Chapter 5: The Path of Spirit Song

At this moment, Will was not at the scene of the hunt for the Hunter Rat King.

To be precise, he was being held by the back of his collar by the elven archer, who had carried him through several leaps onto a towering tree nearly a hundred meters away from the battlefield.

Will spread his short arms and legs, clutching the branch tightly as if he wanted to merge his entire body into the wood.

He turned his face and quietly lifted his head, wanting to see the battle in the distance.

The elven archer released an arrow, then used his free hand to press down on Will’s small head.

“Don’t move around.”

“I’m not moving around, I’m just… just worried.”

Will’s head began to turn restlessly under the elf’s palm, trying to shake off the restraint.

His fluffy black hair rubbed against the gaps between the elf’s fingers, and the sensation was quite pleasant.

The elf silently ruffled his hair several times.

“Brother Samir, can the pretty lady and the others really kill the Hunter Rat King?”

Will lay there obediently, but his mouth wouldn’t stop moving.

“What if the Hunter Rat King escapes again? Will it run toward us? Can the Hunter Rat King climb trees? Brother Samir, will you be unable to run fast because you’re carrying me?”

“If it weren’t for the fact that you are so young, I would have sealed your mouth long ago.”

Seeing that Will was moving his mouth but not his head, Samir let go.

He drew an arrow from the quiver slung across his back, notched it, drew the bow, and aimed.

Another cold arrow streaked out, piercing through the heavy obstacles in its path to accurately strike the Hunter Rat King a hundred meters away.

The arrow’s momentum was massive, forcing the Hunter Rat King back half a step.

“Wow, Brother Samir is so amazing!”

Will’s small head shot up like a spring.

Without looking back, Samir pressed his left hand down again, pinning the little fellow back down.

Whiz—

A red magic bolt suddenly shot toward the spot where his head had just been.

With a crack, it smashed into the trunk of another tree behind Will, carving a hole right into the wood.

Looking at the “artificial tree hollow” that was still smoldering, Will finally stayed truly still, not daring to move again.

Samir could finally devote himself entirely to the battle.

He fired several arrows in succession, successfully assisting his teammates in dealing lethal blows to the Hunter Rat King.

The Hunter Rat King wanted to repeat its old trick.

Yesterday, when facing the elite team’s attack, it had quickly realized the situation was disadvantageous.

Thus, it had decisively swung its long, powerful tail, kicking up sand and stones to blind the elite team members.

It took the opportunity to dive back into the tunnel it had dug when attacking the carriage, leaving behind only a few pools of blood.

It had followed its dug tunnels back to its lair, but before it could properly lick its wounds, the elite team—carrying Will—had arrived at its doorstep.

The Hunter Rat King could only dive underground again, choosing another tunnel to escape.

These interconnected underground passages were a nursery built over many years by the Hunter Rat packs to raise their offspring, as well as escape routes for times of crisis.

Originally, the tunnels dug by different packs were not connected.

However, the Hunter Rat King’s intelligence surpassed that of other rats.

Under its command, the various tunnels had been linked together, forming the current underground labyrinth network.

This was the Hunter Rat King’s ultimate life-saving move.

Yet the humans it encountered today used some unknown method; no matter how much it accelerated, hid, or ran in circles, it couldn’t shake them off.

Just as it thought it was safe, these detestable humans would pop up the next second, raining attacks down upon it.

The Hunter Rat King fled for its life, alternating between the surface and the tunnels.

It thought its end was near, only to find that the humans had stopped chasing.

Only then did it belatedly realize that night had fallen.

The Hunter Rat King crept back to its lair.

Hmph, these humans surely won’t guess that I’ve returned to the old place.

This time, it even used its tail to sweep away its footprints along the way.

The Hunter Rat King curled up its body, which was larger than a bull, and drifted into a smug sleep.

As a result, before dawn the next day, it was cornered at its front door by the elite team.

Burning fire magic bolts were tossed into the cave, and wind magic swirled the smoke inside.

The smoke billowed but did not leak out at all, completely clogging the cave.

The Hunter Rat King, both scorched and choking, charged out in a fit of uncontrollable rage to fight the elite team once more.

This time, the Hunter Rat King cast aside all hesitation.

It threw back its head and let out a long howl, summoning its tribe, determined to leave the lives of these humans in the Misty Forest!

Unfortunately, the ideal was grand, but reality was harsh.

The Hunter Rat packs summoned by the King did not entangle the humans as it had imagined.

Corpses quickly piled up, and instead of tripping the humans, they tripped the Hunter Rat King itself.

The enraged King viciously bit into the corpse of a Hunter Rat and swallowed it in a few gulps.

In the next moment, the wound on its shoulder blade carved by a swordsman healed at a visible rate.

Magic beasts devouring one another not only helped them evolve but could also serve as nourishment to heal wounds.

The King of the Near-Forest was not so easily killed!

On the elite team’s side, various elemental mages were throwing spells at the King from a distance.

The swordsmen were divided into three squads, taking turns to inflict damage on the King.

Once a strike succeeded, they immediately retreated without lingering in the fight.

The knights focused mainly on defense, assisting the swordsmen in their retreat and letting the next squad move forward to attack, blocking the King’s strikes when necessary.

In the distance, Samir provided cover with his cold arrows.

Most importantly, at the rear of the team, there was a blonde human girl holding a golden staff.

Whenever a member at the front reached their limit, she would raise that staff—inlaid with a pure gemstone and engraved with a sun totem.

Then, a brilliant light like sunshine would flash, and the exhausted members would immediately become reinvigorated with newfound energy.

This was actually a rare Light Mage!

The scene fell into a stalemate for a time; as soon as the humans inflicted a wound, the Hunter Rat King would recover by devouring the corpses of its kin.

But no matter how large the tribe was, it would eventually be exhausted.

The humans continued to fight a protracted battle, but with a Light Mage as logistics, they grew more courageous as the fight went on.

No wonder the Hunter Rat King began to think of retreating once again.

Unfortunately, the opportunity vanished in a flash.

Before the Hunter Rat King could even get into position to burrow underground, another group of people appeared behind it.

It was Mary and the mercenaries, who had been responsible for cleaning up the rear but had been blocked by the overwhelming beast swarm until they finally broke through.

“It’s Sister Mary!”

Will was young and had good eyesight; as soon as the group appeared, he saw Mary standing at the front.

“She’s the Mary you’ve been talking about all night?”

Samir was an elven archer, and his vision was better than that of an average human.

“A very ordinary human girl.”

“The vegetables Sister Mary grows are super delicious! She worked really hard to dig up soil from the Misty Forest to grow them!”

Will was grateful for the food he’d eaten; every time Mary sent vegetables to the monastery, she hand-picked the best ones.

Will and his sister had eaten a lot during their time there.

“Is that so? If there’s a chance, I’d like to taste these super delicious vegetables you speak of.”

Samir notched another arrow, his eyes focused on the Hunter Rat King’s thrashing form.

Concentrating his breath, the sharp arrow left the string and flew forward with unstoppable momentum, piercing through both of the Hunter Rat King’s eyes!

Mary had only just caught her breath when she and the mercenaries hurried toward the loudest commotion.

They managed to arrive just as the Hunter Rat King was trying to dig its way out, and without a word, they joined the fray.

This assist from Samir dealt the Hunter Rat King a heavy blow.

Taking advantage of its weakness to finish it off, Mary raised her blade and hacked down hard at the back of the King’s head.

The blade cut into the flesh but failed to reach the bone.

However, Mary’s strength was truly immense; the Hunter Rat King’s head slammed into the ground with a thud, knocking it unconscious instantly.

Big Brother Jack strode forward to deliver the finishing blow.

He raised his long blade above his head and hacked down with all his might.

Will, watching from afar, held his breath.

Finally, the Hunter Rat King was going to die.

“Stop!”

A sharp reprimand rang out, accompanied by a flash of golden light.

Jack’s long blade was blocked just against the Hunter Rat King’s neck, unable to cut through.

“What are you stopping me for!”

Jack angrily sheathed his blade and demanded an explanation.

“I came to this damn forest specifically to kill this damn Hunter Rat King!”

“Captain Jack, please remain calm.”

The coachman quickly stepped between Jack and the unconscious King.

“What, you aren’t going to kill this beast? Are you planning to take it back alive?”

Jack was truly baffled.

“The Hunter Rat King cannot die yet.”

The blonde girl gripped her staff and walked past the crowd toward Jack.

“It still has a use.”

“Lord Aude.”

Jack looked at the blonde girl and forced himself to swallow his rage.

“Lord Aude, if we spare this beast’s life now and it manages to escape, won’t everyone’s efforts over the past two days have been for nothing?”

“We must pull the weeds by the roots!”

“It won’t escape.”

The blonde girl, the “Lord Aude” Jack had mentioned, tapped her staff on the ground.

Another flash of light enveloped the Hunter Rat King.

When the light vanished, the King had been bound tightly.

“Sister Mary!”

Mary looked toward the sound; Will charged over like a cannonball and hugged her leg.

“Sister Mary, you’re finally here! I missed you so much, I was scared to death!”

Mary crouched down, gripping Will’s shoulders.

She remained silent, looking Will straight in the eye.

Will’s cheerful voice gradually trailed off.

His small hands fidgeted awkwardly in front of him, and finally, with a pout, he murmured, “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have snuck into the forest.”

“I shouldn’t have… shouldn’t have been so self-righteous, thinking I could handle magic beasts. I’m sorry! Waaaaah—”

He began to cry at the top of his lungs.

“I just wanted to kill the Hunter Rat King so badly. My parents were eaten by it.”

Will blinked his large eyes, and large teardrops rolled down.

Mary sighed and pulled Will into an embrace.

In Lige Town, every child who lost their parents to magic beasts harbored hatred and dreamt of entering the Misty Forest for revenge.

Will was like that, and so was Mary once.

She actually had no right to blame Will; after all, on her very first birthday as an adult, she had made a special trip into the Misty Forest, risking heavy injury to avenge her parents.

“What’s wrong with wanting revenge?”

A slender hand reached over, grabbed Will’s back collar, and hoisted him onto a shoulder.

Samir, with his peerlessly beautiful elven face, carried the sobbing Will and emphasized to Mary once more, “There is nothing wrong with wanting to avenge one’s parents.”

“But Will is still too young.”

Mary wanted to wipe away Will’s tears, only to find her clothes in tatters.

She couldn’t find a single clean spot to tear off.

She wanted to use her hands, but they were covered in blood.

Only then did she awkwardly notice two fresh bloody handprints on Will’s shoulders.

“Hmph. He has the courage to think and act; he is already a man.”

Samir, carrying Will, gave Mary a side-eye and leapt back onto the tree.

Mary couldn’t climb trees, so she could only stay at the base.

The Hunter Rat King was captured alive, and the two teams successfully merged.

They had thought they would leave the forest immediately, but to their surprise, after Jack spoke with Aude for a while, he issued the order to rest on the spot and prepare to stay overnight.

“It’s still early, we can still cover some ground.”

Mary didn’t understand.

“We are already close to the center of the forest. I’m afraid there might be magic beasts even more powerful than the Hunter Rat King around.”

“I know that! My camp’s alchemical defense gear is fine for guarding against ordinary magic beasts, but if we encounter high-level ones, it’ll be useless!”

“But Lord Aude is in charge of this operation. If she says we don’t leave, then we don’t leave!”

Jack spread his hands, helpless.

“Girl, forget it. Luckily, your brother has been found. You can go home tomorrow.”

“Don’t worry. With Lord Aude here—she’s an expert among experts—there’s no need to worry.”

These words sounded a bit familiar; the last time she heard them, Will had faced the King of the Near-Forest head-on.

In the middle of the night, Mary was startled awake from her sleep.

She subconsciously reached out to her side—it was cold.

Where was Will?

Hadn’t he clung to her after calming down, refusing to leave even when sleeping, holding her hand and falling asleep beside her?

Her heart began to race.

Was Will dissatisfied that the Hunter Rat King was still alive and wanted to sneak off to finish it?

Mary quickly looked toward the place where the King was bound and guarded.

Her heart skipped a beat.

Nothing. There was nothing there.

Mary hurriedly woke the sleeping Jack and the other mercenaries nearby.

Only then did she realize that the mercenary squad members supposed to be on watch were all lying on the ground, fallen into a deep slumber.

And the elite team led by Aude was not in the camp at all.

“Don’t panic. Look at the footprints here; they went that way. Let’s follow them.”

Jack called over a few skilled men to follow, while the others remained to guard the camp.

Mary held a torch and tracked the messy footprints.

They bypassed several gentle slopes, crossed a stream shimmering with silver light, and after a turn, a group of people appeared before Mary.

But Will was not among them.

“Lord Aude, have you seen Will? Where is he?” Mary asked urgently.

Aude turned around, her expression solemn and her eyes filled with pity.

“He went there.”

As she spoke, she extended her hand and pointed into the distance.

Mary looked in the direction she was pointing and realized that in the originally dark forest, tiny glowing dust particles were floating.

Countless particles drifted together, landing on the grass, stones, and leaves.

More of them arranged themselves to pave a path that glowed with a soft light in the crowded, dim depths of the forest.

“What is that?”

“That is a place that exists only in legends.”

“The Path of Spirit Songs.”