Chapter 294

294th Episode

The Forgotten Giant’s Ancient Forest 294 – The Forgotten Giant’s Ancient Forest #1

I will descend momentarily.

The dragon-blooded kin with azure scales, Isbaron, a devotee of the god of fire, began gradually lowering his altitude. Had the continuous flapping of wings for about a half-day made him weary?

But the weariness wasn’t just his; it was equally affecting us who had merely sat in the carriage the whole time.

Initially, we laughed joyfully at the curious scenery high above, but sitting in the same spot for so long turned out to be unexpectedly taxing on both spirit and stamina.

Now I understand why people who take long flights prepare various ways to pass the time. Moreover, without any safety equipment, it was also quite scary.

Luna, who had been dozing briefly, woke up at a loud noise, looking upwards.

“Is it because you’re tired?”

In response, a deep growl of ‘grrrrr-‘ served as an answer from the massive dragon.

“I, Isbaron, can fly for more than two days without rest. Among my kin, I am quite confident in my flying skills.”

“If so, why are you landing?”

“Well, to reach Delphi, we must walk through this upper part of the forest for a bit. Nobody is allowed to fly over the canopy of this forest.”

Flap, flap—.

Eventually, the azure dragon gently set down the carriage we had been riding into a dense thicket of trees.

Even though we had been in the sky for only half the day, stepping on this earthy ground filled with fresh grass scent felt remarkably unfamiliar and refreshing.

As a result, none of us complained, and everyone stretched their cramped bodies or did some light stretching exercises to welcome our return to the ground.

After we took the time to loosen up, the curiosity arose about where we were exactly.

Nymph Paranoi of Ditch Water was the first to speak, asking the dragon.

“Where exactly is this place…?”

“It’s the Echoing Forest.”

But this response didn’t come from the dragon; it was Hippolyte who answered.

“It’s also called the Giant’s Forest, you know.”

“Forest of the giants, huh?”

At that, all of us looked up. Towering trees dozens of meters high, ascending into the sky, were breathtakingly majestic.

The interlaced branches and vines made it resemble more of a jungle rather than just a forest.

What the world— how on earth did these trees manage to grow this enormous? I tested this by lightly tapping the tree trunk with my fist.

Thud.

“Hey, d*mn it.”

The weighty sensation I felt at the tip of my fingers was extraordinary.

Clearly, the thickness of the trunk far exceeded anything I’d imagined before, making me feel almost like an ant. Indeed, what could possibly be a more fitting name than the “Forest of Giants”?

“The trees are huge! Look at this! The mushrooms are enormous! Since the trees are big, everything else must be big, too!”

It wasn’t just me who was astonished by the vastness of these enormous trees. Luna discovered an odd orange mushroom growing at the base of one tree and gasped in surprise.

Sure enough, as Luna had said, there were huge orange mushrooms, as big as a person’s torso, scattered between the trees.

“Mushroom?”

CRAAAKK!

Suddenly, there was a sound as though something was splitting apart.

Startled by the loud noise, we took a few steps back. To everyone’s surprise, the blue-colored dragon Isbaron who had been carrying us thus far, swallowed the orange mushroom Luna had spotted whole, and proceeded to chew on it with a ghastly crunching noise.

Frankly, the sight was horrifying and made me instinctively frown. The creature was a born mushroom carnivore.

Of course, the colossal reptilian showed no concern about such matters and proceeded to rip the giant mushroom into pieces, swallowing them before lying down in the dirt, curling his massive body.

“I’m going to rest here for about an hour. You may enjoy this ground freely.”

About an hour of rest, huh.

It was only natural for this dragon to take a break since it wasn’t a machine powered by steel and oil. Consequently, we too were given around an hour to freely explore this forest.

“Lord Luna, look over here… There are ants passing by that are incredibly large…”

Paranoi pointed at one corner, clearly shocked. Large ants, the size of a person’s arms, were marching in a line, moving this way and that with a clattering sound.

Each ant carried a leaf or branch as big as an umbrella in its mouth, making it seem like they were conducting some dam-building project.

“Enormous ants! These are the biggest ants I’ve ever seen!”

“Look! The spider webs are humongous too!”

What? Spider webs?

When Luna eventually indicated the space between the trees, I felt a sudden dizziness. Indeed, as Luna had said, I saw a colossal spider web in front of my eyes.

To give you an idea, it was comparable to the screen of a movie theater, making it frightening even to imagine the creature that could spin a web of such magnitude.

Moreover, the small insects buzzing around us weren’t so small. They were also unusually large.

How should I put this?

Seeing such inflated-sized organisms to the point of invoking cognitive dissonance made me feel as though I had somehow become smaller myself. It felt just like Gulliver in the land of giants.

Feels kinda creepy.

“Paranoi! Let’s go pick mushrooms together! With such big trees, the mushrooms must be massive! We’ll rip them and pick them!”

“At this rate, all mushrooms in this forest will be dead souls!”

While I slightly recoiled, Paranoi and Luna were absolutely delighted. On reflection, Luna always loved forests.

She frequently ventured into the woods alone on weekends to dig out medicinal herbs and tree roots, showing quite an affinity with nature. Is it because she’s of the grass element?

“Wait a moment, roaming around carelessly can be dangerous.”

But Paranoi and Luna were stopped by Hippolyte.

“This place is one of the perilous areas for travelers. Here, many monster-class Bronze Tier beasts roam around. While we might be fine now during the day, it’s difficult to predict what might happen once it gets darker.”

Clearly, this forest, brimming with gigantic ants and spiders, is also home to myriad dangerous beings.

Thus, Hippolyte seemed to oppose Paranoi and Luna acting independently. I concurred with Hippolyte’s caution.

The safest move would be to rest here near the carriage for an hour, and then proceed into the forest with the colossal dragon functioning as our shield.

“It’s a pity. I thought there would be fantastic herbs and fruits to be found here.”

“Then let’s rest together. As long as we stay close to the dragon, random monsters won’t dare approach us.”

With that sentiment, we all sat by the cool, tree roots. The sensation of the hard tree trunks and the soft grassy fields was surprisingly pleasant. I quite liked forests, though not as much as Luna or Paranoi.

It appears that something called phytoncides is released in forests, truly calming one’s mind.

Our group, who had seemed restless while flying in the sky, had finally calmed down a bit now.

However, this place felt oddly familiar. Did I come here before? When was it? Hmm… While lost in thought, I soon snapped back to reality.

“Zzzz—!”

“Ahhh! Naughty Kanf is tormenting that poor ant!”

Not everyone could stay calm and composed in the woods. Some were full of energy, zipping here and there. Take Paranoi, for instance.

In the forest, Paranoi was like a child let loose in a toy store, unable to settle down.

“Quickly, let go of the ant!”

The nymph of ditch water shouted toward Elpride, who was examining the waist of a giant ant.

Of course, Elpride didn’t seem to care and even went on to shake the back portion of the ant.

“Zzzz, gizzzz—.”

“Indeed, it’s an ancient species.”

Feeling disinterested, she dropped it on the floor, and the giant ant which had been wildly struggling before, seized the opportunity and dashed away instantly.

“Feeling reminded me of the forests back home. This is the forest of the ancient race.”

“What do you mean?”

In response to my question, Elpride pointed toward the ants and trees surrounding us.

“They are all so large, aren’t they? This is the vegetation of the ancient race, now largely extinct. Here, the ancient species once thrived.” Elpride trailed off.

I nodded as if understanding, the ancient race being a certain kind of colossal creature.

As I was nodding, Hipolyte, who was sharpening the new Edge of Envy blade against the whetstone, added in passing.

“The remnants of the old rulers, the Titans. The power of the Giants still lingers in this forest. That’s the reason why everything grows so magnificently large. There were even experiments where common eggs incubated here grew into colossal sizes.”

“Wow, so if we bring lots of eggs, we could make a fortune, right? Female chickens here would lay huge eggs!”

Luna asked in genuine astonishment. Oddly, her statement was deeply rooted in practical commercial imagination.

If it was true, as Hipolyte said, that this forest’s magic or something similar enlarges living beings, wouldn’t it be possible to bring in livestock like ducks, chickens, or goats here?

Even in my head, I imagined planting ginseng roots here. They’d become huge, wouldn’t they? d*mn, that would be awesome.

Still, Hipolyte only responded with a short chuckle.

“Trials have already been conducted. However, all attempts failed. Giant creatures grown here swiftly fall ill and d*e once they leave the forest.”

“Hmm, so then we can’t sell them outside.”

“Indeed. Not to mention, there aren’t many people daring enough to raise chickens here. The king of this forest would not allow it.”

“King?”

“Yes, a king. Perhaps, that immense dragon flying into the forest can sense our presence here.”

As Hipolyte was polishing her longsword, she raised her hand.

She pointed towards a tall tree trunk where a deep scar resembling something forcibly torn apart was clearly visible. The marks seemed far too savage to be from a kn*fe or an axe.

“Are those claw marks?”

“Correct, Samaritan. These are the marks of the king of this forest.”

d*mn, is there really something out there capable of creating such marks on this towering and sturdy tree at such an elevated height? I felt dizzy just thinking about it.

“Is it a Tyranno Saurus?”

“Tyranno? What’s that?”

“Ah, I was asking if this king might be a dinosaur.”

“A dragon, no, but something close and equally powerful. But Samaritan, it is best not to provoke a fight.”

They were speaking about the king of the monsters.

At that moment, the dragon lying prostrate on the ground slowly began to rise. Apparently, an hour had passed while we were having our discussions and taking our break.

The reason we cannot fly over this forest is because of that. It’s extremely annoying and troublesome. That’s why we have to proceed on the ground, even though overcoming this forest would be quite the challenge.

Swoosh.

The dragon’s head slowly tilted upwards. It was gazing at somewhere among the trees in the distance. To be precise, there was something standing upright on four legs, watching us from amidst the trees.

I felt the bl**d drain from my entire body.

That creature—was either a feline or a canine. Its flowing white fur and the majestic horn on its forehead made it look rather mystical.

The problem, however, was its size.

The four-legged beast, roughly the size of Luna’s cabin, was staring at us with crimson eyes, giving off an overwhelming sense of impact even from a distance of several dozen meters away. It felt as though my optic nerves were being violently assaulted.

Swish.

Hippolyte drew her sword and readied herself for combat.

“Is that the king of the beasts—Omega? I may be seeing it for the first time, but even from afar, its presence is quite formidable. Truly awe-inspiring.”

Huh, huh…

The dragon didn’t verbally respond to Hippolyte’s words but merely chuckled. What exactly was so funny? The dragon baring its thorn-like teeth while laughing was, unsurprisingly, quite terrifying.

d*mn, why are there so many horrifying beasts in this world? Perhaps someone as soft and fragile as me, a human, is nothing more than a mere snack in this colossal forest.

Wilderness sure is ridiculously unfair.

“Ah—!”

Surprisingly, it was Luna, who seemed to have the least connection to the current situation, who suddenly waved her hand as if excitedly greeting an old friend.

“Hassan! Look! Over there!”

She even went as far as to tap my arm.

I am fairly knowledgeable about dealing with enormous beasts. My father, who would often take me along through the mountains, fields, and rivers, taught me a lot about handling wild animals.

“Hassan, look over there!”

The first rule to keep in mind is to avoid making loud noises that disturb such huge creatures. Because they might perceive it as a hostile act and get agitated!

“Luna, it’s best to calm down—”

“No, Hassan! Look at that! Can’t you recognize that creature?”

“Hmm, what is it exactly?”

“That’s the White One, Hassan! Remember the first quest we did together—finding the cat!”

“What?”

At Luna’s words, I tried to recall. Though a period of time had passed and I couldn’t remember it clearly, there indeed was the time when Luna and I ventured underground to find a cat.

A great lion-like creature named Cat. The story spread everywhere as I allegedly captured it with bare hands, becoming the stuff of songs—Samaritan capturing lions. Moreover, the witch Nemea…

Kaaarrrk—.

“d*mn, oh no.”

Hearing this distinct roar triggered deep-buried memories in my mind.

Was it the giant white-furred beast that might be Nemea’s pet, or was it simply a lion-cat? Its appearance was remarkably similar to the one in front of us.

Nevertheless, there was no time to linger on these thoughts.

Because suddenly, that massive white lump began sprinting towards us at incredible speed.

Thud, thud, thud—.

The beast’s footsteps resonated like drought-breaking thunder.

“d*mn it, it’s coming!”

[Author’s Note] CherryMintChocolate fans!!! Bighttda fans!!! Kadeom fans!!! GoGoGoGoGom fans!!! Zerdidel fans!!! MintChocolateStrife fans!!! DangerousEye fans!!! 8031040 fans!!! PotatoServer fans!!! And to Milnal for the Royal Support coupon!!! Thank you so much!!!

We also received lots of manuscript coupons!!!

All of your manuscript coupons, support coupons, recommendations, and comments are being relayed straight to the nymphs…

We’ll soon establish Alinoy, the nymph of ditch water, in the City of Sun and Sea, Delphi… Thanks to all of you, she’ll finally gain independence!

Goodbye, Alinoy!

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