Chapter 34: This Place is Insane (2)
After dinner, as night approached, the atmosphere of the forest grew even more eerie.
Despite the fatigue accumulated from daily battles, the mercenaries found it hard to fall asleep.
Occasionally, horrifying howls echoed from a distance, scratching at their nerves.
Only after the group lit a campfire and hung up a lantern to illuminate their surroundings could they finally drift off to sleep.
However, Ghislaine didn’t lie down; he simply sat quietly in front of the campfire.
“Aren’t you going to sleep, Young Master?”
“I have something to confirm.”
“What is it?”
“Monsters.”
“Excuse me?”
Belinda frowned and asked, to which Ghislaine replied quietly.
“The monsters that appeared at all times during the day don’t show up at night. There must be a reason for that.”
“No way….”
Belinda quickly understood Ghislaine’s implication.
Just two days ago, monsters attacked at any time, day or night.
Yet, over the past two days, not a single monster had launched a nighttime raid.
“So, there are monsters that only operate at night in this area?”
“Right, the others are too afraid to move because of them.”
Upon hearing their conversation, the mercenaries nearby swallowed nervously.
On the first day, they would have dismissed the inexperienced noble’s insights with laughter.
But in the five days since, Ghislaine’s demonstrated abilities were anything but ordinary.
Since it was he who spoke, there was a strong sense of persuasion in his words.
Swoosh.
As time passed and the surroundings completely sank into darkness, an ominous wind rustled.
When Ghislaine stood up, Gillian, Kaor, and Belinda straightened their faces and followed suit.
[They were watching us from the darkness.]
“Lord.”
When Gillian called, Ghislaine nodded.
There was something in the vicinity.
Those with sharpened senses could feel the suffocating gazes upon them.
Several mercenaries also stood up with anxious expressions, glancing around.
Beyond the range of the lantern’s light was barely visible. But they could sense that something filled the dark surroundings.
Ghislaine sent out strands of mana in all directions.
After checking the number of entities watching from the surroundings, he twitched his eyebrows.
‘This is unexpected.’
[The number was about two hundred… and they persistently followed us until we grew weary. The furious Count Barjac chased them alone, but managed to kill just a little over a dozen at best.]
The number Ghislaine confirmed was over three hundred.
The number confirmed here is roughly over three hundred.
As expected, the timing was different, so the information couldn’t be perfectly aligned.
“Everyone, don’t move.”
The mercenaries gripped their weapons, nervously scanning their surroundings.
Swish!
Something whip-like flew and snatched a lamp hanging nearby.
The lamp was swallowed by the darkness, quickly losing its light.
But in that brief moment, a shape resembling a human flickered into view.
[They began to steal our light and vision.]
Swish! Swish!
Again, whips flew to snatch a few more lamps.
[I later realized that they had the ability to blend into the darkness and were extremely averse to light.]
As the lamps dwindled, the surroundings grew dark in an instant.
Kaor, with a fierce expression, tried to drag the Cerberus Mercenary Group to flee.
It felt as if they had become prey, triggering his primal instincts.
But Ghislaine reached out to stop him, merely staring into the darkness.
Kaor growled.
“What’s going on? They’re hiding and watching, their combat power shouldn’t be anything to worry about. We just need to go and smash them so they won’t mess with us again.”
“Let’s end it here for today.”
“End it here? What do you mean by that?”
In that instant, the ominous aura surrounding them began to fade.
Grrr…
Leaving behind a peculiar laughter, they soon vanished completely.
[They came to find us every night, watching. The soldiers couldn’t rest for even a moment, and we gradually lost our light.]
Feeling an unknown presence retreat, the mercenaries attempted to bring out their lamps again.
Ghislaine shook his head.
“Keep the lamps as they are.”
“Why? Isn’t it better to have more light?”
[We regretted it. When we first felt them at the lake, we should have dealt with them decisively and moved. But by the time we realized that, it was already too late. We had lost both day and night. There was no time to rest. We had gone too deep and lost our direction.]
Ghislaine spoke sternly to the mercenaries.
“To handle them here, we need to do this.”
The mercenaries looked bewildered.
Do they even know what that is and how to deal with it?
“What are they?”
In response to the mercenaries’ question, Ghislaine quietly said one word.
“Palor.”
[Having lost the splendor of civilization and intelligence, they had succumbed to becoming monsters, living as ‘Hunters of the Darkness’ in this forest. They are descendants of the ancient race known as ‘Palor’…]
*
The group neither cleared a path nor moved any further.
They simply cut down some trees a little way from the lake, creating an open space where they rested.
While the mercenaries took their breaks, Gillian stuck close to Ghislaine and asked.
“What are your plans, sir?”
“I intend to deal with them and move on. Otherwise, they’ll keep following us.”
“How are we supposed to catch those hiding in the darkness? Even if we try to attack, they’ll just run away.”
“Let’s see tonight. Get the mercenaries ready with bows and arrows.”
“Um, understood.”
Gillian nodded.
If the enemies were merely watching them while being surrounded, then showering them with arrows would be a good strategy.
It seemed that giving something might be a good measure.
As everyone remained tense, night fell again.
Whether it was due to luck or the Palors, no monsters had attacked during the day.
The mercenaries, fully rested and with their stamina restored, held their bows and watched the darkness.
grrrr…
An ominous presence filled the surroundings.
In that suffocating standoff, Ghislaine shouted.
“Fire!”
Piiing!
In an instant, over a hundred arrows were shot out in all directions.
The mercenaries, gathered together and looking outside, shot their arrows toward the front without reservation.
But.
grrrr…
What returned was only a grotesque sound, as if mocking them.
The mercenaries were flustered.
“What, what is happening?”
“Didn’t hit a single one? No way!”
They could certainly sense that something was out there. It was just hidden in the darkness, making it invisible.
It was clear that they were deliberately showing hostility. Even those with dull senses could feel it.
Though they could distinctly feel the number of monsters surrounding them, no arrows hit their target and just flew off futilely.
“What kind of monster is this…?”
“Not even one of those many arrows hit?”
The mercenaries stumbled back in fear.
Not liking the atmosphere, Gillian twitched his lips and began to draw up mana.
He planned to shoot his arrows more powerfully by infusing them with mana.
At that moment, Ghislaine grabbed Gillian’s hand to stop him.
“No, don’t use your mana yet.”
“Your Highness?”
“It will just make things more troublesome. Mana must be kept hidden.”
“What do you mean…?”
“I’ll explain soon. Indeed, the attacks aren’t working.”
[The Palors, blended into the darkness, could pass through all physical attacks. Therefore, barring Count Valzac and the knights who could use mana, there was no way to inflict damage on the Palors. This was both their blessing and their curse as an ancient race…]
Whooosh!
The lamps began to disappear one by one once again.
Each time a light vanished, the surroundings grew darker, and the mercenaries huddled together in fear.
Ghislaine stopped moving and merely watched as the lamps went out.
[The Palors first tried to eliminate the surrounding light. However, what they overlooked was that weapons infused with mana could emit light on their own.]
When mana is added to a weapon, it shines brightly.
You can choose to suppress that light completely, but who would go that far to hide it?
To strike the Palors, they had to attack using mana.
Despite being able to easily dodge attacks in the darkness, they were no longer invincible once illuminated.
If those who could use mana chased after the Palors, they would be able to inflict some level of damage.
But Ghislaine shook his head inwardly.
‘That would make things even more troublesome.’
[Count Valzac was undeniably a powerful warrior, rare in the kingdom, but he was overly confident in that strength. Unable to deal with Count Valzac, the Palors began abducting the soldiers.]
By the end of the first day, more than half of the lamps they had lit were gone.
The mercenaries left in the dark space were at a loss on what to do.
grrrr…
The Palors let out satisfied laughter before vanishing.
After letting out a laugh, he vanished.
This was their hunting method: gradually applying pressure to instill fear and diminish the fighting spirit of their prey.
“Everyone gather around. I will explain.”
Once the Palors disappeared, Ghislaine gathered the mercenaries and explained what he knew.
Hearing his explanation, everyone’s mouths dropped in shock.
Monsters that don’t take damage without light? They had never even heard of such a thing.
But now, after actually shooting an arrow, they couldn’t help but believe it, even if they didn’t want to.
“Then shouldn’t we set up more lamps and make torches to place all around?”
“That will only buy us a bit of time; ultimately, we’ll lose all the light.”
“Then how about this?”
Belinda picked up a dagger, and it soon began to glow with a blue light.
If they could sense it, they could kill even if they couldn’t see it clearly.
When the weapon gets close, at least a part of it would shine.
“Belinda is indeed smart,” Ghislaine praised, and Belinda raised her nose, showing off.
“I graduated from the Royal Academy, you know.”
“You’re good at lying. Anyway, we can’t use mana.”
“How did you know it was a lie? And why can’t we use mana?”
“Then those guys will change their hunting method.”
[They discovered traces of the captured soldiers. They had been eaten alive. The furious Count Valzac obliterated the area, destroying everything within several meters when Palors appeared. But the Palors, already aware of his strength, stayed far away, fleeing into the darkness before being exposed to the light. Eventually, we could only stand by and watch as the soldiers were captured.]
If the Palors opted to evade fights and kidnap them one by one, they would soon dry up and die.
With so few who could use mana, and their numbers lacking, they had no choice but to be wiped out.
As Ghislaine continued his explanation, everyone’s faces grew paler.
The deeper they delved into the forest, the more powerful the monsters that emerged, and correspondingly, the more damage they suffered.
Imagining those things stalking them every night and attempting to abduct them drove them to the brink of madness.
“Then what should we do? Haven’t those things tagged us as prey? Shouldn’t we turn back now?”
One mercenary asked anxiously, but Ghislaine shook his head firmly.
“We have to fight here.”
[There was absolutely no way with this personnel. They were opponents they could clearly defeat, but the enemy had no intention of fighting us… Ultimately, we failed once again, and it was only after the arrival of the royal mage Alois and his subordinate mages that we could exterminate them.]
Even the strong reinforcements from Ghislaine’s past life had failed several times in conquering the Forest of Monsters.
It wasn’t due to their lack of ability, but because they had no information whatsoever.
Moreover, the Palors were unusually cunning for monsters.
But Ghislaine was different from them.
‘I will kill all of them before they realize it.’
He had ample information and had prepared thoroughly.
Everything was unfolding just as he had anticipated.
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