The Great Witch's Forest
The Great Witch's Forest. People called it the forest of the ominous witch. Anyone who stepped foot inside would die. Travelers who passed by suffered grave injuries, and even those who merely glanced at it and spat curses would fall under a misfortune hex. Rumors ran wild that it was all because of the Great Witch living deep within, and the kingdom dispatched subjugation forces again and again to exterminate her. They failed every single time. In the end, people chose to turn their eyes away. They refused to go near it, and even speaking its name became taboo. Pretend it isn't there and it truly vanishes. Refuse to acknowledge its existence and you might never know it was real. So, little by little, the Great Witch's Forest faded from sight. Now it was simply a cursed wood that no one sought.
"A place like this is exactly where the real treasures hide!" Kim Sera, opportunity hunter and Player, declared with sparkling eyes.
"So there really is treasure here?"
"Huh? I mean, there probably is."
"Wait, I thought we came for treasure?"
"What are you even talking about? We're here for the hidden opportunity, obviously."
At Sera's words, Kyle finally remembered that they hadn't come chasing ordinary treasure but a true hidden opportunity. Right. That was why they were here.
Kyle sliced apart the evil spirit hurtling toward him and scanned their surroundings. "An opportunity in a dump like this?"
"Yep! You've seriously never been here before?"
"Why the hell would I come here?"
"Huh. Weird. I figured if it was you, you'd have charged right in and picked a fight with the Great Witch."
"Do I look like some battle-crazed psycho to you? I just didn't know about it, alright?"
They kept walking, laughing and chatting, but Kyle realized with every evil spirit he cut down that this was no ordinary forest. Ten minutes since they'd entered the Great Witch's Forest. One hundred and thirty-one attacks by evil spirits or curses in that time. Once every five seconds. If Sera had come alone, she'd already be a corpse.
Guess I can see why she called me.
Without an Aura Master like him, Sera would have been forced to fight those things with magic. Unlike his perfect, unyielding Aura Blade, magic wore down with every clash. A mere 2-star mage like Sera wouldn't have lasted five minutes standing in this place.
─Uwoooooooo……!
"Kyaaaak?!"
The deeper they went, the stronger the evil spirits became. Now they were manifesting at a level that could actually affect the physical world.
Slash─ Kyle cut one down and let out a dry laugh at Sera's sudden shriek. "What? Why are you freaking out?"
"Th-that ghost sound just now……."
"What are you on about? They've been coming nonstop since we got here."
"……What?"
"I said they've been here the whole time."
When he looked at her like she had to be joking, Sera started trembling as if he'd just confessed something horrifying.
"What kind of mage can't even see ghosts?"
"I-I'm scared of that stuff, okay……? When I played the game I always turned on the filter that removes horror elements……."
"For real? ─Whoa!"
"Kyaaaaak!"
Kyle burst out laughing at the sight of Sera shaking like a leaf, then threatened to leave her behind if she didn't get up. The girl who'd suggested this place in the first place clearly hadn't expected it to be this terrifying. She scrambled to cling to his back, shivering violently.
Kyle tilted his head. "Weren't you totally fine at the academy?"
"That's completely different, you idiot!"
"……How?"
"Because back then I knew exactly what was coming! But right now─"
Whiiiish─.
"Kyaaaaak─!"
Kyle sighed at the girl who was now jumping at the sound of the wind itself, then turned toward where the breeze had come from. The relentless assaults from the evil spirits had suddenly stopped. It felt as if they'd reached a boundary that even the spirits could not cross.
The fresh scent of the wind carried a faint trace of mana. The moment he caught that scent, Kyle knew they had entered the Great Witch's true domain.
The monstrous being who had created this cursed land, according to the stories. A prepared mage. He was now standing inside a mage's territory.
This is dangerous.
The realization sent chills racing down his spine. His body screamed in alarm, sensing mortal danger. He had no idea when, where, or what might come flying at them. In a prepared mage's workshop, a warrior's odds of defeating a mage dropped exponentially.
And she's the Great Witch, no less.
With a strange mix of tension and anticipation for whatever she might have prepared, Kyle stepped deeper inside. Sera followed, still trembling behind him.
Bubble, bubble. The Great Witch stood blankly before a massive cauldron where unidentifiable herbs boiled. She sensed intruders entering her domain.
She'd assumed it was another annoying subjugation force, but when she realized there were only two people, she understood it wasn't a proper expedition. Far too few for that. They must have come for a different reason. Probably…….
……
"Ah……."
What was I thinking about again? Right. Intruders. There were intruders. They had definitely come to kill her. No, their numbers were too small. Far too few to kill her…….
"……."
─Intruders. Must kill them. They must be the ones trying to interfere with her long-cherished wish. Otherwise the evil spirits would never have let them pass so easily.
"I must… kill."
Intruders would be eliminated. Then she would fulfill her wish.
The Great Witch dragged her staggering body out of her hut.
I realized immediately that we'd gotten lost.
"Hey."
"Wh-what is it…?"
"We've been walking in circles. Same scenery for a while now."
"What?!"
Sera carefully poked her head out and looked around. After sending out a pulse of mana to examine the terrain, she let out a huge sigh of relief and yelled at me.
"We're not lost, it's a maze spell!"
"Oh. Isn't that actually worse?"
"……Yeah, now that you mention it."
"Idiot."
"You're the idiot!"
Sera squawked back without yielding an inch, then closed her eyes and began muttering a spell. If this was a maze enchantment designed to make people lose their way, it had to be a barrier cast by the master of the forest—the Great Witch herself. A mage of at least Master rank, as her title suggested. There was no way a mere 2-star mage like Sera could do anything about it.
Which section should I smash to break the barrier?
I was pondering which direction to break through when Sera, still glued to my back, let out a long breath.
"It's down."
"……?"
"What are you waiting for? Go forward already."
"Wait, you broke the barrier? How?"
"How? I just did, dumbass."
Sera had accomplished something unbelievable yet acted like it was nothing. She patted my back, urging me onward. I believed in her, but I couldn't quite believe what she'd just done, so I hesitated before carefully stepping forward. The maze spell that had been trapping us really had been dispelled.
How the hell did she do that?
As expected of a Player who knew everything about this world, she apparently had cheat-like abilities for dispelling magic too. I didn't know the exact method, but it was clear she had her own cards to play. If she hadn't, she never would have suggested coming here with me, nor would she have helped kill the hatchling during the terror incident and earned the title of Dragon Slayer.
We continued through the now-open path. Then I suddenly sensed something flying toward us from far ahead and stopped.
"It's coming."
"Huh?"
The moment Sera tilted her head in confusion, a jet-black streak of mana shot forward like a whip, aiming straight for her. Since blocking both sides at once was impossible, I cut one attack with my sword and caught the other with my bare hand.
Only then did Sera realize she'd been attacked. She shrieked and stumbled backward. "Wh-what the hell?!"
"─In...truder."
Thud. Thud.
A small voice drifted from the distance. When I looked up, I saw an emaciated woman standing there. That had to be the Great Witch. The mana radiating from her made it obvious.
"Get... lost."
"Wow, hostile right from the first meeting, huh?"
Feeling the ominous mana pouring from the Great Witch, I unconsciously tightened my grip on my sword. Sera, still clinging to my back, tugged urgently at my clothes.
"K-Kyle. Something's wrong……."
"What is it?"
"Why is that person talking?"
"What?"
When I turned around, Sera pointed at the Great Witch and continued.
"In the game the Great Witch is supposed to be a total idiot!"
I glanced at her again. She didn't seem completely normal, but she was far too coherent to be the brain-dead character Sera described.
"Di...e."
Right after, the Great Witch's curse came raining down.