Volume 5 Chapter 227: Braving the Forbidden Grounds of the Grim Forest
Translator: The Light
Edits by Lord Immortal
In the plaza of Angus City, in the Aldridge Empire, Bella and Els’s small argument was temporarily resolved with the help of Listabel Academy’s Chairman, Alephia.
As a result, Els could only pitifully leave without a sound. However, a flash of dark danger flitted through his eyes as she left. Bella had already promised that she would be responsible for any accidents; he could wait to take his revenge during the Hunting Grounds.
Bella maintained a thin smile as she saw right through Els’s thoughts. He sought vengeance while she wanted to kill him for trying to s.n.a.t.c.h her women.
“d.u.c.h.ess Bellina, Els was just moody; don’t take him too seriously, okay?”
Once Chairman Alephia recognized Bella’s background, her att.i.tude changed. d.u.c.h.ess Bellina, the strongest leader in the Gabriel Empire’s southern border region, was infamous for her political cruelty. Anyone who was able to reach her position and power couldn’t be underestimated, even if they were a woman.
“What’s wrong, Miss Chairman? Are you engaged to that guy? Why are you so nervous?”
“No, I haven’t... It’s just, you really don’t want to kill him, d.u.c.h.ess?”
“Who knows what could happen in an accident? Don’t you worry, I know how to take care of these things!”
Bella evaded Alephia’s question, and after some more fruitless placations, Alephia could only leave. After all, Bella saying that she wouldn’t make the first move was already her biggest concession.
“Where are you going, Sylvia?”
“I, I want to turn in an a.s.signment...”
Right as she was planning on slipping away, Sylvia was exposed by Serena as she awkwardly stood in place with her head down. Her s.e.xy adventures on Bella’s bed were rising unbidden to her mind; if she stayed any longer, she was afraid that she wouldn’t be able to control herself.
“It’s alright, Serena; you girls can go. Ariel and I have something to take care of first. Also, if that guy bothers you again, just let me know.”
Bella left while leading Ariel by the hand. As she walked past Sylvia, she whispered something into Sylvia’s ear, turning her face beet red. Even when Serena asked her what was wrong, she refused to talk.
“Bella, are you planning something with Sylvia again?”
“Ariel, let’s just go, and I’m not planning anything.”
Bella obviously wouldn’t admit to it. Let alone just planning, she had already “devoured” Sylvia.
In the latter half of the magic caucus that was jointly hosted by Listabel and Dimiost Academy, there would be a “Practice Conference.” It would be held in the Grim Forest, near the fifth largest city of the Aldridge Empire, Angus City.
According to legends, the Grim Forest had sp.a.w.ned from the tears of the G.o.ddess of Life ten thousand years ago. Yet, to this day, no one could confirm its validity, not even the Radiant Church.
The Grim Forest covered a vast area; it was several times larger than the Ayden Plains, where the Knight Academies had hosted the last hunting expedition. Besides, it held more demonic beasts, and there were even magic plants that couldn’t be found on the Ayden Plains.
Much like the previous Knight Hunt, the wizards’ “Practice Conference” would also involve hunting demonic beasts for points. The only difference was that the prior compet.i.tion had consisted of large squads, whereas the wizards practical was limited to groups of two to three.
Due to Ariel’s “bad name” being exposed, no one from the academy wanted to team up with her. Bella’s roommate, Elaine, had straight up decided not to partic.i.p.ate and instead waited around in the central square of Angus City for Bella’s arrival.
Bella’s last-second partic.i.p.ation didn’t draw any undue attention; although the Grim Forest was a paradise for magic professions, it wasn’t that much beneficial for others. After all, Bella had signed up as a mere Holy Knight. Unless she was a Dragon Knight, there was nothing to be had in the dense woods.
There wasn’t much time left, so Bella and Ariel immediately departed for the Grim Forest. They didn’t even say goodbye to Chairman Lucia. Since the hunt was already halfway through, the outskirts of the forest had been cleared out by the three academies.
Bella was here to search for the long lost Seed of Life rumored to reside in the depths of the Grim Forest, in the ruins of a G.o.d. She wanted to find the legendary seed that not even the Moon Elf Princess Delias was able to find.
After teleporting to the Grim Forest, Bella quickly changed. Wearing ordinary knight armor was fine in the city, but it was a death sentence here.
Bella put on a set of black, cursed heavy armor, a creation of the Great Evil G.o.d Mia. A majority of it was crafted from a mysterious material that possessed a retaliation effect: if an attacker wasn’t careful, they could easily be killed in return.
Ariel still wore a plain cloak, but underneath was a set of s.e.xy witch gear. That outfit was personally designed by Bella, and unlike most conservative magic gear, it showed skin in all the right places.
Ariel didn’t want to reveal her true appearance with so many people around so she could only endure. The opportunity to spend one-on-one time with Bella was rare.
Soon after, Bella and Ariel encountered a group of three students that were in the midst of a battle with a monster on the outskirts of the forest. The monsters in this area of the Grim Forest were mostly the C-ranked Grim Woodman. They were two to three meters tall and completely made out of wood, with excellent physical defense. Although fire magic was extremely effective against them, they were extraordinarily resilient against physical attacks.
Bella and Ariel’s arrival drew the students’ attention. After all, Bella’s cursed armor was too extravagant, and it would be hard not to notice.
“Isn’t that the Ugly Princess? What’s she doing here!”
“If I recall correctly, the Ugly Princess’s power isn’t even at the level of a junior grade wizard. Besides, she even brought a knight without a mount. What a joke!”
Bella wasn’t the type to care about bystanders’ opinions, and as a three-meter tall woodman turned to attack with an enormous palm, she reached out with her left hand to meet it directly.
This thing’s strength truly was incredible; it was almost on par with the strength of the A-rank demonic jungle bear that Bella and the others had run into on the Ayden Plains. Bella determined that this woodman was very tough, so with a shake of her hand, she slapped its palm aside.
Right as it was about to strike again, Bella took the initiative, quickly sliding past the woodman before picking it up in one hand and tossing it several meters away to land in a small stream.
Bella wasn’t here to fight woodmen, however. She then reached into her storage ring and pulled out the magic flying carpet gifted by the Magic Creator Bethia. With Ariel in tow, she flew off toward the depths of the Grim Forest.
“A flying magical artifact... such a thing exists?”
“Impossible! Even our professors haven’t been able to figure out how to make flight artifacts, so how could a mere knight...”
“Oh, no! We forgot to tell them not to fly. The Great Green Dragon hasn’t hibernated yet.”
The skies above the Grim Forest were a no-fly zone due to the presence of several vicious wild green dragons that resided in the forest. Furthermore, they would only appear when humans flew in their territory.
Green Dragons were also known as Poison Dragons, and their entire bodies were extremely poisonous. Even other dragons were susceptible to it.
Suddenly, an enormous shadow burst into the sky; it was one of the Great Green Dragons. It was around 100 meters in length, and it was furious at Bella’s random flying through its dominion.
That enormous green dragon charged straight at Bella and Ariel, its maw snapping open to devour these two impudent girls. Bella’s magic carpet reacted as if it had a mind of its own and, in a flash, circled behind the dragon.
Bella jumped down onto the dragon’s back and took out the Dragon Binding Ropes that she had found in the Ancient Ayr City. In one swift motion, she looped it around the flying lizard’s neck.
Feeling the rope constricting around its neck, the dragon almost fell out of the sky before it turned to escape into the depths of the Grim Forest. However, Bella would never allow it; she was a Demon King, far stronger than any average human.
“Despicable. Release this rope, you despicable knight!”
“Wait... No, let’s talk this through. You won’t gain anything by killing me!”
“I’m looking for the Seed of Life. If you know where it is, I can spare you.”
Once the dragon realized it couldn’t escape, it began begging for mercy. Bella didn’t dance around the subject either and directly questioned it on the whereabouts of the seed.
This Great Green Dragon had lived for thousands of years in the Grim Forest and naturally knew about the existence of the Seed of Life. According to it, there really were ancient ruins of divine origin in the center of the forest, dating back to almost ten thousand years.
Those ruins of a G.o.d had already been discovered by two other parties: the foreign Listabel Academy’s G.o.d Mage Adelaide and Dimiost Academy’s Death Spirit Wizard Glaston. These two Saviors could at least be considered acceptable, having found these ruins within a short period of time.
“Sir Knight, everything I’ve told you is true. If you don’t believe me, then...”
“If there are already two groups of people, are you just sending me to pick up their sc.r.a.ps? Goodbye forever, stupid dragon...”
“Please wait! They haven’t entered the center of the ruins yet, so Sir Knight still has a chance!”
The dragon landed deep within the Grim Forest and explained to Bella that Adelaide and Glaston had gone in two different routes, both just missing Bella.
Deep inside the forest, there was a castle ruin. Its walls were covered in moss, but ten thousand years ago, this was a magnificent Ancient Elven castle. However, the current elves didn’t even remember its existence.
The dragon had landed in the open s.p.a.ce in front of the ancient castle. While descending, Bella surveyed the entire central region of the Grim Forest. These ruins had been reclaimed by nature, but to her, they looked similar to the ruins of the Ancient Mayans of her world.
These ruins were thoroughly blanketed by greenery, a layer of plants covering even the roads. From afar, it was impossible to tell that there were roads here.
“Then I’ll trust you for now, farewell...”
“Die, you cowardly human!”
As soon as Bella loosed the Dragon Binding Rope and turned around, the Great Green Dragon attacked. However, before it could move far, it was instantly killed by Ariel as a Compressed Magic Arrow pierced straight through its head; it didn’t even get a chance to spray any poison before it died.
Green dragons weren’t weak, Ariel had just concealed her power perfectly. The dragon didn’t even have time to react before its life was extinguished.
Ariel stepped off of the flying carpet and walked toward Bella with a faint grin on her face. Now that there weren’t any people around, she no longer had to hide her beauty. She was wearing modern mage clothes designed by Bella. Its silvery white fabric and short, simple skirt perfectly showcased her charm.
“Bella, what are you looking at? Didn’t you design this!”
“I definitely did; only, did you wear the entire set? The underwear...”
“Scoundrel, what are you thinking! I’m wearing it; are you satisfied? You’re terrible!”
Bella always designed clothes in a complete set, including undergarments. If she remembered correctly, the underwear she had made to match Ariel’s outfit was the s.e.xy type.
Although Ariel had a light blush on her cheeks, she wouldn’t refuse if Bella wanted to see. After spending so much time with her, she had gotten used to letting Bella take advantage of her. Most importantly, Ariel’s inner voice was constantly spurring her on to be more daring and open. That was the dark alter ego hidden within her.
However, Bella only caringly held her hand without making any further moves. This left Ariel conflicted and unsatisfied, though. She had been looking forward to something happening. Bella, that lewd woman, wasn’t planning on making her make the first move, right?
“Bella, I want...”
“Ariel, we can have a nice long chat once we get back, but for now, it looks like we have a welcome party!”
The scent of the dead dragon had attracted a large number of demonic beasts. They had all come for the demonic core of the dragon, including dozens of A-ranked Grim Giant Apes and Grim Black Bears.
The green dragon’s core was an extremely attractive delicacy to these demonic beasts. Once they saw that there were only two human girls besides the dragon’s corpse, they were overjoyed. Wasn’t this a free lunch?
Those demonic beasts hadn’t yet realized that this was the last act of their lives. They had interrupted Ariel’s heartfelt confession; although she still wore a faint smile on her face, inside, she was fuming. These monsters were simply looking to die!
In Angus City’s central plaza, returning students were currently buying magic potions in the Supply Store as they prepared to return to the Grim Forest. On the scoreboard, Listabel and Dimiost Academy’s points were steadily rising; the winner would likely be one of the two academies.
Partic.i.p.ants of the hunt all wore a sensory crystal that would record their points. Once they killed a demonic beast, the crystal would use a special technique to record the details of the beast.
Chairman Alephia of Listabel Academy was currently in a meeting with the temporary leader of Olsylvia Academy’s team, Lucia. They had discussed Bella’s altercation with Els.
“That’s basically what happened. Chairman Lucia, d.u.c.h.ess Bellina is your student council’s secretary, right? I hope you’ll be able to talk her down, and I’ll go deal with Els.”
“Bella... I understand. However, that Els really is too rude. You better give him a harsh lesson.”
“What’s up, Chairman Alephia? Did I say something wrong...”
A lower n.o.bility sneak attacking upper n.o.bility was tantamount to treason. Luckily, Bella was unharmed; otherwise, Els’s actions would have truly been considered treason.
Right as Lucia was about to finish her sentence, she noticed that Aphelia seemed distracted by something. Following her gaze, Lucia discovered that the scoreboard now had three equal score lines.
Olsylvia Academy, which had been behind by over a hundred points, had somehow caught up to tie the other two academies. What was originally a situation where “Two Heroes Fought for Supremacy” now became a three-way tie. This gave the gambling house bookies a big shock. This turn of events caused the previously una.s.suming Olsylvia Academy to instantly transform into a dark horse!
The scene left many students stunned. The only way for such a ma.s.sive leap in score was if someone had ma.s.sacred a huge pack of demonic beasts.
Was it because of her? Alephia suddenly thought of Bella, who had joined midway through the hunt. Also, Ariel had concealed her power very deeply, and even her big sister Alephia didn’t know her true strength.
In the end, Alephia still couldn’t believe that her ugly little sister could have such enormous power. Hence, the only change must be the addition of Bella.
A beautiful female student came up beside Alephia and whispered a report into her ears: someone had already charged into the Forbidden Grounds in the central region of the Grim Forest, and members of all three academies were present.