Azel quickly regained himself mid-air, twisting his body to cut through the rope wrapped around his leg with one swift slash of his dagger.

The blade tore through it like a knife through butter.

He landed on one knee, the ground crunching beneath him.

"Well, that went bad quickly," he muttered, dusting off his cloak as he looked around.

He was deep in the forest now.

The air here felt natural… It still had that natural feel that regular forests had, well if you ignored the fact that the leaves were black and not green.

The path ahead looked trampled, patches of soil turned over and trees scarred with claw marks.

It didn't take a genius to realize this was where Vargan and the others had passed earlier during their hunt.

"But where did that rope come from then?" he wondered aloud, scanning the trees.

There was no movement neither any sound except the rustle of leaves and his own breathing. It was completely quiet for a forest full of bloodthirsty monsters.

Deciding not to overthink it, Azel manipulated the wind under his feet.

The moment he focused, the air condensed, pushing upward with enough force to launch him skyward like a living jetpack.

He nearly overshot the treetops but managed to twist mid-air, landing neatly on a thick branch.

Erblim swooped down from above and landed on his head, fluffing his wings with an offended expression.

"Master, I can't believe you left me behind," the crow complained in his usual grumbly tone.

"You were sleeping," Azel said, peering down through the trees. "Borrow me your eyes for a moment."

The crow blinked. "Like before?"

"Yes."

Erblim sighed dramatically but didn't protest.

His eyes glowed and Azel felt the familiar sensation of his own vision sharpening.

The world stretched out in layers of detail… he could see every leaf, every gust of air, and every ripple in the mana currents surrounding the forest.

Everything was clear.

Too clear.

'Wait,' Azel thought, narrowing his focus. In the distance, he saw a pit… it was black and bubbling with venom.

Around it, the ground was splattered with red blood.

"Vargan…"

He zoomed in further.

He located Vargan's severed arm, it lay half-buried in the mud. Its fur was gone, stripped clean to the bone, being gnawed on by a hulking creature crouched beside it.

The thing looked like a deformed ogre… its skin was pale green and it's limbs were long with one bigger than the other.

"What the fuck is going on here?" Azel muttered under his breath.

He turned his gaze elsewhere, only to lock eyes with something in the shadows.

Two burning, crimson irises glared back.

They didn't blink.

Azel's heart sank.

The creature who was holding a bow didn't move, but its head tilted ever so slightly… following him.

To test it, he shifted right.

The eyes followed.

He shifted left.

They followed again.

And then a system message appeared in front of him.

[You have laid eyes on the Lord of the Evil Forest]

Azel blinked.

The Lord?

He squinted.

The thing barely looked strong.

Its frame was slender, its face unnaturally stretched… a mockery of what an elf might have looked like if someone melted its features together.

'If that's the boss of this forest, I might be able to speedrun this,' he thought with a smirk.

Then the Lord raised its bow.

"Oh, come on—"

The arrow whistled through the air.

Azel jumped to the right, landing on a thick branch just as the arrow smashed into the trunk he'd been standing on.

The impact unleashed a shockwave of black fire, the entire tree erupting into a twisted inferno.

"WHAT THE ABSOLUTE FUCK!"

He flung himself off the branch as it crumbled to ashes behind him, landing on another tree.

The flames spread unnaturally fast, crawling up the bark like living serpents of shadow.

The next notification blinked before his eyes.

[Territory Boss: Monster Elf King (Rank 3)]

[Description: It despises being looked at. It doesn't look like an elf, so it feels insecure about its appearance. Once you lay eyes on this abomination, whether near or far, it will shoot at you. The closer you get while looking, the more violently it attacks.]

Azel read it twice, then facepalmed. "It's insecure?"

Another arrow exploded nearby, showering him with bark and soot.

"Alright, that's enough sightseeing," he said through gritted teeth. "No more staring at ugly people."

He vaulted away, using bursts of wind to propel himself from branch to branch until the sound of arrows faded behind him.

…

Thirty minutes later, Azel finally exhaled in relief.

He'd mapped a small hunting route through the forest… "safe" was a stretch, but at least it wasn't instant-death territory.

Most of the trees here were marked by claw scars or torn roots, but there was no black flame, no angry elf, and no mysterious flying ropes. Plus the monsters here were a bit manageable.

According to Erblim's mapping, this part of the forest was crawling with mid-tier monsters.

And by mid-tier, that meant "only somewhat capable of murdering you."

"I should kill some and bring them back for the town," Azel muttered, crouching on the underside of a branch. "Something edible, at least."

Below him, the earth shook.

A hulking beast lumbered into view, its steps like falling boulders.

[Marrowcruncher Bear, Rank 4]

Azel's pupils shrank slightly. "That's… mid-tier?"

The monster was huge… at least five meters tall when hunched, seven when it reared onto its hind legs.

Its fur gleamed a dull ivory-white, patches of its hide covered in bone-like armor.

Every breath it exhaled came out as fog, and each step it took left cracks in the earth.

Its claws were the length of Azel's daggers.

Its eyes scanned the area lazily, unaware that something was perched directly above.

'It's the size of Ravik when he turns into a werewolf,' Azel thought, adjusting his grip on his daggers.

This thing looked like a nightmare fusion between a bear and a fortress. Even standing still, it radiated menace like something that shouldn't exist outside an apocalypse.

He exhaled slowly, wind swirling around him.

"Star Strike," he whispered.

He dropped.

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