The Chief Knight Bennet's expression distorted as soon as he read the letter from Medea Forest Keeper.
Reports of large-scale movement of ghouls came up one after another and from time to time along with news about the invasion of monsters came from the area protected by the guardian tree.
The frequency of such events has been gradually increasing.
In such a situation, ominous news came from the Medea forest.
Medea Forest was one of the sacred areas directly managed by the Church. It is a land where a 700-year-old guardian tree was born.
Legends say, in her journey to see the world, Saintess Medea came across this place devastated by large-scale war and found a dying plum blossom tree. She took a sapling from a dying plant and nourished it with her blood, and planted it over the land which was later born into a guardian tree producing fruits with divine power having miraculous effects.
The dead spirit of the dying tree was purified after rebirth from the sentient of the tree.
Each year, the Church would harvest the fruits and disturb them to a few noteworthy individuals.
The divine power emanating from the trees also protected their areas from the dungeon occurrence and kept the monster away from the place due to some reason.
"Is there no further away to contact the forest keeper?"
In response, Knight Hook, who was in charge of the commander of the Medea forest investigation, spoke with a grim face.
"Unfortunately, no!"
"We tried to secure the lines and searched for any enemies who might have disrupted the communication channel but we found none."
"That means there is trouble in Medea forest itself."
Bennet put the letter back into his arms and said"We must hurry. Let's not waste time."
Bennet and the rest of the Knights were dispatched under the command of the Lord of the territory along with personnel from the Church.
Medea was a place where most people can't enter without permission. The keeper of Medea was a court Magician who held a high seat in the Court of Mages under the Emperor years ago. After retiring, he retreated here to spend his remaining life.
Though his strength was weakened, he had the support of the Wind Wolf spirit beast.
Both of them combined their power to form a barrier to hide the secret part of Medea from the world. Thanks to that, it was completely impossible to approach guardian Tree Eunox.
However, something strange happened there. Overseeing the situation, they discerned that it would not be a big deal, so only a small number of people were dispatched.
Bennet shivered, feeling a strong foreboding of forthcoming disaster.
The drizzling rain in the cold weather made everyone feel as if their body would freeze.
"This is the domain of Medea forest. Keep your guard and don't let your thoughts wander."Knight Hook warned, asking them to stay vigilant as much as possible.
A heavy tension lingered between the knights as they transverse ahead.
Murphy, the Holy Knight from the Church who accompanied them, squatting down, put his hand on the ground and closed his eyes for a moment.
Seeing his distorting expression, Bennet frowned.
"The divine power of Eunox that I sensed had weakened greatly."
"We must hurry!"
Bennet unfolded the map of Medea forest given to him by the Church. In this vast forest, only the forest keeper and church officials knew Eunox's location so the first need was to find the Forest keeper.
"I will take the lead from, "Murphy shouted and raised his sword making it glow with his divine power.
The march continued in tension and silence.
As the sun went down, the atmosphere was as cold as a wintery night. Finally, after many twists and turns, they arrived at the barrier.
"It seems, the barrier is still intact."
"I will open a small passage so stick to me closely, "Murphy ordered.
Bennet relaying the order to his men followed closely.
Entering inside, a huge tree that had been hiding behind the illusionary wall created by the barrier came into everyone's view.
Murphy approached the tree of Eunox and laid his hand on the trunk.
His eyes widened with surprise.
"No...It can't be. What the heck is this..?"
"The barrier is still intact but Eunox is losing its divine power and is dying."
It was at that moment, a watery liquid dripped over his face.
Murphy blinked in confusion and touched the liquid over his face. It wasn't rainwater. It was a black viscous liquid with a putrid fishy smell. The liquid poured through the sky one after another.
Murphy, whose mind was in a mess, was startled to hear loud shrieks from behind.
"What happened?"
Looking back, he saw Knights pulling out their sword with fear-stricken faces and their gazes were directed up towards the sky.
Seeing their pale faces, Murphy looked up.
And as soon as Murphy faced the sight, his body locked in shock and fear.
The forest keeper and several bodies of knights were hanging onto the trees.
And What was more shocking was that the body of the huge Wind Wolf spirit beast was also hanged in the visible form which means, it was killed after being summoned.
"Ah....kiek km...."A raspy grasp erupted from his throat.
On the dead bodies and the leaves of the Eunox, thousands of leeches and maggots clung over them, and covering their sight sprayed blood on them as if welcoming them to this piece of shit.
"Run...It's a trap. Eunox has fallen. The enemy had deliberately lured us here."Murphy screamed in panic.
The Knights hesitated for a moment.
"Come on run!"Bennett ordered.
Murphy and the Knights ran away towards the passage in the barrier.
However, as they came close to the barrier, an arm stretched out from the ground and grabbed one of the Knights' legs, and pulled him down.
"Ahhhhh!"
The ground cracked and the Knight who was running immediately went missing.
Bennett and Murphy grasping the situation, shouted"It's ghoul! Ghouls are ambushing us. We must retreat."
Then, hands sprouted from the ground and snatched the knights one after another.
Screams continued one after another in loud succession.
The Knights rushed out but it was already too late. Along with Murphy, only five were able to come out of the barrier. Bennett was also attacked by the ghoul and was bitten to death.
"This can't be. All of them.."One of them murmured in panic hearing screams of agony from behind.
Murphy led the rest away from Medea in a hurry but while fleeing, the knights kept tripping and falling over.
Every time that happened, they got up and started moving again but the frequency of falling became more and more frequent.
After a certain moment, Murphy felt something strange.
Murphy back tingled with ominousness. Halting his steps, he waved his sword lit by divinity and his heart almost jumped seeing no one running behind him.
Murphy's body started to tremble and he felt something leaking from him. As he looked down, he saw trails of blood leaking from his nose and eyes.
Recalling the events, his mind collapsed for a moment.
This place had been cursed. The enemies knew that they would come and set up this curse. Their death will lead to another, and this will lead to another group of deceased. The chain will be kept on extending and this place would soon be infested by a plague of curse
It was impossible to get out alive. They were already playing in the hands of enemies. Death was decided, the moment they entered the forest.
His body collapsed and his vision darkened. Before it was too late, Murphy took out a snitch and recording his words, threw it away.
His eyelids felt heavier and hearing the sound of ghoul, he prayed for one last time.
The snitch that was flying in the air, was suddenly wrapped in a long tongue that shot out from the forest and vanished in thin air.
.....
"What did you encounter in Hubris? You seem to be wounded. There are many scratch marks over your neck."
"It's nothing," Lucas replied and moved his hands to adjust his collar.
Frowning, Julian stared at Lucas with an inexplicable gaze. Her brows creased as she felt that something was different with him.
There was a strange gloomy aura surrounding him unlike before when he looked a bit cheerful and naive. It was as if a child had suddenly matured and accepted reality.
"Are you sure you are alright?"Julian asked worriedly.
Seeing that deep crimson gaze that could pierce his soul, Lucas averted his gaze instinctively.
Then taking a deep breath, he spoke warily"We had a bad encounter in Hubris."
Julian's expression stiffened.
"I will talk about it later. I just need some mental peace now."
"You should have taken a few more days if you wanted some peace. Now that you are here, I don't think you can get that anymore."
"Why? Did something happen?"
Instead of answering, Julian passed a folder.
As soon as Lucas saw the contents, he cursed inwardly.
'Shit! It's already that time.'
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