Chapter 76 - The Land Of Lost Ones - Part 2

The moment Wendy said that, all of them started to tremble.

They definitely knew about the Land Of Lost Ones. There were many stories about that place.

The Land was somewhere in the forest, no one was able to navigate its exact location but they were able to make a simple estimation from the incidents of missing people.

Even the beasts were scared to enter the area. No one had any idea about what that place exactly was because no one was able to escape the place after entering it.

Needless to say, after experiencing the uncanny situations, Wendy was sure that the place where they were was the same land that was told in stories.

"What do we do now?"

"We won't be able to escape from here..."

"No! I don't want to die here..."

"I have a family!"

All the soldiers were quite scared after hearing that and started to say whatever came to their minds.

Of course, Balton could hear that. Well, he was nervous too because he too had no idea about the exit.

Also, he had no idea about the dangers of the land.

'I might have underestimated the forest a bit too much...', was the thought that crossed his mind.

Indeed, he thought that the only danger in the forest would be the beasts but it was only now that he realized that he was completely wrong.

Of course, he realized that there were tons of other ways due to which they could end up dying in the forest.

Regardless, now he had to think of a way to escape from the area and for that, he kept on looking towards Wendy.

All the soldiers were grumbling and were cursing themselves for coming to the forest just to look at the so-called beast that was mentioned by the Sage.

"Hmm..."

"But something is weird...", Wendy said in a low voice.

"Weird...?", Balton asked.

Wendy had probably noticed something due to which he said that.

"Hmm, Sir Balton, please follow me...", Wendy said in a low voice.

"Did you find a way to get out of this place?", Balton asked.

"Not quite..."

"I'm not sure if this will take to the exit, but I think this is the best route to take!", Wendy exclaimed.

Wendy had a magic item with him. It was a weird item that had no function other than detecting magic.

'I was tricked by someone to buy this earlier...'

'But who knew that this would be so useful?', Wendy wondered.

Wendy was by no means a genius but he was indeed smart. Sometimes it's quite easy to trick a smart person and in a similar manner, Wendy was tricked by a salesperson.

However, it seemed to be a good thing for him. The reason was simple, the forest had created this land by itself with the excess mana that was emitted on the death of large beasts.

It was this very mana that was creating illusions. Basically, the excess mana was trying to replicate everything that it covered due to which tons of similar-looking trees and similar-looking paths in the forest were replicated.

Those just looked similar when in reality they were different. Many beasts and humans had already died hereafter getting stuck for many days or even years.

It was evident by the skulls and skeletons that were placed on the ground here and there. They found all those stuff after entering the deeper area.

'Maybe I'll be the first person to get safely out of the Land Of the Lost Ones...', was what Wendy thought.

The magic item could detect the exact places where the mana was densely condensed. Thanks to that he could easily pass through the illusions.

'I knew it...'

'Something was weird about this area...'

'It's completely filled with dense mana causing illusions...'

It took them two hours finally after which they were indeed out of the dangerous area. However, they only noticed that when they finally sighted a beast!

"A beast?", Balton looked at the soldiers and the beasts continuously.

"Wait..."

"Does that mean...", he almost immediately looked towards Wendy.

"Yes Sir Balton, we are out of the Land Of Lost Ones!", he said in a raised voice.

"Yes!!!"

"Yay!!!"

"Long live Sir Wendy! Long live Sir Balton!", they started to cheer for them and wished them.

It was because they were extremely happy about surviving the dangerous place. Not only that, they were happy cause their names would go down the history as the first people to get out of the Land Of Lost Ones!

But little did they know that they would never get a chance to get out of the forest! At least, not when they went and messed with Shin!

A fun fact, Shin and Aella were resting near the Land Of Lost Ones! The reason was simple, Shin identified that place as the safest.

Despite the fact that it extended till the edge of the forest, it was rather safe since no beast would voluntarily come near such an area. The same was for humans so he rested near the area.

Unfortunately, the humans who came out of the place spotted a cave-like den which was originally created by Shin and Aella.

Both of them used to spend the night there while trying to recover from the tiredness.

Of course, they couldn't possibly sleep anywhere they wanted since there were many beasts stronger than them roaming around the forest.

As they went towards the center area, the stronger the beasts got therefore it was necessary for them to find a place to stay.

The humans discovered the small den. Well, it wasn't that small, two humans could easily fit inside it simultaneously.

"Sir, we've discovered a den...", said one of the soldiers who went to take a look at the surroundings.

"A den?", Balton looked towards Wendy.

"Yes, and we found some white fur inside the den which I assume belongs to a wolf.", was what the soldier said.

"Interesting, a den near this area?"

"What kind of beast stays there to be so powerful and fearless?", Wendy asked.

Their thoughts were interesting indeed. Since they found some fur, they were pretty sure that it wasn't an abandoned den.

Also, Wendy was surprised to hear the existence of a den there.

He wanted to make some remark about this when suddenly Balton spoke, "Could it be...?"

"Could the den belong to the same monster that the Sage talked about?", Balton asked.

The moment he did, all of them shut their mouths. Of course, Wendy and Balton didn't believe such a story, at least not till now.

After hearing them say about the cave and the fur, they started to think of whatever the Sage said was true.

However, one point was to note that, the fur that was mentioned belonged to Wolf, which was confirmed by the soldiers. Probably it was because of the little paw marks that were present in the cave.

'The Land Of Lost Ones...'

'It's a place where only the Dragons and Elves can enter and leave at will.', Wendy thought about that.

Dragons could easily detect the direction and source of mana and it was the same for elves. Of course, fairies could do the same.

They were the race that could easily enter the land and leave, at least that's what had happened once long ago.

Though, they had to struggle a bit. The dragons, who could crush the celestials and rival Gods also had a hard time exiting the place. This meant that even the Gods, who created the place, would have to spend some energy while trying to escape.

Everyone, almost all races feared such places. There were many similar places like this in the world and all those places were feared.

That was why Wendy kept on wondering about the so-called wolves that the soldiers spoke of.

'What kind of brave wolves could they be not to fear such a place?', he wondered.

In any case, Balton got excited. Even now he disregarded the saying of Sage.

'No matter what it may be, if I'll be able to hunt the beast that lived inside the cave, then my name will definitely be written in golden words in history!'

'I would get tons of money and many women to play with!'

His thoughts were rotten just like him. All he cared for was himself.

"Lead the way!", he said to the soldiers that had found the den.

They did as they were commanded and took him to the spot.

"So, this is that den?", Balton asked with his eyes wide opened.

"Yes Sir.", the soldier nodded his head with absolute confidence.

Wendy took a look at the den and said just one word, "Interesting..."

The reason why he said that was pretty simple. The size of the den was quite small which meant that a small beast lived or at least visited that place.

Right after that, he looked at Balton only to find him grinning as if he was thinking the same.

"Good..."

"Now let's lay the trap and wait for the beast to arrive..."

"Because as I can see, the paw marks are quite fresh as if it had not been long since the beast or rather the wolf left the place..."

"..."

To be continued...