Fantasy Realm – Infinite Worlds Adventure

The group advances deeper into the forest, occasionally hearing the chilling screams, screeches, or other unsettling sounds of animals and beasts. Each sound causes Perlah to twitch or step back, her movements loud enough that even Alex, as the Vanguard, immediately notices.

…This is bad. This needs to stop now. We can’t deal with a liability later on if things get serious.

Alex turns around and whispers, “Perlah, switch positions with Rishi. Also, calm down, please! If enemies approach, I’ll stop them. You saw Tereza’s wings, right? If someone can’t take it anymore, she can evacuate them!”

These words seem to make Perlah feel a lot better. “Thanks….” she whispers, moving to switch positions with a calm-looking Rishi. Roja tries to maintain her cool expression while Tereza stares at Perlah but manages to avoid saying anything that could cause conflict.

Sometimes I’d be so interested in Rishi’s thoughts. He stays calm, never complains, and is seemingly above everything. Anyway, at least everyone is trying to work as a team. It’s far better than most groups. We’re all acting pretty rational here.

As they continue forward, the group spots several normal animals and magical beasts. Among them is a scary-looking Blood-sucking Bugbear, which quickly runs away—seemingly uncorrupted. They also encounter foxes, Nifflers, small spiders of various sizes, and Mooncalves.

“Why are we not doing anything, Alex?” Tereza asks, confused by Alex’s passive approach.

Alex thinks for a moment before explaining, “These are all uncorrupted beasts and animals. Also, they spotted us from far away and weren’t a threat. I’d say we focus on corrupted animals and beasts for now, unless you want to risk offending Hagrid and Dumbledore. If we start slaughtering normal beasts, we’ll probably also make enemies of the Centaurs if we run into them.”

“I agree with Alex,” Rishi adds. “Ignore these animals. We’d only gain minor rewards anyway. Our task is simple: find and get rid of the corruption. A few fox pelts aren’t what we’re after.”

The group moves on, continuing deeper into the forest. Suddenly, Tereza makes the sign for “stop” and makes a soft hissing sound.

Alex turns to her, and Tereza points eastward toward an area where the trees are even thicker overall. Alex carefully scans the ground and notices something growing in the weak sunlight filtering through a tiny clearing.

Alex changes direction and approaches the spot, smiling as he recognizes the herbs.

“Dittany and Horklumps,” he says with satisfaction.

Dittany is a basic healing herb, while Horklumps appear like pink mushrooms but are actually small beasts.

Alex decisively rips the Horklumps out of the ground, and their previously mushroom-like appearance changes dramatically. The underside reveals nasty, worm-like bodies with sharp horns and mean-looking jaws.

I dislike this, but I should remember what Menchi told me. Stay calm, stay focused, and breathe carefully.

Perlah covers her mouth in disgust, and even Roja draws her rapier, ready for a fight. Meanwhile, Tereza and Rishi look at Alex with interest, seemingly unbothered by the sight.

In one swift motion, Alex draws the [Butchering Knife] gifted to him by Rishi. Using the flat side of the blade, he stuns the Horklumps, then pulls out a few bottles. Without hesitation, he cuts off the heads of the creatures, letting their juice flow into the containers.

Tereza quickly grabs a few of Alex’s bottles and helps him, using her daggers to assist in the process.

The group quickly gathers 10 bottles of [Horklump Juice] and 20 units of [Dittany].

Alex calmly explains, “They are both Light Green-quality and have some minor healing effects—but they come with a downside, so they shouldn’t be used raw. However, they are used…”

“In potions,” Roja finishes Alex’s sentence and continues, “particularly, they can create a potent healing potion. You keep them for now. I know your plans of letting Menchi study some herbology and potion crafting to combine them with her cooking. If you manage to turn them into useful items, share them. We trust you by now. Despite your apparent greed, you’re the type who would even share his own blood with his teammates. I have to say, despite my confidence in judging people, my first impression of you was quite wrong.”

I guess I’m indeed a little bit too soft. Rishi and Tereza tell me the same thing… however, I disagree! If someone is nice to me, I’ll be twice as nice to them! If someone holds out, I’ll do the same.

Alex grabs the [Horklump Juice] and [Dittany], puts them inside his inventory, and the group moves on.

After a few more minutes, Alex holds up his hand and stops the group, turning around.

Tereza activates her devil fruit powers, wings sprouting from her back, her teeth sharpening, and her AGI and SNS increasing. She stares into the distance, her expression suddenly shocked.

Roja, Perlah, and Rishi question Alex. “Why did you stop? What did you see?”

Alex replies, “I can’t see it clearly, but… there seems to be a dark-colored wall. I can spot it despite the darkness. Let me check again.”

Alex activates Gyo and takes a closer look as Tereza whispers, “That’s a huge wall… of web… obviously laced with corruption. It’s everywhere in that direction. This looks extremely dangerous. It’s sectioning off a huge part of the forest!”

Perlah looks visibly shaken. She had often thought of Tereza’s confidence as pure arrogance, but now she realizes that if even Tereza is wary, there must be serious danger ahead.

“It’s like she says,” Alex confirms. “I can see the corruption with Gyo; it’s coming from the Northwest. The forest looks even gloomier in that direction.”

Rishi calmly analyzes the situation. “The most logical choice would be to go to the Northeast, then.”

“How do you figure that?” Roja questions him.

“I agree,” Alex interjects. “Instead of going straight into the nearby abyss, let’s check out the wall of web where it’s not as thick, and with a lighter corruption and, most likely, easier difficulty.”@@novelbin@@

“That makes sense! So we’re not running away, but instead starting to approach from the easiest side to get a feel for what’s waiting for us. Let’s go,” Tereza concludes, nodding in agreement with Alex and Rishi.

“A logical choice indeed. I concur,” Roja adds, while Perlah remains silent, seeing the reason in Rishi’s idea.

Alex leads the group straight east for a while, the wall in the distance becoming thinner and thinner before Alex finally turns north to approach the web. By now, the web has thinned out significantly, and its corruption has also greatly reduced; overall, it’s barely visible.

“A bit too cautious, I’d say,” Tereza comments.

Rishi and Roja both respond simultaneously, “That’s fine for now.”

As they approach the giant corrupted wall of web—like a barrier splitting the forest into two parts—Alex spots smaller spiders on the ground, ignoring the group’s presence.

Alex carefully scans the area, despite his personal dislike of spiders. “Two possible nests detected,” he says.

“One is in that direction,” Alex points toward the larger corrupted web wall from earlier, though it’s a joke to the initial dark wall of corruption from earlier. “Another one is curiously a bit closer to the entrance, away from the corrupted web wall,” he adds, pointing toward the Southeast.

“Southeast… please,” Perlah says quietly.

“I agree,” Alex says, nodding. “It looks like it’s the closest. I can see some sort of cliff or ravine in the distance, it’s probably infested with spiders, but it’d make a decent first target.”

Rishi, Roja, and Tereza all give him approving nods, and the group heads toward the spider nest.

As they approach the nest, which appears to be somewhat underground and built into a natural ravine, Alex immediately realizes something.

“These aren’t Acromantulas; these are just Thornback spiders,” Alex says.

“How do you figure? I don’t recognize these spiders, but you’re right. Despite their dark colors hinting at corruption, I actually see different colors underneath. They don’t look like Acromantulas. I see green, yellow, bronze, and gray spiders down there. Inside the giant web, surrounded by dozens of others… wait, let me see…” Tereza squints, using her enhanced SNS to scout. “I can spot a red one. That one is huge. I don’t remember reading about them. What is all this? I know the lore of Harry Potter, and these are never mentioned anywhere.”

“We aren’t in the world of Harry Potter—or at least, not in the book world,” Alex reminds her. “Remember the items we’ve acquired? They all say Wizarding World as well! These spiders look similar to the enemies in Hogwarts Legacy, and it makes sense. There should be other types of spiders than just Acromantulas. And honestly? It’s not bad for us. They’re probably an easier target! Tereza, don’t risk flying above the ravine. There are webs everywhere, and if the spiders trap you mid-flight, you’ll crash down below,” Alex warns her.

Focusing his aura into his eyes with Gyo, Alex studies the spiders carefully, recalling the research he’d done beforehand on the properties of enemies in Hogwarts Legacy.

“The green ones are shooters, focusing on ranged attacks with acid. The gray ones, lurking at the edges, are ambushers. They trap you with webs before striking. The small, more yellow ones are hatchlings, and the larger yellow or bronze ones are warriors. Those can even burrow into the ground. And the red one… that’s a Matriarch. It’s incredibly dangerous. Its bite can break through nearly anything. Don’t get caught—it could kill you with a single attack. Also, I reckon all of them can poison you. Thankfully, this is a small nest, with only one Matriarch. Most importantly: they’re weak to fire!”

“Very good, Alex. You’re completely right,” Rishi says, nodding. “Thankfully, even you three ladies have access to Alex’s grenades, which deal a small amount of fire damage as well. Alex, you and I should wait until they’ve grouped up, then unleash our AoE fire spells,” Rishi suggests.

Alex nods in agreement.

“I see just one way to the Matriarch,” Rishi continues. “It’s down where the incline isn’t as steep. However, there might be more enemies inside the tunnels and caves on either side of the ravine. The most important thing is not to get overwhelmed. We need to stand firm and clear them out slowly. We either move forward or backward as a group. If anyone breaks formation and runs, you’ll endanger yourself and everyone else.”

“Yeah, I doubt these spiders are as dumb as game enemies that only attack with five or six at a time. Wouldn’t surprise me if the whole nest swarms us as soon as we go inside,” Alex says.

The group cautiously approaches the ravine, but Alex suddenly hears movement before they can even begin descending.

Tereza, her voice sharp and urgent, whispers, “Enemies! Behind the trees! I hear them!”

Alex wastes no time. He activates En and to his absolute shock, at least 10 giant spiders appear within range—excluding the hundreds of smaller spiders, ranging in size from a human finger to a fist. More and more spiders enter his En, hiding behind the trees near the ravine.

“Shit! No use hiding, they’ve spotted us! At least 10 to 15 enemies on the right side, opposite the ravine; behind and even on top of the damn trees! Get in position and fight! Also, don’t get caught from behind; the ravine is right behind us if we focus on the trees!” Alex shouts, abandoning the silent approach.

He pulls out his [Mr. 5’s .44 Caliber 6-Shot Revolver], memorizes the positions of the spiders and readies himself, activating Ren!