Chapter 11 - The Harrowing Forest.
"Is this why it's called the Harrowing Forest?" Arthur inquired, still not scared.
"It used to be called Forest Bni Abid before the fall of civilization." Levi educated his little brother, "After the Shadow Castle took over, the forest was altered over time by the seeping corruption of the Shadow Dimension."
"The first brave pioneers renamed it to The Harrowing Forest after hearing the noise and believing that the wind wasn't producing it, but it was the cries of captured souls within the Shadow Dimension."
"Well, looks like the second part was a load of crap." Arthur chuckled, listening to the nonstop windy cries.
He knew that with the destruction of the Shadow Castle, the permanent link to the Shadow Dimension was gone for good.
Sure, some Stygian Gates would be opened here and there, but they would be used only by mindless Tier 1 or Tier 2 Nightcrawlers.
The intelligent Tier 3 Nightcrawlers and above were either already eliminated with the Shadow Castle or escaped to another region.
In other words, the week after clearing those shadow castles and higher-ranked nightcrawlers' nests was always the safest for Daywalkers to explore.
Still, it was never a bad idea to be safe.
"Activate your nightwear strips," Shia ordered after noticing the weakening of moonlight as they went deeper into the forest.
The forest's trees were mostly cork oaks, known for their thick and rugged bark. However, when there were too many of them, their size could cover the sky, allowing darkness to reign.
Shia, Jamal, and Sergio pulled out thin white stripes and placed them on their arms, thighs, back, and chest.
Then, she offered a few strips to Levi and Arthur.
"You know how to use them?" She asked.
"How couldn't we?" Levi smiled bitterly as he moved his fingers across the thin smooth white stripes.
"What does that supposed to mean?" Shia frowned.
"It's nothing."
Levi kept quiet as he covered his body with the stripes, using his brother's help in areas he couldn't reach.
Seeing that both of them were ready, Shia dropped the subject, knowing that it wasn't time for a useless chitchat.
"Astra, activate Nightwear stripes."
In a matter of seconds, all the used nightwear stripes were turned on under Shia's order, illuminating at least ten meters around the party.
The best part? The light was gentle on the eyes as each stripe contained thousands of tiny, energy-efficient LEDs capable of emitting controlled light outwards.
However, the light was still artificial, which meant it was harmless to the nightcrawlers and was used specifically for constant cheap illumination.
With decent light on their side, the party carried on their exploration, making sure to check every tree, boulder, and hole.
"Why are we searching here? Isn't it much more efficient to reach the forest's depths first?" Arthur wondered.
"Most of The Blood Crystal Flowers and other natural treasures must have already been collected by Sunstrike Agency's main squad at the depths." Shia answered, "But, none of them will bother wasting their precious time searching the entire forest for the rest."
"That's why Mantis has bought most Daywalkers over, wanting to clear out the entire forest." Jamal added while flipping a boulder over, "In simpler terms, we might get lucky in the outer circle."
"I see." Arthur nodded in understanding while getting his hands dirty too.
Levi was the only one not doing much work. He was left to sit on a fallen trunk, holding onto his white cane on his lap. Not even Sergio dared to go as low as asking a blind kid to help them search for the flowers.
After spending a few minutes clearing an area, the party packed up and moved to another area. Then, they repeated the process.
In this manner, they were going deeper into the forest while making sure to explore as much surface area as possible.
"How is it this quiet?" Levi knitted his eyebrows as he kept looking around him.
He expected to spot a couple of Tier 1 nightcrawlers roaming the forest, but nothing appeared in his spiritual sight. Only darkness and his party's nightcrawlers, who were chilling with him.
"It is a bit strange," Blee'der interjected, "Maybe the Sunstrike Agency has completely wiped out the nest? Not sparing even the low-tiered nightcrawlers?"
"Maybe...The fatty has told me that the Sunstrike Agency has chosen to play a Death Game to reclaim the territory." O'thnir shared calmly, 'We all know this approach almost always results in the elimination of 99% of the nest per the Nocturnal Contract terms."
"Oh? I didn't know they chose a Death Game." Levi raised an eyebrow in surprise, "No wonder the forest seems barely touched by their conquest."
The news shared publicly wasn't always complete since journalists and reporters couldn't go out and bring the actual news live.
This meant the news was heavily dependent on what the agencies or the government wanted to share.
Of course, this affected the public mostly as those agencies were forced by law to give a thorough report of their expeditions to the authorities.
This resulted in pieces of the news being shared amongst the upper echelons and Daywalkers, allowing even Shia's party to hear rumors.
"Looks like we spoke too soon." Levi suddenly said while gazing at ten approaching green auras from every direction.
The auras resembled double-headed green hogs with two long horns in the center of their back.
"I see nothing?" Blee'der frowned, "Are you imagining stuff?"
"They are approaching from all sides in the real world." Levi clarified.
"Wait, you can see nightcrawlers in the real world?" Blee'der's eyes widened in shock.
"Yes, they appear as spiritual auras." Levi replied calmly, "But, is this really the time to be talking about this? They are getting closer."
Blee'der, O'rro, and O'thnir glanced at each other in confusion for a second before they nodded at each other and swiftly returned to their partners.
"We might have company."
As Shia and the others heard their contracted nightcrawlers' warning, they immediately summoned them as signature weapons and entered a small formation around Levi and Arthur.
"What's going on?" Arthur's expression turned solemn.
Shia shushed him with a finger while glancing at Jamal, who was holding onto a Psionic Bow, which was covered in hardened green scales.
The bow had no arrows or a string. Yet, Jamal closed his eyes and aimed at the top. As his concentration reached its zenith, a spiritual misty string manifested on the bow, allowing Jamal to hold onto it and pull it to the limit.
Arthur watched in utter fascination as an amber-colored arrow seemed to flicker between reality and illusion emerged in the center of the bow.
Before he could react, Jamal released the arrow into the sky.
With his eyes closed and two fingers placed on his right temple, Jamal started controlling the arrow freely, seeing exactly what the arrow was seeing!
It was like he had an ancient GoPro strapped on the arrow, allowing him to turn it into a controllable drone.
The arrow kept piercing through trees and boulders without its speed weakening at all as it was created out of Jamal's spiritual energy.
After making a swift scan around them, he spotted ten peculiar horns protruding from the dirt while slowly edging closer.
"It's Dirt Eater Hogs. I have spotted ten, but there might be more. The closest one is twenty meters away from us."
Jamal informed them after canceling his scanning ability. Then, he raised an eyebrow in astonishment, knowing that it should have been impossible for their contracted nightcrawlers to spot them from this distance.
Especially, when the Dirt Eater Hogs were known to move two meters underground, exposing only their horns, which were hollow and used for breathing.
But, he knew that it wasn't time for such questions.
"Good job." Shia nodded while entering a battle stance, "Leave them to me, keep the brothers safe."