Chapter 26
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 26
Chapter Title: The Corrupted Forest
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SQUELCH!
Blood gushed from the torn wound.
For a creature this large, the amount of blood was staggering.
“GROOOOAAAR!”
It was a different roar from before.
A scream of agony echoed as the black bear’s body staggered violently.
“Now! Everyone, finish it!”
“Go for the ankle we were hacking at! A few more hits should do it!”
“HRAAAAAAGH!”
Dianal swung the greatsword in his hands toward the black bear’s ankle.
The low swing carried the full weight of his body.
He braced the sword firmly at his side, and with a powerful twist of his waist, it carved through the black bear’s ankle.
CRACK!
“GUUUUAAAAAAH!”
The beast’s tough ankle was completely severed.
The black bear shrieked and collapsed to the ground.
And the squad members delivered the final blows.
As the difficult fight came to an end, the members of the Neokalitz Unit panted, staring at the dead black bear.
“A creature like this… where in the world did it come from?”
“I’ve never seen anything like it. Not just the size, but… these spots.”
The squad members looked at the black spots blooming on the beast’s skin, underneath its fur.
At those words, the others pushed aside the black bear’s fur to look at the skin beneath.
“…It’s not contagious, is it?”
As someone said that, they all flinched and pulled their hands away.
‘This is…’
Demian stared at the black spots on the dead black bear’s skin.
He’d had a feeling when this thing first appeared.
‘…So it’s real.’
Demian’s expression hardened.
This black bear was clearly very different from the monsters he knew.
It was strange enough that a bear-type monster this large even existed.
‘The senior soldier’s axe, which could sever an orc’s thigh… its tough hide barely let it sink in a few centimeters.’
And it was strong enough to knock someone out with a blow swung like swatting a fly.
Everything about it was abnormal.
And there was only one reason that could be possible.
“…”
But he needed to know where it originated from.
“Aaron. Take your men and stand guard. Brent! Take your squad and skin this thing. Work as fast as you can, then we’re returning to the unit!”
“Understood! Let’s hurry, everyone!”
“Yes, sir!”
They couldn’t just leave a hide like this behind.
It possessed defensive properties that would make for outstanding armor.
But Demian spoke up.
“I don’t think we can use this.”
“…”
“What are you talking about?”
The senior squad members frowned at Demian.
But Tarone just looked at him.
“You know something, don’t you?”
Demian nodded.
* * *
It was strange from the beginning.
When the black bear first appeared.
‘It looked like it was assessing something.’
And as the fight continued, it seemed to be confirming the information he already knew, one piece at a time.
After returning to the unit, Tarone summoned Demian.
First, he had to get to the bottom of this absurd situation.
There was nothing more dangerous than fighting an enemy without any information.
Tarone looked at Demian as he entered the office.
“Sit.”
“Yes, sir.”
Tarone’s expression was serious.
“Do you know anything about the monster with black spots we saw in the forest?”
“It seems to be corrupted by Magi.”
“Magi? You mean the kind that black magicians use?”
Demian nodded at Tarone’s question.
“Yes.”
“Then are you saying there are black magicians in the forest?”
Magi was the power borrowed from demons by those who worshiped them.
Prolonged exposure to this Magi would make one savage and mentally exhausted.
The only end was a miserable death.
For that reason, black magic was forbidden.
But in response to Tarone’s question, Demian shook his head.
“That, I cannot say. There could be black magicians, or there could be some kind of abomination steeped in Magi.”
But in the case of the Bronserian Forest, it was the latter.
Deep within the forest, there was a mana stone saturated with Magi.
‘But is it already showing itself at this point in time…?’
The abomination of the Bronserian Forest would later become a rather famous incident.
As the kingdom gradually lost territory to the Empire’s attacks, it would end up ceding the Bronserian Forest entirely to them.
Thanks to that, they were able to slow the Empire’s advance, if only for a little.
Of course, the Imperial army would later form a subjugation force and annihilate all the monsters in the Bronserian Forest.
‘The Neokalitz Unit had said the monsters were possessed by demons.’
The fact that they were actually corrupted by Magi was discovered later.
‘But the subjugation of the Bronserian Forest by the Imperial army is a long way off.’
Moreover, due to the nature of Magi, the more time passed, the more monsters it would corrupt, and the stronger it would become.
If this was just the beginning.
‘…I can destroy it.’
Before its power grew even greater.
The only way to resolve this on his own was to form a subjugation team as quickly as possible and head into the Bronserian Forest.
As time went on, the number of monsters corrupted by Magi would only increase.
‘And only stronger ones will appear.’
Demian looked at Tarone, his lips pressed into a firm line.
“…Hmm.”
Tarone let out a troubled sigh, his mind clearly a tangled mess.
“How do you know about this?”
“I heard it from my father. He said he had a similar experience in the past.”
“A similar experience… Did he resolve it?”
“Yes.”
At Demian’s answer, Tarone’s gaze sharpened.
“I’d like to hear that story in more detail.”
He had no information at all.
Clutching at straws, Tarone listened intently to Demian’s words.
* * *
“Phew…”
“What did you talk about for so long?”
Kyle asked as Demian returned to the barracks.
Demian lightly kneaded his stiff neck and flopped down onto his bunk.
“Just this and that.”
It had been a pretty exhausting day.
To think he would encounter a monster corrupted by Magi on the very first day in the Bronserian Forest.
*Swish.*
Demian turned his head to look where Dianal was.
He seemed to have already finished maintaining his equipment and was sitting down, resting.
But the moment their eyes met.
“…”
Dianal glared at Demian in silence before turning his head away.
“…?”
Did I do something wrong?
Demian couldn’t hide his bewildered expression at the man’s sudden reaction.
But soon after.
“Time for chow!”
At the administrative soldier’s announcement, all the squad members rushed to the mess hall as if they had been waiting for it.
After such a hard day, they must have been looking forward to this moment the most.
Demian and Kyle also headed straight for the mess hall.
“So, when do we get deployed into actual combat?”
“Soon.”
“How do you know?”
“Three more were injured today.”
And two of them were seriously wounded.
Even with the fastest recovery, it would take them three or four months.
‘No new recruits are coming in, and the number of injured is growing.’
It meant they couldn’t keep giving special treatment to the rookies.
Kyle nodded as if he understood.
“I see.”
“Weren’t you scared?”
“Hahaha, Demian. Don’t forget I’m five years older than you. Besides, we were standing a good distance away.”
Though he was laughing bravely, Kyle had felt it.
The urgency and intensity of a true life-or-death battle.
Suddenly, Kyle paused, a piece of bread halfway to his mouth.
He tried to act nonchalant, but the emotional aftershock of real combat still lingered.
Kyle looked at Demian.
“I’m glad I followed you here.”
If he had followed the other fools into the Royal Guard, he’d probably be yawning out of boredom right now.
Seeing the sharp glint in Kyle’s eyes, Demian smirked.
“You lunatic.”
Then, Demian simply tore at his bread in silence.
* * *
It was a truly long day.
But Demian’s day was not over yet.
“Haaaaah.”
While everyone else was asleep.
Demian was training in the Delft Mana Cultivation Method.
Demian closed his eyes.
If today…
‘…Could I have won?’
Demian recalled the black bear he had encountered in the forest.
A hulking body over three meters tall.
Monstrous strength that could rip a log in half vertically.
Even the speed at which it swung its forepaws was tremendous.
Demian hadn’t been able to join the fight, but he had burned the creature’s movements into his eyes.
Because next time, he might have to face a beast like that black bear.
‘It won’t be easy.’
Of course, its attacks were simple, so most of its movements were easy to read.
But fighting a monster was different from fighting a general on a typical battlefield.
Their basic physical abilities were on another level.
Even if he dodged all of a monster’s attacks and countered.
‘Without using mana, with my current strength, it’s impossible to even tear its hide.’
Ultimately, he would have to use mana to defeat it.
But mana wasn’t a solution for everything.
‘Still… 2-star.’
It seemed like it would take quite some time to reach 3-star.
If he fought the black bear in his current state, his mana and stamina might run out before he could kill it.
Of course, just as the squad members had done.
‘If I aim for one spot.’
He could probably cut off one of its legs.
But that would be the end of it.
What Demian wanted was not a half-baked victory.
He wanted the overwhelming power to completely crush the black bear.
“There’s no other way but to go all out.”
And there was a way to speed up that process.
The answer lay in the Bronserian Forest.
‘If I go into the forbidden zone… I should be able to find herbs that enhance mana.’
He hadn’t had the chance to look around today, but now he understood why the herbalists risked their lives to go in there.
‘I never imagined it would be that abundant.’
He could now see why the Bronserian Forest accounted for 60% of the kingdom’s herb supply.
And why the herbalists couldn’t bring themselves to leave Erkal, a place constantly threatened by monsters.
‘They can’t just leave a treasure trove like this.’
That was why the kingdom couldn’t give up on the Bronserian Forest either.
“…Phew.”
But even this treasure trove would eventually be mismanaged and fall into the hands of the Empire.
Of course, before that, it would become a massive headache due to the monsters.
‘But.’
If he could destroy the abomination in the Bronserian Forest and subjugate the monsters.
If he could quickly secure the herbs of the Bronserian Forest.
Various plans began to form in his mind.
‘I might need the Hamel Merchant Guild’s help soon.’
But for all those plans to come to fruition, there was a prerequisite.
He had to gain complete control over the Bronserian Forest. And…
‘I have to become stronger.’
It was an obvious conclusion, but moments like these only made Demian more determined.
The sun was beginning to rise.
* * *
‘The next time I enter the Bronserian Forest, I need to look for herbs that can help enhance my mana.’
Demian had learned a lot of miscellaneous knowledge to survive.
He didn’t know everything, but his knowledge of herbs was quite extensive.
Demian organized his thoughts on herbs that could enhance mana.
If he could make pills with them, it would be a great help when practicing the mana cultivation method.
“I wonder if they sell any related herbs here?”
Erkal was a town that bordered the Bronserian Forest.
He wandered through Erkal’s herb shops, wondering if he could find any herbs that could enhance mana.
But.
“Hmm? I don’t know any herb by that name.”
“What do you use that herb for? Most of what we have here are for treating wounds or reducing inflammation. Or we sell poisonous herbs for combat. We just got some high-quality Amancho in, want to buy some?”
The merchants’ reactions were mostly like this.
On top of that, they sold them at ridiculously high prices.
They were taking advantage of the high salaries of the soldiers serving in Erkal, exploiting them at loan-shark levels.
‘…Damn bastards.’
Who did they think was putting their lives on the line for them?
They were always the first to cry for soldiers when in danger, yet they were rabidly at the forefront of ripping soldiers off.
‘Asking for 30 silver for a pound of Amancho.’
Cursing the greedy merchants, Demian returned to the barracks.
‘It would be much better to talk to the captain and gather the herbs myself.’
Yes, that would be good.
He would argue that since the merchants’ herbs were too expensive, they should be self-sufficient.
While doing so, he could secretly pocket the herbs that helped enhance mana.
“Heheheh, I’m a genius.”
As expected, once he understood the situation, good ideas started to flow.
Demian chuckled softly as he entered the barracks.
But just then.
“Demian. Did you hear?”
“Hear what?”
“They’re closing off the Bronserian Forest for the time being, starting today.”
“…Closing it off? What do you mean?”
“It means we can’t go into the forest. So we’ll… be focusing on training and resting for a while. Hehe.”
Kyle burst out laughing as if it was the best news in the world.
At Kyle’s words.
“…Huh?”
Demian muttered, bewildered.