Volume 1 Chapter 25: An Odd Barrier

(Walson)

"Eh? You're back already? Did you tie them up properly?" I had Grace take them back to the base after healing them with my potions.

I also instructed her to tie them up tightly.

Due to her Enderpearls acting as waypoints, she can bypass the teleportation range limit and go in between them as she pleases.

Currently, Grace has four Ender Pearls.

She has gifted me with one, and we placed another in the secret base. She has two more on her person, and hasn't found any need to use them just yet.

It seems like the pearls automatically appear when Grace's level of strength increases. How convenient.

Right, back to the present.

I sent her back with the adventurers, told her to tie them up, and she immediately reappeared a few seconds later.

"... I didn't."

"Eh?"

"... Not good with knots." Grace said this with a slightly embarrassed look.

Ah, it seems like she doesn't know how to use ropes. I guess I should have Melon do it instead?

In the end, Grace took Melon with her back to the base, and then they both returned by homing on to the ender pearl on me.

We finally moved on after using up about ten minutes for the entire rescue (*ahem*, capture) of the adventurers.

We came all the way here by following the marks of the withering, and always went towards the direction of heavily affected areas. But after coming to a certain point, the withering of the land is too serious and widespread for us to gauge the direction by judging the severity of the withering.

On the way here, we also encountered a handful of monsters and magical beasts.

[Curse of the Wither].

All the ones we came across shared this trait. Melon and Grace dispatched them with ease.

Every single one of the hostiles is below LV35. But heading to a certain direction will always lead to stronger enemies that exceed LV35.

If we go by my experience with games in my previous life, this could be a lead that will get us closer to the heart of the corruption.

{Party has gained 766 EXP}

{Party Member_Melon is now LV27}

Melon nonchalantly broke a giant mantis in half before my eyes, and we continued to walk through the bog.

After witnessing the adventurers we helped earlier from fighting, I have come to the conclusion that Melon and Grace are abnormally strong.

Did you know? We encountered an even bigger snake. But it was instantly killed in one-shot.

The two of them finished it without losing a single point of HP under ten seconds. How powerful are they, really?

The boggy marsh we are walking through is slowly starting to turn black, which confirms that we are heading in the right direction.

More monsters came our way, and they had a noticeably higher level of [Curse of the Wither] status on them.

The environment is taking its toll on the girls, though.

Grace in particular, is having trouble casting spells quickly. The humidity is strong enough to give her a strange debuff-like status that lengthens her cast time.

Still, she still casts really quickly despite that, so hopefully, it won't make too much of a difference.

As for Melon, her keen senses have the side effect of being weak against strong stimuli. The unpleasant smell of the black boggy marsh is making her crinkle her nose and placed a perpetual frown on her face.

"... Hm?" I stopped in my tracks.

The two girls also stopped.

What lies before us is a huge rocky wall one would see from a mountain. You could raise your head and look upwards but could not see the top to climb over it.

But according to my [Mini-map], it should have been nothing but the trees and the jungle in front of us.

What's going on? Is my [Mini-map] broken!? Unfathomable!

Could it be... an illusion?

No wait, it's solid!

"Master, is something the matter? Does it have to do with this mountain?"

"How strange... there shouldn't be a mountain here."

Melon and Grace both see the wall in front of us, so it's not just me hallucinating.

But... What concerns me is that the [Mini-map] shows that there are more hostiles beyond the wall, wandering.

There is absolutely no reason this tall wall should be here if that is the case.

I pondered this strange situation while keeping an eye out on the [Mini-map], assessing our surroundings.

There seems to be a gigantic tree inside the rocky wall, which isn't impossible. Is my [Mini-map] actually malfunctioning? No, no, that should be impossible...

'Ah! Could it be something like a portal disguised as a wall of stone?'

I took a few steps back while that thought ran in my head.

And proceeded to dash toward the wall at full speed.

AH F*CK! THAT HURTS!

I rolled on the ground in pain while I cradled my beaten face.

"Master!?" "... Walson!"

"Argh, ah. I'm alright." Very painful.

I reached towards my [Inventory] and took out a chunk of bread which I proceeded to chow down.

The lump on my head gradually disappeared, but the pain remained as I grit my teeth and stood up with a painful expression.

... This is also another ability I have gained from Minecraft. As long as my belly is full, I will be able to regenerate from all kinds of injuries.

The extent of this power has not been tested yet since I am reluctant to harm myself, not like I would really willingly cut my arm off just to satisfy my curiosity.

So, this isn't a portal that we could walk through, my senses have given me pain as a testament of that.

Wait... senses?

Could it be that this is a sort of illusion that fools the senses? Like, I actually didn't bump into anything, but my brain thinks I did?

Speaking of which, it did not feel like I ran into a wall of rocks... More like running into a wall of glass instead.

What is this? A barrier?

"Grace."

"... Walson?"

"Could you take us into the inside of this mountain?"

"... Then get stuck in rocks?"

"If anything bad happens just come back out. You won't die while being stuck in rocks for a few seconds."

"Master, this idea is a bit crazy." Melon objected, but still proceeded to hold onto Grace's wrist.

"... Nn." Grace was silent for a moment, and then took my hand.

In the next instant, my vision went black for a moment, and I was immediately greeted by light and the sight of the dark boggy ground.

Twisting my head backward, I see a thin layer of something that looks like a barrier and looking past it is exactly where we stood just a second ago.

Ain't this barrier a bit too clever!? No one would ever be able to get through this under normal circumstances.

Not only did we have to teleport with Grace, I wouldn't even notice that something was wrong if it wasn't for my [Mini-map].

"... Impeccable prediction, Walson."

"As expected of Master."

"Aah, I told you both that you really shouldn't praise me like that. I will blush." I scratched the back of my head, and then reflexively shot a string of spider web with my left hand.

The spider web struck a [Kirin Horse], which I proceeded to fling towards Melon without really thinking.

"This is..." Melon punched it twice, then kicked it away with a high kick.

Hang on, a [Kirin Horse]?

"Kiuuuuu..." The monster that has the appearance of a horse stood back up after being attacked by Melon and bared its teeth at us.

[Fairy Kirin (Young)_LV47_HP:2842/3542_Status: Curse of the Wither (IX), Frenzy_Title: Fairy Tree Guardian]

Wait a moment, what the heck is this? It looks quite strong! And... that level, it's the highest level I've ever seen on a monster!

And the Combo attack from Melon just now only did less than a thousand.

This isn't good.

"Master, what do we do?"

"... The source, found it." Grace stared intensely in a certain direction.

I followed Grace's gaze and saw a gigantic tree.

... If I were to judge it according to my experience from my past life, it looks like it is extremely old, one millenia is probably the minimum.

[Ancient Fairy Tree_LV?_HP:276591/9765121_Status: Wither, Curse of the Wither (X)_Title: Ancient Fairy Symbiont]

There are countless black... things twisting and twining on the tree trunk. It's also spreading.

What is this? Is this a monster? No... wait.

#... Hurry ... Leave ... Can't control ...# A voice resounded through my head.

I saw Melon and Grace frown in confusion. It seems like they must have heard it too.

Was that... telepathy?

[Fairy Kirin (Young)_LV48_HP:3678/3678_Status: Curse of the Wither (IX), Frenzy_Title: Fairy Tree Guardian]

[Fairy Kirin (Young)_LV47_HP:3542/3542_Status: Curse of the Wither (IX), Frenzy_Title: Fairy Tree Guardian]

There were two more equine looking Kirins behind the tree, but did not try to attack us.

All three of the Fairy Kirin held madness in their eyes, but do not seem hostile at all. It almost looks like they are being controlled.

... Hmm, judging from all those different kinds of games I played in my past life, someone or something placed a curse on the tree which affected the guardians of the tree as well.

Alright! If the source of all this trouble is the tree, then we just have to settle it here.

If my guess is correct, then that telepathic message must have come from the tree in front of me.

Too bad, Mr. Tree. We won't be heeding your advice. Backing out is not an option I would want to take.

"Melon. Grace." I called out to the girls, and the three Kirins seemed to become restless in anticipation.

"Yes?" "?"

"No killing. Don't go for the kill, aim to incapacitate. We're giving them [Milk] afterwards."

#No... please... escape... Kill... Ah... AaAAaAAAaaaHHH!# There came another telepathic message, which I promptly ignored.

"KIIIIIIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" The Kirin that was bound by the sticky webs managed to break free and quickly dashed towards us.

"Yes, Master." "... OK."

I smiled, then shot some sticky webs forward.