Chapter 267 – Chapter 267 ― Gap (7)
Chapter 267 ― Niche (7)
The forest fairies’ patrols spent some time entrenched in a clearing in the forest.
As if waiting for something.
Even if you don’t want to know, you know.
There are no words to fuel that anxiety.
Roan took a deep breath and looked at Helen.
Helen is a paladin whose magical effects are halved as much as she uses her holy power, but thanks to her inherently high physical abilities, Helen also moves without problems in the dark.
The fact that it was a bit difficult to keep up with the forest fairy’s fast pace was restored with a break for a while.
“I am Aina-sama.”
Helen asked Aina.
“Why aren’t you leaving? What are you waiting for?”
Then Aina looked back to her east once.
Above the tall branches of the trees spreading to the east
Just peek out,
The white shining moon was about to stick its head out.
“I can go now.”
Sitting on a tree stump, Iris stood up after checking the bow and dagger she carried.
Helen’s gaze with her round eyes followed her movements.
Iris’ long, knee-deep, pure white hair began to shine dazzlingly in the moonlight. She looked very mysterious, just like her mother.
“I will start again.”
Iris looked at Roan and Helen.
“Some of the magic in this forest is activated by moonlight.”
It seems that this is what she has been waiting for. While the scattered patrol members began to appear again, Iris continued her explanation.
“It’s magic that helps us speed up when moving through the Dark Forest. However, there are side effects for races other than forest fairies.”
“… Any side effects?”
“So, it’s important not to lose track of us.”
“Yes?”
Helen asked back in bewilderment, but Aina grabbed Helen’s wrist.
“Don’t worry, Helen. I’ll be watching from behind.”
And Aina began tying small ropes around Helen and Roan’s wrists.
Helen’s eyes widened even more, and Roan’s eyebrows twitched and moved.
Aina and Iris’s attitude seems cautious rather than rude. I’m not too concerned, but what kind of magic in the forest are you tying your wrists to?
“Never, never untie it.”
Iris, who had tightened the knot with her magic and additionally hung the magic of the mark on the string, asked again. Helen nodded her blankly, and Roan briefly nodded.
Six patrols plus one forest fairy, one human, and one demon. A group of nine in total began to walk under the moonlight.
And when I started walking fast, only about ten steps.
Roan knew what the magic was.
— It has roots. Will it be difficult if I go as is?
At first I thought it was wind noise.
Because it wasn’t a clear voice.
The feeling of someone whispering and being carried in the air from far away.
The moment Roan glanced around, Roan inadvertently skipped over a large root that appeared in front of him.
Something strange
Roan was taken aback by the strangeness of his own movements.
However, Aina’s voice moving behind Roan did not stop him.
“It’s magic. Don’t hesitate.”
Only then did Roan notice that magical energy was clinging to his body like a very thin film.
— The road to the left is empty.
And at some point
When a voice mixed with laughter whispered in Roan’s ear once more.
Red concentric circles spread in front of my eyes.
“Don’t be fooled.”
The party, whose movement speed was increased by receiving the magic of the dark forest, did not follow the voice and headed in a different direction.
Only Helen floundered, only to turn her direction in panic, following the direction in which Iris’s string was being pulled that was leading her.
Of course, forest fairies can see the road with their naked eyes in the middle of the night, but it’s hard not to lose your mind if you hear a constant voice in your ear.
The magic of the forest that makes people move quickly instead of dazzling them. Roan fully understood why there were missing people in the dark forest and why forest fairies needed guidance.
Forest fairies basically have the ‘detection’ skill.
Perhaps these constant chirping and occasional giggling whispers would be nothing more than a nuisance to a forest elf, but a death sentence to a man who had no direction.
Even if the movement speed is increased, it is many times easier to get lost. Since the number of steps and distance are different from usual, it becomes difficult to estimate.
And as they advanced deeper and deeper into the forest, the whispers grew louder and louder.
— See the eggplant up there? You might poke your eye out.
— There is a snake sleeping in the trunk of a tree. It’s dangerous to step on it.
— Go all the way there. There will soon be a place to rest.
Except for Helen following Iris with a half-distraught expression on her face, the group began to advance toward the center of the forest at breakneck speed.
How fast did it run like flying?
They stopped in their tracks as they ran through the silent forest, where only the sound of everyone’s breathing, the loud whisper of magic, and the distant night and night bugs could be heard.
It wasn’t that the magic of the forest was broken.
Roan frowned at him.
— Don’t stop!
— The destination is still far, keep walking.
The wind continued to make a noise in his ears, but Roan couldn’t focus on the sound.
Helen looked at Roan with her eyes terrified.
“Master…”
A saintess with vast holy power is second to none not only in divine magic, but also in swordsmanship.
She was feeling the air around her with her uneasy eyes.
Aura that seems to suppress the presence of others.
His steps, which had been lightened by Roan’s blessing magic, became sluggish as if they were running.
“… Iris. This… Did you say that?”
“Okay.”
Unpleasant and sticky, it was a sign that could not be felt in the dark forest before. Helen opened her mouth.
“Master. This… This is the energy I felt at Sprouse Castle.”
Because Helen’s power is sharpened, she is more accurate than Roan when it comes to feeling the flow of her magical power and holy power. Roan did not have a big disagreement.
“Is the human sex like this?”
“I see.”
Iris pursed her lips a few times with a dark expression in response to Roan’s answer, and then she opened her mouth a little later. It’s as if she’s determined to come up with something that isn’t easy.
“The situation where the Duke is is more serious.”
“… What?”
Roan asked, but the forest fairy did not repeat the same words.
Roan looked around with a hard expression and raised his hand. All he can do now is this.
“Goddess blessings.”
The clear light that refreshed the sticky air scattered from Roan’s fingertips in all directions.
The holy power of the Goddess Roan possessed is certainly effective against the malice that now filled the Dark Forest.
In other words, even the Dark Forest is being eaten up by ‘greed’ for some reason.
Feeling her body lighten, Iris stamped her feet a few times before thanking Roan.
Simply bowing her head, she let out her breath and spoke briefly.
“Let’s go again.”
There were only two people who could use divine magic, and since they were physically incomparable to normal humans, they even received the help of magic and crossed the dark forest at an unimaginable speed.
Bondi expected 5 days,
Helen’s divine magic disperses the fatigue that should be relieved by sleep, and Roan’s divine magic blocks the ominousness that makes it difficult to breathe.
The party arrived near the forest fairy’s southeastern residence in two and a half days, half the expected time.
Beautiful buildings built between massive giant trees, just like the forest fairy’s residence that Roan saw last time.
Among them, in the most prominent and high place, in an exotic room made of lattice windows and paper screens, Amilie greeted Roan and the others.
“It’s tattered.”
Amelie chuckled and threw her joke at Roan, but Roan couldn’t help laughing.
Roan’s appearance was not the problem.
“Miss Amelie.”
“It doesn’t make things better by putting on a face like that. Don’t be too depressed.”
Those were the words thrown by a haggard-looking Amelie, seeing Roan’s expression frozen.
The beautiful white hair had lost its luster. Her shattered, frizzy hair, Amelie was wearing it up, but she couldn’t hide the vitality she had been deprived of.
Even her face, which looked similar to Aina, showed signs of age. Because of her outward darkness, like her wrinkles, Amelie looked much older.
Hearing Amelie’s tired voice, Roan didn’t hesitate any longer.
Roan grabbed Amélie’s wrist, which was leaning on the armrest of her pedestal. The gray-haired escort, standing behind her, opened the ax eye, but Emily lifted another helplessly to restrain him.
“It is a blessing.”
The holy power gathered at his fingertips spread along with the light throughout Amily’s body and disappeared.
Amelie closed her eyes as if appreciating the afterglow of her spreading blessing, and when she opened them slowly, her black pupils sparkled with life.
“… That’s amazing.”
“It is the power of the goddess.”
“Indeed.”
“What happened.”
Roan tried to say more, but shut his mouth. Behind her is an escort, and beside Roan are Helen, Aina, and Iris. Roan was considerate, as Amelie might feel her discomfort.
But Emily smiled lightly and nodded her head.
“Okay. Even if I disappear, I need someone to know what’s next.”
“Duke.”
As if angry, Aina called the duke’s name, but she only glanced at Aina with a barely visible smile.
“How can I feel such a presence in the dark forest protected by the power of the goddess? If the goddess’s magic is weak enough to collapse in fire, shouldn’t the protection magic have been destroyed long ago?”
The Dark Forest has existed for thousands of years.
Naturally, the shape of the forest has also changed over time,
Humans and demons living near the forest continued to try to use or clear the dark forest.
However, the goddess’s magic is great because she can block it.
Even at Roan’s words, which suppressed her rage, Amilia only smiled faintly as before.
After a while, Amelie opened her mouth. Even her voice had returned much more cheerfully after receiving her blessing.
“I have something to show you. Follow me.”
Iris seems to have guessed, but Aina doesn’t seem to know.
At a pace that seemed unhurried, but which she had to diligently keep up with, Amelie led the way out of her living quarters.
“… Duke, where are you going?”
She walked for ten minutes.
She left the dwelling and she was heading uphill into the depths of the forest.
Aina questioned her insecurities, but Amelie moved on without saying a word.
What a low climb she must have climbed.
They finally reached the edge of the cliff.
“Reap your blessings.”
In the Duke’s words,
After taking a deep breath and reaping blessings from everyone, Roan involuntarily let out a moan.
“This… Case.”
“It’s amazing.”
“Ugh…”
“Beside the residence, why is this… ?!”
Helen and Aina also held their breath.
Bad smell or itchy eyes.
I couldn’t express it with such a sense.
The unparalleled malice encountered at the eastern end of the Eastern Emperor’s Desert.
The stinging aura that seems to have condensed the negative emotions of evil, which only want to harm living creatures, tightened everyone’s breath.
Amelie gestured while standing at the edge of the cliff.
Hiding his fear, Roan gritted his teeth and walked over to her side, looking down at the cliff Amelie was pointing at.
And at the sight, Roan couldn’t believe his eyes. A startled Roan moan came out.
“… Why why… Something like that.”
“You seem to guess what it is.”
Abandoned cars, rusty drills, microwave ovens, even guns and cell phones. It looked like an electric appliance collection point without an owner.
The vacant lot under the cliff, which was not very wide, seemed even more cramped because it was full of discarded household appliances.
[Message: Completed the unofficial quest ‘Find the gap’!]
[Message: Present a special gift that will be useful for your survival☆]
[Unofficial Quest Reward — Buff ‘Apotheosis’ 1 time]
[Message: Find other unofficial quests and prepare for the inner enemy!]
