Mistress Of The Evil Forest

Case 43: Gearing up.

rustle—!

''...''

rustle—!

It is quiet.

The west section of the Zircon forest is now nearly empty of monsters. We genocided almost all of them, leaving only normal animals behind. And even then, I can only sense small animals, which were either stealthy and smart enough to survive this hellhole of a forest, or just simply aren't worth the time for the predators.

It's totally different from a few months ago when I was still a little baby owl. I was scared for my life whenever I went out hunting for food, but now as I'm walking inside the woods, only vaguely creepy ambiance noises are present.

It has been a few days since I've defeated Balnok. The atmosphere inside the academy is getting more and more suffocating. Everyone is scared of demons suddenly appearing, and rightfully so.

However, according to Chloe, the remaining two chapters of Arc 2 will not involve demons or the cult anymore, instead focusing on school activities for the main character. It's the part of every story where the player or the viewer gets to take a breather, basically.

As for me, I think I've taken enough breaks already, so I'm going for conquest.

The region that I'm aiming for this time is North Zircon, which is ruled by the Blizzard Orca - Orcinus Nova. Its level is allegedly somewhere between 50 to 55, which might sound a bit challenging.

Now, the thing that I want to focus on in this expedition is not just blindlykilling everything. In West Zircon, everything was either not intelligent enough to understand the concept of a master-subordinate relationship, or just outright hostile to us, so I didn't manage to find good candidates to be my followers.

This time, however, I'm hoping I can recruit some friendly animals, and if lucky, maybe even the Blizzard Orca itself as well.

As I'm lost in my thoughts, something white bumps into me.

HOOT~!

It's one of my siblings.

I stroke the giant owl in front of me gently, to which it heartily accepts the touch, even nuzzling against my palm.

''Let's go.''

Walking forward a bit more, I can see the area in which owl mom made her nest. She herself is apparently not home, but my siblings are.

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HOOT~! HOOT~!

Why I'm here, you might ask?

Well, I'm just checking on these fluffy balls, that's all. I need something to relax myself after being pestered by not only Scarlett but now Luxia. The Saintess, to my worry, has read Nydia's mind and knows about her doubt, at least it appears so.

It's like dealing with a detective who is convinced that you are the murderer but doesn't have enough evidence to back it up, so she would just shower you with questions left and right every chance she gets, basically being more of a stalker than a real stalker.

Well, let's not think about it anymore.

After relaxing for about half an hour, it is now time to do some treasure hunting.

We didn't touch all the ruins, tombs, shrines, etc. When we went cleaning, so the artifacts and treasure should still be there. We didn't need to map those out because I can somewhat sense their locations through my [Monarch] skill, so that was nice. 

Before officially starting my conquest, I want to at least upgrade our equipment a little bit. I already gave Chloe some of the scales from the ancient basilisk to make new weapons and armor a while ago, they should be ready soon.

And about the named items. Apparently, a lot of the good ones are locked behind different future enemies, so the choices that we have right now are limited. The only notable one besides my Gauntlet of Severance is the Necklace of Invincibility, which allows the user to block virtually any attack twice a day. It's ridiculous.

To obtain it in the game, you will have to pass the trial of defense, which you can access through a monument in my territory. That is precisely where I am right now.

''Welcome, brave one.'' 

The giant turtle spirit in front of me speaks up in an old man's voice.

''I know you are wondering why-''

''I don't. Start the trial of defense.'' I interrupt him.

'''' ... ''''

''I see.'' The turtle continues after a long pause. ''Then, your task is simple, you just need to-''

''I know. Just start it.''

'''' ... ''''

''Fine. There you go.''

Is it my imagination, or does he sound kind of irritated?

Nevertheless, the spirit turtle activates a mechanism near the monument, which quickly generates a giant shield of mana in front of me. According to Chloe, I just need to break this, and the trial will be over successfully.

So I pull out my sword from my inventory and begin to infuse the usual light and ice combo into the blade.

KENG—!

KENG—!

KENG—!

Hm, it's quite hard. And it is my imagination, but that turtle is looking at me quite disrespectfully right now?

Well, whatever. 

Now, the trick for this one is not actually to hit as hard as possible, but to hit as fast as possible. It's somewhat similar to the item itself, you need consecutive hits to pierce through its defense, not earth-splitting strikes.

''Phew...''

I take a really deep breath before gripping my sword as hard as I can.

Utilizing all 5.3 points of my AGI, I begin to stab the shield repeatedly. My sword goes forward and backward with incredible speed, the sight is akin to a machine gun spewing out golden-white bullets. I certainly didn't know I was capable of this before... The Katana is not exactly suitable for stabbing like this though.

CRACK—!

The shield begins to crack under the surprised eyes of the spirit turtle. Little cracks quickly turn into long and big fractures, and eventually, the shield crumbles down, unable to withstand my onslaught.

''Now, give me the necklace.''

''...''

After the spirit turtle handed me the necklace, I left the place normally. It's quite unfortunate that I wasn't able to make him my subordinate though.

''Hm...''

I quietly inspect the golden necklace, which is extremely slim and overall seems fragile. I was worried that this would be bulky, but if it's this design, then it would suit Chloe a lot.

I have no intention of having this for myself, of course. Just as she cares about my well-being, I also care about hers. I think I'm strong enough to protect myself already.

Anyway, my friends by this point should've finished looting the other places as well, I hope we find something useful, though... 

''Hah...''

I'm still quite sad that my [Horror Lord]'s entity cap is still (2/2). I thought it would increase as the original plot advances, but...

Okay, let's not be depressed anymore. I need to get myself together.

So I teleport myself back to Skely's cave, where I can immediately see a bunch of stuff laid out on the table. All the usual members are here. They're unusually quiet though, what happened?

''Anything good?''

'''' ... '''' 

''...?''

Why do they look so grim?

''...It's all trash.'' Ariel facepalms. ''I can't believe it, six temples, six!''

''Well, well, calm down, sister.'' Skely lets out a sigh.

''I can't...!'' Ariel pouts, furrowing her eyebrows. ''Oh, the misery...''

...These are indeed useless stuff. Unlucky.

''Lady Aurora, did you find the item that you want?''

''Yes, it's here.''

As soon as I take out the necklace, Ariel and somehow Smiley swarm in.

''Where?! Let me see it!''

''Stop being so rude, sister.''

AUF—!

This is a mess.