Chapter 42: Entering the Southern forest
Looking at the tall trunks of the trees, Jaden decided to first refill his mana. He sat near the wall of the short tunnel and began absorbing mana.
A few minutes passed, and he finished refilling all of his mana. The [Twilight Veil ★★] was a 2-star spell; thus, it ate at his mana like a hungry beast.
Taking off the bag strapped to his back, he took out the armour, the swords and a leather strap for his other two swords to rest.
"Time to get ready."
He wore the armour, held one sword in his left hand, because he would have to use his camera with his right hand, as it had the shutter button on the right side. He placed the other two swords strapped onto his back in a cross shape.
"Let’s go," he muttered as his eyes turned sharp.
He exhaled and stepped towards the forest with vigilant eyes. His steps held a hint of hesitation because he knew that the forest was dangerous; he knew it was full of star beasts and nightmares. He also knew that anything could happen in it.
But, he didn’t know how dangerous it was, how strong the star beasts and nightmares were... and that was now becoming a reason for his hesitation.
He slapped his face with both of his hands and looked at the forest with determined eyes.
"Hesitation gets even the strongest killed," he muttered before continuing his steps, which held no hesitation anymore.
Soon, he exited the short tunnel, and the forest was now visible to him.
The forest was full of tall trees with dark green leaves; the trees had deep cracks in their unusually dark trunks... the cracks were deep enough to be used as a hold while climbing them. The vines dropping from them were as thick as an adult human’s arm.
"Blasted hell," Jaden cursed as he looked at the strange trees before him.
Right then, he heard a slight rustle coming from the right. He sharply turned to his right, and just at that moment, a wolf with red eyes and dark blue fur leapt at him with its jaws open wide.
Jaden’s eyes widened in fright; his body, however, stayed calm. He pointed his right hand towards the wolf, and a [Wind Blade ★] flew towards the wolf and hit it on the chest.
The wolf lost its momentum and slid back a few steps. It let out a whimper as drops of red blood fell onto the ground from the wound it had just received.
It looked at Jaden with vigilance and lowered itself a little as it got ready to leap at him once again. However, just before it could do so, Jaden appeared right beside him using [Gust Step ★] and severed the wolf’s head from its body with a single strike of his sword.
Blood flooded from the cut and dampened the soil.
Even after easily killing such a beast, Jaden read the message before him with a dissatisfied look.
[You have slain a F Rank Aquawolf.]
[Experience +2 (Kill)]
"2? What the fuck is this joke?" he spat with a furious tone before heaving a sigh and looking at the lifeless body of the wolf as he mumbled with a shrug.
"It wasn’t strong, though."
He peeper deeper into the forest... but saw nothing, though he knew it was full of danger.
’Should I go deeper into the forest?’ he questioned himself before shaking his head.
"It would be too reckless... This was just an F rank. I should move around the perimeter of the forest before stepping deeper."
Looking at the dead wolf for one last time, he continued moving to the outermost part of the forest as he looked for more star beasts.
’F Rank doesn’t even have any mana core...’
Moving around, he soon found a small group of four wolves... they had red eyes, but their fur was dark green.
Jaden moved towards a nearby tree to hide and took out his camera to take a picture of them. Just as he did so, a blue screen appeared before him.
[Capturing four F Rank Galewolves.]
[Capture Requires - 1 slot]
[Confirm | Deny]
’A single slot, heh.’
A playful smile appeared on his face as he thought.
’Confirm.’
Right at that moment, the four wolves burst into dark black sparks and entered his body.
[You have captured four F Rank Galewolves.]
[Experience +20 (Capture)]
"20? Capturing gives me more exp than killing... I am supposed to be a summoner, after all." Jaden concluded as he left the tree he was hiding at and moved around while trying his best not to make any noise.
Suddenly, he heard a low growl from his left. Jaden hurried and hid behind a nearby tree, and right then, a tall, dark green, lanky humanoid figure with long limbs ending in sharp, knife-like claws, its big hollow blue eyes were shining like a cursed moon... and in place of the mouth, it had a few small holes shaping into a smile.
’A nightmare...’
Jaden thought as he took out his camera to capture it, but before he could do so, the nightmare sharply turned towards him, and the small holes on its face began to tear, dark red blood dripped out of them and soon turned into a dripping smile.
The nightmare opened its mouth and let out a strange sound. The sound was low, but just as Jaden heard that sound, his body froze in place.
He tried to open his mouth, but that didn’t work either.
’W-What...?!’
Jaden looked at the nightmare with a horrified look as it slowly stepped towards him to take his life. Cold sweat started to run down his back as the fear of death seeped in.
He hurriedly called out his grimoire, and the grimoire appeared and floated around him as its pages opened by themselves.
The nightmare had also reached him; Jaden looked at its dripping, devilish smile as it lifted its sharp claw and swung it at him like a scythe.
Soon, blood flooded and pooled on the ground.