It happened too fast and out of the blue.
The chief of the Brownie and Gnome village was enjoying some wine at night while looking at the stars while awaiting the return of the heroes that had gone to stop cultists that went into the underground of the forest.
He knew they would get the job done, after all they had rescued that Player lass and even defeated an enormous group of incredibly strong Drakon, powerful Dragon-type monsters nobody could have ever hoped to defeat.
And their feats extended to saving the Fairy Kingdom and defeating the Three Miasmic Monster Kings, the Spider Queen, the Shadow Crow King, and the Mushroom King. The chief kept having faith on them.
However, as time went by, they continued to take longer and longer to come back. He began thinking that the worst could have happened. And when he walked outside the house to take a look at the beautiful night sky, he noticed the grass he was stepping over had dried out.
Then, as he continued looking around, the flowers were dry, the grass was dead, and whatever vegetation remained alive turned of a deep black and purple color, emanating a strange, toxic and foul stench.
And then, he heard the sound of wood twisting and moving.
Slowly looking behind him, he found the tree that was right behind his house moving out of the ground.
Its roots were like insect-like legs, and it gained the face of a screaming person over its bark.
The leaves turned deep dark green, and the bark black as the night.
And the groan of a soul whining in pain echoed from within the stretched mouth of the moving tree.
"A-A Monster Tree?! W-What the-"
The tree attacked the chief without hesitation! Trees, something people of this forest always thought were their guardians, corrupted by Miasma, turned themselves against the inhabitants of their forest.
The chief rolled over the floor; his arm dislocated by the blow. He gritted his teeth as he relocated his arm with the other.
The Treant rushed towards him with utter fury!
"I don't know what's going on but… EVERYONE! WAKE UP! MONSTERS INFILTRATED THE VILLAGE!"
At the same time as the chief screamed, several Brownies and Gnomes rushed outside their houses, armed with weapons! Perhaps they were caught off guard with the Drakon, but if they have lived inside a forest filled with monsters for so long, it was rather obvious they would need to be always prepared!
"The trees…! They're walking around!"
"Careful don't get closer to them!"
"Kill them! Use fire!"
The people quickly began fighting as more trees that were planted inside the village gained a malicious amount of vitality and started crawling around and attacking people!
Meanwhile, the chief used his Magic and his Magic Weapon, a small hammer he used to make magic items, to fight against the monstrous Treant that attacked him!
"Blacksmith Magic: Furnace Hammer!"
His hammer suddenly blazed with the fiery flames of his furnace, as he smashed the Treant in the face just as it got closer to him!
Flames quickly took over the entire creature, as it began squirming in agony in the floor.
The chief jumped over the beast without any fear, as a Gnome, he had the bloodline of a Dwarf within him, born warriors that feared no challenges.
CRASH! CRASH! CRAAASH!
The Treant tried fighting back but only managed to scratch the chief's muscular arms, as it burned until it crumbled apart.
"Huh, never thought I would end killing the tree I planted in my backyard so long ago… What in the world is going on?"
He quickly joined everybody while fighting against the Treants. There were roughly over twelve trees inside the village, so everyone was fighting them desperately, but managing!
"What is going on down there? How come the trees became corrupted monsters? Are the heroes… losing?!" The chief wondered.
"Chief!" Rosetta, the brave Brownie guard rushed towards the chief. "What is going on?!"
"I have no idea! Hey, I thought you went with the heroes!" The chief angrily said.
"T-There's no way I would go with them chief…" Sighed Rosetta. "Even as strong as they are, something must be happening down there if the trees started becoming monsters out of the blue- and look at the grass and the flowers we've planted for so long! Also all the crops, everything's dead!"
"I know… this is Miasma, there's Miasma everywhere, it is coming from the soil, the soil's completely corrupted!" The chief complained. "We need to-"
Suddenly, the chief and Rosetta heard a cracking sound, like the sound that glass makes when it begins to shatter.
The two quickly directed their eyes to the source of the cracking sounds…
And found the invisible magic barriers of the village gaining countless cracks all over, as darkness and shadows began seeping through the magic barrier, breaking it slowly.
It was of course… Miasma!
The barrier broke, and the entire village, which had just ended finishing off the last Monster Tree were greeted with an army of them coming from all around them!
"AS THE LORD COMMANDS!"
Not only were they just monstrous, but many of them could also speak, and they were all brainwashed by someone… Someone they called "The Lord".
And only one single being in this world was able to perfectly control Miasma to such an extent as to corrupt the Spirit Trees of this forest and even convert them into intelligent and malicious monsters!
"The Demon King's doing this?!" The chief and Rosetta said at the same time.
"A New Age has begun, you lowly beings! All of you shall be purified by the power of The Lord of Miasma!"
And then, an enormous Tree, bigger than the rest emerged from the crowd, a Greater Miasmic Treant!
Despair quickly took over the hearts of the inhabitants of this village.