Chapter 22. Wood Revenge III
Episode 22.
Wood Revenge III
"Hair? Why?"
"Second instruction. Don't ask useless questions from now on. Oh, Kria. I need yours too."
"Ah, okay."
Kria moved quickly.
In an instant, she yanked out a strand of hair as if tearing it out and handed it to me.
Seigrena, on the other hand, hesitated until the very end, flinched at the sound of a Woodman scraping against a tree, and only then pulled out her hair.
"Aaaah! My hair......!"
Could she do something about that screaming? Every time I hear it, it drains the strength out of me.
"......Giving your hair to someone else, and to a commoner at that. Is this really right?"
"D-don't worry. In situations like this, Kaindel's judgment has always been right....... Mm. Mostly."
Even with Kria's words, Seigrena couldn't completely erase her doubtful expression.
Ignoring her, I glared at the object I'd taken from my chest...... the doll.
Baldi's Cursed Doll
Things without intelligence cannot distinguish this from a person.
I tore open the bellies of a pair of dolls side by side, then stuffed Kria's and Seigrena's hair into each.
Then the dolls trembled as if alive, and marks were engraved on their foreheads as well.
Sssss—
A familiar mark. It was the Brand of Sacrifice stamped on Kria's nape and the back of Seigrena's right hand.
"......."
A Woodman that had come within arm's reach faltered. It began tilting its head this way and that, as if deciding whether to go over there or come this way. Like a broken tin can.
"Why is it doing that...... uhp!"
I clamped shut Seigrena's mouth as she tried to say something, then hurled the dolls in my hands among the Woodmen.
"......!"
At that, the Woodmen's attention instantly snapped toward them.
In an instant, every Woodman rushed over and roughly snatched up the dolls.
"......What in the world is going on?"
"Stay still. Don't move."
Two Woodmen climbed the tree with the dolls in their hands.
After climbing past us, they each reached the places where the fruit hung.
Thunk!
"Eek."
Then the two dolls were skewered like meat on branches whose tips were unusually sharp.
"......."
Originally, the sacrifice would be pierced like that.
It means that if you're unlucky, you die instantly, and even if you're lucky, you bleed out before long.
"Phew."
But the fact that the dolls were impaled on the branches meant we had bought at least a minimum amount of time.
At least for a while, they would treat those dolls as the 'sacrifice.'
Of course.......
['Baldi's Cursed Doll' activates.]
[Time remaining: 0:29:59]
Not that we'd bought much time.
* * *
The Woodmen stopped moving before long.
They didn't disappear; they drove their root-like legs into the ground and hung their heads.
"......."
A strange silence settled.
Just then a chilly wind blew, and Seigrena's body trembled faintly.
Kria, who had been staring blankly at the dolls impaled on the branches, opened her mouth.
"......Did they mistake those dolls for us?"
"Yeah."
"Then does that mean this is resolved......."
If only that were the case.
"It's just buying time. The really important part starts now."
"I see......."
As we briefly exchanged information, Seigrena spoke.
"Wait....... Aren't your voices too loud? We're still waiting right under those things."
"Trees don't have ears."
"Huh?"
"Those things don't have anything like hearing. As long as it's just talking, you can chatter all you want. As long as you don't shout, that is."
"R-really? Then can I sit down a little—"
"Stop."
This girl, seriously.......
Startled, Seigrena glanced at me for my reaction, then shouted back instead.
"Wh-why, again!"
"......Look below."
"Huh? Eek......!"
After checking below, she nearly toppled over backward.
Because the Woodmen that had hung their heads were all staring this way at once.
"Wh-what? You said they can't hear sounds just now......."
"They can't. A Woodman's only sensory organ is touch."
"Touch?"
"Those things are rooting themselves right now, right? Through that, they feel vibrations transmitted through the ground."
"Ah."
Seigrena nodded as if she understood, then asked again.
"So we have to stay still like this? I thought you said those dolls were buying time?"
"We just have to move slowly. Slowly enough that a snail would yawn."
So the problem was landing from this tree.
"Kria."
"Yeah."
"Can you use a spirit to land us one at a time?"
Kria thought for a moment, then answered.
"I think I can manage myself and that person, but Kaindel is difficult."
That figured.
My body weight was probably half again as heavy as theirs.
I let out a sigh and said,
"Then you two land first, then walk slowly toward the roots on the other side of the tree."
"Toward the roots? Not running away?"
"Run where? Even if we sprint, completely shaking these things off is impossible. And we don't have any more dolls to offer instead."
After a moment of silence, Kria suddenly muttered as if to herself.
"......I wonder if Kazen's side is okay."
Is now the time to worry about someone else?
Those words rose to the back of my throat, but.
"Who knows."
I couldn't know their situation either.
Of course, Laurent knew about <Wood Revenge>.
Maybe he knew some other trick for escaping this disaster.
I shook my head.
Infuriating as he was, now was the time to set aside thoughts of Laurent.
"Behind the roots, there should be a hole leading under the tree. We just need to get inside it. Then the Woodmen won't be able to chase us anymore."
"What about Kaindel?"
"I'll manage on my own, so go first."
Kria nodded, then summoned a Sylph.
First, Kria's body rose into the air.
Her floating body soon descended slowly, like a fluttering feather.
"......."
She landed without leaving so much as a sound.
Excellent control.
Next was Seigrena.
"Aaaah......."
But this one looked precarious.
Unlike Kria, who floated stably, her body spun as if drifting through a zero-gravity space.
At first she only twirled left and right like a piece on display, but at some point she began tumbling up, down, left, and right like a ball.
"S-stop. I think I'm going to throw up...... urp."
"Relax your body a little....... The Sylph says you're hard to control......."
Kria spoke in a strained voice.
Looking closely, she was drenched in sweat.
"R-relax? Easy for you to say......! If I go limp and fall face-first, my neck could snap and I could die......!"
Her imagination was running a little wild, but I couldn't say I didn't understand her fear.
Entrusting your body completely to someone else is harder than it sounds.
Anyway, even I, just watching quietly, felt anxious.
If she landed wrong like that, we'd be screwed....... If that happened, the plan and everything else would be over.
Tap.......
At last Seigrena's feet touched the ground, and unlike with Kria, a faint landing sound echoed.
"......!"
The two of them flinched and looked around.
A nearby Woodman twitched, but.......
"......."
Did that just barely count as safe?
I let out a relieved sigh and said,
"Good. Now move slowly. Got it? Absolutely do not rush. Avoid the Woodmen...... little by little toward the other side of the tree......."
At my instruction, the two moved slowly.
It looked ridiculous, like watching something in slow motion, but those two might be sore tomorrow. They were probably that tense.
Fortunately, whether the tension sharpened their focus, the two moved smoothly.
"Kaindel......."
That was how it went up to a certain point.
A group of Woodmen was blocking the path leading behind the tree.
At that rate, they couldn't advance any farther.
"Phew."
So that was their limit.
"When I count to three, run."
"Huh......?"
"One, two—"
The moment I saw the two hurriedly prepare to run, I jumped down from the tree.
"Three!"
Thud. The instant I landed, the ground seemed to surge.
It actually did.
Because the Woodmen that had been rooted into the ground all rose at once.
"Run!"
I shouted something I couldn't tell was meant for me or for them, then ran too.
Grooooooan—!
The Woodmen immediately reached out for me, but it was fine.
Because most of them still had their legs jammed into the ground.
In the meantime, I weaved between the Woodmen, leaped over one blocking my path, and advanced by stepping on their heads or shoulders.
"Kaindel!"
The two had already safely reached the other side of the tree.
I could see the destination too.
A pitch-black entrance—
A tree-root cave leading below the ground.
It looked much bigger and gloomier than when I'd seen it in the game.
"Jump in!"
"What? There's a foul smell here...... Aaaah!"
I shoved Seigrena, who was spouting nonsense again, inside, then jumped into the hole myself.
Screeeech—!
I saw the hands of the Woodmen surging in right behind us, but those things didn't dare enter the hole.
They couldn't.
Because this wasn't a place Woodmen could enter.
[Hidden location discovered.]
[Hidden map, <Corpse Den>, is now open.]
Fortunately, we had somehow made it inside.
* * *
We walked through a damp, foul-smelling place.
The temperature seemed to have dropped much lower than before, and it probably wasn't my imagination.
"What in the world is this place......?"
At Seigrena's question, I told her the map's name.
"Corpse Den."
"C-Corpse Den?"
"Yeah. Can't you see?"
At my words, Seigrena blinked as her eyes adjusted to the dark—
"Heek......!"
Only then did she make out her surroundings and recoil in horror.
Well, that figured. Rotting corpses were strewn everywhere.
"Uurp....... This time I really think I'm going to throw up."
"Do it now if you're going to."
"I-I meant it as a figure of speech....... Anyway, what in the world are these corpses......?"
"Every human corpse from the habitat gets brought here."
"They carry corpses? Why do something so creepy?"
"Who knows. Probably to use them as nutrients."
"N-nutrients......."
Seigrena's face went pale, and she hurried after me.
"W-wait! Let's go together!"
"......."
This root cave was quite spacious, and if you meet certain conditions, you can escape <Woodman Revenge> through here.
'Unfortunately, meeting those conditions right now is impossible.'
So the way to use this place right now was the same strategy I'd used on the train.
I rummaged through the corpses lying around.
[Obtained 'Torn Leather Gloves'.]
[Obtained 'Rusted Forearm Shield'.]
[Obtained 'Hole-Ridden Cloak'.]
"......What are you doing?"
"Can't you tell by looking? I'm grabbing anything usable. You search too."
"You want me to strip clothes off corpses?"
"Why not?"
"S-still, if you don't show the dead at least some respect, you'll incur Abel's wrath......."
Abel was the name of the supreme god worshipped by the Church of Abel, the state religion of the kingdom.
'Was this girl a religious type?'
If so, it was only natural for her to have reservations, but.......
Unlike Seigrena, Kria moved briskly.
"Kaindel. Can I use this tunic?"
"It looks too big for you to wear."
"Ah...... you're right."
Come to think of it, when she saw the archer corpse, this one had seemed oddly unbothered by corpses too.
"Ugh......."
In the end, Seigrena also joined the corpse looting, albeit passively, poking at corpses.
Still, this was a much better farming spot than the train.
If only luck went our way.......
[Obtained 'Low-Grade Protection Ring'.]
You can even get rare-grade items like this.
It makes sense in the setting too. Equipment and similar items have no value to Woodmen, so they're usually dumped in the Corpse Den and left there.
Of course, the items you could salvage were random.
'The only thing usable right now is the ring, I guess.'
It left a bitter taste in my mouth.
If you're lucky, you can sometimes get three or more.
Still, a <Low-Grade Protection Ring> is exceptionally valuable even among rare items, so I'd have to take that as consolation.
Low-Grade Protection Ring
Grade: Rare
When you take damage above a certain level, the protection magic embedded in the ring activates.
▶ Uses remaining: 3/5
Even though two uses had already been spent, it wasn't bad.
I immediately slipped the ring onto my finger.
Even for a low-grade ring, maybe because it was an artifact, it was fascinating how it adjusted its size on its own.
"......."
And before long, I stopped walking again.
Because I spotted a familiar corpse.
A skeleton draped in a robe. It was a robe that looked quite valuable, and indeed the corpse's condition was astonishingly good.
The reason was simple.
Because that was a mage's corpse.
"......."
A mage's bones don't weather easily because of the mana they held in life. Even after exposure to the air, they can maintain that appearance for quite a long time.
That's why the bones of races like dragons are especially valuable in the setting...... but that wasn't important right now.
"Hoo."
I clicked my tongue in regret.
I knew the owner of that corpse.
<Pyromancer> Karen Hogval.
He was a mage who had been quite promising in the kingdom, and the setting was that he had died through a comrade's betrayal.
Actually, the reason I'd visited the <Corpse Den> in the game wasn't for something as trivial as corpse farming.
'Seeing it in person, it's killing me how wasteful this is.'
If I had the aptitude for the <Necromancer> class, an event would occur here where I encountered Karen's soul.
And depending on the choices, I could raise the Pyromancer's corpse.
'No choice, I guess.'
There was no point obsessing over an impossible method.
For now, I had no choice but to think of another means.
Fwoosh.......
That was the moment I heard the sound of flames flickering.
I faltered and looked back at the Pyromancer's skeleton I had just passed.
"......."
Blue flame. A blue fire was burning.
That's the unique flame wielded by Pyromancers.
Soon—
-You...... guys.......
The blue flame soon took the shape of a faint male figure.
-Can you...... see me......?
A Pyromancer's soul? How in the world?
Startled, I examined the Pyromancer.......
Only then did I realize that this soul's gaze was not directed at me.
"......!"
The place where the Pyromancer's gaze was directed—
At the end of it, Kria stood frozen, her face so pale it had gone white.