The travel into the forest of the elves on foot went longer than we thought. We walked off the path into the undergrowth. Our lives became less about fucking after that. The monsters in this undergrowth we had underestimated. Every day became a became blood bath that as a group worked towards.
Sex became a thing of the past as we traveled as we worked under massive trees that I equated to larger than most skyscrapers. Many times, our battles turned three-dimensional where even the trees themselves became our enemies.
Tina did repairs when she could. I meditated when I could boost my mana regeneration as best as possible. Molly was coming up with new unique ways to use illusion magic with the least mana cost possible. Our battles continued every day at any time from morning to night in the Forests we had now lost our way. Lost in every combat every day, we were soaked in blood and grime.
When we came across the water, we became warier of ambushes of monsters. We became used to the battle as months rolled on, our bodies became more defined and resilient to injuries, scars marred our skin, and I had no time to fix them.
I never knew why many feared the Elves. I thought age might have been the reason since they had time to accumulate more experience. But now I know, I thought. Their territory was filled with monsters, Beasts, Wildlife. Everything can kill you here, and as we were lost in this. We could have been traveling in circles if not for the fact that we left bread crumbs after a couple of weeks to stop that.
After some weeks in the forest, our rations went out—nothing but monsters we encountered and animals to become new rations. We also learned the difference between different monster meats. Some were unedible, and sickness ran through our group; only we all survived with my treatments.
A year in this forest went by as we traveled, still lost in unknown territory. Molly told me that Elves live in the trees and don't wander the forest floor too much and that she never spent much time here since Elves were prudes. We continued to survive in this forest off the meat and what edible veggies we could find.
Every day we still battled, finding magic beasts and random loot from monsters that had taken things from dead travelers. This was our life as the hard survival of the fittest mentality fell upon us. Tina's gadgets began to become more prone to breaking, needing a forge to repair properly, and was now learning more hand to hand combat. She was becoming more agile in dodging.
Kate was looking more like a savage and had scars all over her body. Her muscles were taut, and she looked like a proper barbarian.
Molly was looking like a dirty sexy barbarian as well. In fact, I bet we all looked like savages as blood and grime coated everything but our hands and faces. We traveled ready for battle at all times. The arrogance, I think, was being trained out of me, but I did not regret being lost in these woods.
Another year passed as we were helplessly lost in these woods. Our clothes were now replaced with animal furs and random bits of scraps. We all looked haggard of years lost. When strong monsters appeared, we reacted without thought now. They were animated without unnecessary movement.
We became battle-hardened in a never-ending stream of slaughter as hordes of beasts would attack us or tribes of monsters. Coordination between us became wordless as we each knew what the others would do without thought. Mally even started to learn tricks with daggers and throwing weapons to aid in finishing battles quicker. This continued for so long that we were desperate to leave the undergrowth.
We blamed ourselves for not bringing a compass.
The Elven woods forever gained my respect for the number of monsters and beasts they had. Poisons bugs everything. Many times when one of us was sleeping, I had to get up and remove poisons from our bodies, including my own. We were on a hair-trigger for movement and tried perpetually. Our nerves are forever on edge in the forest.
Food was still monster meat from that day and whatever we scavaged from the forest floor. We watched for enemies as we ate. Our wooden bowls were carved from some tree ages ago.
Then finally, the day came. I spotted a ladder on one of the trees. I pointed it out, and we all looked at it happily, and some hoped that we could find an Elf to point us to the nearest city or town. We climbed the tree and reached the top to find two elves startled to see us.
"What the-?" The Female elf exclaimed as we knocked.
Grimy people watched them looking happy; we cried that we could move to actual civilization. They set us up and allowed us to clean ourselves after we told them how we got lost on the forest floors and our constant fighting. They gave us a place to stay and a Bath. My balls felt full, but I couldn't care less as we cleaned up ourselves and laid in the mats they had.
We each took a turn, letting our bodies be completely clean for the first time in years. The black water was dumped each time we washed. The night sleep we got was the best, but we all often woke to the movement of another.
The next day we awoke after one of the best sleeps we had in years. The Elves we stayed with for the night told us we could eat and get ready in a few hours, and they will take us to the main tree for the City of Elves.
The next day was a period of travel on the forest ground again with a pack of wolves and a small goblin army attacking us. This was annoying only as the elves and our groups dispatched these creatures quickly without much hassle and not even looking for loot at the end. I had to ask at this point.
"Why do the elves allow so many monsters and beasts about. Does this not affect your civilization?"
One of the elves looked at me fondly like they had been asked thousands of times, "Yes and no. These trees need lots of nutrients, and one way of doing that is with the blood of beasts; another is to hone our young. No elf below D-rank is allowed down the trees. This also ensures other countries will not attack as our city is deep in the forest.
These monsters then become national strength since they attack anyone, not just us. In the past, Elves escaped Human enslavement when they owned the continent because of our forests. They would lose to the monsters more than us as we lured them into monster pits or the other way around. In fact, with the three-dimensional fighting style, many need to adopt new techniques even to fight properly here.
You all are very versatile to live this long." That earned some weary chuckles from us, "But we have found these monsters have their own worth outside defense and with trade. We keep up trading paths for tourists and merchants as well. Those who left the paths often remained unfound. But we try our best."
We came to a forest Elevator up into a tree and caravans of goods as Elevators went up and down on ropes and cords ascending into the trees where platforms were visible. We were so happy to reach civilization again after two years we all cried. We put down our adventurer tags, identified ourselves, went up into the trees, and went back into a city as tears rolled down our eyes.