Stone Wall

Even after Black Vultures' flock had somewhat dissipated, the Cloud Forest was still a dangerous and mysterious place.

In the areas away from where the Shadowcat and the birds normally stayed, there were various other types of monsters and buildings, forgotten remnants of the region's past. Huts, towers, and entrances to deep caves, none of these were uncommon to find there. Walking through these areas would normally be dangerous for any player. Giant wasps, skeletons, or goblins could suddenly appear.

Luckily for Klaus Park, he was walking along with a local native, who had recently gotten used to walking out of the way of these monsters, so the risks were somewhat reduced.

Therkara Ironstone was walking in front of the newcomer, pointing out the best trails they could walk through. Her observation skills were amazing; it seemed that the endless fog was not an obstacle for her, as if she could see through it and see the trails as if she were in an ordinary forest on a sunny day.

"You are more impressive than you look." Klaus felt compelled to congratulate Therkara.

Just like a few minutes ago, Klaus Park's words sounded as good to the woman as an anvil falling hard on her head.

"Thank you, I think..." She replied, scratching the back of her neck in embarrassment. "By the way, Kaizen, why were you here in this forest? Are you lost? Or worse, did I get in the way of some other mission of yours?"

"Don't worry about that. I wasn't on a mission exactly. I was just hunting some Black Vultures to get myself evolved as fast as I can."

"Lucky me then. Ah! I almost forgot to ask you something." Therkara suddenly turned back to ask. "How did you take down that tree?"

Klaus could say that he made the tree fall, without using his hands, using possible mage-green skills, or simply wind magic, but since the woman-smith was an NPC, Klaus didn't bother to tell the truth.

"That? Well, I can move things with my mind." He stated, and with a flick of his right index finger, he lifted one of the four Huko Arrows in his quiver.

The wooden arrow, whose tip was slightly green, levitated gently and landed in Klaus' palm.

Therkara Ironstone was awestruck in the same second. "W-what!? I've never seen that in my life!"

Klaus Park was not consistently praised, so he was flustered upon hearing those words and wanted to change the subject quickly.

"Forget about it. For now, it's no big deal..." He spoke, carefully putting the arrow back into the quiver so as not to blow it up. "Now that I've answered your question, it's my turn to ask. You said you woke up here a few days ago, right? Why didn't you ask for help from other pla—."

*Smack*

Just as Klaus was about to finish his question, he suddenly bit his tongue.

"Are you okay?" Therkara Ironstone questioned, concerned.

Klaus was confused for a moment but soon spoke again. "I am fine. I was asking: why didn't you ask for help from another playe—."

*Smack*

Once again, Klaus bit his tongue hard. 'What the hell is that!?' He thought angrily and a theory popped into his mind simultaneously. 'Ah! I can't refer to players as players when I'm talking to NPCs, is that right, developers? You smart guys...'

'Are you sure you're all right, Kaizen? If you like, we can stop and rest for a while. You were hunting, and I got in your way, didn't I?"

Denying with his hand, Klaus quickly replied, "It's nothing. As I was asking, why didn't you ask for help from the other people who passed through the forest these past days? Was I the first person you saw?"

Hearing the rest of the question, Therkara Ironstone looked down, looking annoyed.

"I don't know why, but all the people I tried to talk to simply ignored my cries. Others even seemed to hear me, but soon started running as far away as they could."

With his dead fish eyes, Klaus clapped his hands together a single time as if he had finally understood something. "They must have believed you were a ghost just as I thought at first."

A vein popped out of the woman-blacksmith's forehead at that moment, and she laughed angrily. "Hehe! Yes, maybe..."

Despite Klaus Park's sincere words, deep down, Therkara Ironstone was happy to finally have someone to be with her and listen to what she had to say. The Misty Woods is always so quiet that the silence itself is sometimes astounding, and the monsters lurking around every corner are as frightening as the Scorpion-spiders in the cave.

However, with Klaus by her side, the whole feeling of constant danger was more bearable. He was tall and had slightly muscular arms, and the look on his face conveyed confidence. In addition, Klaus looked ahead with such focus that it surprised the blacksmith lady.

After a few minutes of walking through the forest of crooked and dry trees, they finally arrived at what appeared to be one of the borders of that frightening region.

However, there were many things different about this new place. The dry branches of the trees were filled with dense spider webs that practically mimicked the full appearance of a tree laden with ordinary leaves.

Curious, Klaus Park approached one of these trees on his way and stretched out a finger to touch the web. As soon as his finger touched that, he could feel how slimy and mushy it was, which disappointed him a little because he expected something like a cotton thread.

"Be careful with those webs in the trees, Kaizen. The spiders have probably released acid and other fluids into those webs to try to capture whatever comes near their home." Therkara warned him, continuing on his way without looking back.

'Fluids?' Klaus thought and immediately began waving his finger to purge whatever was still in it.

Together they continued on their way until they came across a huge, natural stone wall, and this was just the footer of an even bigger hill.

The lady then turned back, pointed forward, and said to Klaus:

"We have finally arrived. This is the place where my people's Blacksmith Village is."

Therkara Ironstone pointed to the large wooden door with metal hinges that were immovable in the wall of the hill.

This door was just over ten feet high and wide, and Klaus couldn't even imagine how old that was. The wood still looked intact, but the iron on it was in a worse state than rust, as if time had literally corroded the metal.

Although the door was ajar, indicating easy access to the mountain's cave, numerous lines of webs ran through the five meters between the forest and the wall. In addition, above the door was a large crack, and spiders were crawling in and out of this crack.

The real challenge now began, but Klaus already knew one thing: getting through to the cave without being seen by the spiders would be impossible.

...

Edited by: DrHitsuji

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