Chapter 11
Chapter 11
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 2
Chapter Title: Screaming Forest Entrance (2)
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Only after freeing the NPC from the wooden operating table could I finally talk to him.
But he had completely lost his mind, unable to give proper answers even to my most basic questions.
"What's your name?"
"Eek, ugh..."
He couldn't even say his own name. His teeth chattered so hard it must have hurt, as he kept demanding something from me.
"Th, th, thirsty... So thirsty..."
I felt pity for him, and I didn't want to miss out on an event like this, so I hoisted him onto my back and started walking. Maybe there'd be a lake or river somewhere.
Blood poured from his wound-riddled body. My back grew soaked and sticky. It felt like he'd shrivel up and die right then if he didn't get water.
"Ugh... water..."
But he didn't die. I wanted to call it miraculous vitality, but in a way, it seemed more like a curse that kept him from dying.
Only then could I properly reflect on the stories about Mortals and such. Frigo the wandering merchant's mention of [Immortality] suddenly came to mind.
Those born in the Blessed Land couldn't kill one another. They neither died nor ceased to live on, all thanks to the immortality blessing granted one day.
From a distance, it might seem like a gift from the gods. But the NPC on my back was covered in agony and misery, his body flushed red.
Frigo might have been right. Immortality could be closer to a curse than a blessing.
"Please... M, master... water..."
A question suddenly lodged itself in my mind.
If immortality had spread to everyone at some point, what kind of lives awaited those humans who had been living in misery before that?
"Masteeer..."
"Just hold on a bit. I'll find you some water."
"Ah, aaah... master..."
For those already living in hell, had it merely brought eternal hell upon them?
Thankfully, we found the lake soon enough.
The NPC on my back caught the fishy scent of the water and flung himself off, plunging his face straight into it.
Gulp, gulp—
I watched him guzzle the water greedily, his Adam's apple and belly heaving up and down, while I rummaged through my inventory.
It seemed like the time had finally come to use a healing potion—one I'd never tried before.
Against Veronine, one hit meant death, so no chance to use it. Trash mobs were safe enough that HP never dropped low, and the two human sculptors? I lucked out with a no-hit clear...
So this was the first time pulling out a healing potion to use on someone else.
It refilled anyway when touching the obelisk, so no big deal.
"Stop drinking the water and have this first."
"D, d, drink..."
He downed the golden elixir I handed him in one go, then plunged his face back into the lake. His terrifyingly bloated belly was cause for concern.
But soon, the grotesque writhing in his throat and gut stopped. The elixir's recovery effect was finally taking hold.
"Hah... ugh..."
Though calling it recovery was a stretch. His wounds were still gaping, the half-formed flower tumors and chunks of flesh throbbing in pain.
"Th, thank you... To receive aid from a noble soul in this... horrific place..."
Even so, the NPC shrank down at my feet, prostrating himself in gratitude.
His hands were clasped in prayer. They were strikingly large compared to his emaciated frame.
"Th, these lowly wretches... th, thank you for saving us. I, I am Doren. I pledge my life to serve you, sir...! A, a, anything you command...!"
Having drunk that sliver of hope amid pain and despair, the NPC finally introduced himself.
Doren. An easy name to remember.
"N, no! F, first...! On your way out of the forest! J, just take me with you! I'll, I'll repay you somehow—!"
Unfortunately, I still couldn't leave the Screaming Forest.
"Sorry, but I have to go deeper in."
"Wha? Whaaat? Wha...?"
The battles had to continue. Until I'd cleared the entire Screaming Forest and faced Lord Magius directly.
"A, a joke, right... eek..."
Doren looked up at me with his wrinkled, woebegone face.
"Go back and regroup at least..."
"I'm resting right now."
With the short boss fight at the entrance over, it was time to head deeper in for real.
No rest needed. The darkening forest expanse and ceaseless screams awaited me.
"N, n, nooo—!"
But Doren utterly refused. He flopped onto the ground and writhed backward.
His outstretched arm signaled total rejection of traveling together. No matter what, he didn't want to go back into the forest.
"I, I'll die! Go alone if you want! Not me! I can't! No way!"
"Calm down. Even if I go alone, just listen and tell me everything you know—what's inside there, what this place is for."
Of course, I respected Doren's choice. In exchange, I demanded information.
"...Deeper in?"
Doren swallowed hard past the water rising in his throat, then whimpered at me.
"M, madness. Nothing but madness... Can't stay here long. You, you too...! No, sir, you must leave now..."
"What exactly is it?"
"...Torturers! Revolting, filthy things that carve humans into flowers! A, and—"
He clamped his mouth shut again.
I'd noticed it before, but people here were deathly afraid of mentioning certain someone—or calling them by name.
"...The Gardener."
"The Gardener?"
So they used epithets instead. Strangely, though, "Gardener" was the vague moniker that slipped from Doren's lips.
This was Lord Magius's domain.
I'd assumed facing the strongest foe in the area would mean clashing with Magius himself. Or maybe the Gardener was Magius's epithet?
"The Gardener..."
Doren mulled the name, teeth chattering in fresh terror.
Of course, with insane sculptors roaming who turned human bodies into flowers—and victims gone mad, lashing out wildly—it made sense for a [Gardener] moniker to stick.
"Th, the Gardener's in the castle garden. Always there. In the garden. That place. Forever..."
Now Doren babbled at me in broken informal speech. Just moments ago, he'd begged me as "sir," but fear filled his heart, shattering his composure and driving him mad again.
I didn't mind. He'd already given me enough info.
"I, I wanna go. Gonna leave. Hate it here now..."
"Sure."
So I let staggering Doren go without stopping him. From the lake as our divide, we walked in opposite directions.
But.
"Aaaah! No!"
He hadn't taken a few steps before screams and shrieks erupted from his direction.
Enemies drawn by the scent of blood targeted him, lunging and tearing into him.
"Nooo! Stop! D, don't eat me!"
Now I saw: humans transformed into flowers anywhere on their bodies had lost so much blood that they pounced on anything alive, desperate to suck it dry.
The ones ripping open Doren's wounds again buried teeth and faces in frenzy, gorging on his blood.
Just like Doren dunking his face in the lake.
The other enemies did the same to flesh and organs.
"Stay down flat."
I gripped my greatsword and strode over, sweeping it across the ground. The blood-mad flower humans reeled from the impact, shrieking deafeningly as they charged me and Doren—but
Krunch!
They couldn't breach the greatsword's range.
Their upper bodies smashed against the blade, utterly pulverized. It wasn't like crushing soft jelly; these were living foes, yet one hit from the greatsword broke them down completely.
Splat!
Arms tore free, blood, muscle, and bone spraying along the sword's arc. Felt like hitting a home run.
"Eek— ugh—"
Doren lay flat on the ground, watching the carnage. He knew full well one wrong move and he'd be blasted apart by the greatsword too.
Wham!
One more. Another.
Swinging only one way stiffened my muscles, so right-to-left once, left-to-right next.
Thanks to that, the forests on either side got "fertilized" with enemy corpses, like scattered manure. The blood-nurtured woods screamed in delight...
"Eek, heek..."
Doren, sprawled and panting, blinked and shuddered. Even after this, his unkillable fate felt truly wretched.
"S, sir..."
But because of it, he grasped his reality and crawled back to me, clasping his hands in plea once more.
"I, I'll go with you too... I'll serve you, sir...!"
Screaming Forest. Lord Magius's domain.
The journey to slay the Gardener.