Parallel (A Virtual Gamer's Story) [Vol.1 - Vol.4 Complete]

Chapter 162: Kirkcour Woods

Kirkcour Woods,

13th Banem, 1092.

The dark forest plunged into darkness at night, a few rays of the half-moon's light barely making it through the dense tree branches. An eerie silence pervaded the woods, and it was soon apparent to anyone present that this was a place devoid of life.

Creak!

The sound of a twig breaking was like an ear-bursting alarm within the cold silence. However, the man whose feet had crushed the twig took another step and carelessly crushed another twig beneath his feet. He continually walked through the forest, each footstep releasing large crunching sounds that could surely be heard several dozen meters away. Despite this, the man did not seem to care as he continued his walk. He was either incredibly stupid, or he had a plan.

As someone who had maxed out [Silent Feet], it should have been more than easy for Kashi to walk through the forest without making a sound. However, the daeben purposely made as much noise as possible to draw out any creatures that might have been hiding. If it was not for the fact that it was far too corny, he might have started shouting and singing.

As it was, Kashi could only walk while searching for signs of the famous centaur village or the Lv. 150 beasts the forums mentioned. He split up with Shadow and Larsial so they could cover more ground, deciding to rendezvous near the forest's entrance in four hours. Because Kashi was not confident about leaving Drixlia by himself, he had Drixlia follow while he searched.

Roughly three of the four hours had passed since Kashi split up with Shadow and Larsial. Kashi estimated he would need about thirty minutes to return to the rendezvous point. This was because his advance had been slow and careful as he searched for traces of Blights or centaurs. He could ride Drixlia on the way back, which would massively shorten the time.

Kashi had begun considering his return when he suddenly came to a halt. His eyes shone with controlled excitement as he rushed ahead. He came to a stop in front of a dead tree. Its leafless tree branches and withered, grey trunk were quite eye-catching in the green forest. Kashi peeled off a piece of bark from the tree. He let out a sigh as the bark crumbled to dust. He dusted off his palm and looked beyond the tree.

As expected, Kashi saw another dead tree just behind it. The daeben could not be sure if this was the Blight or not, but he knew the characteristics of Blights. A simple test would confirm. Kashi opened his right hand, and an arrow appeared in his palm. The daeben had long since moved his weapons into the inner world because he could directly summon them out instead of having to scroll through the game's menu.

The only caveat to this approach was that calling something from his dimension to the real world required a dimension gate opening. Naturally, opening a dimension gate cost mana. Luckily, for small, inanimate items such as arrows and bows, the mana cost was little to the point of negligence. With Kashi's MP recovery rate, he instantly recovered the lost mana.

Kashi cut his left palm and dripped his blood onto the soil surrounding the dead tree, then waved at Drixlia, who obeyed and retreated a couple of feet backward. Yggdrasil's life energy healed the wound without leaving so much as a scar. The daeben did not pay the healing any mind as he attentively watched the blood-soaked soil.

Kashi's brows flinched as a portion of the earth slightly shifted. It was a subtle movement—one which would have usually gone unnoticed, especially in the dead of night. Unfortunately, Kashi had been watching out for precisely this tiny movement, and there was no difference between day and night to the daeben's eyes.

Kashi did not waste a single moment after catching that movement. He instantly screamed, "Move!" as he dashed toward Drixlia.

Drixlia turned into a blur as it sprinted off, almost seemingly leaving the daeben behind.