Chapter 61: The Eerie Forest

The next morning, Lyss finished getting ready early. Under the attendance of the lovely little maid Rosie, he put on a sturdy and convenient adventure outfit, and then headed toward the Mercenary Guild with Velf.

Wearing a mage robe while adventuring in the wild was a pretentious and impractical behavior.

If Lyss possessed the strength to sweep through everything, perhaps he would do so, but for now, it was better not to.

At the entrance of the Mercenary Guild, Lyss waved for Velf to leave on his own and walked straight into the bustling guild hall.

"Over here, over here!"

The others had already arrived earlier. Yarla was waving and calling out to Lyss.

"We've been waiting just for you."

As Lyss walked up to the group, Jason said to him, "Take out your mercenary ID card to register, and we'll be ready to set off. The carriage is already prepared."

Lyss took out his Moriarty ID card and had the guild staff perform a simple registration.

Unfortunately, the clerk on duty today was not the broad-minded Miss Leah.

Lyss took back his mercenary identification card; the information on it had just been updated. Having completed a magical beast subjugation commission with the Yarla Adventure Team, he could now be considered a formal Bronze-rank mercenary.

"Let's go, time to depart."

Seeing that Lyss had finished registering the mission, Jason beckoned everyone to set off. The carriage they had rented in advance was already waiting at the guild entrance.

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Because this trip was somewhat longer and required overnight camping in the wild, Jason had rented a more spacious and comfortable carriage.

The destination of this journey was south of the Radiant City. As soon as they boarded the carriage, Lyss pulled out a bulky spellbook and began to study and research, magical auras flickering across his hands from time to time.

Lyss was currently seizing every single moment to absorb and consolidate his foundational magical knowledge.

Yarla and the others also stayed quietly in the carriage, conserving their energy and building up strength for the upcoming mystic realm exploration.

This commission might not be as easy as the previous magical beast subjugation.

However, this time their journey did not encounter any otherworldly monsters blocking the road. It seemed that in the relatively prosperous southern part of the kingdom, the sweeping and subjugation of various monsters were much more effective.

The two-day journey passed quickly for Lyss, who was immersed in studying. Aside from daily rest and the time spent preparing delicious food to relax, he poured almost all his time into reading spellbooks.

For Lyss, as long as there was a clear goal, burning the midnight oil was a minor matter!

His teammates also tacitly chose not to disturb Lyss, sensing that he was in a phase of rapidly increasing strength.

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At noon on the third day after departure, the carriage finally arrived near Kora Village, the destination of their commission.

Because this commission was quite urgent and the situation was relatively clear, Lyss and the others did not make a detour to visit the territorial nobles, heading directly instead to the area where the anomaly had occurred.

According to the map provided by the Mercenary Guild, Kora Village should be right at the end of this road.

Strange to say, however, right ahead of the dirt road where the carriage was traveling, a massive forest had abruptly appeared. The trees were lush and verdant with dense foliage, and among the woods, one could faintly see thick, intertwined vines, making it completely impossible to see what lay beyond the forest.

What felt eerie was that both sides of the dirt road Lyss and the others had passed were continuous patches of fields and wasteland, yet right here, without any transition, a row of dozen-meter-tall trees blocked the roadside directly.

It was as if someone had scooped out the core of a forest from elsewhere and placed it directly onto this land, abruptly cutting off the dirt road beneath their feet.

Seeing this, Jason called for everyone to get out of the carriage.

Lyss and the others also noticed the strange and dense forest before them, feeling somewhat surprised.

"What's going on with this forest? It shouldn't be recorded on the map, right?"

Elena asked. For some reason, the Elven ranger, who was naturally close to nature, did not feel the sense of belonging she should have from this forest.

"It's very strange. The map shows that walking another three or four kilometers down this road should lead us to Kora Village..."

Jason said with a furrowed brow.

"Could it be... The rapid plant growth mentioned in the intelligence report—this forest couldn't have formed in just these few short days, could it?"

Lyss looked at the emerald-green leaves and greenish trunks of the forest before him, his eyelids twitching as he spoke.

Lyss felt that his guess was probably correct, but this was simply too absurd!

Growing into a veritable sea of trees in just a few days?

Good grief, was this a magical version of the Tree World Birth!

"Something's not right!" Jason pulled back the restless Yarla, who was already eager to draw her sword and hack at the trees near the edge of the woods.

This forest exuded oddness everywhere; the task entrusted by the guild this time did not look simple at all.

Just as Jason was pondering how to gather some intelligence, he saw Lyss slowly levitating off the ground, rising steadily to a height of dozens of meters.

How did I forget there's a mage who knows the Levitation spell in the team!

Jason suddenly realized.

After observing for a moment, Lyss descended back to the ground.

"Any discoveries?"

Jason asked directly, and everyone's eyes turned toward Lyss.

Lyss shook his head and said, "About ten kilometers ahead from here is all similar forest, with nothing special about it."

"The only slightly strange thing is that the area covered by this forest seems to form a regular circle."

Lyss gestured with his hands; normal forests rarely took on such a shape.

"Is that so?"

Jason was somewhat troubled. It seemed that without entering the forest, no useful intelligence could be gained just from the outside.

"Hey—you few over there!"

Suddenly, a few figures came running from far off to the right side of the dirt road, shouting loudly and calling out to Lyss and the others.

Lyss glanced at them; dressed in standard-issue armor and appearing here, they must be the guard unit of the territorial noble.

"You lot, this forest is dangerous, do not go any further."

The figures ran up panting to Lyss and the others, the leader speaking breathlessly.

"Hello, we are the team designated by the Mercenary Guild to handle this incident. Here is the commission letter."

Jason took out the commission letter he had received from the guild before departure from his storage ring, handed it to the leader, and said, "Are you responsible for patrolling the surrounding area?"

The leader opposite took the letter handed by Jason, checked it, and respectfully handed it back.

He gave a knight's salute and said, "Hello, thank you very much for your assistance. I am Childe, a knight under Lord Viscount Ross."

"Hello, can you tell me what has happened in this area over the past few days?"

"Certainly."

Childe hurriedly replied. This was an elite mercenary group designated by the Mercenary Guild, much stronger than a bronze-rank warrior like himself.

"It's like this. Five days ago, Lord Viscount Ross arranged for a guard squad to investigate, and upon discovering that it was not something we could handle alone, he immediately sent people to ask the kingdom for help."

"On the very next day after the people heading to the capital left, the anomaly occurred!"