Chapter 14: Chapter 14 – Dark Forest

Today, the sun was shining again. Nemu and Trewy were lucky. After they left Tempest the weather was good. Some clouds were seen but no rain. Hopefully, the weather remains good. Because today they will leave the road. The orcs were already far into the Jura Forest, but to build roads for every place in the forest? That would take years, probably even decades. Nemu and Trewy were fine with that. They both lived in the forest for all their lives. The woods were their natural habitat. Actually, they even liked it. Roads were practical but also boring. All of them looked the same.

 

Since they have left Tempest they kept talking. Trewy told Nemu many things about dryads he didn't know. Dryads were one of the most mysterious life forms in the Jura Forest. Besides only being a dozen they were known even outside the forest. They were the protector of the forest. So whenever someone invaded it, they defended the forest. And they were strong. Known as special A monster. Nemu read that in a book. There were several warnings not to attack the forest or the dryads will appear. They called this divine punishment. However, there was also another side. If humans get lost in the forest, and that did happen a lot, before the roads were built. Sometimes a dryad appears and shows them the way out. They were both, a curse for anyone who wanted bad for the forest and a blessing for everyone who was in danger. Nemu understood why many red slimes were so grateful for them.

 

But, besides them being known as the guardians. There wasn’t much known about them. Fortunately, Trewy told Nemu a lot. Dryads are a form of tree spirits descended from the fairy races, as close to a form of spiritual life as one is likely to ever witness. They served as the guardian spirits for the forest. They rarely leave their sacred dwellings. That was something Nemu reminded of the other red slimes. They also weren’t interested in the outside world. Only Nemu and Trewy were different. Dryads are immortal. But every few hundred years a tree spirit drops a seed before it decays. And that's how Trewy was born. Besides having the same name, she was given by the Fairy Queen herself, she doesn't have any memories about her former life. Also, Dryads are servants of the Fairy Queen, they have a close affinity with elementals and are able to summon their powers in battle, which makes them formidable opponents for every attacker.

 

Nemu was also interested in something else. What if they get attacked? Trewy told him that their current body is nothing but a half spiritual half physical vessel for their consciousness and if someone would actually be able to defeat them, they would just get into their physical form, their tree, again. However, before they get a spiritual body again it could take years. So running away is always a valid option!

 

Nemu really wanted to visit the place the Dryads lived. It was known as a sacred place. Nobody but fairies are allowed to enter it. Fortunately, there was an exception. Red slimes. That's also the place where the dryads brought the red slime when they found them. Why? Because slimes were considered as a natural part of a forest. They were different from all other lifeforms. Also Dryads didn't see them as spiritual life forms, they were part of everything. And red slimes were considered an anomaly. But one of the good kinds. The birth of a red slime told the dryads that the forest was healthy and so they decided to help them. Nemu often asked himself why red slimes are even born. Now, for the first time, he got an explanation. But it wasn't enough for him, he will investigate further and solve the red slime mystery by himself!

 

And that's the story of the Dryads. Nemu once again was convinced that he would never learn something like that in a classroom or in a book. Well, not yet! Because he will definitely write a book about Dryads! Obviously, without any crucial information. He promised that to Trewy.

 

“Aren't you mad about the roads and the town?” Remu asked curiously.

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“Well, they destroy the forest don't they? Aren't dryads supposed to protect the forest?”

 

Trewy laughed. It was amazing for Remu to see how she had changed in such a short time. After they left Tempest she was still shy and rather quiet. But after talking for a few hours she was like a different person. She told her stories, laughed and made jokes. Remu wondered how much contact she had with other races before.

 

“Remu, they don't destroy the forest. They just replace parts of it. Where trees were, are now buildings or roads or fields. For us dryads, it's still the forest. Just... different. However, some dryas had the same thought as you. But that immediately stopped after the Fairy Queen and Veldora returned. We all agree now that Tempest protects the forest like we dryads protect them. Just different.” Trewy explained and Nemu agreed after thinking about it. She was right.

 

And now, they were finally there. The end of the road. For two days they were walking on the paved road and now it's finally time to enter the forest again. For Nemu, it was just a week, but it felt longer.

 

The forest in this place was dense. The trees were high and the leaves didn't leave much sunlight through them. It had a spooky atmosphere. Fortunately, they both didn't need light. Even in complete darkness they would be able to see anything. Magical perception was really helpful in these kinds of places. But it was also dangerous. There weren't any intelligent species in such places. At least known species. Simply because it was easier to live in less dense parts of the forest. However, the monsters here were focused on hunting in the darkness. So they had to be careful.

 

“Ready?” Nemu then asked.

 

“Lets go.” Trewy answered.

 

As expected, it was very quiet in the forest. It should have been a day march to the lake, but only after an hour they started to miss the sun. Nemus' magical perception was extremely helpful. After he got his name his perception reached a point that he can perceive every mana fluctuation in a kilometer radius. And so, they were able to avoid every monster. And there were many of them. Some of them big. Some of them small. All of them dangerous.

 

But... they were in the forest for about 6 hours now. There were many monsters they had to avoid in the beginning. However, in the last hour. Not a single one. The forest was quiet. No monster, no animals, only the wind that came frequently through the treetops was to be heard.

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“Something is wrong.” Nemu said in a quiet voice.

 

Even without Nemus' perception, Trewy was also aware of it. It shouldn't be that quiet. Not even a bird in the treetops. She let her eyes circle through the forest. Never would she have imagined that silence could be more scary, than the sound of monsters. As a dryad, she was usually safe in the forest. Every intelligent race respected the dryads as the guardians of the forest. Even the wolves, who were probably the most aggressive intelligent race in the Jura Forest, wouldn't dare to attack a dryad. Also, they were strong and there wasn't a single known natural inhabitant a dryad would lose to easily. But again, there were still many unknown races. Also some of the monsters had very unique hunting methods that would even defeat way stronger opponents. However, that wasn't the case for mindless monsters. Some of them attacked on sight. Those were also the monsters that would attack slimes.

 

Nemu and Trewy were still calm. If they got afraid by the silence, they wouldn't be good adventurers. But that obviously didn't mean they should be careless. Minutes passed and they weren’t moving, just looking around. And still, not a single sound was to be heard.

 

“Hmm, what should we do?” Trewy broke the silence.

 

“I guess we should go ahead. It's not like we have a choice anyways. Maybe we can just skip whatever is here.” Nemu answered. There was this curiosity in him. Actually, he didn't even want to leave and rather find out what was different here. But... he also knew that that would be very reckless. Maybe he will come back some day when he is stronger. For now, he would leave another empty spot on his map. Or not...

 

It was then... After a few more minutes. They suddenly stopped. They didn't hear or sense anything. They just couldn't move anymore. Like they were frozen in place. Noted to be here that Nemu was a slime. For him, to not be able to jump anymore. It was something he had never experienced before. There was no weight or pressure. And it was the same for Trewy.

 

“What... is happening?” Nemu asked out loud. And... like he summoned trouble, he finally saw something. It was like hairlike threads were all around his body. They were so small that it was impossible for him to see them before. And then, it was like they were beginning to glow in a light blue shine. The threads were flooded with mana from an unknown source. Not only the threads around his body began to glow. It was like the entire forest was drowned in a blue light. On the ground, around the tree, even every treetop was surrounded by these threads. How did they not notice this before? They couldn't see them because they were too small, they couldn't sense them because there was no mana in it. 'That's an... incredibly effective hunting method.' Nemu thought. Maybe not the right moment, but he was impressed.

 

Fortunately, Nemu was still able to see everything. “See” might be the wrong word here. His ability to see was entirely based on his magical perception. So if he wanted to, he could always perceive his full surroundings. However, it was different for Trewy. Nemu looked at her and saw that she couldn't even move her head. Only her eyes moved quickly back and forth. In her face he could see that she wasn't even able to open her mouth. What is this? It couldn't be poison. Nemu and Trewy were immune to poison. A paralyze effect? But Nemu wouldn't be able to think about it too much.

 

“Something is coming.” Nemu said. As a slime he could create sound waves that functioned like a voice. Sounds weird? Think about it, in order for you to speak, you move the air past your vocal cords, which makes it vibrate. It's not very different.

 

Nemu thought back about his way to Tempest, but he couldn't think about a situation that was as dangerous as this one. Honestly, not even close. He wasn't panicking, but he was also everything but calm.

 

And then, they heard weird sounds. First quiet but then louder. Steps? No. Nothing humanoid. A clacking sound on the ground. Something was approaching them calmly. Unfortunately, it wasn't just a single being. There were a lot.

 

Finally, they saw what trapped them. Spiders. Dozens of them. They differed in size. Most of them were the size of Nemu, but some of them were bigger. Easily ten times the size of Nemu. Even an adult human would have to look up to them. But besides the difference in size, they looked identical. They were black as night and with their thin eight legs they moved forward as if they were running over a meadow. Every obstacle was avoided. Around trees they moved sideways. Not slowing down, like the inevitable doom. Nemu had seen spiders before, but they were small. The size of a coin. He didn't even know such large spiders existed.

 

Right before them, they came to a stop.

 

“Uhm, hello?” Nemu said. They must be intelligent. Nemu was sure about that. Something that could build a trap like this couldn't be a mindless monster. And... if they are intelligent, you can talk to them. It's time for Ambassador Nemu! He took a short glance at Trewy who was staring at the spiders with wide open eyes.

The spiders didn't move. They looked like they were waiting for something. All 8 eyes of the spiders were still on Nemu or Trewy. Let's just hope she doesn’t have arachnophobia. 

 

And then, they began to move. All spiders simultaneously.

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