“Welcome back master.”
Says Hikari while hugging me.
It hasn’t been that long since I left, but I guess she was worried about me walking in the dark forest by myself.
We moved on after checking that Marcus and the others couldn’t move.
Along the way we realized that they left their horses at the edge of the dark forest, so I moved alone to go free them.
I don’t know what the horses will do, but they will run out of steam eventually if they stay tied together. The reason why I let them go was less to save them, and more to avoid someone finding them here and coming into the dark forest.
“Well then, we should actually start exploring the dark forest.”
I hear a stomach growling, as if it’s saying no.
I can’t help but immediately turn to Hikari, but so does Mia.
But Hikari shakes her head.
“Haha, I guess now that I’m not nervous anymore, my stomach’s howling.”
Says Sera, looking embarrassed.
It’s probably because she’s feeling relieved after being a little on edge for days.
“Let’s eat then.”
There are no monster presences, so I think we can take our time having lunch.
It’s not really a celebration, but I make today’s lunch a little more special.
Instead of taking something already made from the Item Box, I make something from scratch, so we also have time to drain the blood from the blood snakes we hunted earlier and take them apart.
That said, Chris and Mia help too, so it doesn’t take that long to cook.
Once we’re done eating, I take the item we got from the dragon king out of the Item Box.
It’s a pendant, and once it’s out in the open, it begins to glow faintly.
It didn’t react like this when we got it from the dragon king.
Eventually the light stretches from the pendant, almost like it’s guiding us.
“Should we follow it?”
“I think so. Let’s just trust it for now.”
Says Chris, as she looks at the light with suspicion.
We were told that even without this, if we just kept going deeper, we would probably find it, but let’s follow it.
As we walk, Map gets updated, so I don’t think we’ll get lost.
Also, despite this being the dark forest, walking here isn’t all that different from walking in any other forest.
It feels dim because of all the big trees blocking the sunlight, but there were trees like these in the dungeon too.
“I think that’s just you, Sora.”
“Yes, just master.”
Say the two girls that have the skills to search for things. They also say that as we walk deeper, it gets harder to feel monsters’ presences.
They’re at eighty percent of what they could do before. If they focus, they can bring it back to a hundred. But it’ll wear their nerves.
“Well, for now at least, the area around us is safe, so don’t strain yourselves too much. And apparently there aren’t that many monsters where the light is leading us.”
It feels like it’s purposefully avoiding them.
“But we won’t get to test their strength without monsters.”
As Rurika says, the golems haven’t actually fought monsters yet.
I took them out when we fought in the ruins, but they didn’t fight, and aside from that first encounter when we entered the dark forest, we haven’t come across any monsters.
And so, while I think they’ve been getting stronger through mock battles against us, I don’t actually know how much.
“I think they could take down an orc.”
“Really? I think they could handle a tigerwolf.”
Should I trust Sera and Rurika’s assessments? That would mean they’re actually pretty strong.
“Well, it’d make us feel more safe if they got better at defense, rather than taking down monsters.”
Rurika is right, I made them to serve as guards to keep watch or use shields, so I want their defensive abilities to go up… So they don’t get torn to pieces during every mock battle, right?
They can repair themselves as long as they have magic energy, so if they do get torn apart, they can recover. But that also means they function for a shorter amount of time.
It’s fine if there’s someone near them that can supply them with magic energy, but if not, they’re going to be at a disadvantage if fights drag on for long.
◇ ◇ ◇
“Ah, there’s something.”
Two days later, we keep following the light until we find a big stone.
It looks like that stone is sucking in the light from the pendant.
At first it feels natural, like the light is just melting into nature, but the closer we get, the less natural it feels.
By using Magic Energy Detection, I can feel strong magic energy from the stone itself.
I touch it, and the light from the pendant gets brighter, and the space next to the stone is distorted.
There’s a tree there, but when I reach out to it, my hand goes through it.
I don’t know if the pendant caused this, but Sera and Rurika go first to check what’s on the other side, and after they find no trouble, Hikari, Mia, and Chris follow, and I go last.
The moment I go in, Map disappears.
I try to call it again, but a message saying ‘failed’ appears in front of me. This has never happened before.
“What’s wrong?”
Asks Chris, and I tell her what happened.
I look around and see the forest, so I’m pretty sure we’re still in the dark forest, but…
And then, I pick up a reaction from Presence Detection and Magic Energy Detection.
It’s still far, but it’s approaching at an incredible speed.
I guess Hikari and Rurika feel it too, because they quickly hold their weapons ready.
The others are also on guard when they see them, and I put the golems in front of Chris and Mia to cover them.
And what appears in front of us, are two demons.
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Thanks for the treat.
Yeah been a good chapter insider if one of them will be the demon he made a deal with