The beings came from all around, some clawed their way out of the dirt under their feet, some formed out of the wood that had once belonged to the trees, some, the bigger ones, simply appeared, walking out of nowhere, as if they had left behind a unclosed curtain between the universe itself, and others, very rarely, seemed to be formed out of the water itself, though that illusion was soon shattered when Cades and the archer could distinguish that all of these beings were made of wood and those that had come from the previously untouched, beautiful river were covered in the algae that were visibly nowhere else in the river, but all of them were looking towards them, all of them were mindless and yet, they didn't attack, they all stared at them with orange glowing eyes but they didn't move, not anymore, it was as if they were waiting for something.
The archer, stunned, quickly put on all of the layers of his clothes that he had previously left behind because of his fear of a new battle, but Cades didn't pay it any heed, he was captivated, each of these beings was made with intricate detail, many of them were just skeletons, albeit skeletons of various species, many of which he had never ever seen before, but they all had the same orange, glowing eyes with a bit of yellow in the middle, perhaps their pupils.
Those that had come out of thin air were interestingly enough the most 'normal', they looked like skeletons and just bodies made of wood, perfectly carved in every way, with clothes that were predestined to never truly move, clothes that would never flutter in the wind, clothes that would never wither, though he might've gotten a bit too stuck on the clothes part.
But he wasn't entirely wrong about that either.
Why would they have clothes ?
If, as he assumed, they were monsters, then they wouldn't wear clothes unless it was to make them feel safe, but they obviously didn't feel safe anymore.
There were indeed some theories coming to mind, but for now Cades began analysing the rest of the wooden .. puppets.
Those that had come from the trees were indeed not entirely free, instead they were connected to the roots of the tress through a long root that was connected to their feet, perhaps a weakness, but most likely also a strength seeing as they probably had control of that root and could also use it to heighten themselves up if there was a flying opponent, some of them also had weapons made of the flesh of the trees, or rather just wood.
The weapons looked fragile and as if they could break at any given time but Cades knew that to be false, he wasn't an artificer for nothing, and he definitely knew that those weapons, as fragile as they might look, had magic in their bodies, magic that seemed to emulate something else.
Other than that the wooden creatures that came out of the trees looked similar to those that came out of thin air but were a bit more rooted, their backs and other surfaces were covered in small roots that were moving in the air, different from the clothes of the others, and added on top of that on one of them the torso was almost entirely missing, instead that one looked ancient and had something inside its body that resembled a long-abandoned nest.
They looked abandoned, as if they had once been.. made using magic but had long since lost their purpose, perhaps proven even further by the fact that they, just as Cades and the archer, were stuck in this endless realm, or rather on this very island.
Other than that there were only the aforementioned puppets covered in slimy algae that had stepped from the river, though interestingly enough the algae covering them did not seem as if it had come from the river, and those that had clawed their way out of the ground, and perhaps the most interesting.
Their bodies didn't solely consist of wood but instead consisted of a wooden skeleton covered by the dirt, none of them having any clothes except for one, one that was seemingly still forming its body, a body that seemed to be rather small and already exuded a great deal of power, on the other hand the others had already completely generated their bodies and were standing ready, covered by the flesh of the island, the dirt under their feet.
But that didn't last for long, for they were simply waiting for them to make the first move, and the archer, startled and worried as he himself was only at the 27th order, or a demi-lord level now mad a desperate first attack without analysing anything.
Interestingly enough the archer didn't have any trouble when he was suing magic, or rather actives, while the current Cades could barely even infuse his own body and enhance it using mana, a practice that had saved his life an innumerable number of times.
On the other hand Cades also soon registered that he had no problems using his active as well, perhaps it was because they were ingrained in the body and didn't have to be conjured using the mind and forcing mana to move, mana that was currently unmoving and had even partially retreated from its eternal position in the muscles were it would normally cause the natural strength gained from advancing through the ranks.
The archer instantly pulled out the silver bow, though it now looked different, more so like a normal bow but completely silver and slightly shining, and shot a arrow that the had infused with some kind of active, from the looks of it probably a fire-active to burn the wood.
But it was of no use, as the arrow only took one of the dozens of creatures.. lives.. and the others started moving in as the price for that.