Chapter 104: 104

Volume 4     Chapter 104

Side story 2 – Edgar’s Chapter: The Forest

Edgar raised his head a little. The sunlight barely penetrated the layers of leaves. Dense tree trunks were wrapped in drooping vines like rags. The sound of rustling leaves and chirping birds could be heard constantly. Monkeys and birds hanging from tall tree branches observed the strange being walking on his two legs. When a monkey reached out its long arm and broke a branch, the fruit hanging from it fell. The red fruit burst at his feet. A bit startled by the sudden movement, Ed looked down. Poisonous creatures such as snakes and scorpions roamed the ground. They were probably the most dangerous predators out here. The sudden realisation made him swallow his dried saliva.

The smell of decaying leaves permeated the jungle. Edgar’s entire body has been soaked with sweat for quite some time now as he had been walking for over half a day without yielding any results. The sun was going to set. Even during the day, the sky was barely visible, so at night the area would be completely submerged in darkness. He was in a hurry to find a place to hide. He turned his body to look about, hoping to find a suitable cave or clearing. At that moment…

– Paahhwooooooo! –

An unfamiliar roar echoed through the forest. Birds sitting on branches flapped their wings and took off. All the while the rustling sounds of leaves signalled that small unseen creatures were fleeing away. Edgar calmly looked around, not knowing what he had heard.

– Paahhwooooooo! –

– Thump! Thump! –

The ground under his feet vibrated. It was the gait of a four-legged animal. 

‘Is it a bear? No, it sounds much heavier and clunky than that. One, two…’ 

While counting, Edgar had an epiphany. The vibration that was getting closer was so powerful that it was beyond comprehension. Encountering only one of those creatures would be terrifying enough, thus knowing the actual number of creatures was pointless. He heard the snapping and breaking of wood. One of the beasts approached slowly, stepping on and crushing the fallen trees. Edgar recalled the path at the beginning of the jungle.

‘The endless wreckage of trees…’

The owner of the ‘road’ was coming.

Judging by the size that pierced the forest, it was highly likely that it was a giant animal. Edgar, who wanted to conceal his presence as much as possible, started to move quick but stealthily in the opposite direction. 

‘It would be nice if I could hide my body, but I can’t see a single cave nearby.’

He pushed forward frantically, cutting through leaves the size of his torso. Suddenly, Ed could only hear the rustling of large blades of grass. He stopped abruptly. The leaves that were in contact with his body fluttered, before falling still. At this point, the ‘prey’ could only hear his own breathing. There were no vibrations.

‘This isn’t good.’

Edgar involuntarily looked back. Green leaves three times the size of his face filled his vision. With bated breath, he slowly pushed away the leaves. Another blade of grass slapped his forehead. Edgar grabbed it by the edge to take it off. But, all of a sudden, the fine patterns of the leaf veins seemed to shudder…

– Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! – 

“Ouch! Wack! Aaaaaaagh!”

Edgar sprinted with all his might.

‘It’s only a matter of time before I get caught up…’

He hurriedly clung to the strongest-looking tree in front of him. 

‘Shit, it’s heavy, but I can’t afford to lose my backpack.’

Although the tree was slippery because of the vines attached to it, they also made it easier to climb as the loops served as a footrest. The chimpanzee at the top of the tree looked down at him, grabbed another tree with his long arms, and quickly disappeared. Edgar was sure. The predator was coming this way.

– Paahhwooooooo! –

– Boom! –

The tree shook violently. Edgar couldn’t withstand the shock and his foot slipped, fortunately he was quick enough to grab a branch. 

– Boom! –

This time, the impact was even stronger. Staggering, Edgar tightened his legs around the tree and looked down. It was a grey-coloured creature with large ears and a nose that he had never seen before. Even from above, the animal was the size of a house. The weird-looking beast had an incredibly long thick nose and a pair of white horns which he used to ram the tree. 

 – Boom! –

Broken stems and fruits fell over his head, in response Edgar hunched his shoulders. The monster roared loudly at him.

“That… What’s that?!”

 – Boom! –

Despite his disbelief, Edgar grabbed a vine and climbed up. But the higher he went, the thinner the tree became. It was obvious that if he went even higher, the tree wouldn’t be able to support his weight.

‘The tree looked really strong from above ground, but with that creature’s immense force, it will only be a matter of time before the trunk breaks…’

Edgar turned his gaze to the nearest tree. Unfortunately, his arms couldn’t reach that far. There were no surrounding vines that could act as ropes either. It began to dawn on him that there was no way out.

– Boom! –

Death shook his body more intensely than ever.

– Paahhwooooooo! –

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A second roar overlapped the first one. Creatures from all over were coming this way, bumping into trees. 

– Thump! Thump! –

The tree, which had seemed so strong, was swaying like a mere aspen. 

– Boom! –

His slipping foot lost its support and his body sank in a flash. Edgar broke some vines when he gripped them for dear life. 

 – Thussss…. –

Out of luck, a vine that was pulled from the tree got caught on a branch. Edgar lifted himself up and breathlessly held the tree like a sloth. Upon regaining himself, he looked down. Two more houses appeared.

‘Huh, one of them looks a bit weird… Is it carrying something on its back?!’

Even with his view turned, Edgar was confident that he wasn’t mistaken. On the back of that giant animal sat a beautiful creature. Although he was knocking on death’s door, his eyes gleamed with curiosity. The creature on the beast’s back had silver-red skin, long white hair, and its attractive eyes shone brightly amid the night. The creature’s delicate red eyes were fixed on him. Edgar completely forgot about the urgency of his situation and exclaimed.

“A fa..Fairy?!”

– Boom! –

The giant beast hit the wooden pole again. The shock was so heavy that his bones vibrated and he almost lost his mind. As he tried to find the fairy in his fluctuating vision, something whitish appeared at the corner of his eye. By instinct, a rescue request burst out.

“He, help me… Aaahh!”

 – CRACKKK! – 

As soon as he heard the trunk break, his body tilted forward… In the end, Edgar closed his eyes, accepting his fate of dying from falling out of a tree…

***

Edgar opened his eyes sparsely. As if on a boat, his body moved up and down. He soon lost consciousness again before he could inspect if it was indeed the sea…

After a while, he reopened his eyes. His vision was hazy this time. He had no idea where he was, but his body was no longer floating. He got the impression that he was lying on a flat surface, inside a cool structure. He could also freely move his fingers and toes.

He slowly regained his focus. The building was a stone structure elaborately made by human hands. Candlesticks and rugs adorned the walls. Edgar turned his head from one side to the other.

“Chanjamka!”

“Chanjanukha!”

Creatures with pink skin huddled together and shouted. Edgar’s eyes widened in surprise. Several pairs of red eyes were looking at him. He recognized at once that they were the same as the fairy riding on the monster’s back. The forest fairies seemed to have a similar appearance to that of a ten-year-old human. Their pale hair was braided and tied in all kinds of fancy ways, and they wore thin white robes that covered their whole body, also similar to humans.

“Azabu!”

A small hand popped out and pulled his hair. Edgar, whose scalp was tingled, said just one word.

“Ah.”

Normally, an exclamation of pain would be enough to make people stop, but it didn’t work this time… As if they all had been waiting, another hand came out and pinched his cheek, while the following hand moved back and forth between his nostril and his teeth. 

‘It’s true that they saved me as I requested, however, the longer I lie here, the more I feel my gratitude disappearing…’

“Swijika!”

“Awooo, swijika!”

Two fairies went even further, crawling on top of him and peering inside his clothes. Being surrounded by little, wiggling creatures was neither terrifying nor unpleasant. 

‘Didn’t I once read about a fairy half the size of a human who lived in ancient times? Is that why they’re so small? Because they’re fairies?’

In the end, he left them be.

‘A fantasy… No, as I don’t seem to have any energy, it is more likely to be just a dream… It’s definitely a dream. What better explanation can there be for the combination of monsters and fairies than a dream?’

He thought of focusing on his dreams to wake up comfortably. 

‘To dream, I have to close my eyes first…’

 – – – – – 

TN:

Hi guys! As you can see, we’ve got another foreign language. We used the ‘recognise language’ option from Google and we suspect it to be a language spoken in the east of Africa. We think it could be Swahili or Nyanja. However, it can also be a coincidence that the languages have similarities… As we’re not sure and we don’t speak any of the languages, we will refrain from trying to translate them (for now) and stick to the raw Korean translations. 

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