Chapter 43- Omae wa mou Shindeiru

when i have nothing to say here, I shall say some facts about Simon... even if u aren't interested, u must listen...

Simon had less than 30 people he would actively call friends.

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Ash flew because of the wind. Harris village, A human settlement that was the closest to the Forest of Darkness. Despite being near a very dangerous place, This village was a really peaceful place.

But, it didn't seem very peaceful right now. The ground was black. Completely burned down. No signs of houses, all that was left here were the burnt-down structures.

If Choi Han saw this place, he would be sad. This place was where he found the second family that had given him warmth when he first escaped the forest of darkness, It wouldn't be a surprise if he shed tears.

Meanwhile, Cale thought about how this place seemed to be more than just a stepping stone for the growth of the main character.

It was a feeling but Cale decided not to deal with it if there was really something more to it. Harris village was Choi Han's home. Cale wouldn't interfere much...

But, As a Henituse, he would give a proper place of rest to the dead.

When Simon saw this burnt place, He felt weird. Seeing this place here made Simon remember that he had been in this world for well over 2 months. (2 months and 2 days to be exact)

Time went by a bit too quickly for Simon. His previous self would have never believed that he would one day get a bit emotional remembering his lifestyle.

Simon shook his head and walked towards the others.

Currently, It was the middle of the night. Simon, Cale, Witira, Paseton, the black dragon, and Hilsman were currently beside the walls that separated the Harris village and the Forest of Darkness.

Witira and Paseton were currently acting as Cale's guards. Witira currently had her hair, eyes, and even face changed. The same for Paseton. They looked like normal people now.

The black dragon was also visible. There was no need to hide from Hilsman as Cale had revealed the existence of the Whale siblings and the black dragon to Hilsman.

If you asked Hilsman, he would say something like...

'It's really surprising that Young Master Cale is like this.'

Hilsman remembered the moment when he was questioning why Cale was going to the Forest of darkness, Hilsman didn't think it would be a good idea to go to such a dangerous place...

But, The opinion changed immediately.

The image of Witira holding her water whip, Paseton holding a sword, a literal dragon, two beast people(the cats), and...

Simon, who was coincidentally having an invisible Zero take out an apple from a basket, which looked like an apple floating once Simon extended his arms was enough.

It was enough to make Hilsman recognize the monsters that he was living around. What even more surprised him was the fact that all of these strong people seemed to listen to Cale.

Except for Simon, who didn't seem to care about anything around him. But, Hilsman knew that Simon was a very strong person, who was also Cale's friend.

In fact, Hilsman could consider Simon as Cale's closest friend because Hilsman never saw many people around Cale's age near Cale.

Choi Han was someone that fit the qualification but Cale and Choi Han didn't seem that close to Cale. They seemed to have a good relation but Cale and Simon were clearly better friends.

Leaving Hilsman's impression on the people there, Everybody was ready to enter the Forest of Darkness.

The thing that made the Forest of Darkness dangerous wasn't the forest itself but the beings inside the forest. For some reason, the monsters and beasts inside had mutated.

Of course, Simon knew why the monsters were mutated but nobody here except him knew about it.

"In the forest of darkness, There are two swamps."

Cale was telling the information he had to the Whale siblings.

"One of them is surrounded by many monsters while the other swamp has no signs of living beings near it."

"The mermaid poison is something you are very familiar with. Right Paseton? If there are no living beings near the second swamp, where do you think the strengthening factor for the Poison came from?"

Paseton fell into deep thought and spoke.

"The second one."

Cale nodded his head. Even if they were wrong, they could just head to the other swamp.

Suddenly Witira spoke up.

"Are you sure about bringing the kids?"

"Huh?"

"I mean, We are suited for such jobs. Plus, if that swamp has no living beings near it, wouldn't it be more dangerous to the children?"

Before Cale could respond, On spoke up.

"No, we won't."

"Huh?"

This time, Witira was the one surprised. On's response wasn't the one she expected.

"Will I be getting strong today?"

Hong also spoke up but was asking Cale rather than Witira.

"Yes"

As Hong could use poison, he would get stronger after ingesting more poisons.

Witira and Paseton, who had confused facial expressions were ignored by Cale. He didn't want to explain more since they would see it soon enough.

"Let's go"

It was Simon who spoke this time, which surprised the people around a bit. All the serious mood made Cale look like the leader but Simon saying that kind of messed up the vibe.

Simon also knew this and didn't want to ruin Cale's boss moment but the time it was taking was a bit too much. Simon wasn't gonna stay patient for now since He would soon be getting a look at Dead Mana, an adult dragon's body, and his favorite Ancient power.

The cheapskate's Fire, the Glutton's shield, the Rock's rocks, the thief's wind, etc. These were all flashy but one of the favorite Ancient Power of all the fans would be the Dominating Aura.

Not because it was flashy but because of how it made Cale seem. And Boy did it make Cale look cool.

As a Cale simp, Simon was clearly going to be excited about the power that made Cale look the coolest.

"What? We have already been standing here for a long time."

Nobody knew how to respond to Simon. Despite being blunt, He was correct.

Hilsman coughed a bit at the slightly awkward environment.

"He is correct. Let's go."

This time it was Cale who spoke. And the people moved.

Cale's body began to float while he carried the kittens in his hands. He used the Sound of the wind to quickly hop over the wall.

Witira and Paseton looked at each other. They took a few steps back and ran towards the wall before jumping.

Suddenly water surrounded their feet and they climbed the wall easily. Next, Hilsman was sent to the other side by the Black dragon using magic.

As for Simon, he had his puppets make a sort of stair for him and climbed up. It would have been easier if he also used the black dragon's magic but Simon thought this was a cooler way to do it. And he was correct.

His figure casually walking up in nothing but thin air made him look cool in front of the Whale siblings.

Cale, who knew how Simon did it sighed internally. One of the few things that hinted at Simon being a kid was the fact that Simon wanted to show off like this...

After Simon climbed up to the top, he looked in front of him...

There was the Forest of Darkness in its full glory. A very large jungle. This place looked like any other forest.

Nobody would believe this place was one of the rumored 5 forbidden regions of the continent. But, if anybody tried entering this place alone, all that would be left will be their records.

Not a single bone of that unfortunate person would be found.

Simon jumped down while using Zero to cushion his landing. (i tried)

Cale and the co had arrived here at the midnight and now the sun was already rising. This could show how much time they had spent outside.

The others also came down.

"You said that this place was divided into regions?"

Cale nodded while petting the kittens in his hands. He lowered them on the ground and they quickly ran towards Simon, who picked them up and put them on his shoulders.

"The forest is divided into inner and outer regions."

Cale took out a map.

"The swamp we are heading to is near the border between those two regions."

"I am removing my magic."

The black dragon declared his intentions before removing the magic on the Whale siblings. Witira and Paseton returned to their original looks and thanked the black dragon.

The black dragon perked his wings slightly at the thanks before flying towards Cale.

"The mana here is dark."

"Dark?"

"There is also a smell."

"Smell?"

"It's something I am familiar with... but I don't know what it exactly is."

Cale looked at the black dragon with a confused facial expression.

"Is it anything dangerous?"

Simon, with the two kittens on his shoulders, chimed in on the conversation.

"No, It's not. It just seems like a very old smell."

Cale decided to not probe into the matter very much if it wasn't dangerous.

Witira also walked near them and asked,

"How will we go to that swamp?"

Cale didn't respond but opened the map he was holding. The map was terrible. There weren't that many details.

But, it had a Stone mountain and multiple circles around it with the location of many places. Where did Cale get this map?

He actually made it from the information he had from the novel BoAH.

Cale and the others entered the Forest of Darkness. Unlike the expectations of others, this place was filled with occasional shouts and roars of the monsters.

Cale was busy making and recording more information on his map. After a few minutes, the group encountered their first enemy.

Around 20 monsters had confronted them. Cale looked at the monsters and smiled. These monsters looked like Goblins but were purple in color.

Actually, they were called Honta, monsters from the eastern continent. Cale decided to take care of them himself. He wanted to check how strong he actually was.

But, Although Cale wanted to test his strength. He wouldn't be careless. He thought that facing 20 of them was a bit too much.

Before Cale could ask the others to take care of them, Simon stepped forward.

"Can I deal with around half of them?"

"huh?"

The others were shocked but Cale thought that Simon must have also had the same idea.

After a few sentences, Simon was allowed to take care of them to practice.

For what?

Well, Seeing it would be better.

Simon walked forward and looked at the group of Honta's running at him. He smiled a bit before speaking in a cold voice.

"Omae wa mou Shindeiru"

Simon's 'Nani?!' didn't come as the Honta's weren't able to understand what he said. And the other factor is that they were dead.

Simon had eliminated half of them and looked at the other ten approaching him. He turned around as he only promised to take care of 10 of them.

That's when he suddenly felt something hit the back of his hand. Simon looked at his hand to find a dart on his white hand.

'Oh shit'

Simon quickly took the dart out. At first, Simon had seen that there were 20 enemies, but these sneaky monsters were actually 21.

Soon, the rest of the Honta's were also dead.

"..."

The others looked at Simon with a dumbfounded look. From their perspective...

Simon walked towards the enemies approaching him. He spoke something in a cold voice when suddenly two of the nearest Hontas had their heads smashed to death.

Suddenly, another 8 fell down and simultaneously had their head smashed.

Simon was about to return back but was stopped for some reason, then turned back and killed the other 10 approaching Hontas without touching them.

What they didn't see was that Simon was hit by the Honta's in the back of his hands.

Simon started to feel a bit dizzy and felt the need to puke...

'Shit, I should have been more carefu-'

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yo, so sorry for the late chapter... family matters. nothing much.

i didn't write this chapter earlier bcuz i didn't know what to write... so i will probably post another chapter in a few hours...if i am awake by that time