Chapter 98: The Dark Forest
< Chapter 98: The Dark Forest (3) >
[Hey, but I've never seen the guide for that dark forest.]
[Why is that guide a problem?]
[If you just look at the regular sections, that dungeon is just an ordinary Level 40 dungeon.]
[But in fact,]
[It's a dungeon where a group of dark wizards have hidden monsters they created.]
[So, when you defeat the Level 40 monsters and go to the boss room,]
[A Level 70 boss monster suddenly pops out.]
[Those who went in after seeing the guide are doomed.]
[But doesn't a warning message pop up if there's a big level difference before entering the boss room?]
[The dark wizards set a trap, so if you get near the boss room, you're automatically kidnapped lol]
[Because of the barrier, you can't escape until you defeat that thing, yeah.]
[It's just a forced character funeral.]
[Wow, for real;]
[That's terrifying.]
[So, you definitely can't defeat it at Level 40?]
[I'm Level 54; can I defeat it?]
[You're basically a challenger-tier in that game, yeah.]
[Yeah, lol, you can defeat it, so give it a try.]
[lol, I'll never go.]
[But, can I really not defeat it?]
[It's not just a problem of control.]
[If you're below Level 70,]
[That is, if you haven't undergone the first awakening at Level 70,]
[If the opponent is protected by a strong force, your attacks won't land.]
[The Predator is a crazy bastard.]
[If you haven't awakened, even a pro gamer grandpa couldn't defeat it, yeah.]
[Pro gamer grandpas aren't from a generation that can't play games, right?]
[You're cool.]
* * *
"Huh? Huh? Ugh!"
"Eugh- What is this smell?"
"Ugh-"
The first thing that greeted Ceylon and his party, who were dragged to another place by magic, was a terrible stench.
"This place is…"
Phibian covered her nose and mouth with a handkerchief and looked around.
It was a cave.
They were standing with their backs to the entrance of the cave, looking into the vast and dark interior.
Perhaps because the air was damp and vibrated with a stench like that of rotting meat.
They felt as if they had entered the mouth of a monster.
The entrance to the cave seemed wide open at first glance, but in reality, it was blocked by an invisible barrier of mana.
-Thud
-Thud
"Another barrier?"
Irene, the archer of the Hallow party, muttered with a face full of disdain as she punched the mana barrier with her fist.
"Come on, everyone. Calm down. Barriers inside dungeons are so common they're practically friendly traps, right?"
Hallow was energized when the youngsters were deflated, but came alive when they were flustered.
It was time to show the power of experience.
After calming the party down, Hallow asked Dorn,
"Dorn, how long will it take to break through the barrier?"
"…"
"Dorn? Dorn?"
Dorn, frozen with his hand on the barrier.
Howard approached and turned him towards himself by grabbing his shoulder.
"Ugh…!"
At that moment, Dorn began to vomit on the ground.
"Dorn!? What's the matter!?"
"…"
Watching this, Elysia hurriedly placed her hand on the barrier.
Then-
"…"
Gasp.
Gasp.
Gasp.
Gasp.
She suddenly turned pale and started gasping for breath like crazy.
"Elysia!?"
Daltasian rushed to her and rubbed her back.
"Elysia, what's wrong!?"
"Da-Daltasian-"
Elysia looked up at Daltasian.
Her face was filled with despair, transcending the fear of death.
"What are we going to do…"
Then, Dorn, who had stopped vomiting, stood up.
He spoke with bodily fluids still on his lips.
"Ha, Hallow Sir…?"
"What's the matter, Dorn! Speak clearly!"
Dorn pointed at the barrier with his hand and said,
"That's not a barrier cast by a wizard."
"What?"
"It's, it's a dark wizard. A barrier cast by a dark wizard."
Hallow immediately understood from Dorn's reaction.
The reason he was nauseated.
It was because he felt an unbearable fear.
"Dark wizard? What's so big about that! It's not like we've never faced a dark wizard before-"
Dark wizards, who deal with evil and ominous unknown powers, were certainly to be feared.
However, the Hallow party had already faced dark wizards before.
Even a 6-star dark wizard.
To them, dark wizards were not an insurmountable unknown, but a tangible evil.
To tremble in fear because the owner of the barrier was merely a dark wizard, despite having faced and defeated a 6-star dark wizard?
Dorn might seem frail on the outside, but he was a seasoned adventurer at heart.
As an adventurer, he had crossed countless lines between life and death.
He was the one who could calmly cast complex spells even in life-threatening situations.
"Ha ha…"
Dorn was behaving as if he had already given up on his life.
"What on earth, what on earth is going on, Dorn…!"
Feeling that something was seriously amiss, Hallow asked Dorn in a desperate tone.
"I can't comprehend it…"
"What?"
"The level of that barrier- I can't gauge it. The dark wizard who cast this barrier exists at the realm of 7 stars…"
"…!"
7 stars.
The thought of such an evil entity entering the realm of heroes.
And to think that they had fallen into a trap set by such a dark wizard.
It was an unbelievable and shocking truth.
Even Hallow, who tried not to panic for the sake of calming his comrades, couldn't hide his dismay.
"A dark wizard who has reached the realm of heroes… Ha, that's absurd. It seems even the gods are cruel. To bestow such talent on a villain. Yes, I can understand why you're scared. But Dorn. Dorn!"
Hallow shook Dorn's shoulders violently.
He made him look at himself.
"Don't give up. You can do it."
"…"
"You can do it, Dorn! And for a good reason-"
Hallow spread his arms and pointed at the members of their group.
"Look how many we are! Not just us, but Daltasian's party- and we have Miss Phibian from the Leolalian family, and Ceylon, who topped this year's academy entrance exams! If we hold on with the information Ceylon has and buy some time, wouldn't the Leolalian family sense something wrong and send support? We can do it, Dorn! We can survive! No, we can win!"
The difference between 6 stars and 7 stars might seem minimal on paper, but there's a vast gap between them.
Many who reached the realm of 6 stars at a young age end their lives at that level without ever achieving the crucial insight.
Hallow was no exception.
It was a long time ago when he reached the realm of 6 stars.
Yet, he remained at the realm of 6 stars.
To him, the realm of 7 stars, the domain of heroes recorded in history, felt incredibly distant.
Yet, despite this.
Hallow felt a possibility.
No, what Hallow was feeling now wasn't just possibility.
It was desire.
At some point, he had stopped pursuing enlightenment.
The only path left for Hallow, who had tried everything but failed to achieve enlightenment, was to push himself to the limits in extreme situations, risking his life.
But he had a family to take care of, and he had comrades.
Adventurers might be considered folks with nothing to their name, but the story changes when it comes to a 6-star adventurer- a top-tier adventurer.
One cannot reach the position of a 6-star on their own.
You need to build your people.
That means having a family to take care of.
Hallow could neither face death leaving them behind nor could he risk dying together with them.
For instance, Hallow lacked a justification.
A justification for risking his life to pursue the realm of 7-stars.
But now.
Hallow was given that justification.
The dark wizard.
That evil being would never leave those trapped in its snare alive.
Therefore, Hallow had to fight the dark wizard, risking his life to save his companions.
He had to push himself to the limits, with the wholehearted help of his companions!
‘This time…'
To achieve enlightenment.
And to protect them all.
Feeling his heart pound fiercely and his blood heat up for the first time in a while, Hallow firmly told Dorn,
"Dorn, I promise you. I won't let anyone here die…!"
Hallow's strong resolve was conveyed to Dorn.
"…"
Then, Dorn began to cry, dropping his gaze.
"I'm sorry…"
"What are you sorry for! There's no need for apologies, Dorn. No, you shouldn't apologize. I need your help-"
"That's not it…"
"…What?"
"The thing about the barrier's master being a 7-star… It was a lie…"
"What?"
Hallow, momentarily taken aback, burst out laughing.
"Ah, my friend. Even if you were to lie, why such a lie-"
"I once told you, I had tried to dispel a barrier cast by a 7-star wizard and felt a wall…"
Dorn looked up at Hallow again.
He seemed to be crying, yet there was a hint of a smile.
With a twisted smile, he said,
"It wasn't like this even then… My claim of it being 7-star was wishful thinking… But no matter how much I think about it…"
"…"
Hallow did not understand Dorn's words.
Or rather, he refused to understand.
Because if he did, it would mean the end of everything.
Dorn was saying,
The dark wizard who cast this barrier-
The dark wizard who had dragged them here-
Was beyond the realm of recorded heroes, looking into a realm not of this world.
"…Everyone, prepare for battle! As I said, we-"
Hallow, refusing to understand Dorn's words to the end, raised his voice to rally his companions.
"…"
"…"
They were not deaf.
They had been listening to the conversation right beside them.
"It's impossible…"
Irene muttered, dazed.
"…"
Derek, the barbarian warrior who considered dying bravely in battle the highest honor, dropped his spear to the ground.
"Sob, sob, sob…"
Elysia, like Dorn, having directly felt the realm of the dark wizard, sat broken on the ground, simply sobbing endlessly.
"Damn it… If it's going to be like this, I should've just gathered money and, like those idiots, surrounded myself with women…"
Bolton muttered, clutching his bald head.
If they, like Hallow, had refused to understand Dorn's words, they could have stood with their weapons ready.
However, unlike Hallow, they immediately understood what Dorn was saying.
They were in the maw of a monster that looked upon the realm beyond human reach.
This monster could snuff out their lives as easily as one might crush an ant underfoot.
Resistance was futile.
Thus, life was already meaningless.
They had let go of their will to live.
"Everyone, snap out of it!"
It was then that Phibian shouted.
Right.
Could there be some way out, considering she was from a great family?
Feeling a glimmer of hope, they turned their gaze towards Phibian .
And then immediately began to blame themselves.
The youngest person here? It was Phibian .
The one with the least practical experience here? It was Phibian .
If anyone should feel the most fear in this situation, it would undoubtedly be Phibian .
"My, my, surely- my mother-…"
Even in her terrified state, Phibian was trying hard to encourage the others.
She knew better than anyone here about the power of dark wizards and the severity of the situation, being a member of a great family.
"…"
Deric picked up the weapon he had dropped and stood up.
"Fuck, I can't die like this…"
Resignation turned into denial.
They discarded an objective viewpoint and denied reality.
It was the worst choice, but still far better than the previous state of having given up on everything.
"Ceylon… don't worry, surely my mother will-… Ceylon?"
It was when Phibian , looking around in confusion, shouted.
-Mom? Mommy~?
A child's voice echoed from within the cave.
"There's a child-"
Elysia was about to rush to save the child when Daltasian stopped her.
"Daltasian, you heard it! There's a child there! We have to save-"
Elysia pleaded, looking at Daltasian.
At that moment, her expression hardened.
"Daltasian…?"
-Gasp- Gasp- Gasp- Gasp-
Could his heart burst from gasping like this?
Daltasian was gasping for breath as if he was insane.
His eyes were dilated to the limit, and his pupils contracted to the limit.
"Ev, everyone, prepare for battle…!"
Then Hallow shouted in a trembling voice that seemed insane.
-Mommy~? Huh? Aren't you mommy? This smell? Aren't you mommy? Who are you?
The child's voice, and the sound of footsteps, grew closer.
-Squish
-Squish
Was it mud stuck to the soles of the feet?
No, it was different.
It wasn't the sound of muddy feet hitting the stone floor.
"This is…"
Bolton had heard this sound somewhere before.
Where was it?
Ah, right. The butcher's.
A friend who was a butcher.
Once, when his friend accidentally dropped a lump of meat on the floor, it made a sound just like this.
-Are you mommy's friends?
Soon, from within the darkness of the cave, a being with the voice of a child-
Showed itself.
It was a knight.
A knight clad in armor.
But the armor was not made of steel.
It was – made of countless lives, including humans.
Perhaps.
-Deruruk
-Swish swish
-Tap tap tap
-Thump! Thump!
Numerous protrusions of eyes, noses, mouths, ears, blood vessels, intestines, muscles, etc., were functioning as if they were alive all over the armor.
Wouldn't such a being emerge if a giant forced countless humans into the mold of armor and forcibly produced it?
It was a being that induced such inhumane imagination.
Thus, its very existence alone drags the humans around it, out of their place as humans, by one step.
-"Can we eat these friends?"
That grotesque being spoke in the pure voice of a child.
At that moment, all the pieces of the body exposed on him were replaced by lips.
The lips part.
Teeth stained with flesh and blood are revealed.
The teeth begin to click as if they were musical instruments.
"Ah- fuck!!! What the fuck is that monster!!!!!!!!!"
Bolton screamed without resistance.
Taking that as a signal, Elysia pulled forth all her strength without any hesitation.
She used all her mana stones and artifacts, the wealth she had accumulated throughout her life as an adventurer, to cast a spell.
A gigantic sphere of flame, far beyond her level that was close to a 4-star, was created.
Next to her, Dorn also gave his all to create a huge spear imbued with the power of weakening.
Irene strung an arrow on the bowstring, each of them an artifact.
-Whooosh!
Instantly, a whirlwind swept through the enclosed cave.
The whirlwind gathered in one place and formed the shape of a horse.
It was Sia, a high wind spirit that always accompanied her daughter at the request of the head of the Leolalian family, a friend of the wind spirit king.
Sia made a fierce stomping noise and then charged at it.
Taking that as a signal, they each unleashed their most powerful strikes simultaneously at it.
All those powers intertwined and caused an explosion.
The shockwave was so strong that it made their upper bodies tilt back.
"Did we get it?"
Bolton, barely opening his eyes and covering his face with his arms within the shockwave, said.
-Tap tap tap tap
A sound that gave goosebumps answered Bolton's question.
The mouths sprouting all over ‘it' were greedily clashing their teeth.
-Delicious~ Delicious~ Delicious~
‘It' cheerfully sang in a child's voice.
"…What?"
Their all-out effort had become just a meal for ‘it'.
Sia was caught by ‘it', struggling.
-The rest isn't much tasty~ But this one is delicious~ What's your name~? Ah~ this taste! It's Sia~
-Heheheheheh!!!
-Hahaha the name is funny. Sia~ Sia is delicious~ Thank you, Sia~~~ Since Sia is delicious~ Sia is now my friend~
‘It's' helmet split open vertically.
Thus revealed, the mouth of ‘it' – within the cave of flesh, was studded with countless types of teeth.
‘It' grotesquely opened its mouth wide and stuffed Sia into its maw.
Since Sia was a spirit, she did not bleed.
-Grrrgrgrgr
Instead, blood poured from the mouth of ‘it', torn from stuffing words into its mouth.
-Heeheeheeheehee!!!
As Sia, now half-swallowed with only her hind legs remaining, struggled violently.
-Agagagagagaga~
‘It' seemed to find this violent thrashing amusing, shaking with joy in response to the movements.
Soon, Sia disappeared without a trace.
‘It' contentedly rubbed its belly.
-Sia is full~ Sia is amazing~
Those who were shell-shocked by the horrifying scene, for a moment, held onto hope at ‘it's words.
Hoping that ‘it', now satisfied, might spare them.
-…
Then, ‘it' stopped rubbing its belly and muttered.
-Where did Sia go? I'm hungry.
"Damn pig fuck, eating a whole horse by yourself!!!"
Bolton burst out laughing, driven to madness.
"No, no…! Let me out!!!"
Irene scratched at the barrier with her fingernails, hanging from it.
-Splutch
Unperturbed, ‘it' approached.
-Splutch
-Splutch
"Ugh…"
Derek, the barbarian warrior unafraid of fear, backed away.
"…"
Then.
Daltasian murmured something softly.
Hallow considered it a kind of prayer.
Because Daltasian's expression was so devout as he murmured.
"Daltasian, what did the god you believe in say?"
Hallow asked with a trembling voice.
Daltasian replied in a trembling voice.
"When darkness seeks to encroach upon light, become the shadow that sustains the light."
-Splutch
-Splutch
The distance between ‘it' and them had closed to about ten paces.
Crack.
Daltasian's grip on his sword screamed.
"Daltasian!?"
Daltasian kicked off the ground and charged at ‘it'.
-What's your name~?
‘It' tore its own maw wide open with its hands.
Just as Daltasian was about to be swallowed by ‘it's grotesquely wide mouth.
‘It' was suspended in mid-air.
Or rather, hanging.
-Choke! Choke! Choke! Suffocating! Strange! Let go! Choke! Choke!
‘It' scratched at its own throat with its hands.
Unbeknownst to anyone, something had been strangling ‘it's throat since earlier.
It was a line made of darkness twisted into steel –
What some call a wire.
Their gaze naturally followed the dark wire that was strangling ‘it's neck.
From the slits of an ominous mask, darkness flowed out like smoke.
Cloaked in darkness deeper than the deepest shadows of the cave, it wore the darkness like a robe.
Its stature was immense, as if it had stuffed all the darkness of the world into its robe.
The stranger held ‘it' captive through the wire wrapped around its hand.
Thud.
Seeing the stranger, Daltasian collapsed to his knees as if his legs had given out.
Thus, he knelt before the stranger, murmuring.
"Lord Hara…"
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