The instant I was on the other side, I felt instantly better as I burst into a nice summer day. I flew out and over the ring and landed on the other side with a roll in some tall grass over three feet tall.
I stayed low, but I couldn't see anyone around me when I looked around. I was at the entrance to a forest with tall trees that stretched up higher than I could see in some places.
This place was much different than the other three sections that I had been in, and I couldn't see a straight path through. This tall grass was also everywhere, making it very hard to spot anything.
This made it good for me to hide, but that also meant that there could be other bugs hiding. Not like they should attack me, but there were also Sagittarus's children to worry about as well.
[they are all centaur-like him, but their upper bodies will look different. You will see them coming; the centaur are proud creatures that like a good challenge. What you will need to watch out for is the wildlife.] Libra explained to me as I slowly stood up to get a better look around.
The forest was quiet, but that was concerning all on its own. No bug or bird noises were coming from anywhere, but there was a soft breeze.
That was making the grass rustle everywhere, and it was setting me on edge.
'What kind of wildlife am I to expect?'
I asked the question in my mind this time rather than speaking out loud to prevent any unnecessary sound. The more I was here and looked around, the more of a sense of uneasiness set in.
[Monsters, but you shouldn't be too worried right away. Goblins and Troglodytes are not very likely to bother you, even if they are in a large group. As you get deeper, the monsters will get stronger. This is how Sagittarius trains and keeps his children in shape. It is also how he feeds his people and the other bugs that make it this far.] Libra explained.
I sighed and then started to move forward through the waist-high grass.
'What do you mean to make it this far? I thought that you said that they were meant to make it this far so the SkinWalker can devour them, right?'
[I don't think that it needs to feed that much, and it probably values the ones that have the most memories.] Harold explained.
[Yes, you are right! The worms that just tried to kill you were part of Scars Ring, just like the Centaur and monsters are on this one. We don't have to follow the same rules as the bugs, and we can kill them if we want. Not all of us do that, but most do as they see the bugs as invaders that they are forced to shepherd.] Libra explained, and I nodded to myself.
It made sense, and I wouldn't like having these crazy eyeless freaks taking over everything and forcing me to do this. Then having all the strange bugs coming in that were probably frustrated and confused would not help.
The forest stayed quiet for the first ten minutes of walking, but I was taking it slow. I had already made good time with the other two rings, and no more than two hours had passed.
Then I met my first group of monsters, and everything went downhill from there.
I was slowly proceeding forward, but then I heard the sound of nasal voices that reminded me slightly of Keita. I lowered myself and stopped, waiting to see what they were going to do.
I couldn't see them yet, but I was sure they were about thirty feet off to my right, just ahead of me. I wanted to avoid them, so I decided to stay still and see if they would leave.
"Z, if we go that way, Chez will use us for target practice!" A squeaky male voice argued.
"What do you want to do then? Go that way?! Archie will make us part of one of his experiments!" another complained.
"There is nowhere to go but to the edge of the ring, boys! Karl will cook us up if we try to go forward!" A deeper but still high-pitched voice said, and then they started to move directly towards me.
[I think you could probably just kill these three reasonably fast, and they would be out of your hair. Doesn't look like these three are going to make it very far.] Harold said, but I didn't think that was going to be the solution.
From the sounds that were getting closer, there were more than just the three. I decided that I might as well wait and see who these creatures were and see if they might have something worthwhile.
Harold grumbled in my head about wasting precious time, but I could feel Libra's approval of my choice.
[I think that it could be good to help these creatures. You never know what kind of help they could be in the future.] Libra said, and I could almost feel her beaming smile in her words.
Harold continued to grumble, but I think he was just sore about not having the best possible answer to every problem.
I waited, and the rustling started to get closer until a small green humanoid two and a half feet tall walked into me. The goblin bounced back off me and then knocked the grass back to reveal seven other shocked and scared-looking faces.
Oh yeah, this was great; they had children; there goes any hope of shrugging this group off. Like the other one, two more males got back up and then three females, two of them holding children.
"Oh shit, we are going to die," The deep-voiced Goblin said in a tone that seemed to expect this outcome.
"Wait, Wait, Wait! I am not going to kill anyone, but I might need your help as guides," I said right away, and they all looked shocked.
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