Chapter 62.5

Cale turned away from the shocked Paseton and looked toward the swamp. The swamp was as wide as a lake and pitch black. He spoke to the rest. “It is a pretty large lake. It is large enough for multiple huge ships to fit. It is also unique compared to other swamps because this swamp is black.” It was the most fitting spot to explain the reason for the name of the Forest of Darkness. This swamp was the only actual black spot in the forest. “...I didn’t expect it to be so big.” Witira let out her admiration. She then took a gulp after looking at the swamp area. Cale understood why she would have such a reaction. All of the plants were either black or brown, yet they were not dying, and instead they were extremely vibrant. “It must be poison.” Cale nodded in response and tightened the mask on his face. He also tightened the laces on his shoes and put on some gloves. The rest of the party followed suit. They could hear Cale’s voice coming through the mask. “The plants here have grown up with in the poison and have mutated to survive in the environment. Although it might not be a deadly poison, they all have some type of poison within them. Be careful and make sure the plants do not touch your skin.” That made Paseton think about the mermaids’ poison and quickly, make sure he was completely covered. He then felt that something was odd. “...Hong?” The red kitten strolled past him. Hong looked toward Cale and dashed into the swamp region after seeing Cale nod. Witira tried to reach out and grab him, but it was too late. “Hong!” Hong did not have a mask nor anything on him. Witira looked toward Cale with shock, but Cale did not seem to be fazed. Witira then heard Hong’s voice. “Delicious!” Hong was wagging his tail and chewing on a black plant. Cale stepped into the swamp region as well and approached Hong. “How is it?” “It’s just a paralyzing poison, but it is tangy!” Cale sternly commented to the excited Hong. “Slow down, you might choke. Eat slowly, but eat a lot.” “Okay. I feel like I am getting stronger.” Cale snarkily commented to the Whale siblings, who were still blankly standing outside the swamp region. “Are you not coming?” The Whale siblings slowly entered the swamp with chaotic expressions on their faces. Cale slowly led them closer to the swamp. Thankfully, the brown ground and black swamp were easy to differentiate from each other, so there was basically no danger of falling into the swamp lake. That was why Cale was able to quickly inspect his surroundings. “Paseton.” “Yes?” Paseton was standing there with a stiff expression on his face, acting as if that blank expression from earlier had never existed. Cale pointed to a location nearby. “Looks like someone was here recently, doesn’t it?” There were some marks on the ground and lots of footprints. Since the monsters did not come to this area, there was only one explanation. “I will investigate it.” Paseton immediately went to investigate and Cale turned away from him. The ingredient from the swamp that made the mermaids stronger. The evidence they left behind gave Cale a good idea of what it might be. “...Looks like there is a good chance it was the swamp itself.” There were many marks on the ground next to the swamp. They probably didn’t care about hiding their tracks, since they believed that nobody would come here. Tap tap. Cale stopped looking at the swamp and looked down after feeling a tap on his leg. Hong seemed to be really excited, as his mouth was covered in black and he was rubbing on Cale like he was trying to be cute. “I want to try drinking the swamp too.” Witira, who was next to them, flinched, but Cale did not care as he responded to Hong. “Wait for now.” Hong’s ears fell. “...But I want to get even stronger.” “Why?” Hong peeked toward the Black Dragon and his sister, On. A large hand patted Hong’s head at that moment. “Don’t think about useless things and take it slow. You’re already stronger than I am.” “But everyone is stronger than you are.” Cale lightly patted Hong’s head and told Hong to go over there and eat some other poisons. Cale thought about how he would make On and Hong stronger in the future before turning away. However, that made him immediately start to frown. ‘What’s wrong with him?’ The Black Dragon seemed to be acting odd, as he continuously tilted his head to the left and right. At that moment, Paseton approached. “There are no signs of digging up any of the nearby plants recently. However, there are many signs that they are doing something to the swamp itself. Based on the marks, I would say they were here between two weeks to a month ago.” Cale looked toward the wide swamp and responded. “It looks like they gathered up some of the swamp.” “That does seem to be the case.” Cale was about to speak after seeing Paseton and Witira looking serious. However, the Black Dragon approached at that time and Cale started to frown. “Why did you take the mask off?” “It was not a familiar scent, but a familiar scent of mana.” ‘What?’ Cale started to get the chills. The Black Dragon pointed to the swamp with his short front paw. “There is a familiar scent of mana here.” Cale started to frown even more. The Black Dragon confidently added on. “There is the scent of dragon mana in the swamp.” Cale urgently looked toward the black swamp. This extremely vast swamp was massive, but Cale was thinking about the size of an adult or ancient dragon. “Of course, there is no sign of life in the mana. It is just a very weak trace.” These words were the final blow. The unbelievable thought in Cale’s head quickly became the reality. He then also felt like he knew how the mermaids got stronger. There was a dragon corpse inside the swamp.