Episode 185: False Green Tree
With the sound of blades beating the air, a tiltrotor aircraft hovers.
There is no noticeable movement within the Fairy Circle below.
“FC Survey Team, commencing airborne descent.”
From the tiltrotor aircraft, hovering at an altitude of about 100 meters, four quadrupedal, two-armed machines (Jumpers) leaped.
The Jumpers extended their six limbs to stabilize their falling posture, while briefly firing gas to reduce their descent speed.
Since unnecessary functions have been stripped away to reduce weight, even a small gas burst provides sufficient acceleration.
“Four Jumpers have landed on the ground without issue.”
Using their limbs, which are longer compared to their torsos, skillfully, they absorbed the impact of landing.
The Jumper unit landed on the lush green grassland.
“No mobile reactions. No anomalies detected in heat sources.”
“Should we start by circling around?”
“Yes, Ma’am. After securing the area, we will release a drone equipped with a Maso Meter. As this is a site with non-scientifically significant changes, we hope to discover some kind of difference.”
From the recorded reactions of the Maso Meter, it has been confirmed that some kind of particle or energy phenomenon called Maso exhibits varying concentrations.
Generally, the closer to the ground, the higher the concentration, and even at the same altitude, there are variations in concentration depending on the location.
Even in the same location, the concentration may change over time.
Although the accuracy is not great, it is an unknown measuring device called a Maso Meter.
The reproducibility of the observation results has also been firmly confirmed.
“No abnormalities. FC Survey Team, commencing patrol.”
After landing, the four Jumpers, which had been gathering information about the surrounding area, began to move.
Starting from almost the exact center of the Fairy Circle, they expanded their scanning range in a swirling pattern.
“There don’t seem to be any particular abnormalities in the plant species either. All plants have been confirmed in the Demon Forest. No abnormalities in passive Sonar. No noteworthy reactions in the infrared detectors.”
They walked around a range of about 5 meters in diameter, conducting their survey.
Other than the problem of the rapid growth rate of the plants, no obvious abnormalities were discovered.
“Deploying stationary composite sensors.”
Sensors were dropped from the tiltrotor aircraft above. The freely falling sensors drove anchors at their base into the ground using their own weight, and extended stabilizing legs to secure themselves.
“Sensors have completed fixation. Commencing information gathering.”
Stationary sensors were dropped into the area where safety had been secured for the time being, and more detailed information gathering was started.
“No suspicious movements within a 50-meter radius… Let’s move the Jumpers.”
“Yes, Ma’am. FC Survey Team, commencing independent movement.”
Since it was confirmed by sensor information that there were no threats in the surrounding area, the four Jumpers were moved in separate directions.
“What I particularly want to confirm is this tree that is growing rapidly within the Fairy Circle. Several trees of the same species have been confirmed on the outer periphery as well.”
“Is it because it grew so quickly? The trunk is green.”
“Yes, Ma’am. From the characteristics of the tree shape, it is thought to be a tall tree similar to the beech family. It is a species that can be commonly confirmed in the Demon Forest.”
The trunk, or rather the bark, hardens and turns brown over time. Young branches have not had enough time to pass, so their epidermis is also green.
This rapidly growing tree that they were currently observing had only been around for about a week.
Therefore, although it had grown into a fairly thick trunk, the entire thing retained a green color.
It had a rather strange appearance.
“Hmm… I couldn’t quite picture it just from hearing about it…”
“Seeing it as a video, it has the characteristics you mentioned.”
“That’s right. I thought it was obvious to say ‘a green tree,’ but this is what it means.”
She (Eve) was referring to the story of a fairly famous and troublesome monster in the Demon Forest that had come up during information gathering in North End City.
“Shall we take a shot at it?”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
The name of the monster was False Green Tree (Trent).
It was a rather special monster, said to be a tree that had become a monster and started engaging in predatory activities.
“FC Survey Team, FC-1 will approach the target.”
Equipping one of the Jumpers with a metal mace on its work arm, they approached the Trent.
The remaining three Jumpers stood ready with Multi-Stage Electromagnetic Cannons (Coilguns) at a slight distance, so that they could respond immediately if anything happened.
As the Jumper approached to a certain extent, there was a rustling sound of leaves.
“Wind speed is less than 1m/s. Almost no wind can be confirmed.”
“I see?”
The leaves rustled even though there was no wind.
In other words, the branches moved by some kind of force.
The Jumper approached further.
The moment its torso entered under the tree crown.
The surrounding branches lunged at the Jumper, embracing it towards the trunk.
The command AI in the transport aircraft waiting in the sky was closely observing the situation.
It manipulated the Jumper, reacting instantly.
It struck the branches away with the raised metal mace.
At the same time, it braced its four legs and retreated from the attack range.
However, its movement was obstructed by tree roots that sprang out from the ground.
The Jumper had a lightweight structure, so its weight was much smaller than it looked.
The tree roots became entangled in the legs that were touching the ground, causing it to lose its balance.
Even so, the Jumper’s mobility was high.
Using gas injection, it forcefully retreated while still in a collapsed posture.
At the same time, it swung the metal mace around to regain its balance.
Twisting its body, it moved away from the False Green Tree (Trent), jumping as its name suggested.
“Wow! The tree really moves!”
“It is unknown why it can move. It looks no different from a tree, and no heat source like muscle tissue can be confirmed.”
The Trent was a tree monster.
According to the information they had gathered, if it was cut down, it could be used as lumber just like a normal tree.
There was also a Magic Stone inside its body, and removing or destroying this would stop its activity.
However, defeating a Trent that attacked with branches and tree roots was not easy.
The easiest way to defeat it was to penetrate the trunk with a powerful blow and accurately crush the Magic Stone, but only a small number of Adventurers could do that.
Normally, people would detour to avoid being attacked.
Therefore, Trent materials were extremely rare.
“There are three other trees that appear to be Trents. Since the characteristics match, we will assume they are Trents. Setting a safe operating range. Deploying Maso Meter drones.”
After securing safety, they released drones equipped with Maso Meters.
They formed a spherical formation with drones for protection, and placed the Maso Meter-equipped drone in the center.
This way, even if some kind of attack was carried out, the outermost drones would be the first to be damaged.
“Commencing measurement reaction recording.”
By analyzing the vibration width of the Maso Meter, they could record the approximate concentration of Maso as a spatial concentration.
It was a preliminary approach to see if there were any changes in Maso within the Fairy Circle.
“The Maso concentration inside the Demon Forest originally fluctuates, but the changes here are remarkable.”
“Is that so?”
＜Ringo＞ displayed a three-dimensional concentration distribution map for the Commander (Mum)’s explanation. The concentration of Maso was converted into the color transparency for each measurement spatial point.
When the measurements taken at another location were compared with the measurement results within the Fairy Circle, the difference was obvious at a glance.
“Within the Fairy Circle, the Maso concentration near the ground tends to be high. Yes, it looks as if Maso is seeping out of the ground. And the Maso concentration around the Trents seems to be lower compared to the surroundings.”
“Oh, that’s true. We can’t say for sure yet because the sample size is small…”
“We can speculate that there is some kind of relationship between monsters and Maso concentration.”
While they were talking about this and observing the progress of the survey.
“Slime generation confirmed.”
“Eh, seriously?”
The all-round camera of the stationary composite sensor recorded the appearance of a Slime that oozed out of the ground.