Chapter 590: Message In A Bottle (1/2)
At breakfast, Zero didn't even flinch when the barrier activated after some new dark faes tried to ambush them. The buzzing sound in the background simply reminded Zero of his agenda today.
”Are you sure there is a dark fae boss in the area?” he asked, and Truen nodded.
”According to Cleo and Fae King Vivian, there should be a powerful dark fae commanding all the weaker faes. It's not a king or a great sprite yet, but we can assume it isn't going to be easy to locate. This entire wilderness is its territory.”
Bob took a look at the mini-map. There were way too many enemies in the vicinity. It reminded him of an ant nest. If you killed one, the whole swarm would appear, and there would be no end to their numbers.
The magic beasts Zero and Bob hunted yesterday tasted nowhere as good as the ones from Endow Hill. Could it be the difference in mana quality in the air that affected their taste? Zero was curious but finding the leader of the dark faes took precedence. Thus, they finished up quickly and cleaned up the campsite before heading off to the border closest to Mystic meadow.
”Is there a way we can take them all down in one go?” Zero asked.
They had been going for an hour, but progress was painfully slow. He didn't want to burn the forest up or harm the environment, so they were stuck to using regular attacks. The party was attacked and ambushed at almost every turn while searching for tracks. So far, nobody found signs of Pocky's hideout or the leader of the dark faes. At most, Bob would smell a mana beast in the vicinity, but they ignored them. These mana beasts were less ferocious than the dark faes.
”There's no end to them,” Bob groaned when they took a break.
Truen and Zero set up a temporary defence array after the dark faes grew bolder. These creatures didn't pose a huge threat to them, but they were numerous and extremely annoying. Eventually, they would run out of stamina searching for Pocky aimlessly.
With Mii and Wii's help, Zero hosted an emergency strategy meeting. Cleo and Fae King Vivian didn't have much information about this wilderness zone, and Zero wondered if shipwright Pocky was dead. The sea otter beast folks did not have a lot of mana. Even if Pocky was a talented builder, he wouldn't be able to defend against the ferocious dark faes for so many years.
The party was currently trapped in the wilderness zone between the other side of Magnus Hilda's mountain ranges and Mystic Meadow. Zero didn't know if the sea otter beastman was dead or alive. They couldn't track his location down accurately with the swarm of dark faes, and Zero sighed. He looked at the globe and frowned. If he were shipwright Pocky on a journey to discover the truth about this world's shape, why would he be trapped in this border wilderness that isn't close to the sea?
”Do we have a version of the map from a few decades ago?” Zero asked.
Truen searched their shared inventory. Buying the maps from the merchant they met at Little Stone Town was a good investment, and Zero rejoiced.
By Comparing the latest version of the map and the map from a few decades ago, Zero and Truen quickly realised something. If shipwright Pocky was travelling along coastlines, he should have made it back to his village by now. However, as the map that he received many years ago wasn't updated during his years of travel, the poor shipwright must have gotten lost.