Chapter 308 A Disappointment
Chapter 308 A Disappointment
Sylvia's POV:
After passing through the dense reed marsh, Peter and I arrived at an open mountainous field.
The view was filled with boulders of various shapes and forms. Beautiful flowers of all sorts bloomed everywhere. The deep and tranquil sound of the mountain spring filled the air. It was peaceful.
But even then, I began to feel more and more restless. Being in crisis mode, where nothing was predictable, made me absent-minded to the beauty around me.
"Well, this place looks nice." Poking his head out, Peter naively looked around with no hint of alert on his face whatsoever.
I chose not to say anything, but I stayed on high alert and made sure to pay close attention to the surroundings.
"You know, you're quite different from what I imagine you'd be like. I always thought powerful individuals acted arrogant, but you seem like an easy-going and kind-hearted person. I actually thought you were going to refuse teaming up with me," Peter commented.
Ever since we had been paired up, Peter had been in the mood to be talkative. Even when we were in a supposedly dangerous situation, he would just stand aside and watch me solve the problem, with his hands in his pockets. It was as if he was just on a relaxing hike in the forbidden forest and I was his bodyguard.
Suddenly, a dark shadow flashed by in the corner of my eye. I immediately pushed Peter out of the way and jumped onto a huge rock.
"What was that?" Peter's eyes were wide with shock. If I hadn't pushed him just now, he would have been killed by whatever that was. He followed suit and also climbed on top of the rock behind me as best as he could with trembling legs.
I put a finger to my mouth, telling him to be quiet, and held my breath to not make any sound. As I waited and observed the surroundings, I finally discovered the culprit. It was a thick root!
The roots of a tree normally stayed quietly under the ground, but these ones seemed to come to life and crawled out of the earth. They slithered like snakes on the ground, prepared to attack at any moment.
I squinted my eyes and saw the huge tree from which the roots stemmed from and muttered under my breath, "I'm afraid we've just encountered the most terrifying being in the forbidden forest. This tree... It's mutated."
"Mutated? Then... What do we do now?" Peter's expression shifted.
I couldn't answer Peter's question as I was lost in my own thought.
Mutation was a unique phenomenon that occurred in the forbidden forest. Usually, it would only happen in the forest's innermost parts and affected plants in large numbers. Not only did the mutants develop the intelligence and ability to move, but it also grew to have a strong instinct to attack werewolves. Once a werewolf would enter its territory, these plants would attack him as a group, tearing their prey into pieces. It was for this reason that King Ethan had also forbidden ordinary werewolves from entering this area of the woods. Property © NôvelDrama.Org.
However, we were only in the outermost area of the forest, where there should have been no mutated plants. Fortunately, when I checked, there seemed to be only one tree that had mutated around here.
I observed the slithering roots and was relieved to find that they were not actually moving that fast, which meant that we still had a chance of getting out of here alive. As long as we made use of the rocks behind us, we could be able to get far enough out of their range of attack and away from the mountain.
I gave Peter some instructions to follow where I step and jump from boulder to boulder. But Peter just couldn't keep up. He was so frightened by everything going on that he fell off a rock and almost dragged me into the tree's range of attack. "Ah, that was so scary! It almost hit me!" Shutting his eyes, Peter screamed as he jumped and clumsily landed on a rock. I couldn't help but roll my eyes. This werewolf might have been weaker than I thought.
I jumped back onto the rock where he was sitting and pulled him up. "Grab on to my clothes. When I say jump, jump with me."
"Okay." Peter nodded nervously, obviously without a clue what to do next.
"You need to focus, or else you could die."
"Okay."
Fortunately, Peter was able to follow and did not slip up again. We were able to leave safely and in one piece.
The trip went much smoother after. We were able to find the blue cornflower we needed in the center of the swamp.
Upon estimating the distance, I surmised that the flower was about five to six meters away. There were stones on the marsh, but they were too small to walk on. Though my plan seemed a little risky, I decided that I could jump all the way to the center of the swamp instead.
The rain grew heavier, which meant that the wind also blew stronger, making the swamp even more dangerous by the second.
"Maybe we could use a long vine. One end is tied around your waist, and the other I can hold on to from here. If ever you fall into the swamp by accident, I could pull you out," Peter suggested.
"That's actually a good idea." I nodded approvingly. Peter might not have been the best at fighting, but he did have some good ideas to make up for it.
I found a long and thick vine on the ground and wrapped it around my waist. After making sure it was on as tight as it could be, I looked at Peter to check that he was holding on to the other end of the vine.
"Be careful, okay? If you can't get the flower, it's fine. Your safety is still of utmost importance." Peter wrapped the vine around his hands. "Don't worry, I'll be holding on to the vine from over here." "Alright." I nodded again without hesitation.
After taking a deep breath, I ran a few steps toward the swamp and jumped. Thanks to the training I'd received, my skills were able to get me all the way to the center of the swamp.
"Good going, Sylvia!" Peter cheered from the other side.
My lips curved into a tight smile. I caught my breath and soon walked up to the flower to take it. But all of a sudden, I was pulled back with a great force by the vine around my waist. The force had caught me completely off guard and caused me to lose balance, falling into the swamp before I could stop myself.