Chapter 44 – 043 the Jade Lake
After traveling along the river for 12 hours and about 50 km, Hwanin and his party set up camp at the riverside.
The surrounding landscape remained unchanged.
The river recovers its original transparent color from the cloudy color caused by the heavy rain and is flowing proudly.
As soon as the campsite is decided, the women busily move about, securing a place to sleep and gathering wood for the fire.
It was just before sunset when we finished preparing for camp.
=My sister is hungry~.=
=It’s almost done, so wait a bit.=
Dinner consisted of grilled jaguar left over from lunch, sweet potatoes found on the way back, grilled whole skunk, and Ryuhi’s special spicy meat stew.
It was quite chilly at night, probably because it was near the river, but after eating the hot soup, my body quickly warmed up.
Kwak, kewk.
As if he liked the white potato and sweet potato, the emergency ration ate all his share and coveted Hwanin’s.
The women’s stories flowed into the ears of Hwanin, who was distributing his portion of emergency food.
= Over there. What are you going to do with your night shift?=
= Eunin-nim needs to rest…… 2 hours each?=
= My sister and I don’t know how to fight. If you are attacked, you may die without being able to wake up.=
= As Epnis said, it’s dangerous to be alone, so I and Huini, Epnis and Ennil should alternate 4 hours each. =
Seeing the women arranging their night watch while eating dinner, Hwanin opened his mouth by putting a potato sweet potato down in front of the emergency rations.
“Ryuhi and Huini take first, and Epnis and Ennil take Malvern for two hours. I will stand for the middle 4 hours.”
= Uh…….=
“You walked for 12 hours carrying loads of tens of kilograms. Fatigue will build up, so you need plenty of rest.”
The women wanted to help Hwanin by staying vigil on their own, but they had no choice but to accept Hwanin’s stubborn attitude, who would not accept a refusal.
They have plenty to eat, cook for themselves, and carry luggage.
It is an incredibly comfortable schedule compared to when you break through the jungle alone and cross the river to cross the forest.
Ordinary beasts are no longer able to elicit the joy of Hwanin. In a situation where it’s just dry slaughter and slaughter, if you give them enough sleep…….
‘My senses become dull.’
Hwanin, who was sufficiently full to avoid hunger, took out his spear and began training.
Although the training course only consisted of thrusting, oblique cutting, horizontal cutting, and longitudinal cutting, he was a Hwanin who thought basic skills were the most important, so he silently swung his spear.
=…….=
After watching her older sisters notice, Ini sneaks up on her holding a barbed wire and starts following her, but Hwanin doesn’t care and focuses on his own training.
For about two hours, Hwanin, who swung the spear to the point where his body became hot, washed himself in the river so cold that it gave goose bumps on his skin, and called Epnis in a natural manner to have physical relations.
Her physical intercourse in front of three audiences gave Epnis a lot of shame, but after a while, her pleasure rushing through her body made her forget her surroundings and shout her cries. Melted in your arms
After she established her relationship with Epnis, she approached Huini and Ennel, as well as Ryuhi, and expressed subtle hope.
“Outdoors, please, just one person a day.”
The women who belatedly realized where they were at Hwanin’s story felt ashamed and withdrew.
The first day of camp went smoothly without any problems.
On the second day, we moved along the winding river in the same scenery, hugged Huini at night, and the same schedule continued on the third day, hugging Ennel at night.
It was at lunchtime on the fourth day that the women began to show little anxiety.
= Eun-in…….=
While Ryuhi hesitated, she approached and worried if it was okay to say this, so Hwanin asked why.
= I wondered if it was just going around the same place all the time……. Of course, I’m not doubting my benefactor! It’s just that I feel like I’ve seen the place I saw yesterday…….=
It is an attitude that is as careful as handling a baby.
Looking at the other girls, it seemed like they were thinking the same thing, her face was showing as much anxiety as Ryuhi.
“…….”
As Hwanin moved, she kept her surroundings in her head. Knowing her surroundings is a shortcut to survival because she learned while playing bushcraft with her father.
In Hwanin’s memory, there was never a single duplicate of the route he had traveled until now.
It’s a similar environment, but it can’t be different if you look at the gist of moving along the river.
‘Come to think of it…….’
As I listened to the women’s stories, several keywords that I had memorized came to mind.
A labyrinth, and a wandering.
At first, she had wandered through the woods and thought, like beginners, that she was simply lost in the woods.
The easiest situation for those who entered the forest underestimated was to get lost and enter the wrong place.
I called the other girls and asked if they were of the same opinion as Ryuhi.
= Yes…… I felt that way since yesterday too.=
= It seems that I keep seeing it…….=
= That rock! I saw that rock yesterday too!=
Hwanin, who was pointing his finger at a common rock with anxious eyes, grabbed Huini by the shoulder and asked in a quiet, low voice.
“Calm, take a deep breath, and reflect. Did you really see that rock yesterday?”
=…….=
“The shape of the rock is mostly there and there. Remember not only the rock, but also the shape of the rock, the river that flows nearby, and the shape of the forest edge. I’ll ask again. Did you really see that rock yesterday?”
=…… Mo, I don’t know……. But I think I’ve seen it…….=
When he, the lifesaver, asked, he weakly asserted his thoughts, saying, ‘I think so’ and ‘I feel it’, but in a landscape where women don’t feel the same at all, they don’t have a sense of déjà vu, they wander around the same place. I was thinking there was
‘Did any of the plants you gathered and ate had ingredients for hallucinations or delirium?’
I shook my head. As for the food, the five of them ate the same food, so if you get hallucinations or delirium, you must get it too.
Finally…….
‘Assuming that this is a labyrinth, if you stay in the labyrinth for a long time, your judgment and thinking ability will deteriorate due to the unique atmosphere.’
Could it be that he has a high tolerance for abnormal conditions thanks to his awakening to his psychic ability to handle the soul?
This thought explains the long wanderings of the shipwrecked women as they moved through the forest, and explains the strange feeling they felt as they made their way out of the jungle.
As they explained it in detail, a light of understanding appeared in the women’s eyes.
=Wow, then was it because of the influence of the labyrinth that you wandered around the forest then?=
= Ah. I remember reading it in a book.=
“What was it about?”
= Labyrinth was a story about bewitching people and eating them. I remember that it was written that the awakened professional still endures, but the unemployed is fatal.=
Epnis’ remarks strengthen the women’s faith in Hwanin.
After hearing Ennel’s story, the women trembled and began to look at Hwanin like a chick looking at its mother.
= We were all destined to die from the beginning. That fate changed when I met Eunin.=
= The labyrinth is scary…….=
= I’m sorry for clouding your mind with unnecessary talk, Eunin-nim. From now on, we will keep our mouth shut and follow Euninnim.
Should I say that I have calmed down or that I have regained my energy?
Hwanin, who checked the women’s attitudes, whose anxiety had noticeably faded, was concerned about the words that raised a few questions.
‘I can roughly guess, so I’ll have to personally investigate the certainty later.’
Because he did not trust them, he decided to hide important information related to his identity.
Afterwards, whenever Hwanin had time, he asked Epnis about the labyrinth.
= I’m sorry. Most of the books that come to our village are interesting, so there was nothing to answer the benefactor’s curiosity.=
He said that the method of distinguishing plants he had learned was also learned from a plant book he had barely obtained by begging and begging his parents.
Still, I did get some information.
Epnis had a good memory and comprehension, so he remembered the stories shared by peddlers, adventurers, and explorers who visited from time to time.
=There seem to be many different types of labyrinths.=
There are adventurers and explorers who focus on exploring such labyrinths, and the land near the labyrinth is fertile, so villages and cities are easy to form.
Those who break through the labyrinth are called heroes and become rich.
There are materials that can only be found in labyrinths, and those things are usually traded at high prices.
Ryuhi spoke up.
=Adults teach children that labyrinths are very dangerous. If you care about the labyrinth, a monster from the labyrinth will catch you, or if you play near the labyrinth, the labyrinth will open its mouth and eat it…….=
“It’s probably to get rid of children’s curiosity. If you step into such a dangerous place unknowingly, you will most likely die.”
= I think so too. As a result, there is a perception that it is a bad thing to be interested in labyrinths, so there is little to know about it. Even after becoming an adult, there are villagers who do not pay attention to the labyrinth.=
= But sister. Isn’t our village living thanks to the power of the labyrinth? You have to study and study that power in detail. If you just sip and eat it quietly, it won’t help the village’s development.=
= What can I do? What the village elders decided to do…….=
I turn my gaze to Ryuhi and Epnis, who are exchanging stories in small voices, and examine the surroundings again.
Currently, when the party measures east, west, north, south, and sunrise in the direction of sunrise and sunset, the party is steadily moving in the direction of the Great Lake, where the Horned Whale lives.
Of course, that’s the way the whole thing is going, it’s moving along the winding river like a snake, so it might take a few days to reach the Great Lakes.
The reason why they are moving 12 hours a day for 5 days along the river is to find the unusually shaped mountain that Ryuhi saw after being shipwrecked.
The key is that I saw it at the riverside.
In other words, if you move along the river, you will come out with a mountain. If it does not come out and a great lake appears, it moves along the edge of the great lake, looking for tributaries from which other rivers begin.
And when it finds a tributary, it moves along the river again, looking for a mountain with no forest on its top like a bald head.
I remembered the conversation I had with Ryuhi when I left the cave of the Twin Mountains.
– The mountain was high. It must have been 4 times bigger than the twin mountains where my benefactor was, and 2 times bigger than Crescent Moon Rock Mountain. Not a single tree grew near the peak of the lonely mountain, but the color of the soil and rocks was unusually yellow.
– I’ve heard that peddlers who visit the village use the mountain as a milestone. It won’t be difficult to find the village once you find the mountain.
– How did you get lost in the forest when you said you saw the mountain?
-My eldest sister said it would be a straight line towards the mountain, so she crossed the forest…….
– It was a reasonable thought. The results were bad though.
It would have been nice if the memories between them were clear, but it was a pity that most of the memories were blown away due to the first difficult experience in my life.
The party, steadily advancing along the river, encountered a somewhat embarrassing situation.
The river, which I thought would continue, suddenly took a big turn and started to slope down.
Eventually, the width of the river narrowed and the river broke off, and the forest that blocked the view around disappeared, and a jade-colored lake and a mountain range appeared.
“…….”
Hwanin was a little dumbfounded. The height of the forest around the river was high, but I didn’t even know that the mountain was approaching until this time.
The lake was narrow and long, but the mountain formed a mountain range on the other side of the lake where the party was standing, so they could not see beyond it.
In particular, the west mountain covered part of the lake, making it impossible to see the foreground.
‘Is there a river running behind that mountain?’
=The other side of the lake looks very different from this side?=
=I can’t see any trees.=
It was as Huini and Ennel said.
This side is mostly flat, and the back side is a forest with densely grown trees. But on the other side of the lake, a mountain wearing a white hat stands like a folding screen.
It was the first time in my life as a Hwanin to see that the mountain foot and ridge were densely covered with bushes instead of trees, and that the soil near the top of the mountain was partially covered by clouds while the soil was exposed.
The scenery was outstanding, like the natural scenery of Switzerland or Norway, but Hwanin didn’t pay attention to such things and focused on grasping the surroundings.
“…….”
No matter how you look at it, the terrain doesn’t seem to have anything to do with the mountain Ryuhi saw.
It was the moment when Hwanin and the women were about to head across the lake.
Cackle! Pretty much!!
Hearing the warning of emergency food, the moment Hwanin took out his spear and held it, green apes the size of a man began to walk out of the forest that was neither far nor near.
Seven that look like a mixture of a monkey and a gorilla.
The mood of the apes was not good. It looks like an animal that has been invaded in its territory might not react that way.
Epnis trembled at the sight of the green hunks with arms twice as long as her legs.
=Su, a predator of the forest.=
“Back off. Huini and Ennel turn their backs to the lake and ask for restraint.”
=Yes!!=
=Yes.=
Hwanin twisted his grip on the spearhead until he could hear a crackling sound from the leather gloves Ryuhi had made for him.
From the third day, I began to feel the change in the surrounding vegetation. When the vegetation changes, the animals and beasts that inhabit it also change.
‘I didn’t know there was a kind of ape living there.’
A brief examination revealed that the fingers were quite developed.
It can be seen as a beast whose rationality precedes instinct, given that it does not attack hastily and does not create its first encounter with an ambush.
Before arriving at the Jade Lake, Hwanin spread a dictum to himself with the lower soul orb of a beast resembling a tapir (Mac) he hunted.
My heart beats loudly and quickly, and heat starts to radiate out of my body.
At the same time, the smell of water approached loudly, perhaps due to the necromantic effect of the mac, and he noticed that the smell of other creatures was mixed in the water.
‘Is it a disputed area for wild animals?’
As I made two soul shields and took a combat stance, the half-monkey gorilla, which had been creeping up to me while creating an unusual atmosphere, stopped approaching.
“…… ?”
Hwan-in couldn’t believe that they were creating a serious atmosphere while making strange sounds. I felt like doing it.
The timing is too coincidental to be considered coincidental.
In order to check it again, I grabbed the pearl-colored stones that Ryuhi had made for me to attach to the arm strap and created 3 stacks of soul arrows.
Ugg…….
As long and smooth soul arrows were created in the air, the apes’ reactions became sharper.
Hwanin, convinced that those monkeys could sense the spirit system, shot a soul arrow at the feet of the apes.
Papabak!
As the invisible arrow ricocheted off the dirt and gravel, the apes retreated back in a commotion.
Hwanin’s eyes deepened.
‘It’s faster than I thought.’
The speed at which it retreats is similar to that of any beast running. If seven of them rush at me from all sides at low speed…….
Watching with sharp eyes that the apes are extremely wary of this side, to be exact, the phantom also slowly steps back.
“I have to step back.”
=Yes, four?=
“If I’m alone, I don’t mind if all of them attack, but if even one of them aims at you, I won’t be able to protect you.”
Right next to it is a lake. Green apes have shorter fur than orangutans, but considerably longer.
If their fur drank water, their movements would slow down, so if they fought with their backs to the lake, they would be able to cover the numerical inferiority to some extent.
In addition, if you mobilize all your skills, you are confident enough to deal with seven of them.
But women don’t. With those thick arms and a body several times that of women, you’d be knocked down or overpowered in an instant.
The apes just watch as Hwanin and his party retreat.
The group quickly went back the way they had come.
