Chapter 9: Monsters of forest of death

The bear seemed smaller then last time. Though last time it was able to cut down trees with just one of his paws so we should still be wary.

"We should run," Syl tugged my sleeve.

"I guess we should… but this guy will probably follow us, so… Mud bind." I extended my other hand and activated magic spell that turned the ground into mud that enveloped and bound the target to the ground.

GURRRAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!

"Seems it slowed him down. Syl try to take his other eye. Azu you keep eye on other monsters. Spirits of the earth form a hole before me. Now!" I envisioned the hole and the bear, failing to notice it, lost balance and fell over.

"Take this!!!" Syl let an arrow loose as the bear tried to get out of the trench-like hole.

GURRRAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!

"You're done for! Lightning strike!" my spell activated instantly and thanks to my years of training with guns my aim was perfect.

GURRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!

The bear let out one last roar and fell dead on the spot.

"We did it?"

"We did it!!!" I high-fived Syl.

"Don't celebrate yet! There is a pack of wolves coming this way!"

"Lightning net!" Turning towards where Azu was pointing, I released another spell.

"Great shot! They are all paralyzed."

"How much time until they can move?"

"I'd say two to three hours," Syl guessed and started taking appart the bear corpse.

"That's a lot."

"Well, this is what usually happens to those with contract with Mana source. Your spell was too strong for them to withstand. Lightning net spell is commonly used for capturing runaway criminals so it only paralyzes muscles in limbs."

Having everything said, we opened the bear up and pumped out the blood. Then we took off it's skin and organs that we could use alongside meat from it's limbs, neck sides.

"Um, master… there is something over there," Azu pointed behind the wolves. Looking that way, I noticed another group of wolves.

"This have no end…" Syl grumbled and took out her bow.

"Wait a minute. Those wolves… are all female, see their swollen bellies? I think that these wolves went to look for meat for their partners who can't fight, but becouse they didn't come back, their partners went to look for them."

"I guess. But if they attack us…"

"Alright, let me have this," I made her lower her weapon and took the remains of the bear and pulled them to the paralyzed wolves. As the spell started to get undone, they growled and barked at me, but I still continued.

"Alright you guys. You can have what remains here and the organs. You want your partners to eat some, right?" I smiled at the wolves and left the bear carcas there.

"You are awfully nice, you know that? They are monsters."

"I guess that's how people in this world see things. I guess I still haven't completly aclimatized."

Plus I can't tell them I see them as doggies. I need some fluff to pat…

"If master wasn't this nice… would I even be here…"

As I overheard Azus muttering, I decided to pat her head and head out to the forest.

"So where are we going to camp? It will be dark in three to four hours."

"Wait… ah, human-faced rock. That means we will now go two thousand steps to the east and we will find three whitegray trees. From there it's three thousand steps to northeast where we will find Blue striped rock. There is our destination for today."

"Does that rock have some kind of special power?"

"Yeah, it sits on top of Mana source and serves as natural repellent to monsters."

"Don't monsters usually aim for mana sources though?"

"They do, but this one contains powers of [Light] which is poisonous to monsters."

"Do all Mana sources posses element?"

"Most of them, yes. The one you formed a contract with in Mayaleesian jungle had Water element for example. Some mana sources are however corrupt, if an animal gets too close, it will corrupt it's magic organ, turning it into a monster."

So, corrupt magic source turns animals into monsters by messing with their magic organs, then said monsters lay in dungeons to absorb magic from magic stones, turning stronger in the process. Once those powered up monsters make their exit and attack humans… the sight isn't really nice

"Let's get going. Should I activate my magic?"

"Please keep it low, it would mess with my distance sence."

"I guess so, alright, no excessive magic. Syl, please take the lead," I smiled at her and we started our hike.

Our walk was silent, mostly becouse we didn't want to attract monsters but also becouse just walking burned a lot of our stamina, even I, who prided myself with high stamina was feeling unwell. Though I had to carry Azu from time to time.

The scenery was, on the other hand, amazing. Tall trees with their bases covered in moss. Small animals trying to hide from us, and bigger trying to decide of they should attack or flee. The smell of the forest was strong and clean of any impurities.

"Aaaaahh~ This is nice," I smiled to myself as I made my way up the hill.

"You mean the forest? I'm actually surprised there aren't that many monsters."

"I don't mean that. Though the forest certainly is nice, I was thinking about how clean the air is."

"Well, it's definitely cleaner then the city we were in before."

"That too… you know compared to my hometown this is such an improvement that I could cry. Back there, there are places with smog so thick that you can't even see the stars."

"Does such a place really exist?"

"It does, Azu. But it's really far away."

"You should tell her the truth, Tarumi. It will be easier later."

"You think? Yeah, I guess you're right. Azu, you see, the place I talk about isn't in this world. It's in another one."

"Another… world?" Azu tilted her head confusedly.

"It's like place that is close yet far away at the same time. You dwarves have legends about Hauling the Great, right?"

"Aah! Like lord Hauling! So you are from another dimension master? Were you called by a god?"

"I don't know any god. I went to my school and the next thing I know, I'm here."

"Hmm… that's exactly what happened in our texts about Lord Hauling. He was walking to his job when he appeared in tunels under Dwarven royal capital."

"Dwarves have their own kingdom?"

"They used to around three hundread years ago, but then they were destroyed by rampaging dragon and taken over by Demonic empire."

"That bastard dragon-face…" Azus hand trembled with anger.

"Let's get back to what we were talking about earlier," I said as we passed the second mark, the whitegray trees and continued towards the Blue striped rock, "Now you know that the place I came from is diferent world, but you should also know that it's wastly different. There are no elves, dwarves, just humans."

"Were they hunted down?" Azu showed a look of fear so strong I believed I never seen such.

"That I don't know, they appear only in fiction and ancient legends. Anyway, that world doesn't even have magic, so people started using tools to make their lives easier, however they didn't thought about the world around them much and were consumed by greed, making the world started to slowly die out."

"That's… horrible," Syl covered her mouth.

"I know, but luckily the word is spreading and in last few decades we were able to save several animal species from dying out as well as restoring their natural habitats… Maybe that's why even though I'm a hunter like my grandfather, I always strive to use as much of my prey as I can."

"I see, that's simmilar to our elven ways. To pay respects to those we hunted we use as much as we can from their bodies," Syl nodded sagely.

"Anyway, how long will it take? These trees makes it darker even sooner then normal," I looked at the tops of the trees and saw them still illuminated by sun, even though their base was already getting dark.

"It should be soon. We are moving quicker then I thought we would be, yet I'm not loosing my sence of directions… it's weird…"

"It almost feels like we are drawn to our goal, isn't it?" Azu pondered again.

"Do you think it's work of that mermaid we saw previously?"

Looking at my shoulder, where the mermaid usually appeared at, I let out a sigh "I don't know… one time she appears the next moment she's gone. I can faintly feel her presence sometimes, but when I try to locate her, she's already gone."

"Yeah, spirits are real pranksters, though not at your level, Tarumi."

"Oh, haha, really funny. What about teaching me how to feel magic again? I feel like I miss your teaching methods, my teacher."

"Feeling, magic?" Azu got confused.

"TA-RU-MIII!!!!" Syl jumped at me with all her might, covering my mouth, sadly for her, that was what I expected and hugged her, "Wh-wha?!"

"There, there. You are great techer, I couldn't ask for better one, so don't get too angry okay?" I smiled at her as I patted her head.

"Hmph!" Syl pouted and looked away, which in my eyes was really adorable.

"Okay, I'm sorry. Can this foolish student buy his teachers forgiveness with bear soup with wild herbs?"

"Three portions at the very least," Syl got out of my grip, which up to this point in time only three people managed to do it. One being my grandfather from army, second my sister and then a boss of a gang at nearby mall… I wonder how lil'Aku's doing.

As I fooled around with Syl, which Azu could only stare at with her mouth hung open we arrived at our destination, the Blue stripped rock.

This place… it have simmilar vibe to that shrine in Grandma's hometown… This weird feeling in my guts…

"Heh, bring it on, I won't be afraid of some rock with human face," I grinned to myself as I walked to the stone with a familiar man's face carved into the blue stripe.