After Neil, who was one of the hunters, cut the ivy and grass that was blocking their path with his machete, the young substitute chieftain following behind him impatiently complained.

“Geez, where is this?”

“I don’t know either… I’m sorry, but I think we’re lost.”

Neil replied, looking troubled and embarrassed. Although they had entered the forest from the village’s eastern border intending to find the missing child, they ended up getting lost due to the thick fog enshrouding the forest.

“Haah, what are we supposed to do if we can’t see clearly and the compass doesn’t work anymore…?”

“I can understand if this were morning fog, but it’s already noon, you know?”

“I wonder if Reebus and his group are in the same situation?”

Zeno looked into the distance, worried about the others who split up with them at the forest entrance. 

The forest is shrouded in a dense fog which restricted their vision to a limited area. However, Zeno could only see ordinary trees no matter where he looked. He continued to look at the unchanging scenery around them as they walked… until his gaze was drawn to a single tree.

“Th-this is!?”

As he caught traces of small quantities of bark peeling off the tree’s root, Zeno called after the others who were moving ahead.

“Oi, everyone, wait!”

“What’s wrong, Mr. Zeno?”

“This… Don’t you remember seeing this before?”

“Oh!”

As the other men took note of the part of the tree where the bark was peeling off, Maril responded first and let out a small cry.

“This is from earlier where Maril tripped over a tree root and these are the marks from where she kicked it out of spite.”

“Ugh, I’m sorry, I got carried away…”

She thought she had only kicked it lightly, but it was still fresh in her memory how the dry and brittle bark fell into pieces. On top of getting lost, she was also getting tired of walking… so it was expected that she wasn’t going to be kind to nature either.

Despite her adorable appearance which was claimed to be the best in the village, she has a strong personality as evidenced by the way she confronted the bandits on behalf of her father.

She is usually pleasant in public, but… 

“Ow, why is a tree root lying around here anyway?” The four members of Zeno’s team witnessed the flaxen-haired maiden as she irritatedly kicked away at the tree. This tale had spread throughout the village for a while and brought great distress to her mother.

This is a story for later, but currently, her behavior is being judged by the members of the vigilante group.

“Thanks to Maril, we realized that we’ve been going back to the same place…”

“But that doesn’t mean our situation will change for the better.”

“This fog has to clear out at lea—- uwaaaaaaah!”

From between the fog-covered trees, a thorny vine had sprung out and wrapped itself tightly around one of the middle-aged village guards and pulled him towards a suspicious tree up ahead with great force!

“Ow, ow, ow, stop, guaaaaaah!”

“Wh-what’s going on!?”

“R-Rald!”

While everyone was terrified by the sudden event paired with the screams of one of their companions, Maril pulled out her machete sword and tightened her grip on it as she looked at the tree when a strange, human-like face with empty eye sockets and a mouth appeared on the trunk.

“OoooOOOOoooOOOooo…”

“Hiiuh, a- a tree monster…”

As they looked at the tree, they found several small animals who were covered in thorns and weakly crying by its base along with Rald who was caught and covered in thorny vines. He was bound with the thorny vines, its sharp thorns piercing him all over through the gaps in his leather armor.

Zeroing in on the remains of some animals and Goblins scattered around the tree, Zeno whispered in a morose tone,

“I never thought I’d encounter another Blood Trent again…”

During his youth, he was confident in his potential so he left the village to become an adventurer. However, it was this blood-sucking tree, the Blood Trent, that forced him to retire.

This kind of tree monster is a troublesome existence that uses underground water veins to produce a fog throughout the surrounding area that induces disorientation. It then lures in its confused victims and feeds on them.

Fortunately, groundwater veins are only native to forests that pass through water-bearing soils and rocks beneath the surface of the earth, so there have been few confirmed encounters with Blood Trents. However, since it can appear anywhere as long as the conditions for it to grow naturally are met, many people have been harmed by these unexpected encounters.

Zeno was one of these people. Just as he was about to be promoted from a “Black Iron” Adventurer to a “Silver” Adventurer, he and his party were attacked by a Blood Trent in a forest they entered, causing him to lose his two companions.

(Back then, I had no choice but to leave them, but…)

The bitter memories and regret from being unable to help his friends who were covered in the thorny vines and being the lone survivor after hiding until the fog cleared surfaced back into his mind. But this time, instead of telling the members of his group to retreat, he wields his Long Sword and charges towards the enemy!

“UWOOOOOOOOOH!!”

As he swung his weapon in a diagonal direction, he stepped in closer and cut off the thorny vines that were trying to wrap themselves around him and used his blade to fend off the vines that were attacking him as he approached the tree monster.

“Take this!”

“OOOoo ooOOoo…”

The Blood Trent let out an eerie growl as Zeno slammed into the tree and blindly pushed his blade deep inside its trunk, but… due to the tree’s inability to feel pain, its reaction towards the attack was rather weak.

“UuUU OOuuU…”

“D-did it wor— Uwoooooooh!?”

Zeno cursed as he had to let go of the sword after it wouldn’t budge. However, the vines caught one of his feet as he tried to jump away and it hung him upside-down from the tree.

“No, Mr. Zeno…!”

As Maril screamed, the hunter Neil pulled his bow taut and aimed the arrow at the vines holding their companion in mid-air, but the vines were so thin that it was difficult to shoot. He could choose to shoot right away, but there was a chance that it would hit the person he was trying to save, so Neil could only look on bitterly as he tightened his hold on his bow.

“Shit, I can’t just shoot. That darn tree.”

“Don’t mind me, just run!!”

However, Zeno’s warning came too late… The vines, which had secretly made their way to the other members of the group from underneath the fallen leaves, had already wrapped themselves around Maril and the other men’s ankles.

“Owaa!?”

“Ukyaaaa!”

Before they knew it, Maril and the other villagers were already covered in vines and were being pulled towards the Blood Trent. These poor villagers were doomed to be sucked dry of their blood and used as live bait to lure other victims in, but…

They were not the only ones who were caught up in the fog that was thick with dark magic. Attracted by the smell of blood, four hounds arrived at the place where the villagers and the Blood Trent were and hid themselves to observe the situation. When they found the right time to spring an attack, the four dog men rushed out all at once!