[Note : blue: speech, red: thoughts, green: item/skills]
“We need to head north, pass Zayvar's Forest, to get to Dormati, then we will take a boat there to head east to get to Acacia, which is our destination.”
Richard showed the regional map to Regina while pointing towards the direction of the forest.
“If we head north we will be in the heart of Zayvar’s Forest!”
Regina muttered softly.
“What about it?
“T-there’s a…”
Regina stopped and wondered if it was a real ghost or if it was one of her imagination.
“Nevermind…”
She figured it was probably her imagination and the ghost was not real and followed behind Richard.
As they travel towards their destination, Richard explains to Regina a little bit about her predicament.
“Listen closely, we are in a region governed by Hod, and you are wanted, do not expose yourself.”
“Eh?! Why am I a wanted person?”
“Milli will tell you the rest. Don’t worry, I will protect you.”
“Who is Milli?!”
“Our companion.”
Regina felt tired trying to get an answer out of Richard, but she gave up as the more he replied, the more questions she had.
“The security in this region should be lax, we won't have much problem here as long as we don't bring any attention to us.”
“Ah…what a shit town this is, just wonderful.”
Euratus Magni sighed with a heavy breath.
“My lord, you were already appointed as the lord of this town, Dormati, for your first assignment, isn’t this wonderful?”
The person replying to Euratus was Vialdar, his second-in-command, and also the captain of the guards in Dormati.
Euratus Magni was a noble who had just been assigned as the lord of Dormati.
He finds the position insulting as it was just a small port town.
“I hate these fishy smells, it reeks!”
“And, I am Euratus Magni, son of Magni Hardhugadr! Isn’t this place a little too shabby for the likes of me?”
“My lord, with enough achievements, you will surely get assigned to a bigger city.”
“What achievements can I get from this god-forsaken place, guarding fish supplies?”
Euratus seemed unmotivated and sighed again.
“My lord, I heard there is a monster the townsfolk called lord of the forest, I believe it to be a weak monster, as the townsfolk do not seem to be afraid of it, and nobody has tried killing it.”
“If we kill it, it will be your first major achievement here.”
“The audacity! How dare they address a puny monster as ‘lord’!”
“Gather a hunting party at once! I shall slay this monster!”
As Euratus was headed out to slay the monster with his guards, he proclaimed to the townsfolk.
“CITIZENS OF DORMATI, I SHALL SLAY THE MONSTER KNOWN AS LORD OF THE FOREST AND SAVE THIS TOWN FROM ITS CLAWS!”
Euratus shouted, looking proud of what he was going to do.
“M-my lord, please do not attack the lord of the forest!”
the old man jumped in front of Euratus, prostrating himself as the elder of Dormati.
“Why do you plead for the monster, you heathen? Give me a good reason or you will be jailed.”
Euratus began to look irritated at the old man.
“Please, my lord, because when the lord of the forest appeared, we have not had a single monster attacking this town, I believe the lord of the forest’s influence is at work here.”
“What utter nonsense, a monster protecting this town? Are you sure the monster will not attack this town in the future? Monsters are all mindless beasts following only their instincts and desires!”
“Guards, send this heathen to jail!”
The elder continued to plead to Euratus while being dragged away by the guards, but Euratus ignored his pleading as nonsense spouting from the mouth of a senile old man.
“We shall slay the monster and protect this town from any future danger!”
Euratus then heads toward the forest with the rest of his guards.
As Regina and Richard traveled deeper past the forest, they heard screams.
As they moved closer to the source of the screams,
they saw dead bodies lying on the floor, they were wearing armor, looking like what soldiers wore.
“Eek!” Regina screamed and Richard quickly used his hand to cover her mouth, stopping her from continuing to scream.
“Shhh, do not make any more noise.”
Richard whispered, while still covering Regina’s mouth.
Regina nodded and Richard uncovered her mouth.
“Follow me closely.”
Richard and Regina then move slowly towards the source, trying to remain as silent as possible.
As they reached the source of the screams, the scenery before their eyes looked like something from hell, forest leaves and grass colored in red, from the blood of the soldiers, with many corpses lying around, it’s like a different place from where they were moments ago.
Although Regina was trembling all over, she managed to stop herself from screaming by covering her mouth with her hands.
Richard seemingly appeared unfazed at this scenery, looking like he was used to it even.
“Heh, what fools.”
Richard scorned the soldiers who were fighting a giant monster.
The monster looked like a giant wolf around two meters tall, its body pale green in color, seemingly translucent with several strange red markings on its body.
“I-I-I-Its real! W-w-w-what do we do?!”
Regina whispered at Richard while frantically tugging at his sleeves after realizing the ghost was not just one of her imagination.
“The soldiers are fighting with the lord of the forest, although I should say they are getting massacred instead. Heh. We shall wait here and see.”
Richard grinned at the scenery before him, which frightened Regina even more.
“This isn’t real! This isn’t real! This isn’t real! This isn't real!”
Regina closed her eyes while covering her ears and repeating the words over and over.
“DIDN’T YOU SAY THAT THIS MONSTER WAS WEAK?”
Euratus frantically shouted at Vialdar.
“M-my lord, the news would reach the capital if there was a monster this strong appearing in the countryside!”
“It’s impossible not to have any news regarding a monster like this!”
“ARGH!”
Another guard was mauled to death just as Vialdar finished his sentence.
Whenever the guards tried to hit the lord of the forest, their weapons were repelled by a strong gust of wind.
“RETREAT!”
Euratus sounded the retreat, and the guards began to follow after him.
As they moved a few distance back, they were stopped by a strong gust of wind.
“WHAT IS THIS? WHY CAN’T I MOVE PASS THIS PLACE?”
Euratus frantically questioned Vialdar.
Vialdar noticed the blood didn’t get splashed past a certain point like there was a clean line between the blood-stained grass and the unstained grass portion.
As Vialdar pushed his hand toward the front, he felt a strong gust of wind pushing back with super strong intensity.
“M-m-my lord, it is impossible! How can this monster use [Wind Barrier], and at such scales?! [Barrier] type magics are forth-tier magic, said to be near the domain of the divines!”
Two more guards got mauled to death.
“P-p-protect me! I order you guys to protect me!”
Euratus pushed one guard from behind, towards the lord of the forest as it moved closer toward them, resulting in the guard getting mauled to death.
“It's over…we can’t escape from this monster…”
Vialdar drooped down on the floor, like all his strength had left his body, and got mauled to death as well.
“You guys are useless!”
As Euratus looked around frantically trying to find a path to escape, two shadows appeared in the corner of his eyes, he saw two hooded people behind the bush.
“You two, help me! I am the lord of Dormati! I will give you 100 gold if you save me from this monster!”
The lord of the forest looked behind at the two hooded figures while still trying to face Euratus.
“Heh, no. You brought this upon yourself.”
The taller hooded figure got out of the bush to sneer at him, while the shorter hooded figure continued to cover her ears with her hands.
“You Imbecile! T-that face, you are- !"
Finally, Euratus was mauled to death by the lord of the forest before he could finish his sentence while he was looking at the shorter hooded figure.
After the lord of the forest killed all the soldiers, it turned around and faced Richard.
Regina opened her eyes after not hearing any more voices and saw the giant wolf walking toward her, she peed herself from the fear, closed her eyes, and covered her ears again while repeating “I’m gonna die! I’m gonna die! This isn’t real!” with tears flowing out of her eyes.
“You won’t die.”
Richard walked toward the giant wolf after assuring Regina of her safety.
“Are you worthy, little go-?”
The lord of the forest asked a strange question after looking at Richard as if it were inspecting him.
“You won’t let me bring her away without testing me anyway, just start already.”
Richard interrupted the wolf before it could finish its sentence, then took out his gun and loaded a whitish bullet into it.
As the wolf pounced at Richard, he quickly pointed his gun at the wolf and shot [Light Bullet] at it.
When the bullet almost hit the wolf, it turned into a bright flash, blinding it.
“Tsk, the bullet did not hit the wolf, is it [Wind Shield]?”
Richard quickly took out a greenish bullet and loaded it into his gun while moving to the side of the wolf, and shot [Plant Bullet] at the ground near the wolf.
This time, roots sprout from the ground trapping the wolf like a cage.
The wolf used [Wind Crusher], creating a strong whirlwind to blast away the surrounding roots, as well as the trees near the wolf. It then pounced at Richard again.
“Trapping him doesn’t work either, it seems to nullify physical attacks.”
Richard took out a bluish bullet and loaded it into his gun while jumping back to distance himself from the wolf, he then shot [Ice Bullet] at the wolf.
The wolf lightly tapped its paw on the ground to change its direction, dodging the [Ice Bullet]. The tree behind the wolf which was hit by the bullet got completely frozen, encased in ice.
“It dodged instead of taking it head-on, did it sense the danger?”
“This isn’t gonna be easy, is it?”
He mumbled annoyingly.
Richard tried to evade the wolf’s continuous attacks while loading a greenish bullet and a yellowish bullet into his gun.
Richard shoots [Plant Bullet] at the ground in front of him, creating a wall of roots, acting as an obstacle between him and the wolf.
The wolf used [Wind Crusher]‘s generated whirlwind to blast the wall of roots and the surrounding trees.
Richard expecting the wall to get destroyed, shot [Lightning Bullet] at the exact time the wall broke, and as the bullet almost hit the wolf, lightning emerged from it, striking the wolf, and causing it to fall on the ground.
The lightning’s AOE would have hit Richard had he not moved further back after making the wall of roots.
“Just how strong is your [Wind Shield], none of my bullets even touched you.”
Richard mumbled.
The wolf stood back up and shook its body discharging the electricity, like it was shaking water out from its fur, then stared at Richard again.
“You have passed.”
The wolf having acknowledged Richard’s strength, stopped attacking.
After Richard heard the wolf, he turned around and walked toward Regina who was still crouching behind the bush.
“Open your eyes, it’s over.”
Regina slowly opened her eyes, and the scenery in front of her almost made her faint. There were many corpses of soldiers lying on the ground, the forest floor blood red, as well as broken trees, but the most important thing was that the wolf was still there, staring at her.
Richard grabbed her hand and brought her in front of the wolf.
“NOOOO!!! A-a-a-are you going to feed me to that ghost?!”
Regina cried out while desperately trying to get his hands off her arm.
“Have you forgotten about this wind wolf?”
Richard sighed.
“Eh? What about this wolf?”
Regina seemed surprised at Richard’s remark.
“The reason you were still not found by Azevaria’s soldiers was because it has been protecting you, hiding you away from them.”
“Then how did you know I was here?”
“Because Milli said she felt this place seemed suspicious. Her intuition is…usually not wrong…”
“I will entrust her to you.”
At this moment, the wolf grew smaller in size and moved closer to Regina after talking to Richard.
She was still slightly afraid of the wolf, even after Richard told her about it.
Regina and the wolf stared at each other for a brief moment.
And suddenly, She got into a trance when the wolf started chanting.
“Time once broken, has begun to move…”
“Time once stolen, will be reclaimed anew…”
Regina replied while remaining in a trance.
The wolf then evaporated into thin air, and the red markings on its body appeared on Regina’s body for an instant, then faded away, leaving Regina unconscious.
