Chapter 38: The Lost Child’s Hum

The forest was dense. The search party for the lost child searched everywhere but there was still no sight of the lost child of the villager. The search party was deep in the forest. Filled with huge trees and vegetation the forest is hard to walk at. He could his feet tire at with the constant obstacles he had to step over. Marching two or three miles was preferable than walking in the deep forest.

He didn’t flap his lips though. He saw the Lady of the House Saclea enduring. Susan of Cher was also holding up quite well. She was more athletic than he thought. Bruno followed the lady supporting her back. The hunter from the village was the only one who looked like he at home in the forest. The hunter was examining the trees for any Kapri demons. He was eagerly checking the path before instructing the search party to move according to his instructions. None in the search party know better. He was a scout but he knew nothing about the forest so he followed eagerly until the search party reached a less dense area of the forest.

The hunter raises his left and gestured for the search party to stop. He then pointed to everyone to crouch which the search party did so willingly. Telling everyone to keep silent the hunter then pointed at the direction where he was looking at. There the search party saw five gaunt creatures that were tall and had the color of a tree’s bark, it's emaciated skin pulled tightly over its bones, and their disfigured antlers horns made the search party identify the creatures as Wendigos.

Wendigos are creatures that are usually found in the north. But looking at the five three hundred centimeters beasts towering with its deer like mouth that has dagger-like teeth made the Wendigos absolutely menacing. According to the legends, the Wendigos are old ancient deer’s that consumed human flesh. Each time they consume the Wendigos gets larger. And seeing the height of the five Wendigos it can be said that the group of Wendigos has eaten a lot. The hunter was pretty great. Wendigos are agile creatures that could tear through human flesh like nothing. Not to mention that they are classified as a dire beast. They cannot be harm by normal steel and only through Regents and magic that the beasts could be killed.

He didn’t have any silver on him or a monster’s bane on him. They have the Lady of Saclea but even she would have trouble in fighting creatures such as them. They have great magic resistance and fighting in a place filled with Kapri tree demons is absolutely stupid.

The Hunter knows that they cannot afford to fight the five creatures so the search party stayed low and allowed the beasts to travel quietly without alerting it. Everyone was scared seeing the beast. He was scared too. Bruno, the knight of the Lady seems shaken at seeing the deathly beast. Miss Susan, the Cher warrior seems like she was calm. While Lady Sena had this wicked smile on her face. The bloodlust of a Saclea is well known to the southern continent of old. He was not surprised about the smile she gave.

...

The search for the lost child continued. The hunter who was tracking down the child seems like he was losing faith in searching for the child alive. The search party was already deep in the forest yet not a single trace could be seen of the child. The Hunter seems like he wanted to stop the search. He told the Lady that the child is dead. But the lady refuses to stop. She wants to search for the lost child at least before the evening sets. The Hunter could not persuade the Lady so he continued leading the search party until the search party arrived at a stream. In the stream, the Hunter took a taste of the water before telling the party to drink up.

The Hunter checked if the stream of water had traces of any monster or beast like materials. To the Hunter streams that contain anything that a dire beast or monster has bathed on is bad water. The stream was clean and untouched so the Hunter told everyone to refill their water pouches so they can continue. He filled his water pouch and drank some of the clean water. The others followed while the Lady allowed Bruno to fill her water pouch for her. Susan Cher sat near the bank of water. She told everyone that if someone needs healing she can assist. Some of the members had their foot scratched by branches or pricked by sharp ends so they went and let her heal it.

The forest is no slums but it was better safe than sorry. Most people who travel in the overworld die due to infection or toxin from the manure of monsters or bile. So having their wounds check is necessary. He didn’t have his foot prick or cut with his long boots on so he didn’t have to worry about that.

Susan checked the search party for a while before the search for the lost child begun again. The party entered the forest through the east passage. The village where the war band rested is located in that eastern passage where the village faces the mountain ranges of the overworld.

The search party ambled in the deep forest for about seven hours now. Yet the search party could not find any traces of the lost child. Everyone was looking like they had no hope of finding that lost child. The only one who seems to be eager is Lady Sena. Most of the search party respects Lady Sena and so far her judgments were right on the mark. But at the moment everyone thinks the same. He could tell that the others had the same thought. There was no way a child could survive deep in this forest.

The Hunter could not tolerate it anymore. He tried to speak up but the moment he did so a hum sounded out in the distance. The search party quickly guarded themselves up. The hunter crouched and then listened to the sound before following it. The search party followed where the sound was. There the search party saw a little girl swinging her feet while humming a song. Seeing the little girl the Hunter widens his eyes and called out to the child. But before he could do so the Lady pulled him and told him to look at the surroundings. He could feel the mana around despite not being a Mage. It was thick and it had a pretty eerie feeling to it. The Hunter then shook his head and backed away. The others followed. He followed and hid in a thicket while the hunter tried to gain the attention of the little girl. The little girl bobs her head from left to right. The Hunter tried to call out but there was no hope.

Seeing this, the Lady gestured at some of the mages in the search party to cast dispelling charm on the little girl. The mages chanted and fired the pink light at the little girl but there was no effect. Susan who was observing the mana around the little girl told the Lady that there is a magical creature taking hold of the little girl. The Hunter bit his lip hearing this.

Lady Sena thought for a while. Then she drew her blade from her scabbard and gathered mana on her sword, Astra. Dots of blue light came pouring in on her blade. Her blade soon had a blue glitter on it and with a thrust, the lady shot at the field of mana around the little girl. The strike of the lady shook the air around the little girl. The little girl fell on the ground before he knows it a giantess appeared near the little girl. The giantess wore leafy clothing. It had a vine like hair and seeing this giantess.

The Hunter shouted.

“It’s an Ancient Undine!”

With the warning, the Undine that was unmasked by Lady Sena’s blade shouted ancient words. The trees around the area shivered and before long black bark-skinned humanoids came about. He recognizes the creatures as treants. The search party went and prepared for battle. The treants started moving at the search party and various chants started sounding out loudly in the forest.

He drew his sword and held it front of him while facing a treant. The treant dodged his blade. He tried to strike the wooden heart of the treant but found his blade unable to pierce the treant’s bark skin. He cursed and took a few steps but before he can do so. A shout sounded near him.

“Watch out!”

The sound came from his fellow scout. He looked at the club-like hand of the other treant being thrusted on his stomach. He felt pain and before he knew it he fainted.