"Heroes?"
Compared to Velzard, who was not very interested, Rimuru was extremely curious.
This was her first time seeing heroes from the Otherworld.
"Don't have overly high expectations. I'm afraid you'll be disappointed, Rimuru."
Rin gave her a heads up before allowing Treyni to proceed with the positioning and teleportation.
"Whoosh. Whoosh."
In the bush filled forest, damp soil was trampled under military boots.
This was a team of about five hundred people, led by the monster Razen and three heroes from the Otherworld.
"What in the world is this place?"
"It's hot and stuffy, and full of bugs. It's unbearable."
Unlike the forest in the original timeline, after being nourished by Treyni and other Dryads, the vitality of plants and animals this year far exceeded anywhere else.
For example, this area, which was clearly a temperate forest, had practically transformed into a tropical jungle.
As a result, the people of the Kingdom of Falmuth suffered greatly even before encountering any monsters.
Among them, Kirara complained the most.
Her nonstop whining was already affecting the morale of the entire team.
"The magicules in the air are far too dense."
To be honest, Razen had never seen a place like this before.
Across the entire Cardinal World, such a concentration of magicules was extremely abnormal.
It was hard to imagine how terrifying the monsters born from such an environment would be.
For some reason, Razen began to feel uneasy about this expedition into the Great Jura Forest.
"What is this. This forest is way too quiet, isn't it?"
"We've walked for so long. How come we haven't encountered a single monster. Isn't this strange?"
Shogo punched a massive tree several people wide, snapping it in half and startling a flock of birds.
"Whoosh."
A blade flashed, and several birds fell from the sky.
Their wings were severed. They were not dead, only flailing in pain on the ground.
"They're just ordinary wild animals."
Kyoya squatted down, examined the broken winged birds, and said disdainfully, "Even if they're larger than normal, they're still nowhere near the level of magic beasts."
As he spoke, he prodded them with the tip of his sword, his eyes filled with the pleasure of slow torment.
Razen ignored Kyoya's little hobby.
He had lived for hundreds of years. There was no type of person he had not encountered.
"The Great Jura Forest was definitely not like this before."
Razen recalled his previous visit. "After walking this long, we should have encountered at least one or two magic beasts."
This expedition was far too strange compared to all previous ones.
The initial mist, the path that felt guided by some invisible force, and the complete absence of magic beasts along the way were all highly unnatural.
If it wasn't extreme bad luck, then someone was deliberately orchestrating this.
As expected of an experienced magician, Razen immediately grasped the core of the problem.
Who could it be.
Someone with this level of power and such wide ranging influence.
Dryads.
A name that existed only in legend suddenly surfaced in Razen's mind.
That's impossible.
Yet the thought refused to fully disappear.
If the new Demon Lord truly originated from beings that only existed in myth, then the situation would be disastrous.
Dryads were already the highest ranking spirits. If they awakened, no one knew how terrifying they would become.
At that point, all surrounding nations would face a nightmare level catastrophe.
"I say, aren't these trees seriously annoying?"
Suddenly, Kyoya proposed, "How about we just burn everything down?"
"Burn."
Razen was startled. The way he looked at Kyoya immediately changed.
These Otherworlders really were not afraid of death.
Setting the forest on fire, even ignoring the possible Demon Lord, just offending the Dryads alone would be enough to spell disaster.
"Hah. That's a great idea."
However, Shogo and Kirara fully agreed with Kyoya.
The three of them turned to look at Razen, waiting for his decision.
Boom.
Bang.
At the same time, in another forest.
Unlike the situation faced by the Kingdom of Falmuth's expedition force, the team led by the Three Beast Warriors had been under constant attack since entering the forest.
"Here they come again."
"Aren't the magic beasts here way too dense?"
Sophia crushed the head of a bull type monster with her claw. As the magicules in her body surged, a smile unconsciously formed on her lips.
"This feeling of getting stronger through slaughter is exhilarating."
"Be careful, Sophia."
Behind her, Albis used her Petrifying Evil Eye to restrain monsters while warning her companion, "Don't go too far ahead. Stay alert for traps."
"Got it."
"Everyone."
After warning Sophia, Albis immediately gave orders. "Prepare for the next wave."
The number of Beast Warriors here was even higher than on the Kingdom of Falmuth's side.
A full eight hundred elite Beast Warriors, with an average strength of A Rank.
Such a force, if placed within a human nation, would be enough to rival an elite army of ten thousand.
It was clear that the Beast Kingdom of Eurazania had gone all out for this expedition.
"Huff. Huff."
"Is it finally over?"
Another wave of magic beasts was defeated. Albis looked at Sophia, who was drenched in blood, and scolded her, "Seriously. Can you at least care about your image a little?"
After speaking, Albis summoned a sphere of water and rinsed Sophia from head to toe.
"Haha. That's what Albis is best at."
Sophia transformed into a massive white tiger and comfortably enjoyed the service.
"Don't you think so, Fobio?"
"Ah."
Fobio, a leopard Beast Warrior, had also transformed into a sturdy black panther.
With the help of his comrades, he cleaned the grime from his body.
"In just a few hours, my magicules have increased by at least thirty percent."
It should be known that the Three Beastketeers were the closest among Eurazania's forces to reaching the level of a Demon Lord Seed.
Each of them originally possessed just over one hundred thousand magicules.
Before this, two hundred thousand was still far out of reach.
Yet in that last battle alone, Fobio's magicules surged from one hundred thousand to one hundred thirty thousand.
(To be continued.)
◇◇◇
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)