After taking some time to recover my mana, we made a few more jumps using [Mass Teleport] before arriving just a kilometer shy of the Abandoned Forest, where we decided to finish the journey on foot.
"I can feel the intense concentration of mana." Muttered Lazuli with furrowed brows as she looked into the distance, while we all nodded in agreement. "It's much denser than the dungeon in Cassandra." "That's because that dungeon is constantly being suppressed by the dives Adventurers do, Yuki… The Dungeon in the Abandoned Forest has been allowed to grow without restraint." Vanye's words were spot on; the Abandoned Forest was far deadlier than the dungeon we always used.
As we continued traversing through the forest, the presence of beasts and even insects quickly dropped until we couldn't sense a single one. 'We're getting close.' "Get in formation, we're close." Pulling Zartha and Trina out from my body, I brandished their blades and stood on the far left, prompting Yuki to take the front, Vanye the far right, Lazuli in the middle, Jasmine in the far back, and Talis flew a few feet above us.
"Does anyone know what type of monsters we'll be dealing with?" "I think plant-based monsters." "The kind that humiliate you?" Furrowing my brows in confusion, I glanced at Jasmine, who was sporting a disgusted expression. "No, the kind that want you dead." "Oh, thank goodness." "What kind of monsters were you referring to?" Unfortunately, Jasmine wasn't able to tell me since we encountered our very first monster.
"Oi, watch out, this tree is attacking!" Quickly glancing at Yuki, who was blocking the powerful onslaught from a Tree's branches, I lunged forward for the attack as I was closer. "Flame Blast." As Lazuli set it on fire from a distance, weakening it, I slashed at its trunk, slicing it in half, yet the stump was clearly still alive as the roots wrapped around my leg, squeezing it tightly, though my shin guards mostly protected me.
With a swift downwards slash, I cut the root off and followed up with my other sword as I stabbed Zartha deep into the stump, and with [Heroes Gaze], I was able to ensure its lifeforce had vanished. "The Monsters' center lies deep within their stump." Removing Zartha from the already decomposing corpse, I nodded in agreement with Lazuli. "Yeah, that's what it seems like."
"Talis, you go fly above the forest, search for any traces of Clampa Gorgan." "Got it!" While Talis's figure blurred through the sky, I shifted my focus to the rest of my party. "Until Talis returns, we'll check the outskirts of the forest for any clues; no point in aimlessly entering deep other than to exhaust ourselves." Seeing everyone agree with my plan, we set off towards the nearest road, figuring the Duke's son, Clampa, would have entered from there, as he hadn't come alone.
While walking along the very edge of the abandoned forest, we came across many more monsters than we were expecting; of course, nothing we couldn't handle, but it gave us a clear idea of just how dangerous the forest was. "We've already faced 50 monsters in a single hour; it must be littered with monsters deeper inside." "Ho, are you scared, Yuki?" Removing my sword from a stump, I glance at Yuki with a faint smirk, causing her to scoff.
"I was merely stating a point. When have I ever been scared?" "Do you want me to name a few times?" "Yes." "Tsk, shut it, Lazuli!" Chuckling softly, we continued walking, encountering several monsters along the way before we arrived at a large clearing, where we saw an abandoned carriage with the Duke's emblem.
"Think we found something, Alex." Approaching the carriage, I briefly scanned it with my eyes before clicking my tongue. "Nothing." "Tracks." As my ears perked at Lazuli's discovery, I turned and looked at her, pointing at the path of several footsteps leading into the forest. "The one in the middle is probably Clampa, and the ones surrounding him are probably knights." "Should we follow?" "Let's wait for Talis to return first."
Pointing Trina at the sky, I fired a [Lightning Bolt], causing a large blue arc of lightning to fly into the sky. 'That should've gathered Talis's attention.' Leaning against the carriage, I stabbed my swords into the ground, ignoring Zartha and Trina's complaints while we waited for Talis to return, though we began to worry as the minutes ticked by.
"How far did Talis fly? She should be back by now." "She might've gotten attacked by Monsters." "Talis isn't weak; a few monsters shouldn't be able to stop her, especially if she's determined to flee." I don't think all of us together could stop Talis from fleeing, much less mindless monsters. 'Something's wrong.' Frowning, I pushed off the carriage and approached Yuki. "Yuki, throw me into the air." "Got it."
Just as I placed my foot onto Yuki's hand, Jasmine's concerned voice filled the clearing. "Talis!" Snapping my head at Jasmine, I quickly looked where she was pointing, only to sport an ugly expression. "Dammit, she's injured! Yuki." No more words were exchanged as Yuki threw me right at Talis, who had just started to fall. Catching Talis into my arms, we fell back to the ground, though I slowed our descent with [Air Jump] and safely landed on the ground.
'Damn, she's heavily injured.' Reaching into my space pouch, I poured a vial into Talis's mouth and another on her most grievous injuries. After but a few moments, her injuries were rapidly healing while her labored breathing mellowed out to a more stable one; once the effects of my blood were thoroughly absorbed, Talis only had minor scratches and bruises remaining.
"Hey, Talis, you okay?" With a few coughs, Talis groaned and rubbed her head while nodding, causing us to sigh in relief. "What the hell happened?" "Apples." "Apples?" While we were all clearly confused at her words, Talis suddenly shot to her feet, her eyes wide as saucers. "Clampa, I found him! We've got to move quickly or he'll die!" "Lead the way." Grabbing my swords, we all quickly followed Talis as we ran through the forest.
"How long do we have?" "Not long. When I first found him, he was moments away from dying. I gave him my vial of your blood, but numerous monsters are still chasing him as we speak." Clicking my tongue, I glanced at everyone before shifting my focus to the monsters, which we mostly ignored unless they were blocking our path, then Yuki would trample them with her greatshields.
"I'll go on ahead!" "Okay!" Nodding, I enhanced myself with neutral mana, used [Speed Augment], [Wind Step], and [Lightning Cloak], and then coated my blades in flames, dashing forward, leaving behind a burning trail for them to follow while Talis continued to lead me.
After nearly a minute, I heard explosions, grunts, groans, and screams, causing me to furrow my brows, only to see a dense collection of trees. "He's in there, Alex!" Crossing my swords, I lunged into the dense collection of trees before slashing open, launching two [Wind Blades] that cut through several trees before finally stopping.
As the cut bodies of the trees fell, I spotted a bloody Elf with a missing arm fighting against several, though with one glance, I could tell he was at his wits' end. "Apples!" Furrowing my brows at Talis, I spotted a tree with apples hanging from its branches, only for my eyes to widen while I noticed several heading right to the Elf. 'Fuck, don't tell me those explode!?'
Whether I was right or wrong, I still needed to protect the person we were supposed to rescue; lunging toward the Elf, I pushed him to the ground and stood over him, protecting him with my body, just as one of the apples hit my back, only for it to explode, creating a chain reaction as the others also exploded. 'No wonder Talis was so injured.'
Thanks to my natural defense and lightning cloak, I barely felt the explosion, so I was able to quickly lash out as I launched a [VoidSlash], which slashed through every tree behind me, including the much bigger apple tree. "W-Who are you? Oh, Harpy, you really returned?" Glancing at the Elf, I quickly pulled him onto his feet. "You Clampa?" "Y-Yeah." "Good."
Pulling Clampa onto my shoulder, combined the wind with the flames surrounding my blade and swung it, causing it to spin rapidly in place as it began sucking in air, growing in size as I [Firestorm]. As the firestorm grew in size, enveloping the three of us, it set everything around on fire while slowly ripping the monsters to shreds.
However, the abandoned forest wasn't considered dangerous for nothing; despite killing nearly twenty of them, their number didn't seem to decrease at all. 'Is there more of them?' Clicking my tongue, I didn't try to rush out and just continued to stand in the middle. The best bet was to wait for the rest of my party to arrive while letting the firestorm protect me.
"Did you try to eat those apples, Talis?"