Chapter 122 - Exploring the Forbidden Forest core
Somewhere in a forested zone, where about 2.000 people were wearing matching uniforms, except for 50 black army uniforms, signaled their status inside, the group stopped in a place that seemed to have a small encampment.
In the front of this group of men who were armed with various weapons from swords, daggers, pikes, and so on was a guy that seemed to be about 27 years old. He had sharp features, short black hair, and a goatee that made him look more mature. His body was decently tall when looking at most of the people in this group, being 1,92 meters with a strong body that had hardened muscles.
Aside from this, he had a big wound scar on his left arm that runs from his shoulder down his forearm, multiple small scars toward his chest as if someone pierced him with the tip of a sword, while his right hand rested on a sword hilt strapped on his hip.
"Colonel Brogg, it seems we arrived first at the targeted mark. Should we start raising up the camp?" asked a black uniformed guy who also had sharp features and some scars on his arms and face.
Brogg, hearing his oficer asking him that, looked at the zone and at the sky that was lit up, after that, he said to the soldier.
"Do so. You guys should take a break and eat something. I think Prim and Bolt will arrive just in time as His Highness ordered."
"I understand, colonel." replied the officer to Brogg while moving back and ordering the rest of the soldiers to start the preparations for a short encampment.
After the soldiers got the order, they began moving toward the forest and cutting some trees for the fire, while another part took the encampment equipment that they began raising like war tents.
As the soldiers began their work, another part of the soldiers came with wagons filled with supplies that they began taking off to prepare a meal for 2000 men.
Brogg, who saw everything, could only look toward where Wisdom Palace was and think to himself.
'So this is it. The day lord Vlad had warned us that will come in the future. The spark of war is soon to catch fire, and we will be the ones to assure our brothers, who can't fight as proficiently as us, a bright future. From the youngest child who just opened his eyes to the old people who just want a peaceful ending, the role of the Black Army is to defend and assure those exact people a prosperous future.'
'The scars on my body will assure this. Not even a foot belonging of those Dark Union rats or nobles will be set on Sol ground and the neighboring allied ground. I will make sure of this.'
'I've learned so much from lord Vlad on the art of swordsmanship that it made me so pathetic when thinking about how I used the sword. The new method of training the body instilled by him also is super efficient with our bodies, but we still have a long way to go to reach lord's powers and abilities.'
'After this war, I should take some of my officers on vacation and journey out around the kingdom, maybe we might stumble on a devil fruit. It's hard to believe that we will find a devil fruit on some random spots, but it might work out well for me and the others.'
As he thought that, he looked at his soldiers as they were getting busy knowing what to do. In doing so, time passed, and the smoke released by the fire and the smell of food cooking began being released inside the forest.
Nothing noteworthy seemed to happen. Everything was stable until Brogg, and most officers looked deep toward the forest as they felt a tremor happening in the ground.
"Colonel, what is going on? Is this an earthquake?" asked some soldiers while trying to keep their balance and others who began grabbing on the food so it wouldn't be spilled while cooking.
"I don't know either. This tremor comes from deep inside the forest. Hey, Lens, could it be that slumbering beast that His Highness said to us to not disturb."
The officer he asked looked at Brogg and said to him with some confusion. "Indeed, colonel, but we are way outside of the range of that beast. Could it be because of the food?"
Brogg quickly thought of the possibilities, and judging fast, he took a decision that could have saved them from a calamity.
"Boys, put down the fires. STOP THE COOKING, OR WE WILL WAKE SOMETHING WE CAN'T DEAL WITH!"
Feeling the tension in their commander's tone, the soldiers quickly got the dirt from the ground and began putting the fire down. Others got their clothes and placed them over the boiling cauldron, and asked.
"This should solve the problem, right, sir?"
"I don't know. This is the first time this has happened to me. Stay here. I will go check on that beast to see if it still sleeps. If Prim or Bolt comes with their men, tell them to stay put there and await His Highness arrival." ordered Brogg to his officers as he began moving deep toward the forest with his right hand on his sword sheath.
"Colonel, don't journey too deep. What if you get lost and disappear like the people of those stories?" asked an officer worried about Brogg's safety.
"Don't worry, we brothers lived in many difficult situations. From having nothing to eat to having to work for the syndicates to feed ourselves and our parents, to now actually having a respectful job. I will use my dial snail to call you, so prick up your ear to any of my signals."
After Brogg said that, he began advancing toward the forest while also feeling the ground tremor around.
As he advanced forward and got a decent distance toward the heart of the forest, he could see large beasts that looked slightly mutated run amok with scared expressions on their faces.
'What the fuck is going on here? His Highness didn't tell me about these things when we talked alone about what the Forbidden Forest hides inside.' thought Brogg when seeing this scene of beasts about 5-15 meters moving scared away from the center of the forest.
There was a dark panther about 8 meters tall that had his body scarred, that noticed Brogg and released a large roar as if trying to tell him. 'Don't approach the center, you dumb human.'
Yet Brogg took this roar as a threatening signal and took his longsword from his sheath, and he began moving slowly toward the center while the beasts began moving away from the center.
However, some beasts about 7 meters tall, who were away, noticed him, and with red eyes, they roared at Brogg and moved toward him like predators.
The first instinctual thing for Brogg was to enter the Wrath Guard that Vlad taught him and took some quick steps to keep some momentum.
Seeing Brogg actually move toward them, the beasts released another bestial roar, and with their red eyes, they began running faster toward the soldier, and after getting to a decent distance, they jumped, pouncing at him.
"Hmph, you are still beasts, even if you are larger sized." commented Brogg as he unleashed a downwards strike from the Wrath Guard that landed perfectly on the throat of one of the 3 beasts charging at him.
The beast that got cut by Brogg didn't manage to do anything to the soldier and instead dropped on the ground while blood began to spill.
"Ahh shit. The blood of this beast will attract others. I have to get out of here." said Brogg while noticing that other beasts who were fleeing from the center of the forest stopped in place and looked at him and the killed beasts with their sharp predatory eyes.
The other two beasts who landed next to him used a claw attack that instantly alerted Brogg. He got some steps out of their range, and taking his longsword into the Ochs Guard, he used his blade to stop one of the claws that seemed as big as his sword.
"Damned thing. Let's not fight these beasts because I will be outnumbered if more jumps on me."
After he got to block one of the claws, he used a thrusting cut to pierce his body and began to escape toward the center of the forest.
Instead of all these things, the beast who got hurt by Brogg thrust released a roar and began running toward the fleeing soldier with crazed eyes.
"Can't you just leave me alone? I really don't want to fight you or anyone here." said Brogg while noticing that the beast was on his tail.
Looking back, he could see that he was followed only by the hurt beast, while the other one was engulfed in eating the one killed by him. Apart from this, on the front, there seemed to be a freeway toward the center.
Running with his top speed, he could still feel that the beast moved faster, and with each second, it got closer to his back.
'I should use the trees to move around. This beast can't follow me to the trees, right?' thought Brogg, while feeling he only had this option, except for fighting and attracting more beasts.
Jumping on the tree and quickly climbing it to the top, he looked down on the beast who stopped at the base of the tall tree. This made him breathe out in relief, but as he thought things would calm, he sensed the tree shake hard.
"What now?"
The beast didn't give up on the person who hurt him, and after taking a considerable distance from the tree, he slammed his body on it.
Grabbing on the tree, Brogg stared at the beast with eyes that began getting cold and grabbing hold of his sword, and seeing that the beast tried to slam itself on the tree, he also jumped from it toward where the beast would be after slamming itself.
With Brogg in the air, he placed his sword to land first on the beast's body.
*ROAR*
This beast actually sensed Brogg dropping down on him, and in doing so, he stopped its slam and opened his mouth, ready for the kill.
"You think you are a smart beast? You bet." said Brogg as he pulled some daggers with his left scarred arm that he began to throw at the beast toward his eyes and other parts of his body.
One of those daggers landed on one of its eyes, which made it move a bit, slamming itself on the tree, roaring in pain.
It was in that moment of not being focused that Brogg using his sword tip, stabbed on the back spine of the beast, but in doing so, also getting himself stuck on the back of a mutated beast.
"Shit, don't tell me I didn't manage to get him?"
Grabbing tight on the sword hilt, he drawn back and quickly dropping on the ground while the beast was shaking and roaring in pain, he did some swift cuts toward its legs which began spilling blood on the ground, but he cursed himself, thinking out loud.
"I am an idiot. I need to swiftly kill this beast, not cause him agony. It's not like this is a human to drop on the ground from only some sword wounds."
Yet the beast got a chance in this hesitation from Brogg, and using its large claw, he smalled it on Brogg, sending him flying and hitting a large tree.
"Fuck. This is what happens when there are so many things going on. Hah, at least I didn't break anything in me. Gladly, Lord Vlad's training is something more strenuous than this."
Thinking that he noticed the beast that looked like a mix of lion and bear having brown hair move toward him while its body was oozing blood.
Getting up from where he landed, he gripped harder the hilt of the sword that made his calloused hands slit up and ooze some blood in the process.
He slowly rose the sword to a Vom Tag (High Guard) sword stance, and while still gripping the sword hard, it began vibrating a bit while the blade seemed to contain some pushing force on it.
"Motherfucker, you made me use this and also injure my hands in the process. Take this, you dumb beast who should just follow the example of the rest and leave me alone."
"[Mirage Blade]"
As he ended saying that, he released a vertical strike which sent a blue sword slash that was surprisingly big-sized. It looked like a blue sword blade that was flying with great intensity toward the running beast.
The beast tried to quickly stop when seeing this menacing looking strike, but when he did so, the back legs which were cut by Brogg previously responded later, and seeing the flying sword slash move faster toward him, it released a tremendous roar that shook the leaves and trees branches
The sword slash landed directly on his head, which created a bit cut on his skull, which later collapsed the beast on the ground, releasing a lot of blood from the split head along with brain matter.
"Hah, hah. I should get out of here and check on the center before any annoying beast jumps on me."
.
.
After the fight with the beasts, Brogg found that his path ahead was clear, but as he cleared the distance, moving further and further, he noticed that the temperature around him began dropping, and a strong breeze could be felt around himself, coming from the ground.
'In what place did I stumble? Doesn't this temperature is like what winter feels like?' thought Brogg, continuing his exploration.
He kept walking until he could see that around himself, snow and the frozen ground along with the trees, and with his sharp eyes, he could see that there was a depression on the ground that felt like a large cave opening.
'A cave? Aren't caves only in the mountains? Or am I wrong about this?'
The temperature felt even colder for Brogg, yet he continued to move toward the cave without even seeing a foot or sign of any beasts.
However, instantly as he set foot on the cave, he felt a force moving toward him, pushing down on him.
'By the gods, what is lurking inside this cave to release such a force? Damn, I'm conflicted now. Should I continue to see what is inside and finally solve this mystery or go back?'
'Logically, I should go back to the boys, but I can't just go back without even seeing what is inside.'
' I hope I don't get killed.'
Thinking that in his mind, Brogg pushed ahead, fighting off the force pinning him down along with the low temperature and strong winds blowing toward him that chilled out his skin a bit.
As he kept moving and looking at this frozen cave, he could see some skeletons in the path toward the base of the cave.
'Could it be a dragon slumbering inside this cave? Are those skeletons its prey? Is it an Ice Dragon slumbering inside Kaysang? Weren't they just myths?'
Step by step, the pressure running over him felt even stronger, which made him drop to his knees after entering this closer range. Even the skeletons could be said to be a common sighting for Brogg, who barely shook his head at those unfortunate guys' fates.
'I still can move forward. I'll not give up so easily while I'm this close.'
.
.
More minutes passed as Brogg moved at a slow speed inside this frozen cave, and it felt that he had an entire mountain on his shoulders, so much this invisible pressure was pinning him down on the ground.
He heard some bones cracking around, yet like a stubborn crazed man, he kept moving in the face of this pressuring force.
He could move at a snail pace until he entered deeper in the cave, where instantly he got pinned down and could hear his bones instantly crack.
'FUCK!? FUCK!? ARGH! I think my bones are soon to be cracked. I need to get out of here immediately, or I will die.'
It was at that time, Brogg could feel a great quake that bounced him around.
`This quake comes from close by. I can feel it, I am close to its lair. Yet, I can't even move a centimeter ahead. Damn, I'm still weak.'
After the tremor stopped, he felt a strong wind that was like a blizzard that got him out of the calamity range, and he could even hear something similar to human speech that was something he could understand.
"Familiar smell."
' What did I hear? "Familiar smell"? This beast lurking inside can actually speak in human language? '
' Should I try to speak back? '
It was at that time, Brogg thought of actually doing that, that he felt another strong wind coming from his back, and with something that felt like a hand being placed on his mouth.
He could hear a familiar voice ringing in his ears in a whispering tone saying, calmly.
"Phew, when I heard from the soldiers that you idiot actually wanted to check what's inside the forest, I thought you would do something to wake him up."
"Lord Vlad, how come you are here?" asked Brogg, recognizing the voice of the one who stopped him from actually saying something to the beast lurking inside.
"I felt the tremor on the ground as I moved to the station. This beast seems to be waking up soon. Tsk, I have another headache to deal with. This kingdom is so fucked up that it makes me scream in annoyance." said Vlad in a low tone to Brogg while sounding a bit angry.
"Lord, could you tell me what is lurking inside? Come on, I am this close to his lair that you can't just hide it forever." asked Brogg in a quiet tone.
"You want to know? Tsk, you curious brats are so annoying and hard to deal with. Always butting your heads where you don't need to. Fine, I will show you, stick around to me, or you will die if you are not close to me."
Brogg nodded his head and stuck close to Vlad, and could slowly feel that the pressure on his body began to be lifted.
"Lord, what is this? The pressure on my body? Could it be the haki you explained to us in the past?"
Vlad looked at Brogg with his green eyes that shifted into an abyssal color while his hair turned white. There was another feeling about him that Brogg could describe in words. He could see a dark crimson aura around Vlad that sparked out in the cave, sending out some energy sparks flying around the frozen cave.
"Come prepare yourself to see what lurks inside here, don't make any stupid sounds, say something or even move too much. I'm not prepared to fight another monster."
Vlad began moving forward slowly, while Brogg followed along close by, and he could constantly see sparks flying around of dark crimson color and a dark blue, close to nihility.
"As for the pressure you felt, you are right. This is the one's slumbering willpower, or how I told you, is called Conquerors. The skeletons you saw here were of those foolish idiots like you who ventured inside without even having the will to fight his own. This guy is ruthless to even release so much energy while sleeping."
"I'm sorry, Your Highness." apologized Brogg while listening to what Vlad had to say about his adventure.
"Sigh, well, take it as a crude awakening Brogg. There are people in this world that are now stronger than you or me, and we can't afford to offend in any shape or form. Anyway, I am surprised to see that you even managed to get to this point by yourself and are still in one piece."
Moving ahead, Vlad, with his abyssal colored eyes, looked at sparks flying and noticed Brogg curious expression, and with a calm, quiet tone, he began explaining it to him
"The sparks you can see flying is my will clashing with the sleeping guy haki who probably releases his willpower as a defensive ability. I really don't want to know what this sleeping guy can do once he awakens."
Brogg could see that Vlad was moving calmly without even feeling any disturbance in his steps, while he still had a bit of a hard time walking.
"Sorry, Brogg, but I still don't have much control of my willpower ability. I can only shield you to a proportion of 70%. If you want to take a break, tell me."
Breathing a bit hard, the two could feel another blizzard moving in their directions, which made Vlad extend his right arm and create a blood shield that enveloped him and Brogg.
'[Blood Aegis]'
The blizzard's impact chilled the Aegis to a freezing point, which made Brogg think to himself.
'Damn, if this blizzard would have hit me, most likely I would be frozen to death.'
After some seconds, he could hear Vlad's calm tone, saying in a quiet tone.
"Let's go. He should have stopped clearing out his nose by now."
'Pardon me? What did you just say, lord? Clear out his nose?' thought Brogg while his face looked confused as he began asking more and more questions.
It was until Vlad finally stopped and he could feel a pressure running over him that felt as when he just stepped on the calamity range, but thanks to Vlad, who used his blood abilities to stabilize him and strengthen his joints, he was looking straight ahead at what seemed like a frozen mound.
Stopping in place, Brogg focused his eyes, and this frozen mound felt different. It looked like a giant person that was in a sleeping posture.
'MY GOD, THIS IS A GIANT!'' thought out immediately Brogg, when he noticed that the initial mound was, in fact, a giant person that had light blue skin and long white hair that seemed to be frozen.
Turning his head at Vlad, he could see him looking coldly at this giant person, without much emotion on his face. This dark stare made him also look more serious at this slumbering being.
'If this person will be our enemy in the future, the situation inside Sagletius and Kaysang will be really precarious.'
