Dragon King's Harem Chapter 89. Hundreds of Armours and The White Forest I
An hour had passed. As we got closer to the temple, the gigantic hands' sculptures disappeared from our view as they were covered by the white trees in front of us. Their name, White Devil trees.
My eyes fell on the vast white forest that was only about five hundred meters in front of us. As I recalled, there was a path that wasn't covered by the trees. That path was guarded by ice walls, which was why the deadly trees couldn't reach anyone who passed by it. But as far as I searched for it, I couldn't find it. I could only guess the trees had taken over the path. Luckily, I didn't plan to take that path in the first place. Because I knew, despite the ice walls, some trees that were close enough to the walls, could attack passersby from between the ice walls.
We pulled the reins to a stop not far from the white forest. Our eyes swept around and found hundreds of adventures' clothes and armour under the trees. All of them looked similar, indicating they were from the same group. And based on their number, it wasn't a normal thing since usually an adventurer group only consisted of a few people. Not hundreds like this.
Curious, I stretched out my hand and used my Telekinetic.
[A clothes and armour are in your control. ]
The clothes flew towards me and stopped in front of me. I moved my hands in the opposite direction to spread out the outfit with my Telekinetic skill before I checked every detail, especially the shape and the crest. At least I could find out the victims' tribe or where they came from. Since the trees ate their victims to the bones.
[Name: Steel Breastplate]
[Type: Armor]
[Armor used to protect the user's chest.]
[Maker: Common Blacksmith]
[Status: Damaged]
[Name: Leather Armor]
[Type: Armor]
[Armor used to protect the user body. Less effective than hard armour but can protect the user's body from cold air.]
My forehead wrinkled. Those were a common type of armour so I couldn't guess from there. But at least I knew, they were not a noble's army. Also based on the clothes colour and shape which was still vivid, I guessed it just happened in the last few years. I flipped through those armours to find the crest. With this many, they should be from a hunter or adventure guild, but I couldn't find the guild emblem either.
"What do you think?" I said as I moved the armour and clothes at Eir who stopped by my side. Eir's eyes fell on the two objects floating in front of him.
"Do you know anything about this?" I asked again. Since it happened while I was asleep, maybe Eir knew some information or a report about this.
He flipped through the armour for a moment before falling silent again, deep in thought. Since he didn't say anything, I moved those armour at Evelina, to which she replied with a 'no' head shake. Before moving them on to Jyne. They might have known something about this. Unfortunately, they didn't know anything either.
"What I remember are the extreme weather reports around this place, sir. But it only lasted a week," said Eir suddenly.
"Are there any reports of damage and casualties?" I asked. Extreme weather was common in this kind of territory and it shouldn't be a reason for this incident. This was a place to pray and had nothing to do with the weather. Moreover, from the armour and clothes, it was clear that they did not come here for it.
"Nothing, sir. Extreme weather only hit around this area and as you know, there are no villages or towns around here," replied Eir. His confusion was also evident in the tone of his voice. Besides, which idiot would want to leave the house and go to a deadly place like this amid extreme weather?
Since we had no clue, I cancelled my Telekinetic and put the armours into my inventory. I decided to find out about this later after we returned to the palace.
"We will discuss this later. We have to get through this forest first,"
"But, how?" he asked. His eyes swept across the dense forest.
"We're going to make a temporary bridge with the Mana Barrier," I said. With my supply of Mana potions, it was more than enough to create a bridge to the temple.
My words made Evelina realize why I needed her.
"Why did I never think of that?" said Eir in surprise. The idea sounded simple and easy to execute. While it was much safer as long as we could avoid the trees' attack range. I got this idea from a game I played in my original world when my character had to cross a temporary bridge that could disappear at any time. The difference was, our Mana Barrier wouldn't disappear as long as we didn't cancel it.
"Are you ready, Evelina?" I asked.
Evelina moved to my other side.
"I'm ready, sir,"
"I will use my Mana Barrier first. After that we will cast it alternately," I explained my plan.
"I understand."
After that answer, I stretched my hand forward.
'Mana Barrier.'
[A barrier has been formed.]
Rather than placing the barrier straight, I placed it in a low diagonal position, making sure our mounts could pass through it easily.
Our feet kicked the sides of our mounts lightly, ordering them to move forward slowly and they did. According to my orders, Evelina cast her Mana Barrier at the end of my barrier.
As the minutes passed, we were getting higher. After making sure we were out of the trees' attack range, Evelina and I placed our Mana Barrier horizontally so our mounts could move easily.
My eyes fell on the ice sculptures that were getting clearer in front of me. My sight caught a short altar in the middle of the palms. Glancing down, the transparent Mana Barrier made us walk on a transparent bridge. The midday suns shining on the branches of the White Devil Trees' thorns made them look like beautiful white crystals, but we knew how deadly they were. We could feel the warmth of the suns combined with the wind that brushed our faces and bodies.
As we got further away, my eyes caught something interesting below us.
"Halt!" I said as I pulled the reins in my hand without taking my eyes off the object. And they stopped according to my request.
I stretched out my hand and used my Telekinetic skill again. Another armour flew at me. What caught my attention was, this armour had a cape behind it and rather than being on the ground, this one was on the branch. As that object was in front of me, I could see a crest on the cape, indicating that the owner was not an ordinary person.
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