Chapter 60: Frozen Cadavers (1/2)

Supreme Monarch AnimeTagz 50980K 2022-07-23

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Deep inside the eastern parts of the ever-expanding Darknar forest...

The thick grey clouds had cleared up slightly for the sun, which was almost at its zenith and shone brightly in the sky. Yet, it failed in Illuminating the dark and dense forest that was now covered in a layer of snow.

The trees in these parts of the first were practically humongous, and their thick tree trunks stood tall, while their leafy branches spread wide. Because light could barely penetrate into the depths of the forest, there was a feeling that anyone inside would be swallowed by the blackness.

There were no landmarks in the forest, and it was impossible to tell in which direction one was moving. A sense of unease filled everyone, as though they had been devoured by a monster. The sky-scraping trees further intensified that uneasiness, and most people would have been frightened by this scene.

However, the group of six that navigated this forest skillfully, were unperturbed by the scene. They were either used to this atmosphere or were well trained to survive in the wild.

Jarret leads the group as they advanced through the forest. His Mana wasn't unlimited so he couldn't use his ability often but thanks to the combined experience of the group and Tarka, the dragonwrought Kobold, being somewhat familiar with the forest, they were able to make it this deep into the forest without attracting any unwanted attention to themselves.

Although they still encountered some strays along the way, they were mostly weak monsters and were quickly dispatched. This was their first time working together so they openly challenged those weaker monsters without fear of attracting the attention of the scouts.

Albert had informed them of the observation tactics of the scouts so they had already used the anti-divination scrolls right before they entered the Forest.

The spells the scrolls contained were around the Tier 3 and Tier 2 standards and would last for a full day so as long as they stayed clear of anything that would demand the full attention of the scouts upon them, they should be able to avoid the gaze of their monitoring spells. Their mission was to use Jarret's ability along with a divination scroll and observe the situation in the two safe zones closest to the castle as well as document the activities of the monsters in the area.

There have been several changes in the monster's activities in the forest so even the scouts would be too busy documenting the same information, so they had been presented with the perfect opportunity to take advantage of the chaos.

The Darknar forest was primarily divided into four sections, which were most commonly known as the North, West, East, and South, and was generally differentiated by the vastly different environment in each section. For instance, the eastern parts of the forest were more notable for their tall trees and rare herbs along with wild fruits and flowers.

The west was more notable for its dense hills and caverns along with the various underground labyrinths that housed several valuable ore mines. Naturally, these labyrinths were very dangerous and extremely hard to navigate through as they naturally weakened sensory-type magic.

The South was dominated by several marshlands and swamps and was generally home to dangerous reptilian predatory creatures. While the North was a mountainous highlands with several special lakes whose waters were known to have special properties like healing and improving one's physiques.

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The group had been inside this forest for a few hours now. Although they wanted to improve their teamwork by facing of against stray monsters, they were still only a team consisting of several ranged fighters and a single swordsman. They needed to do everything they could to avoid fighting and only engage when absolutely necessary.

It would still take them a while to get to the first safe zone since there wasn't an exact path leading there and the snow was also slowing them down. Jarret, as the appointed leader, organized their formation. He had Gail scout ahead for the group, making sure they were always headed in the right direction and avoided any large groups of monsters, while Tarka would hover a few feet ahead of them in case of traps.

Lora and Raz were stationed at the back due to their superior senses as beastmen as well as mages and Jarret were accompanied by Jin in the middle of the group. Jin was equipped with a composite longbow and a green quiver filled with arrows strap on his back. Their formation wasn't exactly the best formation for their team, but it would do for now.

They walked through the narrow pathway according to Jarret's directions and the information received from Gail. They were able to easily map their entire journey so far as not to get lost in the forest that at this point, had nothing but whites and the slight green to identify their location.

After confirming their location with his ability one more time, they finally came across one of the locations on their list. Walking out into the opening in the middle of the forest, they saw several lumps on the ground, that had been covered by some snow but sparse revealed the body of large furry creatures.

These were monster cadavers. From Albert's description and what Gail had seen last night, this was the previous location of the battle that occurred between the silver wolves and the yet to be identified wolves. The group immediately set up a perimeter for their investigation, there were corpses from both sides involved in that battle.

There were around fifty wolves engaged in battle last night and both sides seemed to be about even with the silver wolves having a slight advantage in numbers.

The group investigated the scene of the fight hoping to pick up the trail of both parties. According to Gail, the silver wolves had claimed this territory so they needed to ascertain how large their territory was and where the other party had run off to. Jin and Kaz studied the cadavers and were able to tell they belonged to both silver wolves and Dire wolves.