Chapter 42: Black panther

Okay, This is getting out of hand.

I thought that I would only encounter one problem at a time, But what the heck is this?

Is this the sign that this new world wanted me dead? or is this just the challenges that I needed to pass in order for me to grow?

But whatever it is, I can't handle multiple problems at the same time.

First an outbreak of magic beast then now a giant wall of thorns what's next Demonic creatures?

This are the thoughts that runs wildly through my mind as I look at the newly evolved form of the vines.

"Is this made out of bones?" I ask in utter shock as I approach the newly grown thorns.

And for further investigation I decided to cut a portion of  the calcified vines with my sword I thought that maybe I could give this to Ethan and he may find a way to stop this from growing or even used it as an ingredient for his potion.

As I unsheathed my sword from its scabbard I immediately circulated my power within its blade and it was quickly covered in my aura with a thin coppery shine to it.

In this way, it would make it easier for me to cut this vines without putting a lot of effort, but even if I did this openly other people around me won't feel any surge of aura from my body due to my excellent control of my power.

This is a new technique that I came up with in order to hide my aura from other people. It also took me a lot of time in order to make this possible.

But right now I can only used a little portion of my power since I still haven't perfected this technique but it's more than enough to do a lot of things.

If I used more than 10% of my power there's a great chance that I might loose control of it and my cover would immediately fail.

But even with this thin amount of aura on my blade is already enough to slice trough any ordinary material. Even hard rocks and solid metal can't stop this ordinary attack of mine.

That's what I thought too.

But my sword didn't even managed to leave any mark on this newly grown vines as it manages to deflect all the energy from my attack back to my sword that almost causes me to loose control of my power.

And only a loud *ding* sounds can be heard as if I just hit a hard material made out of metal.

"How is this even possible?" I ask loudly in disbelief as I stared at my sword covered in small cracks.

Even Hugo and Michael stares at me with utter shock in their faces as they know how powerful my attack is. They know that my attack might look ordinary but the power behind it are more powerful than normal.

The sword I have with me is made out of pure black steel that is strong enough to slice trough any normal material and even low rank artifacts would loose against my blade.

A shield made out of the same material can deflect several punches from a full blown attack of someone in the peak of junior knight rank without being destroyed.

That's why I was surprised to see that with just one attack it already managed to terribly damaged my sword despite being protected by my own aura.

I still remember that this sword was purchased for the price of 2000 gold coins and even I was hesitant at first but eventually became very satisfied with it.

I also used this sword with my sparring with Hugo and even he did not managed to leave a single crack nor chip on my blade and yet with just one slash on this vines who seems to be made out bones almost break my sword into a scrap.

My sword is made from the famous Aetharian empire which is known for their crafts but even that is not enough to cut this bone like thorns.

"Unbelievable!" said by Callisto as he looked at the small cracked on my swords blade.

Callisto know how strong my sword is, since it uses the same material as his armor the only difference is that my swords blade was covered in a thin coat of sulrion ore or we can also call it stainless. I did this in order to hide the real capabilities of my sword from the plain sight.

"It did managed to find a way to resist a strong attack from a knight like us." He added as he turned his attention towards the wall of thorns with a grave expression on his face.

I almost forgot that Callisto can see the flow of energy to any living things including this vines.

"Did you find out something unusual about this vines Callisto?" I ask in concern as he still have a dark expression on his face.

"This is bad Master Lucas, the flow of energy within this vine have suddenly change into something more powerful especially to this area." He said as he pointed his finger towards the destroyed section of the wall that was caused my father's power.

"This is an alarming situation Master Lucas, even you failed to damaged this newly grown thorns, I can still clearly remember that even a normal soldiers can still cut the thin parts of this vines earlier but now, it looks like impossible to do so." Sandra said suddenly in a dark tone as she observed the place that I tried to cut.

"Not even a single scratch could be seen on it." She said in a low voice while taking a closer look on the vines.

"It managed to become this strong in just one day. It's like the enchanted forest made a wall on its own to defend itself from an unforseen danger." She solemnly said as she turned her attention towards the foggy forest.

"From what danger?" Callisto said.

"No sane human being would dare to venture inside of it, even a powerful knight or wizard would rather avoid this place as it's full of powerful magic beast" He added as he looked at sandra with bewildered gaze.

"Even from this place I could already perceived so many strong energy inside that forest that not even the kingdom itself could hope to defeat." He exclaimed.

"Even though it was dangerous to go inside of the enchanted forest we can't deny the fact that this place is like a huge treasure trove as this forest has an abundant supply of magical materials." She

said while my in dazed.

"We all know that, but why the heck did it need to build it's own walls as if the enchanted forest is afraid of something." I said curiously as I put back my broken sword on its sheath.

"Even my expensive sword almost got destroyed just after a month of using it." I said in dismayed.

I thought that with that amount of 2000 gold coins this sword would last me for a long time, I even plan to replace it once I step into intermediate rank knight but it looks like I need to find a much stronger sword than this.

"Did this happen because of me?" Father suddenly said while starring at the calcified vine.

"Based on my observation the more we cut this vine with your power the more would it get stronger, and look at this." Sandra said as she pointed her hand towards a certain place.

"This is the proof that it can adapt to any changes on its surroundings to become more stronger than before." She added as she explained her findings to us.

It still didn't apply to the entire wall of thorns though and only the newly grown vine from the destroyed part shows this drastic kind of changed.

Sandra also explain that this wall of vines would also reach its limits of growth within a few days, and might possibly have a thickness of a hundred meters.

"You meant in the future, We need to cross a hundred meters of thick wall of thorns just in order for us to enter the enchanted forest?" Callisto ask with troubled expression on his face.

I think everyone of us here feels the same thing.

I mean, we have just managed to get an abundant supply of magic fruits from this forest through the help of Gaspar, but now that it was enclosed on a wall it would be much harder for us to collect any materials from this place.

Some of my father's knight even plan to venture on the edge of this forest together with Gaspar for the hope of finding more magical resources that could help them cultivate.

"I'm afraid so." Sandra whispered as she looked at the wall of thorns that is slowly recovering.

"We're not the only one affected by this sudden change." I suddenly said as I managed to attract all of their attention.

"What do you mean master Lucas?" they all asks while giving me a curious look.

"The magic beast." I said.

"It would also make it harder for the magic beast to go outside the enchanted forest, so expect that we would see less of them now." I said in a firm voice.

"Ah master Lucas, I think you're wrong." Suddenly said by Gaspar as he approaches me.

"Ha?" I said while looking at him with utter confusion. "What do you mean by that"

"I don't know how did it happens but look." Gaspar said as he approached the wall of thorns.

And like magic, the wall of thorn is like a curtain that folds itself to open a path for Gaspar.

"How the heck did you do that?" I ask in shock.

"How is this even possible?" Callisto muttered while staring at Gaspar.

"Gaspar what did you do?"

"How did you managed to do this?"

Those are the words that you can hear around me as everyone looked at Gaspar with bewildered and surprised gaze.

"What happen Gaspar? Since when did you have the capability to control this vines?" Father ask in a grave tone as he look at Gaspar suspiciously.

"I-I Do-Dont Know master Hubert it's just happen everytime I approach this wall." He said in fear as he looked at his hands.

What the f*ck is this?

Is this one of his cheat like ability? Why the heck does he have all of this magical ability anyway?

I thought that as a transmigrator I would have an absolute advantage over this world, but it seems like I'm just an ordinary person with above normal skills compared to others.

"Gasp-" "Roarrrrrrrr" I was about to call out his name when a familiar loud roar suddenly erupted from behind the thick wall of thorns that is now covered in white fog.

The noise from the surrounding area have suddenly died down as everyone was terrified to hear that familiar roar.

All the people that heard it's mighty roar was petrified on their spot except for my father.

As he still managed to draw his sword out and take his own defensive stance against the incoming magic beast.

Suddenly a loud sound of rumbling can also be heard reverting around the place as the giant vine of thorns drags its branch to quickly open a giant path for the incoming magic beast.

A huge passageway shrouded in thick white fog was immediately created as the shadow of a giant beast becomes prominently visible. At the same time, loud thundering stomps could also be heard as it runs through the place announcing its own arrival.

And as the thick fog clears up, the body of a giant black panther like animal with a crystal crown on its head and a big wings on its back suddenly appears with its body shrouded in a black mist that starts to corrupt the surrounding land.

Compared to what Gaspar have describe to us before, this magic beast seems to be much bigger than we thought, as it easily tower the giant trees around this place.

You all need to keep in mind that the trees in this place already stands at more than 15 meters tall and yet this black panther alone have quickly surpassed that height.

Aside from that, the black mist that he told us before seems to be more wild and visible as it even covers the entirety of its body except for its head.

The Black Mist that surrounds the body of this magic beast have already corrupted the surrounding land and all the previous greenery around the place have died as they all turn black as charcoal.

Even the tall trees beside the magic beast rapidly died as all of its leaves rapidly fall on it's branch.

And the former lush tree have become a dried tree with petrified branches.

Only the dried branches of it remains on its place and all of this happen in just a matter of seconds.

The Black panther have rapidly move its giant head to observe the surrounding people as if it's looking for someone.

And as it's reddish eyes have spotted Gaspar it immediately locked its gaze on him.

My father was about to attack it but the giant beast suddenly vanished from it's place.

The next thing we know is that we only found it dragging Gaspar's by his clothes on its mouth as both of them quickly banished in the gloomy forest surrounded by giant vines of thorns.

Only the loud wail of Gaspar's plead of despair can be heard as their shadow have blended in the dark forest.

"MASTER HUBERT HELP ME!" Gaspar Loudly ask while being kidnapped by this beast.

And it is also the last words we heard  from him before the vine of thorns rapidly closed it's path.