*One Day Later*
*ROAR*
Under the bright light of the sun, a giant fanged wolf growled loudly in pain as it felt a sharp sword stab through its chest, exiting it from its back. In a moment, the monster fell to the ground, unable to move or breathe, dying rather quickly.
Arthur retracted his blade as he looked up with a sigh. “Fuuh, is that the last one?” He asked as he turned to look at the others. Isla sliced one wolf’s head as she nodded. “Yes, there are no more.”
“AGH, my back. These things never end.” Herculia cracked his back.
“We have come across a huge number of monsters the past day. They’re getting more frequent and stronger.” Emmy replied.
After starting their trip again, the group immediately noticed that the forest had started spitting out even more enemies in their path. The monsters were more aggressive, stronger, and seemingly smarter than the ones before.
That naturally led them to believe that they were reaching the deeper parts of the forest and the difficulty was picking up again.
However, the group was far stronger than before and so it didn’t pose much of a challenge for them except for some wasted time that they couldn’t avoid. Every enemy that came across them ended up dead very quickly.
In fact, their pace was considerably faster than before as if they were only getting better and better at it rather than getting exhausted and wrung out with the passage of time.
After finishing off the round of enemies, they all returned to their horses except for Arthur who stood there, staring at his sword.
“Arthur? Aren’t you coming?” Herculia asked him.
“…” But, the boy didn’t answer.
“Arthur?” Emmy called for him again, very confused.
But still, he didn’t respond as if he didn’t hear them talking to him. That naturally raised suspicion between them.
“Are you ok, Arthur?” Isla jumped back and approached him curiously. There, she noticed that he was deeply in thought, examining his sword. Squinting her eyes, she looked at the spot he was examining. There, she noticed something interesting.
The sword had a very small crack at the edge of it. The crack was very minimal and most likely not even going to make the sword perform worse, but it was still there.
Still, that didn’t make Arthur any less displeased. ‘It has been through a lot in such a short period of time, wasn’t it?’ He mused.
The Sanguine Blade had been with Arthur for a while now and was one of the very first things handed to him with his starting class. The sword was very strong and had an amazing ability that truly helped him a lot.
With each enemy he killed, there was a chance he could heal a portion of his health. Although the chances weren’t high and the health regenerated wasn’t a lot, it still saved him from a lot of trouble in tough battles. He didn’t even need to think or notice it when it happened as the sword worked on its own.
It was far more than just a sword, it was his companion that he grew familiar with in a matter of days. Yet, his companion was now showing damage due to the tough battles Arthur had gone through.
He didn’t know how to feel at that moment, but it was most definitely not a good feeling. Isla noticed that and could only purse her lips subtly.
“I will buy you another one when we reach the capital if you want.” She said.
“Hm? Oh, haha, no it’s fine. I was already aware that the sword wasn’t going to hold on for long. It’s a beginner item.” Arthur tried to laugh it off.
However, Isla shook her head seriously. “You can also find someone who can fix it and make it better. That sword still has a lot to do… And it seems it doesn’t want to leave your side with how resilient it is.”
“…” The boy blinked silently before he looked at his sword again. ‘Doesn’t want to leave my side, huh? Is that true, Sanguine?’
Although he asked the sword that question, he knew he wasn’t going to get an answer. So, he simply smiled and put it in its sheath again. ‘I will try to keep you with me for as long as I can. Our journey is still very long in this world and our adventures will be something worth seeing yourself.’
With that, he turned around and walked to his horse and the group started moving again. Arthur was feeling a lot more at ease then.
***
Several more hours passed and the trip continued as planned. The stretch of forest around them became the only scenery they had. It was still stunningly beautiful, but with how much they had to see, it became hypnotizing to look at it as if the green color was the only color their eyes could perceive.
However, around the end of the day, the group started noticing something weird. The path they were taking took a small tilt down. At first, it was very subtle and unnoticeable so nobody talked about it.
Eventually, they picked up on it. This was the first time to path changed altitude which made them naturally curious if they were reaching a new area or not. After all, what other indications do they have to notice that?
Everyone got more wary as they anticipated a change any time soon. However, what they ended up seeing wasn’t something they expected.
“Wait… Is that a cliff end or am I hallucinating?” Arthur asked as he pointed ahead of them. Immediately, the horses stopped their fast movement. Ahead of them, the path that they had taken for days now, seemingly reached an inexplicable end.
They couldn’t see what was beyond or where the pit led them from this distance.
Isla looked ahead with a cold expression. “It does seem so.” She replied.
“… Well, this is new,” Herculia commented. “Finally, some well-deserved change. I got bored of all this forest.”
“Don’t get too excited yet.” Emmy hit his shoulder gently.
“I’m going to check,” Arthur said as he jumped down from his horse and walked ahead of them. Reaching the edge, he peeked at the bottom.
“…!” Arthur’s breath stopped for a moment. He went completely silent.
“What are you seeing?” Isla asked.
“… Arthur?”
“Guys, I think you might want to see this.” He said in a weird tone. “No, you definitely would want to see this.”
The others looked at each other confusedly before they jumped down and approached him.
“What are you seeing ma-” Herculia who reached him first didn’t even finish his sentence. “… Dear god…”
The rest followed after and their reactions were a varying degree of the same thing… Shock.
After all, the pit that they assumed was perhaps the end of the path only gave them a view of a massive area that stretched for as far as the eye could see. Stretches of land that looked like a plain, covered by a thick layer of white mist that covered most of its scenery.
Trees peeked out of the mist everywhere, looking menacingly big and oppressive. It was like staring into giant clouds wrapped in nature. The temperature dropped sharply and they could feel it even on that high cliff.
“… A swamp…” Herculia muttered.
“No.” Isla shook her head with a frown. “This is a cloud forest.”
A//N: Don’t forget to give the book some golden tickets for good luck! :3
