Chapter 62: Just Destroy It (4)

We should get there in about an hour. Cale put the now accurate map back in his pocket before looking at his group. Drip, drip. Drops of blood were dripping from On’s sharp claws. “Grr, Grrrrrr.” A small monster that looked like a fox was twitching on the ground from being poisoned. The Black Dragon came over to report. “All done.” Close to twenty of these fox-like animals were dead. ‘They really are getting stronger with experience.’ On and Hong could not learn properly because they had to live in hiding as they had run away from their tribe. The Black Dragon naturally lacked experience after living in confinement his entire life. Cale was using the Forest of Darkness’s monsters to quickly fill those gaps in their training. “Should I have fought as well?” Where else would he get an opportunity to safely build experience? The Black Dragon and the kittens all abruptly turned their heads as Cale mumbled to himself. “Seems like a useless idea!” “Weak human, it is too much for you at this point. One day is enough.” “Our youngest is right. You spit out blood from using the shield too much last time!” Paseton let out a gasp. “...Ho.” However, Cale could see that Witira was just smiling brightly. He then saw her caress her whip with a determined gaze. That was the look of someone who wanted to fight. She really was a scary person. Cale quickly opened up his magic bag and gathered everyone around him. “Everybody put this on before you go any farther.” “Is it because of poison?” “Yes.” Cale answered Paseton’s question before putting the mask on the Black Dragon, who stuck his head toward him. “Human. There is a weird scent.” The Black Dragon frequently said this to Cale since a few days ago. “What is it?” “I don’t know. It is stronger here. It is something I am familiar with.” “It is probably poison or the rotting smell from the nearby plants.” Cale brushed it off and approached On. The Black Dragon that was ignored tilted his head while wearing the mask. The Black Dragon started to mumble, but the mask prevented Cale from being able to hear what he was saying. “...No. It is not such a trivial scent.” However, the Black Dragon remained quiet because it was not a dangerous scent. Cale then put the mask on On’s face. ‘Even Choi Han avoided this swamp.’ Choi Han had a pretty high resistance to poison. However, there was no reason to go through the swamp when there were many other paths in the Forest of Darkness while this path was messy and annoying. Paseton approached Cale. “It is really interesting that there are only two swamps in a forest this large.” “Really? I don’t think so.” Paseton could see Cale’s starting to smirk from underneath the mask. It was a pretty sly smirk. “You’ll understand once you see it.” Two swamps were enough. Cale verified that everyone had their masks on and checked their expressions. They had only been sleeping between 1 - 3 hours a night ever since they entered the Forest of Darkness. “You all look so healthy.” Nobody looked tired. “All of you really are amazing.” Paseton’s face scrunched up at Cale’s comment. He looked over to his sister and asked with his gaze. ‘Should he really be saying that?’ Witira shrugged her shoulders and avoided answering the question. Paseton turned back to look at Cale, who looked to be the healthiest of the group right now. Paseton then looked toward the Black Dragon and the kittens. They rushed over to look after Cale whenever they thought Cale was tired. Of course, Cale was full of energy thanks to the Vitality of the Heart, but nobody else knew about that. Witira continued to caress the whip on her arm as she asked Cale. “Young master Cale, is it our turn now?” Cale pointed with his foot instead of responding. Right there was the boundary between the outer and inner regions. “Grrrrrrrr.” “Caaaaaaw!” “Squeeeeeak-” A plethora of noises poured out toward Cale as soon as he stepped past the boundary. He then proceeded to speak to Witira, who took a step past the boundary as well. “Go.” A humanized Humpback Whale. This ruler of the sea was not the type to be careful. “It’s your turn.” Flick. Witira flicked her whip as soon as Cale finished speaking. Boom! A large crater was created on the ground from the flick of the whip. “Grrrrr.” “Keeeeeeeeee.” “Squeeeeeeak.” The noises disappeared. Witira, someone whose strength fell between Choi Han and the Black Dragon, was itching for a fight. Her heart had been beating wildly while looking at the better-than-expected skills of the group. “Shall we hurry on?” She smiled and asked Cale as this mysterious young master responded back with a completely relaxed smile. “Yes, as fast as possible. I want to go home and rest.” Paseton let out a sigh after hearing what Cale had to say, before taking out his whirlpool sword. The enemies slowly started to reveal themselves in the now quiet forest. The boundary between the outer and inner regions was a location for monsters that were weaker than the monsters in the inner region, but the monsters in front of them were still much stronger than the so-called weak monsters outside. Mutant ogres, mutant trolls, spider-like monsters from the Eastern Continent, and even high-level monsters appeared. “The monsters here really are different. They still want to fight, even after seeing Dragon-nim.” Paseton stepped forward and peeked back and forth between the Black Dragon and Cale. Cale nodded his head and gave an order. “Hurry up and fight.” “...Yes sir.” Paseton jumped forward and the battle between the strong monsters and the Whale siblings began. The monsters in the Forest of Darkness did not get scared, even in front of strong creatures like a dragon or members of the Whale tribe. In fact, it made them charge at them even harder. It was like they were fighting for their survival, thinking that they could not allow a strong person who could rule over them to appear within their Forest of Darkness. Cale leisurely watched for a bit until he saw a shield being cast, whereupon he asked the Black Dragon. “What about you?” “Too annoying to deal with those weaklings.” “Sure. Let’s go.” Cale started to slowly walk forward with the shield. Boom! An ogre’s body was split into two even pieces. Some of the blood spurted onto the shield. Flick. Boom! The sound of the whip was followed by the explosion of a giant spider, and one of the legs flew over and hit the shield before falling to the ground. “Watch and learn.” Cale walked through the battlefield in a straight line as he leisurely spoke, while On, Hong, and the Black Dragon all pretended not to care but were seriously watching the battle. The monsters that appeared in front of Cale who seemed to be on a stroll through the forest all disappeared thanks to Witira. Cale stopped once he could see the swamp in the distance before starting to speak. “This is now the start of the swamp region.” Boom. Boom. The mutant troll’s head fell to the ground before it was followed by its body. Witira flicked off the fluids on the whip as she responded. “Let us keep moving.” “Sigh.” Paseton let out a sigh as he followed his sister to Cale’s side. The Whale siblings suddenly stopped walking and tightly pressed their masks. It was because poison and a rotting smell entered their nose. At the same time, their eyes opened wide after seeing the swamp that was covered by large trees until now. “What do you think? Isn’t it fitting for the Forest of Darkness?”