Sunlight was obstructed by the large trees, making it seem partially dark even during daytime.
Every now and then, sun rays could be seen flowing in through the gaps.
It was more of a jungle than a forest at this point.
Not too different from the Earthâs Amazon forest in terms of humidity.
(âŚItâs just trees for days, huh?)
Helian was starting to get tired with the unchanging scenary as he advanced silently.
At the beginning, he had the secret unit specialized in spy work from the 6th corps â âThe Invisible Demonsâ â go ahead and scout for them but now with a fair distance between the two parties, he was starting to lose sight of them.
It is undoubtedly due to the forestâs mysterious illusion effect.
As such, he decided to have the secret unit conceal themselves and move close to them.
This technique â âExistence Concealmentâ, is a very high level one which not only conceals them from the five senses, but also hides their whole presence. Although they wonât be able to enter fighting mode immediately while in this state, that wonât be much of a problem this time around.
He hadnât counted them as their firepower to begin with. They were acting as emergency communication personnel as well as information gathering scouts.
(At any rate, this landscape sure is showing no signs of changing.)
They had already walked for about half an hour since crossing the main gate.
However, no matter where they looked, their vision was filled with greenery, making their sense of direction not work properly.
The party was advancing towards what looked like a man-made building from the capital. That said, if it was just Helian, he probably wouldâve starting walking towards a completely different direction by now.
The fact that the scenery didnât change much also means that thereâs basically no noticeable landmark. Itâs surprisingly difficult going in a straight line in such a situation.
The reason why they were able to proceed without getting lost was solely due to the excellence of his subordinates.
âDoesnât look like humans have been here at all.â
âYes. Itâs still weird, I canât hear the forestâs voice at all.â
Eltina responded to Lieveâs mutter.
Her beautiful blonde hair shone and stood out even with what little sunlight they had.
3rd corps commander Eltina was of the race âAncient Elfâ. Her aptitude with forests is extremely high.
On top of that, as she lead the 3rd corps, which excelled in healing and support in battle, she was also an expert healer. Her extensive knowledge and skills would surely come in handy during the exploration as well.
On the other hand, Lieve of the âManagarmâ race wasnât bad with forests either. She had the highest level in all of Archimaira.
âThereâs very little sign of life here. The fact that there arenât many birds or insects either isâŚâ
âYeah, thatâs unusual. Even my nose canât pick up the scent of any living thing nearby.â
It was just as Lieve and Eltina had said, the party had not encountered anyone yet.
They hadnât even come across a beast, much less an actual person.
Exactly what kind of a remote region were they sent off to?
Helian already felt like returning as he couldnât predict what was to come. Nonetheless, it was impossible for him to return at this point. The kingâs dignity would straight up wither if he were to come back after a stroll in the forest, especially considering how a whole line of guards of honor sent him off.
Besides, the king being in this expedition was by no means meaningless.
The king player has the ability to raise the stats of their subordinates who are within a 15 meter radius of him by a whole level.
And do not make light of this boost. This difference can often be a deciding factor in battles. Thereâs no harm in confronting such an unpredictable situation with more abilities.
Having said that, if they were to face enemies who they canât win against without further raising the status of the already powerful and unrivaled corps commanders, then a normal human like Helian would just die off of the side-effects of the battle⌠but he decided not to think about that much.
He canât keep advancing without a positive mindsetâthose were Helianâs honest feelings as well.
ââŚ.Mm?â
âHelian-sama.â
âThis isâŚâ
The three spoke up almost simultaneously.
As they kept walking forward, they felt the atmosphere change completely after a certain point.
Even Helian could tell as much.
After all, the dimly lit forest so far was now filled with much more sunlight.
Their vision got drastically better in just a few meters.
âYour Majesty, the forestâs illusion effect has drastically weakened.â
Hearing Eltinaâs report, Helian got to thinking.
ââŚIs this one section outside the range of the illusion effect? Perhaps this is the border of it and itâs just a normal forest from here on?â
He would love for it to be the latter.
He didnât want a second more of advancing with that little vision.
The former wouldnât be that bad either.
At the very least, they would be able to take a breather here.
An indoor guy like him could only bear 30 minutes of walking outside. Not to mention it was through a forest with no pavement and while on high alert. He was already fatigued.
âŚIn the game, the players didnât have a stamina status and could keep on walking forever but he decided not ponder on that much either.
âââHelian-sama.â
Lieve turned to face a different direction, as if she had just realized something.
Her nose was also twitching a bit. Wolf beastfolk like her can easily sense invisible enemies and track them down. It would appear she caught on to something with her sense of smell.
And without a momentâs delay, Helian opened up the âMapâ from the âTactical Windowâ. On the half-transparent map which projected in front of him, the surrounding area was displayed.
And on the right side of the map⌠some distance off to the east, a light popped up.
(A white light⌠a neutral unit, eh?)
The reason why this white light popped up on the map was because Lieve had already caught on to its presence.
If she hadnât caught on to it, it wouldnât have appeared on the map.
As she spotted it while being within 15 meters of the player, it was shared with the player through âData Sharingâ and was visible on the map.
While there is a limit to the information that can be visible on a map, itâs still a great advantage in terms of positional strategies.
And this white light was travelling at a fairly high speed. That too straight towards tehm.
His face instantly turned grim. It seems detection was mutual.
ââŚItâs coming.â
âYes.â
Lieve equipped her gauntlet.
Despite looking light, it packed a dreadful amount of offensive power and was one of the ultimate armanents â âCrimson Moonfangâ.
On the other hand, her protective gear was your normal expedition gear and didnât stand out much.
Eltina also equipped her weapon, âStaff of Hermesâ, which gave off a golden shine.
While it lacked in offensive power when compared to other weapons of its calibre, there were next to no other weapon which rivaled it in support and healing.
Lieve, who was specialized in duels and Eltina, who was the pinnacle of all supports.
Helian would like to believe that these two can deal with any threats but this was their first contact after being transported. Whether he likes it or not, he couldnât help but feel nervous.
The white light kept getting closer. It was less than 15 meters away at this point. It was just beyond the large treeâs hummock. And after a few seconds, it finally appeared.
âGrrrrrr..!â
Tearing up the groves in its path, it appearedâa huge wolf.
It was over 5 meters tall and had grey fur. It had big, sharp fangs coming out of its mouth and its eyes were glowing red like that of a ferocious animal. It looked like a scaled up version of a jungle lord which appeared in a movie long ago.
It could gulp up a person in one bite.
(And this is our first contact?!)
He had seen countless monsters like this in the game. In fact, he even has dragons over dozens of meter in height as his subordinate. Not only that, he also has giants under him.
However, the one in front of them right now had a different presence.
The wind carried over the wild beastâs scent.
Orderly yet rough breathing.
Its red eyes showed clear signs of hostility towards them.
And so it took a step forward, looking for a chance to leap at them.
It moved as if to wait for the perfect chance.
All these movements and behavior that was absent in the game stroke fear and an overwhelming sense of realism on to Helianâs brain.
The white light on his map turned red. Thatâs âcause they deemed it hostile at that point. The red light indicates an enemy.
Enemy.
An enemy which was aiming to kill and feast on them.
The reality of that fact made Helianâs knees weak.
âLiââ
Just when he was about to call his trustee aide to cling on herâan overwhelming pressure went from his side towards the crazed beast.
The beast jumped up on spot before squealing and turned to retreat. And just like that, it turned tail and ran away.
âŚIt had lost all will to fight.
âA small fry. I just gave off my bloodlust and it understood that it canât oppose us.â
Lieve spoke up as if nothing had happened.
It would appear his trusted aide was someone of the calibre to call that beast a small fry.
âŚNo, if he just thought about it calmly, it was clear as day. His first subordinate who he personally raised was obviously stronger than these monsters who lurked around the forest.
While it was only obvious, it still felt weird seeing a normal human sized being like Lieve being overwhelmingly stronger than that huge beast.
Him feeling like this was also due to how incomprehensibly realistic all of it was.
And while he racked his brains, thinking he was still confused about something, Eltina caught on to something this time. Her long sharp elf ears moved restlessly.
(Tactical window: reopen. Select: map.)
He displayed the map again with brain control.
With Eltina sharing data this time around, something popped up on the top right side of the map⌠two white lights far off towards the north-east.
Both these lights were moving. The second light was about 15 meters away from the first, as if it was chasing after it. This isâŚ
âYour Majesty.â
âThereâs something, north-east of us. Two units.â
âYes. It seems like theyâre moving together and not towards us.â
ââŚIt can also be taken as the first one being chased by the second.â
As he said that, Eltinaâs ears twitched.
âWhat is it? Did you hear something, Eltina?â
ââŚA faint scream.â
âââ! Weâre heading there, hurry!â
He broke off into a run, ignoring his fatigue altogether.
The fact that she heard a scream means that itâs a person.
Judging from the situation, the leading one is a personâthe one being chased. While they had no idea about the one chasing, the two parties didnât have a great distance between them. There was a need to hurry.
Within 5 steps of him running out, Lieve and Eltina already lined up beside him.
Of course, the difference in mobility between humans and demons is as clear as day and this is only to be expected but it was also sort of hurtful to his pride as a man since his subordinates even had to slow down for him.
(Nah, this is no time to be thinking about such trivial things! I gotta hurry!)
The white light on the map became blurry.
The outline of the white light thinned out and it felt as if the light was teleporting short distances. Similar to how bad GPS does in car navigation.
And this was due to Eltinaâs hearing being affected as they were making quite a lot of noise running. Maybe because they were still far away from the target or maybe because the wind direction was off, Lieve still didnât detect the targetâs smell.
Despite leaving the previous area, their vision was still clear. It would appear that the hypothesis of that area being the boundary line for the illusion effect is more correct.
That said, this was still pretty dim for plain human eyes.
The footing was worse and he felt as if his feet sunk with every step into the leaf mold.
Not to mention it was hard walking in this dense forest as it is.
He couldnât help but get frustrated about not being able to close the gap quick.
He still didnât have any idea about who was being chased but as long as theyâre a person, there was a chance of mutual understanding. And that would be an extremely valuable source of information under their circumstances. They couldnât afford to let that get away or even get killed by whatever that was chasing them.
âHaa, haa, haaâŚ! Damn, itâŚ! Lieve!â
His breath got disheveled even before they could run 15 meters. But such was to be expected from someone in this situation given that they donât even exercise much.
He somehow called out Lieve even while having a hard time breathing and tried to order her to go aheadâ
âUnderstood! Please excuse me!â
âBut for some reason, she misunderstood something and held Helianâs leg with her right arm and supported him on her upper-right shoulder. Helianâs left hand naturally landed on Lieveâs shoulder making it look like a princess carry.
To top it off, the roles were reversed too here.
ââŚâŚâ
Not to mention the fatal damage it dealt to Helianâs pride as a man, he also had a lot to say about this. But on the other hand, their speed certainly raised by a great margin too.
They were now moving multiple times faster than beforeâso much so that he could feel the wind pressure on his body as they steadily closed the gap between the target.
As he looked at the map again in this situation, he spotted that the movement of the target had yet again become clear.
Possibly because they entered Lieveâs detection range or Eltinaâs hearing had gotten better or maybe simply because they were much closer now.
They werenât far off anymore.
It would probably be just on the other side of this cliff.
Just when the crossed the cliff, their vision broadened and they spotted a human figure in the distanceâand a beast chasing after it.
The distance between those two were only a few meters at this point.
They had not a moment to lose.
The words came out before he could even think.
âEltina! âStopâ the âpursuing beastâ!â
He used the keywords on the spur of the moment.
That said, it still would be effective as an order.
And her answer was in the form of magic.
A wind blade went flying straight ahead, without the need of any incantations. Her magic prioritized speed more than power. The blade landed directly in between the two parties and the pursuer jumped back in surprise.
It was right about to close in on the person.
This time, with incantations, 13 more wind blades formed and went flying towards the middle of the two, enlarging the distance between them.
And thatâs when they had finally gotten close enough to make out the figure of the party that was being chased.
He could tell just from the outline, it was in fact a person. There was no doubt. They had a robe on and so their face wasnât visible but from their body stature, it looked like a normal person, on the smaller side. Not to be confused with a dwarf.
He or she had also caught on to them.
It looked like they were surprised seeing the wind blade as well.
And the pursuer was a magical beast, as expected.
A black dog-type beast. Unlike the large wolf just a while ago, this oneâs size was more standard.
It looked like a Doberman. However, itâs eyes were bloodshot and it had red vein lines popping out.
It was clearly a magical beast, one they hadnât seen before. They couldnât measure the risk it posed just yet.
âLieve, let me down!â
She let go and Helian landed on his feet.
He shaved the ground for about 2 meters before coming to a stop as he was let down with the same momentum.
Thatâs when he felt glad being changed into such sturdy gear, seeing how much the sole got whittled off from the impact. He probably wouldâve sprained his ankle with his normal shoes.
Lieve, who had let go, leaped in front of him to properly stop him.
It seemed like she rushed to protect him as she wouldnât leave his side. As such, he could only use Eltina freely. He also had the secret unit but they were only there to record the events and for emergency communication. He didnât want to bring them out in the open. Considering that, his options were limited.
His thoughts accelerated.
He had no time to leisurely go about this. No time to wait and see. On top of that, he had no info on the enemy. He would like to assume that this beast is weaker than the wild wolf before but size doesnât really matter that much in Tactics Chronicle.
For now, he decided on prioritizing the rescue and using magic to restrain the beast.
âEltina! Use your wind blades to keep the beast in check! Donât let it get close!â
âO Wind, form a blade and run forthââWind Edgeâ.â
And with a complete incantation the third time, the wind blades were let loose yet again.
This time, there were a total of 30 wind blades going towards it.
Although this was a magic more focused on quick firing, it was enough to restrain the beast.
And now, he could observe the enemyâs reaction and form aâ
ââŚHmm?â
âBut he didnât even need to do so.
With 30 whole blades of wind in front of it, the beast had nowhere to run and turned to pieces without being able to resist.
Within moments, dozens of meat chunks of the beast fell on the ground.
ââŚEh, itâs over?â
He didnât let his guard down considering how it could also be an undead but the clunks of meat showed no sign of moving.
It would appear that did the trick.
As it happened so quick, he couldnât help but feel a bit dumbfounded.
âA-a high level wind magicâŚ.? Eh.. but, without a catalyst⌠how in theâŚâ
An unfamiliar voice.
The voice had a young feeling to it.
As he looked towards it, he found a girl looking as dumbfounded as he was.
Although the reason behind her shock differed.
âSo it was a girl, eh?â
Hearing Helianâs voice, the girl turned to face him. Her movement made her hood come off, revealing her face.
Light-complexioned skin. A Western-looking face. But the most characteristic trait of them all were the long ears. That race isâ