Chapter 4: Chapter 3 | The Encounter

Chapter 3: The Encounter

 

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Once again, when his senses returned to his body, the nature spirits' loud chirping was the first to be heard.

‘The Demon dog keeps hitting the gate! So fucking persistent!’
‘If it’s an obedient dog, I really want Florian to keep that dog as a pet!’
‘For destruction and revolution! Peace comes when you befriend your foes! Let’s ask Florian to tame it!’

Florian wanted to rest longer, but he couldn’t help but defy the crazy water ball’s statement.

“You crazy! Why would I tame that dog?!”

‘Oh, you finally woke up! You have fainted for over five hours!’

Even without the whirlwind telling him, Florian knew he had been unconscious for quite a while. Because the forest was washed in a blanket of shadow due to the moon’s glow hardly blessed it with any light, only enough to focus on the looming shapes of trees. But the nature spirits floating around him were clearly visible.

Above all, he sensed his pain again.

Damn.

Letting out a long, painful groan, Florian cried just to feel the sting of all his wounds; tears of pain just fell unnoticed. The long slash on his right leg required stitches to stop the bleeding, especially to cover the flesh, which seemed to frighten him a little.

“Haaaah… I can’t even stand.”

‘It’s alright! There’s no monster around, so take your time!’

Relieved by reassuring information from the only sane spirit, fire spirit, Florian sat to inspect the miserable condition of his body. He had wounds here and there, his clothes were torn a lot, and mud was covering the backside of his body. Even though in the dimly lit forest, his miserable appearance was clear. 

Frustrated, he flicked his eyes around, checking out the woods that had been wholly devoured by darkness.

And everything just simply frightened him.

Faint silhouettes seemed to be among the dark trees that stood eerie and unyielding, flashing him with curious gazes. The wind howled, carrying various kinds of vague sounds from afar. And the atmosphere was horribly quiet and frigid, making him not stop feeling goosebumps.

“Gosh… this place is even scarier than a graveyard.”

Florian was sure to be in the first region, the outermost region of the forest, which was said to be the safest. But this forest was far from terrifying, even for him, who spent most of his childhood in the woods.

The Forest of Gluttony was one of the five restricted places in the world that also became the border splitting the two great counties, Varaklich and Arcsvere. 

Why was it called the Forest of Gluttony?

A legend said that one of the seven princes of Hell, the Glutton, left behind many monsters, along with a dark power that caused them to mutate and get stronger. The Glutton was in a rage because beings in this world failed to fulfill their desire, hunger, and greed. And now the forest had been greedy to any living creatures entering the forest.

As the stillness remained, Florian remembered something he needed to study.

The statistic, he said in his mind.