Chương 45: Into the Old Forest

Luca's mouth fell open in shock.

"Oh hell no." Even Oliver looked frightened, but he straightened his shoulders.

"Okay. If that's where they went, then that's where we're going."

"Into the Old Forest? Are you serious? You can't be serious."

"Luca, most of the tales you heard about the Old Forest are just scary stories we tell kids to keep them out of the forest," Jasper said calmly. Luca huffed.

"I don't know about you guys, but I think a place that's the subject of scary children's stories is not a place we want to be."

"We have no choice," Oliver insisted.

"Is it really that bad?" Evan asked.

"It's a high mana place," Jasper said.

"High mana places attract high-rank monsters. We'll need to be careful and avoid fights if possible."

"What about the Forest Folk?" Luca asked, still sounding agitated.

"My gran told me they're more animal than human."

"That's a gross exaggeration," Jasper said.

"They live closer to nature than we do, but otherwise they're normal people."

"If you're scared, you can stay here," Oliver said firmly.

"But the rest of us are going. Right?" Both Jasper and Evan nodded.

"Are you insane?" Luca asked with a laugh.

"I'm not going to stay behind. I joined your party exactly to go on crazy adventures. And I bet girls love a good scary story about how we fought our way through the Old Forest and defeated cannibalistic Forest Folk." Jasper rolled his eyes.

"They're not cannibalistic, Luca."

"Yeah, I'll remind you when they're roasting you over a fire. When are we leaving? Right now?" Oliver looked over his shoulder, making sure Sedius, and the other villagers were out of earshot.

"I'll need a couple of minutes before we go." He opened his fist and showed Jasper and Luca the gifted gem.

"I want to activate this first." Jasper leaned forward and squinted.

"A Shield Gem. Very useful."

"Didn't you say we should wait before filling our skill slots and not use the first gem we can get our hands on?" Luca asked.

"Yes, in general that's good advice, but a Shield Gem is useful for almost all specializations, and especially for the more defensive skill set Oliver is trying to build. You had that one on your shortlist anyway, right, Oliver?" Oliver nodded.

"I definitely need some kind of shield power."

"Then let's find a quiet place where you can use your gem," Jasper said.

"How about Reynold's inn?" Evan suggested.

"I want to check up on him anyway."

"Good idea. Reynold is a decent guy. He'll keep Sedius off our backs while I do this," Oliver said. They walked over to Reynold's inn, and Evan's stomach dropped when he saw that the door had been kicked in. When they stepped inside, they found the taproom in disarray. Almost all the tables and chairs had been flipped over, and glass shards from broken glasses covered the floor near the bar.

"I'm closed! Can't you people go half an hour without a drink? I think we have more important matters than— oh, it's you." Reynold appeared from the back room, a broom in his hand, and looked at them wide-eyed.

"Man, am I relieved to see you all alive." Evan greeted the innkeeper with a friendly pat on the shoulder.

"Likewise."

"I heard the noise from the fight. Screams, shouts, explosions. It was terrible."

"I'm just glad you got away, Reynold."

"But many did not," he said, shoulders slumping.

"Perry is gone, and the Lerellians's house is empty too. I can only hope they're still hiding somewhere in the woods, but I fear the worst."

"Don't worry, we'll go after them," Oliver said, voice firm.

"We'll save them."

"You will?" Reynold asked.

"We head out again soon. We just need a few minutes of peace and quiet and a place to sit down so I can activate a skill." Reynold's eyebrows rose, and a hint of excitement appeared on his face.

"Oh, of course, you can do that here, Oliver. Give me a second. I'll clear a table for you. These monsters really wrecked this room. Thankfully they didn't bother going down into the basement, where I was hiding."

"Thank you. It won't take long."

"Be my guest, but, um… do you mind if I watch?"

"No, not at all. But fair warning, there's not much to watch. It's not a very exciting process."

"You're going to get a new skill. That's pretty exciting. A bit like opening a present, right?" Oliver smiled.

"A bit, yeah. It's a Shield Gem, so it'll probably be some kind of protective ability, but I'll only know which exact one after I activate it." This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. Evan and Luca helped Reynold flip a toppled table upright, then set up some still intact chairs. They all gathered at the table, looking at Oliver, who was holding the shimmering blue gem in his hand. Jasper eyed the door before giving Oliver a nod.

"No one's paying any attention to the inn. You're good to go." With a deep breath, Oliver closed his eyes. Just a moment later, the gem on his palm started to dissolve, shining blue particles floating away and blinking out. His brows furrowed, and then a relieved smile appeared on his face.

"Done. I think it's a good one." Evan was too impatient to wait for an explanation. He entered his party menu and checked out his friend's new skill himself. [Earthen Bulwark - Tied to your Endurance attribute Summon a protective ring wall of dirt and stone around you. Height and diameter scale with your Endurance attribute. Mana Cost: 28 Cooldown: 90 seconds Increase your Endurance attribute to improve this ability.] Oliver explained his new ability to Jasper, who wasn't an official member of their party and could not access Oliver's stats.

"That is a good one," Jasper confirmed.

"I wonder if you can fit more than one person inside that ring wall. Being able to protect your entire party with this ability would be incredibly useful. We'll have to test it out soon, to get a feel for it."

"He can practice while we follow the Beast. We really shouldn't waste any more time than necessary," Evan said, side-eyeing Oliver. He wanted to find the missing villagers as fast as possible too, but mainly he was aware Oliver's already tense nerves couldn't handle another forced delay. He'd calmed himself down somewhat last night, but Evan could tell that newfound self-control was paper-thin. Thankfully, Jasper nodded.

"Yes, you're right. We should leave now." Reynold made a serious face.

"Before you leave, let me go to my storage room real quick. You don't know how far away the Beasts' hiding spot is. You might be on the road for a while. You need to pack plenty of supplies." Before any of them could protest or reject his generous offer, Reynold dashed off and disappeared through the bar's back door. When he returned, he was carrying several crates stacked on top of each other, filled with hard cheese, bread, meat wrapped in paper, something that looked like candy, and several jugs of Mari juice.

They thanked him for his gifts before stuffing everything they could fit into their inventory space. Evan took a sip of Mari juice before he shoved the jug into his inventory and was once again thankful foodstuffs stayed fresh and temperature-stable inside. After they were loaded up with enough provisions for a trek across half the continent, they said their goodbyes to Reynold and headed out. Jasper was leading the group.

Evan wasn't sure what his skill was called, but the tracker could find footprints and similar tracks and traces long after they'd been washed away by rain or blown over by wind. They followed the dirt road leading away from Silvercreek and into the forest. The denser the trees and bushes became, the slower their group advanced. Jasper stopped every other minute to crouch down and inspect the ground.

"What is it?" Oliver asked, alarmed.

"You haven't lost their track or anything, right?"

"No, I haven't. It appears the Beasts went off the path and into the forest."

"That's the direction of the Old Forest, right?" Luca asked.

"Yes, this is where I stopped following them earlier today. The Old Forest starts only a few miles in that direction."

"And you're absolutely sure that's the direction they went?" Evan asked.

"I am. Even without the tracks on the ground, I can tell. I have a map ability that helps me locate them." Evan looked at his own map, but without Jasper's special skill, he found no trace of the Beasts. The forest looked completely ordinary to him.

"But what happened to the cart? And the people they were transporting with it?" Oliver asked.

"I think it had a hover enchantment," Evan said, "I saw it when they arrived in Silvercreek."

"It costs a lot of mana stones to run a magical vehicle like that," Jasper said, "Really makes you wonder who's supplying them."

"We'll find out soon enough, hopefully," Oliver said. Like the Beasts before them, they left the narrow path winding through the forest and fought their way through the dense underbrush. Evan noticed that the further they got, the thicker and taller the trees became. They looked older too, which made sense considering the name of the magical forest. The Old Forest. The plants and flowers that grew in between the trees looked increasingly more magical and colorful. He also sensed the increase in environmental mana.

At first, it was barely noticeable, but soon Evan felt like he was walking through an invisible foam of energy. He could almost feel the magic tickle his skin. It was a strange sensation, but not unpleasant. It reminded him of the feeling he got when he used an skill gem.

"We're in the Old Forest now," Jasper said, climbing over a large fallen tree trunk so thick it reached almost up to his chest.

"I can tell," Luca said.

"My mana pool is refilling at record rates." As they headed deeper into the Old Forest, the pleasant tickle of mana changed again. The mana started to feel suppressive, like a wet blanket weighing down on them. The surrounding fauna changed with it, becoming more bizarre and more imposing. The trees stood close enough that their canopies melted into one thick, rustling roof of green, blocking out most of the sunlight. The terrain was difficult. Evan could barely take two steps before he encountered an obstacle.

Dense underbrush and thick roots made him stumble, while low-hanging branches and vines forced him to dodge and duck. Their pace slowed down to a crawl, and from the panting and frustrated groaning coming from his companions, Evan could tell they weren't doing much better than him.

"Are we sure we're going in the right direction?" Luca whined.

"I don't know, I just can't see those Beasts lugging around dozens of paralyzed people through this jungle." A bead of sweat trickled down Jasper's forehead, and he swiped it away with his hand.

"We're going in the right direction. I can tell that they—" He froze, leaving his sentence unfinished. A crease appeared between his brows as he stared into the forest.

"What is it?" Evan asked, automatically lowering his voice. Jasper pointed at the ground.

"Do you see those holes?" Evan had to squint, but after staring at the spot Jasper was pointing at long enough, he finally saw what the tracker meant. There was a hole in the ground about six feet in diameter and completely round, half overgrown by bushes and weeds.

"It looks like the entrance of a burrow," he said.

"Scrapmaws maybe?"

"No, worse," Jasper whispered. He raised his hands to signal Oliver and Luca to stop moving.

"Those holes were left behind by Earthwyrms. I know them well. They were common where I grew up. They killed at least a dozen people every year." Evan's fingers itched to take out his guild tablet and read up on Earthwyrms, but at the same time he couldn't bring himself to drag his eyes away from the dark, gaping hole. He tried to imagine the creature that could dig holes of that size in the ground.

"We had a nest near my hometown one year," Luca whispered.

"They ate three people before the Monster Hunter Guild sent someone to kill them." He shuddered at the memory.

"I don't think the tunnels are fresh, but we need to move carefully. I'm pretty certain they're still nearby, and they're attracted to surface vibrations, so tread lightly." Evan exchanged a worried glance with Oliver as they slowly continued their trek through the forest.

"Tread lightly" was easier said than done when the terrain was this tricky. Evan did his best to follow Jasper's advice, but then he had to climb over a half-rotten tree trunk blocking the path. Oliver vaulted over it with surprising agility for such a tall guy, but when Evan tried to follow his example, the rotten wood gave out under his weight. His hand lost purchase, and he tumbled down, landing on the ground butt-first.

"Ouch, that was—" Before Evan could finish the sentence, the ground in front of him exploded.