Byron initially thought that this attack was an odd occurrence due to a bizarre incident.

Given the outstanding Fourth Order level of the [Wrath of Nature], it didn’t seem like a natural achievement; at most, he guessed it was another Old God Cult, like the Abaddon Secret Teachings, quietly causing trouble behind the scenes.

He was currently at a crucial moment in negotiating the Kalmar Union and the North Sea Empire, so all actions needed to prioritize this matter.

Even if a few colonizers from the Eastern Continent showed up, he could always deal with them as they come.

But a few words from the other party made Byron realize that these people were far from the ragtag band he suspected; they were quietly planning something big right in his backyard.

Flapping...

He immediately commanded the Raven to flap its wings and arrive at the coastal forest, where he saw a very rudimentary camp.

The main component of the camp was a small treehouse formed by an automatically growing oak tree, without a campfire or food supplies, barely better than a woodsman’s shack, just enough to shield from wind and rain.

Inside the hut were three peculiar beings with bark draped over them, or rather, they appeared like treants themselves, with rough bark replacing human skin.

They were half-tree, half-human, with broad tree roots and branches instead of limbs, and a face with many grooves at the top of the trunk, adorned with lush green leaves.

They looked even more like twisted grotesques than the [Wrath of Nature].

Judging by their build, two were more robust, and one was relatively slender, suggesting two males and one female.

One male and the female were Fourth Order Mythical Creatures, while the last male treant, standing at the back as an attendant, was Third Order.

Within a kilometer radius of the treehouse, the forest was filled with rustling, clearly caused by their controlled insects, beasts, and demon monsters, acting as sentinels against foreign enemies.

The defensive work was extremely thorough. If not for Byron’s personal visit, even other Fourth Order subordinates wouldn’t be able to track them down.

Byron’s heart stirred:

"Is this the legendary Mythical Creature [Oak Sage]? Originally human, eventually turning themselves into trees through rituals.

Their lifestyle, nutritional sources, living conditions, and thought patterns have become vastly different from humans.

Instead of saying this organization protects nature as a righteous cause, it’s more about safeguarding their own interests, the interests of trees."

Trefoil Island is the second-largest island in the Strait Islands, second only to the main island, Rose Island, and though it’s a small place in the vast Dragon Court, it holds a very long history.

Byron, using [Underworld Authority], had broadly toured the collective subconscious of this land, uncovering many ancient legends and secrets sealed by the Church.

For instance, the name of the quasi-legendary warship [Royal Oak Number] originates from an ancient extreme environmentalist organization from this mythological era—the "Druid Sect."

This tree-like Mythical Creature is called [Oak Sage], proficient in various natural witchcraft, widely distributed across the Strait Islands. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

When the Great Red Dragon Abaddon ruled this place, this organization was notorious for relying on the forest to continually attack human towns.

Initially, there existed a relatively moderate branch among them, like the "Balance Faction," which believed in seeking balance between humans and nature, to live in harmony and develop together.

After all, humans and everything they created are also part of nature.

However, in the last hundred years of the Mythological Era, as the tides kept rising, the god they worshipped, the one tightly anchored to nature, adhering strictly to the natural way but never promoting the development of human followers, the [God of Abundance], [The Horned One] Sarnanos, was the first to fall into imbalance, descending into the chaotic beastly side.

A neutral deity, once indifferent to worldly affairs, fell overnight into the core henchman of the Sea of Origin Matter invading the Material World.

The deity’s followers naturally became more and more extreme, with the Balance Faction quickly vanishing, leaving only the Nature Supremacy Sect, which believed in the survival of the fittest and environmental supremacy.

As a group of extreme environmentalists, they revered a world where humans no longer use fire, no longer cultivate, no longer breed, no longer select superior species, or do anything against natural laws.

They aimed to revert all intelligent beings back to the most primitive Old Stone Age.

It’s apparent that this Old God Sect somehow made a comeback to their homeland from a thousand years ago.

During their head-on collision with the Industrial Revolution, they immediately became staunch opponents of the kingdom’s industrialization.

And the means they used were not protests or roadblocks, nor extorting a gold pound in the name of environmentalism, but directly resorting to violence and murder!

This was something Byron absolutely couldn’t tolerate.

With his newly attained Fifth Order, he relied on the Raven, which even a pseudo-god of the same order couldn’t detect, and landed directly atop the treehouse.

He peered inside through the gaps between the branches.

Aside from the three [Oak Sages], there was also a moth-sized, abstract white moth person, who had just reprimanded the Druid Sect for their reckless actions.

The male Oak Sage called Stuart evidently did not believe he was in the wrong.

Confronted with the accusation, he immediately retorted coldly:

"I am adhering to the natural way of my lord, the [God of Abundance], [The Horned One] Sarnanos.

When my lord returns, they will behold a pristine Trefoil Island Divine Domain.

This place rightfully belongs to my lord, throughout the entire mythological era, it was a tug-of-war with the Great Red Dragon Abaddon, and mortal beings as the ruled have no right to pollute this land."