Chapter 521: Pocket-sized meat grinder
The group entered the jungle at the first rays of dawn. The vegetation here was a lot denser than in the volcanic jungles north of Skyreach and Sovuln, the canopy only letting rare streams of light shine through here and there. There were vines and colorful exotic plants and flowers growing everywhere one looked.
Ihuarah gave Pareth directions, who slowly cleared a path with his machete of light, and at the same time, he explained some of the peculiar rules those who entered this place had to abide by, while the whole night had been spent only going over how to reach Sorrow’s palace and what to do when they encountered Ochiarans.
“We have to clear the path like this to scare off the webbers,” he explained, “they are giant crawling arachnids with advanced camouflage magic. Even with good mana senses, they are extremely hard to detect. Their presence is what makes flying here dangerous, as it makes you an easy target for their web-spit attacks. The webbers in themselves are generally not too strong, but the web they spit is hard to get out of, even for people of our level. Thankfully, they only hide in the bushes, and if we clear them they will keep their distance.”
Cinthia looked back, the group had only gone a few hundred meters from the encampment, yet it was already no longer visible. “The plants are already regrowing where we cut them down…” she noticed with an uneasy voice.
Ihuarah turned around, walking backwards to face the group as he spoke, “Such is the way of the jungle. Now that we have entered, we cannot stop. We must always press on.”
“How about our other movement options?” Sofia asked, looking at the canopy.
“Flying above the trees is suicidal,” Ihuarah explained, “steer away from any natural clearing in the canopy, we must be thankful for the trees’ protection, for the monsters living above are much more dangerous than the monsters living below. Teleportation is fine in battle but generally you want to avoid it because of the webbers. And similarly, going through the spiritual realm would be fine if not for the risk of encountering Ochiarans.”
“Walking is slow but it sure sounds like the safest option,” Everelle commented, “And also… I have to warn you all not to count on me too much when it comes to fighting…”
“Not the best environment for Sunless?” Sofia asked.