Volume 7 Chapter 8 Part 2
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Translator: Kell
“By the way, I forgot to ask,” Sachylis said, looking at the lava. “How are we going to enter the woods? I don’t have any levitation Skill that can carry me over that distance.”
The moat was about ten meters wide. You can fly over it with a Skill like Magic Wing, but jumping across without any Skill is extremely difficult.
“No worries about that,” I answered. “It’ll let us in easy.”
I walked toward the face of the volcano. Lava burst forth in front of me, but the next second it quickly cooled and hardened, creating a path that led inside. I stepped on the path and put my weight on it to make sure it was safe.
“I-Is it inviting us in?”
“Yup. For volcanoes, creatures from outside are a source of sustenance and mana. It’ll welcome us with open arms. Doubt it’ll let us leave as easily, though.”
“What if it’s just baiting us so we fall into the lava?”
“Not gonna happen. It’s much more efficient for the trees to absorb energy directly from humans.”
I stepped off the bridge on purpose, attempting to fall into the moat. Lava spewed out again, and a small foothold formed right under my feet to catch me. I stood there and watched as another bridge connecting to the mountain formed automatically.
“See? It’ll save us. We’re valuable source of nourishment, after all.”
“How do we leave?”
“Well, it’s not gonna help us then, but as long as there’s one guy waiting outside, he can make the volcano create a bridge just like now. If there’s no one waiting outside, then someone can just use levitation Skill to get out.”
Active volcanoes are alive, but they are not that intelligent. It’s more like a huge predator that lives by instinctively catching its prey. Although, from the way it lures monsters and other living beings, it’s really more of an insectivorous plant.
Therefore, if an active volcano senses a human being standing outside, it assumes that they want to enter the mountain and makes a path for them. If the ones with flying Skills are wiped out, you can ask someone outside to help you. We won’t have to worry about a thing right now, since three of our troops will be waiting for us outside.
“Once we pass this bridge, we’ll be fighting for a while, whether you like it or not,” I said. “Before we do, let’s do a final check on our gear. If any of you have any problems, come forward.”
I then checked to make sure my equipment was in good working order. I have some reserve in my magic storage, but if something unforeseen happens in the middle of battle, I might end up spending a lot of mana. Mana management is very important once inside an active volcano, so you’ll want to take whatever measures you can.
“Is everyone good?” I asked.
“Yes, sir!”
“All right, then. Let’s go.”
I crossed the bridge that the mountain had just built for me. Those who were assigned to enter with me followed close behind. Immediately after crossing the bridge, Sachylis’ face darkened.
“Uhm… my Search Enemy…”
I could hear the confusion in her voice through the comms. I couldn’t blame her, really. It’s probably the first time she’s been surrounded by so many enemies.
“Yeah. There’s a hell lot of them, huh? Magic Search.”
I also used my own detection magic. I picked up countless figures all around me, all of them hostiles. Sachylis probably saw the same thing with her Search Enemy.
A nearby tree branch suddenly moved, closing in on me. I drew my sword and slashed off its branch with a critical strike.
“As you can see,” I said, “The trees growing here are hostiles. Think of them all as parts of a monster.”
“Uhm… are they all going to attack?”
‘No. Different trees have different roles. Only the attacking type will hit you. If you look closely, the shape of the leaves is a little different, right?” I plucked a leaf from the branch I just cut off. It was much smaller than those of the other trees, and shaped in a way that lessened drag to make its strikes more effective. “It’s this type of tree you need to watch out for, and the ones that smell nice. Most of the trees are used to absorb nutrients from dead creatures, so they’re harmless to living people.”
“Did you say that the ones that smell good will make you hallucinate?”
“I did. It’s poison that has little effect on humans, but if inhaled for a long time in large quantities, it can cause harm. You’d better be careful not to get too close.”
This poison is mainly used to attract monsters. Monsters’ sense of smell are so keen that even from outside the volcano, they get drawn by the sweet smell and enter the volcano’s territory by their own will. Hallucinating from the poision, they are then helplessly killed without even knowing what was going on.
There are actual monsters in the volcano, but it’s said that most of the monsters that wander in are killed by these trees. Even humans would be killed by the trees if they didn’t have the knowledge about these active volcanoes. A blow to the back or top of your head will knock you out, and you’ll be beaten to death.
“We’re cutting down the harmless ones as well, though.”
I swung my sword at the nearest tree. Since the target was stationary, landing a critical hit was easy. I couldn’t really cut through the trunk with a single slash, but the sword managed to bore in about halfway.
I pulled my sword out of the trunk and slammed it into the tree once more. “For now, everyone with close-combat classes, cut the trees down as you move. Be careful that they don’t fall on you, and only use Skills that don’t consume mana.”
“Yes, sir!”
My troops began cutting down the innocent trees. They’re technically monsters, but we’re not doing this to gain exp. What we’re doing is provoking the volcano.
The volcano is alive and growing trees to digest stray creatures. Of course, trees don’t grow without any cost. The volcano needs mana and nutrients to grow them, so cutting them all down is an unforgivable, savage act.
Naturally, the volcano will try to stop it.
A few minutes had passed since we started cutting down the trees.
“Sensing hostile from underneath!” Sachylis’s status report reached everyone in the squad.
This is exactly what we were chopping down the trees for.
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