Grey Oak Village slowly receded behind them, and the trees on both sides of the dirt road grew increasingly dense.
Interlocking branches and leaves blocked out most of the sunlight, leaving only a few strands of grayish-white light filtering through the gaps.
Further ahead, the scent of rotting wood and dead branches grew stronger, and the soil beneath their feet began to soften.
With every step, their boots sank into the damp, cold, decaying leaves, making a faint squelching sound.
Rena did not walk quickly.
She occasionally stopped to examine the tracks on the ground, and sometimes looked up to discern the wind direction among the treetops.
Damon frowned and asked, “Where exactly is the treant? I feel like we've been walking in circles.”
Rena crouched down, brushing aside a rotting leaf with her fingertips.
“The treant's root system avoids rocky layers, and the Old Valley has many stone veins. Detouring through there allows us to bypass the outer roots.”
Severn glanced at the roots on the ground.
“Makes sense. There is indeed a section of the Old Valley on the northern side of the Mist-Dwelling Forest. Caravans used to take it in the early years, but it collapsed later.”
Milo remained silent; he was unfamiliar with the Mist-Dwelling Forest.
But the more Rena acted this way, the more afraid he became.
Could he really have remembered it wrong?
No.
Kolo had said she was suspicious, and a beastkin's nose wouldn't lie.
He noticed Kolo's gaze was constantly fixed on Rena ahead of them.
Behind her mask, her nose twitched slightly.
However, due to the interference of the surrounding plant scents, she couldn't pick up anything unusual.
Isolde was actually taking them in circles on purpose.
Because in her past life, those few individuals would pass through the Old Valley at this exact time.
Back then, they had just detoured around Grey Oak Village into the Mist-Dwelling Forest and were preparing to rest here. That was also when Yu Lingye had been forced to scout ahead.
Yu Lingye remembered their route, and she remembered their tone.
She remembered how they stood on high ground, looking down at her as she was dragged into the mud by vines, their eyes filled with the mocking amusement one would show a clown.
This was why she walked so slowly the entire way—just to meet the right pieces of trash at the right time.
As they neared the Old Valley, the forest mist thinned out slightly.
Faint, intermittent voices echoed from ahead.
“Didn't you say there was a hidden path nearby?”
“Did you remember it wrong?”
“How could I remember it wrong? That NPC just now said there's a shortcut on the west side of the Mist-Dwelling Forest that leads right outside Blackthorn Ferry.”
“Fine, let's search first. We can also see if there are any hidden items around.”
Rena paused in her tracks and looked up.
Four people—three men and one woman—emerged from around a collapsed stone bridge.
But the moment she looked up and saw them, the mask of Rena she wore almost shattered.
The man leading the way was slender, wearing brand-new leather armor, with a silver-gray longsword hanging from his waist. His name was Xu Zhiheng.
He was quite handsome.
With refined features and a gentle smile, he easily gave off the impression of being a reliable captain.
But Yu Lingye knew that was merely a facade.
He bullied the weak and feared the strong. When facing those weaker than him, he trampled on their dignity without a second thought.
Yet, when confronting the strong, he would readily bow his head with a smile and dismiss everything as a misunderstanding.
This kind of person was the most disgusting, and the most adept at putting on a fake face before backstabbing.
The short, thin man walking beside Xu Zhiheng was named Zhou Yi.
He carried a short blade on his back, a fawning smile plastered across his face.
Whenever Xu Zhiheng spoke, he would always be the first to chime in.
“Brother Xu is right.”
“Brother Xu thinks of everything.”
“How could we let Brother Xu handle such a trivial matter himself?”
Unlike Xu Zhiheng, he didn't bother trying to appear respectable.
He was a blatant, sniveling sycophant.
But a petty person had their uses.
At least when it came to killing them, one didn't need to look for too many excuses.
The third man walked at the very rear of the group.
He wore dark leather armor and held no primary weapon, but a row of narrow daggers hung from his waist.
He didn't look fierce; in fact, he was incredibly quiet—so quiet that it was easy to overlook his presence entirely.
Yet, the moment Yu Lingye saw him, hatred nearly erupted from her chest.
One night in her past life, while they were resting at camp.
Han Jin had taken several bottles of low-grade healing potions, claiming he wanted to study his blade techniques.
For the rest of that night, Yu Lingye had been plunged into the agony of being repeatedly tortured.
Pulling herself back from the dark memories, she let out a soft breath, her gaze turning dark.
She calculated what kind of agonizing death would be fitting enough to appease the fury of her past life.
Su Xiaoman walked in the middle. She was beautiful, a sweet, soft smile always playing at the corners of her lips.
She liked Xu Zhiheng, so much so that it was obvious to almost everyone.
If Xu Zhiheng so much as glanced at her, she would eagerly offer him her share of resources.
If Xu Zhiheng praised her, she would blush and humbly flatter him in return.
She was smart and knew how to survive.
Even so, Yu Lingye would never forgive her for wantonly venting her bitterness and dissatisfaction onto her.
Sometimes, Yu Lingye wondered why, out of all the Descenders who came to this world, she was the only one who met nothing but goddamned scum.
But the thought only lingered for a split second before she suppressed it.
There was no point in dwelling on it.
Of course, the world wasn't entirely made of scum.
It was just that the kind-hearted often died too quickly, the silent learned to keep their mouths shut, and those who survived to the end and still swaggered around were mostly of this sort.
And precisely because they were scum, she had the chance to settle the scores herself in this second life.
Rena lowered her eyes, the churning hatred in her chest quickly sinking into a deeper place.
She couldn't lose control here.
Right now, she wasn't Yu Lingye; she was the native mercenary, Rena.
What she needed to do was lead everyone into their proper positions.
And have them perform a grand, ironic symphony of human nature together.
Xu Zhiheng quickly noticed them.
He raised his hand to adjust the leather armor on his shoulder and nudged the silver-gray longsword at his waist outward by half an inch, letting the hilt show in the most prominent position.
“Someone's here,” Xu Zhiheng warned, turning his head back.
Zhou Yi immediately stopped flipping over stones and craned his neck to look over.
Su Xiaoman also followed his gaze. Her eyes first swept over the gear worn by Rena and the others, then landed on the massive weapon on Kolo's back, a trace of interest flashing in her eyes.
Han Jin stood at the back, remaining silent.
He merely lifted his eyelids, his gaze slowly sliding across everyone as if evaluating suitable material for torture.
Rena's group came to a halt.
Damon was the first to frown.
“More Descenders? What bad luck.”
Reece lowered his broadsword from his shoulder, the tip pointing to the side.
His eyes swept over the brand-new leather armor and overly clean boot soles of the four newcomers, his brow furrowing slightly.
“They've just changed their gear,” Reece said in a low voice. “They might have intercepted a group of merchants already.”
Recently, the Descenders had caused quite a few disturbances nearby.
Some would help kill monsters, while others would use the lives of natives to test the world's rules.
The local mercenaries and adventurers mostly had mixed reviews about them.
The only consensus they reached was that these people always carried an indescribable sense of superiority.
Despite not even understanding the wind direction or being able to tell plant roots apart, they still dared to lecture others with a condescending tone.
As if everything in this world was prepared solely for their adventure.
Damon had lived for so many years, and he hated this kind of person the most.
He wasn't afraid of stupid people, but rather those who were stupid yet completely self-righteous about it.
Rate on N.U.
