Chapter 174: Dump break

It had been a couple of hours since the squad had entered the Forest of Death. They were moving at a fairly good pace, having already reached about fifty kilometres deep into the Forest of Death.

The forest had grown increasingly dense, and the temperature had dropped with every kilometre they travelled. Even breathing in the frigid air felt as though the lungs were freezing from the insides, each breath leaving a sharp, icy sting in the chest. Apart from the towering, gnarled trees, bushes and thick vines were also visible now, though most of them remained hidden beneath the heavy, undisturbed sheet of snow that blanketed the forest floor.

"We have already reached so deep," Hugo whined, stretching his arms lazily atop his direwolf. "Why haven’t we seen any monster yet? Did the academy make a mistake or something?"

"Idiot, don’t jinx it!" Alisha shouted, her chubby face snapping towards Hugo as she fixed him with her sharp, coal-black eyes, her expression twisted in irritation.

"We are living in a modern era, yet you are believing in such superstition—"

Before he could even finish the words, a strange rustling noise came from the bushes beside them. All of them stopped abruptly, their eyes fixing on the trembling foliage.

Vlad’s hand slowly moved towards the hilt of his sword as the bushes shook again, sending small cascades of snow tumbling to the ground.

A rabbit shot out from within the thicket. It darted across their path in a blur of white fur and reached the other side, disappearing into the undergrowth.

"What the... it’s just a bunny—"

Following the rabbit, a serpent-like vine snapped out from the bushes. Its end was connected to a crimson bud.

The vines coiled around Hugo’s leg with lightning speed, yanked him off from the wolf’s back, and dragged him inside the bushes before anyone could react.

"Aaaaa!!!!!" Hugo’s scream slowly vanished into the distance beyond the bushes, fading into the silence of the forest.

"I told that idiot not to jinx it," Alisha sighed, shaking her head in exasperation.

"That was the limb of a Demonic Orchid," Seraphina revealed to Vlad, her tone remarkably calm and composed. "It has multiple vine-like limbs which it uses to catch its prey and bring them to the main body. It was most likely hunting that bunny, but when it saw a bigger prey, it decided to grab Hugo instead."

Vlad looked back and forth between Alisha and Seraphina, his jaw dropping in sheer bewilderment.

"How could you two be so calm?" He demanded, his flabbers completely gasted. "Senior Hugo was just taken away by a monster. Shouldn’t we go and rescue him?"

"Don’t worry about that idiot," Alisha replied as she guided her fox towards the bush. "From my calculations, the nuisance must have been already dealt with by now."

Vlad wondered exactly whom she was addressing as "nuisance" as he and Seraphina followed her through the thick bushes. A few metres ahead, at the edge of a small clearing, a massive flower as large as a fully grown human stood in all its grotesque glory. There were dozens of vines swaying around it like menacing limbs. One such vine had Hugo suspended inverted mid-air, dangling helplessly above the gaping maw of the flower.

"Please save me!!" He called out to the group in desperation, his voice cracking with terror.

Vlad tightened his leash on Shadow, bolting towards the flower. However, he was too late. Before he could cover the distance, the vine released its grip from Hugo’s legs.

As his body fell freely into the centre of the flower, several sharp, jagged fangs sprouted from the petals, glistening with some viscous fluid.

Gulp!

The petals enclosed themselves swiftly, engulfing Hugo whole in a single motion.

"No, senior Hugo!" Vlad called out, his eyes widened in shock.

Sensing the approaching danger, all dozens of its vines shot towards Vlad like striking serpents. He unsheathed his sword and sliced through them with precision while Shadow skillfully dodged any that came for it’s legs, weaving between the attacks with graceful agility.

As Vlad’s blade cut through the vines with surprising ease, his eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Shadow, stop."

The unicorn skidded into a stop only a few metres away from the flower, its hooves kicking up snow.

"Oh, so you realised," Hugo’s voice came from within the flower, muffled but unmistakably smug. Several thin lines appeared along the flower’s petals before it was cut down into countless pieces by a flash of steel. From within, Hugo emerged, completely unharmed, carrying an irritating smirk that made Vlad’s brows twitch in annoyance.

"The vines were so weak that they didn’t even need Mana Blade to slice them," Vlad muttered, turning around his unicorn. "No way they could drag a Sentinel Knight against their will."

’The fuck? They were not that weak to be dealt without Mana!!’ Hugo exclaimed inwardly, quickly cancelling the mana that laced his sword. ’What kind of monstrous strength does he have in his arms to cut down the vines of a Demonic Orchid without mana?’

"Ah-haha, exactly," he nodded awkwardly, sheathing his sword as he stepped out of the remains of the flower, brushing off a few stray petals from his cloak.

He turned to Alisha and Seraphina, who had watched the entire show from behind with distinctly disappointed looks on their faces. "You two really break my heart. We have been in a party for almost six months, yet the one who rushed to rescue me was a junior."

"Exactly, we have been in a party for a long time," Seraphina repeated his words dryly. They were already well aware of his strength, hence the reason for their calm demeanor when he deliberately let himself be abducted by the vine.

"Your acting was so bad that I felt cringe all over my body," Alisha growled as she also turned her fox around. "It should have been better if you became the food of the Demonic Orchid."

"Hey, that’s so mean," Hugo shouted, pointing accusingly at Alisha, but she didn’t bother to look back.

’He had me worked up for nothing,’ Vlad sighed inwardly, shaking his head in mild annoyance as he guided Shadow back to the group.

They had only just hit the road again when Raphael arrived above them on his griffin, the massive beast casting a fleeting shadow over the snow-covered ground.

"What happened? Why did you all slow down?" He asked, his tone loud to reach the ground.

"It’s nothing, Hugo had to take a dump," Alisha replied, waving her hand dismissively.

"That’s not tru—"

"Hah... it’s not even been five hours since we left the academy," Raphael sighed, cutting Hugo mid-sentence. "He should have freshened up before leaving."

Hugo was about to clarify, but then Alisha spoke up again, "That’s something he should have thought of. Slowing down the whole team with him. Or perhaps, he just loves to mark the territories that he visits."

"Hey! You can’t just keep spouting nonse—"

Again, before Hugo could have any say in the matter, Raphael continued, "I cannot comment on anyone’s kinks. Nevertheless, I came back to inform you that the path ahead is completely covered with floral monsters for a whole kilometre. After crossing it, we will reach our destination."

At this point, Hugo completely gave up on explaining himself. The poor guy seemed to be on the verge of tears, yet none bothered to feel pity for him. On the contrary, Vlad felt quite satisfied from the collective roasting of Hugo by Alisha and Raphael.

Raphael’s gaze shifted to Seraphina as he continued, "Lady Seraphina, any further instructions?"

"Scout the numbers and rank of the monsters at the destination and wait for us there," Seraphina ordered in a calm tone. "We will soon catch up."

"I understand," Raphael replied before flying away on his griffin again, the wind from his departure stirring the snow around them.

"Commoner, come here," Seraphina ordered Vlad, her eyes fixed on the treacherous path ahead.

Once Vlad had reached beside her, she explained, "The floral monsters are weaker than feral monsters. Even the strongest floral monsters in the explored region of the Forest of Death are only Rank Two, which can be dealt with by Sword Aura or Two Ring spells. However, that doesn’t mean they can be taken lightly. Their absurd numbers make up for their low individual strength. If you keep fighting them, they will exhaust you of your mana and leave you vulnerable."

"So are we supposed to find a different path to move ahead?" Vlad asked after carefully listening to her words, his hand resting thoughtfully on his sword hilt.

"No, why shall we?" Seraphina asked, tilting her head with an amused expression. "We will move right through them. I explained all this to you so you won’t waste your time and energy killing them. They are just hurdles in our path. We will pave a way right through them without engaging in prolonged combat."

"Alright, thanks for the clarification," Vlad replied, unsheathing his sword, his one hand tightening on the reins. "Let’s go."