Chapter 1127: Redspark Forest III
Trudging through the Redspark Forest was quite calming for Leon. The forest atmosphere, the storm above filling him with power, and the sensation of being watched from all around were experiences that Leon hadn’t had in many years.
The possibility of being stalked by a werewolf, of course, only added to that pleasant feeling, for there was no better forest in his mind than one that held genuine danger. Still, for all his appreciation of the Redspark Forest, he kept vigilant; his magic senses were projected, his head was on a swivel, and his ears were tuned for any unnatural sounds he might pick up in the forest.
He didn’t perceive much, unfortunately, as the fog and general ambiance of the forest masked most of it from his senses, both magical and physical, and Davin’s magic lantern continued to emit a foul aura that, while keeping many monsters and other beasts away, also felt horrendous to perceive with his magic senses.
As they moved down the path, Leon took in the forest as best as the thick fog allowed him to. Many of the tracks in the earth were familiar enough to him, the smaller markings he noticed indicating that not everything in the forest was a man-eating monster, but others were far more alien. He didn’t notice any further werewolf tracks for a while, thankfully, but he had to ask Davin about some of what he saw.
The first set of tracks he asked about was from what seemed to be a mass of snakes as thick as his leg, and he was dismayed to hear that that’s precisely what had left those tracks—the poil snake, Davin told him, was a large snake that operated in packs of several hundred or more. Black hunters, bats the size of a man, and even larger birds of prey could pick off dozens of these serpents whenever they moved nests, and their numbers would hardly be affected.
Thankfully, they were generally weak, as their reliance on packs implied, and Davin’s candle would keep them away if the aura of the party didn’t.
Another set of tracks Leon noticed were impact craters with a diameter about as long as he was tall, with many root-like tunnels branching through them.
“Sometimes the trees migrate,” Davin told him. “It’s damned rare, but it’s the smart man who keeps his distance, an’ the fool who doesn’t.”
“The trees migrate?” Anna asked skeptically. “Are they home to tree sprites or something?”