In a remote corner of the Chaos Forest, a seemingly ordinary deer cautiously navigated through the undergrowth, vigilantly watching for danger. Suddenly, a fierce tiger roar echoed through the forest, and a tiger larger than a buffalo pounced in front of the deer, its massive claws poised to tear the deer apart. It was a typical scene of the survival of the fittest in the great forest.
However, something strange happened. Just as the tiger's claws were about to strike the deer, the deer transformed into a burst of light and stood up, effortlessly blocking the tiger's paw with one hand. The tiger, taken aback, didn't have time to react before it was enveloped in a gray light. Its body instantly shriveled and withered, eventually turning to dust.
"Even a tiny insect dares to strike at me? You're unlucky to have encountered me," said the Hero Jason with a cold laugh.
Looking around, he mumbled to himself, "This must be the Chaos Forest. It's really difficult to sneak in here."
Jason was not just any ordinary Hero; he was one of the most trusted subordinates of the Prophet of Doom. His strength, while slightly inferior to that of the Formless Sword Saint Satoru Sato, wasn't far off either. Jason was also a Level 6 mythic hero, ranked 514 on the Hero leaderboard, just under 20 ranks behind Satoru Sato.
Jason belonged to the Dark Elves, a subrace of the elves. His class was that of a Fallen Druid. Druids are a type of mage that specializes in nature-based magic, proficient in various transformation, shapeshifting, summoning, and control skills. Typically, they lack strong direct combat abilities, missing a range of offensive spells.
Fallen Druids, also known as Dark Druids, were a divergent path from traditional druids. Not all druids could evolve into fallen druids---only a select few with strong power, high ranks, and innate talents in undead or dark magic could potentially become one. Unlike regular druids, fallen druids were also dark and necromantic mages. They integrated dark and undead magic with druidic natural magic, turning the typically benign druid spells into something malevolent and vicious.
Within the elven community, Fallen Druids were considered traitors. This was something the elves could not tolerate or accept, as their relentless pursuit of power was seen as a desecration of the Goddess of Nature, leading them to be despised by all followers of natural deities.
Jason's identity was far from simple. He was one of the leading figures in a dark organization known as the "Cult of the Inevitable End," recognized as the most powerful Fallen Druid known. Like Satoru Sato who was honored with the title of the Formless Sword Saint and Primo who was revered as the Prophet of Doom, Jason had his own notorious moniker, "The Plague Master." This title was earned because he had orchestrated several large-scale plagues.
About fifty years ago, offended by a prince of a kingdom, Jason had unleashed a massive plague in retaliation, indiscriminately killing tens of millions, pushing that kingdom to the brink of collapse. The desperate king had no choice but to execute his own son to appease Jason and beg for his forgiveness.
Such an act was something even a mighty Level 7 entity like Primo could hardly achieve. While Jason might not possess strength equal to Sato's, his level of danger was certainly no less significant. Sato, for all his power, could at most directly eliminate tens of thousands, maybe a hundred thousand people. But Jason, as a Fallen Druid, could effortlessly wipe out millions or even theoretically devastate an entire empire, leading billions to ruin. This was what made Jason so terrifying!
Jason had two main objectives for coming here. The first was to investigate the situation in the Demon King's capital city, and the second was to use his abilities to spread a plague, attempting to create chaos within the Demon King's forces from within.
However, the current Chaos Forest was truly a perilous place, a veritable den of terrifying and powerful entities. Even Satoru Sato had perished at the hands of the Demon King. If Jason were to confront the Demon King, given his strength, he would undoubtedly perish. His stealthy infiltration here was exceedingly dangerous.
Yet, Jason did not panic. The reason he dared to venture in was that he had confidence in his own abilities. As a druid, Jason excelled in disguise, transformation, infiltration, and various specialized emergency survival techniques. He believed that even if he accidentally revealed himself, he could at least escape.
The defenses of Chaos Forest were exceedingly strict. Jason discovered that the entire forest was enveloped by a massive barrier. This vast barrier not only protected the entire Chaos Forest, regulating its environmental climate and defending against external attacks but also had the capability to detect the intrusion of external targets. For those below the Level 6, stealth tactics were essentially ineffective. Fortunately, Jason was a Level 6 mythic druid with superior skills in transformation and disguise, allowing him to enter disguised as a small animal and temporarily evade this formidable super barrier.
Jason had finally infiltrated the area. "To avoid detection during reconnaissance," he thought, "I'd better release the plague first!"
His main mission was to scout the Demon King's capital city to understand the Demon King's strength and the city's defenses, among other details. This mission was fraught with danger, and Jason wasn't entirely sure he could pull it off undetected. If discovered, his priority would be to escape, potentially leaving no time for other actions. Thus, he immediately activated his domain ability.
"Pestilence Sanctuary!"
Jason's domain enveloped a small area around him, and utilizing the power of his domain, he initiated his special summoning skill.
"Plague rats, arise!"
The ground beneath Jason's feet churned, and numerous inconspicuous rats, no larger than the size of a palm, were summoned from the gray soil. While individually weak, each rat glowed with red eyes and was wrapped in a terrifying aura. With a thought from Jason, the plague rats were released. They left the domain and entered the nearby forest, spreading at an alarming rate, continuously being created and dispersed into every corner of the forest.
These rats might seem insignificant, but each one carried a highly contagious plague, enhanced with extremely malevolent, high-level Fallen Druid magic. As tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of these plague rats actively spread the disease, it wouldn't take a week for the plague to pervade the main regions of the Chaos Forest. By then, the entire area would be a landscape of pestilence---a grotesque disaster. The native tribes of the forest wouldn't even realize what was happening before succumbing to the disease. Moreover, this epidemic had the potential to decimate the majority of the living beings in the Chaos Forest.
Jason's summoning of the plague rats was highly secretive. Due to the presence of his mythic sanctuary, the outside world couldn't detect any magical fluctuations. Only after successfully deploying millions of these sources of infection did he finally deactivate his sanctuary.
"Excellent!" Jason was exceedingly proud of himself. "No matter how strong this Demon King is, he has no counter to my tactics! It won't be long before the plague fills this place. I'd like to see how many he can save!"
In the past, such tactics had always been foolproof for Jason, never failing. He believed this time would be no exception. However, just as he was basking in his satisfaction, an enraged voice erupted.
"Who is it? Who dares to pollute the great Chaos Forest?"
Simultaneously, the earth began to surge, and countless roots burst from the ground, rapidly entwining toward him.
Jason was shocked, "Treants?"
It turned out that the attackers were indeed treants, or rather, ents. The nearby ents had sensed the large number of plague rats and easily pinpointed Jason. The Demon King's forest guardians, arranged throughout the Chaos Forest, played a crucial role at this moment, which was unexpected.
Otherwise, if the plague had spread without their knowledge, even the Demon King would have found it troubling.
"What's going on?" Jason was utterly perplexed. "Why are there treants in the Chaos Forest? The intelligence provided by the empire had no mention of this!"
Before he could react further, the ents launched a second wave of attacks. Simultaneously, using their psychic ability for remote communication, the ents rapidly spread the alarm throughout the forest, ensuring that the entire forest was alerted in no time. The speed of their response was something the Fallen Druid had never anticipated. He had not realized that the Chaos Forest was full of ents, deeply hidden. Once alerted, there would be no place for him to hide.