The Golden Experience Point [Part 1]

Chapter 61: "Camphor Treant"

Rare's group continued advancing through the forest.

They confirmed that plants attacked them during the day while undead attacked at night. But how Deas saw it, daytime wasn't a good reason for undead not to be active. Or maybe Deas's rank was so high that he specifically was able to function during the day. If that were the case, then he should understand that most undead won't come out while the sun is up. The reverse was true for plant monsters, too; essentially, if they couldn't perform photosynthesis, then they wouldn't really be all that active.

Whatever the case may be, the only things that attacked them now were low-ranked trash enemies. Probably around the same level as what they found at home in the Great Liebe Forest. Certainly stronger than the ant engineers and infantry, but not all that different from the knight or ambush units. For how much more mature this forest was, by Rare's observation at least, their military strength was quite conservative.

"Given how things have developed, it seems there's no real need to be so vigilant. There's a chance that someone is playing us, the way we do it back home, but I'll simply keep that possibility in the back of my mind."

That day, they traveled as far as they had planned to, then made camp around sunrise. Now they were about two-thirds of the way to their destination. Even if there really were someone screwing with Rare, after her group got this far, there was no way they would simply stay quiet about it. If she were the one behind the curtain, then she would have long since eradicated this interloping group. However, while the sun was out today, the attacks they endured were at about the same level as ones from the day before. If this forest actually was under someone's control, maybe that person just couldn't regulate things.

Deas had more than proven his ability to lead a force of this size. Rare instructed him to head straight for the heart of the forest with minimal clearing and no more pointless shows of strength. None of the monsters they had encountered were capable of inflicting any damage on the adamantite soldiers. That meant they could be more aggressive as they maintained their march, pulverizing anything that got in their way.

After that shift in mentality, they arrived at the heart of the forest a little earlier than planned, just as the sun was about to come up.

"But man, there's nothing here anyway. It's just more forest."

The cemetery where Deas and his men had been buried was in fact a bit removed from the center of the forest, and the forest itself was not a perfect circle either. For the time being, they could use this spot as a temporary base and slowly explore their surroundings. Rare wanted to call up some engineer ants to construct a provisional headquarters using the trees in the area, but they were Sugaru's subordinates, so she couldn't target them with [Summon].

"If instead of Knight's Grudges I had Carpenter's Grudges or Cook's Grudges, I wonder if I could make like adamantite craftsmen..."

Maybe it was possible, but knowing would be of no help now. And even if she could, it was hard to justify wasting the adamantite on them; if combat strength was unnecessary, then it was better to use a less rare metal.

However, if she did want to conquer this forest, she needed to consider how to maintain and oversee it afterward. The Great Liebe Forest would more or less be fine as long as Sugaru and the ants were there; if it became necessary, the ice wolves were there too as not-quite bodyguards. If she also had this forest, then she'd need personnel who could manage it, but the only manpower Rare could spare were the heavy-metal skeletons, who essentially were good for nothing but combat.

"It would really be best to have a local monster oversee this place once we take control of it. I'd really like to tame an undead or plant boss."

For now, it was about time to log out. She would head back from here for a short time again. She ordered Deas and the rest of the soldiers to set up the temporary base. Deas, as the leader of knights that had gone on expeditions, should more or less know how to set one up.