Chapter 240: The mystical elven forest

A long time ago or so the novel dictates the World of trials originate from the seed of life, literally. Gaia and many of the gods are known for their love for the world blessed the lifeless soil with life. Every time the world of trials will end this tree shall be the beacon of life for the next cycle to pass

[Oooh! The presence of Gaia is fairly strong in these parts, it’s no doubt that she would grace this land with her love and care. What do you have in mind, Zeke? You’ve stayed silent since we departed from the royal capital, I thought you were excited to finally explore the land]

’Yeah I was, but a lot of shit happened in the past week, im doubting if I could ever catch a break. Urrrrggghhh! This is your fucking fault, Captain!! Why the fuck is he so unpredictable, at this point I wouldn’t be surprised if he suddenly accidentally killed us all. I’m in a rough patch, I was promised some rewards but that isn’t important,’

“If someone finds out im in cahoots with the Demon King it’ll be the end of my life—”

“Are you that strong enough to blurt something like that?” He turns his back and screamed before realizing not a single person was present in his rear

’Oi, Zeke can you hear me? This is your Captain speaking, do you copy… did I come at a bad time? Don’t tell me you forgot about our pact, it allows me to talk to you when we’re close. While we’re at it did little Zeke piss his pants, Kuhahahahahahahaha,’

“Is there any time when you’re not a massive jerk? It seems like im the only one who hasn’t experienced your soft side. I might’ve guessed everything the others said was just a rumor,”

’Jerk? Zeke, Zeke, Zeke… this is my soft and charming side, it’s a pity you weren’t here a few weeks ago. Man, you’d see me as a literal devil. I’m busy so I didn’t drop by and just dial to have a little chat, aren’t you unsatisfied? Maybe it’s time for the spy of the demon clan to do his job for once, I’ll send you the script at a later date. For now, act all buddy-buddy with the main character, and don’t forget to report back, toodle-oo,’

“What a massive dick—”

“Hey Zeke,” Once he lowered his guard he was once again spooked but instead of Morris it was his companion or the backup mole

“Geez, what’s up with you guys sneaking behind your companions? I almost had a heart attack, anyway, what brings someone like you here? As far as I know, you’re not a scout, so why are you bothering me, don’t you have some Knight duties or something?”

Silas already knew about his chatter with Morris due to his keen senses but he feign ignorance since he wasn’t called. He brushes it off and instead, he brought up the subject of Zeke’s long-term absence from the cluster of champions. He along with Silas was ordered to accompany the champions of the Holy Empire to save the princess and claim the blade of the chosen warrior

“It’s been hours since you left, I don’t know why you didn’t return. Hold on, now that I came here myself, it’s weird… I can feel an energy im familiar with?”

“It’s the aura of the spirits! It’s been so long since I felt at peace after I left the spirit realm… this place is rigged with the help of the spirits, if you weren’t contracted with me you’ll be as confused as your friend. You could say this is one of the defenses prepared for trespassers,” Sylph appeared before them in her human-size form without spending any ounce of energy from her body

“It’s a pleasure to see you again, soon-to-be Ms. Landers, at least you’re positively affected by this forest. What about us? I’ve been running around in circles for an hour, and yet I always arrive here at the same spot. I’m already been toyed by the fairies am I right?”

“Watch it! I don’t tolerate anyone teasing her, she tends to get a little out of— hand, most of the time… let go of my shoulder, you’re squeezing me,”

She smiled at his joke and clung to her husband’s shoulder before explaining their current matter. “Nothing to worry about, but I do suggest we return as soon as possible. You lots aren’t unaffected since you’ve been more or less trained your mind for such occasions. Nevertheless, an untrained mind will be heavily influenced by such a simple trick,”

“What are the effects, please if you could tell, im not that quite versed in the world of spirits,”

“Oh, you don’t have to be so polite, Darling. The effects aren’t that deadly, just a simple illusion spell, it makes you lose your sense of reason, get you lost. Oh, and another thing promotes violence, this spell wards off any invaders making the weak-minded think of their allies as monsters,”

“Couldn’t you start with the worst effect?” Zeke yelled before the two hurriedly ran back to their camp when the protection spell hardly affect the entire group

“Guys you’re back! Thank god you aren’t affected, I can’t imagine fighting against both of you. Especially you, there’s no way I can beat a sword master such as yourself,”

A valiant figure appeared from the masses with his hair about the light of hope itself and his dashing persona. There goes the main character of this world, Hugo Miller in his early ages before he fully succumbs to the horrors of this land. Vibrant, kind, and full of hope he’s the embodiment of a madman in the trials for no soul possesses such unusual traits

“Hugo, did your gang finish them off? Huh, I thought I’d be a mess— I spoke too soon, didn’t I?”

An explosion at the entrance of this mystical forest made the entrance of his companions and behind them were the enraged soldiers. Their mind was deeply affected by the spell and their actions weren’t something they could simply ignore. The confused soldiers range from enlisted nobodies to elites honing their weapons as they live and breath

’Sylph since you’re a spirit yourself do you think a few of them can be released from the spell if we knock them out? It’ll be a pain if we killed them all, I don’t know what dangers lurk in the forest. The best option, for now, is to maintain a stable amount of soldiers to accompany our voyage,’

(It’s hard to say but you need to kill anyone that isn’t mediocre at best, im talking about the third-rate nobodies. Their abilities have been reinforced when they succumbed to the spell, there’s no saving them at this point they’ve become the slaves of the elves. But if you’re asking for their value then they’re a decent amount of experience. Apart from that their corpse can be used as bait to lure the monsters of the forest)

He sighed and just by the glance of his face Zeke hardly needs his command and shot a volley at their deranged combatants. “Augmented Magic orb, shape manipulation augmentation Bullet model, pierce increase, size reduction, added spell Acceleration, Multishot, Explosion,”

“No!!!”

Before Hugo could catch up on their plans Zeke already released his spells and the deranged soldiers were eviscerated. Hugo watched before him the horrors of the players in the body of those soldiers, their screams echoed but he kept on firing. He hardly felt no remorse and what lingers in Zeke’s eyes was the enjoyment of brutally killing the unfortunate

[You make for a pretty good mage, though your mana isn’t that impressive. Well, it’s not a surprise since your class is an archer, I can tell you’ve missed the joys of holding your gun. It looks like getting beaten by Spell Thief was worth a million]

“Magic Orb is pretty good not gonna lie, but it drains a lot of mana after a few rounds. Silas, you can handle the rest, right? I don’t feel like using my bow, I just did what I need, it’s all yours,”

After his spell pierced through his opponent, it wasn’t a surprise if it hit a tree or two before it disappear. Zeke paves the way for Silas when he destroyed the restricting trees that could disrupt his movement. He replies by nodding and unsheathing his blade and he goes off to annihilate the rest of the unfortunate souls. At a distant land far from their reach the demonic eye was spectating their every move and sending its visuals to its lord

[I take it back, it looks like you could easily conquer the elven forest if everything goes as you said it be. I still enjoy this side of you, even though you normally wouldn’t be so scheming. Nonetheless, if our enemy is quite known to be strategic you’ll easily change by your enemy]

“Will use the hero brigade as our bait, since the elves have yet to appear then it’s possible they aren’t even worth fussing about. But that’s where they’re wrong, I have a spy, and now off to the second phase. You’ll be leading a small group with Kyo Min-soo, do you have any problems with that, Quon?”

From his back, she emerges along with his outrageous companion. “There’s no problem, Master. At the very least he’s more of an adult when it concerns our missions. I’ll have no worries even if he takes the lead, but I happily abide by your wishes,”

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