“Ooh, this is quite sothing.”
“Right? It’s a ga; it may be wrong to say it takes your breath away, but this is quite sothing, isn’t it?”
Forest. No, it’s more like a sea of trees.
guru and I walked on the road in the wilderness.
He is the top player of oni race, or rather, the most enthusiastic player from the first group.
And I had forgotten that the oni village is also called “hidden village,” because most of the player participating in the forum has received help from guru to reach that place.
We are walking through a large sea of trees called the [Lost Forest], which can be reached by traveling five kiloters to the east of Griffith.
This forest is reminiscent of Fuji’s Sea of Trees, but it has the opposite trait to its na because it’s impossible to get lost here.
If you stay inside for a certain period of ti, you will be shrouded in mist and forcibly warped to the starting point where you enter the forest.
The ti limit is 12 hours.
Those who wander the forest for half a day will be thrown out of the forest.
Thanks to this, no traveler starves to death while failing to clear it; still, many die in this forest. Mostly because of the monster’s attacks.
The forest is called the Lost Forest; all detection and mapping skills are disabled here, so you can only deal with monster attacks by sight or sound.
While you can use the map as an item, it’s pretty much useless in this pathless forest, and even if you know the way, you might end up going the wrong way when you get into a fight.
It’s not difficult to survive if we pay close attention to our surroundings, but can you reach the destination? that was another story.
Let’s say you were thinking only using a straight path, it’s still possible to get confused and lose your way, and in the end, you need to start over.
I’ve heard that it seems impossible to reach my destination in this forest where maps are useless and no path is present.
Despite that, guru is guiding through this mapless forest with ease.
Of course, he didn’t just guess. He had a specific goal and headed towards the oni village based on accurate indications.
“Normally, you can go to the oni village by completing the quests of the oni folk NPC staying in Griffith and have them create a [leading stone] as a reward. And once you have it, you can reach the village just by following the light.”
As we passed through the Griffith, guru explained to us that the actual item was a mysterious stone that always pointed in the direction of our destination and that only those who had it could reach the demon village.
In other words, this [leading stone] is an indispensable key item in the Lost Forest.
Regardless of which destination you aim for in the Lost Forest, you must have the corresponding leading stone to get there.
I heard that the quest to get this stone is not that difficult if you are an oni-type character. Even so, it’s not sothing that can be completed in an hour! It’s not that easy.
guru was waiting for in the depths of the ancient ruins earlier to request my help in defeating the boss. But he also said that one of the reasons was to guide to the oni village in the shortest possible ti since I would probably be at a loss after coming to Griffith.
Rather, he was planning to guide even if I refused to take out the boss, so I’m glad we were able to make it a fair trade.
guru was happy to have defeated the boss, and I was happy to have been able to visit the oni village. This is what I call a win-win relationship.
“But there are so few monsters. Usually, they’d just keep coming at .”
About two hours into the forest, guru suddenly muttered in wonder.
“He… I wonder why?”
“I have no idea why… Well, if you can get there fast, there’s nothing better than that.”
“Yeah, that’s true.”
I agree that getting there as soon as possible is the best outco for us.
It’s not that ti-consuming to deal with an incoming attack. Even so, it still saves us quite a bit of ti.
It would be a sha if I arrived at oni village and needed to log out without even having ti to look around.
However, the abnormality regarding the appearance of monsters brings back so unpleasant mories.
When the lizards stopped appearing in the marshlands of Lores near Dualis, we were attacked by the true dragon of Apocalypse.
A complete defeat. Thanks to the help of Shuten, I didn’t die, but it was all I could do to give to Apocalypse was a scratch at that ti.
I also crushed the Kugelschreiber, which I’ve been talking about recently, which I used as a finisher weapon at that ti.
Let’s stop this. I feel a little uncomfortable when I recall the mory of losing, so let’s not do that.
One thing is certain. The encounter rate has changed to the extent that guru feels the need to ntion it. but, since there’s nothing we could do about that, our best option right now is to ignore it
“Finally, we almost reach the oni village. Look, the light from the leading stone is getting stronger, isn’t it?”
“Oh, you’re right; the light is getting stronger.”
“That’s what happens when you’re close to your destination. We’re probably five minutes away.”
“Even though there weren’t many monsters, it’s still faster than expected.”
I’m pretty sure he said it would take about four hours if you take into account the monster attacks.
When I asked him about that, guru said with a wry smile.
“We followed a straight line towards the light. It’s been a rough road, hasn’t it? Normally, I would have chosen a slower route, but I thought Sukuna would have no problem with this one.”
“You an because it was the shortest route?
“Exactly what I ant. The difficulty is high, but using this path, even if we consider the monster’s attack, we can usually get there in about three hours. And since there were no monster attacks, it’s only natural that we could get there in a little over two hours.”
Is it possible that there was no road at all because of the route guru had chosen?
I thought it weird that there’s no road at all.
If that is the case, then a player will be stuck without a leading stone, and doesn’t that make that the map I bought becos a aningless item?
No, I wanted to arrive as soon as possible, and that was my wish. guru only listened to it, and I took advantage of his [leading stone] as well.
“I see. But next ti, please tell if you’re going to the more difficult one.”
“Sorry about that. I will be careful next ti. But I thought Sukuna would prefer this type of path.”
“Well, you know too well, so I won’t say anything.”
It was indeed more fun to take a rough road like this than a flat one.
I want to thank guru for her thoughtfulness.
As I was about to let out a question, the light from guru’s [leading stone] disappeared.
“Oh, the light on the stone is gone.”
“We have arrived.”
“Arrived? Where is ……?”
Ummu, even though the sea of trees still blocks my vision, I did not see any sign of open space near our vicinity.
Is it possible that the oni village is an underground city?
“You can’t see it, can you? that’s because a perception blocking barrier protects the village.”
“Sothing like an illusion…?”
“Yes, sothing like that. So, if you proceed normally like this, you will be able to ……”
guru took three steps forward, and at that mont, his body completely disappeared. Almost like he was erased using an eraser. {don’t kill the ssenger, that bad pun was the author doing}
I’m not sure if that ans this is the edge of the barrier. Still, I fearfully reached out my hand, and I found that although my hand had disappeared, I could still feel it.
It seems that it is only giving an invisiblity when you are inside.
I’m not sure if it’s just a perception blocking effect, but it doesn’t seem to be harmful in any particular way. After confirming several things, I went through the warding with peace of mind.
The sun was shining brightly.
It was a wide-open area that I couldn’t believe was located in the middle of a lost forest.
I have reached the hidden village of oni.
“This is the ho of the oni…”
It’s not much of a city, but it’s still a much bigger village than I thought it would be.
The entire village was covered with fences, and there was a deep moat surrounding the fences. Inside the moat, there were deadly weapons and monsters like insects wriggling around, making it unlikely that we would survive if we fell in.
It’s a very proper village, I thought.
“Sukuna, over here.”
“Ah, yes. I’m coming.”
I responded to guru, who called out to and started walking.
This is the first ti I’ve been here, so there’s no way I’m going to miss anything.
I felt a slight tingle from the cracks of the curse running through my body.
We finally arrived at the village of the oni.
====.
A note:
Incidentally, there are several other hidden villages in the Lost Forest. Youko tribe is one of them.
Tln:
Youko: Fox Demon.
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