I Wanted To Save My Mother So I Became A Hero

Volume 1 - Chapter 25: Forest? Dungeon?

Little sunlight breaks through the firs of the densely-packed forest that we've gotten ourselves into. There were barely enough light for us to see each other. To conserve mana, most of our men used a cheap magic item that uses magic stones to produce light, much like lanterns, since lanterns can easily be put out by a strong enough gust of wind.

We were forced to leave our cargo behind since it couldn't go through this forest where there is very little for even us to cross. A chonky adventurer who uses a club had alot of trouble with getting stuck in the crevices of intertwined branches and his party had to push him repeatedly to keep moving.

「Did Earl Garren mention how far this dungeon we're trying to find is?」

An adventurer around his 30s with light armor and black hair asked Brall who was leading us from the front.

「No, he didn't.」

Wh-What?

「They only said it's somewhere in this forest. They didn't say where exactly it is.」

Brall's face didn't change, it's expression was still that of a strict warrior ready to accept death. The adventurer who talked to him had a pale face.

「This is a suicide mission, isn't it? It's one of those missions where we have to take risks to make sure the place is safe.」

We've been walking in this forest for an hour now. I feel like we're going nowhere, the scenery of trees won't change, but theres one thing that does. The fog in this forest gets denser the more we go deeper.

「The answer may be at the center of this forest. For now, let's keep moving, men and women.」

The tension steadily grew from the adventurers. The fear of what awaits us at the center is lurking in our minds. And this fog seems like it's trying to devour us whole.

...

I felt a hand reaching out to grab my shoulder. I turned around to see who it was.

Nothing? The only ones I see from behind are the other adventurers. It must be my imagination.

「H-Hey, did you just touch my neck?」

「N-No, I didn't. D-Did you just touch my hand?」

「Ofcourse not, I'm not gay!」

This is strange... So I'm not the only one feeling those hands. Ugk!

I felt like a cold hand touched my cheek just now, it felt like my face was dipped to a bath of cold water.

This is strange, really strange.

My heart was starting to beat faster, the atmosphere felt colder, my body feels numb from the coldness, my hearing sharpened.

「This fog is cold.」

It's strange, I haven't seen any monsters ever since we departed. Alvis, open the radar.

The circular map appeared from my vision. I could see that there are still 139 of us. But it's really weird, I see no red dots.
There it goes again, the cold hand touched my hand and when I looked, there was nothing. It should be just the fog's coldness.