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Chapter 212

He sighed deeply for a moment.

"Both of them are dead..."

Standing up, he walked toward the remaining horse, which was drinking from the stream a short distance away.

"I have to save at least that one—"

Thud.

Before he could finish speaking, the remaining horse also collapsed, as if crumbling. With a final snort, it buried its head in the water.

"...." Philip stopped in his tracks, speechless.

"Was that water not meant to be drunk?" Ian muttered, clicking his tongue as his eyes momentarily twitched.

Just as Ian\'s gaze drifted sideways, Philip smiled and said, "We\'ve lost all the horses now," turning to face them.

Ian gestured with his chin and said, "Look behind you, Philip."

"Well, it can\'t be helped, can it? We should have seen this coming. Starting tomorrow, I\'ll carry the bags my— ...?!" As he muttered and turned around, Philip froze once more. The horses that had collapsed were now slowly getting back on their feet.

Blinking in disbelief, Philip murmured. "They were definitely... dead..."

The horses, now steadied, slowly turned around immediately after.

"Huh, what...?"

As the horses started moving toward the stream, Philip quickly reached out and hurried over. Grabbing the reins, he pulled them back, and both horses followed without much resistance.

Clatter—

Soon, the third horse also staggered to its feet. Without checking the horses\' condition, Philip immediately turned around and saw the third horse approaching the stream.

"Something’s not right," Mev muttered, observing the scene.

Ian shrugged as he noticed Charlotte running toward them from across the stream.

"She must have noticed something too," said Ian.

Carrying an armful of cut branches, Charlotte rushed over, ignoring Philip. Behind her, Thesaya appeared, armed with her bow.

"There are monsters in this forest, Ian," Charlotte, who had stopped in front, dropped the branches and muttered.

A faint blue light rose like dust. The branches were all twisted and deformed in shape.

... It reeks of mold.

Ian, who threw a flame into the fire, looked at Charlotte.

"What kind of creature?"

"I\'m not exactly sure. It flew around, emitting light. Looked like a bug. I didn\'t bother to follow it. It didn\'t fly toward me either."

"I saw it too. It wasn\'t just one. Some were walking around. They looked somewhat familiar. Except for the fact they were glowing." Thesaya, who had thrown a quiver full of practice arrows beside the campfire, added.

... So, there are all sorts of things here.

Ian, recalling the western part of the game, smirked and looked around the forest. Beyond the darkness, bluish light flickered like will-o\'-the-wisps.

Thesaya\'s voice continued, "Besides, the forest itself feels strangely unsettling. It\'s different from here. Hard to describe... But it\'s disturbing."

"I felt the same way. This stream might be the boundary." Charlotte added in agreement as she dusted off her hands. Shining spores spread between her palms. The reason she remained unaffected must have been due to her innate resistance, combined with the blessing of Della Lu.

"We should be ready to fight from tomorrow," said Ian.

Exchanging glances with Mev, Ian took out a pot and handed it to Charlotte.

"Let\'s have a hearty meal today. Don\'t drink the water as it is. It seems contaminated."

"Understood." As Charlotte turned around, Ian took out a sealed container from his pocket dimension. While he took out preserved food from it, Thesaya walked back to the carriage.

It was then that Philip, who had been checking the horses, turned toward the campfire.

"No matter how you look at it, my lord, it seems these creatures are dead."

"...?" Ian, tearing jerky, ham, and bread one after another, frowned.

Thesaya, who had been rummaging through the carriage, approached Philip.

Soon, Thesaya, who touched the standing horses, shrugged. "Really. Their hearts aren\'t beating. And they feel unsettling."

"Are you saying they\'ve become undead?" Mev, who was polishing her shoulder guard with an oiled cloth, asked.

"Perhaps," Thesaya added, before turning back to the carriage.

Philip sighed deeply and slowly drew his sword. "Poor things... I\'ll put them to rest."

"Hold it." Ian\'s voice came then.

Philip, who had paused, turned his head.

"Wait a moment." As Ian spoke, Charlotte, who had returned, placed the pot filled with water on the campfire.

Ian pulled out Della Lu’s blessing from the leather pouch around his neck and placed it in the water. He then tossed in all the ingredients laid out in front of him and stood up.

"Don’t taste it until it’s boiling. There’s a jar of rock salt in the box. Grind some in as needed," he added to Charlotte as he walked toward the horses.

They were simply standing there, looking vacant. Their eyes were dull and lifeless. Ian narrowed his eyes as he placed a hand on one of their heads.

"Their hearts definitely aren’t beating..."

Something was still happening inside the horse’s body. Warmth radiated through his palm, and blood still flowed through its veins. He could feel the contamination of dark magic. This magic seemed to be what was keeping them moving.

It might not just be blood flowing through those veins. However,

"These horses might still be able to pull the carriage," said Ian.

At Ian\'s words, one of Philip\'s eyebrows slowly raised. "You want to trust the carriage to horses that died and came back to life?"

"They’re moving, aren’t they? And they’re not going crazy attacking us. At least, not yet... Pass me that," Ian said, reaching for the reins Philip was holding.

Philip clicked his tongue but handed over the reins of the horse with the saddle. Ian mounted it immediately. The horse didn’t resist or collapse. In fact, when he tugged on the reins, it moved forward.

After shaking the reins a few more times, Ian muttered, "Looks like it can’t run."

The horse seemed to want to cross the stream and head into the forest. Still, it followed Ian’s lead obediently.

Ian glanced at Philip, who looked uneasy. "Tie them up next to the carriage."

"... Yes, my lord." Philip turned away, clicking his tongue.

Ian rode the horse in a small circle before approaching Philip, who was securing the horses.

Philip muttered, "Do you think it’ll be alright? They look like they’ve turned into monsters."

"What does it matter? As long as they can pull the carriage," Ian replied, dismounting and tossing the reins to Philip, who nodded reluctantly.

"Well... I suppose that’s true."

"Just make sure they’re tied up tightly. They might transform into something weird while we’re asleep," Ian added, turning to the savory aroma wafting from the holy stew.

"Transform..." Philip muttered, glancing at the horses as he tightened the knots securing them.

***

The next day, the horses\' condition hadn\'t changed much. Their eyes were still dull, and the sheen on their coats had disappeared. No, that wasn\'t all. They no longer ate or slept.

"Since we don’t know when they might suddenly turn on us, I’ll keep a close watch," Philip said, securing the horses to the carriage before climbing onto the driver’s seat.

"Do that," Ian replied from atop the carriage roof, tossing Philip a leather canteen. It was filled with water purified by Della Lu’s blessing and boiled thoroughly. No one, of course, criticized the unorthodox use of the sacred relic.

As the carriage began moving, Ian looked back at Mev, who was mounted on her horse.

"How’s the ride?" he asked.

Mev glanced down at the horse plodding along with its head lowered and shrugged. "It’s fine. At least it follows orders."

A holy knight riding a monster horse. What a sight, Ian thought to himself as he turned his gaze away.

The carriage crossed the stream and entered the forest. For a moment, everything seemed surreal. The forest was covered in moss, mold, and mushrooms. The trees stretched their twisted branches in all directions, and a phosphorescent turquoise light glowed among them. Watching closely, it felt like the scenery itself was slowly writhing, as if alive. But Ian’s sense of crossing into another realm wasn’t just due to the dreamlike landscape.

The air was thick with contaminated magic, just like the spores, and an unsettling feeling of discomfort enveloped his entire body. It was a strange unease, a sense of something fundamentally wrong. This wasn\'t just a matter of mood; Ian could feel his senses distorting and his perception faltering. It meant his ability to detect was compromised, indicating they had entered the direct influence of the demonic realm, a place where normalcy and reality were skewed.

Well, we’ve definitely come to the right place, he mused.

Suddenly, a faint resonance echoed within him.

What, are you saying prey is near?

As Ian pondered this while observing the fragment of chaos, the carriage door swung open. Charlotte, fully armed, agilely climbed onto the roof.

"What is it?" Ian asked.

"We don’t know when monsters might appear," Charlotte said, setting her battle ax down beside her.

"Whatever comes, I’ll handle it. I need to check if I’ve fully recovered," she added.

"Go ahead. If you’re taking care of the trash mobs, that’s fine by me."

"Trash mobs...? What are those?"

"Just a term. Anyway, these ones might not die easily. Don’t overexert yourself."

"I know. I’ll just hack them up."

About thirty minutes later, Charlotte\'s hand moved to her ax handle.

"I thought everything was asleep... Guess not." She muttered, crouching as Ian turned to see what she was looking at. He spotted bluish silhouettes in the shadows of the forest.

"Not the ones you saw yesterday, I suppose."

"They don’t look like insects. More like... something I saw a long time ago. Though these are more disgusting," Philip said, narrowing his eyes.

"They resemble the monsters from the corrupted forest with the ancient tree," Mev added.

Ah, those cordyceps?

Ian smirked and nodded. They weren’t entirely wrong. These creatures were trolls, not goblins or kobolds.

Three trolls were covered in bluish mold. Each had a wide-capped orange mushroom growing from their heads, which had sprouted from their eye sockets. Despite their closeness to the carriage, they didn’t shout or charge. They just plodded along aimlessly.

"... I have a bad feeling that this is going to be boring," Charlotte muttered, leaping from the roof. The carriage jolted, and she sped toward the mold-covered trolls, her battle ax tightly gripped.

The trolls still showed no reaction.

Thwack!

Charlotte’s ax cleaved through the foremost troll from head to chest. Its head split apart, but no blood spurted. Instead, a bluish, mucus-like substance oozed out. Charlotte pushed the creature aside, pulled out her ax, and delivered another powerful blow. The troll split completely and fell in two, releasing a burst of glowing spores.

Charlotte shook off the fluid from her ax and immediately charged at another troll.

Ian continued watching the fallen troll’s body. Even bisected, it still twitched. Bluish fluid dripped from the cut, spreading across the reddish ground and bubbling as it settled.

Ian muttered, "That doesn’t seem like a moldy troll. It seems more like mold shaped into a troll."

"Whatever it is, it’s definitely killed my appetite," Thesaya muttered, leaning out the window to watch Charlotte’s fight.

Charlotte had already beheaded the second troll and was chopping its limbs. Despite the deaths of its two companions, the last troll showed no signs of aggression or even awareness. It stood there until Charlotte\'s ax cleaved into its skull.

Ian’s head whipped around at that moment.

"That looks like the creatures Charlotte saw yesterday," Ian said.

Glowing blue insects were flying through the branches. They were large centipedes with long, dragonfly-like wings. Their gaping maws moved as if sniffing the air, and small mushrooms covering their bodies sparkled. A bluish powder scattered in their wake.

"Kitty, behind you!" Thesaya shouted.

Charlotte, who had been hacking the last troll to pieces, quickly turned her head. She wiped the splattered fluids from her cheek with the back of her hand and jumped at the two approaching insects.

Crunch!

One of the mold-covered insects was struck down by her ax. Charlotte mounted the writhing creature and repeatedly struck it with her ax, preparing for the next attack.

It was an unnecessary precaution.

"...?!" The other insect flew past her and landed on the severed stump of the troll, plunging its head into the exposed flesh. Charlotte’s face showed a rare surprise, likely because she felt utterly ignored.

Thesaya muttered, tilting her head. "Normally, there aren’t any docile monsters, right?"

"As far as I know, that\'s true. They typically have dark instincts. But...." Looking down at her horse, Mev added, "We’ve seen quite a few exceptions here."

She seemed just as puzzled. At that moment, Charlotte struck the head of the insect feasting on the troll, separating it from its body. The decapitated body flew off, dripping fluid as it went.

Charlotte didn’t bother to chase it. Instead, she kicked the remaining head and turned back to the carriage, her expression sour. She didn’t seem pleased with the battle, which had been hardly a fight.

Leaping back onto the carriage roof, she muttered, scowling, "This is ridiculous. Maybe it wasn’t that they didn’t see me yesterday."

She began to cough, hacking loudly. Ian’s gaze turned sharp, and she explained, "It’s that powder. It’s irritating my throat."

"... Get down to the driver’s seat immediately," Ian ordered.

"...?" Puzzled, Charlotte ?obeyed, descending to sit beside Philip.

Ian gestured with his chin. "Philip, give her some divine power. Cover her completely."

"Yes, my lord." Philip extended his right hand, and a faint light enveloped Charlotte.

Closing her eyes as if sunbathing, she muttered, "I’m fine, thanks to Della Lu’s blessing."

"It’s just a precaution. If we’re unlucky, you might end up like the monsters here," Ian replied.

"Like... them?" Philip grimaced.

Mev and Thesaya leaned out from the carriage to look at Ian.

Ian clicked his tongue and explained, "I think the reason they’re not attacking us is that they believe we’re about to become part of this ecosystem."

"So, they’re waiting for us to turn into creatures like them?" Philip asked, frowning deeply.

"It’s just a hunch. Around here, it seems even breathing might be enough to catch an infection, like what happened with the trolls or the horses."

"... I suddenly feel like I should stop breathing," Philip muttered, making a face.

Charlotte nodded. "Indeed. These creatures were neither dead nor alive. I’ve never seen flying centipedes before, but...."

"Maybe they were born or mutated here, Like everything else in this place," Mev added, glancing around.

"... In any case, that means the monsters in this forest might not keep attacking us," said Philip.

"We’ll see. Some might come after us to infect us, so don’t let your guard down," Ian replied, lying back on the carriage roof.

"With monsters pulling the carriage, how could I let my guard down?" Philip muttered, reclaiming his divine power and gripping the reins tighter.

The horses, already hosts to the mold, trudged along the winding mountain path.