The Forest of Awakening

The Forest of Slumber.

In order to deal with the impending crisis, the Adventurer's Guild and Anna had each sent out a team of scouts.

Meanwhile, Byrne, as the Lord Mayor, provided the resources.

"Did you find anything on your end?"

Cusosith asked his subordinates while scanning the surroundings with his eagle-sharp eyes.

His voice rang out from the ear studs of every member.

These ear studs were a magic tool for transmitting sound.

And were standard equipment for adventurers.

"No."

Despite investigating for a long time, they couldn't find any useful information.

Be it the adventurers sent by the Adventurer's Guild or the intelligence investigators sent by Anna, all of them were very familiar with the Forest of Slumber.

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that the Forest of Slumber was their backyard.

Thus, if they said they didn't find anything, then they really didn't find anything.

Hearing their response, Cusosith heaved a sigh of relief. This was good news.

If there were no abnormalities, it meant that they still had a lot of time to prepare.

"Who knew something like this would happen?" Cusosith was Anna's subordinate, her right-hand man.

He had seen the images in the Recording Crystal and understood the seriousness of the situation.

Just the thought of large numbers of berserking monsters made his scalp tingle. It didn't help that these monsters were advancing towards them.

God knows how many people would die at the hands of these monsters.

Just as Cusosith was about to deliver the next set of instructions, a hurried voice came through his comms.

"Wait. Something's wrong."

"What is it?"

Upon hearing this, Cusosith responded immediately. The other party also reported what he saw without delay.

"Report. Capitan, I'm currently in the Nine-Eyed Spider's nest and the whole place is empty."

"Empty!?"

The Nine-Eyed Spider was no stranger to Cusosith. It was one of the more dangerous monsters in the Forest of Slumber.

It was one of the toughest monsters that new adventurers encountered in their early days.

Compared to normal monsters, the Nine-Eyed Spider was an extremely rare mental-type monster.

Recalling the information about the Nine-Eyed Spider, Cusosith immediately realized something.

As a mental-type monster, its senses were much keener than other monsters of the same level.

If the Nine-Eyed Spider's nest was empty, it could only mean one thing. They had sensed danger and decided to leave the Forest of Slumber.

"Captain, what do you think?"

Cusosith did not answer the question. Instead, he checked in on the team members who were exploring other places,

"The rest of you, stay sharp. Do you see any wild beasts or monsters? Normal or red-eyed?"

"No captain."

"Nothing here either."

…

Upon hearing their reports, Cusosith took a deep breath and said,

"Not finding anything is the worst case scenario. It looks like the monsters and beasts in the Forest of Slumber have all ran away after sensing the impending danger."

"No way!" Most people's first reaction was disbelief.

After all, it was winter now. Many wild beasts and monsters could just be hidden away in their nests, hibernating.

"This is the truth." Kusosi didn't care what his team members thought. But instead of lying to himself, he'd rather assume the worst and be prepared for it.

"Roland, you head back first and report the situation to Miss Anna."

"Yes sir." The investigator named Roland was the one who was in the Nine-Eyed Spider's Den. After hearing the captain's words, he immediately turned around and ran towards Gainsborough.

"Is that necessary?" Even at this point, there were still members who expressed their doubts.

"Very necessary. The disappearance of wild beasts and monsters is a warning that danger is imminent. If we ignore it, we might put the entire city's inhabitants in danger,."

Cusosith explained patiently, all while silently noting down the hotheaded newbie who dared to question him.

Recently, there were too many newcomers who were eager to show off. It was time to catch one and make an example out of him.

"But what if you're wrong?" That person still refused to give up.

"All the better, no?" Cusosith said in response.

As soon as he said that, everyone was stunned. Some of the more experienced veterans immediately understood what Cusosith meant.

To the baffled rookies, Kusosi said this,

"I'd rather be wrong."

The hotheaded newbie kept his mouth shut after that and the investigation continued.

Just as everyone was about to enter the Forest of Slumber to investigate further, a voice rang out.

"Boss, Terry is missing."

Upon hearing this, a few investigators who were quite close to Terry immediately started paging him.

But no one responded.

"We've lost contact with him."

Cusosith's heart sank. That which must come, would come. Losing people was a common occurrence in all dangerous investigations.

As the leader of these people, the only thing he could do was to make sure that their deaths were of some value.

He could not, would not let them die in vain.

"Which direction is he in charge of?"

"The direction of Boundary River."

Upon hearing that, Cusosith ordered,

"Bring back the news that there might be a problem at Boundary River."

"Yes sir."

"The rest of you, listen up. We're going to head towards Boundary River together."

"Understood!"

Upon receiving a response, Cusosith immediately changed directions and headed towards the river.

After some thought, he said,

"Be prepared to not make it back."

The other investigators were taken aback by the captain's words. Then they got a hold of themselves and said,

"Don't underestimate us."

"Everyone dies at some point. We're prepared for this."

Even the greenhorn who was questioning Cusosith earlier expressed conviction.

"Exactly. It's just a matter of dying early or late."

——————————————————-

Gainsborough South Gate

"It's just going to be us four?"

George looked around, his gaze sweeping across Vanessa, Clayton, and Celia.

During their little tea party at the Divine Temple, Vanessa made a request to George and Celia, inviting them to accompany herself and Clayton to where they had spotted the red-eyed monsters to find out more information.

Considering the threat posed by the Devil's Apostles, George and Celia decided to agree to her request.

However, to George's surprise, only the four of them were on this mission.

He had thought that Vanessa would bring along more Temple Knights.

To this, Vanessa's explanation was,

"If we're just heading there to understand the situation, having more people would just get in the way. Furthermore, with our strength, even if we were discovered and got into a dangerous situation, we'd be able to escape easily."

Upon hearing her words, Celia nodded thoughtfully and echoed,

"Indeed. In such a situation, mode people would only be a burden."

"Speaking of which, we're probably the third batch of scouts."

"The third batch?" This stunned Celia for a moment before she caught herself again.

"Does this mean that the guild and the Lord Mayor each sent a team?"

"Hehe." Vanessa chuckled, her sweet laughter tinged with mockery.

"No, with the way Lord Byrne is, I don't think he'd send a scout.

"I see. So it's Sister Anna?" Celia nodded to herself. As Gainsborough's largest intelligent broker, Anna had her own investigation team.

Once Celia understood the situation, Vanessa turned to the two of them and said,

"Therefore, apart from collecting information, if necessary, we must also provide backup for our fellow investigation buddies!"

"Got it, then let's go!"

With that, George, Noxkaius in hand, turned around and led the point while Clayton rounded out the rear.