Chapter 16. Woodman Habitat I
Episode 16.
Woodman Habitat I
I know FoS well.
At least when it comes to this game, I'm confident I have deeper knowledge and experience than anyone.
Chris...... Even compared to that friend of mine, whose progress was further along than mine, my opinion on this hasn't changed.
'The opening section of Eternal Forest.'
Where it's most dangerous, where it's safe, which spots give the best rewards for the difficulty, what kinds of monsters appear, how many, even the field events that only trigger under specific conditions.......
I've got most of it memorized.
"Um, Kaindel......?"
Maybe that's why.
Even in my current situation, I could make accurate judgments.
"Isn't this where we passed earlier......?"
"......."
Looking at the tree, I saw an X-shaped mark.
It was definitely the mark I'd carved with my scythe.
"Hmm. So, was this the fourth time?"
"Fifth."
"Ah."
Kria, who'd been listening to the conversation, spoke up.
"......Hey, Kaindel. Don't tell me we—"
"Yeah."
I nodded and assessed the current situation.
"We're lost."
* * *
In FoS, the minimap isn't a feature that's unlocked from the start.
Which means it's not an environment where you can wander around comfortably while looking at a map at any time or place.......
Since Eternal Forest is such a vast, sprawling place, any player setting foot in it for the first time is bound to get lost.
It's not for nothing that beginners who got into FoS ended up traumatized and deleted the game.
[You have wandered the same area for a long time without a guide.]
[You are lost.]
[You are afflicted with the status ailment <Wandering>.]
[Your stress level and your companions' stress levels will accumulate more quickly.]
The silver lining was that FoS had been a quarter-view game.
Since the camera angle itself was fixed, if you deliberately kept moving in one direction, you could somehow get out of the map.
Then you'd naturally escape the Wandering status too.
'What about now?'
Impossible.
Because the screen perspective is no longer fixed.......
In game terms, the genre has effectively changed to a 3D open world.
Naturally, navigating was bound to become several times more brutal.
'So is a Guide mandatory from the opening section now?'
When the Guide Trait blooms, the minimap opens up immediately.
Of course, the map itself doesn't suddenly light up entirely—it's structured so that only areas you've already explored open up sequentially.......
Anyone who's played the game would know.
The difference between having even that much functionality and not having it is enormous.
In other words, the deeper you push into the forest, the more Guide becomes one of the companions you absolutely must secure.
'If only I had a map, things might work out somehow.'
Of course, obtaining a map of the forest isn't easy.
Since the forest itself is established as an unknown region from the start, a map with recorded terrain information naturally has tremendous value.
There are a few tricks for getting one, but none of them are feasible in the current situation.
"Hoo."
Maps and Guides. On top of that, just thinking about all the other companions and items I absolutely had to secure made my head ache.
"Let's go for now."
"Ah, yes."
Getting lost doesn't immediately cause a major problem.
Rather, there are ways to use this situation.
Of course, if this state drags on too long, the companions' stress levels will climb steeply.
'From 80, you get a whole set of debuffs, and at 90, your stats get cut in half.'
At 100, well, no need to say it.
They take their own lives.
Judging by the trend, Kria seemed like she'd hold up well.
Her stress level had been low to begin with, so her mental Talent was probably high.
So in the end, the problem was her brother.
Name: Kazen(?)
Stress: 47
It had already gone up quite a bit.
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
When I stared at him like a ticking time bomb, Kazen started eyeing me warily too.
"Want some water?"
At my words, Kazen flinched in surprise and put some distance between us.
"Wh-why all of a sudden?"
"Why all of a sudden what?"
"No...... you just spoke so kindly......."
"......."
I had a rough idea of the image Kazen had of me.
With an awkward expression, I pulled back the canteen I'd held out.
Stress level 47.
In the game, that was a level where it was hard to last even a week—but now that it had become reality, who knew.
"Kaindel."
At Kria's words, I stopped walking.
"Did you find them?"
"Yeah. Sylph says they're beyond those bushes."
I nodded, then slowly walked toward the spot Kria had indicated.......
Beyond the bushes, we spotted them.
Creak, creak.......
The first threat a player encounters upon entering the forest.
By opening-section standards, a mob you'll run into over and over and over again.
Bipedal, tree-like monsters—
Woodmen.
"......."
Kazen and Kria looked slightly tense.
They seemed to find this different from fighting Magical Beasts or marauders.
Strangely enough, I just felt normal.
'Seven of them?'
These things usually gather in groups of five to ten, so the number was reasonable.
I gave the two of them orders.
"Kazen. Take one out with the crossbow first. Once they notice us, I'll draw their attention. Kria, support with Sylph."
Kazen's role for the time being is ranged dealer—crossbowman.
'If he ends up manifesting Crossbow Mastery or something from this, that'd be a pain in the ass.'
Of course, since his class field says mage, the odds of that are low.
Mastery skills have a much lower manifestation rate after class advancement.
"Shoot......? Wh-where should I aim?"
"The head. They're slow-moving bastards anyway. But be careful—sometimes there are ones disguised as trees hiding nearby."
"Ah......."
"Shoot when you're ready. That's the signal."
"......."
Kazen's breath trembled.
It didn't last long.
When he slowly closed his eyes and opened them again, the wavering in his gaze had almost vanished.
Kazen stared straight ahead and aimed the crossbow at the Woodman pack.
Twang.
And then, release.
The moment the bolt lodged in a head, the Woodman pack immediately began swarming toward us.
What was even more surprising was the one with the bolt stuck in its forehead.
Creak, creeeak!
Far from collapsing, it twisted its neck, fixed its gaze on us, and started charging along with the others.
"K-Kaindel! That one—"
"That one's about to die! Ignore it and shoot the others first!"
"Y-yes!"
It was running, but its head was already smashed, so death was only a matter of time.
Twang, twang, twang!
Kazen kept firing in rapid succession, but pressured by the Woodman pack charging like mad, his shots kept missing their vital spots.
In other words, the shots had accomplished nothing.
Woodmen don't die unless you smash their skulls.
'Shit.'
We should have taken down at least three of them at range.
Clicking my tongue, I charged at the Woodman pack with my shield planted like a wall.
THOOM!
Shield Attack.
Of course, I was just imitating the form—I don't actually have a skill like that.
Crunch!
Still, I could feel the Woodman's entire body crumpling as it slammed against the other side of the shield.
Ordinary Woodmen aren't monsters with particularly high defense to begin with.
Oh, and I'd slung the scythe across my back, since I didn't expect to need it for a while.
For the time being, swinging the shield with both hands seemed like the better option.
Groooooo!
The Woodman let out a shriek and swung its hand.
At its fingertips, claws shaped like peeled-back bark had sprouted, and the tips were quite sharp.
Some individuals may be poisonous, so contact is out of the question.
Screech!
The Woodman clawed at the shield.
No matter how monstrous they are, these things are basically just trees.
No need to worry about the shield being pierced.
But.
"Aaaah......!"
I heard Kazen scream.
Glancing back, I saw two Woodmen approaching him.
'Damn it.'
That was why we should have killed at least three.
The aggro one person can hold is basically capped at four.
With a dedicated tank skill, you could increase that number, but there's no way I—just pretending to be a shield-bearer—have a skill like that.
'No choice, then.'
I shouted at the top of my lungs.
"Weasel!"
At that moment, the Blade Weasel that had been waiting in the trees burst onto the battlefield.
SKRRRSH!
The instant it appeared, it cast Blade Storm, and two Woodmen were swept away like fallen leaves.
"Kazen!"
"Ah, yes!"
Only then did Kazen snap back to his senses, steady his crossbow, and calmly snipe them one by one.
At first he kept missing, but as he stuck with it, his accuracy gradually improved.
Even with me and the Woodmen in fairly close proximity, he hit the head precisely.
As expected, the guy's marksmanship itself was excellent.
'If only I could do something about that glass mentality of his, he'd be perfect.'
Before long, the Woodman pack was wiped out.
Only then did Kazen straighten up and let out the breath he'd been holding.
"Phew......."
"......Good work."
Saying something I didn't mean felt like thorns sprouting in my mouth.
Truthfully, I had plenty of complaints.
Because I hadn't wanted to bring the weasel into the fight if I could help it.
Against about seven Woodmen, I'd expected the three of us...... no, in the extreme case, just me and Kazen could wipe them out.
"I'm sorry."
Kazen spoke in a dark voice.
He seemed aware of his mistake.
Forcing myself to comfort him didn't suit my temperament either, so I just gave a rough nod.
Squeak!
Meanwhile, the weasel was striking poses like a bodybuilder.
The sight was ridiculous, but without this little guy, we would've been in serious trouble.
Its level, its stats...... in our current situation, it's the undisputed ace of our party.
"Is it over......?"
Kria, who'd been hiding all the while, revealed herself too.
Spiritist Kria doesn't have much to contribute in direct combat.
Her role is using spirits for tracking, perimeter scouting, and buffs, more or less.
'Even that's enough to pull her weight.'
I headed toward the Woodman corpses.
Should I say it was as expected?
When we killed monsters in the forest, they dissolved immediately and dropped items.
Nothing special—just SEED. Faintly tinged purple.
"That's......?"
"It's a SEED."
"Ah......! So that's a SEED."
What is a SEED?
Simply put, it's the currency of FoS. True to the name "seed," it even looks like a small seed.
When you kill hostile entities you encounter in the forest, they're guaranteed to drop SEED...... and its value varies wildly depending on size, color, and condition.
"Do we need to collect them?"
"Right."
Kria, who'd crouched down and was picking up SEED with me, asked.
"How much do you think all the ones we just got add up to?"
"Hmm. Maybe around three or four thousand seed."
"Aha. Then how much do we need to collect?"
"One million."
Kazen scratched behind his ear and asked again.
"Excuse me, how much did you just say?"
"I said we need to collect at least one million seed."
"Which means......."
"What's so hard about it? We just have to do what we just did three or four hundred more times."
"......."
What? Why?
Did you think grinding in a game was easy?