“Aww dammit… They got the bird.” A fact that only made the man lean back on his couch, shrugging it off.

  “I thought the bird was supposed to be hard to catch. What happened?” Molt sat on the opposite couch. It was remarkable how little Thivadi cared for his pawns.

  “What can I say? They’ve got good weapons. Besides, that bird had fulfilled its role.”

  Information gathering. The role being fulfilled meant that Thivadi learned something from it. “What did you find? You know what their aim is now?”

  “They’re apparently venturing into the Forest of Illusion. And yes, the girl that fought you off is with her.”

  A cheap provocation. Molt could snap back without ruining their relationship, but it was more beneficial to let the silver-haired man have his fun. He clenched the fist on the armrest and let it go.

  “That’s why I said we should’ve worked together to crush her. Now she’s wasting our time by taking the Hero there.”

  “So? It doesn’t hinder our plans that much. In fact, having her away makes it easy to speak with more humans and convert them to our cause. When the time comes to do away with her, we’ll have a much easier time.”

  Molt scoffed. “If you say so. But what are we going to do while they’re away? We can’t launch an attack if we can’t follow them.”

  “Who said we can’t follow them?”

  “It’s common sense. It doesn’t matter how many pawns you have. Send them in there, and they’ll be lost forever.” As reckless as Thivadi’s kind was, he couldn’t be that ignorant.

  Still, Thivadi remained unphased. “You’re right. Most of my pawns would be lost if I sent them in there. However, what if I send in pawns local to the Forest of Illusion? Does that change your mind?”

  Might work. Molt had no idea, but with how confident Thivadi was, he could let him try. The silence was like an invitation for bragging.

  “They have no idea they’re walking into a death trap. Even a worthless pawn can wipe her group just by separating them in there. It’s perfect!”

  Thivadi couldn’t help but smile when he saw Molt glaring.

  “You’d prefer for the Hero at least to survive, wouldn’t you? It’s possible, but it will be up to her. No hard feelings either way, alright?”

  “To your left, Galene! More coming that way!”

  “Got it! Thanks, Abby!”

  A thick fog weaved between the trees of the dense forest, seemingly birthing an infinite number of monsters. The girls, suddenly ambushed from every side, created a small barricade of vines to defend their position.

  Behind the vines birthed by alchemy, Abby stood over a particularly tall root to support the girls fighting outside. “Ah! Flanne, I’ll heal that right away. Give me a second.”

  After getting deep enough into the Forest of Illusion, the inhabitants started going wild. Monsters made out of roots and plants, insectoid creatures, mutated animals, and everything in between jumped out from the fog.

  “Where were you going? And you? And you?” Individually the monsters were weak. Sarasa was easily able to sneak up to them, stab her dagger firmly into their necks, and jump to the next target. It was almost distracting for the others to see her bouncing around.

  “I don’t think I’m needed here.” Sarasa’s front was mostly cleared. “Ririna, are there any gaps?”

  “Between Flanne and Carol maybe? A few of them have made it to the barricade.” Ririna was the second person inside the barricade. She had a glass bottle in her hand ready to be thrown. “Carol, watch out for the paralysis molotov.” A name that didn’t completely fit but that she recently learned.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  The last person inside the barricade was Hecate. “Any more flying enemies? I think I banished all of them.”

  Everyone did their job, and no monster could make it far enough to actually harm anyone. However, merely defending wouldn’t get them out of the mess.

  “What’s taking Iroha so long? Is she really doing anything?” Galene cleaved a few monsters in half before staring at the fog. Iroha was there somewhere. She went off alone, saying she’d put a stop to them. But the monsters hadn’t stopped yet.

  This doubt didn’t sit well with a lot of the girls. “Don’t lose hope so quickly… You’re pathetic.” Carol shrugged. “This is what she’s good at. Give her some time.”

  “A lot less are attacking now than they were at first.” Ririna came to her girlfriend’s defense. “In fact, they’re almost not showing up anymore…”

  Fewer and fewer monsters stepped out from the fog. The last were quickly slain, then the surroundings became quiet. Somewhere in the fog, a new sound was heard. Branches breaking, violent winds, and some heavy thuds from trees falling.

  “Whew… That should be all of them…” Even the ones expecting her to breeze through all the monsters were left staring as she emerged from the fog. “Anyone hurt? No way, right?”

  “Of course not! Just like you said, they were all just a bunch of small fries. You may be good at killing them quickly, but everyone here can handle them. Don’t get too cocky.”

  “Ah… I’m glad.” Carol wasted no time in putting me in my place. My top priority was keeping everyone safe, and that’s why I jumped in there alone with Violence Impulse. I dragged them into this, so I absolutely cannot let anyone get hurt.

  “I don’t mean to rush you, but… We should rush.” Flanne was our guide, of course. She didn’t want to dictate too much how we should act, but there was no other way to put it.

  “Right… This is a dangerous area, isn’t it?”

  “This layer is filled with mindless monsters who attack outsiders on sight. We’ll get some breathing room once we get a bit deeper. Let’s go.”

  Ririna destroyed the barricades she created, and we moved right away.

  Ever since we stepped into the Forest of Illusion, our journey had only gotten harder. The ground was hard to move on, and there were no paths or landmarks. Only trees followed by more trees. The mist, too, was working against us, only getting denser the deeper we got.

  It’s much worse than the time Carol got lost here… Flanne has really been our saving grace. She’s been able to keep us moving in the direction of the Pillar of Void while staying on relatively good ground. All while allowing us to take it easy when there were no monsters around. I’m so grateful that maybe I should help her convince Bea to give her a bonus.

  “Mhmm! That was a lot back there… My feet hurt from bouncing around so much.” Sarasa stretched while making some small talk. “How about we take a break?”

  “We can’t. It’s dangerous here.” Sarasa wanted a funnier reaction, but the response from Flanne gave her no wiggle room.

  “Isn’t bouncing around your fighting style? You chose to fight that way, so if you’re tired, it’s your fault.” Carol’s sarcasm was more along the lines of what she was looking for.

  “You’re supposed to be tired after fighting, though? If you’re all good, maybe that means you didn’t do anything.” Carol shook her head and just sighed. Not as bombastic as she would have liked, but good enough. Rage bait successful!

  But she wasn’t done. Walking mindlessly was boring unless she started some conversations.

  “I get now… I get why everyone says the Forest of Illusion is dangerous. We got some of the finest, and prettiest, fighters here, and it still takes a toll on us. Kinda crazy, huh?”

  “So what you’re saying is that you don’t get it.” Again, the girl leading the group shut her down, barely looking over her shoulder. “We’ve discussed this before. The monsters are definitely dangerous, but they’re not the reason this forest is dangerous. The fog is the real danger. Without Galene around, it’d be dangerous to stay in here for too long.”

  “Why is the fog harmless near me? I read about it in records from the previous Hero, but the reason why wasn’t there.”

  “I don’t know the reason either. It’s just how it is, as far as I’m concerned.”

  I also don’t remember hearing the reason why in the game. I don’t even remember the fog being dangerous, but then again, since we play as the Hero, it’s not dangerous to us. Makes no difference to the player.

  “Then, what does the fog do?” But now I’m curious. And it’s not like we have anything better to discuss. “What exactly does the fog do that’s dangerous?”

  “The fog or the mist you see in the Forest of Illusion is the manifestation of the power of the Pillar of Void. Are you aware of what element the legend says the Pillar of Void presides over?”

  “Life… Was it not?” With a thin smile, the one who answered was Hecate. The one who had heard the least. “Very ominous to relate life with void. No way I could forget.”

  Flanne gave a small nod. “The mist contains residue of the Pillar’s control over life. Everything enveloped by it is at risk of assimilating with this life and getting distorted. People, for example, are people. They already possess the right amount and type of the Pillar’s energy as is. Adding any more will cause mutations, creating completely new lifeforms, most often, monsters.”

  “Just by being in the fog…?” My eyes drifted to Carol as she said that. The magical anklets… Her sudden ability to use magic… That only happened because she was exposed to the fog, huh?

  Around a day of exposure, wasn’t it? What would she have turned into if we had taken longer to save her? I don’t even wanna think about it.

  “Does that mean the monsters here are all people?!” Sarasa gasped dramatically. “We’re murderers!”

  “Formerly people, perhaps. But don’t get it confused. Once someone turns into a monster, there’s nothing human about them anymore. It’s no different from fighting undead.”

  “How lame… Looks like we’re not adding to our headcount today, huh, Iroha?” Don’t say it like that… Why did she direct that at me?

  “Even if they were human, you probably wouldn’t come across any. The mist can give life to anything, living and non-living. As you saw, most monsters are just mutated versions of things that can naturally be found in a forest.”

  “It affects everything… No wonder there were so many monsters around.” Ririna let out a sigh. “We’re not going to get a moment of rest, are we?”

  “We are… Even that is not as certain as it seems. The mist works in unusual, almost illogical ways. The forest becomes very different as we get deeper. As do the monsters that inhabit it. You’ll see soon enough…”

  As we walked a little longer, what Flanne meant soon became obvious. There were fewer monsters around, and the forest got very quiet. The silence would have driven me mad if I were alone. It was just trees and fog, and it started feeling very…

  Lonely?

  “Stop. Watch your step.” The fog seemed to be getting darker. Flanne stopped us with her arm so we wouldn’t go past her.

  As we caught up, we understood. There was a drop. We were at the edge of a cliff. Flanne stared into the dark fog, and for good reason. There was something there…

  It was like the eyes were getting used to the fog, like they get used to the dark. Getting used to seeing past the fog. That shouldn’t be how it worked, but eventually, I was able to get a full picture of what was ahead of us.

  A landscape of giant trees, wide enough to block out the sky with their leaves. Their giant trunks appeared from the misty abyss below, and their branches seemed arranged for people to walk on, creating paths that connected from one tree to the other.

  “They’re massive…” Sarasa gasped. “Are we supposed to find a place to sleep in there?”

  “That’s your priority?”