Author note: Sorry for the late update. I might upload another today if I can. I mentioned I was ill in an earlier chapter and that makes it harder to juggle school work and writing which are both lengthened by it and stress. I also had a recent hospital test I was stressed about so that didn’t help. I apologise if this does not reach the quality of last chapter. I also hit a writer’s block. For no spoilers, I will mention it at the end.

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The journey through the patch of woodland was fairly uneventful. It looked like a fairly average forest that I had seen pictures about in books in my old castle. Back then, I was interested in books about the outside world. I didn’t exactly regularly leave my castle to sight see; I only left occasionally to pillage random villages.

We weren’t attacked by anything and that was disappointing. I would have liked to watch someone die. Instead, I had to just read the boring books I had. Even that was ruined occasionally when the canopy of trees occasionally got thick enough to block out enough light to read clearly.

What I learned from my reading endeavour was that the Beastmen had lived in the Great Jungle for as long as ‘history began’, whenever that was. They occasionally leave as adventurers but mostly keep to themselves. They live in uncivilised tribes where the strongest is their tribe leader. There are two main tribes called the Gosthav and the Yusthav. The Gosthav typically have dog characteristics while the Yusthav, cat characteristics. They are currently at war and blood is spilled regularly.

We only stopped occasionally on the journey to have a meal. The soldier pricks would set up a campfire and the rest of the soldiers either got out rations from inside the carriage or went and hunted and left me to read by myself. A couple of times, the soldier pricks had tried to strike up a conversation with me, almost trying to find some aspect of myself that they could make fun off to entertain their puny brain capacity but I immediately killed the conversations straight away. I would either answer a simple yes or no, then not go into any further detail.

The only interesting thing that happened was when we entered the beginning of the Great Jungle. I had expected us to stop at one of the tribes to resupply but instead, the dumbasses decided it would be best to go straight for the dungeon. That would prove later to be a mistake and by later, I mean now.

Arrows flew overhead and warriors started to initiate battle as Beastmen from the Gosthav tribe decided to attack us. One of them shouted something about trespassing on holy grounds or something, and then we were attacked. I knew we should have gone straight to a tribe to avoid this sort of misunderstanding. One of our soldiers even tried to negotiate by dropping his weapon and walking with his hands up towards a Beastman but that only resulted in the loss of his head, shoulders and his arms from the elbow down. I myself am currently fighting against a female Beastman with a club but it’s not like I am complaining. I did get to see a gruesome and entertaining death.

“AHHHHHHHH!”

You have been hit by a warrior’s shout ability variant. You are now stunned for half a second

Half a second was all she needed. She was about to deal a killing blow to my head but the buckling of my knees resulted in a slight cushioning effect. Coupled with Greeny making me slip a bit more with his slime, I was only knocked out.

Light.

I see light in front of me. Oh, I am currently tied up and hanging upside down along with other soldiers around a campfire. I look up and see that not only am I not wearing any clothes, the rope is attached to a tree branch as thick as a log so it looks like it will not be breaking anytime soon.

I look around and spot Greeny who is currently in a cage. As if noticing my stare, Greeny ripples. I also look for Arthur among the soldiers hung up with me but do not spot him. Did he die? If those Beastmen killed my target, so help me I’ll… they killed Arthur who is stronger than I am. How am I supposed to kill them if they killed someone with at least triple my current combat ability? I can’t.

“These humans and slime were found by one of our search parties trespassing on the holy ground, Chief. How shall we deal with them?”

My attention is drawn to a throne made of a mix of human and animal bone. Nice taste... wait, that’s not what I should be thinking about right now. There is a Beastman by the side of the throne; I can only assume that he was the one that asked the question. He seems he would suit the deep, grizzly voice I had heard. On the throne is a female Beastman, who was referred to as Chief; the strongest of the Gosthav tribe and quite the looker. Apart from the scars on her body and the massive great sword at her side, her brown hair with her brown eyes that were framed by her slightly tanned face made me stare.

She met my gaze and licked her lips.

“Skin them alive and add them to tonight’s festival as the main course. Leave the scrawny one and the slime for me however. I sense something from them and I could always do with another trophy.”

***

Arthur’s point of view

***

I am currently running as fast as I can out of the forest. To think we met the Gosthav tribe out of all the insignificant ones. We should have been able to defend from any but the two major tribes and we drew the short straw.

We were going along on the carriage when they suddenly ambushed us. How was I supposed to know about a ‘holy land’ in the Great Jungle. That librarian Ludwaeg should have told me about it.

I managed to finally exit the Great Jungle after half an hour of sprinting. I need to get back to the city as soon as possible. We need to summon a new hero. It was a shame as well, he got further than the others ever did and he was growing on me. I continued to go through the regular forest at night.

“I know it is dangerous but I have to get back quickly. The Demon Lord might attack soon and without a hero, the whole continent will be conquered.”

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Amulet of StatisticsNAMEDraculus AsdainRace???Class[/tds][td2]Foreign WarriorLevel20Health290Mana250Strength37Intelligence25Agility36Wisdom34Vitality39Luck75Passive Skills:Lucky chance: Due to abnormal amounts of luck not normally found in a creature, you are twice as likely to activate a percentage chance activating skill. In addition, you are automatically given a 1% chance to have a critical strike wherever you hit an enemy???: An unknown passive. Will unlock when certain conditions are met???: An unknown passive. Will unlock when certain conditions are metDemonic aura (weak): Some low level monsters will naturally follow you, treating you as their masterActive Skills:Hero's shout: Grants the caster a 30% increase in stats for 15 seconds. Usable once per daySummon familiar: Summon a familiar to your side for a certain amount of mana. Cost=Level of familiar x 10I got hit by lightning multiple times: For a random amount of time, you can not be killed. You can still be damaged however. Costs All mana (Only usable with 100 luck)Titles:Slime nii-san: The youngest and weakest of the slimes recognize you as their older brother and will follow your orders. This is the result of the passive: Demonic aura (weak). Warning, you are not strong enough for them to treat you as their dark lord. Therefore, they will follow any stronger slimes in the vicinity instead.Mythical beast hunter (II): For killing a mythical creature, adventurers will treat you with some respect while you will be shunned and targeted by those who treat these beasts with great reverence.EquipmentSteel scimitar+15 dmgSteel kite shield (small)+5 defGauntlet of the hero (indestructible)+10 defLeather braces+1 defLeather shin guards+2 defLeather breast plate (well crafted)+5 defDefense23Damage15Familiar-GreenyRacePetrification SlimeLevel13Health180Attack35Passive Skills:Petrification: Any enemy that touches its slime will temporarily petrify. Depending on the amount of slime, a larger area of the enemy will be petrified.Titles:King of the Slimes: Some slimes are no longer hostile. You gain the ability to mobilise a slime army. Future evolution paths have changed

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Author note: What I struggled on was with making the story interesting. I had written a couple of chapters about the journey to the Great Jungle but all of them were not interesting at all. I had a campfire scene but could not think of suitable dialogue. I also had a small wolf fighting scene but it ended too quickly with highly trained soldiers and that made it boring so I ended up omitting the wolf fight and shortening the campfire scene by a ton. PS. Who wants to bet that the soldier pricks will die next chapter? Extra PS, please spot any typos. I am trying to polish this up and I don't have a proofreader other than myself. I am also not sure how to give others the ability to edit the chapter so I don't think I can get one atm anyway. I will have to experiment. Hope you enjoyed chapter 17!