(Jane"s PoV)After one long glare and silent treatment, both of them finally gave up and found an inn nearby to have a good night sleep. Early in the morning, we woke up and got ready to enter the forest.
The forest was one of tourist attraction in that area, but it was limited until two kilometers after crossing the main river. More than that, it was still a pure and mysterious forest and usually no one would want to enter there. However, that"s where we wanted to go.
How did I know it? Of course, it was because I was holding a brochure in my hand.
Truthfully, I was attracted to the river. The brochure showed a picture of big river with some stones in all sizes and shallow and clear water. It was really an attractive looking picture and I wish the real one was even more beautiful.
With that thought in mind, I was even more eager to enter this forest. Based on what the people said, if we followed the trail towards the river, we would reach there probably at ten or eleven. That was the perfect time to enjoy the fresh water there!
Entering the forest, honestly I could only feel the fresh air filling my lungs. Tom was leading the group and Sanji was protecting in my back. I was walking in the middle without any worry since I had two strong men in front of me and my back.
Of couse, it didn"t mean I would let down my guard. Being the Master of White Army made me vigilant with things around me. If one wanted to ask me whether I saw something in the forest, then yes, I saw "something" -if that was what you meant.
But, I only saw the strong ones. Not because my ability was limited, but I purposely suppressed my power. I didn"t want to attract their attention to me which in result making them crowding around me. Since this was a forest, most of the beings here were not human-like beings.
There were weird shape beings which crawled like a spider, some were flying with a pair of bat-like wings, and others were either sprawling on the ground sleeping or strolling around aimlessly.
Since I purposely held down my ability, the amount that I could see was limited. However, it was not the same for the two men with me. When I saw those creatures were attracted to us to the point they started to approach us, I knew that these two men were using their ability to the fullest.
It was like attracting moths to the flame.
"You two purposely made eye contact with them, right?" I gritted my teeth as I asked them.
"Well, it"s not like we could close our eyes and walk forwards." Tom replied and even though I couldn"t see his face since he was facing to the front, I knew he was grinning. Behind me, I heard Sanji was chuckling, a sign that he agreed to what Tom had just said.
"Hm? There are shadows among them." Sanji exclaimed in a low tone.
"Wow, nasty! Look what it is holding in its hands!" Tom pointed out at one of the shadows. Disgust was evident in his voice and soon I knew why.
The one he was pointing at was a big black and hairy being with fangs and red eyes, sitting on one of the branches in a big tree. In its hands was fresh b.l.o.o.d.y meat which it would chew from time to time. Its eyes were fixated on us and suddenly it leapt from the tree it was sitting on, to the other trees, and stopped near us.
"Hungry…" It growled, saliva nearly dropped to the ground. "Humans! Delicious humans here..." He grinned. His eyes showed madness as he braved himself to step closer to us.
Ah, it"s troublesome. "Can you handle it?" I asked the both of them.
"What? Do you even need to ask that?" Tom sneered as he didn"t break the eye contact with the shadow.
"Then, finish it quickly." I waved my hands and found a place to sit and waited for them.
I really didn"t have any intention to start a fight as soon as we entered the forest, but since this thing was aiming for us, intending to make us as its meal, then I made an exception.
Let"s see how much can you eat, Ugly Face!
I didn"t even know what kind of ghost it was. Was it some kind of Genderuwo? The one that had been in contract with humans, of course. Greedy and cruelty were dominant from its aura. I didn"t know how many humans had it killed under the order of another sick and evil human. Since it was this terrifying, strong, and ugly, I bet it had been affected by the resentment and fear of its victims. Since what it did was not something good, it was normal for it to have this terrifying form.
I continued to watch the fight. Sanji was using mantra and enchantments to fight against them. I guessed after he got enlightenment that time, he got stronger and firmer. He looked like a very skillful exorcist like that. I also noticed that his mantra and enchantments made him able to hurt them in anyway even when he didn"t use any weapon.
Tom, on the other hand, was like fighting with human. He kicked here and there, threw punches, and what was that hanging on his wrists? I squinted my eyes to have a better look at the thing around his wrists.
Wasn"t it chains? How did it get there? I was sure I had not seen it before.
With how easy he utilized the chain to swing here and there, I was even surer that it was a mystic weapon obeyed only to him.
Hm? Why did I feel that those two were in a strain?
I blinked my eyes to adjust my sight, this time I didn"t suppress myself. To my surprise, instead of that one nasty shadow, there were some others which probably were its underlings. It might be hundreds of them, d.a.m.n!
Handling these much, I believed in Tom and Sanji. They would be able to eradicate those shadows for sure, but it would take much time. I didn"t want to miss the perfect time to play in the water.
Sensing my stares to them, those unknown creatures s.h.i.+fted their eyes on me and started to target me. I didn"t know why, but I thought the way they were looking at me was like they were looking at their prey.
Ah, I remember. They did treat us like meal. I nodded as I stood up and patted my b.u.t.t from dirt.
Since they want to provoke me, let"s end this quickly so that we can reach the river on time.
That"s what I told myself. This was the time I got to practice what I had learned from Siji.
Smirking, I welcomed their advances towards me while ignoring the shouts of horror from Sanji and Tom. What? Are they forgetting the fact that I am the Master of White Army?
I put my hands together in front of my chest, at the same time channeling my spiritual power to my surrounding. Since my spiritual power was in the smoke form, I could manipulate the air around me to be my weapon. Well, I was still not good enough at it, but Siji said it was enough to knock down some low level shadows if I were to be ambushed like this time.
That"s why I said, it was a good time to practice.
The air around me changed as soon as I started channeling my power. Before they could touch me, they were sent flying, howling, and dispersed even before they landed on the ground. I smirked again, feeling happy that it worked better than I expected.
What did I do? I used my spiritual power to change the density of the air around me, creating two fingers thick and an arm length invisible stick weapons which pierced through their bodies in one go.
Not only that, my attack came in five waves that could cover up to till ten meters after it was being released and it could only affect shadows, not human. I was working so hard on this move that I set the rule not to use to harm humans.
As a result, not only the batch of shadows that was sent to attack me was sent flying and dispersed into thin air, but also those who were fighting against Tom and Sanji.
The boss, the one who was eating meat, was the only one left. It was looking at me with shock all over its hairy face. I noticed its body trembled slightly, especially when I was approaching it. It was flinching and planning to run away, but the chain in Tom"s hand caught it up first and tied it up.
"Tell me." I started coldly. "It is still in the very outer area of this forest. Since many people come in and out using this path, there was no way someone would let anything as dangerous as you lingered in this place. In other words, you should not be here. Then, why are you here? Who commands you?"
"And don"t even try to pretend that you don"t understand what I"m saying since or you"re not able to talk. I won"t buy it." I added but still with my calm face.
It looked shocked that its plan was seen through by me. Under normal circ.u.mstances I might be more lenient and wait for it to talk, but obviously not today since I had another plan to do. The question had been popping in my mind for several times, but I ignored it. But now I needed to know the answer.