Caius’s POV.
Damn it, why has my back been itching these days?
Looks like someone has been talking about me lately... let’s just hope it’s something good, though honestly I doubt it.
Anyway, more than three weeks had passed now since we left the ruins of the old city behind us.
There hadn’t been anything special during the past days aside from moving through different terrains and fighting many monsters... and of course running from others.
During these three weeks, we crossed a great distance and left that dry desert far behind.
As time passed, the weather became gentler and less hot as we finally approached the end of this continent.
Well, you could say we had almost reached its end according to what the map showed.
Though both Africa and Europe had practically become one while the sea separating them turned into an enormous lake.
Or a closed sea, I don’t really know what that’s called exactly.
We still hadn’t reached it yet, and there was still quite a distance separating us from it.
Instead, we were currently walking leisurely through a dense forest... and when I say dense, I truly mean it.
The sound of rustling leaves and moving branches slipped into my ears mixed with the noise of life here.
Around me, trees rose dozens of meters high while their branches drew close and intertwined together, hiding the sky behind green leaves and dark branches.
Only strands of sunlight managed to slip here and there through this green veil.
At least there were clear paths ahead of us left behind by monsters that had passed through here, so we didn’t need to slip through the grass and strange plants.
This forest that grew after centuries of humanity’s migration was filled with every kind of life... not kinds I recognized anyway.
Sometimes I caught sight of huge worms crawling on these trees, or at least they resembled worms even though they were far uglier and larger.
In addition, there were many strange creatures walking and climbing everywhere around us, some with long thin legs that looked like they would snap from the slightest touch, while others flew and jumped everywhere.
In short, it looked like an entirely new ecosystem with these things instead of insects.
While their strange sounds filled the forest, these creatures weren’t the only things moving here, even the plants themselves moved.
Sometimes you’d see branches moving and opening what looked like mouths before lunging at whatever creature moved before them, and let me not describe the scene that followed.
After that, you’d hear the sound of bones shattering, being crushed, and flesh tearing apart... oh, and that thing’s screams... the last part changed every time.
Anyway, most of these creatures didn’t attack us, so we didn’t either. They were only Rank 1 after all, so they weren’t useful for raising our ranks.
And of course, they didn’t look delicious.
"Graaaghk..."
Speaking of deliciousness, a wet and disgusting sound slipped into my ears from above, as though something was being forced out of a rotten throat.
The next moment, something descended rapidly from the tree beside us before crashing against the ground and splattering through the air. I sensed it before it happened, so I jumped several meters away from the area while seeing a dark green liquid flying toward the others.
The next moment, Izel, who had raised her head toward the source of the sound, got sprayed by the sticky liquid across almost her entire body. Whether her hair or face, nothing escaped it.
She wasn’t the only one. Even Ellen got hit by it, along with Elliot who froze in place covered in filth.
From beside me came a quiet sigh filled with relief. "Hooo... that was close."
It was none other than Leona, who escaped at the last second.
At the top of the tree was a massive worm with a head somewhat resembling a frog, preparing to vomit more of that liquid.
Izel lowered her head while staring at herself in disbelief before her face began twisting as though she was about to cry, her scream filling the forest. "Aaakh!... disgusting, disgusting disgusting."
Even Ellen stared blankly ahead in disbelief, her mouth nearly opening... perhaps she didn’t because her face was covered in that stuff.
The next moment, dozens of blades flew out followed by a mass of flames and even lightning.
All of them struck that thing at the same time, causing a small explosion that erased it from existence in an instant.
I was sure the poor thing didn’t mean it.
Ellen’s blades returned and merged together into one while she raised her hands and wiped the liquid off her face. "This is so disgusting..."
Elliot merely shook himself off with a dark expression without saying a word... perhaps he said nothing because most of the liquid had been vomited directly onto his face.
But someone else wasn’t the same.
"Damn it fuck ~!@#$#$"
Everyone frowned while staring at Izel. For a moment, I almost raised my hands to cover my ears so I wouldn’t hear more of those words... they sounded strange even to me...
But she already stopped while turning her head like a madwoman directly toward me... though she wasn’t staring at me, but the person beside me.
"Y-You knew and didn’t warn us."
I looked toward Leona beside me as she shook her head in denial. "No, it was just my instinct and I followed it."
"Liar." I agreed with her on this point too.
Izel gritted her teeth, then in the next moment moved from her place and headed toward Leona.
"Come here, I’ll give you a little hug."
Leona smiled nervously while backing away like someone afraid of death. "I want to refuse that... I mean, I wasn’t lying, I really didn’t do it with my ability, so calm down, Izel."
Izel shot me a look filled with hatred while I simply shrugged. "I can’t see the future, I just have good reflexes."
She seemed convinced by that as she redirected her attention back toward Leona with pure malice.
What followed was a small chase between those two girls... yes, a chase.
Izel, covered in all that liquid, ran after the fleeing Leona while the latter pleaded. "Sorry... I’m really sorry... I won’t do it again."
"Don’t just stand there, someone help me." She called out to us, but nobody moved.
Elliot was already spraying both himself and Ellen with water, removing everything from them within moments before the wind blew and started drying them off.
It didn’t take long for them to become clean again, and at that Ellen let out a long breath full of relief. "Hooo... this is better."
At the same time, both Izel and Leona walked back toward us.
Izel, who had been crying earlier, smiled happily even though she was still covered in that stuff, while Leona walked hunched forward as though she had lost her soul while the disgusting liquid covered her body.
I let out a tired yawn while watching Elliot clean the two girls with water... well, that was a nice sight to watch.
Soon, they finally finished cleaning themselves.
Izel smiled mockingly toward Leona. "This is so you’ll warn us next time instead of only saving yourself."
"I said I was going to, I was just a little late." Leona replied in a drained voice.
While they were still chatting, someone arrived climbing down from the top of one of the trees here.
The moment his feet touched the ground, Kyle walked toward us while his brown eyes inspected the chaos around us.
"What happened?"
I answered while leaning against the tree. "A monster vomited on them."
He raised an eyebrow calmly. "Vomited on them?"
I nodded. "Literally." And as proof, I pointed toward the remains of the vomit.
Even Kyle’s expression twisted in disgust when he looked at that disgusting thing. He shook his head while turning his gaze away as I asked.
"So, are we still on the right path?"
Kyle looked toward the line free of plants and trees while nodding his head.
"Yeah, we’ll reach it soon."
I nodded while directing my attention toward the others. "Alright, that was a good break, let’s continue now."
"A good break? That was only good for you while you stood there watching our suffering." Elliot’s voice rose with dissatisfaction.
I smiled while simply shrugging. "And that’s exactly what I meant."
Leona passed by me while her head was still lowered as she muttered like someone lost in delusions. "I swear I can still feel it in my mouth."
I shook my head at the poor girl before turning to continue walking along this path.
...
Hours passed as we moved through this dense forest, getting closer to our destination and the end of this continent.
Soon, bright sunlight began appearing before us, announcing the end of the dense forest.
It didn’t take us long to reach it and emerge from between those trees while that green ceiling above us disappeared, revealing the clear blue sky.
But ahead of us was something more important than that.
Something enormous and ancient.
Beside me, Elliot’s voice echoed filled with amazement.
"Amazing."