nutrients from the Fairy Spring in the Great Forest, however, they would transform into a monster called an Elder Demon Wood.)
(The Fairy Spring contained an extremely high concentration of magic power.)
(It was said that this power allowed Elder Demon Woods to use water magic.)
(There were many other varieties as well, including Large Demon Woods formed from large trees and Zombie Demon Woods formed from dead trees.)
This "Demon Wood" stood about three or four meters tall, with a thick trunk and a rocky, gray-black exterior.
Several equally petrified branches jutted out at twisted angles.
A faint, dark red glow flowed through the cracks in his petrified bark.
"He's coming!" Sylphy warned in a