46: Forest

The Black Academy was built in the depths of a mountain range and the school itself was built on top of a mountain.

There were huge trees all over the mountains and once a person entered the range of these trees it would very easy for them to be lost.

After entering the forest, the countless trees acted as natural camouflage. It had always been the hunting ground of many predators. Wade could still recall that when he first arrived here he had not been able to see all this.

[Alert! Alert! An unknown creature is approaching. Threat to the Host's body: Low!] Abby warned.

As Abby's voice sounded, light blue lines formed an image in Wade's vision. From the projection, Wade could very clearly see a red boar running towards them.

"Whoosh!"

A red shadow suddenly leapt out from the grass and viciously stuck at Sam's side.

Sam's expression did not change as the cleaver in his hands swung down, knocking the red shadow away.

The red shadow fell on the ground and revealed its true appearance. It was a wild boar that was two metres in length, with faint traces of blood on its body and with huge tusks.

"This is an Iron backed Blood Boar, be careful of its charge!" Freya warned.

Right at this moment, Jill, who was behind them, suddenly struck and three arrows were launched towards the beast.

The Iron backed blood boar's body collided with the three arrows, the first two couldn't penetrate its skin but the last one slashed at it as it passed, leaving a gash.

"Hah!" Suddenly, Sam ran forward and swung his cleaver down on the boars's head. He had applied enchanting spell on the blade making it's power no less powerful than a spell with only using little mana. With a cold flash, the head of the snake was cut off instantly!

The boar's body, which had lost its head, continued its charge for time before it fell, still bleeding profusely.

"Only the tusks and the skin of this Iron backed blood boar is useful. Whoever wants to collect the materials better hurry and do so now. The blood will attract many other living organisms here!" Sam slowly spoke while putting away his cleaver.

"I will do it!" Karon stepped forward and, after a short while, the five of them continued on their journey.

"Abby! Was the information from earlier recorded?"

[Beep! The recording is done! Iron Backed Blood Boar. Strength: 3.1, Agility: 2.1, Vitality: 3.6. The blood sample has been collected and the composition of muscle has been recorded!]

Abb's feedback was timely. Wade nodded his head and hastened his footsteps.

.....

In a dark, oppressive forest filled with a thick, wet fog.

Even the harshest sunlight was unable to penetrate the low clouds and gloomy fog, so anyone walking through this area would feel a constant chill on their skin.

There were small, foul-smelling ponds everywhere one looked. These ponds were inhabited by a myriad of strange creatures.

Whenever wanderers visited, this desolate and silent land would become a paradise for those creatures, many of whom fed on flesh and blood.

Ghouls, Demonic Rats, Scavenger Crows, Nightmare Ghosts, and Giant Alligators. Each of these terrifying demonic beings made travellers avoid this place like the plague.

In the forest, a group of six could be seen walking on a bloody trail.

The bloody trail in front of him kept winding as it led into the depths of the misty forest.

There were weird plants of all sizes, which could be barely seen on both sides of the path.

There were short and thick, cone-shaped trees, small leafy plants that curled around in a spiral, vine-like rattans that brushed against the top of his head as he walked under them, and amazingly coloured, mystical flowers.

Though all of this made it seem like this was just a normal forest, Wade knew very well that he should never leave the group.

For all those animals and plants, which were able to survive in this magical forest, were frightening demons who would eat every little bit of the humans they encountered, not even leaving their bones behind.

Those plain-looking short trees were actually quite frightening. If a person got close enough to them, their curled up branch would instantly expand, grabbing and holding the person within its tight clutches.

At that moment, the bloodsucking rattans, which were hanging on these trees, would coil up around that person, poking countless sharp thorns into their body, slowly sucking the blood out of their body, drop by drop.

After the person's blood was completely dried up, the remaining skin, flesh, and bones would become the best fertilizer for these killer trees.

If someone could ever safely dig out the blood-red soil underneath those killer trees, they would certainly discover a huge pile of skeletons, some of which belonged to humans, some of which were animals.

Without doing this, there was no evidence of any of the prey these plants had devoured!

There were two reasons why the Academy was built near the forest which groomed these demonic plants. First, it was to prevent the intrusion from other humans. Second, it was so they could harvest some unique magic materials from the plants.

The root of the Killer Tree and the blood sack that grew within the body of the Bloodsucking vines were both good tonics.

They were a beneficial supplement for Apprentice who didn't have a good physique. On a regular basis, the apprentice had to take the risk of being attacked by demon plants to harvest materials. Therefore, this was a dangerous task, which had a very high death toll.