Chapter 34
Chapter 34: This Place is Insane (2)
After dinner, as night approached, the atmosphere in the forest grew even more eerie.
Despite the fatigue accumulated from daily battles, the mercenaries found it hard to fall asleep.
This was due to the occasional hideous howls echoing from afar, scratching at their nerves.
Only after lighting a campfire and hanging lamps to illuminate the surroundings could the group finally manage to sleep.
However, Ghislaine didn’t lie down; she merely sat quietly in front of the campfire.
“Young Master, aren’t you going to sleep?”
“I have something to confirm.”
“What is it?”
“Monsters.”
“Huh?”
As Belinda frowned and asked, Ghislaine replied quietly.
“The monsters that appear at any time during the day don’t show up at night. There must be a reason.”
“Could it be…”
Belinda quickly grasped the implication of Ghislaine’s words.
Just two days ago, monsters relentlessly attacked both day and night.
But for the past two days, not a single monster had launched a night raid.
“So, there are monsters that only operate at night in this area.”
“Right, those creatures are so intimidating that other monsters won’t move.”
Hearing their conversation, the mercenaries surrounding them gulped nervously.
On the first day, they would have dismissed and laughed at a naive noble trying to share such insights.
However, the capabilities Ghislaine had demonstrated over the span of five days were anything but ordinary.
The words coming from her had a strong persuasive power.
Swoosh—
As time passed and the surroundings sank completely into darkness, an ominous wind howled.
As Ghislaine stood up, Gillian, Kaor, and Belinda stiffened their expressions and followed suit.
[They were watching us from the darkness.]
“Sir.”
As Gillian called out to her, Ghislaine nodded.
Something was indeed out there.
Those sensitive to the energy could feel the suffocating gazes.
Several mercenaries also rose from their places, looking around with anxious expressions.
Beyond the radius of the lamps, visibility was poor. But they sensed something lurking in the pitch-black surroundings.
Threads of mana began to stretch out from Ghislaine.
Confirming the number of lurking entities, Ghislaine furrowed her brows.
‘Unexpected.’
[There were about two hundred of them… and they persistently followed us until we fatigued. Count Balthazar pursued them single-handedly, but he only managed to slay a mere dozen.]
Ghislaine confirmed that the numbers were closer to three hundred.
Naturally, it was to be expected that with the timing being different, the information wouldn’t match up perfectly.
“Everyone, don’t move.”
The mercenaries gripped their weapons and scanned their surroundings with anxious eyes.
Swoosh!
Something that resembled a whip flew through the air and snatched one of the hanging lamps.
The lamp was swallowed into the darkness and soon lost its light.
But in that brief moment, a shape resembling a human flickered into view.
[They began stealing our light and vision.]
Swoosh! Swoosh!
More whips flew again and snatched away several lamps.
[It would later be discovered that these creatures had the ability to merge with darkness and extremely resented light.]
As the lamps dwindled, the area turned dark instantly.
Kaor, wearing a grim expression, attempted to rush out with the Cerberus Mercenary Group.
The feeling that they were now the hunted triggered his intense instincts.
However, Ghislaine reached out to stop him and merely gazed into the darkness.
Kaor growled as he spoke.
“What’s going on? Those guys are just hiding and observing, so their combat ability must be lacking. Let’s just go and smash them; they won’t dare mess with us again.”
“Not today.”
“‘Not today’? What does that even mean?”
In an instant, the ominous aura that had surrounded them began to fade.
Chirrup…
Leaving behind a bizarre laughter, they disappeared completely.
[They had been coming to observe us every night. The soldiers couldn’t rest even for a moment, and we were gradually losing our light.]
Sensing something unknown retreating, the mercenaries tried to retrieve the lamps once more.
Ghislaine shook her head.
“Keep the lamps as they are.”
“Why? Isn’t more light better?”
[We regretted it. When we caught our first glimpse of them by the lake, we should have dealt with them and moved. However, by the time we realized this, it was already too late. We lost both day and night. There was no time to rest. We had sunk too deep and lost our direction.]
Ghislaine spoke to the mercenaries with a firm voice.
“That’s the only way to deal with them here.”
The mercenaries wore baffled expressions.
Did they actually know what they were dealing with?
“What is that thing?”
At the mercenaries’ question, Ghislaine whispered.
“Palor.”
[Having lost their brilliant civilization and intellect, they had degenerated into monsters and were living as ‘Hunters of Darkness’ in this forest. They were descendants of the ancient noble races known as ‘Palor’… ]
*
The group no longer carved out a path or moved at all.
They merely felled trees and made an open space slightly away from the lake, resting there.
While the mercenaries took their respective breaks, Gillian leaned next to Ghislaine and asked.
“Sir, what are you planning to do?”
“I plan to deal with them and move on. Otherwise, they will keep following us.”
“How do you catch those that only watch from the darkness? They’ll surely escape if we try to engage.”
“Let’s confirm tonight. Prepare bows and arrows for the mercenaries.”
“Hmm, understood.”
Gillian nodded.
If the enemies were merely watching them, raining arrows down on them might be a good strategy.
Everyone was tense as another night dawned.
Whether it was luck or due to the Palors, no monsters attacked during the day.
The mercenaries, fully rested and restored, held their bows, scanning the darkness.
Chirrup…
They could feel ominous gazes filling the surroundings.
In that suffocating standoff, Ghislaine shouted.
“Fire!”
Ping!
In an instant, over a hundred arrows were shot in all directions.
The mercenaries, gathered together and aimed at the front, launched their arrows without holding back.
But…
Chirrup…
All that returned was an unsettling sound that seemed to mock them.
The mercenaries were bewildered.
“What, what is this?!”
“Didn’t hit a single one? No way!”
They clearly sensed that there was something in every direction. The only issue was that it was hidden within the darkness.
They were making their hostility evident. Even the dullest could feel it.
There were clearly numerous monsters surrounding them, yet none of the arrows found their mark, flying away in vain.
“What kind of monsters are these…?”
“Not a single one hit among so many arrows?!”
The mercenaries stumbled back in fear.
Not liking that vibe, Gillian grimaced and began to channel his mana.
His intention was to infuse the arrows with mana and shoot them more powerfully.
At that moment, Ghislaine grasped Gillian’s hand to stop him.
“Don’t. You shouldn’t use mana yet.”
“Sir?”
“Doing so would only make things more troublesome. You must conceal your mana thoroughly.”
“What do you mean…?”
“I’ll explain soon. Their attacks aren’t effective, after all.”
[The Palors, entwined in darkness, could pass through all physical attacks. Therefore, aside from the Count Balthazar and the knights who could use mana, there was no way to strike the Palors. This was both a blessing and a curse of the ancient race… ]
Swoosh!
Once again, lamps began to disappear one by one.
As each light vanished, the surroundings grew darker, and the mercenaries huddled together tightly in fear.
Ghislaine no longer moved, merely observing the lamps extinguishing.
[The Palors aimed to extinguish the light first. However, what they overlooked was that weapons imbued with mana could emit their own light.]
When mana was infused in weapons, they would shine with light.
It was possible to not emit light at all, but few would go to such lengths to hide it.
To strike against the Palors, one had to use mana to attack.
While they could easily evade attacks within the darkness, they would no longer be invulnerable once light shone upon their forms.
Surely, if those capable of using mana pursued the Palors, they could deal some degree of damage.
However, Ghislaine shook her head internally.
‘That would only make matters more difficult.’
[Count Balthazar was certainly an exceptionally powerful warrior lacking in the kingdom, but he had overestimated his abilities. Unable to overpower him, the Palors began to abduct soldiers.]
More than half of the lamps lit on the first night had vanished.
The mercenaries left behind in the dark were at a loss for what to do.
Chirrup…
The Palors emitted satisfied laughter before vanishing.
This was their hunting method: steadily applying pressure to diminish the prey’s will to fight and instill fear.
“Everyone gather. I will explain.”
As the Palors disappeared, Ghislaine gathered the mercenaries to explain what she knew.
After hearing her explanation, everyone in the group was left agape in shock.
A monster that couldn’t be harmed without light—they had never heard of such a thing.
However, after shooting an arrow, they couldn’t help but accept the reality, however hard to believe.
“Then… should we set up more lamps and make plenty of torches around?”
“That would only buy us a moment; ultimately, we would lose all the light.”
“Then how about this?”
Belinda grabbed a dagger, and soon blue light began to form around the blade.
If they could catch a sense of presence, they could kill even unseen foes.
As soon as the weapon got close, some part of it would surely shine.
“Indeed, Belinda is clever.”
Upon receiving praise from Ghislaine, Belinda raised her nose in pride.
“I graduated from the Royal Academy, you know.”
“You’re quite the fibber. Regardless, you mustn’t use mana.”
“How did you know that was a lie? No, why can’t I use mana?”
“Because then they will change their hunting methods.”
[They discovered traces of the abducted soldiers. They appeared to have been eaten alive. An enraged Count Balthazar obliterated everything within several dozen meters whenever the Palors appeared. However, knowing his power, the Palors kept their distance, hiding into darkness before being exposed to light. Eventually, at some point, we became mere spectators as soldiers were dragged away.]
If the Palors adopted a strategy of avoiding fights and abducting one by one, they would soon wither away.
With few able to use mana and numbers on their side, their force could only face annihilation.
As Ghislaine continued her explanation, the expressions of the group grew progressively pale.
The deeper they ventured into the forest, the stronger the monsters became, and the damage only increased.
Imagining that such beasts would come to abduct them every night was enough to send them into a daze.
“What… what should we do? Have those creatures set us as their prey? Shouldn’t we turn back right now?”
As one of the mercenaries asked, his anxiousness evident, Ghislaine shook her head firmly.
“We must fight here.”
[With this personnel, there was simply no way. Clearly, it was an opponent we could defeat, but since they had no intention of fighting us… Eventually, we faced failure once again, and it wasn’t until the royal wizard, Sir Alois, and the other wizards arrived that we could exterminate them.]
Even the elite vanguard of Ghislaine’s previous life had failed multiple times in conquering the Forest of Monsters.
It wasn’t due to a lack of ability, but rather a lack of information.
Adding to that was the intelligence of the Palors, which was exceptional for monsters.
But Ghislaine was different from them.
‘Before they catch on, I will eliminate every last one of them here.’
She had ample information and was thoroughly prepared.
Everything was unfolding just as she had anticipated.
