Exploration (2)
We had narrowly escaped being wiped out right at the start, but quick thinking saw us through unharmed. Had I ignored that creeping sense of unease and pressed deeper into the hollow, the outcome would have been catastrophic.
Yet that brush with death imparted an invaluable realization: basic information. I knew the fauna of Earth, my old homeworld, but I was utterly ignorant when it came to the flora and fauna of this bizarre realm. Wonmo was an owlbear straight out of high fantasy, and Tyrano, a dragon hatchling, went without saying.
I have no idea what kinds of monstrosities dwell out here.
This was an environment where even mere herbivores mutated into devastating juggernauts. If we crossed paths with a predator that was ferocious by nature—or worse, a beast I had never laid eyes on before—our chances of dying a senseless death were alarmingly high, short of another miracle like the one we had just experienced.
If I want information, the only answer is to explore more often.
All the more reason to scour every inch of ground with meticulous care. Better safe than sorry; when stepping onto unfamiliar terrain, absolute caution was paramount.
"In that spirit, Cain, I'm carrying you like a lantern."
"Must it truly come to this?"
"Would you rather dangle off my rear?"
"A lantern sounds reasonably dignified."
And so, I secured Cain with rope and held him aloft like a lantern, ensuring we could react the instant he spotted anomalies or unfamiliar beasts. We couldn't place Ludwig on point duty given his physical condition, and with my own severe lack of ecological knowledge, this arrangement was our best compromise.
"By the way, I think I understand what triggered the territorial dispute back at the Mandrake Colony." I surveyed the barren wasteland left behind where the colossal Bush Hell had once lurked. True to its name, the ambush predator should have been the size of a shrub, yet the monstrosity had swollen to encompass an entire forest. Having voraciously devoured every plant and animal in sight, it left only desolate earth in its wake—or more precisely, a hollow void occupying the exact footprint where it had rooted.
"#$%%?"
"He asks if we intend to press on."
"Of course we are. The Bush Hell is gone, isn't it?"
Only the clearing swallowed by the predator had been stripped bare; beyond its perimeter, lush, untouched forest stretched outward. Just to be safe, I handed Ludwig a lit torch. We had escaped earlier by pure fortune, but we could just as easily march unawares straight into something else's digestive tract.
Better anchor the thread tightly right here.
I knotted the World Tree Silk securely around a sturdy trunk at the edge of the clearing, handed the spool to Ggobongi, and scanned our surroundings once more. Unlike before, no ominous auras lingered in the air. We were clear to advance.
"Let's move."
"Do tread lightly, I implore thee. The ride is terribly jarring."
"If you're that uncomfortable, want me to tuck you between my thighs? Bet it's real cozy down there."
"By Aris! Anything but that!"
Having thoroughly silenced Cain's grumbling, I set off into the brush.
As I had noted, only the clearing swallowed by the Bush Hell lay barren; beyond it, verdant wilderness unfurled without end. Unlike before, the lively chorus of insects and birds resonated through the canopy.
"Now that I ponder it, this is rather curious," Cain murmured from where he was strapped to my chest, sounding puzzled. "A woodland of this scale ought to harbor monsters."
"Monsters?"
"Hast thou encountered monsters like goblins, orcs, or gnolls during thy travels here?"
"Hmm..."
I gave the matter some thought. I had met plenty of four-legged beasts, but practically none of the classic fantasy races Cain had listed.
"What defines the boundary between a beast and a monster anyway?"
"The criteria vary by era, but in my day, it typically hinged upon whether they preyed upon mankind."
"Were wolves classified as monsters back then, too?"
"Only after they devoured human flesh. Wild beasts, contrary to popular belief, rarely hunt men unprovoked."
I nodded at his reasoning. The Mad Dog I had fought tooth and nail against when I first dropped into this forest—when I asked on the Gallery, they confirmed it was classified as a monster. And here we were, stranded in an untamed wilderness leagues away from civilization.
Still, a few things didn't quite line up.
"Then does a Mushroom Man with arms and legs count as a monster? One that's ripped with bulging muscles?"
"Generally, yes. Even if they do not actively assault men, their spores wreak devastating harm."
"What about a gorilla that knows martial arts? One that commits grand larceny, no less."
"At that point, should one not classify it as practically half-human?"
"And dragons surviving from the mythic age?"
"...Now that I reflect upon it, treating everything in this place as a monster would spare us considerable headache."
It seemed Cain had realized that rigid taxonomic categorization was completely meaningless here.
Yet things classified as monsters in the outside world were bound to be exponentially more perilous in this forest. If even gorillas developed human-tier intellect, naturally cunning species would be downright terrifying.
"If their intelligence has been augmented," Cain mused, "goblins must be considered the most lethal. They are the craftiest vermin among monsterkind."
"Goblins? Aren't they notoriously weak?"
"The tragedy lies in that they know it full well. They grasp their own fragility and evolve relentlessly to overcome it."
Just imagining that sent a chill down my spine. What was worse, that trait hadn't changed from Cain's antiquity down to the present day; Ludwig had mentioned that over half of all monster subjugations in Avalon involved goblins. From an ecological standpoint, they were like a plague of locusts.
"Still, I haven't seen a single goblin around here. The only organized packs we've run into were gorillas and kangaroos."
"They may dwell in different territories. Stay vigilant; I shall alert thee the moment I spot signs."
The territorial markers of intelligent monsters like goblins or orcs were crude and straightforward: sharpening wooden stakes and impaling animal skulls atop them, or hanging slaughtered carcasses from branches.
Even so, I doubt they're around here.
Monster or beast, drinking water was indispensable. Since no rivers flowed nearby, cunning creatures would naturally settle close to a reliable water source.
I pricked up my ears and pressed onward.
"Quiet, isn't it?" Cain remarked.
"The birds are chirping plenty loud."
"True enough, but it grows rather tedious."
"Hey, old man..."
"Curse me not. Making moderate noise while advancing is far safer."
"Won't that give our position away?"
"Better to warn them than startle a beast into lunging blindly."
Cain did occasionally offer practical wilderness advice. We weren't executing a stealth military strike; when trekking uncharted terrain, generating sound kept wildlife from being caught off-guard. Bears were notoriously jittery about sudden surprises, and countless explorers had met grisly ends after inadvertently blundering into one.
"What if monsters or beasts hear us and launch an ambush?"
Ludwig chimed in from atop Largo: "#%^%%%^. ##@%$%. #$%."
"He says our party is substantial in size, so ordinary beasts will scarcely dare provoke us," Cain translated. "Monsters likewise. At most, a scout might observe from afar."
With Ludwig vouching for it, I felt reassured. Even so, we found no droppings or territorial gouges in the bark. This zone seemed more like a neutral transit corridor than an established hunting ground. Thanks to that, our expedition proceeded smoothly up until midday.
I can forage herbs along the way, too.
I gathered any sparkling, vibrant medicinal herbs we passed, planning to trade them to the Heavenly Demon later.
As noon approached, I called for a brief rest. In my heart, I had wanted to hunt fresh game, but with no tracks anywhere, I abandoned the thought.
There's really nothing out here. Is something suppressing the wildlife?
I glanced about while building a campfire as the rest of the party settled in. Given that lighting a fire drew no hostility, we hadn't stumbled into another Bush Hell; it really was just a neutral zone. Even my own shelter back home remained tranquil most days.
"Here you go. Chow down."
"Kkyu-u!"
"Ppiik!"
I tossed Wonmo and Tyrano cuts of meat I had purchased from the Gallery. Both ate like ravenous piglets, which forced me to splurge a bit.
As for the rest of us: Ludwig and I roasted a couple of lizards we had managed to catch. Even in the absence of big game, small critters like lizards skittered about, and fortunately, these were non-toxic. Bbarmbo and Ggobongi made do with Inedia Pills. As Ggobongi munched on his pill, Bbarmbo gave him a sullen, possessive side-eye. And Largo, well... surrounded by endless lush greenery, the giraffe feasted to its heart's content.
Carve a marker here...
Even with the World Tree Silk guiding us, I made sure to blaze trail markers on the trees at regular intervals. Bellies full, we resumed our trek. I hadn't set a specific destination; the loose plan was simply to head back toward the shelter before night fell, or camp out if forced to.
Ruuuuumble...
"Hm?"
Walking on point, a distant sound brushed against my ear. I froze mid-step, and the party halted behind me in curiosity.
"What troubles thee?" Cain asked.
"Wait a second."
I raised an index finger to my lips, signaling for quiet, and tuned my senses to the background noise. Cutting through the chirping of insects and birds, a distinct, rhythmic roar grew clearer.
Kwoooooosh...!
Water. That was unmistakably rushing water.
My head snapped toward the source, pinpointing the direction.
"I think there's a river nearby."
"A river?" Ludwig echoed.
"A river, sayest thou?" Cain asked.
"Yeah. Follow quietly behind me. There might be predators drinking."
Leading the party toward the roar, the leafy forest loam gradually gave way to gravel and river stones.
Kwooooosh!
The sound was deafening now. Judging by their expressions, the others caught on as well. Meanwhile, I mapped the geography in my head. This river had to be distinct from the one flowing past our shelter.
There was that confluent channel near the sea, wasn't there?
A river that didn't flow into the ocean, but sprang from it. This one likely followed a similar mechanism, albeit flowing in a different direction—effectively tracing a parallel line across the landscape.
Which means the end of this river is probably connected to the sea as well.
Consequently, the likelihood of finding monster or predator dens along its banks was exceptionally high. I drew my sword and raised my shield.
Seeing me adopt a combat stance, Ludwig unclasped his Mythrecon Sword. Perched atop Largo, he cut quite the imposing figure of a mounted cavalryman.
Though his mount happens to be a giraffe.
Pushing the thought aside, I advanced cautiously until we finally breached the tree line and arrived at the riverbank.
KWA-SHHHH!
Much like the river by our shelter, the torrent raged with impressive fury. Yet the current ran so crystal clear that every pebble on the riverbed was visible, clean enough to drink straight from.
Across the river... it's just normal woods.
The only wildlife in sight was a stag drinking water and a wolf stalking up from behind it.
THWACK!
"Wh-whine—!"
Correction. The wolf took a vicious hind-leg kick squarely to the snout and blasted over the horizon like a comet. Now there was only the stag.
Why was every single deer in this forest built like a heavyweight champion? Note to self: never mess with the local venison.
"What is thy next course of action?" Cain asked.
"Hmm..."
I weighed our options. Though the origin might differ, trekking upstream carried a high probability of reaching the sea. Going downstream, on the other hand, would likely lead to a lake or basin. As I deliberated—
...Wait a second.
I traced a finger across my palm, mentally sketching out the topography to calculate our heading. Even without a compass, I could estimate the cardinal directions fairly well.
Wait, this river is flowing backward!
If it ran parallel to the river near our shelter, the current ought to rush from left to right. But this current surged fiercely from right to left—the exact opposite direction.
No matter how many times I wracked my brain, the math remained unchanged.
In other words, this river probably wasn't connected to the sea at all, but to somewhere entirely different.
"Let's follow the river downstream first. Keep your guard up; there's no telling what we'll encounter."
"Mm," Ludwig nodded.
"Ggobongi. Is the thread secure?"
"It here."
Then I'll carve another mark here as well. Getting lost out here would be disastrous, though as long as we tracked the riverbank, losing our way was unlikely.
Splash! Splash!
As we followed the waterway down, several large fish breached the surface, leaping high into the air.
Just as I wondered if they were salmon—
SHWIP!
A massive tongue whipped out from the depths of the river and snagged the jumping fish mid-air. That tongue had to be well over a meter long.
SPLASH!
The thrashing salmon was yanked down beneath the surface in the blink of an eye, undoubtedly serving as lunch for whatever lurked below.
"It appears a frog makes its home here," Cain observed solemnly.
"..."
I can see that, genius.
Swallowing the retort, I sidestepped away from the water's edge. Getting snagged by something like that would mean an instant ticket to the bottom.
KWOOOOOSH!
We marched along the riverbank for over thirty minutes. The channel widened considerably, yet the current only accelerated, roaring with increasing violence.
This is bizarre. Rivers slow down and lose momentum as they flow downstream, don't they?
The rest of the group seemed just as baffled, tilting their heads in confusion. Still, pondering it wouldn't magically provide an answer, so we pressed forward.
And when we finally reached the end of the river, the reason for its unbroken, furious momentum became all too clear.
KABOOOOOOM!
A waterfall.
Except it was a waterfall falling upward.
It sounded absurd, but it truly looked as if someone had taken a colossal cataract and turned it upside down. A spectacle that shattered the laws of physics and treated gravity like a laughable suggestion. The roaring torrent surged straight toward the heavens, its zenith obscured by thick shrouds of spray and mist.
My jaw dropped in sheer disbelief, and a breathless laugh escaped me.
"Man... what a bizarre spectacle."
"Didst thou not mean magnificent?"
"Spectacularly unhinged, more like! What else could you call this madness?"
"Thou makest a fair point."
I hadn't picked the wrong words. It was an absolute, ridiculous spectacle.
After chuckling dryly, I edged closer toward the flank of the inverted cataract to inspect what lay beyond.
SWOOSH!
"Huh?"
The instant my boots stepped near the periphery of the falls, my balance vanished and my world flipped completely.
"WHOOOOOAAA?!"
And just like that, I plummeted straight up into the sky.