I successfully avoided the fight with the tsunami dragon.
But just because the hurricane dragon didn't call him in time, doesn't mean he still can't wake up.
I need to stay vigilant.
Without relaxing for a second, I resume crossing the mountains.
I keep scanning my surroundings but nothing ever comes out.
There isn't anything or anyone around.
Just some grass and an occasional mushroom.
...
I have finally reached the other side of this mountain range.
And I still met no other dragons.
The tsunami dragon didn't seem like he would appear either.
After killing those two back there, I haven't seen a single living thing.
If I didn't know better, I wouldn't believe this is home to so many dragons.
Everything was so calm and serene on my way here...
Hmm...
I still fear he will wake up when I'm long gone and will destroy the village in rage...
...
But I have to move forward.
These guys are crafty and I'm sure they will figure something out to survive.
...and it's not like I know for sure he will wake up and go destroy their village.
Maybe he will just go searching for me.
Or maybe he won't wake up at all...
...
After silently staring back in the direction of the village for a few seconds, I turn my head forward again.
Beyond the mountains lies a forest.
I saw this when I was scouting earlier.
But I didn't realize the forest was so expansive.
Trees as far as eye can see.
Just how far is this 'lightning mountain' I need to reach?
Status screen: open.
Once again, I try to check the direction of my target destination using the quest pointer.
It flies out and quickly gets lost below all the tree leaves.
...really far, huh?
I then squint my eyes and focus on the forest as a whole.
Type: Location
Name: Cursed forest
Fauna: Treants, various types of bears, boars, squirrels, birds, snakes, amphibians, spiders, bugs and several others.
Flora: A lot broad-leaved and coniferous trees, bushes, over a three thousand species of flowers and several others.
...
That's...a long list of things.
...
I don't feel like I know about this place any more than I did before I read all of that.
...
Well...let's go I guess.
I jump off the mountain and enter the forest.
I'm welcomed with a fragrant smell of something sweet.
As I go forward, I passively look around and I find the source.
It's a flower with black leaves that gradually turn dark purple going inward.
But, I don't have time to smell flowers.
This forest will probably take several days to get through.
So, I better get going.
|= Three hours later =|
Ever since entering the forest, I encountered no threat.
Barely any monsters get close to me.
It seems that although the forest is really big, it isn't too dangerous.
There aren't too many threatening things.
Rather, most of the creatures I spotted ran away from me.
Now is the first time I'm actually being attacked by something that looks threatening.
It's a group of four trees with branchy legs and arms.
They even have faces carved in their bark to make them look humanoid.
And they also have yellowish leaves all over their bodies.
Type: Monster
Name: -
Gender: Female
Race: Perie treant
Status: Annoyed
Level: 678
Health: 33961/33961
Mana: 23732/23732
The others are similar.
Perie treants?
I don't really know who they are, but I should be careful.
Their level is almost as high as those three dragons back in the mountains.
Well, I don't really care much about levels, but they still look quite dangerous.
One of the monsters initiates the fight by sweeping its arm at me.
I dodge by just jumping over it.
[Blazing dart]
My spell hits it right in the face and it stumbles backward.
...but the hole in its face made by the spell quickly regenerates.
Health: 33961/33961
Mana: 18753/23732
No damage?!
...No.
Its mana went down a bit.
Did it heal itself with magic?
That was way too quick!
Another one of the treants raises its branch-arm upward and tries to smash me.
I initially want to jump away, but notice that my feet got stuck in the ground.
So instead, I pull out my sword and block the attack with the side of my blade.
The ground below me cracks under the pressure, releasing my feet.
[Wind blast]
Combining my strength and wind magic, I push back the treants arm with a swing.
The wind blast also scatters a lot of its leaves all around me.
I immediately jump away just as another treant tries to smash me.
With all four of them in my line of sight, I prepare a spell in my left hand.
[Blazing vortex]
Out of my left hand, a cone of fire shoots out at my foes.
The fire engulfs all four of them.
However, I don't wait for anything and start gathering mana in my sword.
[Phantom annihilation]
With a horizontal swing, the flames are blown off as the familiar screeching sound reverberates the surroundings.
The four treants, now cut horizontally in half, appear in my vision as the trees behind them start falling over.
Health: 0/33961
Health: 0/32787
Health: 0/34823
Health: 0/34134
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All of them were defeated.
Hmm, looks like I worried for nothing.
I walk toward the treants and inspect the aftermath.
It seems like my cut was a little slanted downward.
The trees behind them are all chopped and the ground in the back has an obvious cut in it.
Now...
I doubt I can eat these treants.
They are just wood and leaves.
So I better find some other animal I can eat.
...or wait.
I cut a bit of meat from those two dragons, didn't I?
Let's eat those then...
I pull out a piece of hurricane dragon meat and seat myself on a nearby rock.
[Fire bubble]
The meat starts grilling.
After a few moments, I bite into it and eat my fill.
I then pull some water from my storage and drink as well.
Well, let's keep going.
|= A few hours later =|
...
In front of me I see...
Four defeated treants and tree stumps with trees lying near them.
...
Wait, why am I back here?
Am I going in circles...?
That's impossible though.
I have just been going forward.
...
Status screen: open.
Current quests: Steal the blessed chalice from Gundar's holy temple
Completed quests: None
Once again, I focus on the quest and then on 'lightning mountain'.
The quest pointer flies out and...
Goes the exact opposite way.
...
Huh?
Why was I going the wrong way?
...
Something feels...wrong...
I have a bad feeling about this.
I open the status screen again and switch to 'stats'.
Name: Reiza
Gender: Female
Race: Shadow wolfman
Status: Cursed, Cursed
Level: 4624
Health: 41682/41682
Mana: 98123/99721
Vitality: 300 (max)
Strength: 350 (max)
Intelligence: 900 (max)
Stamina: 300 (max)
Speed: 500 (max)
Cursed?!
And even twice?!
...
Shit.
It's a cursed forest after all.
But what could have cursed me...?
...
No, more importantly, I need to quickly get rid of this curse.
[Cleanse impurities]
Status: Cursed, Cursed
It didn't help...
I need to get out of this place.
Quickly!
I turn around and run opposite of where the quest pointer was going.
While I did that, I tried if I could find out more about the curses by focusing on them in my status screen.
Curse of misdirection
You have lost your way.
Your sense of forward, backward, left and right randomly switches directions.
Curse of the lost
You are gradually forgetting all your memories.
Going unconscious will purge all remaining memories and the curse will disappear.
The curse cannot be reapplied after this happens.
?!
What?!
No!
I don't want to lose memories!
Not again!
I lower my weight and put strength into my legs.
I jump high above the trees and look around.
But all I can see is sea of trees in all directions.
No mountains in sight.
I land down while trying to cushion it with air magic.
Damnit...
I'm too deep in the forest now...
I can't even see the...the...
...what can't I see?
Where did I even come from?!
...a port city!
No...
...a dungeon?
No that was...
...
Nonono...
Shit!
What do I...
...
I need to kill myself.
Yes.
If I do that, I will go back and hopefully my memories will return.
That's it.
I just need to die.
I pull out my old mithril sword from the sheath on my back.
Then, I hold it with both my hands and aim it at my stomach.
That's it.
I need to kill myself.
If I kill myself I...
Wait...
What am I doing?
If I kill myself, my memories will return?
What nonsense is that?!
...
The curse must be messing with my head.
Yes.
That's it.
No killing myself.
I need to get out of here.
I need to get back to...
To...
...
How did I enter this place...?
From where?
I don't remember...
Was I...always in this forest...?
No...
That can't be...
Can...it?
...
I can't remember anything other than this forest though...
I put a hand over my face as I collapse under a tree.
...
What's going on...
What is happening to me...?
...
There's something wrong, right?
I know I was trying to solve a problem a moment ago...
What was it?
I look upward and only see darkness through the leaves.
...
It's night.
Right...
I wanted to...
Find a place to sleep...right?
That must be it...
...
How about right here under this tree.
It's nice here...
...
But I think I shouldn't sleep...
...why shouldn't I sleep though?
I'm tired...
Ah...
This place has some thorny things...
I should find a better place.
After wandering around for a while, I finally find a cave inside a hill.
When I approached it, some small animals ran out from inside and disappeared into the forest.
...
What was I...
Oh, a place to sleep.
This is pretty good...
I can rest here.
I crawl into the hole and enter a surprisingly spacious room inside.
There's some straw around and it stinks a bit...but I can deal with that.
This is good...
Well then...
Good...night...
...
----------------------------------------
Bonus:
Curse of the lost additional info:
Panicking and high brain activity drastically speeds up the forgetting process.
Intimidation rank drops to 0 after the curse finishes.