Thundering Willow Timberland

It was early morning when Peter and Henry entered the Thundering Willow Timberland, a forest so massive in size that it spanned through the Thule Kingdom and two of its neighbors.

-" From the information I got, the area where my daughter went missing is quite far." Peter's face was serious as he observed a small map. " They were exploring some parts of the Crocodile's Brook, so we need to be careful as there are plenty of monsters there."

-" I'm counting on you then." Henry smiled as he peered deep into the forest. " I'm quite weak so forgive me for not being able to help much in battles."

Peter wasn't sure if Henry was serious or not, he always had the idea that the mysterious man who helped his son was some sort of hidden master. " Don't worry, I won't let anything touch you." Nonetheless, he decided to trust the man's word as he had shown goodwill to his entire family.

The duo entered the forest on high alert, while the outer parts of the Thundering Willow Timberland weren't so dangerous, the whole area was still considered one of the most dangerous places on the continent.

Peter traded carefully, paying attention to every single detail around him. " Hurry can only lead you to death when you are in a place like this." He wasn't walking slowly, but, he wasn't running either. "Just a moment of carelessness can cost your life." A shadow lunged at them from the sides just as he finished speaking.

In a lighting fast reaction, Peter twisted his body and punched in the direction of the attack. A loud cracking noise echoed through the forest as Peter's punch sent the shadow flying away.

Henry was frozen with shock, only noticing the attack after Peter had already repelled it. His eyes widened as he saw the black leopard barring his fangs, and blood leaking from his caved-in snout.

Peter didn't give the leopard any more chances and moved once again, his hands were engulfed in a small blaze as he dashed toward the monster.

The leopard let out a small howl and jumped straight toward him, its menacing fangs shone with a metallic hue as if they were sharp daggers.

Henry watched the battle in awe, each of Peter's punches caused small explosions that rocketed the area. The leopard prowled around Peter, looking for an opportunity to sink his fangs into Peter's body, but, each time he tried to attack he was thrown back by Peter's flaming firsts.

After a few bouts, the leopard's body was blanketed with wounds, and his speed slowly went down, making it easier for Peter to finally give it a finishing blow.

Peter smiled as the leopard jumped at him once again, he intertwined his fingers and swung his hands like a mace at the beast's skull.

Peter's hand burst into flames, almost like a meteorite crossing the sky, a loud boom echoed again, yet this time, the ground below Peter caved in as the leopard's body crashed into it.

Henry gulped as he saw the hollowed-out head of the leopard, he wondered if he had any chances against this monster, but, he soon shook his head in defeat. His biggest advantage was the mysterious metal door, but, he knew that the leopard would kill him way faster than he could retrieve the door from the system.

-" It pains me to leave his body here, but, we need to get going." Peter looked at the body of the leopard and sighed, he knew that he could fetch a good amount of money if he brought it to the city.

-" Why don't you put it in your spatial ring?" Henry was also interested in the monster's body as he needed to begin to gather stronger treasures for the system.

-" Huh? There is no way that my ring was enough space for this thing." Peter shook his head in defeat, even if he took all of his belongings out of it, the leopard's body couldn't fit inside it.

-" Oh? Right!" Henry finally realized that all the spatial treasures he found were kinda small, he never really paid attention to them as he always stashed things inside the system's inventory. " I have a bit of space left in mine, do you want me to take care of it?"

Peter was surprised that the man had such a big spatial treasure, and accepted the gesture. He even offered to split the body with Henry when they were back in the city.

Henry stored the leopard's body in the system inventory and they began to move once again. The system's map was filled with red dots, and Henry felt the urge to go and gather all of them, but, the constant howls echoing through the forest made him give up on this idea.

Henry grinned as he began to daydream about finally begin able to go on an adventure in a dangerous place like this by himself. He was sure that if spent two days in this forest, he would come back with the system's inventory overflowing with extremely rare treasures.

-' System? Please highlight the Brave Soul Necklace energy signature.' Henry prepared himself as they were quite close to the location where Peter's daughter went missing.

-" It's just over there." Peter's face was anguished as he saw the river not so far away, the Crocodile's Brook was a famous place, as it was quite dangerous for a place on the outskirts of the Thundering Willow Timberland.

Before long, the duo reached the river and began to follow it. Peter was confused as to what type of method Henry was using to search for his daughter, he never stooped to look for any tracks or leads, and just kept walking around the area.

-" Nothing here too." Henry sighed as he kept an eye on the map. " Why don't we go search the other side of the river?"

Peter's face slowly went pale as they went up and down the entire Crocodile's Brook and its surrounding areas,

-" Maybe I'm too foolish to continue to look for her, all other families already gave up." Peter was full of anguish as he sat down to rest.

-" Other families? Did more people go missing too?' Henry was surprised to learn that Peter's daughter wasn't the only one missing.

-" Yes, eight people went missing during this mission, about half of the group that departed."

-" Eight people?!" Henry looked around in fear as he learned about the seriousness of the situation. " Don't tell me a big monster ate them ———" Henry held back his words, as he felt that blurting out such words would be rude to grieving father.

-" Eight people just in this expedition, plenty more people disappeared around here before my daughter's group." Peter lowered his head, talking about this made him even more saddened.

-" So many people are missing at the kingdom isn't doing anything?" Henry was baffled by the situation. " What are they even doing?"

-" The army is too busy with the Drasta Empire to do anything else;" Peter clenched his fist, he knew that no one would move to find her daughter and her companions.

-" Drasta Empire?" Henry knew that this was one of the biggest neighbors of the Thule Kingdom. " Is something big happening?"

-" Don't you know? The Drasta Empire is in preparation for an invasion, at least that is what the king is fearing." Peter took a deep breath as he calmed his nerves and was ready for another round of search. " Almost the entire army is on the border of the Drasta Empire, so he can't do anything."

Henry was baffled by the news, he always knew that the Thule Kingdom was just a former shadow of its glory days as an empire, but, he never thought that the situation was so bad.

-" Let's search a bit ———" Peter was about to ask henry to continue the search when he heard a buzzing sound.

He quickly turned around and trembled in fear. - " Fuck! Golden Sting Wasps!" Peter turned around and began to run, his face completely dominated by fear. " Follow me!"

Henry's body moved instinctively, he didn't know what was happening, but, he knew that anything that made someone like Peter tremble in fear wasn't a good thing.

-" Water! We need water!" Peter ran like a madman, he periodically looked behind him, only to increase his speed.

-" Water? Isn't there a river nearby?" Henry felt his body tingling in danger as he looked back and saw a swarm of wasps coming toward them.

Henry bit his lips as he put his entire focus on running away, but, his speed was too slow to escape the swarm.

-" Get down!" Peter's face twitched in panic as he saw the wasps almost engulfing Henry.

Henry threw himself on the ground as he saw Peter letting out a flare towards him, he sighed in relief and gazed at the swarm being engulfed in flames and slowing dispersing, however, before he could react Peter grabbed his collar and pushed him.

-" We need to dive into the river!" Peter didn't waste any time and dragged Henry throughout the forest towards the Crocodile's Brook.

Henry was puzzled as he thought that the swarm was finished, but, his face soon froze in fear as he saw an even bigger swarm completely covering the sky. Henry flailed around as Peter dragged him, tears poured out of his eyes as he stared at the gigantic swarm.

-" Dive and don't surface!" Peter shouted in warning as he jumped into the muddy river.