Chapter 119
Chapter 119
Chapter 119
Southern Great Forest (2)
The carriage carrying the group continued southward without any particular incidents.
Elvin, who had been holding the reins and serving as the coachman for almost a week, wiped away some sweat as the temperature of the southern region gradually rose.
"It's hot..."
"Ah, let me cast a survival magic spell for you."
The worldview of had quite large temperature differences between regions, perhaps because the author wanted to emphasize that this was a fantasy world.
Just looking at the Morian Empire alone, the north boasted cold waves that rivaled the Bear Kingdom, while conversely, going south, one could see palm trees growing.
Of course, this was a sight that could only be seen at the extremes, and it wasn't a natural phenomenon either...
As the temperature of the coachman's seat instantly became cool, Elvin's expression immediately relaxed.
"Thank you, Eugene."
"We're comrades after all. This much is only natural!"
Eugene smiled brightly while emphasizing the word comrades.
I still can't tell if that's sincere or not.
"Ugh..."
"Grrrr..."
And inside the carriage.
Rudian, completely exhausted, diligently moved his magic and fingers to form hand seals and recited a spell.
"Aqua Stream."
TRICKLE!
Following the spell, a mass of water immediately formed in mid-air, then flowed straight into the mouth of Rudian, who was lying down with his mouth open.
"Hmm, you've become able to use 2nd class magic sufficiently. Considering it's been less than a month since you started learning magic, this is very rapid progress."
Eugene, who had been getting some air in the front seat, grasped this fact just from the movement of magical power.
"Oh, really?"
"If I had to describe it, you'd be in the upper ranks among the apprentices at the Magic Tower? I'll give you the prodigy title."
If it had been others, they wouldn't have spared praise calling Rudian a genius of the century, but as expected, Eugene, being 9th class, had different standards from the start.
"The curriculum created by House Bellatrix is decent. Let's continue with it as is until 4th class."
After Eugene began teaching Gray, Sonya's curriculum fell into Eugene's hands.
No matter how capable Gray was, Gray couldn't digest both learning and teaching simultaneously.
"Rudian is also decent, but... Gray is definitely a genius."
But there was someone who earned the word genius even from Eugene.
Although Gray was sprawled out exhausted like Rudian, Gray's two hands never stopped manipulating magical power even in that state.
"Have you already roughly grasped the feel for 7th class?"
"......"
As if fallen into a trance, there was no response from Gray.
Although Gray couldn't receive direct instruction from Giovanni, Eugene, who became the substitute, had decent qualifications as a teacher.
The polyhedron floating above Gray's hands was continuously repeating the process of generating and decomposing magical power by concentrating hundreds and thousands of magical circuits.
"I wonder if I could do that too?"
If it were Adi's calculations, that much would be easy, but Rudian had no confidence that with his own brain, he could properly implement even 1/10th of that complexity.
'In fact, I need to be able to do that to achieve my goal...'
7th class.
Essentially Rudian's goal and the minimum threshold for using the Blue World.
All Seven Colored Worlds required knowing how to handle power of the same system to use them, but among them, the Blue World was a peculiar one that judged the 'realm' of its possessor.
Of course, except for 'that time,' Rudian had no intention of using it.
The Blue World was one whose efficiency increased the higher one's magical realm was.
'Grow strong, Gray.'
If things went as expected, soon in the great forest, a hell incomparable to all the hardships so far would unfold.
***
"Stop, humans."
A path where the forest had grown so thick that carriages could no longer pass.
After heading south for nearly a month, the group finally reached the 'Elven Forest,' which could be called the entrance to the Southern Great Forest.
Rudian looked over the elves at the front with curious eyes.
They didn't have the flashy appearance like Drizzt that he had expected, but they were fundamentally a beautiful race with smooth skin and quite distinct facial features.
"From here on, passage is prohibited. Whatever business you have coming here, turn back."
He could feel elves aiming bows from various parts of the forest giving visitors an enthusiastic welcome.
So enthusiastic that they seemed to want to plant arrows in their foreheads.
"We've come here on business in the great forest."
"Didn't you understand what I said? I told you to get lost!"
"But the great forest doesn't belong to anyone, does it? As long as we don't disturb each race's territory, not blocking entry to the great forest itself should be an unwritten rule, shouldn't it?"
"Hmm...!"
The elves' expressions hardened slightly at Rudian's reasonable argument.
This was the representative setting that the original author of attached to the great forest.
'Entry is free, but exit is not.'
The environment of the great forest hadn't changed from a thousand years ago to now.
Struggle with nature.
If you're confident you can survive, try coming in!
Many adventurers set foot in the great forest, aiming for all kinds of rare herbs, magical materials, and the very occasionally discovered jackpot elixirs that grew in the great forest.
But the great forest was never an easy place, and adventurers began to sense something was wrong one by one as they saw their fellow professionals who had confidently entered the great forest not return.
When the boom reached its peak, the survival rate announced by the Adventurer's Guild was about 8%.
The decisive blow was also due to the failure when the Kingdom of Rohans sent an army of 100,000 to attempt development, coveting the fertile land.
Unable to withstand the environment of the great forest, they lost half their forces in three days and retreated in defeat, after which adventurers' visits gradually ceased.
But that didn't mean the unwritten rule from the past had disappeared.
"Humans, this is purely for your own sake. It might be different at other times, but not now. If you go in, you'll definitely die, so listen to my advice."
The group felt slightly moved by the words of the male elf at the front.
"His words are rough, but he's quite kind?"
The group, who knew the situation of the great forest to some extent, realized that the elf's words were sincere consideration, not simple obstinacy.
"We've come to help you."
"Nonsense! Just you people?"
"We are nobles of the Morian Empire. And we hold quite high positions at that."
"Nobles...?"
No matter how ignorant elves were of human culture, they couldn't be unaware of the weight of the name "noble."
"But didn't humans refuse our request last time?"
Huh...?
What's this about?
While Rudian and his companions were puzzled, another elf stepped forward to correct the statement.
"That's not right, Nellu. The human force that refused our help was Rohans, and these are nobles from a different country."
"Ah, is that so? Human countries change names too often, so it's confusing."
"According to elves who have traveled the outside world and returned, the country called Morian is the largest among human nations. If my memory is correct, it was probably established about 400 years ago."
In , elves' lifespans were basically in units of thousands of years, so this kind of confusion was understandable.
For now, at the mention of nobles, the elf nodded and turned around.
"Fine. I'll at least listen to what you have to say. Come in."
"It seems we have quite a lot to discuss."
It appeared that these people, including the other races of the great forest, had no idea that the culprit behind this phenomenon was that very Rohans they mentioned.
***
Externally, the great forest was known as a paradise for countless magical beasts, magical insects, and carnivorous plants, but in reality, it was practically like a spirit realm where elves, dwarves, orcs, and countless spirits and fairies resided.
Of course, almost no humans knew that the environment of that spirit realm was an extreme environment where humans couldn't survive.
The group entered the inner part of the great forest, the elves' territory, under the elves' guidance.
But what was surprising was that the elder, who was the leader of the elves, and Eugene were acquainted.
The elf elder, whose wrinkled skin suggested an age of at least several thousand years, immediately showed recognition upon seeing Eugene.
"It's been a while, Eugene. About four hundred..."
"You're still clinging to life, you damn old elf."
"...?"
It seemed like the elf elder was about to roughly mention Eugene's age, but it was cut off sharply with Eugene's rare irritation.
"First, before you misunderstand, let me say this. This visit is purely something that happened while accompanying Rudian's group, not the will of our Celestial."
"Hmm, that's a bit disappointing. If you people stepped forward, this situation would be resolved quite easily."
"If you really can't handle it, invoke the contract. We'll be very happy to help you."
"I'll pass. That's a card that should be used at truly important times."
'Was there some kind of deal between them?'
The different races and Celestial appeared in earnest in Chapter 2 of the original work, but there was never any connection described between the two forces.
'Is it one of the MacGuffins? But it doesn't seem like something that can be simply passed over...'
Rudian's intuition told him that the pact made between these two was more important than he thought.
'Well, investigating that is for later...'
After the brief introductions between Rudian and the elf elder ended, Rudian began to state the real purpose of coming here.
"We've come to challenge the 'Hall of Heroes' that exists in the deepest part of the great forest."
"...!"
The elf elder's expression was instantly overwhelmed with utter shock.
"How, how on earth do you...? That's a place whose doors open when the end times come!"
"Hall of Heroes? What exactly is that?"
Eugene asked with wide eyes as if hearing it for the first time.
But instead of answering, Rudian continued speaking to the elder.
"I plan to clear the final trial of the Hall of Heroes and obtain all the arrangements prepared there."
"Who... Who exactly are you? It should have been forgotten from human history long ago, so how do you know about that place?"
"I had some connections with ancient beings."
Since I couldn't say I knew because I was a setting enthusiast, this time too, some embellishment was added.
The Hall of Heroes.
A legacy created by the human heroes who survived the 1st Heaven-Demon Great War, concentrating all their power.
Considering the scale at which the Seven Seats and the heavenly gods were fighting at that time, those who survived that battle, even if they were human, had reached realms that absolutely could not be ignored.
They built structures in the center of the great forest, which was a natural wilderness even then, using powerful magical forces, and transformed into spirits to sleep, waiting to train someone who would inherit the 'White World' among the Seven Colored Worlds in the distant future.
In other words, this Hall of Heroes was one of the leveling courses for the protagonist 'Abel.'
Naturally, to enter the Hall of Heroes, the 'White World' was needed as a key, but...
"Elf Elder, Orc Great Chief, Troll Great Shaman, Werewolf Lord. If the keys held by the leaders of these four races are combined into one, I understand that one can enter the Hall of Heroes even without possessing the White World."
"Heh heh heh...!"
The elf elder fell silent, at a loss for words from the mental shock he was experiencing for the first time in nearly eight hundred years.
Still, Rudian's words continued.
"If you use that to let our group into the Hall of Heroes, we'll completely eliminate the root cause that's disturbing the environment of the great forest."