Chapter 50 – Forest of Twilight

The moment we passed through the Gate, the world transformed completely. This was the distinctive air of a forest.

It was extremely dark, but this wasn’t a situation where simply using Night Vision Magic would solve everything.

When using Night Vision Magic, the pale blue mist drifting through the forest would appear to glow faintly, which actually worsened visibility instead. Therefore, in Dusk Forest, you couldn’t rely on magic to secure your vision.

There was a more important spell to cast first. To counter the Whisper Mushrooms that would cast Sleep magic on us, we had to use Psycho Field magic.

“…What are those glowing flowers?” Sheila asked while keeping watch of our surroundings.

Floating in the darkness were faint lights in pale greens and purples… a spectrum of colors glowing dimly. Depending on how you looked at it, it might have been a fantastical scene.

“Those are Fairy Lights. If you pick them and carry them, they should serve as substitutes for light. But be careful – if you use fire as a light source in this forest, all the surrounding plants will attack you at once.”

After I answered, Sheila scanned our surroundings and frowned. Yes. While it might be fantastical, this was a dangerous place.

The mist drifting through this forest… was actually the pollen from the Fairy Lights.

Dusk Forest was a place where peculiar plants that didn’t require sunlight grew in clusters. Naturally, the ecosystem had become quite strange as well.

The plant groups that attacked anything with fire weren’t classified as monsters.

That said, you couldn’t just indiscriminately cut down every plant that obstructed your path – because the trees here served as the Labyrinth’s walls, and if you went too far, the Labyrinth would create walls to block you off.

You couldn’t use shortcuts like passing through walls or floors. In BFO, there were people who got buried alive and died, returning to the starting point.

Sheila picked one Fairy Light and used it to illuminate and check the ground at her feet.

“…There are many human footprints.”

…That’s because we just passed a branching point. When the Labyrinth’s structure changed, the footprints should be wiped clean.

“If we find Sword Boar tracks, should we follow those?”

In terms of order, it would be fine to search after eliminating the Guardian first. Guardians were extremely aggressive, prioritizing the elimination of intruders above all else. They often positioned themselves near staircases or stone tablets to prevent intruders from escaping to lower floors.

In this floor’s case… since we couldn’t return to the stone tablet side, they could position themselves near the staircase to ensure no intruders escaped.

Therefore, heading toward the staircase direction meant getting closer to the Sword Boar. The adventurers probably understood they had no choice but to advance, so they were likely waiting for an opportunity to strike the Sword Boar when it showed an opening.

Everyone held up Fairy Lights as we proceeded along the path leading deeper into the forest. As for me, I wanted to use Life Detection to scan for any human reactions, but…

“They’re coming! There are too many to identify!”

Reacting to Sheila’s words, I interrupted my Life Detection.

My Life Detection Magic wasn’t picking up anything. What I was trying to find were human reactions, and most of the enemies were plant-type monsters. The enemy responses were blending into the background. Once we encountered enemies, I’d have to cancel and recast it each time.

The bushes shook violently and Killer Plants – murderous plants – came leaping out. These plant monsters walked on their roots and attacked with their branches. They gave the impression of what Evil Weed would look like if enlarged and made more vicious.

I deflected the attack from a tree knot that came swinging at me and smashed it head-on with my Dragon Staff.

“You’re in the way!”

The Killer Plant that went toward Grace was also cleaved in two by her axe.

“We don’t have time to deal with them one by one. Let’s advance while eliminating them.”

The Subjugation to prevent further casualties and enable rescue took priority. Naturally, there was no time for looting, and dealing with them would just be a waste of time.

I handled the enemies coming from the front while Grace eliminated those coming from behind as we progressed through the forest.

During that time, small whispering voices could be heard from all around. It was the magic being cast by Whisper Mushrooms hiding in the bushes. Thanks to our counter-magic, it wasn’t effective, but having magic cast on us freely wasn’t exactly pleasant either.

When I fired a Fireball into the bushes, Whisper Mushrooms engulfed in flames came leaping out and ran in all directions, only to be beaten to a pulp by the trees’ roots. Hmm.

“I smell… human blood.”

When we reached a fork in the path, Grace stopped and frowned.

“Which way does it lead?”

“Sorry, I can’t tell very well. The air is stagnant.”

Wind didn’t blow in Dusk Forest. Since the air was stagnant, it seemed you couldn’t track by scent alone.

Sheila stopped at Grace’s words and carefully observed the ground.

“…There are bloodstains. That way.”

Sheila pointed in a direction and we started running.

Soon after – we discovered fallen adventurers. Grace, seemingly bothered by the blood scent drifting in the air, shook her head slightly.

Three in total. – They were in terrible condition.

One was rolling in a pool of blood, another was thrown over some bushes. The last one was still caught on a tree trunk.

Every one of them was covered in cuts all over their bodies. The surrounding ground was gouged, large trees were broken – evidence of the Sword Boar running amok.

“Those two over there – they’re still alive.”

The ones who showed reactions on Life Detection were the person thrown into the bushes and the one caught on the tree trunk. Unfortunately, the remaining one had already stopped breathing. Even for the two survivors, the light representing their life reactions had weakened considerably. They’d be in danger if not treated immediately.

“Hang in there!”

We immediately laid them side by side on the ground, and Ashley used Healing Magic. While the wounds closed, the blood they’d lost wouldn’t return. She was also casting Vitality enhancement magic, but whether they’d recover was about fifty-fifty. One of the men groaned with a pale face.

“Y-you g-guys–“

“We’ve come to help. Hang in there.”

“H-help? Please… My comrades, they’re holding that thing off–“

The man pointed deeper into the forest as he spoke.

So his comrades had become decoys, which was why they hadn’t been finished off. Or perhaps once they were rendered Unable to Fight, the Sword Boar prioritized eliminating the others.

“You can use the Red Transfer Stone, right? How many comrades remain?”

“Y-yeah. Please… help them. There are… two more.”

I handed the man a Red Transfer Stone.

The drawback of Red Transfer Stones was – it took some time for the transfer Gate to deploy. Therefore, you needed to create as safe a situation as possible before using it. The man hugged his fallen comrades’ bodies and smashed the Red Transfer Stone against the ground. Then, centered on where the stone shattered, a Magic Array expanded – and soon a pillar of light rose up. The man disappeared into it along with his comrades.

Items brought in from outside the Labyrinth could be taken back with Red Transfer Stones. Meaning… including comrades’ bodies. By now, they should have been transported to the Temple’s Labyrinth entrance.

“…Now I understand what Sword Boar tracks look like. We can pursue immediately.”

“–Let’s go.”

Following the Sword Boar’s tracks, we heard a roar from deep within the forest. It sounded quite close, but–

Suddenly, the forest became noisy. Rustling sounds came from grass patches everywhere.

“What was that? Just now.”

“…Guardians can summon the floor’s monsters.”

For reasons unknown… it seemed to have summoned its comrades.

Running toward where the voice came from, we soon emerged into an open area.

From the Life Detection reactions – I could see two humans huddled together in the trees. I stopped everyone’s movement with a hand signal and observed the situation from behind the trees.

There it was. Quite a massive body. Moving restlessly with a busyness that didn’t match its bulk.

It seemed to be persistently sniffing around the area, breaking and uprooting trees as if venting its irritation. The adventurers in the trees appeared to be using perception-blocking magic, but it wasn’t completely fooling the creature’s senses. We hadn’t been spotted either, thanks to Wind Magic blocking both scent and sound from reaching them.

A demi-human monster with steel-like hard body hair and sharp tusks. – That was the Sword Boar. A mutated superior species of Orc. Though it was a boar, not a pig.

Its name came from the sharpness of its body hair. If it hugged you, you’d be torn to shreds, and that same quality contributed to its Defense Power. Both its Claws and tusks were extremely sturdy.

Basically, it was a monster that relied on brute force. But even among brute force monsters, those like Guardian-class that possessed powerful Magical Power internally also had high Magic Resistance. That’s because the Magical Power they possessed directly contributed to their Defense against magic.

In short, it couldn’t be categorized as just a big Orc.

The Sword Boar seemed intent on rampaging randomly to smoke out the hiding adventurers. The adventurers in the trees looked extremely anxious about when it might come to their location.

Now then… using flashy magic powerful enough to blow that thing away might also engulf the two people in the trees nearby. That said, now that the summon had been called, we didn’t have the luxury of taking our time. If it turned into a chaotic battle, we wouldn’t be able to use high-powered magic for the same reason.

“I’ll draw its attention. Could you do the same as with the Killer Ants?”

“Same meaning… using Defense Field to hold out?”

“Yes.”

Grace nodded.

I see. As long as we could avoid a chaotic battle, I did have a method to finish this in one fell swoop. If we could suppress the enemy’s advance, we could probably let them escape with Red Transfer Stones.

To do that, I’d need to deploy magic to get those two inside Barrier magic. The procedure would be: Grace draws it here, we head over there.

But Grace being the decoy–

As if understanding my concern, when our eyes met, Grace formed a faint smile with a somewhat troubled expression.

“To tell you the truth – the smell of human blood is too strong, and it’s been bothering me since earlier. So I’d like to rampage a bit and let off some steam. Could you leave that to me?”

“If you think it’s dangerous, I’ll jump in to help, okay?”

“–Yes.”

Narrowing her eyes, she smiled happily.