The name Breeze Forest comes from the Kamal people of the empire. For the kingdom that really exists in the forest, the name of this home is the 'Forest of Tranquility'.
Darkness and silence often complement each other. Here, tall deciduous trees are dense and prosperous, including many huge tree species similar to banyan trees, with crowns spanning more than ten meters. They absorb most of the sunlight falling from the sky, and only a few golden fragments can be seen.
Through the barriers, scattered scattered on the dark brown soil. The sounds of birds, animals and flying insects in the woods seem to be absorbed by the green masses, so that the silence is a bit awe-inspiring.
A group of four people, led by Lily, was walking cautiously through the forest. Yuffie walked behind Lily, pointing out the direction the team should move in from time to time.
"However, it is said that only the outermost layer looks like this." She explained in a soft voice, "This is actually a protective maze to prevent the kingdom from being invaded by people with bad intentions. It's just not complicated.
It’s very easy to crack it.”
"What? Yuffie, you mean a maze?!" Bell's voice suddenly became louder, "I hate mazes the most! Last time Lily took me to that maze full of spiders and centipedes, and the result..."
"It's so noisy, please shut up, Bell!" Lily interrupted the Beron man, "Anyway, with Yuffie leading the way, it will be fine. However, Yuffie, how are you going to compensate us for what happened before?
"
The female mercenary refers to the commission to attack Holly Castle. During the task of guarding the secret passage, Lily had a one-on-one duel with the leader of the Black Crow without permission - and lost, allowing the other party to escape. This is very important to the war.
The result did not have any impact, but the loss of reputation of the mercenary group and the reduction of rewards were inevitable.
Barak did not blame them too much. After the mission, the Lilinono group received a total of eleven imperial gold coins, which converted into about one hundred and ninety silver coins, which was a large sum of money for ordinary people.
But Lily still felt some inexplicable guilt, maybe because she felt that she had failed Barak's expectations? Yuffie took a few steps quickly and walked side by side with the female mercenary.
"But, Lily, you are actually very happy," she said easily, "to be able to fight him one-on-one."
"Well... let's just say that? Except for the last one." Lily touched her nose and muttered, "If we hadn't been merciful, it's hard to say whether he could have lasted until then. Having said that, why on earth are you doing this?
Let him go?"
"Because my intuition tells me that he is not a bad person." She replied, "Besides, it feels good to be owed a favor."
"Linono, Yuffie." Alphonse's voice suddenly sounded from the end of the team, "There is something in front of you, and it is approaching."
Everyone immediately fell silent - Alphonse would never talk nonsense. After getting along for a while, Yuffie clearly understood that this seemingly bulky machine man actually had extremely sensitive hearing and vision far beyond ordinary people. Even though he had never seriously fought.
Yes, but the girl felt that the agency's force might be far superior to hers and Lily's.
After all, it is the work of Dean Collens, she thought with some pride.
The surrounding silence lasted for about half a minute. Then, a vague roar came from far ahead, echoing in the woods. A few seconds later, there was another similar roar, and it was obviously closer than before.
"It seems...a bear?" Lily said with some uncertainty, "Full of anger...and a little bit of sadness? But it's a little strange..."
"It's just a bear!" Bell slowly pulled out his scimitar and waved it twice, "Let me kill it with two swords!"
"If you do that, you might be regarded as a poacher and be hunted by the Erna people." Yuffie poured cold water on the Beron people seriously, "At that time, no matter what treasures are in the underground palace, you
I can’t get it either.”
The Beron shrugged and made an 'I won't speak' gesture on his lips with his stubby left hand.
"So, do you want to hide, Lilinono?" Alphonse looked around.
"Avoid the front first?" The female mercenary thought for a moment and made a decision, "Hide to the leeward, the bear's nose is very good - behind the tree over there, hurry up!"
The roar coming from the distance became clearer and clearer, sometimes mixed with heavy slaps and collisions, as well as the dull sound of heavy paws on the ground. Everyone quickly ran towards the huge banyan tree. On the trunk of a passing tree, especially
Fee carefully cast a spying spell to confirm the bear's condition.
Lily grabbed an aerial root, jumped up to the main branch of the giant tree, and squatted down. Bell followed the same example and jumped twice, but failed to hold on to one of them, and fell down with a clang.
It made the female mercenary laugh so hard that she couldn't stand upright.
"Hmph, I heard that bears can climb trees. Lily, be careful you are the first one to be caught and eaten by the bear!" The Beron complained unconvincedly.
"Shh-" Lily interrupted Belle, "It's coming."
As soon as he finished speaking, a huge creature that was almost unrecognizable as a bear by its appearance rushed into the spying range set by the girl. It was half the size of the largest grizzly bear that Yuffie had ever heard of.
The skin of the whole body is like solid cracked black lava, from which a dark red light shines; the four soles of the feet become wide and twisted, and the sharp claws are many times longer than that of a normal bear, stabbing out from the top of the soles like several branches side by side.
The sickle kept piercing the ground as it ran, leaving rows of sharp deep holes. What was even more terrifying was its head. All the gray hair that should have been there had fallen off, revealing a tough, seemingly covered head.
Purple skin with dark red marks. Its canine teeth protrude from the mouth, and the sharp teeth are covered with black smoke, which spreads around with its breathing.
"Ferocious bear." The girl recognized the identity of the thing at a glance, "But...why are there demonized creatures here?"
"What is that?" Bell lowered his voice and asked angrily.
"It is a creature that is affected by powerful magic that changes its original form." Yuffie trimmed her hair and responded in a low voice, "I heard that the horses used by the elite knights of the Theocracy are one of them. They live in blessed stables for a long time.
Among them, it has better spell resistance, is less prone to fear, and has much stronger endurance than ordinary horses."
"But high-magic environments in the wild are often not friendly. Creatures will generally flee from these areas instinctively, and most of those who stay for some reason will get various diseases or die." She added, "
Only those individuals who are stronger or are naturally more adaptable to magic can survive and transform into real magical creatures."
This kind of situation mostly happens around certain ruins, or places that have been changed on a large scale by magic. She remembered what the dean mentioned, the desert of souls in the northwest corner of the continent that was destroyed in the "Gray War" a hundred years ago - it is said that there
It was filled with a large number of demonized creatures, and thus became a forbidden area. Obviously, it is not very normal for such a thing to appear in the forest where the Elna Kingdom is located on the border of the kingdom.
"It seems to be a purgatory creature." Alphonse obviously knew this knowledge, and his flat voice still sounded a bit serious, "Do you want to deal with it, Lilinono?"
Purgatory creatures do not refer to creatures from 'Purgatory', but are demonized creatures that are affected by magic and manifest a specific form. Because their appearance is similar to that of some residents of the outer world, they have been given this name.
A name. Based on the girl's knowledge, the form of wild demonized creatures is almost random. Some studies believe that the genes and even souls of creatures determine their forms after being affected by magic; another report believes that the nature of the magic itself also has an influence.
Of course, there is a third possibility. Each outer world has unique and strange residents - that is the embodiment of their "inner determination of appearance". It is difficult for residents of the outer world to take the initiative to come to the material world. Most of them are
Through summoning spells, you can form a contract with the caster and then make a deal with him. These creatures that come can change their surrounding environment to a certain extent, causing nearby creatures to change in a way that is close to their form.
All in all, this trip probably won't be too safe - but it might be fun, Yuffie thought.
In an instant, the giant bear had rushed to where everyone was originally. It seemed that because of anger or other reasons, it almost lost its rationality and just ran forward aimlessly. It occasionally bumped into a thick tree trunk, powerful
The impact made the whole tree tremble - and it waved its claws angrily, tearing the branches and leaves of the tree apart, leaving scars everywhere, and then continued to move forward.
"There is no way, we can't let it run to the border of the empire, it will cause a big mess." Lily sighed, "Get ready to fight!"