320 Chapter: Very Dangerous Guys (1)
“Hmm…”
Ghislaine crossed his arms, deep in thought. Many claimed to feel an ominous aura in the Forest of Monsters, but that was largely due to the dark environment of the woods.
He had never heard anything like what Lumina described and found no records of it in his previous life.
Of course, as there hadn’t been any elves in the pioneering group during his previous life, they might not have known either. After all, elves were the only race capable of hearing the sounds of nature.
‘Is there definitely something here?’
Lumina could have been mistaken, but Ghislaine couldn’t just dismiss her words.
This place was certainly different from the outside world. The energy was much richer than elsewhere. As a result, precious resources were abundant, and monsters were larger and stronger due to this energy.
The unique aura flowing through the Forest of Monsters had been one of the most prominent theories even in his previous life. It couldn’t be explained otherwise.
‘Are they saying the forest wants to become one?’
He didn’t know what that meant. But it was clear that there was a secret within this forest.
‘There were areas not noted on the map I saw in my previous life.’
The Duke’s faction had successfully developed the Forest of Monsters. However, even after most of the forest areas were revealed, the center of it remained completely blacked out on the map.
There were no markings or records pertaining to this area whatsoever.
At that time, they just passed it off as an uncharted land and didn’t take it seriously. After all, his goal wasn’t the conquest of the Forest of Monsters but to eliminate the Duke’s faction.
Even after traveling back in time, he had never particularly worried about that region. He thought he could explore it later when funds ran low.
But hearing Lumina’s story brought back memories of the map, and he felt a bit uneasy.
‘It wasn’t uncharted… it was concealed.’
There had always been one fact that bothered him. The Duke’s faction’s intense obsession with the Forest of Monsters.
Initially, the Duke’s faction surely hadn’t known about the abundance of resources here. Yet, they began extensive development.
This suggested they were aiming for something else. It definitely wasn’t merely about territorial expansion or resource collection.
He never uncovered what the Duke’s faction was targeting when they began development in his previous life. Most of the participants in the pioneering efforts didn’t even know why they were doing this.
‘Harold was just managing Perdium.’
Even though he could have eliminated it, he merely managed it so that others wouldn’t take it. The Duke’s faction only pushed Perdium out after successfully leading their rebellion.
Immediately afterward, the Duke began hastily developing the Forest of Monsters.
‘It’s certain. There’s something in this forest that I don’t know about.’
This might even relate to what Lumina mentioned.
Ghislaine had spent a long time as a mercenary. Because of this, he had developed a habit of not dismissing suspicious signs.
Even if something seemed useless, he obsessively collected it. That was the way to survive.
“If you hear any strange sounds or notice suspicious signs going forward, let me know. And tell the other elves they can speak freely too.”
“Got it.”
The Forest of Monsters was a place where anything could happen. Even a tiny sign couldn’t be taken lightly.
Even if what Lumina said had nothing to do with the Duke’s faction’s goals, it was better to consider the possibility than to ignore it.
‘Whatever may be here, I’ll find out eventually.’
After all, Ghislaine’s goal was to clear out the Forest of Monsters and seize all the land.
His group, having dealt with the ogres, moved on to secure their territory once again.
Everyone was more alert and tense than before. They didn’t know when or where dangerous monsters might pop up.
The elves who heard Lumina’s words shared their uneasy or suspicious feelings with Ghislaine.
While most were just feelings, there were some surprisingly helpful insights.
“I think there’s a group of monsters over there.”
“The monsters are hiding between the trees.”
“There’s a strong aura gathered over here. It seems like a valuable herb.”
The elves’ senses became especially sharp in the forest. It was a different way from how those who manipulated mana heightened their sensitivity.
They sensed the energy flowing through the forest or heard the sounds of nature, bringing various information. Naturally, they were the first to spot monsters hiding far away.
People were amazed by the abilities displayed by the elves. Ghislaine was equally astonished. While he expected this level of ability when bringing them along, he never expected them to be this impressive.
Galbarik grumbled again as he watched the elves.
“What’s with this racial discrimination? It’s unfair… At least make them look ugly…”
In the forest, elves showcased exceptional abilities unlike any other race. The dwarves, who had always had a bad relationship with the elves, felt somewhat downcast.
Regardless of the dwarves’ gloomy mood, Ghislaine was quite satisfied.
“This is great. I didn’t think the elves would be this helpful.”
Even if he knew some information from his previous life, it wasn’t complete. All he had were the locations of important resources and the territories of powerful monsters.
There were no details about minor information like wandering monsters. The timing of when the developments began was different, so the monsters’ territories could also differ from his records.
However, thanks to the elves’ assistance, avoiding dangers became easier, and they could acquire resources they hadn’t known about.
It would have been even better if Ascon had shared his feelings along the way.
“It feels like crap… it gives off a crappy aura… this is a crummy place. I really don’t like it.”
“…What’s wrong with this now?”
“It feels crappy, and I don’t want to be here. Get me back to the territory. How old do you think I am that I have to suffer here? Damn it, XXXXX, XXXXXX, XXXX!”
Unable to contain his anger mid-sentence, Ascon was dragged away with his limbs twisted and a gag in his mouth, thanks to Belinda.
With Ascon incapacitated, the list of injured soldiers in the Penris Army increased by one.
Although they gained one more injured soldier, thanks to the elves’ support, the development proceeded steadily.
Ghislaine continued to examine the map to determine their location.
Compared to when he had come previously, the development was progressing much more smoothly and quickly.
As the elves warned of dangers, the experienced knights and soldiers prepared for battle. Ghislaine instructed and commanded how to engage.
No one was careless, so battles were not difficult. Even formidable beasts or monsters tended to avoid them when faced with a large army.
‘We’re getting close.’
But that didn’t mean the Runestone resource location was near. There was still quite a distance to go. What Ghislaine was thinking about was different.
[The Forest of Monsters was indeed a dangerous place. The advance team had failed multiple times. But that was merely due to a lack of information. We had never been caught off-guard by monsters that we had already identified. No matter how powerful the monsters were, they couldn’t stand against our elite knights and soldiers.]
‘That would be right.’
Ghislaine nodded, recalling the records he had read in his previous life.
He was pushing through the forest with even fewer troops than the strength his previous self had sent.
Considering the power of the Duke’s faction at that time, each individual soldier’s level would have been incomparably superior to now.
Yet the Duke’s faction couldn’t readily push through like Ghislaine was doing now, despite having more powerful and numerous soldiers. They kept deploying the advance teams and scouting parties under the pretext of conserving their important forces.
[Baron Joseph didn’t care at all if the advance teams were dying. He was conserving his main forces to an almost incomprehensible extent. The only exception was Count Bazak, who occasionally couldn’t hold back his frustration and participated in the advance teams.]
[…As they continued to fail and perish, the information we obtained made us more and more accustomed to the Forest of Monsters. During this time, we suddenly discovered a monster we had never seen before.]
“What is this?”
A knight on watch at the outermost guard brought a monster corpse. Half of its body was torn apart, perhaps having been attacked by another monster.
The monster looked truly bizarre. It was only about half the height of an adult male, yet the upper half looked like a red-skinned human while the lower half resembled a spider.
Its hands had long, hard claws that looked great for digging and could also be used as weapons.
The upper body resembling that of a human didn’t mean it looked genuinely human. It merely meant the structure of its head and body was somewhat like that of a human.
It only had a similar structure to a human, but its appearance was indescribably horrifying. Tentacle-like appendages were sticking out of what seemed to be its mouth, and its eyes seemed to have atrophied to barely noticeable traces.
Its skull extended backward, tapering off, with antenna-like appendages sticking out at the front.
There was simply no way of identifying what kind of creature this was. People grimaced at the sight of the disgusting monster’s corpse.
“Ugh, that’s gross…”
“What the heck, is there a monster like this in the world?”
“Really, this forest is home to all sorts of weird things.”
As it was a monster they had never seen before, people gathered around, whispering to one another.
But they weren’t particularly scared. After all, compared to the other creatures residing in the Forest of Monsters, it was quite small. If anything, it was about the size of a large dog.
While that size might be threatening to a human, to those who had only seen gigantic monsters since entering the forest, it appeared surprisingly weak.
Though its grotesqueness definitely ranked high.
[Compared to the other monsters in the Forest of Monsters, they were remarkably weak. With two or three armed soldiers, they could easily be captured, and if the soldiers braced for injuries, then one soldier could take one down alone. It was incomprehensible why such weak creatures lived deeper inside the Forest of Monsters.]
Recalling the records from his previous life, Ghislaine approached the monster’s corpse.
“These things are called Grex. Looks like this one got separated from its group and died.”
[We named them with a new name in ancient language. Just in case, we observed their habitat for a few days.]
[Indeed, there were quite a few of them in their habitat. Like other monsters, they wouldn’t leave outsiders alone who entered their territory. Several would cling to their prey, attacking and killing it, sharing the corpse afterward. Sometimes, they’d also go out hunting in packs.]
Upon hearing Ghislaine’s words, people tilted their heads.
“Grex? I’ve never heard that name before.”
“Yeah. They’re very dangerous creatures.”
People didn’t ask how he knew that. They had grown accustomed to the lord knowing everything.
[Their hunting success rate was dismal. More often than not, they were seen dragging back monster corpses to feast on. Occasionally, they would dig into the ground with their sturdy claws and store the remains of their meals. Despite their horrific appearance, they were merely insignificant monsters.]
“These creatures live in groups. You shouldn’t underestimate them just because each one is weak.”
[However, there was one part that was hard to understand. Strong monsters would occasionally appear, killing them and feeding on them, yet those monsters never took over their territory. Even though the environment was quite good and spacious.]
“Do we need to take extra precautions?”
At Gillian’s question, Ghislaine nodded.
“Yeah, I intended to prepare a bit further along, but since we’ve found a corpse, we should do it here.”
[Even after watching for several days, nothing was different. The strong monsters living in the Forest of Monsters would kill and eat them, then leave. So we reached the conclusion. They were merely food provided for the monsters living in the Forest of Monsters. A way for the many monsters to eat and breed without claiming their territory.]
“What should we do about it?”
“We need to prepare more thoroughly than before.”
“Just give the command.”
[As soon as we reached a conclusion, we decided to exterminate them. It wouldn’t be hard. Grex were small, weak, and insignificant monsters.]
Ghislaine made a resolute declaration.
“We’ll build a fortress here. A large and sturdy one.”
[But that was… one of the worst mistakes we made in the Forest of Monsters.]
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