Volume 2 Chapter 1: Part 3: His Journey Through The Forest 

 

"Thank you so much!" Stewart bows his head. Right now, he, Onyx, and Lucia are around a campfire. When he heard the whole story from Lucia, he couldn't believe his party got so lucky.

 

And he can't be more grateful to Onyx, who saved them from their predicament. 

 

Onyx quickly waves his hand, "You don't need to thank me. I was just passing along the way. Anyone would've helped you." That, and he heard them fighting from a mile away. But he isn't planning to say any of that to him. 

 

Onyx then asks. "What will you guys do after this?"

 

Stewart's expression turns wry, "We'll be returning to the city." Hearing his words, Lucia's expression changes. She shouts out, 

 

"Are we really going to leave?! What about Reynold?!"

 

Reynold? Who's that? Onyx tilts his head with the new information he received. It seems there's more to this situation than he thought. He continues to listen as Stewart shakes his head,

 

"Look at the state we're in. Even if we continue to go deeper, we'll get killed." They don't have any supplies at all. 

 

Their armor and weapons are definitely broken beyond repair. And to top it off, three of the five are out cold. And even if they're awake, they can't do much as they're all injured. 

 

There's no way they'll be able to continue on.

 

"But!" "I know how you're feeling, and I feel the same. But we have to give it up. I'll find another way."

 

Lucia bits her lip. Do we even have enough time? She doesn't want to give up the chance they have right now. Not when it's so close. But then she realizes something. She turns over to Onyx. 

 

Without any thought or hesitation, she gets on her knees, 

 

"Mr. Onyx, please help us!"

 

"Huh?" A surprised voice comes out, while behind his hood: Onyx makes a blank expression. He was sitting there listening to their conversation. He didn't expect to be thrown into the mix as well. 

 

"Lucia! We can't ask Mr.Onyx for help anymore! He has already done enough for us!" Stewart shouts out. His face is red, fuming with anger.

 

Stewart knows. What Lucia is doing is sending their savior on a suicide mission.

 

"We have no choice! He's the only one who can help us do this!" Lucia  stays on her knees, "Please, Mr. Onyx!" She continues to beg their hooded savior.   

 

Unlike Stewart, she saw how Onyx fought. From that, she knows he can obtain it. 

 

"You!" "Can you two not scream so loudly?" As Stewart was about to shout at her again, Onyx's voice cut in. His voice is cold as steel. Seeing how he got their attention, Onyx continues, 

 

"If you keep shouting so loudly, it'll attract monsters. It doesn't even matter if I place monster blood around." With how loud they're talking, any monster would realize they're there. 

 

Hearing that, the two quickly grew silent and apologized,

 

"Sorry about that." "Sorry." 

 

Seeing how the two have calmed down now, Onyx sighs, "For starters, Ms. Lucia, please get off the ground." Things aren't going to go anywhere if she keeps kneeling like that. 

 

"No, I won't. Not until you agree to help us." Lucia rejects that. And instead, one-ups what she did as she shoves her head to the ground, groveling even more.

 

Seeing her unyielding position, Onyx continues, 

 

"I want to hear more about your situation first before deciding." No way is Onyx going to decide so quickly without knowing anything. 

 

With that, Lucia got up from the ground. Sitting back on the long, Onyx looks at Stewart, "Mr. Stewart, can you tell me why you guys want to go deeper into the forest?"

 

"You don't have to be so formal with me. Just call me Stewart." How can he let his savior be so formal with him? 

 

"Then, you two don't need to add Mr. to my name. Just call me Onyx." Onyx felt it was weird for two people older than him to be so formal. 

 

"Alright then." But then, Stewart's expression turns tense as he explains, "The reason we have to go deeper into the forest is for a plant. We need it to save a member of our party."

 

As he talked about it, Onyx understood why they were here. Their party, Scarlet Lynx, is an adventuring party. One day, while they were out on their mission, there was a complication. One of their party members got hit with poison. 

 

 A highly potent one at that. 

 

"Right now, our healer is watching over him, casting magic to keep the poison at bay. But it's not enough. To cure the poison completely, we need to grab a flower. 

 

That's why the rest of us decided to go get it." And then came the complications.

 

"We were so anxious about getting the flower that we rushed in blind as a bat. There were more monsters than we anticipated, and one of our party members suffered a severe wound." 

 

Because of their worries for their friend, Stewart and his party rushed into the forest without a thought. They wanted to get the herb as quickly as possible to save him. 

 

However, they have never gone so deep into the Forest Of Death. And because of this inexperience, the number of beasts took them by surprise. What's more: a monster found an opening and took a bite off her shoulder. 

 

"And that's how we end up in this situation," Stewart says, a grim expression forming on his face.

 

Hmmm. Onyx thinks about it and then asks, "What kind of flower are you looking for?"

 

"We're searching for the riverlily lotus. It's famous for the healing properties the petals have. But the problem is the flower can only be found deep in the forest of death. Protecting it are monsters who are deadlier than the blood kongs." 

 

Besides the amount, the quality of monsters increases even more when going deeper into the forest's center. 

 

"What does the plant look like?"

 

Hearing this, Lucia's the one who explains, "It looks like a regular lotus. However, the petal's color goes from a deep purple from the base to a sky blue."

 

"Lucia!" Stewart wants to slap her right now. He quickly persuades Onyx, "You don't have to go into the forest anymore. You have done more than enough for us." He didn't want Onyx to go deeper in. That would mean death. 

 

Contrary to what he's thinking, the words that came out of Onyx's mouth are, 

 

"Give me one second." Onyx goes through his bag, rummaging through it. And then he takes out something,

 

"Is this it?" When Stewart and Lucia look at the flower in Onyx's hand, their eyes go blank. They even have to rub their eyes to see if it's real. 

 

They can't believe it! It's the riverlily lotus!

 

"That's it!" Lucia shouts, and then she gets smacked in the head by Stewart, "Stop shouting! You're going to attract monsters!" Even if he's excited to see it, he understands this isn't the time and place to shout out. 

 

Lucia quickly shuts her mouth. 

 

Seeing how the two reacted, Onyx tosses the lotus at Stewart, "Here, you guys can have it."

 

"Whaaa! We can't take something as precious as this!" Despite needing the lotus, Stewart felt it was wrong to take it from Onyx.

 

"Didn't you say you need it to save your friend's life?"

 

"I know. But I can't just take this for free." It took great difficulty for Stewart's group to get to where they were now. And they failed! So what did Onyx have to do to get the flower?

 

Onyx waves his hand, "You don't have to worry about it. I don't need any coins." He already has enough from Vargar. 

 

And the demon crystals and other herbs he obtained from fighting these last few days will last him for years. 

 

What's more: he didn't do that much to get the herb. Onyx just cut down the monster and found it beside it. He didn't even know what it was before now, 

 

"But-"

 

"Relax. A life is more important than money. So just use it for now. If you still feel uneasy about this, just think of it as you owe me one for later."

 

"Alright. Thank you very much! You don't know how much this means to me." Hearing what he said, Stewart doesn't say anything else and accepts the flower. He is eternally grateful for Onyx.

 

The same goes for Lucia, who kept bowing by the side. Stewart then asks him, 

 

"Onyx, where will you be going?" He realizes Onyx might not be going on the same course as their group. 

 

"Oh, I will be going to Advent City." That's the city Vargar told Onyx to go to. It's called the city of adventurers. A place where many adventurers go for fame and glory. Hearing where he's going, Stewart and Lucia's expressions brighten, 

 

"We're going back there as well! How about we go there together?"

 

"That'll be great." That's the reason why Onyx helped them in the first place. He continues, 

 

"Let's move out in a few hours. If the others don't wake up, we'll just have to carry them." Onyx points at the two wood planks he made. They should stay there for too long as monsters will come at them. 

 

And the treatment he did for the group was only first-aid. They will need to get actual treatment from a priest. Stewart and Lucia nod, understanding what he means. 

 

"For now, let's get something into our stomachs. We've been talking for a while now." Onyx says as he takes out the jerky and food. Lucia starts eating. But then, Stewart's expression turns wide as he looks at the fruit. 

 

Isn't this a ruby apple? And this is a lemon orange? These fruits are some high-class fruits. They can only be found deep in the forest. And selling them would make a good amount of coins. 

 

Yet, the man in front of them was eating it like it was nothing out of the ordinary. Stewart turns around and sees Lucia stuffing herself in the face!

 

He almost wants to spit out blood from how they gorge themselves. But with them eating, Stewart starts doing the same. 

...

"Hmpf!" Onyx slices down a monster with ease. The group is on the move now that they have eaten. Stewart looks at Onyx with shock. 

 

"Damn." Those are the only words he can say. It's like Onyx is chopping down wood rather than fighting monsters. It's like the monsters are training dummies. 

 

That's how slow they are for Onyx.

 

"I know." Lucia makes a wry smile. This isn't the first time seeing Onyx fight. But compared to the first one, this felt more mundane.

Right now, they have a spearhead formation. Onyx is at the front, while the other two are in the back as rearguards. That's the formation they decided on for ease and efficiency.

 

Stewart wanted to stand in the front too. But he was tasked with carrying Barrett. 

 

That's because Onyx didn't let him. The only person who can actually fight right now is him. 

 

And it was such a breeze for Onyx. Why are these monsters so weak? He frowns as he cuts another one down. Compared to the ones he fought before, these were a cakewalk. And the number of monsters showing up dropped by a mile. 

 

But he's not going to complain about it. They'll get to the city in a day at the rate they're going. Though, Onyx did know when to stop. 

 

"Let's camp here." Onyx looks at the two. He knows forcing it too much wouldn't be good. As they begin to rest, Stewart asks Onyx, "Onyx, where did you come from?"

 

"I came from a small village in the Espoir kingdom." That's the alibi Onyx's going with for now. He knows he shouldn't give out too much information about his origin.

 

"Oh, you came from the Espoir Kingdom? Did you use the hard route to travel through the forest of death?"

 

"The hard route?" There's a hard route? Onyx tilts his head and asks, "There's another route?"

 

Stewart nods, "Yeah. There are two routes to get through the forest of death. There's one where you go straight through the center of the forest. That's the more difficult route. And then there is the route where you go through the side."

 

The second route takes much longer than the center one. But it was many times safer. The number of monsters and dangers going through the center would make any season adventure pale.

 

"..." Hearing these words, Onyx drops onto his knees. There was a safer path?!!!!!!!!

 

Teacher! What are you doing?! How can you send your own student into so much danger?!!!!!!

 

No wonder the third and fourth days he was in the woods were deadly compared to the first two! 

 

That's because he was in the dead center of the forest!

 

"Heh, there was an easier way. Heh heh heh heh." Onyx's soul just left his body as he couldn't believe it. Hearing Onyx's weird laughter made the other two back away slowly. Stewart realizes he might have said something wrong.

 

"D-Did you not know about the other path?" Stewart thought Onyx decided on the difficult path because he could handle it. Seeing how he cut down monsters, he thought that was the case. 

 

But it may not be the case with how he's acting. 

 

Onyx doesn't answer as he continues to be out of it. But a groaning sound can be heard from the side. Stewart shouts out, "Etta, you're awake now."

 

"Mmhmm. My head still hurts, but yeah, I'm awake." Etta groans a bit more before apologizing, "Sorry about what happened, Stewart." Etta remembers what happened. She felt unconscious due to using too much mana. 

 

Falling unconscious means she was dead weight for the others. But Stewart shakes his head, "You don't have to feel sorry about anything. If you didn't push yourselves to the limit, we would've been in a worse off situation."

 

The blood kongs and then the horde of monsters. Anybody could tell they'll be in a worse-off state if they fought the two groups at the same time. 

 

Etta sighs in relief. However, she notices the out-of-mind Onyx, "So who's that guy?" She feels something's off about him.

 

"Well. Where should we start?" Stewart and Lucia look at each other, not knowing how to explain it to her. 

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