CHAPTER 203: CHAPTER 203: THE VILLAGE (1)

A day had passed since they entered the rift.

Deep within the wilderness, Gwen’s team was engaged in combat with the woods around them.

"Three enemies in total! Fifteen meters to the left, seven meters in front, twenty meters to the right!" Hana called out.

In the next instant, three arrows flew true, striking each of the trees she had marked.

Whoosh!

Spiked roots shot out from the ground beneath Gwen.

Reacting instantly, she performed a backflip, narrowly dodging the sharp roots that oozed a paralytic tree sap.

The moment her feet touched the ground, she sidestepped to the right, avoiding a long vine that sliced through the air where she had just been.

"I’ll handle the one on the right," Gwen called out calmly, already dashing toward the tree marked by Hana’s arrow.

"I’ll take the left," Landur responded, severing a long, tendril-like vine with a swift flash of his blade.

"Then I guess that leaves me with the middle!" Jayce shouted, ignoring the curtain of vines before him as he charged headfirst into danger.

Several vines lashed out, trying to wrap around his hulking frame, but they failed to restrain him as he bulldozed his way through.

With only a few steps, he reached the base of the tree, retracting his arm as he enveloped his gauntlet in thick, blue mana.

Branches, vines, and leaves bundled together to shield the trunk, but it was useless.

Boom!

Like a bomb going off, wood splinters scattered everywhere as Jayce blasted a hole in the center of the trunk with a single punch, revealing a swirling mass of vines, moss, and grass squirming behind the bark.

The mess writhed like worms or snakes knotted together, pulsing as green, moss-like slime oozed between the cracks.

Jayce felt his stomach churn at the sight, but despite his disgust, he didn’t hesitate. He plunged his hand into the tangled mass, his fingers slipping between the cracks until he grabbed hold of a small, squishy core nestled deep within.

Gripping it tightly, he yanked it free, tearing it from the vein-like vines connecting it to the tree. Without a second thought, he crushed the core in his palm, reducing it to a thick green paste.

In an instant, the vines that had been attacking him collapsed to the ground, lifeless. The tree before him visibly withered, its once-vibrant leaves turning dull and brittle.

"Urgh," Jayce groaned, swallowing the lump rising in his throat. He wiped his hand against the rough bark of the tree, smearing the green goo across the surface.

Turning, he saw that both Landur and Gwen had finished dealing with their targets as well, each using a different approach.

On Landur’s side, he had cut down every branch and vine before carving an opening into the side of the tree and stabbing his sword deep into it, destroying the core.

Gwen, however, had been even more direct—cutting down the entire tree with a single clean slash before driving her blade into the exposed core.

With the threats eliminated, they regrouped in the center of the safe zone they had cleared.

"Great work, everyone. With this, we’ve hit today’s quota," Gwen said as she sheathed her sword.

"Urgh... finally," Landur sighed, stretching as he suppressed a lazy yawn.

"You guys are lucky you have weapons, at least..." Jayce grumbled, annoyance clear on his face.

"Heh." Landur smirked. "And who was it that insisted on choosing brawling as your martial art?"

"Do you want me to show you just how good my grappling skills are?" Jayce threatened, raising his still-slimy palms toward Landur.

Landur’s expression immediately changed. He took a quick step back, whistling innocently to the side.

Gwen only shook her head at her team’s usual shenanigans.

"Come on, let’s head back to base," she said, already turning to lead the way.

On the way back, she mentally reviewed what they had learned about the rift so far.

It had been just over a day since they entered, and while their progress was slower than expected, they had managed to piece together a few important facts.

First, it seemed they had landed in the middle of a vast tropical rainforest, thick with towering trees and vibrant, choking undergrowth.

Second—and far more concerning—there was no sign of animal life. No birds, no insects, nothing. After hours of trekking through the dense forest, the absence of any fauna had become impossible to ignore. Only the endless sea of plants thrived here, as if the entire ecosystem had been hollowed out.

Worse still, hidden among the normal trees were the real dangers. The "corrupted trees," as they had started calling them.

These things blended perfectly with the ordinary forest, lying in wait to ambush anything that got too close. They were impossible to spot until they moved, forcing everyone to advance slowly and carefully, second-guessing every branch and vine along the way.

The need for caution had made exploration painfully slow.

To speed things up, Liam, had divided the hunters into small groups and sent them out to explore different sectors, assigning each a daily quota of infected trees to eliminate.

Gwen’s group had been tasked with exploring the area south of the camp. Their objective was to map out the terrain and clear a safe path through the forest, reporting back to Liam once the route was secured.

Unfortunately, despite covering over ten kilometers, they hadn’t managed to uncover anything of interest in the southern sector.

After traveling for a little over an hour, the group returned to the area where they had first landed — which had since been transformed into a bustling hub of activity.

The surrounding trees and flora had been cut down, expanding the clearing to almost half a kilometer in radius.

Several tents had been pitched, each serving a different purpose. There was one for medical aid, another for communal sleeping, a storage area, a command center, and a few smaller tents that seemed to be personal spaces for certain hunters.

There had been a total of fifty-six hunters divided among twelve teams at the start of the raid, but after a single day, that number had dropped to fifty-three.

Gwen made her way past several hunters who were lounging around the camp, some resting, others quietly tending to their equipment. After weaving through the busy clearing, she arrived at a particularly large tent that had been repurposed into the command center.

Since Hana and the others had already gone to rest, she was the only one left to report.

Parting the heavy blinds, she stepped inside and found Liam hunched over a large table, staring intently at a map spread across its rough wooden surface — a makeshift table crafted from a fallen tree.

"Hm. You’re back," he said without looking up, his voice low and serious.

"Yes, sir. Team 7 cleared the area ten kilometers south of camp. We took out a total of three hundred thirty-three infected trees. We crossed a river during the expedition, but otherwise encountered nothing unusual."

Gwen’s reply was crisp and formal, her posture rigid—more like a soldier reporting to her commanding officer than a sister speaking to her brother.

Liam raised a hand to his chin, leaning back slightly as he studied the map from a broader view. His narrow, sleepy-looking eyes barely opened as he waved Gwen forward with his other hand.

"Come here. Tell me what you think of this."

Gwen nodded and stepped closer to the table. Spread out before her was an incredibly detailed map of the surrounding terrain.

She immediately spotted familiar landmarks—including the river she had crossed—along with large areas that hadn’t yet been explored. There were mountain ranges, lakes, and even pathways marked out, making the distance they had explored look tiny in comparison.

"Where did you get this map?" she asked, frowning. It was far too precise for something made after just a day of exploration.

"It’s not important," Liam replied casually, a faint smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. "Look here."

He pointed to a path that stretched northeast from the camp, snaking its way more than thirty kilometers into the forest.

"You’re planning to send the teams here next?" Gwen asked, following the trail with her eyes.

"Yep. If my intel is correct, there should be a village past that ridge."

"A village?" Gwen blinked, caught off-guard. The idea of civilization existing in this hostile wilderness seemed almost impossible.

"That’s right. Though whether we’ll find people there is another matter entirely." Liam’s tone was neutral, but Gwen caught the hidden meaning behind his words. Her brows furrowed slightly as she stared at the map, lost in thought.

Seeing her so serious, Liam chuckled softly. "Anyway, how’s your first rift treating you so far, Gwenevere?"

Gwen cringed hearing her full name called out loud. "Ugh, seriously? Stop calling me that. I told you I hate it."

Liam shrugged, unbothered. "Just answer the question."

Gwen shot him a glare but answered anyway. "Other than the death of three hunters, it’s been fine. Honestly... it’s been a lot more relaxing than those insane monster hunts the academy sends us on."

Liam barked out a laugh at her bluntness. "Hahaha! Well, those hunts were designed to prepare you for rifts like this. Seems like they did their job."

"Oh? Were the ridiculous point requirements part of that grand plan too?" Gwen shot back, her eyes narrowing dangerously.

"Ahem," Liam coughed awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck. "Learning to struggle early saves you from bigger mistakes later."

"So you’re saying I’ll be struggling later too?" Gwen arched an eyebrow.

"A-Anyway," Liam stammered, feeling a cold sweat prickling at the back of his neck under her sharp stare, "Anything else to report?"

"Hmph." Gwen huffed, clearly unimpressed by his clumsy attempt to change the subject, but let it slide.

"No, nothing else." She paused, then added, "Actually... I haven’t seen that hunter you brought with you since we entered the rift. Is he off exploring another area?"

"Ah, him." Liam’s smirk turned mischievous as he leaned on the table. "Why are you so curious? Interested, maybe?"

Gwen’s face twisted in disgust. "As if. He seemed more like a hazard than an ally when we first met."

"Hmm," Liam hummed thoughtfully, nodding. "He was a little unstable back then, but he knows what he’s doing. I sent him on a special mission elsewhere. You don’t need to worry about him."

Gwen nodded slowly, sensing her brother wasn’t willing to say much more on the subject.

Their conversation lulled into a brief silence—until another voice called out from outside the tent.

"Leader of Team 6, reporting in."

A moment later, a massive figure bent down and entered through the tent’s narrow opening. His hulking frame made even Jayce look small by comparison.

He had a large scar across his face, seemingly from a beast’s claw with a massive battle axe resting on his back.

He gave Gwen a quick nod of acknowledgment before turning to Liam.

"Sir, we’ve finished clearing the path to the ridge."

Hearing the news, Liam’s smirk widened.

"Good. Send word to everyone to prepare. We’re moving out in the next three hours."