Chapter 18. Woodman Habitat III
Episode 18.
Woodman Habitat III
<Woodman Habitat> is one of the least dangerous maps in the early part of the Eternal Forest.
The Woodmen that appear here are basically slow, never gather in groups of more than ten, and are relatively docile at night.
'A place that guarantees stable growth and farming.'
But even so, there are enemies to watch out for.
Could you even call them enemies? It's an event, anyway.
'Wood Revenge.'
That was the moment I recalled the name of that goddamn event.
[Field Event, <Wood Revenge>, has begun.]
[While the event is in progress, all Delvers who have entered <Woodman Habitat> cannot leave the field.]
[Find a solution and escape the habitat.]
Escape, my ass.
"Kaindel?"
"Hold on."
I pieced together the information in my head, and first went back over the activation conditions for <Wood Revenge>.
'......It was hunting more than ten thousand Woodmen within a month, right?'
That was why I had let my guard down.
The Woodmen we'd hunted over the past week, without even getting proper rest, amounted to around two thousand at most. Nowhere near enough to meet the condition.
Which meant.......
"Kria. Scan the surroundings again."
There were other parties nearby.
* * *
A moment later, Kria spoke.
"There are three parties nearby."
"Besides us?"
"Yeah. But it's strange. There was definitely no one around just a moment ago......"
They must have been naturally drawn to where the Black Tree was.
Just like us.
"Kaindel. Please explain now. What exactly is happening in this forest?"
Kazen spoke in a frustrated voice. It seemed his anxiety had spiked because I kept acting mysterious without explaining properly.
'Explaining the situation, huh.......'
Come to think of it, sharing information like this was something you never had to do in the game.
I let out a dry chuckle with a blank face, then opened my mouth.
"Each region of the forest has rules that must not be broken. <Woodman Habitat> is the same."
"We broke a rule? We didn't do anything particularly strange......."
"To put it simply, you can think of it as trouble caused by killing too many Woodmen."
Kazen said, looking dazed.
"So...... you mean the forest got angry because we cut down too many trees?"
He sure had a needlessly literary way of putting it.
It wasn't entirely wrong, so I nodded.
"Is there a way out?"
"Well......."
Of course there is.
That's what this game is like.
Even in situations that seem hopeless at first glance, it always leaves a few ways out.
That's why <FoS>, despite being trashed as a shit game and a dead game at every turn, still has a solid user base.
'The problem is whether the current me can meet those conditions.'
If I had become a Necromancer as planned, my survival rate would have gone up significantly.......
Regrettably, I was now a <Summoner>, a class I'd never wanted in my life.
'......First, I have no choice but to spend achievement points.'
The Bronze Shop purchase opportunities totaled three.
I never expected to use two of them on my very first expedition, but this was no time to be leisurely hoarding them.
Because my survival rate in the current situation was less than ten percent even at the most generous estimate.
"Kaindel. Someone's approaching from this direction."
Kria's words snapped me back to attention.
"Another party?"
"No. I think it's a Woodman, but its appearance is a bit strange. Its bark is red, and somehow......."
"It looks a bit more human?"
Kria flinched, then nodded.
'Damn it.'
They moved fast.
"What should we do? Prepare for battle......."
"No."
Let me calculate.
The Woodmen we'd killed numbered about two thousand. Kazen had whined at the end so we hadn't hit our target, so there'd be a margin of error of a hundred or two hundred there.......
Kria said there were three other parties nearby.
'The remaining number is about eight thousand.'
Three parties besides us.
Whether the three parties had split it evenly into thirds, or one party had monopolized five or six thousand, I didn't know. It wasn't very important either.
The key point here was that we were absolutely not the party that had hunted the most Woodmen.
In other words—
"Th-they're almost here! Kaindel?"
I looked at the panicking Kria and Kazen and said.
"Listen carefully. From now on, don't move and stay still."
We were not their first target.
"What do you......?"
"No time to explain. Got it? No matter what those bastards do, absolutely do not move—"
I shut my mouth mid-sentence when I felt a chilling presence.
And then—
Rustle.
They revealed themselves from beyond the underbrush.
'Fuck.'
Their appearance made me curse involuntarily.
If the <Woodmen> we had killed so far looked like walking trees, these things looked like nutcracker dolls made with crude craftsmanship.
Should I call it the uncanny valley?
Anyway, they had a revolting appearance.
Creak, creak.
They all moved by bending their bodies excessively, as if their joints were twisted, and that was when the letters written above their heads caught my eye.
[Lv.50 'Woodman Avenger']
Level 50 in the starting area, my ass.
It was only natural, since they weren't made to be fought in the first place, but facing them directly made my breath catch in my throat.
The Avengers lingered around us for a while, observing us intently.
'Just fuck off already.'
I wished with all my heart, but reality never resolves itself that easily.
One of the Avengers stopped moving abruptly.
[.......]
Its gaze was directed at Kria. It was hard to tell since its eyes looked like they'd just been painted on, but judging by the direction of its head, that was the case.
The Avenger strode up to Kria in an instant.
"......!"
The moment a startled Kazen raised his crossbow, I pressed down firmly on his shoulder.
Meanwhile, the Avenger extended its finger toward Kria.
A Woodman's thumb was blunt in shape, just like a wooden stamp.
Press.
Indeed, the Avenger pressed its thumb, shaped just like that, firmly against the nape of Kria's neck.
"......."
Even with the monster touching her, Kria didn't move a muscle. I thought she was being admirably brave, but looking at her face, it seemed her body had simply frozen.
[.......]
After that, the group of Avengers left.
I remained silent until the moment their presence had completely faded into the distance, then opened my mouth.
"......It's over. You can move now."
"Kria!"
Kazen hurriedly checked his sister's condition.
A strange patterned brand had been left near the nape of her neck where the Avenger had touched her.
'Damn it.'
So it ended up like this after all.
Just as I was sighing inwardly, Kazen asked me.
"What on earth is this mark? What did the Woodman do to Kria?"
"It's a brand."
"......A brand? What on earth."
"I told you earlier. The pitch-black tree had two fruits hanging from it."
"Y-yes, it did."
"To put it simply, the Black Tree is currently demanding two sacrifices."
"Sacrifices? Don't tell me......."
I nodded and said.
"If you offer up two sacrifices bearing the brand, the other people caught up in this can save their lives."
"We absolutely cannot abandon her."
Kazen spoke in place of Kria, whose face had gone pale.
His attitude was so resolute it made me wonder if he was even capable of making such an expression.
'That's what I wanted to hear.'
I had no intention of offering Kria as a sacrifice either.
Offering the sacrifices would save their lives, but it was literally only their 'lives' that would be saved.
"Then hide the brand. And don't get caught. We'll be joining up with another party soon."
"......Ah, understood."
Kazen straightened Kria's collar and even pulled her hood over her head.
It was a stopgap measure, but that would keep the brand hidden for now.
'So, what now?'
Honestly, from this point on, even I couldn't predict how things would go.
The dispositions of the other Delvers we were about to meet, their knowledge, experience, numbers. There were too many things to consider.
'I'll have to respond on the fly.'
That was the moment I finished making my judgment.
I heard a rustling sound from behind.
"Oh! I knew it!"
Following that, several figures emerged from the underbrush.
"See? Didn't I say I sensed a presence here?"
"Yeah. You were right."
A group revealed themselves as if they had been waiting.
How did these bastards know our location?
The answer was simple.
Next to the swaggering man was a spirit the size of a human face.
A Sylphid. A mid-grade wind spirit.
'Ha.'
Kria's scouting must have been exposed because of that thing.
"Ugh."
Kria's face went pale as she realized that fact, but it wasn't exactly her fault.
Spiritists are one of the hardest classes to encounter. By ratio alone, they're even rarer than mages.
I had ordered the search because I thought there was no chance of running into one, and then this happened.
But.
"We have no intention of hostility, so there's no need to be on guard."
The real problem wasn't some Spiritist.
Dazzling armor and blond hair, a sharp jawline and a calm baritone voice. A man who looked like the very model of a knight stood before me.
I realized who he was at a glance.
'It's the <White Knight>.'
A named NPC I was all too familiar with.
The puzzling part was why such a major named character was loitering around a beginner zone like <Woodman Habitat>.......
Looking at the composition of the party, I could guess the reason.
'An escort mission?'
At the very rear of the formation, where the Delvers stood as if protecting someone, a blonde woman who was obviously a noble young lady was glaring disdainfully at us.
She looked strict at a glance, though that might just be my prejudice.
Her appearance might be like that, but she could actually have a gentle temperament.......
"Laurent. What's going on?"
"I found new Delvers and was trying to talk to them."
"Delvers? Judging by their appearance, they just look like beggars."
So physiognomy really is a science.
I was sighing inwardly when Laurent spoke.
"......I should at least verify. Can you show me your <Exploration Crystal>?"
Since this was the expected course of events, I nodded and showed him the crystal.
"Here."
"Excuse me."
Laurent examined the crystal carefully, then asked me.
"A Lowest-Grade Exploration Crystal."
"Is there a problem?"
"No. I apologize if I seemed rude. And...... the crystal itself doesn't appear to have any issues."
"......."
"Then is it my turn to show you our crystal?"
With that, Laurent took a crystal from his chest.
"Whoa......."
Kazen let out an admiring exclamation. No wonder.
Unlike ours, which flickered like a light bulb about to go out, the crystal Laurent took out shone brilliantly in five colors like the finest crystal.
'A Highest-Grade Exploration Crystal, huh.'
When would I ever be able to get my hands on something like that?
Thinking about the functions built into a Highest-Grade Exploration Crystal, I couldn't help but feel envious.
"My lady. The Exploration Crystal is still functioning. These people are not <Stragglers>."
"Really? That's unexpected."
Those whose Exploration Crystals stop working and who can't return are called <Stragglers>.
Delvers who end up in that state are looked down on and despised even by other Delvers, and if they're unlucky, they can even be killed.
After all, the moment you become a Straggler, a kind of missing-person report is filed against your Delver status.
'And clearing that missing status is a whole ordeal in itself.'
But you couldn't just leave it alone either.
If your status is uncertain, you can't even use the kingdom's basic facilities.
That's why the grade of your Exploration Crystal matters.
The more expensive the crystal, the longer you can stay in the forest by an overwhelming margin.
'This is clearly a party carrying that young brat through.'
There was no other reason for an NPC of this caliber to be wandering around <Woodman Habitat>.
Laurent looked at me.
"It seems a <Calamity> has occurred in this area......."
"......."
"Let me make a proposal. How about we cooperate until this matter is resolved?"
Calamity—that was how the characters of the <FoS> world referred to <Field Events>.
It was the development I had expected, but I pretended not to know and asked.
"Cooperate?"
"Yes. I'm late with introductions. I am Laurent. A member of the <Order of Pars>, the sword of the kingdom."
"L-Laurent Lefebvre! The White Knight of the Empire!"
Before I could even answer, Kazen's face lit up.
It seemed this guy had also heard of the White Knight Laurent's reputation.
"Kaindel......!"
Kazen looked at me with fervently hopeful eyes.
You don't have to stare at me like that.
"......Fine. Let's do that."
Of course, I intended to join them too.
"Mm. A wise decision."
As Laurent nodded, Kazen let out a sigh of relief as if the tension had drained out of him.
Kria's complexion also brightened noticeably.
"......."
But did these two really know?
About the incredibly dangerous Trait possessed by this White Knight, who seemed upright and incorruptible at a glance.
Perhaps we were walking into the tiger's jaws to escape the wolf.
"What is your name?"
The White Knight's eyes turned toward me.
His gaze was calm, but I felt an inexplicable pressure.
"Kaindel."
"Kaindel. You seem to be the leader of these people. Do you happen to know anything about this calamity?"
"......."
I licked my dry lips and said.
"......I know more than most."