Chapter 42: Deviate From The Path And Re-search

At first, I was wedged against the side like a battering ram.

Now, I was being firmly held in both arms, as if being carried in a princess carry, moving at an incredibly fast speed.

The dizziness was making my head spin.

“Oh my, Sir Ark. You mustn’t lose your senses now. You have to firmly protect the dignity I intend to take from you, don’t you?”  

“Ugh, shut up.”

If only Ellis would stop making those weird remarks.

I might have passed out by now.

“Do you have a habit of talking to yourself? A man who nurtures a little friend inside his heart… That’s quite charming in its own way.”  

“……”  

Whether it was fortunate or unfortunate, it seemed that only the members of our hero’s party could hear Ellis’s voice.

“Oh my, Sir Ark. Did you have such a preference? I could always keep you company.”  

Shut up.

This is your fault.

After being carried around like that for a while…

“It should be safe now. We’ll walk from here.”

Without any warning, Renatel flung me into the air.

Then, she caught me again and drove me straight down toward the ground.

I braced myself for the impact on my lower body.

But I landed much more gently than expected, making me feel a little awkward.

“D-Do you really have to put me down like that—”  

“It’s my preference. I always wanted to try it once.”  

Well then.

She’s not in her right mind either.

…Are all heroes a little insane?

After that, as we walked calmly through the dense forest of towering trees…

“Where exactly are we going?”  

A question that would easily rank in the top three most frequently asked by kidnapped people.

“To the base of the Revolutionary Army, Darangdae.”  

Renatel answered nonchalantly.

At that moment.

Memories of the questline in the Great Forest, which had faded from my mind, resurfaced to some extent.

The Great Forest.

A vast woodland domain flourishing around the World Tree, which radiated a sacred energy.

At the heart of the World Tree resided those long-eared, long-lived, old-fashioned snobs.

Meanwhile, the outer regions were home to countless beastfolk of all kinds.

Human preferences were truly diverse.

And so were the different types of beastfolk.

Among them, three major tribes stood out.

The Feline Tribe, the Wolf Tribe, and the Canine Tribe.

Of course, if one were to consider the total population of beastfolk across the entire continent, the Canine Tribe undoubtedly held the largest numbers.

However.

The Canine Tribe had a history of trusting humans too much, only to be betrayed and used for breeding.

Even after that, they couldn’t shake off their affection for humans.

Because of that, rather than staying within the Great Forest…

They endlessly roamed the human world, panting and wagging their tails in search of their “master.”

Naturally, the struggle for dominance in the Great Forest had narrowed down to a two-way battle between the Feline and Wolf tribes.

The Great Forest within the Tower closely mirrored reality.

Or perhaps, it was interwoven with reality itself.

With Neb, the Demon of Sloth from the Feline tribe, appointed as the boss of the 20th floor of the Tower of Wishes, the Feline tribe had risen as the dominant force.

“This is ridiculous. Those damned cats as leaders? And they even borrowed the power of demons? They should be ashamed.”

Renatel bared his sharp fangs and growled.

“And that is why our Daran League is fighting—to enlighten the traitorous Felines and the Wolfkin who have sided with them, and to return the Great Forest to its rightful rulers, the beastkin.”

A radical militant group, known as—

Make the Wolfkin Great Again!

The Daran League!  

I couldn’t help but wonder—shouldn’t it be “Daranwi” instead of “Daran League”?

That would make more sense.

But I understood the feeling behind it.

“League” sounded political, while “Group” carried a more militant, action-driven connotation.

“Okay, but what does that have to do with kidnapping me?”

At my question, Renatel’s ears perked up, his head tilted, and he sniffed the air.

“Aren’t you the Chosen One? If the Chosen One sides with them, we lose our justification.”

Quite a sophisticated political scheme.

Not that I had any intention of siding with anyone…

As the great leader of the Daran League, General Renatel, passionately preached his ideology, I noticed a flicker from the Tablet of Revelation.

Out of habit, I glanced at it.

Inside was—

A long-awaited sight: a game screen.

The journey of our five heroes was unfolding before my eyes in the form of a game.

Seeing it like this felt nostalgic, heartwarming, and oddly refreshing.

But more importantly—

What the hell are you guys doing…?

***

Ten minutes after Ark’s abduction.

Instead of following the proper road, the heroes were tearing through the jungle in a straight line.

Leading the charge was—

“Sniff sniff, Master Ark’s scent stops here!”

The superhuman transcendent ultra-absolute sense of smell of one particular hero.

A devoted companion who would drop everything and dash to the guild house the moment Ark started grilling meat.

Rumi.

Not that it was ever meant for situations like this, but—

Ark’s scent was impossible for Rumi to miss, starting from the fabric of his hoodie, down to his underwear, his body scent, and—if she went even further—his unique night-blooming flower fragrance after he had his “personal moments.”  

Since there hadn’t been any of those “moments” yet, Rumi felt slightly reassured.

Thus, Rumi and the heroes ran.

Of course, instead of following any established paths—

They were forging their own.

“Stand back.”

If there was no path?

Make one.

With a powerful swing, Saha crushed a massive boulder blocking their way into fine dust.

The dense, jungle-like terrain of the Great Forest made visibility difficult—

“There! I see a massive city ahead!”

Even though she was only four-star ranked, a hero was still a hero.

Not to mention, her experience levels were artificially boosted by an excessive consumption of EXP potions.

Ari quickly climbed a towering tree, surveyed the landscape with her archer’s vision, and reported back.

If any of the heroes’ legs gave out, or if they suffered even the smallest scratch while clearing the path—

“Ark’s— I mean, blessings.”

The walking health potion, their saintess, instantly healed and blessed them.

Their teamwork had been flawlessly perfected over the course of climbing fifteen floors.

Of course.

“Huff… huff… huff…”

A certain tiny one who had lost her personal mount was desperately stretching her little legs to keep up.

And at last, they encountered their first obstacle.

“Halt! This is the sacred ground of the Wolfkin! Outsiders are not permitted beyond this point!”

While their straight-line charge had been effective, it had also led them straight to the Wolfkin’s sacred site, the “Red Hood’s Unfortunate Fire Hut.”  

Naturally, the area was heavily guarded.

However—

“Do we care?”

Rumi mimicked Ark’s speech patterns.

The resemblance was uncanny, and the heroes behind her couldn’t help but smirk.

As soon as the intruder spoke, their tone was so infuriating that it made the listeners’ blood boil.

“Grrrr, I can’t hold back anymore!”

“Repel the intruder!”

The Lang warriors simultaneously drew their swords.

Battle begins.

“How dare you bring an outsider here? Aren’t you ashamed as a fellow beastkin?”

“Not my problem, woof.”

Having wandered the human world since childhood due to an accident that took her away from the Great Forest, Rumi had no sense of beastkin pride.

All she cared about was getting the Ark, woof woof.  

With that mindset, she drove her elbow straight into a Langin warrior’s solar plexus.

“Guhh—!”

She was just about to finish the job with her claws when—

Hesitation.

– Complete your mission without harming the beastkin. (In progress.)

Realizing that she was restricted from delivering the final blow—

“Yelp!”

She adjusted her strength, knocking him out with a controlled strike to the head.

After swiftly dealing with one enemy, Rumi scanned for her next target.

“Haaap!”

Saha swung her hammer with precision, her ample chest bouncing rhythmically with every movement.

Despite the forceful appearance, she carefully measured her strength—just enough to knock enemies out rather than kill them.

“Kehlok, kehuk…! What kind of…!”

Ari’s arrows, instead of steel tips, carried small pouches filled with crushed chili powder. 

Poof!

As the pouches burst on impact, the Langin warriors were left coughing and sputtering uncontrollably.

“You witch! He’s mine!”

“How dare you target my little brother?!”

With the enhanced performance of her special equipment, Tina unleashed a wave of bewitching charm on two warriors, sending their minds into a haze and causing them to turn on each other.

“Yipe!”

“Yelp!”

Rumi seized the opening and struck both warriors simultaneously, knocking them out cold.  

“Rumi-mong, nice!”

“Tina-nya, woof!”

The Ark Official Lu Nya duo exchanged a thumbs-up in mutual understanding.

The Lang warriors turned out to be weaker than expected, to the point where even Johanna decided to roll up her sleeves and join in.

“Repent. Repent. Repent.”

Grabbing an unfortunate warrior—no, wolf—she forcefully pressed the holy scripture against his head, repeatedly hammering in a lesson of repentance.

Though she tried to maintain a calm demeanor, Johanna was clearly boiling inside.

With the guards quickly subdued—

– Complete your mission without harming the beastkin. (In progress.)

The heroes became confident that as long as they didn’t kill anyone, it wouldn’t count as harming them.  

That said, there was already plenty of blood spilled from the warriors’ broken noses.

As Rumi sniffed through the bloody battlefield in search of the Ark’s scent—

“We should grab what we can, right?”

“…He would have.”

“Yes, if it were the Ark, he definitely would.”

Ari’s eyes sparkled mischievously as she approached the bound and helpless Langin warriors.

A deep sense of dread filled their hearts, but tied up as they were, they had no means of escape.

“Gahhh…!”

“Just kill us already, you heartless outsiders! Yelp!”

With ease, Ari subdued their resistance and pulled out a hunting knife.  

Then, with careful precision, she trimmed their tail fur—claiming her spoils of war without actually killing them.

A prime example of creative economy in action!  

If the Ark had been there, he surely would have nodded in satisfaction.

Ari wiped her nose.

“Woof! Master’s scent is on the move!”

“All set! Rumi, let’s go!”

The party of heroes resumed their pursuit.