"I'm such a fool, really …"
I already knew that random teams were unreliable. Random teams were basically all useless. For example, the archer was nearsighted, the priest was sleepwalking and AFK at the start of the battle, the warrior put all his points into Intelligence and all his talent skills into haggling and diplomacy, and the mage forgot to bring her magic book and potion. As long as you couldn't imagine it, there would always be more useless. But this time, I just happened to be more convenient and casually accepted their invitation.
"Hunting the undead? Why do I feel like the undead are hunting us!? "
I angrily roared as I ran. There was an entire large group of undead behind us. When did this start? When did we start being hunted down by the undead?
Perhaps it was a gigantic barbarian who covered his face with a leafy tree branch in one hand and walked on his tiptoes while muttering, "You can't see me, you can't see me." Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, and under the gaze of the Blood Clan who had a keen sense of smell, who said, "Are you kidding me?", he snuck up and ambushed me.
Perhaps it was that girl named Betty, or that brat named Bedi. Even though the hunt had already ended, and even though a large number of bone knights were on their way here, they still insisted on knocking out all the undead necromancer's golden teeth before they were willing to leave.
Perhaps it was that dwarf auntie who fired a super long-range cannon that accidentally hit the cyclops in the mountain range?
At any rate, our current situation was probably caused by these ridiculous teammates of mine! As expected, the worst thing about teammates was that they were useless!
"Useless teammates? Useless teammates? Have you forgotten who was the one who insisted on using local ingredients to make bone soup for everyone to drink!? If it weren't for you wasting time, we would have escaped long ago, alright? "
Harloys seemed to have a different opinion.
"Hmph. You don't understand. Bone spirits are even more rare and difficult to obtain. Using them to make soup can nourish one's skin and even increase one's mana! "
"… You sound so proud. It seems that your cooking skills are quite good."
"Of course. Back when we went on adventures together, I was always the chef. The most important thing when going on an adventure is to have a good chef. Otherwise, no matter if you're a SemiGod or Myth-ranked, you'll still have to starve when you need to. Even if you don't starve yourself, it'll still be quite disgusting. Look at me. After eating two seasoning buns, not only did the bone spirits' poison disappear, I didn't even have the fishy smell. Harloys, didn't you drink two bowls of it yourself? "
"… Indeed, it's very tasty. But why didn't you tell us first that it actually has a sleeping effect? You made us sleep until we were surrounded! "
"Hahaha, didn't I forget? It can increase magic power, and the principle is to improve the concentration of meditation. Isn't meditation the same as falling asleep? Naturally, it has some sleeping effects … "
The silly cat kept glaring at me with a displeased expression. Fine then, I admit that I was slightly responsible for the troops chasing after me, but at the very least, I wasn't completely responsible! Nor was it the main responsibility!
"Tsk, the way a man shirks his responsibility is really ugly."
Looking back, there were no longer any low-level skeletons, zombies, or mummies that were slow. The only ones that could keep up with us were the mid-level and high-level skeletons like the Skeleton Cavalry. I roughly estimated that there were about forty to fifty of them. If we were stopped, there would be even more behind us. It definitely wasn't something that our small party could handle. Yep, at least not with our strength on the surface.
"Aiyo, I don't think I can deal with these guys if I don't use my full strength. If I use my full strength, won't I expose my true strength … No, why should I avoid exposing my true strength? Why should I escape? There's no need for me to escape at all! "
I suddenly thought it through. I only intended to observe the situation on the battlefield and the Contract Heroes' daily lives. At most, I would secretly help the wood spirits so that their plans and schemes would succeed. It wasn't like I intended to play a game of pretending to be a pig to eat a tiger. What was there to worry about exposing my true strength?
And so, I unhesitatingly turned around.
"For the Holy Light …"
"Don't be impulsive!"
"As expected of a Holy Knight who likes to act impulsively at critical moments. I was right to keep an eye on him."
Before I could even draw my sword, the dwarf auntie and the trap priest grabbed me from both sides and started running …
"Hey, hey, hey! I'm going to kill them!"
"Yep, yep, we all know you're strong. I heard from my older sister, who's a Holy Light priest, that under the guidance of the Holy Light, a Holy Knight will never fear anything … "
Although she said this, Betty's eyes were filled with pity, as if she was looking at a crazy lunatic who was hopelessly fanatic.
"Cough, I heard from my old wine barrel that the Holy Knight has the syndrome of sacrificing himself to cover his retreat, but you should at least find a time when it's worth sacrificing yourself. Young man, don't be so suicidal. I'm already 136 years old. Let me tell you, this world isn't as bad as you think …"
The dwarf auntie was quite direct, but why did she sound like she was trying to persuade an idiot who was about to commit suicide?
"I really can kill them. I don't intend to sacrifice myself, and I'm not forcing myself!"
"Yep, yep, I believe you."
What did they mean when they said I was just being perfunctory and sympathizing with me? I really could kill them!
"Ahhhh, let go of me! I'm not crazy! Let me kill them …"
…
In the depths of the mountain range, a temporary mountain village had been established. Simple logs were piled together to form a protective wall, and the scattered tents were the campsite. However, if anyone underestimated the defenses of this temporary camp, then the wood spirits' special magical parasitic vines and trees on the walls would teach them a lesson.
Originally, this was a key location for missions. Ordinary adventurer teams would only be allowed to enter when they lacked supplies or were injured. However, due to certain special "reasons," there were far more adventurers here than expected.
And after being busy for an entire day … fine, it should be said that after running for an entire day, the hungry and tired adventurers decided to go to the gathering point early to rest.
"Look, it's them."
"Damn it, we had to run for an entire three hours."
"You guys are lucky. The Shield of Glory just killed a high-level Abomination and didn't even get the spoils of war to prove their victory. That was nearly a hundred Justice Points."
The "Wood Spirits Are So Cute" adventurer team was now famous … If you dragged a bunch of wild monsters across the entire battlefield and ended up snowballing, causing your companions to hate their parents for giving birth to you, you'd probably become famous as well. You'd be known as a burden to the adventurer team and a professional idiot teammate!
Right now, no matter where we went, there would always be people pointing at us and saying, "What idiot teammate!"
The other adventurers in the adventurer team were ridiculing us, but the adventurers in the adventurer team were incredibly calm. It was as if they were already used to it. It was no wonder that they couldn't find any other adventurers.
Betty smeared some strange mucus on her face as if she was doing some cosmetic work. Ah Gen happily continued perfecting his own "stealth equipment" by adding new leaves and colors … To be honest, although many thieves would add colors to their equipment to match their stealth, Ah Gen had added some leaves to two tree branches … and now, he had even added two rotten cabbages and a carrot. This was even more eye-catching than doing nothing at all! Or, was he intending to sell vegetables to the undead … Could I pretend that I didn't know him!? I really didn't know him!
As for the dwarf girl … She was only a little over a hundred years old. How could she be considered an auntie? If she was an auntie, then what was I, who was a little over three hundred years old? Grandpa?
Cough, getting back to the main topic, this Mary girl had inherited the dwarven tradition. After drinking three cups of wine, she was already dancing in high spirits. Of course, the dance of a dwarf auntie … from afar, it looked like a dancing barrel of wine!
Judging from how these three dwarves treated everyone's mocking gazes as if they didn't exist, this wasn't the first time they had done this. This meant that they had made many people suffer in the past, so they were used to ignoring other people's condescension.
The only normal person in the adventurer team, the handsome bard, was in high spirits as he turned today's events into a pub song, playing and singing. Of course, art originated from life, so it was completely understandable that the plot in the story would be different from reality. Making the main character look good was something every author needed to learn. However …
"It's understandable that he killed a group of skeletons and leveled up into a group of ghouls. Even though he was clearly just a corpse lich and was viewed as a SemiGod mummy, it's still understandable that he was seeing things. But after being chased for an entire afternoon, he actually managed to stall an Undead Lord's army for three days and three nights. In a bitter battle, he even managed to kill off a Myth-ranked lich who was leading the undead army. Not only that, he even managed to save the damsel in distress and the princess. Isn't this too ridiculous and shameless? Isn't this completely illogical!? "
"… Brother Roland, you don't understand. In this day and age, it's all about fame. Serious storytelling has long since become outdated. If you didn't starve to death, you would have already changed your profession. The more illogical a story is, the more attention it will attract. The scarier the story, the more exciting it will be, and the more rewards the listeners will receive. Even if everyone knows that it's all nonsense, it's fine as long as they're having fun. Who would take it seriously? This is the market! "
Alright then, I was speechless at being taught how to cater to the market by a native from another world.
I shook my head as I watched these scammers continue to make more and more of a fuss. I went back to my own business.
There was a gigantic ancient tree in the center of the campsite. Although it wasn't as tall as the Forest of Dreams' Sky Tree that reached the clouds, it was still several hundred years old. Yet, two days ago, this tree had been completely empty.
There were treants and wood spirits guarding this area. It wasn't that there weren't any adventurers trying to find out what was going on. It was that all ordinary adventurers who tried to approach this place would be stopped. A kind-hearted adventurer called out to me when he saw me walking over.
"Don't go over there. Those wood spirits won't let anyone pass at all …"
Before he even finished speaking, I had already walked past the blockade. However, the wood spirits and guards ignored me as if they hadn't seen me at all.
Right after that, the muscular adventurer who had just spoken ran over to try. However, before he could even get close, a wall of thorns suddenly rose up and the wood spirits' vigilant and hostile gazes caused him to shrink back. He could only smile apologetically and return to his original location.
The adventurer who witnessed this scene remembered the appearance of the young man who had just entered and hurriedly asked which team he was from. After all, only "that person" had been allowed to enter, and he was the leader of the adventurers in this expedition. Yet, this unfamiliar young man had received the same treatment. Even if he didn't have anything special about him, it was likely that he had a special relationship with the wood spirits. In that case, it would be necessary to investigate him.
Of course, I didn't know any of this since I had already entered the treehouse. What surprised me the most was that I met a human here.
He had shoulder-length blonde hair, blue eyes, and fair skin. His black armor flashed with a dark golden adamantite. His black gloves were even carved with powerful magic runes. The magical waves from his jeweled longsword were so strong that I could feel it even outside the door. I didn't know if this handsome man was strong or not, but he was definitely rich. Not a single piece of equipment on his body was below Epic rank.
Of course, I recognized him. He was the leader of the mega mercenary group Westwood Guardians, the "Black Guardian" Kaise Elowen. He was also the "leader" of the adventurers participating in this expedition. Of course, this was only in name.
However, I immediately disliked him because …
"I think that we should punish the team with that strange name that caused all this chaos. Otherwise, if everyone imitates him and doesn't listen to orders, I'm afraid that the entire organization will be in chaos …"
In the hall, the Three Virtues were present, but only Samantha was in charge. Facing Keith's righteous opinion, she coldly shook her head, but when she saw that I had arrived, she took the initiative to turn her head and squeezed out a smile.
"You've arrived."
"Yep. How's the seed? Is it going well?"
"It's already beginning to sprout. It'll complete its nurturing period in two days. After that, it can be activated at any time to enter the next stage."
Kaise had an astonished expression. He was also astonished to see another human in this core region. However, I didn't intend to talk to him.
I approached the core region of the main hall. The tree's heart was trembling slightly as if it was a living creature's heart. Underneath it, a tremendous amount of life energy was accumulating. The moment it exploded, it would be as unstoppable as a volcano eruption.
The seed of the Forest of Dreams was also the hope of the wood spirits.
When this seed sprouted, the sky-covering Sky Tree would be uprooted from the ground, and the new Forest of Dreams would gradually grow. Amelia, who was in a deep slumber, would also have a new domain.
Although the seed needed support from its mother, the roots of the Forest of Dreams had already arrived here ten days ago. This sky-covering tree was actually only a part of the roots. Once the disguise was torn off, the new Forest of Dreams would swiftly take shape, and Amelia would become even stronger. She would also obtain new nutrients and new territory.
This was obviously not what the undead wanted to see. In order for Amelia's dimensional will to descend, the seed needed to germinate to a certain degree. This would require time. The spreading wildfire in the grasslands could only be extinguished at the very beginning. The undead weren't blind. When the dimensional will expanded its domain, the entire natural laws of the world would be affected. This would make the dimensional will at its weakest period a target for its enemies.
It was obvious that as long as the seed was allowed to germinate, the undead would definitely take action. At that time, there would definitely be a fierce battle to be fought. And since there would be a battle sooner or later, it would naturally be best to fight before more high-level undead arrived. The wood spirits' judgment was correct. I also hoped that the Forest of Dreams' domain would expand, so that Amelia would wake up sooner.
Since Samantha said that the seed was fine, I nodded and didn't ask any more questions. It would be better to leave this to the experts.
"You are?"
Kaise asked his own question. He felt that the person before him was quite familiar, but he couldn't remember where he had seen her before.
"Who am I? You don't even recognize the person you're punishing? "
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