It is truly curious how this peculiar silver palette, produced by the combination of natural moonlight with the strange filter of my Dark Vision in this not entirely dark place, feels strangely soothing and calms my temper, making me almost forget what I am going to do.
But my empty stomach instantly reminded me of my goal here. Still, even with a real sensation of hunger, my mind continually tells me to go back immediately and wait until daylight.
This forest cannot be compared in any way to the ones I visited or camped in during my previous life. The problem is not the density of the trees, which is actually quite small, with most of them standing two meters apart from each other. Some are even completely twisted, as if something had pushed them aside to make space for a giant creature to pass.
The bushes in this place, at least around the cave, are very rare. Beyond the trees, there is almost nothing except really short blue grass, a few small rocks, and that is it.
I am beginning to think this place might be some kind of wood production area, like a tree farm, something not natural at all. Because "unnatural" is the only word that comes to mind when I try to understand this place.
Everything, while not necessarily artificial, simply does not fit in my mind.
Or maybe it is just my mind playing tricks on me. It is not like I am a specialist in forests, or that I have already been in many fantastic forests with goblins and magic. Most likely, this is just the particular aesthetic of this place. Yes, that must be it.
With this in mind, I finally gathered the courage to take my first steps. Almost instantly, however, I stopped when I realized how extremely loud they sounded. That is when I noticed that, apart from me and the noises my body was making, I could not hear anything at all
Is this normal? Where are the insects, the birds? Forests are complex natural environments with their own ecosystems. Logically, if this were an ordinary place, I should be hearing multiple distinct sounds, should I not?
Now I have a very bad feeling.
Then something really, truly strange happened.
By the time it happened, I was already a few meters away from my cave. When I began this brave journey minutes earlier, i was frozen by fear of doing even the simplest things like walking even though there was nothing here beyond the cave, myself, the trees, and, a few meters farther from the cave, two really huge rocks.
With my dark vision, I could clearly see that one of them was actually quite clean, almost polished. Not only was there no moss on it, but it was indeed a peculiar stone in the middle of this forest. maybe this could be some kind of magical rock, maybe a special one.
But just as I was firmly walking in the direction of nowhere, still trying to create some kind of mental map in my head since I could not afford to lose track of that cave, which was not only my infinite water source but also where I had some really important coins I would need in the future
I began to hear faint sounds at first, which slowly became louder and louder, until even the ground started to tremble slightly every time one of those strange sounds echoed.
They were rhythmic. And then a strange thought formed in my mind: those sounds were actually footsteps.
When I looked back, what I had previously thought was just a simple, though strange rock, had completely disappeared. A short distance away, I could now see what appeared to be a humanoid figure, probably eight or nine meters tall, with an extremely small head compared to its torso, casually gazing at parts of the forest while clutching a tree with one of its enormous hands.
For a second, my heart completely stopped, and my body became immovable. A cold sensation rose in my stomach, and the moment I realized what I was truly seeing, my mind went completely blank, as if refusing to accept that a humanoid monster made of rock was standing before my very real eyes.
This almost gave me an arrhythmia.
Oh my God.
Shit. Okay, walking back to my cave. Who cares about hunger? There is a giant less than fifteen meters away from me.
What is better? Trying to eat something and then having this thing stomp all over me? Or going back to sleep, maybe having a good dream, and then trying to find food tomorrow?
Hmm. Why am I overventilating?
Why can't I walk? I'm just Frozen, just staring at it? Well, it seems there actually is some moss there, on its legs and arms.
I tried and tried until this mental limitation broke to finally be capable of moving again. And then, strangely, just when I was prepared to frantically run toward some safe place, I noticed something else mysteriously appear at the edge of my vision.
At first, I thought it was just some strange flash. But then I wondered, how could there be a flash in this place without it being a problem? When I heard a sharp sound hitting something hard, I instantly looked back, thinking it might be the giant trying to catch me.
Instead of this, I saw another figure, much smaller than the giant, clearly human in appearance, literally standing on the head of the creature and attacking its strange little head with a sword. Thankfully for him, the giant's arms were incapable of reaching where he stood.
But those strikes were not actually harming the giant. They only made it more agitated and furious.
Then I wondered, I was clearly watching the giant just a few seconds ago. How did this person suddenly get there in the short instant I looked away?
Another figure appeared a bit farther from the giant. This one was wearing light clothes that could not possibly protect her even from the cold, since her garments were so small. that with a strange book floating in one hand and a black wand in the other, she immediately began performing bizarre gestures with her whole body. and in an instant, structures of flame shaped like arrows started shooting from her wand, multiple times faster than a common semi-automatic rifle, striking over and over at one of the rock giant's legs.
I was just wondering how fire could even affect rock, but while I was thinking that, an identical window to my status appeared right before my eyes.
You were taught the skill "Fire Arrow[ G- ]". You can now purchase this in the shop for 20 points
Points? what? Wait, I can learn skills just by watching other people do things?
But this person does not give me time to think about it, because right after one of the giant's legs was literally shattered by the continuous fire spells, breaking into countless disconnected pieces, the monster collapsed in an instant, producing a deafening crash.
Fortunately for the knight, just before the creature's head struck the ground, he managed to leap safely onto one of the nearest trees, avoiding the impact.
Then, right after this, a much shorter figure than that sexy wizard suddenly appeared before me, seemingly from nowhere. With some kind of lance, she made a high, parabolic jump and struck directly at the middle of the creature's chest.
Something I had not noticed before, because of how terrified I was, became clear: although the creature was clearly made of rock and stone, there was something almost like blood flowing from the specific spot in its chest where the girl had struck, spreading through the rest of its body.
Only then did I realize this was the perfect moment to flee, since this might be the last time they were fully focused on something other than my own footsteps. Promptly, I ran back toward my safe spot.
*** General Pov ***
After the girl delivered the final explosive assault on the forest troll, the corpulent man, who had just been hiding high in a tree, finally showed his face again.
"if this thing really had longer arms, I could be dead right now. Why did you wait so long to do your job, Alice?"
The tall woman, who did not appear to be more than twenty years old, replied with slight indignation in her voice.
"Me? Who could have guessed that empty-headed Philip would have the dumbest idea in his entire career as the most foolish adventurer in the whole fortress? You did not even let me finish explaining my plan before you started acting like a kangaroo."
The short girl with long ears in her messy silver hair, curious about the way this other woman was treating the party leader, began to think about their previous relationship, since this was the first time she had worked with them.
After letting them continue their nonsense discussion for a moment, she finally spoke.
"Is it not better that we just take his magical circuits already? I am quite sure I saw something strange the moment I destroyed the core."
Alice answered this with a completely different tone from when she had been speaking to the male adventurer.
"Are you talking about that goblin? He is probably just from one of the nearest Sídhe house. This forest is in their territory."
Realizing that the witch was now ignoring him, the man took a strange tool that resembled a hammer but had a kind of tweezers in its middle. He began to carefully examine the crimson roots the core had formed in the stone. After a few seconds, he muttered strange words that made his eyes instantly glow bright yellow, then began the work of scratching away the magical essence and the troll's circuits.
While this was happening, the two women continued talking.
The girl thought silently to herself after hearing Alice's words.
"Sídhe… was that not a Gaelic word? They come from Irish mythology, right? Something like that. Or does it just mean mountain? I really have no clue. What is a goblin? It looked much more like a malnourished albino child. Maybe I will need to talk about this with Edgar after I return to the manor."
Then the girl asked aloud, "Is Sídhe another word for fairies? Or for the Fey? But then, are goblins fairy beings?"
The woman, with a curious look in her eyes, answered,
"Well, obviously. You can even use some goblin parts as substitutes instead of trying to find pixies for potion recipes. But anyway, don't try to mess with goblins. They are quite pacifist, but if threatened, they can become really aggressive. While a common goblin is extremely easy to kill, an evolved one or even a high goblin is definitely not"
The man, who was now standing on top of the rock, stated while still working on the extraction.
"This place, at least from some fairytales that my grandmother told me when I was young, was the most important war front in the last war of succession of the fairy court."
Then he paused for a few moments, and only the sound of his hammer striking echoed through the forest. After several more blows, he continued.
"Which makes sense, since this entire place gives me the creeps. She said it is because the entire ground here is infested with their vile magic. That is why nothing more than those dark oaks and this moon grass grows around here."
Then the witch added,
"Do not pay attention to the nonsense his grandmother told him when he was eleven years old. your family is not even from here kangaroo, stop inventing things"
Completely outraged by what she said, he retorted,
"Well, there is probably some truth in what she said, since I have not heard a single bird in hours since we entered this forgoggen place. And I am not the only one who said it. This place is literally called cursed Forest for a reason."
she then quickly said
"It's cursed because it's literally infested with trolls! Obviously such a place would attract such name, you dumbass"
Just as they were about to return to their first argument, all of them froze when they heard a very loud sound coming from the north.
With a wide smile on her face, Alice said,
"That makes two tonight in less than ten minutes. Maybe I will be in my comfortable bed before sunrise."
"Okay, listen, little rabbit. Now I will use a vine spell on the troll's leg, and you will try to directly attack its core, okay? Stop pushing your job onto her."
And then the party went off to try to kill another troll.
*** end of the general pov ***