The Fated Twins

Chapter 38: Dominance

This swamp was the only actual black spot in the forest.

"...I didn't expect it to be so big."

Witira let out her admiration. She then took a gulp after looking at the swamp area. Kim understood why she would have such a reaction.

All of the plants were either black or brown, yet they were not dying, and instead they were extremely vibrant.

"It must be poison."

Kim nodded in response and tightened the mask on his face. He also tightened the laces on his shoes and put on some gloves.

The rest of the party followed suit.

They could hear Kim's voice coming through the mask.

"The plants here have grown up within the poison and have mutated to survive in the environment. Although it might not be a deadly poison, they all have some type of poison within them. Be careful and make sure the plants don't touch your skin."

That made Paseton think about the mermaids' poison and quickly ensure he was completely covered. He then felt something was odd.

"...Hong?"

The red kitten strolled past him. Hong looked toward Kim and dashed into the swamp region after seeing Kim nod. Witira tried to reach out and grab him, but it was too late.

"Hong!"

Hong did not have a mask nor anything on him. Witira looked toward Kim with shock, but Kim did not seem to be fazed. Witira then heard Hong's voice.

"Delicious!"

Hong was wagging his tail and chewing on a black plant. Kim stepped into the swamp region as well and approached Hong.

"How is it?"

"It's just a paralyzing poison, but it is tangy!"

Kim sternly commented to the excited Hong.

"Slow down, you might choke. Eat slowly, but eat a lot."

"Okay. I feel like I'm getting stronger."

Kim snarkily commented to the whale siblings, who were still blankly standing outside the swamp region.

"Are you not coming?"

The whale siblings slowly entered the swamp with chaotic expressions on their faces. Kim slowly led them closer to the swamp. Thankfully, the brown ground, and the black swamp were easy to differentiate from each other, so there was basically no danger of falling into the swamp lake.

That was why Kim was able to quickly inspect his surroundings.

"Paseton."

"Yes?"

Paseton was standing there with a stiff expression on his face, acting as if that blank expression from earlier had never existed. Kim pointed to a location nearby.

"Looks like someone was here recently, doesn't it?"

There were some marks on the ground and lots of footprints. Since the monsters did not come to this area, there was only one explanation.

"I will investigate it."

Paseton immediately went to investigate, and Kim turned away from him.

The ingredient from the swamp that made the mermaids stronger. The evidence they left behind gave Kim a good idea of what it might be.

"... Looks like there is a good chance it was the swamp itself."

There were marks on the ground next to the swamp. They probably didn't care about hiding their tracks, since they believed that nobody would come here.