The tips of my hair could feel the heavy weight of the pillar pressed against them. Even though it wasn’t over us yet, I could just imagine the crushing sensation from the gravity magic and knew that I would not survive.

What happened next was not an instant idea or master plan but simply my body reacting in a manner to try and survive. I put my arms around Ojorr’s neck and my feet around his waist, trapping the gargoyle on me.

“W-what are you—“

I then headbutted the gargoyle as hard as I could, breaking the skin of my forehead and causing it to bleed. As Ojorr was in disarray I forcefully dragged him and myself to the deeper parts of the lake. The water was cold and pretty deep and I made sure to take as much air as possible before going in.

Thanks to this random movement my body was able to avoid being crushed by the gravity pillars. The water itself took the brunt of the gravity first spreading out as the pillar touched it. 

“THERE!”

That moment. That moment was enough as I was under the pillar and acted immediately. I threw the White Needle to the very top and it smashed against the orb of gravity. The orb evaporated like a cloud and the pillar faded away from existence. 

I was saved from the fate of being turned into Baxter Ale: The Flat Null, sadly my troubles were far from over.

“Ouch!”

I yelped in pain as Ojorr grabbed the back of my neck with his hand his long black nails digging into my flesh. Picking me up like a stuffed toy the male gargoyle flew up to the sky and then spun around at intense speed. He then threw me to the other side of Eden where I ricocheted off of multiple trees and bounced off of the ground.

After tasting a family-size pie of dirt I got up to see I was far from Ojorr and near the edge of a cliff where there was a long river and a loud waterfall.

“Damn…how big is this place?”

“BAXTER!”

Hearing the booming voice of Ojorr I immediately got into battle position…but then screamed when I realized I no longer had the White Needle in my hands.

“SHIT!”

“TAKE THIS!”

The energetic face of Ojorr spawned right in front of me, his left hand holding his greatsword and his right hand holding a glowing orb that swirled with the colors of purple and blue.

“Gravity Magic: Atelia’s Wall!”

Ojorr then threw the ball to the ground which then immediately sprouted up into a see-through purple wall. I was unlucky enough to catch a devastating uppercut to the chin as the wall was coming up from the ground. While I was in the air for that split second, the gargoyle flew up to me again and then slashed me across the stomach with his sword which I could not block or avoid.

Blood flew from the wound where I was hit and then I fell to the river below. Ignoring the searing pain of my wounded chest I swam up to the surface and made contact with the land from the right side.

“This is some bullshit!” I cursed as I started to run. “I need to get the White Needle back!”

“Nowhere to run my friend!”

The maddened gargoyle warrior descended upon me, his sword emitting a dark force of aura.

“Gravity Magic: Nyx’s Cradle!”

With a downward slash, pitch-black energy was fired right at me. I managed to move out of the way but Ojorr would not let up as he continued to launch continuous magical slash attacks in my path.

“O-Ojorr! Time out! Time out!”

I yelled as I was running for my life.

“I don’t have my weapon! Let me get it first!”

“You are the one who threw it away my friend!” Ojorr shouted. “Do not be a sore loser and fight back!”

“I can’t fight back without a weapon you dumbass!”

I then grabbed a rock from the ground and threw it directly at Ojorr’s eye with great precision. The gargoyle grabbed his one eyeball and screamed in agony. Thanks to him doing that his attack had stopped and I took the chance to climb up the cliff and run back to where I was before.

However, I found it hard to pinpoint where me and Ojorr were fighting previously due to the Garden of Eden being far bigger than anticipated. 

“Oh come on! Why is it so big in here!?”

As I was passing through multiple trees I could see something running alongside. At first, I grumbled in annoyance believing it was Ojorr but to my surprise, it wasn’t him nor Gnavu.

It was a third individual that I did not expect. A naked woman with pale green skin and long green hair that was made of grass and vines that bloomed multiple beautiful flowers. Her gorgeous ruby eyes made me stop in my tracks.

“W-who the hell are you!?”

Instead of responding with words, the naked woman let out an ugly inhuman roar while jumping right towards me like a lion attacking its prey. I easily managed to dodge but the wound from Ojorr’s attack burned as I moved recklessly.

“Hey! Is that how you do first impressions!?”

The naked woman paid me no mind and repeated the same motion of trying to jump on me. Each time I moved out of the way with little effort the woman would fall to the ground hurting herself while rolling in the dirt. A part of me felt bad but in the end, the lady was doing it to herself.

“Look, I don’t know what you want but—“

Out of nowhere, a giant orange flower sprouted on the top of my head.

“…Huh?”

My body felt like sand that was ready to crumble and I fell straight to my knees while moaning in tiredness.

“W-what’s going on…my body is…”

The naked woman then roared again as jumped towards me and spin-kicked me right across the face. I did not feel pain as the attack landed but my body was easily flown to the right side where I smashed against a tree.

Standing over and letting out what I believed was a roar of victory, I could see the naked woman staring down at me with intense hatred.

“W-who…what are…”

“This is the Dryad of the Forest…or I guess the technical term is Dryads?”

Slowly tilting my head back I could see Gnavu walking up to me and the Dryad with folded arms and blank expressions.

“Their seeds were embedded within the whip and using my time magic I was able to revert them back to the point and time when they were alive.”

“H-how did you…your time magic is that powerful?”

Gnavu shook her head.

“Do not misunderstand Baxter, my time magic is not strong enough to revert the time of beings with free wills but the Dryads of Eden were simply beings who were born from Yggdrasil and used as guinea pigs for the elves' magical experiments. In the end, they are no different from soulless toys.”

“Yggdrasil…what the hell is that?”

“…I see…you know nothing. After all, it is information that the elves themselves never relayed to any of the other races.”

I could hear the rustling noise of the leaves all over. And then coming into view were almost a hundred Dryads in different sizes and forms but they were all naked and stunning women with red eyes.

I could hear the rustling noise of the leaves all over. And then coming into view were almost a hundred Dryads in different sizes and forms but they were all naked and stunning women with red eyes.

“It is time you learned about the World Tree. The First Magic, Baxter. Maybe with this knowledge, you will reveal the truth to you…the truth that you stand no chance…”