The dark forest is full of trees that grow for hundreds or even thousands of years. The light here is dim, and the sunlight shines through the dense canopy of trees, leaving a few spots on the ground.

Due to the lack of sunlight, there are no shrubs to be seen on the forest floor, and the ground is obscured by decaying litter and all kinds of fungi, and no trace of the color of the soil is visible.

For thousands of years, human exploration of the dark forest has never been interrupted, but all expeditions that go deep into the dense forest rarely return safely, not because of the monsters and orcs in the forest and the endless poisonous insects and beasts, but because the dark, cold, damp, and corrupt environment and the same giant trees make human beings unable to find their way home, and finally get lost in the endless forest sea.

Over time, this reckless forest became a no-go zone for humans and a haven for wildlife.

The edges of the dark forest are home to wild boars, forest deer, white-headed apes, iguanas, anteaters, snake badgers, jackals, spotted lynxes, and moonbladed leopards, as well as a variety of birds, some of which are fierce, and of course the hard-known orc monsters such as jackals, goblins, and kobolds. However, the most feared are the poisonous insects that hide under the fallen leaves, and no one knows that they will emerge from there and deal a fatal blow to people.

A team of more than a dozen people walked through the forest, they were dressed in leather hunting suits, carrying bows and arrows on their backs, and the slight sound of long leather boots trampling on dead branches was particularly harsh in the quiet forest, and the timid and cautious forest deer avoided this team from a distance, and the bald apes who liked to crouch on the canopy and laugh at the hunters were also nowhere to be seen.

"Puff Lala" The sound of a big bird flapping its wings sounded in the air.

A young hunter reacted quickly, raising his hand to signal the group to stop, and silently drew a sharp arrow and placed it on the bowstring.

The dense foliage obscures the hunter's vision, and the canopy is dark green, making it impossible to see anything. But when the great bird folded its wings and landed on the treetops, the young hunter, guided by his voice, took two steps forward, leaped high, and shot his arrow into the dark canopy.

With the crackling of the branches, many leaves fell from the air, and the large bird was caught by the thicker branches without falling.

Another agile hunter climbed up a 20-meter-high tree in twos and threes, carrying a big green-haired bird in his hand as he slid down.

The young hunter took the prey from his companion and said happily, "Green-feathered heron! With that, he shouted to the team, "Victor, you made me this." ”

Victor shrugged his shoulders and said, "Clifton, I didn't help you this time. ”

Cliveton laughed, walked up to Victor's side, and said affectionately, "Victor, thanks to you, I learned to shoot blindly." I never thought I could shoot prey with my ears alone. ”

This is not a flattering statement, this hunt Victor rarely shot, but every time he shoots, he will definitely catch. In the dimly lit environment, even knights could hardly lock on to their prey hidden in the foliage, but they could not escape Victor's arrows. Those agile and noisy bald apes were shot several times in a row by Victor, so they hid far away. Otherwise, the hunt would have ended hastily.

Victor smiled slightly, but did not speak. He can use his sense of hearing to lock on to targets within 300 meters in a noisy and dark environment, even a mouse hiding in a hole in the ground can't hide Victor's perception, which is not only due to the bloodline talent, X-3's super discrimination ability is also an extremely important factor. This miraculous archery also intrigued Clifton, who continued to experiment with blind shooting skills under the guidance of Victor.

In this way, Victor led the hunting party deeper, and before they knew it, they had been walking in the dark forest for three days, getting closer and closer to Victor's destination.

"Victor, we've been out for three days, let's go back. I don't want the Schultz knights to come in with a large group of men and horses to find us. When the time comes, it will not be good if they get lost in the forest. Cliveton tosses his prey to his servant knight and suggests a return.

Although Cliveton loves to hunt, and hunting has brought him closer to Victor, he has not forgotten his mission, and if it weren't for learning blind shooting, they would have returned to Thorn Manor as agreed.

"It's really time to go back. Victor nodded and said, "Then let's go back to the camp to clean up, eat something and go." Victor then asked the empty-handed ruling warrior, "Master Solotto, what is your opinion?"

"Whatever. Solotto said without a doubt.

The three leaders agreed, and the team turned around and walked back.

Two quarters of an hour later, the team arrived at the predetermined camp. There were also a dozen or so people left behind in the camp, who had already lit a campfire and were busy handling various prey.

Cliveton walked over to the campfire and complained, "The Dark Forest is so damp, and if we hadn't prepared the wood in advance, I'm afraid it would have been a hassle to even make a fire." It's only been three days, and I feel like I'm covered in mushrooms. ”

"I really like it here. Victor muttered.

The camp smelled of corruption everywhere, and Victor still took a deep breath. From the moment he stepped into the forest, Victor found that his senses had become more acute and his mood was more joyful, and he could even feel his blood throbbing, and this feeling became more and more pronounced as he went deeper into the dark forest.

"It's about your Moon Elf bloodline. Soloto, the ruling warrior, walked over with two tree iguanas and said, "Elves are children of nature, and where the breath of life is strong, it is easy to resonate with the blood of elves. In the Dark Forest, have you ever felt that your dim vision is much stronger than other places? ”

Seeing Victor frowning in surprise, Solotto said lightly: "Don't be surprised, I have been studying in the Ivory Fort Monastery for 7 years. The knowledge collected there is not inferior to that of the Silver Tower. ”

"Master, you came from the Ivory Castle, which is the birthplace of the Silver Tower. Cliveton was in awe.

The Ivory Fort Monastery is the first of the three major monasteries of the Church, and only the elite of the clergy are eligible to go to the Ivory Fort for further study, and it is rumored that there are countless knowledge and secrets collected there, including many classics from the era of the Chosen One, and the founder of the Silver Tower, Arya, lived in the Ivory Fort for a long time by chance, so the Ivory Fort can be said to be the birthplace of the Silver and White Tower.

Soloto, having studied at Ivory Fort, was no surprise that he learned about the dim vision of the Moon Elves. Victor nodded and said, "Strengthened Issei." ”

"Master, I've never felt this way in the Centaur Hills forest, could it be that the natural aura of the Dark Forest is stronger than the other forests?" asked Victor.

"It's not the breath of nature, it's the breath of life, or the Void Water element. But I'm not a knight, and I don't have the means to directly sense the changes in the void element. Soloto corrected Victor's words and looked at Cliveton.

Cleveron waved his hand again and again, and said, "Don't look at me." I'm not a great knight of internal and external communication, and I can't perceive the void elements of the outside world. ”

"None of us can sense the Void Water elemental, but many details confirm that this forest is very strange. Soloto nodded, dropped the two tree iguanas by the campfire, and said, "Did you notice any difference between the two tree iguanas?"

"One big and one small, one male and one female, judging from the lines on the tail, the big one is two years old, and the small one is four years old。。。。。。 Cliveton frowned, grabbed the two tree iguanas in his hands and looked at them carefully, and he suddenly jumped up and shouted, "No!

"What's going on?" asked Victor, confused.

"Victor, the longer the tree iguana lives, the bigger it gets, and the female iguana is much larger than the male iguana. Cliveton explained, "But these two tree iguanas are the opposite. Speaking of this, Cleveron gestured to the 1.1-meter-long male iguana, shook his head and exclaimed: "To be honest, I have never seen such a large male iguana." ”

"This small female iguana was caught near yesterday's camp, and this large male iguana was caught at this camp. In other words, the deeper you go into the forest, the faster and bigger the iguana will grow. This shows that the Void Water Element in the Dark Forest is extremely unevenly distributed. This is by no means normal!"

"Look again. Solotto walked up to the giant tree next to the camp, pointed to the cross scratch on the trunk, and said, "This is the mark we left on the trunk." In just one day's work, it has grown like this. ”

Victor noticed that the edge of the cross scratch on the trunk was much thinner than yesterday, and the bark on the edge of the scratch was clearly healing.

"At this rate of healing, after a maximum of five days, there will be no marks on the bark and no scars on the joints. It's no wonder that a squad of knights is lost in the Dark Forest. Victor nodded.

"Let's get out of this place. Cliveton said quickly.

"Don't worry, the strange phenomenon of the Dark Forest has been documented for a long time. I just verified it myself. Soloto smiled and said, "With the Wind Shooter, we won't get lost." ”

"That's right. Cliveton breathed a sigh of relief, turned to the camp and shouted, "Call all the guards outside, count the numbers, and we'll be back in a moment." ”

When Victor and Cliveton set out to hunt in the Dark Forest, they were strongly opposed by Knight Krouse Schultz. Knight Kruuse tells Victor that the Dark Forest is as strange and unpredictable as a labyrinth, and that it is difficult for humans to find their way through the dense forest, and that it is very dangerous to enter the Dark Forest rashly. Victor says they only hunt at the edge of the forest and will never get lost. Then, Victor climbed the canopy of the tree more than 20 meters high and stood on the thin branches with ease. Knight Cruther was speechless.

Windswept archers with extraordinary vision could discern the direction of a straight line from a distance from the canopy of a tree, and it was certainly impossible for them to get lost in the forest. Cruther even believed that they would even be able to explore the heart of the Dark Forest with Victor in his presence. Cruther was also about to join the hunting team, but was scolded back by Cliveton

Cliveton said that the Dark Forest was not Baron Schultz's domain, and hunting was not a war, so what were so many people doing? He had Cruther and his soldiers stationed on the outskirts of the forest, so that if the hunting team encountered an emergency, he could bring people to call for help in time. Cruthor thought about it and agreed, but Victor believed that he believed in the strength of the ruling warrior Solotto.

In the end, Crifton led 4 trainee knights and 5 elite soldiers, and Victor led Renault and 19 alchemy militia plus Master Solotto, a total of 22 people formed a hunting team and agreed to return within three days. As for the Alina sisters, the one-eyed dragon, and Shak, as well as the rest of the guards, Victor left them at Thorn Manor.

In these three days, the hunting team caught a lot of prey, and it was more cumbersome to deal with. The alchemy militia tied up animal skins, roasted jerky, entrailed them, selected beautiful feathers, and disposed of the heads of several prey, which Cliveton had specified to bring back to be made into specimens.

The alchemy militia is skillful and meticulous in handling their prey, but not very fast. After four quarters of an hour, everything was finally taken care of. At this moment, there was a very slight movement in the depths of the forest.

Here it comes!

Victor was overjoyed, but there was a vigilant look on his face, "There's movement!

Soloto stood up for the first time, his ears moved, and he frowned and said, "It's so fast!

"It's like the sound of a wild wolf running. A moment later, Cliveton also heard a noise in the dense forest, and he smiled, "Before leaving, there is still prey sent to the door." Bring me my hunting bow, I shoot an arrow with my eyes closed, and if it misses, it's lucky. ”

Cliveton closed his eyes and drew his arrow, the arrow pointing in the direction of the sound. The sound of the beast's claws trampling on the dead branches grew louder and louder, and Cliveton shot an arrow as the beast broke into range of the hunting bow.

Hearing the expected wails and arrows piercing his flesh, Cliveton sighed and opened his eyes, his pupils instantly shrinking to the size of pintips.

"Ferocious wolf!"