As he was walking through the settlement, Arthur noticed the palpable tension amongst the mercenaries. Everyone had a deep frown on their faces, indicating that the situation wasn’t good at all.
‘Is this really that bad? I’m sure this isn’t the first time something like this happened, no?’ Arthur asked himself as he watched their expressions curiously. Although the death of 40 people was a tragedy, this tower constantly killed people so it shouldn’t be this… bad?
‘I feel like a scumbag thinking this way.’ He shook his head with a sigh as he found himself in front of the gates. There, he noticed that the number of guards was double the usual number and all the guards looked stiff and alert as if they were awaiting something.
Noticing Arthur approaching them, one of the guards approached him slowly.
“What is your business here?” He asked.
“I’m leaving the settlement and heading north,” Arthur replied. “Open the gates for me.”
“… North?” Almost immediately, Arthur noticed the guard’s expression darken as if he heard something really unpleasant. “I do not recommend that. The North is exceptionally dangerous these days.”
“Dangerous?” Arthur raised an eyebrow. “I’m already aware of that.”
“No, you don’t understand, sir. A type 3 emergency had occurred up north. I do not really recommend you go there.”
“What’s a type 3 emergency?”
“One of our squads had disappeared last night and we cannot find them. We assume that they were either stuck in the storm or a pack of Yetis took them away.”
‘Yetis… Now that’s one hell of a name to hear here.’ Arthur pursed his lips. “Did you send help?”
“We’re working on it. That squad has the best of our men, we didn’t think they would end up disappearing. This is very unusual too.” The man explained as he clenched his teeth. Arthur could see the pained look on his face as he fought against his emotions.
‘He most likely has someone close to him in that group…’ The boy thought to himself.
However, Arthur couldn’t stop himself from feeling a little concerned. Mainly because this squad was seemingly their best squad so they’re the most experienced when it comes to such tasks.
‘I guess I should expect a lot of trouble up there.’ Arthur rubbed his chin. In the end, he still didn’t feel any hesitation whatsoever.
“It’s fine, I know what I’m doing. Prince Vincent had given me full permission to do whatever I wanted. Or… Are you perhaps intending to defy the prince?” Arthur asked calmly.
“… I wouldn’t dare sir!” The man panicked as he saluted in front of Arthur. Then, he turned around and signaled for the guards to open the gate.
“Good. Keep up the great work, man.” Tapping the guard’s shoulder, the young man turned around and walked out of the settlement.
“… Who even is this guy?” The man muttered with a blank expression before he returned to his duty as usual. “When he ends up ‘there’. He will regret everything he said.”
***
The path out of the settlement up north was completely deserted. There were no trees, no bushes, and thick layers of snow covering large fields that stretched far and wide. Even the dirt road cutting through it was slowly getting obstructed by the falling snow.
‘The storm is getting a little stronger. But, it shouldn’t be a problem for a while.’ Arthur muttered as he pulled his sword out, ready for any ambush.
However, his trip was rather calm for the first hour or so. Aside from small animals moving around him, he didn’t face any actual dangerous monsters. That naturally made Arthur a little annoyed as he expected to immediately face numerous creatures he could use to level up.
‘I can’t even find any good targets. Why is it so deserted?’ He looked around him silently. Checking the map every now and then, he noticed that he was approaching the deep woods.
Then, he looked up and squinted his eyes, a distance away, he could see immensely large shadows looming over the horizon like ominous giants. The shroud from the storm made them appear like true monsters which almost gave Arthur a heart attack. But, when he got close enough, he realized that these were simply trees.
“What the hell…” Arthur muttered as he arched his neck up, horrified at the sheer size of these trees. Even with his head fully tilted, he couldn’t see the end of the tree up in the sky. Hundreds of these ancient giants stood tall all around him, defying physics and the strong storms hitting them constantly.
Approaching one of the trees with a surprised look, Arthur touched it. Almost immediately, he had to retract his hand as he felt spikey needles poking his skin. All over the tree’s trunk were countless sharp spikes poking out of the wood.
“… Is that a defensive mechanism?” Arthur muttered. “No wonder these things reached this height… Who can even cut down such a tree?”
In his life, Arthur had never witnessed nor heard of a tree that reached this height. This was the effect of mana on living creatures.
After that, Arthur slowly turned his eyes away and looked deep into the woods. Due to these immense creatures, the woods looked exceptionally darker. The tree branches and the large tree leaves covered the woods from the sun, turning it into a dark abyss, unwelcoming to any stranger.
“Well… There is really only one answer, is there?” Arthur muttered. “The path to the mountain can only go through these woods and I already planned to hear deep north so this isn’t the time to back down.”
Taking a deep breath, Arthur started walking deeper into the forest, getting swallowed by the darkness very quickly.
“My experiences with the woods haven’t been particularly pleasant either.” As he was talking to himself, he activated Wretched’s Crawler’s Eye for better vision in the darkness.
[Ding!]
[Wretched Crawler’s Eye had leveled up!]
“Oh! Nice! The skill had finally reached level 4! It has been stagnant for a while now.”
Looking up, Arthur realized that his vision had cleared even more and he could see farther than before. At this point, darkness was not a problem at all for him. He could see clearly in both environments and his senses weren’t obstructed at all.
Continuing on his path, Arthur found himself going deeper and deeper into the woods. The more he walked, the more the world around him turned quiet. All the strong wind vanished and even the snow stopped falling on his head.
The atmosphere shifted completely and it was all because of the nature of these trees. No matter how much Arthur looked at them, he still felt a rather odd sensation being emitted from these trees. It was almost as if these things were trying to talk to him in their own language that he cannot comprehend.
Then, at that moment, out of nowhere, Arthur heard a noise coming from afar. Immediately, he turned around and grabbed his sword.
‘What was that?’ He looked left and right, but there was nothing around. The noise was too far away so he assumed that the source wasn’t close to him. ‘Was that a monster scream?’
The sound wasn’t something he was familiar with and his first thought was naturally that it belonged to a monster, presumably a Yeti.
‘The guard said the squad disappeared here so I might be coming across the same monsters that killed the mercenaries.’ He frowned.
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A few seconds passed with nothing happening. So, Arthur slowly put down his sword and then exhaled a small breath.
‘Nothing is approaching me from any direction. I guess it didn’t notice me yet if it screamed.’ He mused as he turned around and resumed walking. This time, however, he made sure to stay as alert as possible.
A minute passed with no more noise happening. However, the unease in Arthur’s heart only grew with every passing second.
The woods grew darker in nature and the trees above him started rustling their branches, making loud noises as they clashed violently. A few leaves fell from the sky and each one was horrifyingly Arthur’s size if not bigger.
‘This place isn’t really the nicest place to visit.’ The boy laughed to himself. “Hm?”
However, his laugh didn’t last long as he suddenly smelled something off. Sniffing instinctively, Arthur frowned as he looked ahead.
‘… That’s one familiar smell I didn’t want to find here.’ He clenched his teeth as he grabbed his sword. He didn’t even need to think twice to identify that odor. It was something he had already smelt countless times before.
‘Blood…’
Slowing down his steps, he moved toward the source of the blood. Step by step, the smell grew stronger and stronger, and along with it, Arthur’s grip on the sword tightened. Eventually, the odor led him to a particular tree, and on the other side of it, he found it… The source of the stench.
“…”
Then, Arthur stopped.
A//N: Don’t forget to give the book some golden tickets for good luck! :3