The gentle breeze caressed them as they sauntered forward.
The air felt fresh and refreshing.
The ground was filled with lush green and the group was greeted by the panoramic view of the rising sun, filling their hearts with vigour and excitement about what this world had for him in store.
They could sense liveliness and richness all around them.
Ritsuka know that this phenomenon happened because due to the rich mana and the absence of pollution.
Everything in the world was made of mana and unlike on earth where living creatures remain turned into fossils and then into the compounds of carbon, the dead remains are mainly turned into a source of mana which is mixed with the environment.
But here it has great differences in the process of decaying and other processes.
This world ecosystem have high humidity unlike earth which slowdown the natural decomposition process a lot. Ofcourse human corpses will end up skeleton but it takes a whole lot longer.
Ritsuka observed around looking for the path.
"That's how we met another version of Jeanne in hell" Ritsuka started to tell what happened after they both left in his journey.
"What the hell? I can't imagine that gorilla version become lazy gamer who sleeps all day. This gives me headache" Oruta who is Jalter says with Trouble face.
Aoko loved the cute expression of Ritsuka when he speaking about his journey.
'He looks cute' It's not her fault. After all, In love your partner always looks beautiful. That's how Ritsuka see his partner. And Aoko doing the same.
She isn't interested in the story he spoke because after all she was persent when it happened. But More than that she wants to talk with him.
She wants to talk so much with him alone. But she will wait until the time is right. Until then she will act as tough and Calm one.
'I really want to hug Ritsuka but I have to wait.'
She really missed her boyfriend and feared of losing him.
'Im so glad he remembered everything. All the memories we created together. I was about to cry infront of him. Hope he didn't find it. I don't know how long I can keep up tough act infront of him. I should distract myself.' Aoko thought herself and looked at her boyfriend tried look. It pains her, The last time when she saw him was before he went to final battle with Maris in Antarctica after the reveal of masterplan and the real truth of Ritsuka journey. After learning the truth Ritsuka met her and they shared final conversation. With Aoko words, Ritsuka took hardest and painful decision. and it was her one of best and beautiful memory of her's.
She could never forget it. After all, she got her Frist kiss with Ritsuka. And She will treasure it in her heart. She may not fight by his side in the end with Maris fight. But She was so proud of his achievements like it was her own.
Remembering it made her face blush a little.
"Aoko, are you okay? You face look a little red" Ritsuka asked as aoko was surprised again.
"What ...No...just... the sunlight made my face red!! That's it!!"
"I see. Well, I thought you are remembering something.... Beautiful!! Maybe I'm wrong." Ritsuka didn't miss the chance and started to tease his girlfriend.
'This guy is always like this when it comes to teasing his girlfriend.' Aoko trying her best to not let her tough act break here.
Ritsuka had Knowing look on his face after seeing Aoko reaction. He too want to talk with her alone but he also wants to talk with jalter too.
Aoko to distract herself, she checked her phone to see the time.
The internet doesn't seem to work outside the city. The phone battery was in single digits and except for emergency calls, her and others phones are practically useless here.
Instead of the search engine Google, this world had Eagle but it was useless due to no network.
At least there is a smartphone in this world.
According to the direction from the map, the original owners was required to follow the northeastern direction and they would find a narrow path there that would converge into the wide path leading to the Capital.
Once they gets closer to the wide pathway, they would find all sorts of people and could take an air of relief.
"I want to hear more but are you sure this is correct path Master chan?."
"Ofcourse that's what the map shows."
Luckily their doubts were answered quickly however only their later part seemed to have been answered.
After walking for a few hours, they reached the end of the meadow.
The topography had changed quickly.
Grasses were replaced with shrubs and shrubs were soon replaced with short trees whose heights seemed to extend more as they walked.
Aoko struggled to match the description of the place to the knowledge from the map.
"They should update the maps"
Horizon was said to be located towards the outer edge of the Ivane City on the borders of Blood Peach forest.
It also serves as a defence line between the dangerous beast and the capital.
The Blood Peach forest was quite vast so the terrain might be like this for a while until humans extricated the trees to create open meadows.
They might encounter mini forests like this on the way.
"I did not think much while walking but why did they need to build a Capital near the forest." Jalter was disappointed.
"Yeah, they are unnecessarily putting normal people's lives at risk." Aoko agreed with her. As Ritsuka pinpointing the path.
Shaking his head, they entered the forest following the narrow trail hoping that they would find the wide pathway and some people to accompany them on their way to the Ivane.
.....
The forest was engulfed in silence. The dark road was covered with leaves, flowers, shrubs and mushrooms which were growing everywhere.
The forest niche was filled with rich vegetation which alarmed them.
All these would attract small beasts which would then attract larger beasts to prey on them.
It seems to be an unsullied place and even if it was not the forest that was not often visited by people, it had a natural feel to it.
The more humans visit the place, the more roads are divided and the more friendly the place becomes to people.
No matter how remote it was, if there was a village nearby, there would always be at least one road as forests are treasure troves for resources as places like these have a high density of mana.
Seeds of all kinds were covering his clothes. From seeds that looked fluffy, to spikes that might pierce and want to sting you.
Rugged pathways coupled with all types of annoying factors made him feel quite dreadful.
Ritsuka who transverse through the place steadily, suddenly froze as his senses tingled.
Sniff...Sniff...
On the way, a putrid rotten odour suddenly assaulted them all.
It was such a disgusting smell that made the feel as if the group was near a garbage dump left in the open for days.
"What is this?"
"This smell is awful disgusting"
Fujimaru was looking for the source of the smell.
They can guess what it is. But looking for the source to confirm it.
After walking around a bit, they found a trail of blood colour leading from the fallen bark of a tree.
The blood had frozen turning dark red but he was not able to discern how old this was.
Hesitating for a second, Ritsuka rotated his gaze and his eyes caught sight of a blood trail leading to the bush.
"Must be a Beast around here before"
"Let's find what it killed here?"
They walked forward trying to find anything and walk in a roundabout way.
"Shit!!"
Jalter almost cursed aloud when she saw mutilated corpses lying here and there.
Parts of the body were scattered all around and Jalter's steps were just an inch away from stepping on a thing that looked like an ear, hard to determine due to parched leaves around it.
"Guess it must be 1-Star beast"
"Damn it..."
Jalter stepped back slowly and as faintly as possible.
"Let's inform PS guards"
Ritsuka loosen the shoulder straps of his backpack pulling it over to one arm and took out his cell phone.
In this era, the danger of monsters, beasts and dungeons are always around the corner.
For the safety of citizens, emergency centres have been established in every city where Public Safety Guards act as rescuers.
On activating the signal, your current location will be sent to the nearest Emergency Centre which will come to the rescue.
However, if you are too far away or the signal is not sent or there are not sufficient people to deal with the problem, you should prepare for your eternal rest.
And Ritsuka who came from earth knew how useless they are in most cases.
Ritsuka on his smartphone and saw the signal appearing and disappearing rapidly.
"Expectations led to dissatisfaction."
Jalter frowned and Ritsuka pressed the button. And hoped they would catch the signal.
"What should we do now, wait until they arrive here?" Aoko says and fold her arms.
"If we wait, then we will miss frist day of acadmy and have to pay penalty."
"- and face punishment. No thanks. Let's leave. Those guys will take care of bodies anyway."
Ritsuka nods and put his phone back then they started to move forward.
After a while they noticed the terrain changing.
their eyes glowed gleefully as the forest became less dense.
The path was becoming wider and They could see the end of the forest. They could see vast plains and feel fresh winds caressing them back. They finally saw the well-craved path and as they stepped near the outer edge of the forest.
"I think we reached it"
But
Something is off. They can tell. The forest became full of insects sounds. Birds are roaming in sky.
Someone is watching them.
A scent that they was familiar with, carried by winds assaulted their noses again.
It was thicker and more putrid than before.
A terrible strong stench surrounded them and as they turned their head towards the right.
Their steps came to halt as they found a giant wolf standing in the forest glade.
Beside it three corpses were present and many things were scattered around the place.
The size of the wolf was nearly 2 metres and as he noticed new group presence, it bore his sharp bangs.
Seeing the sunlight reflecting from those fangs, Aoko says
"An overgrown dog. I dislike unfaithful dogs"