Chapter 128

This Hellish Place (5)

The Forest of Four Seasons did not place everyone at the same starting point upon entry.

Unless people entered while holding hands, each person would inevitably begin in a different location.

Even if they did hold hands, there was no guarantee they would arrive in the same place.

People had been seen entering, but not a single one had ever come back out.

Still, after countless years of accumulated research, a few things had finally been learned about it.

One of them was that anyone entering the Forest of Four Seasons would be dropped into one of its regions at random.

Only someone truly fortunate would arrive near a person who had entered before them.

"Ugh..."

A paladin groaned as he rose to his feet.

His helmet concealed his face, but his attire made his affiliation obvious.

He was the senior surveillance officer whom Ludwig had kicked into the Forest of Four Seasons.

Ordinary paladins typically wore pure white armor, whereas the surveillance officers wore armor so dark it was nearly black.

It was originally armor worn by "inquisitors," but those men had now become the Pope’s private soldiers.

"Damn it. Where the hell am I now?"

The surveillance officer looked around and cursed.

He already knew where he was, of course, but desperately wanted to deny it.

He vividly remembered Ludwig kicking him in the back and sending him into the Forest of Four Seasons.

’Damn it...’

He surveyed the scenery, which was completely different from how the Forest of Four Seasons had appeared from outside.

Instead of a lush green forest, the area was filled with dry, skeletal trees.

Whether it had been covered in volcanic ash or ravaged by a wildfire, everything was gray.

And that was not all. The ground was just as bad.

There was at least solid earth where the surveillance officer had fallen, but everything beyond it was a swamp.

’Was I lucky?’

If he had fallen directly into the swamp, he might have died the moment he entered.

That did not mean he was safe, however.

What kind of place was this?

It was the Forest of Four Seasons, known as hell on earth.

A demonic realm from which not a single survivor had ever returned.

The surveillance officer swallowed hard.

’It’s not over yet. That bastard Grylls was living here just fine.’

Even if no one had managed to escape, there was at least one survivor.

That fact gave the surveillance officer hope.

He then checked himself for injuries and inspected his weapon to ensure it was undamaged.

Aside from the spot where he had been kicked in the back, nothing particularly hurt.

[The Gallery cannot be accessed in this region.]

However, he could not access the Gallery.

He was also one of its users.

Having seen it in action, he knew just how useful the Gallery could be in an environment like this.

When a message appeared informing him that it was unavailable, he could only click his tongue.

’So much for it being accessible.’

Using Wild Grylls as evidence, the Pope had proclaimed that the Gallery could now be accessed from within the Forest of Four Seasons.

That propaganda had worked well enough to provide the impetus for dispatching the investigation team.

Only after entering the Forest of Four Seasons did the surveillance officer realize that the Pope had told a blatant lie.

There was a saying that everything leaving the Pope’s mouth—aside from carbon dioxide—was a lie.

The surveillance officer now wholeheartedly agreed.

His mistake had been falling for the Pope’s honeyed words.

’I’ll get out of here no matter what. I’m way stronger than that bastard. There’s no way I can’t escape.’

The surveillance officer ground his teeth.

He would escape within a few days and cut off Ludwig’s head.

The Pope was the true cause of all this, but he was far too powerful. So the surveillance officer directed his resentment toward the comparatively weaker Ludwig instead.

It was the typical behavior of one who bullied the weak and submitted to the strong—a blatant display of selfishness.

’First, I should check my mana.’

Before setting off, the surveillance officer examined the mana within his body.

His fierce battle with Ludwig had consumed a considerable amount of it.

Since he only needed to inspect it, there was no reason to perform the mana cultivation method.

"...Hmm?"

Then he noticed something strange.

The surveillance officer’s eyes widened slightly.

Normally, his mana should have been circulating, however faintly, yet it was not moving at all.

No.

It was circulating.

It was merely doing so at an absurdly slow pace.

Alarmed by this inexplicable phenomenon, he hurriedly tried to activate his mana.

’Wh-What’s wrong with my mana?’

It still refused to budge.

Only when he forced it to move could he barely sense it.

Fearing the worst, he even tried to manifest his aura, but it was useless.

His aura would not emerge either.

He had effectively been dropped here with nothing but his bare body.

His chances of survival had plummeted far lower than anticipated.

Suspecting that he might have suffered an injury without realizing it, the surveillance officer carefully examined himself.

Yet he found nothing unusual.

In the end, he risked the danger and began performing the mana cultivation method.

’Wh-What is this...?!’

The moment he began cultivating, he understood the cause.

It was the mana.

More precisely, it was not the mana inside his body, but the mana outside it.

The ambient mana was far too dense.

The mana outside his body was suppressing the mana within him.

It was the same principle by which water pressure in the deep sea crushed objects.

’That’s impossible! That bastard Grylls clearly...!’

The surveillance officer could not believe it.

This was entirely unexpected.

Grylls threw mana around at every opportunity, yet he himself could not use it at all.

He found it impossible to accept.

’No. If I have enough time...’

It was still too early to despair.

The surveillance officer steadied his shaken resolve.

If the external mana prevented him from using the mana inside his body, then he simply had to fill himself with the mana outside.

He did not know how long that would take, but it was not impossible.

’I need to find somewhere safe.’

The surveillance officer quickly assessed the situation.

This swamp was dangerous.

He had no idea what sort of monster might suddenly emerge from it.

The forest where Grylls lived would undoubtedly be much safer.

Having reached that conclusion, he began walking to escape the swamp.

Shing—

He also drew his sword so that he could respond at a moment’s notice.

Although he could not use mana, he still possessed considerable physical prowess and should be able to survive.

’Archbishop Odon should have entered before me... Where could he be?’

The surveillance officer thought of Odon, who had entered the Forest of Four Seasons ahead of him.

Like him, the clergyman had been forcibly sent inside by Ludwig.

He wondered whether he should search for Odon.

Unlike the surveillance officer, Odon specialized in support and possessed virtually no combat ability.

Furthermore, they had just discovered that mana could not be used in this region.

The longer Odon remained alone, the lower his chances of survival would become.

’There’s nothing I can do about the Archbishop. I should find the others first. There must be more people Ludwig sent in here like me.’

Unless something unexpected happened, the surveillance officer decided to abandon Odon without hesitation.

His own combat ability had already been cut in half.

He could not afford to protect someone who possessed no combat ability whatsoever.

Clergymen normally exercised healing abilities through divine power, but that was only possible when they actually possessed divine power.

It would not have been an exaggeration to say that Archbishop Odon had "none," so the surveillance officer expected nothing from him.

After all, Odon had risen to the position of archbishop by attaching himself to the right faction.

If the surveillance officer wanted to escape this hellish forest, he needed to join forces with the strong—not with people who would become liabilities.

’Still... if I happen to run into him, I can’t exactly pretend I didn’t see him...’

The surveillance officer had just finished sorting out his thoughts when it happened.

[...please.]

A voice reached the surveillance officer’s ears.

At first, he thought he had misheard it.

He stopped walking and focused on the sound.

[...save me, please.]

This time, he heard it again, faint though it was. The surveillance officer hurriedly looked around.

He needed to determine exactly where the voice was coming from.

"Is someone there?! If you are, speak louder!"

Shouting in a swamp was not a wise thing to do.

A beast might hear him and approach. Given the circumstances, however, he had little choice.

The surveillance officer shouted at the top of his lungs, praying that his voice would reach whoever was out there.

[I’m here! Over here! I’m right here!]

This time, he heard it clearly. The surveillance officer turned toward the source of the voice.

It sounded slightly echoey, but he paid it no mind because of the language being spoken.

It was not the language of some foreign nation, but the language of Eldorado itself.

’And this voice... Archbishop Odon?’

The surveillance officer hurried toward the voice.

Perhaps fortune had favored him, and the Archbishop had regained consciousness close to where he had fallen.

He had just been calling the man useless, but another person was still another person.

’If worse comes to worst, I can use him as a human shield.’

What a shameless change of heart.

It perfectly demonstrated what desperation could reduce a person to.

[I’m right here! Is anyone there?!]

The voice grew closer and closer. Both of the surveillance officer’s feet sank into the water.

It only reached his ankles for now, so he ignored it. Confirming the source of the voice came first.

At last, he reached the place it was coming from.

"A-Archbishop?! You’re alive?"

[Oh! You came...!]

The surveillance officer found the Archbishop.

Surprisingly, he appeared completely unharmed.

The strange quality of his voice was suspicious, but otherwise, he looked far too healthy.

[Come this way. I believe the exit is over here.]

"What? The exit...?"

[Yes. Someone else helped me as well.]

Archbishop Odon pointed toward the exit with a benevolent expression. The surveillance officer’s suspicions deepened.

The direction he was pointing in led toward the deepest part of the swamp.

The water was already slightly above his ankles here, and anyone could tell that it was far deeper over there.

’Before that...’

There was something even stranger.

It was something he had only just noticed.

Archbishop Odon was short, while the water here was deep enough to cover one’s ankles.

So why was Archbishop Odon standing on top of the water?

Powerful individuals might be capable of walking across water, but Odon was not one of them.

It was strange.

More than merely strange, it was ominous.

"Wh-Who the hell are you?!"

[What? Whatever do you mean...?]

"You vile monster! Reveal yourself!"

The surveillance officer retreated and pointed his sword at the figure, his voice trembling with fear.

Perhaps it sensed the terror in his voice, because Odon—or rather, the creature disguised as Odon—stopped hiding itself.

Ssssh—

Odon’s form faded like a mirage.

What appeared in its place was, shockingly, a corpse.

It was a shriveled, emaciated corpse. A tentacle was tightly coiled around its neck as though it had been strangled.

The surveillance officer immediately recognized the corpse.

Anyone could tell that it was Odon.

’Wh-What the hell is this?!’

Rrrrrumble!

Whether or not he was horrified, an ominous phenomenon began within the swamp.

The ground started to shake as though an earthquake had struck.

Had Grylls been there, he would have fled the region without even looking back.

However, the surveillance officer had only just entered the Forest of Four Seasons for the first time.

He could do nothing but stand there dumbfounded until the monster made its move.

Splash!

A hand suddenly emerged from the deep pool.

It resembled a human hand, but its skin was smooth like that of an amphibian.

Perhaps as camouflage, the hand possessed a dull, musty color resembling tree bark.

SPLAAAASH!

The monster planted its hand against the ground and heaved itself fully into view.

The surveillance officer could only stare in horror at the creature, which was several times larger than he was.

It had hideous teeth, a long body, and an antenna protruding from its head.

Odon’s corpse had been dangling from that antenna.

Whoosh!

The hand-bearing anglerfish that had emerged from the depths of the swamp reached toward the surveillance officer.

The instant he saw it move, the surveillance officer hurriedly stepped backward in an attempt to escape.

But that very action led him to his death.

As had already been stated, this was a swamp.

Squelch!

"Urgh!"

If he had merely remained still, it would have taken longer for the swamp to swallow him.

The surveillance officer lost his balance and fell, and the swamp anglerfish did not miss its chance.

Grab!

"Aaargh!"

The swamp anglerfish seized the surveillance officer violently with its humanlike hand.

He struggled against the crushing pressure closing around his body, but it was useless.

He could not use mana in his current state.

He was destined to be devoured.

Crunch. Crunch.

Meanwhile, the swamp anglerfish placed Odon’s corpse, which it had caught with its antenna, into its mouth.

It chewed the corpse into pieces with its razor-sharp teeth.

The anglerfish then wrapped its tentacle-like antenna around the surveillance officer’s neck.

Squeeeze!

"Ghhhhh..."

A deflating wheeze escaped his throat, and it was not long before the strength began draining from his body.

Clunk!

His violent struggles had loosened his helmet, causing it to slip off and fall into the swamp.

Inside the armor was nothing but a shriveled mummy, just like Odon’s corpse.

Limp—

The swamp anglerfish released its grip, leaving the surveillance officer dangling from its antenna.

Having drained all his life force, the anglerfish descended into the deep water once more.

Only the antenna holding the surveillance officer remained above the surface.

[A-Archbishop?!]

Amazingly, the mouth of the surveillance officer’s mummified corpse moved, producing his voice.

It was an utterly grotesque sight, as though the antenna were controlling his body.

[You vile monster! Reveal yourself!]

It went beyond simply imitating his voice.

[Is anyone there?! There’s someone here! I need help!]

Its imitation was as perfect as if it had extracted all his memories.

[Please! Anyone—help me!]

The Forest of Four Seasons was a hellish place.

Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!

"Phew. This should be enough, right?"

I muttered in satisfaction as I hammered the signpost into the ground.

I had spent quite a lot of time making this signpost.

Still, seeing it firmly planted there filled me with pride.

’I hope they manage to survive.’