The next day, the gang had prepared to venture into the forest which Alexis previously dubbed as Old Woodland, it was rumored even older than the three kingdoms of Moonlight Continent.

They gathered in a circle, wearing a variety of protections they got from the Goblin Nest's vault.

"Alright, I have spoken with the trees," Momo said, the gorgeous princess of Deviluke wore Leather Armor that covered most part of her upper body except her fair neck and arms, "first, Old Woodland had two sides, East and West, a deep ravine separated this sides with a distance between them was about 100 meters."

"That fairly far, is there a bridge that connects these lands?" Alex wrinkled his eyebrows

"It was..." Momo furrowed her eyebrows, "but last year, someone broke it."

"What?" the group startled and said at the same time.

"There was this... strange person in a red cloak, it used a spell to make the wooden bridge weathered at a rapid pace..." Momo said in a difficult tone, "the bridge had been built with strong woods that last for a hundred years, but this person easily ruined it."

Alex widened his eyes, thinking about Elliot and Alexis, even if they were not defeated in the hand of the goblin, they couldn't possibly continue their task as they were unable to cross the ravine...

But who was this person? Why it destroyed the bridge?

"Next is the local habitant of the forest, aside from the normal animal, there are three creatures we need to be cautious; first, the hellhound as Alexis mentioned, second, the treant, a tree-based monster that eats flesh, and lastly, the cockatrice, an adult-size chicken that can paralyze you through its beak ."

"There are trees that eat humans?" Dick's scalp couldn't help but turn cold, Kami, it's like a wild canine with the ability to tear you apart as if not enough.

"And does this chicken also eat humans?" Jason wrinkled his eyebrows, rather calmer than the other two soldiers, the three of them wearing a sort of chain shirt and chausses knit in the four-in-one pattern, with leather added to some joints for extra stability, they also wore an iron helmet, gloves, and boots, completely covered in protection from top to bottom.

"Don't worry, the treant albeit carnivore, but they can't walk, hunt using bait of their fruits, then dragged the prey employing vines and roots, putting them into their mouth so the acid inside their body can process the victim while still alive," Momo said with a sweet smile, "as for the cockatrice, they eat peanuts, but they also aggressive toward humans and will attack the moment of seeing us, they paralyzed you with their beak then stomped you to death."

'Way to make us feel better!' the soldiers dropped a cold sweat.

"How long will it take to cross the forest?" Shizuka did not faze in the face of the threat, she wore Leather Armor just like Momo but also had a black hood over her head, this, in fact, was not a normal hood, a magical item that provided assistance to resist negative influence.

"Normally? 2 days..." Momo smiled, "but because we have someone who can guide us through the forest easily, we can make it before the sunset."

"Who's that?" Alex looked surprised, he wore medium armor just like the soldiers but only on the upper torso, also had two kunai strapped into his waist.

"Me!" Momo puffed her cheek while glaring at him.

"Alright, I am just joking," Alex laughed but didn't lessen the anger of the young lady.

"Anyway..." Momo glanced at the other, paid him no attention, "aside from the hellhound and the cockatrice, we don't have much to worry, but doesn't mean we should lower our guard."

The rest nodded, Alex quickly said, "Momo, is there other humans at the moment?"

"From this side? No..." she shook her head, "but I don't know from the other end."

"Alright, gentlemen and ladies, we have rested enough and prepared for today, remember our strategy, first, do not wander the forest on your own, second, do not act under your own accord, third, make sure to protect me," Alex said, the last strategy cause the rest of them dropped a sweat.

After made sure nothing was forgotten, the group marched forward and entered the Old Woodland.

(***)

This what you could truly call a jungle, not only the trees were bigger, but also more crowded, the light from above barely shone the environment inside. The path covered in bushes, and the view blocked by draping vines, they had to cut through them to continue the journey.

People easily could get lost in here, no wonder having someone like Momo was a big help, she could speak with the trees and ask for guidance.

Dick and Jason had been swinging their respective short sword to cut the long vines from above, internally profaned because these vines as if never going to end.

"Hiss..."

Dick grabbed one of them with his left hand, but to his surprise, the vine instead curling around his arm, he looked upward and saw a snake wrapped around many vines, overlooking them from above.

"S... S..." his face immediately went pale, the rest noticed his complexion and followed his eyes direction, also flabbergasted by the length of this reptile.

"SNAKE!!!" Damian screamed as he pointed his rifle toward above and started shooting, the snake sprang downward and curled itself around Dick, the movement was fast and swift, less than a second, the poor soldier had been restrained by it.

"Hiss!!!" the snake let out its long tongue as if mocking them, it was about to get away and took Dick with it before the snake realized it also couldn't move even an inch.

"Hiss?" the snake tried to struggle but everything it did seem futile, not far from it, Alex had carried a silver book on his right hand, his palm pointed toward the snake.

"Quick, behead the animal!" he said with gritted teeth, his current level couldn't sustain this for a long time.

Jason dashed toward Dick and the snake position, the snake dangerously glared at him but it couldn't do anything else, Jason swung his sword and easily cut off the snake's head.

Alex deactivated his spell and took a deep breath, he drank Ether to restore his mana.

The system still in the process to identify the red shard, so he didn't know how much he gained from killing that snake.

Dick sighed in relief, thinking he was about to die a moment ago, Jason patted his shoulder, comforting the man.

"I thought we only have to fear 3 creatures in the forest?!" Damian said with anger in his voice, staring at Momo with dissatisfaction.

"Do you forgot the part where I said you shouldn't lower your guard?" Momo funnily looked at him, Damian immediately as if got food stuck in his throat.

"Calm down, it's just one snake, and Dick's fine, no need to get anxious..." Alex said while stroking Momo's head, the latter slightly curled up the corner of her lips.

Afterward, they continued the journey, but... things just got crazier; first, they got attack by a strange bird, almost hurting Damian in the process if not for Shizuka's precise strike quickly dispatched it, second, a beaver dropped down from the branches, prepared to sink its teeth on Momo's head, Alex stopped it mid-air and Damian finished it with one shot, third, a chameleon latched itself onto Jason's back, attacking them with its tongue as Jason went panic to get rid of it, Shizuka had to catch Jason with her chain kunai to stop his motion, trapping the animal together with him while they easily killed it.

As they went further in, they got attacked more and more, but they did realize these just normal animals that attacked them.

"Huff..." Dick gasped for air while they stopped for a brief to take a rest, in the Dawn Forest, they might have encountered Wild Hog and Goblin, but at least the animal there didn't spring to attack them.

"I don't get it, why the animal in here is so aggressive, even a fucking rabbit about to nip my leg!" Damian slammed his rear on the ground, frustration and fear were all over his face.

"Lucky you, a rodent almost tears of my little brother down there, stupid little shit..." Jason gritted his teeth.

"Alex, what do you think?" Shizuka came to his side and whispered closely, Alex could taste the cool air that was her breath.

"Well, I did say whatever happened next wouldn't be easy..." he said then gulped down some water, "but this was strange indeed."

"Neither the trees or Alexis mentioned about this animal attack, meaning this not happens under normal circumstance..."

"You meant... an anomaly?"

Alex furrowed his eyebrows, crossing his arms as he deeply in thought, said, "just the same with the Goblin Nest in the Dawn Forest, perhaps something strange affects the local habitant."

"Why the trees didn't mention this?" Shizuka wrinkled her eyebrows.

"I think because no human had been visited this place for quite a while," Alex slightly glanced at her, "which brought us to the 'why' question."

"Which part of the Moonlight continent this area was or what area this forest lead to... why no human visited it within a year?"

At this moment, Momo walked toward them, said, "The trees apologized as they also didn't expect this situation..."

"Was there a relation between that red cloak person and the strange things that happened here?"

Momo nodded, "They said before the person destroyed the bridge, it wandered the forest for quite a while, the animal at that time was not aggressive like this, in fact, they seemed to make a distance with that person."

"They were afraid of it?" Shizuka mumbled.

"Yes," Momo let out a mouthful of breath while sat beside Alex, "they mentioned this person buried something quite far from here."

"Want to have a look?"

The beauties glanced at Alex, the older man was deep in thought, in the Goblin Nest, he found a mysterious red shard which affected the women, although he couldn't guess this person related with it, but it's the best lead they had so far, whatever he buried, at least responsible with the aggression of the animal.

"How far the location?" Alex said, despite his curiosity, he didn't want to endanger his people; if the time was not enough to get them out of the forest before sunset, then they might as well forgot it for a while.

"20 kilometers from here, 2 hours trip..." Momo glanced upward, calculating for a brief, then looked back at them, said, "we can still exit the forest before sunset if we rushed it."

"Hmm... alright, let's head toward that person's treasure," Alex stood up, patting his rear as he looked at them.

(***)

"Be careful, here is the area where the treant mostly appeared," Momo said, the mood of the area appeared quite more tedious than the other, but the ground somehow had fewer bushes.

"The treant characteristic is that they are smaller than any trees in here in general, but they have long branches and paler skin, their fruit looked like an apple with orange color, they also somehow had a face on their bodies, as in two eyes and one mouth..." Momo jumped down from the high ground, Alex held her hand to help her.

"You mean like this one?" Damian pointed the tree right behind him.

"Yeah, precisely!" Momo smiled before she, along with others had their expression froze almost immediately.

"Eh?" Damian widened his eyes, but before he managed to do anything, a vine suddenly grasped his body and dragged him into the tree's trunk!

"AAaaah!!!"

"Raaargghh!!!"

The treant let out a roar, co-operating with Damian's scream of terror, he sank in a green-like liquid, his body felt hot all over.

"Oh no, a tree ate Damian!!!" Dick grasped his face in paleness, meanwhile, Jason had pointed his rifle and started blasting out the tree.

"Let him go, let him go!" he said, his finger pulled the rifle's trigger relentlessly.

*Pit pat pit pat!*

Every bullet tore apart the treant's trunk but didn't seem to weaken it, instead of as if just making it upset, the treant swung its branch and almost hit Jason, the latter dropped down to the ground to avoid the strike, then he continued shooting down the tree.

"Alex, use fire, the treant weak against it!" Momo quickly said.

Alex took out a red book from the system, said, "Fire Marbles."

*Swoosh!*

His body glowed in the red aura, the book swiftly flipped open while the Vongola Ring on his finger also let out small ember.

Quickly four small fireballs emerged from his palm, they appeared quite brighter than usual. Alex ordered the fireballs then in a swift motion, they launched ahead in line, hit the treant's body and lit a small fire, burning it slightly.

He didn't stop casting the fireballs, meanwhile, the two soldiers kept shooting at it while Shizuka tried to distract the tree.

Momo stood on his side, coldly looking at the treant, she said, "Spit out the human, otherwise, we tear you down to the roots!"

"No way, I haven't eaten anything for so long, HUNGRY!!!" the treant roared, its huge trunk slowly turned black. its entire body had been covered in flame.

"How about we make a trade? Let him go, we give you something better to eat!"

"No, even if died, let this be my last feast!!!"

They could smell the roasted branches from all over its body, the crisp sound reverberated clearly in their ears.

"Then, so be it..." Momo said; one could notice a hint of sadness in her tone.

Alex looked at her before glancing toward Shizuka, said, "Finish it."

Shizuka nodded, she covered her palm with Wind Nature and decisively broke down the tree with one swing, the treant's trunk already fragile due to the flame, it didn't take much effort for her to completely decimate it.

She jumped ahead and grasped Damian's body, the latter had been sweating a lot as his whole body was red, his armors also slightly ruined.

They dismantle his armors to cool his body, Momo took out a plant that could calm the soldier's nerve, Dick delivered the potion into Damian's mouth before changing it to mineral water.

After a while, Damian's complexion had turned for the better, but he still had a lingering fear on his face, his organ was aching as he swallowed some of the green liquid.

Looking at Damian's situation, the group was discouraged to continue the current objective, but it's eventually up to Alex's decision as he the leader.

"Damian, can you still fight?" Alex said.

"I... I..." he stuttered, they could see the spirit in his eyes but his face told otherwise, it's... very contradictory expression.

"Well... since he's not in the shape anymore, might as well we..."

"NO!"

Before Alex could finish, Damian tried to stand up from the ground, his body heavily shivering, but the soldier toughened up, he said, "It's my job... to protect you... I must not, AFRAID!"

They startled but somehow touched by his dedication, Alex smiled, said with a small laugh, "Then, we continue."

(***)

Along the way, Alex and his group fought with both animal and the treant, the number doubled the deeper they went.

The blazing of guns, howling of fireballs, rampaging of a small tornado, and striking of lightning.

They didn't necessarily fight them all because didn't want to waste much time, but eventually had to stop occasionally because their path had been blocked by hostiles.

"Alex, it's not far left!" Momo said as she ducked to avoid a flying monkey, then she saw one treant ahead.

Momo took out five bullets from her back pocket, she clenched it inside her hand before a glimpse of green light shone through the gap of her fingers, then five trunks spread out as she opened her hand, they launched forward and wrecked the treant with their sharp ends.

Alex changed book into the silver one, saw several snakes had neared their location, he telekinetically moved his two kunai and punctured the snake's heads with them, then he quickly pulled them away to stab more snakes' heads.

Shizuka took care most of the treant, while the soldiers crazily shot at them, despite the futile firing of the rifle, it's enough to slow the treant.

"There!" Momo pointed her finger, on the distance they could see a cavity on the ground, she took out another bullet, grasped it for a while then threw the bullet a couple of feet away, "everyone makes sure to grab on something!"

She held Alex's shirt before suddenly from the ground, one big trunk instantly sprang out, slanting toward the location ahead in a fast motion, Shizuka quickly grabbed one of the leaves, while the soldiers clung to the trunk with all of their lives.

They left the enemies behind pretty quick, soon arrived right above the cavity. Momo didn't waste much time, she held another bullet then threw it directly in the center of the bowl-shaped area.

*Bang!*

A short tree but very thick, probably 10 diameters emerged from the ground, its top part was flat and in a circle shape.

Their trunk hit the tree right on its edge, making it sort of like a ramp to get into the top of the tree.

They couldn't help but marvel at Momo's precise calculation, despite they didn't occur at the same time, she could predict the tree's height thus they wouldn't crash.

At the center of the tree, a strange object, similar to a black orb had appeared.