Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

Chapter 1360. Somewhere Else(35)

---Minas Mar---

“Listen here, you little shit! We have a deal, and if you donʼt abide, I will have your soul AND all your inventory. Do you understand me?” TanʼMol barked into the communication crystal. He had just returned only to find remnants of his business remaining.

Now the demon was busy reigning in the disloyal bunch of business partners that had tried to pull clear of him during his absence. Sandra had already apologized profusely, but he didnʼt even blame her. He should have known those scum would try to use his leave.

“Tano, buddy, itʼs nothing personal! Bragmomal, he-” the meager voice of the worm came from the crystal ball and only served to make him angrier. This slimy, spineless son of a snail witch-

“You will send me what you owe. I donʼt give two shits about Bragmomal. If you dare, try and tell him where I am, but you better hope he does his job thoroughly. Because if he doesnʼt, you will learn of a fate worse than your being captured...” The goat gave a sinister promise

“...I will send the merchandise within the hour,” the defeated business partner gave in, facing the burning gaze of the goat demon.

“Good.” The conversation ended with TanoʼMol cutting off the connection.

How long was he gone for? Not even half a year, and these wimps had quickly tried to cut ties with him. Bragmomal, that dogged bull, was starting to become a problem. Even if he couldnʼt touch him as long as he stayed in Minas Marʼs territory, he was bad for what little business he was able to sustain.

He had to get rid of Bragmomal...or redirect his aim. Maybe Seth would be open to helping him out with that...

...

---East of Beta, SouthEast of Y-City---

The vast sea of trees was surging below them in the light of a new day. They had passed the mountains and a short stretch across the ocean south of Y-City to reach the shores covered in greenery.

“We are here, “ Alison exclaimed from the cockpit of the shuttle. After leaving Beta and traveling southeast for a day, they had finally reached the massive forest, Sethʼs very nightmare. Their mission was finally back on track.

“Are we going down right here?” Lyxiss asked from the cabin in the back. The light in her eyes betrayed her smidgen of elven blood. Despite hearing from Seth about the terror of these woods, she seemed undeterred in her belief in their beauty.

“No, no, we definitely arenʼt!” Jess spoke up, very much convinced by the blacksmithʼs cautionary tales. Their team was made up of fire devils for a reason. Apart from Alison, who could cast any spell as a wizard, their team was specialized in fighting the botany.

Alison and Evee were here for their expertise as alchemists. Lyxiss and especially Jess had expertise in casting fire magic, or elemental fire. Edward wielded fire using the legendary Whitehilt. Then there were James and Bulko.

One grew stronger in fire, especially in Jessʼs fire, and the other took the role of their cleric. They were perfectly equipped to plunder and pillage the forest for its resources and strike it down in case it tried to defend itself.

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“Then what are we doing?” Lyxiss asked, a little confused by Jessʼ vehemence.

“We are setting up camp at the foothills,” Evee said as if it were a matter of fact.

The ever-growing forest had few weaknesses, but the cold and a lack of nutrients were two of them. Despite magically growing at great speed, it didnʼt seem like the trees could grow with magic alone. The unstoppable green ocean broke at the slightly higher altitudes of the Central Mountain Range.

“Thatʼs where we will set up camp,” Alison said, pointing at the horizon to their left. The shuttle flew some distance north until it reached a ridge that towered over the massive trees of the southeastern forests, then the vessel slowly landed on the bare rock.

Cold wind blew in their faces as they unboarded the shuttle and looked down at the vast forest that had swallowed a great part of Urth. They all took a moment to enjoy the feeling of fresh air and finally stood back on solid ground after being stuck in the shuttle for over a day.

“We will take care of the camp, you can start scouting, Evee,” Alison suggested to the witch with a pat on the shoulder. She was not just here as the Immortal Witch, but also as the Chosen of Persephone. With her huge army of undead, she was the main source of manpower, and the reason they didnʼt come with a bigger team.

“Alright, have fun,” the necromancer said and sat on the ground with crossed legs. The buttocks didnʼt touch the ground for long, as she started to gently hover above the ground. Small gate opened, releasing small and medium-sized undead, created from dead beasts, from her personal hades.

Instead of going inside themselves, the undead would scout the area and report back if they found anything of interest. Since they were Eveeʼs undead, they shared her rudimentary knowledge. She was also able to remotely control them and share their senses.

With the witch taking care of general scouting and collection, the team only needed to enter the dangerous vegetation, in case the harvesting had to be done personally, or a potential danger stopped the undead from successfully collecting them.

“Alright, guys, you had enough time to practice. Letʼs set up the tents,” Alison instructed them. Of course, they didnʼt bring any old tents here. They were the elite of Minas Mar. They conducted outdoor missions with style.

The tents were a product of Grant May and technically set themselves up. The only thing the team had to do was arrange their furniture inside the miniature house, which had a slightly larger space on the inside than it looked like from the outside. They didnʼt have to miss anything, even when going on a field trip.

“How long are we staying again?” Bulko asked Alison after the tents were mostly arranged. They had lost a lot of time because of the business in Thres, which meant they were behind schedule.

“No matter how often you ask, you will get the same answer. As long as we can and at least as long as we need to, “ the alchemist repeated the answer she had already given him at another time.

Alison doubted it would be hard to get the seed for the ever-growing trees. Worst case, they could simply stuff a whole tree in their inventory. That would probably be enough for Karina to work with.

The problem was their other two objectives. The quest to research the potential herbs and ingredients for Alchemy in the forest was an open-ended mission. It probably wouldnʼt even end if they managed to map out the whole forest...

However, compared to that, the quest to get the seed of an original hanging tree was the truly dangerous part of their mission here. They had all heard Sethʼs horror story. The blacksmith had told them about his survival story in preparation for the mission.

Even if a Hangingtree wasnʼt as big as the Guardian tree was now, it was bigger than the ordinary sapling at the tree stations, which was massive. Taking into account the havoc the allied trees could wreak, she really didnʼt look forward to finding a wild Hangingtree.

They didnʼt even know whether those had seeds. According to Simonʼs information, Hangingtree was actually a phenomenon occurring when within large badges of the ever-growing forest. Like a sudden mutation because of proximity, or the rise of a king above a bunch of vassals and underlings...

If a normal tree simply turned into a Hangingtree because of certain circumstances, then the best they could do was bring a wood sample back for Karina. Alison was just glad that this wouldnʼt happen anytime soon, after all, a Hangingtree would stick out like a sore thumb from the green sea.

It would not sneak up on them...