The mana emanating from the forest was extremely dense and caused discomfort in Niko and Vesta, as they were more sensitive to mana. Victor also felt some discomfort, but it was far weaker. Pallas felt nothing at all. He only used mana to strengthen his body and had not developed all his senses for that energy.
Vesta heard a sound and quickly drew her sword, cutting off the arm of an orc. It moved very fast and was far larger than a normal orc. Its arm regenerated, and the monster quickly attacked Vesta, but she was fast and managed to evade the blow. Victor snapped his fingers and teleported behind the orc, but the monster perceived his position and struck him. Victor was thrown against a tree. He got up quickly, furious, and used water magic on the orc's head. It seemed useless, as the orc continued its rapid attacks. Vesta kept striking it, but the orc kept recovering.
"Leave it to me, get back," Pallas said.
His movements were extremely fast, so fast they were hard to follow. The orc was sliced into countless pieces until the monster finally stopped regenerating.
"What was that?"
"Is there any chance someone created that monster?" Pallas asked.
"The only person with the knowledge to do that is Vans, but I don't believe he would do something like this," Vesta said.
"I think we would know if he did something like that. At least, I believe we would."
Victor said nothing. He did not believe Vans was responsible.
"Setting aside the idea that someone created that orc, what's the other possibility?"
"Monsters like that only appear when there is a massive concentration of mana. This doesn't happen out of nowhere. It takes time, and even in a dungeon full of mana, it would take long enough for someone to notice before it reached that point. According to the forest clearing records, four months ago there was a cleanup and no mana anomaly was reported."
"Would that amount of time be enough for something like this?"
"No..." She was hit by an arrow before she could finish speaking.
Victor used protective magic and raised a shield.
"She died..." Niko said as she examined the body. She pulled the arrow from Vesta's right eye and used healing magic to restore the wound. Then she used resurrection magic, and Vesta woke up. Her breathing was rapid, and little by little she began to understand what had happened.
Vesta looked around and could not find who had attacked her. Niko pointed at a tree. The others could not see anything, but Niko could see the flow of mana.
Niko began to concentrate mana in her finger. After a few seconds, Victor lowered the barrier, and she attacked with full force. A sharp sound echoed, and the monster fell to the ground. Pallas went to the spot and dragged the monster back to the others.
"What kind of monster is this?"
"It looks like a hobgoblin, but it's very different from any I've ever seen."
"It looks human," Niko said.
"Are you sure this is a monster?"
"I can guarantee it is a monster and not a human. I can feel it."
"Put the body in the item bag. Vans will analyze it."
Niko was the only one carrying an item bag. She did not like the idea, but she had to follow the order. She found it disgusting to put a monster's corpse together with her personal belongings. It really was disgusting.
"The arrow it used is strange. It looks like it was made by someone who truly knows how to make arrows. Goblins and hobgoblins are intelligent monsters, but they are still very stupid compared to humans. The arrows they use are simpler and not made of metal."
"Are you suggesting these hobgoblins are more intelligent?"
"Or that someone more intelligent is controlling them. What I can guarantee is that this arrow is not one of ours. Our blacksmiths do not use this pattern or this metal for arrows."
"How do you know about the metal?"
"My mask was broken. That suggests the monster is very strong, stronger than a normal hobgoblin, and that metal is mythril. Only that could break my mask."
"We need to keep moving."
"These monsters are different from the ones that attacked the animals. Those attackers were normal monsters."
"Is it possible that someone infiltrated the Tower without anyone noticing?"
"The Tower was only opened when we entered. Before that, it was only opened when we left to build the Castle. Without the map, no one could infiltrate it so well. If someone is doing this, it can only be someone on our side, acting in a very cunning way so no one discovered it."
"That worries me," Vesta said. She paused as she adjusted her hair to cover the eye behind the broken part of her mask. "If it really is one of us, what will we do?"
"I don't know. To be honest, I don't like thinking in any way that there might be a traitor among us, but if there is, I will have to apply the ancient laws and eliminate the traitor."
"There is another problem. Actually, there are several, but the main one is this. Depending on who it is, you might not be able to deal with it alone, not without taking damage. I don't want to sound like I'm doubting your strength, but I don't think anyone here could compete with Niko, just like Eris. She is very strong. But I don't believe either of them is involved in this."
Niko liked the part where she said Victor would not be able to defeat her.
"You're right. I might not be able to handle it alone, which is why we need to attack as a group. Now tell me the other problems."
"What if this is exactly what the traitor wants? I mean that if all of this is part of the plan, our conclusion may have already been anticipated. Because of that, the traitor planned a way to shift the blame onto someone else. That means all our conclusions must be thought through more carefully, and we need a way to validate everything. That way we avoid punishing an innocent person, or even assuming it might be a general. Even though we are the strongest, there are many powerful soldiers, intelligent alchemists, and so on. Our forces include many demons who could do this if they had help or if they were part of a group."
"Thinking about a group makes me even more uncomfortable, but we can't rule out any possibility. The question is how this was done."
"The Tower has only been opened twice on this continent, but the first time we left it open for a long time. If this started ten years ago, then the Tower itself may be contaminated in many ways. Even so, it would still be unlikely that no one noticed it before."
"You said the Tower was cleaned four months ago, but it wasn't opened during that period. We need to review that report."
"We don't need to. The Tower was full of golems, and they handled the cleaning and generated the reports," Niko said.
"Is there any chance they made a mistake and failed to notice the forest's mana?"
"There is, but it's unlikely. They are sensitive and would have noticed."
"What was that?" Pallas heard a sound.
"We're surrounded. I'm going to attack," Niko raised a barrier and fired mana arrows.
The arrows killed several orcs. They were large, but smaller than the first orc they had killed.
"You'd better not do that anymore. The less mana that accumulates in the forest, the better. We still don't know what caused the imbalance."
"Then only physical attacks," Vesta said.
Pallas increased his focus. He held a sword in his right hand and a dagger in his left, using both weapons to attack. Vesta used two swords when she entered serious combat. She normally used a sword in her left hand, even though she was right handed, because she liked giving an advantage to an opponent she considered unworthy of her full strength. This time, she set her ego aside and used both swords. One was made of mythril, and the other was made of a green crystal. It was not as durable as mythril, but its cutting power was far greater.
More orcs appeared, and the two of them killed them all. The deeper they went into the forest, the more monsters appeared, and each time they were stronger.
They reached the source of the energy. Vesta felt an overwhelming density, and Victor felt it as well, though to a lesser extent. Niko could not withstand that amount of magical power. She felt nauseated and began to vomit.
A massive mana crystal stood at the center of the forest, inside a huge crater. Around it were at least four hundred monsters, including two dragons and a smaller dragon.
"We won't be able to deal with all of these monsters."