Roar
Roar
When war breaks out, who suffers the most?
The finance minister, racking his brain over logistics? The knights, who may well lose their lives?
No. It's the conscripts, obviously, and the civilians living near the battlefield.
Since there were no conscripts this time, the sole victims were arguably the villagers near the altar.
Thanks to the altar appearing out of nowhere, their daily lives were crumbling.
The people in the Lemegeton encampment and those in the knights' encampment brawled constantly, and even at dawn they were too busy keeping each other in check.
The villagers' nerves were on edge as a result.
As if that wasn't enough.
Wherever large numbers of people gather, garbage inevitably follows.
This held true whether they were Lemegeton, Otherworlders, or knights.
From the start, any group that prides itself on fighting inevitably has a higher proportion of violent thugs.
Instances of those thugs coming into the village and running amok were beyond count.
On top of that, some bastards—were they called wreckers or whatever—showed up asking for interviews and grating on their nerves...
"Haa, I'm worn out. Those damned bastards... how long do they plan on staying?"
"You said it. Sigh... how's anyone supposed to live like this, terrified out of their wits?"
It was only natural that the villagers' anxiety was mounting.
The village chief's household was the most anxious of all. It wasn't simply because an armed force was nearby.
There was a somewhat unusual girl in their household.
"Is... everyone all right...?"
"Oh my, you're awake? Go back to sleep now. The knights might see you."
"Yes. It's only a few days until the waning moon, isn't it? You must replenish your stamina as much as you can."
She was a brown-haired girl who looked to be about thirteen. So far, she was ordinary. If only it weren't for the tattoo inscribed on her thigh. It was the mark of an antique-looking book.
The book itself was unremarkable, but the dark-red hue of the tattoo signaled that the girl was a Manifestor.
At the urging of the chief and her family, the girl went back into her room to sleep.
The family members who saw her off let out small sighs.
The fact that the child was a Manifestor was not the issue. They had resigned themselves to that ever since her tenth birthday. Being good-hearted folk, they couldn't bring themselves to cast out a member of their own household.
But to think knights had to be stationed near their home, of all places...
"Let's just try to endure it somehow until the knights leave."
"...I understand."
Their anxiety and worry only deepened.
The knights and Lemegeton clashed head-on a few days later, on the very day of the waning moon.
It was also on that day of the waning moon that a wounded knight happened to drift into the village chief's home.
*
How does one distinguish the middle layer from the deep layer?
The answer is simple. By the size of the most masculine of trees.
Plants were living things, after all, and even they were influenced by Demonic Energy.
The trees there grew as if they did not know the height of the sky.
Because of that, the forest in the deep layer was also called by another name, one imbued with awe and wonder.
Namely, the Forest of Giants.
"...Wow."
As they approached the deep layer, Im Ha-neul let out an involuntary sigh of admiration.
A magnificent vista had unfolded before her eyes. Trees that looked to be nearly the height of apartment buildings stood in dense ranks.
Amid all that, the foliage had completely covered the sky above, so it was like looking at a green roof.
Just like with the surface layer, the boundary between the middle and deep layers didn't change all at once.
The environment shifted bit by bit, and at some point you realized it: this was the vicinity of the deep layer.
Yor had tipped her off that the trees would be much bigger, but she had never imagined it would be to this extent.
It was majestic and dreamlike.
And eerie.
Im Ha-neul had seen many landscapes via flight magic, but she had no memory of seeing anything like this.
'Good thing I turned the recording function on.'
She thought to herself that she was glad to be able to preserve this sight.
Since Chae-rin had been knocked out of action, it was good to at least get some video source material like this.
Of course, she'd already gotten permission from Yor. Naturally, on the condition that she erased every part that made it obvious he was a Manifestor.
"From here on, I might not be able to protect you."
Her admiration was short-lived.
As she took in the scenery, Yor, who was walking beside her, spoke.
Instead of his usual nonchalance, wariness filled his face. It must have meant that even for him, this was a place where he had to be cautious.
Ha-neul quietly nodded. She'd already factored that in when she decided to follow him.
"..."
Yor was briefly lost in sentiment.
The sight before him was one he hadn't seen in a truly long while. The last time he'd come here had been years ago, after all.
Back then, thanks to the monsters in the deep layer, he'd been pushed nearly to the brink of death.
Because of that, he hadn't even dared to set foot inside all this time. He'd known the place was too much for him.
But what about now? He honestly wasn't sure how much his combat strength had changed.
His hearing, however, he could say had definitely improved compared to before.
After all, some insane demon had gifted it to him, calling it a present.
He closed his mouth for a moment and focused on the ambient noise.
His hearing, now sharpened to the extreme, brought him multiple pieces of information from the surroundings.
In the middle of that, Im Ha-neul suddenly asked him a question.
"By the way, I'm curious about one thing... may I?"
"Go ahead."
"Here, the sunlight doesn't reach down well. So how are there such big plants on the ground?"
It was a good question.
The roof made of leaves certainly meant that the amount of light shining down beneath was extremely sparse.
Even though it was broad daylight, there was only enough light for early dawn.
No matter how much Demonic Energy promoted growth, that size was abnormal.
A plant's primary energy source was sunlight. So how could the undergrowth beneath the trees be so thick?
The answer was simple.
"They're carnivorous plants."
Thump.
As Yor answered, something anomalous caught his hearing.
The sound of something activating. A fibrous machine seeking to tear apart the intruder that had entered its domain and make it into nutrients.
Snap.
"Huh?"
Yor immediately grabbed Ha-neul and pulled back.
A moment later, the ground beneath where they'd been standing surged upward.
Crunch!
As if the earth itself were trying to bite down. The ground folded in half.
And so what was revealed was a plant monster resembling a Venus flytrap. The ground itself had been camouflage from the start.
If they'd been a single second slower there...
"What in the..."
Im Ha-neul swallowed a curse and checked the creature's level.
[Chalko Plant Lv 109]
A full 109. It meant that a mere plant was stronger than an Owlbear.
It didn't move beyond that, being a plant, but her startled heart refused to settle down easily.
She hadn't been aware of it at all. Just how had Yor known...
"Let's go."
Slash!
As she was staring at him with a gaze mixed with admiration, he cut down the plant monster and spoke.
After that, monsters sprang out quite frequently.
All of them were monsters that Im Ha-neul wouldn't even dare to take on.
[Tendril Curlus Lv 124]
A plant-type monster whose whole body was covered in thorny vines.
[Mutated Boar Lv 131]
A boar deeply intoxicated by Demonic Energy, its body swollen to the size of a house.
[Two-Headed Hound Lv 136]
Even a large dark-red hound with two heads.
Every single one was a boss-level monster.
They were all creatures that had a chance of victory only if a party of veteran A-Rank adventurers rushed them.
And there, all Ha-neul could do was hide behind his back and cast shallow buffs.
'To think I'd be hiding behind a "man" and being protected...'
It was a bit off-putting, but the gap in skill was so vast that she didn't actually feel ashamed.
Because Yor was dealing with those monsters as if they were nothing.
Of course, he couldn't end their lives in a single stroke like he had with the Owlbear.
Even for him, the monsters in the deep layer weren't pushovers that he could dispatch with that level of force.
But a relaxed look still played about his face.
"Hoo..."
What he said after handling the monsters like that was even more absurd.
"Still, I'm somehow only running into the weak ones."
"...These are?"
"Well, yeah. They're still manageable."
Maximizing his hearing had helped a fair bit.
Thanks to that, he could steer clear of the creatures that made obviously dangerous sounds.
He couldn't avoid encountering monsters altogether, so he was choosing the weakest ones possible.
Of course, Chae-rin, who was listening in, could only be dumbfounded.
'Just what level is he?'
She knew he was strong, but his limits still weren't clearly in view.
But one thing was certain.
Yor was at least on the level of an S-Rank adventurer.
It meant he was on the same level as—or above—those who were at a minimum of level 140 and had one foot in the realm of the Transcendent.
'I'd better not act cocky from now on.'
She'd never planned to in the first place. But this experience made her resolve even firmer.
And so they continued to roam the vicinity of the deep layer. Yor's purpose was simple, as he'd mentioned before.
To gauge his own skills, and if possible, to obtain some precious herbs.
The method for distinguishing herbs wasn't difficult either.
He just had to find grass where an uncanny amount of mana was gathered. Such things usually had some kind of efficacy, one way or another.
But despite his fervent search, there was no sign of any herb whatsoever.
'Does this mean I have to go in deeper...'
That figured, since this was a relatively shallow area.
Yor was momentarily torn.
It was dangerous, but should he go a bit deeper? Or would it be better to just coolly give up?
Fortunately, the deliberation didn't last too long.
It wasn't that he made a swift decision.
It was merely because a chilling sound reached his ears.
...Grrrr.
The sound of something snarling ferociously. And it was a sound Yor had heard before.
"...!"
In an instant, his body stiffened.
An alarm bell rang at maximum volume inside his head.
The terror he'd felt in the past was creeping up on him.
Pat.
Before Ha-neul could even speak, Yor swiftly covered her mouth.
'Fucking hell, why is that bastard here?'
It was a creature that should have been roaming with its territory far deeper inside.
Could it have come down looking for prey?
If so, his luck was truly abysmal. Did the thing have to appear now, just when they'd come to explore the deep layer?
"...?"
Ha-neul looked at him with questioning eyes. Yor was too busy concentrating on the incoming sound to care.
He'd desperately hoped the creature would just pass by... but its snarls were gradually growing louder.
At this point, he couldn't help but realize.
The creature was heading precisely this way.
Just as he had perceived it, it must have perceived him in turn. Its sense of smell was terrifying, after all.
At last, the creature appeared at the edge of their vision.
A colossal bulk that couldn't be hidden even by the forest's giant trees.
A solid body made of muscle, claws sharp as blades, and battle scars all over its body—the traces of fierce combat.
Shiver.
Overwhelmed by the pressure, Ha-neul felt a chill and checked its level.
[Mountain Lord Noho(山君 老虎) Lv 173]
And right away, she couldn't help but hurl a curse.
'Fucking crazy...'
It was a monster that ranked among the very top of those discovered by users so far.
A level no one had yet even dared to imagine, let alone kill.
On top of that, it was a named monster with its own title.
No, in the first place, was that thing even a monster meant to be hunted?
"Groooowl-!!!!!"
Then the beast let out a roar.
Its howling reverberated thunderously through the silent forest.
"Kghugh...!"
"Run!"
Ha-neul covered her ears, and Yor swiftly turned on his heel and ran.
If they wanted to live, they had to run.
And so they immediately began to head back toward the middle layer.
"Gyaooooh!"
Behind them, the Mountain Lord gave ferocious chase.