Chapter 611: Into the Depths of the Crystal Tree Forest

Using the time while they rested from the rather exhausting shortcut, they had ended up going through to look through the map and carefully note down the areas with powerful SS Rank Monsters around, Verdell and Valerie soon enough left the dugout and headed into the crystal tree forest.

However, entering the forest from a different angle to those adventurers they had originally been following outside the city also meant they had to face far more monster attacks than they would have if they continued following behind the stream of adventurers. Slowing down their advance significantly, but at the same time also giving Valerie the perfect opportunity to grind away at the other parts of her class advancement quest requirements. Taking on any of the A Rank Monsters they encountered along the way all by herself.

Even some of the S Rank Monsters didn’t escape her, as she fully showcased her terrifying fighting strength by fighting these powerful monsters on equal terms.

Not that Verdell had nothing to do, as he ended up killing any monsters attempting to interfere with her during her battles with these powerful monsters while at the same time also being ready to lend a hand whenever she ended up in a difficult situation and couldn’t get out on her own.

More so than killing the S Rank Monsters by herself, she generally ended up fighting them for a few minutes before Verdell stepped in to lend a hand. Weaking the monster enough for her to finish it off.

In the end, a few days soon flew by with the two of them dwelling deeper into the crystal tree forest where the crystal bunny was hiding.

Understandably, they couldn’t find any dugouts created by other adventurers inside the crystal tree forest, so, to get through the night, they had to find abandoned monster burrows or natural caves to huddle together while keeping an eye out for any monster that might want to try and jump them in the middle of the night while their guard was down.

It was during these nights that Verdell fully showcased his experience as an adventurer who had been moving on his own for years, as he set up several intricate magical traps along with early warning spells and other things to keep them safe at night. Allowing the two of them to sleep through the night without needing to stand guard during the night.

Normally, standing guard during the night was a given, but with Verdell being a solo adventurer, he needed to learn how to get a proper night’s rest without needing anyone to stand guard, something Valerie was undoubtedly graceful for, as she once again realized just how great it felt to adventurer with someone this skilled.

Not that the adventurers she had grouped with to reach the northern region were unskilled, it was just that they were inferior to someone like Verdell.

This had nothing to do with the fact that Verdell had the ability to create a magical fire that kept their sleeping spot warm and comfortable even in the cold northern region during the night... Yes... it had nothing to do with that...

And as Valerie was convincing herself she didn’t just like adventuring with Verdell because of his fire magic, the two of them officially reached what could be considered the core of the crystal tree forest, the place where the crystal bunny was hidden and at the same time also the place where the SS Rank Monsters hidden away within the crystal tree forest were concentrated.

In other words, the deadliest place within the crystal tree forest and at the same time also a place that S Rank Adventurers couldn’t carelessly move around any longer.

Heck, not just S Rank Adventurers, but even SS Rank Adventurers would have to move around cautiously in this kind of place.

The one positive was that the two of them already had a general idea where the territories of these powerful monsters were located. Meaning it shouldn’t be too difficult for them to avoid these powerful monsters.

As for the large group of adventurers rushing into the crystal tree forest from the opposite direction... Verdell and Valerie understood that there was nothing to worry about when it came to this massive army of adventurers, as even an SS Rank Monster would turn tail faced with so many adventurers.

After all, the general strength of adventurers in the northern region was far stronger than other places, with there being no lack of S Rank Adventures and the general weakest adventurer that had left the city having reached the C Rank.

Faced with hundreds of adventurers with this kind of strength working together, even an SS Rank Monster could only helplessly wait to get beaten to death by the overwhelming difference in numbers.

Only a monster that had surpassed the SS Rank would be powerful enough to directly ignore this kind of number advantage, as no matter how many S Rank Adventurers were present, they wouldn’t be able to do anything to such a powerful monster, something Verdell understood full well after his experience inside the Swirling Sands Dungeon.

Luckily, though the northern region was a frontier region for the guild and there was no lack of powerful monsters exceeded the SS Rank, there wasn’t any monsters that powerful inside the crystal tree forest.

And if there had been one, it would have long since been killed off by the guild, as there was no way they would have allowed such a powerful monster so close to their main city in the northern region...

"Hm? Something is up ahead." And as the two stepped into the central part of the crystal tree forest, it didn’t take long before Verdell found himself sensing something off about foliage up ahead, causing Valerie to tense up in preparation for a battle as the two of them slowly moved closer to the disturbed foliage before Verdell silently raised his hand to signal for her to stop.

"This... A trap?" Examining the foliage that had been disturbed up close, Verdell, relying on his vast experience, soon enough realized a trap was hidden within the disturbed foliage. "One that was laid down recently..." And at the same time also the fact that the trap had been placed down recently.

"Trap? Is it perhaps those adventurers targeting the crystal bunny? Can we just wait here for the crystal bunny to show up and snatch it before they can get it?" Hearing what he said, Valerie instantly perked up as she asked curiously.

"Maybe... I can’t tell for sure, it might have been someone else, but the chance of that is low. In my opinion, it would be best for us to proceed forward slowly following the tracks left behind. After all, even if this was a trap set up for the crystal bunny, it might just be one of countless backup traps in case their original traps closer to the nest of the crystal bunny fail." Shaking his head as he said this, Verdell didn’t agree with just waiting around hoping for the crystal bunny to come their way.

Understanding very well that if this trap was the main one, there would have been no way those other adventurers targeting the crystal bunny would have simply left it behind.

"I see... Then let’s go~!" Nodding her head in understanding of his explanation, Valerie didn’t fight back and happily agreed to follow along, something Verdell felt thankful for, as the two of them slowly made their way around the trap before Verdell ended up slowly deducing the direction that the adventurers who had created this trap had gone in.

Luckily for him, the other side hadn’t made much of an effort to hide their movement. Clearly not anticipating any adventurers entering the forest from the direction they had entered the crystal tree forest through. Making it relatively simple to follow in the steps of the adventurers that had laid down the trap.

The only real problem they ran into was having to avoid the traps those adventurers had placed down along the way, as Verdell and Valerie slowly began to realize just how meticulous these adventurers were when it came to traps, as by the time they finally got close to the group of adventurers, they had passed by at least a hundred unique traps. Essentially having to step carefully to avoid triggering any of these traps.

After all, the traps weren’t just the standard step up it and it activates, as there were also magical traps that relied on detecting magical fluctuations close by to trigger and intricate string traps concealed with unique powder that made the strong themselves invisible.

Understandably, they had ended up triggering the latter of these traps, though Valerie’s quick reaction had saved them from getting crushed by the large boulder that had seemingly materialized out of thin air above them.

A kind of luck the local monsters didn’t share, as several other traps along the way had ended up being triggered ahead of time by these locals. Leading to several dead monsters being present along the way.

In a sense, it was also because of these dead monsters along the way that the two of them didn’t worry about them triggering one of the traps potentially alerting the group of adventurers that had set up all these traps.

After all, if they had truly been alerted, they would never have a chance to rest with how the local monsters kept running into their traps without pause.

Maybe the reason they set up so many traps in the first place also had to do with these local monsters.

Having anticipated that some of their traps would get lost to these locals...