Chapter 21 Poison Forest 3

Chapter 21: Poison Forest 3

Dakam continued speaking.

“Anyway, when you go out, you must wear the Kok herb on your body. If you don’t, the Pams and Pales will attack you.”

Sure enough, as he moved right next to Dakam, the insects couldn’t get close.

Seeing this, he said to the squad leader.

“We should learn this sort of thing too.”

“That’s true. If we’d come here unprepared, we’d be in a bind. We only ran for about an hour along the patrol route, and look at this. I’d heard before that if you go deeper, the poison becomes too intense, so they set the patrol route to stop there. So that’s why they call it the Poison Forest.”

That was news to him.

But it was also perfectly understandable.

The deeper we went into the forest, the stronger the musty, unpleasant smell became.

And even without being as sensitive as Sergeant Seolpung, we could hear the sound of something rustling and scurrying away from us.

Biseaeng swallowed hard and asked quietly.

“Um, what’s that sound?”

Sergeant Seolpung answered with a disgusted look.

“Better not to know. Ugh, there was something like that too?”

“Huh? What else is there?”

“There’s a centipede bigger than a person. It’s watching us from the woods over there right now.”

“A centipede bigger than a person?!”

The only one who perked up at that was Miss Cheongyeon.

A centipede bigger than a person.

Could it be?

The Flying Monkey who soars through the sky with the elasticity of its tail?

Nah, it couldn’t be that.

That’s practically a legendary poisonous creature, right?

While I was thinking that, Dakam said with a bright smile.

“Ah, it’s not that dangerous. It’s the kind that slaps its tail on the ground to leap high, but it’s so smart it recognizes people. After sharing food with it a few times before, it doesn’t bother you anymore.”

Hmm, slapping its tail on the ground to leap up?

He really was a monkey king.

But you say it’s not dangerous?

The fact that a centipede can recognize people already sounds dangerous enough to me?

I suddenly asked him.

“So what are the most dangerous creatures in the Poison Forest?”

He thought for a moment before answering.

“Inside the forest, there are horse-sized centipedes. They move in swarms, and if just one bites you, you’re done for. And then there’s the Komi, which looks like a human skull—I haven’t seen one yet, but they say there are swarms of red Komi in the swamps, and also snakes with horns as big as trees. They’re all terrifying.”

You can’t be serious—are you talking about the Great Yellow Horned Dragon, the Human-Faced Tree Spirit, the Blood-Sucking Demon, and the Poisonous Horned Spider from the legends?

You mean those things actually exist?

What is this place? I’m scared.

Beside me, Biseoyoung, who had a similar expression, muttered.

“What kind of place is this… Are there any dragons here?”

Dakam answered upon hearing that.

“A dragon? Well, I haven’t heard any stories about dragons being here.”

Biseoyoung chuckled hollowly and muttered.

“Well, that’s comforting. What a relief.”

Still, thankfully, we were circling around the outer edge of the poison forest, not its interior, on our way to Dakam’s dwelling.

So it seemed unlikely we’d actually get a chance to see those legendary venoms.

Very much so….

…

Though Young Master Cheongyeon seemed a bit disappointed.

Dakam continued speaking.

“The Krigos and Pams are dangerous. The Chaks and Pals are dangerous too. Ah! The Knoms are dangerous as well. They ate too much black toad venom, so their teeth and claws turned to venom. They’re as big and fast as tigers, and spears won’t even pierce them.”

So that story was about

The black panther ate so much poison it turned poisonous itself?

As big as a tiger, and spears won’t even stick?

Hearing that far, I started to doubt.

I began to wonder if everything Dakam had told me so far might be exaggerated or just bragging.

At least, that’s how I felt until Sergeant Seolpung opened his mouth.

“…So that’s the one, I suppose.”

“…Huh?”

Following Seolpung’s gaze, I saw something enormous lurking beneath the faint moonlight filtering through the leaves, slowly approaching.

As large as a tiger, yet its black skin appeared as dark as a shadow even in the moonlight, its two eyes glowing with an eerie green light. It was undoubtedly a black panther.

Dakam stammered in panic.

“Th-that thing never comes out of Toklim Park! Just, just wait a moment.”

Then, he pulled a piece of meat wrapped in leaves from the leather pouch on his back and tossed it to the beast.

It seemed he always carried it with him, prepared for encounters with venomous creatures.

But it was of little use.

After briefly sniffing the meat, the creature lifted its head again, its eyes glowing green, and began approaching us.

It seemed the scent from us was more appetizing than the meat.

It seemed to be because we hadn’t applied medicinal herbs to our skin like the Dakam did.

Lowering his stance and keeping a wary eye on the creature, Biseaeng said.

“Times like this make me regret losing your four legs, Jin?”

“Why, so I can toss you as bait and run away?”

“Heh heh heh, you know me well.”

“Hmph! I’ll repay the favor of teaching you the art of swift escape by fleeing faster than you.”

At that moment, Lady Cheongyeon shouted.

“Come here!”

The black panther, which had been ambling toward us, suddenly shot toward us like a streak of light.

Thud!

Its speed was so immense that Bisea-yeong and I instinctively flinched.

But standing before us was Captain Seolpung.

Thwack!

Sergeant Seolpung leapt out at a speed matching the beast’s, colliding with it mid-air.

Boom! Boom boom boom!

Biseyang muttered with a disgusted expression.

“Unless my eyes deceive me, did that black panther just block the squad leader’s retreat?”

“Ah, I can’t tell who’s the beast and who’s the man.”

“That one… is like a peak master.”

It was just as Qingyan had said.

It was like a battle between peak masters.

Team Leader Seolpung, seemingly wary of its poisoned claws, kicked the inside of its paw. Using that momentum, he spun his body and unleashed a whirlwind-like chain kick toward its head.

But the leopard blocked that chain kick with its front paws.

Both Seolpung Jo-jang, unleashing an assault with movements more savage than the leopard itself, and the leopard, blocking it with unnatural grace, were astonishing.

The two continued their battle, darting and weaving through the treetops.

Overall, Seolpung Jo-jang held the upper hand, but he couldn’t land a decisive blow. Moreover, as Dakam had said, if the beast’s claws were poisoned, a single strike could turn the tide of battle.

We exchanged glances and waited for our chance.

Then, when the beast turned its back near us, we leaped out simultaneously.

Pabaat!

The swords of Lady Cheongyeon and myself, along with Biseaeng’s dagger, became streaks of light, striking the creature from behind.

Shwaaah!

Clang!

“Gah?!”

“Huh?!”

“Good heavens! What a bloody bastard!”

The creature had instantly whirled its long tail like a windmill to block the sword and staff. Then it leaped backward, landing far away.

He probably realized continuing the fight wouldn’t be easy.

With eyes glowing green, he gave us a swift glance before slowly disappearing deeper into the poisonous forest.

A moment later, Squad Leader Seolpung relaxed his guard and said.

“He really is gone.”

Only then did we breathe a sigh of relief and mutter.

“So that kind of thing really exists in this world.”

“Amazing.”

Then Biseaeng replied.

“It doesn’t matter that it exists in the world—what’s truly mind-boggling is that it was right near us.”

We agreed.

After that, there were no major threats.

There were many unusual snakes, but they posed no real threat; Sergeant Seolpung simply caught them one after another and showed them to us.

Of course, the only one who showed any real interest in them was Miss Cheongyeon.

As we walked the path, I tried to extract as much knowledge as possible from Dakam.

Plants good for antidotes, how to make poisonous scents to repel demons. And herbs used to ward off venomous creatures, and so on.

I worried Dakam’s limited language skills might make it difficult, but Dakam, who claimed to have learned these things from Dokno, was surprisingly quite talented at explaining them.

He picked the actual plants we needed right along the way, showing them to me and explaining them in detail.

By the time we arrived at Dakam’s lodging, dawn was breaking.

Having memorized the route, I told the team leader,

“Still, at this rate, I reckon we could make it back on our own in about three hours, right?”

“Yeah, seems about right.”

“Even if we take it easy and catch some poisonous plants along the way, I think we can make it in four hours.”

At that, Biseyang’s eyes widened as he asked.

“You mean you memorized the entire route we came on? In the middle of the night? All three of you?”

“Huh? Why?”

“It wasn’t exactly a difficult path, was it?”

“Isn’t that obvious if we’re going back?”

When we looked at him with expressions that said, What are you asking us about something obvious?, he mumbled something under his breath.

He seemed to be thinking something rather dirty.

Dakam’s dwelling was a small thatched hut.

He led us inside with a bright smile.

The hut was located in a sunken island-like area deep within the swamp of Dokrim.

It seemed he lived there, surrounded by a wall of incense sticks that repelled the venomous creatures.

Opening the door wide, Dakam called out.

“Tokno! Tokno! I’ve brought someone to help you!”

“Dakam! Dakam has come!”

“Dakam, where have you been!”

Inside the hut lay the Miao children he had called his siblings and an elderly man, visibly ill, resting on a bed.

The children were adorable, and the white-haired old man had a very stubborn-looking expression.

It was especially interesting how the children’s pronunciation was so natural, unlike Dakam’s.

It seemed that even though they had learned together, the young children had achieved far more.

“Dakam!”

“Dakam!”

As four children surrounded Dakam, sniffling and clinging to him, the old man lying on the bed frowned and shouted.

“You dumped these brats and stayed out all night?! And helpers? What kind of nonsense is that?!”

At his irritation, Dakam looked at us standing outside the door while comforting his siblings. Team Leader Seolpung stepped inside as the representative and greeted the old man.

“Good day, Elder. We are here at Dakam’s request to assist you.”

The old man’s expression immediately turned grim.

He growled at us.

“Who the hell are you? Don’t tell me you’re those righteous faction bastards from the Flying Dragon Brigade?”

His voice, brimming with hostility, left us momentarily flustered.

Then, in the next instant, the old man erupted like a volcano.

“Can’t you lot just get lost?!”

Then, he began grabbing nearby objects with one hand and hurling them wildly.

“You worthless scum! What the hell do you think you’re here for, to tear things apart?! Get the hell out of here!”

The wooden bowl he hurled smashed against the wall beside the door, shattering into pieces.

Flower pots, pillows, and utensils flew toward him with terrifying force.

He seemed partially paralyzed, unable to steady himself, and though his aim was off as he threw with just one hand, the sheer force was formidable.

Startled, Dakam rushed forward to restrain him.

“Tokno! What are you doing?! These are the people who came to help us!”

“Shut up, you fool! Didn’t I tell you to stop this nonsense long ago?! Do you think I’d accept help from scum like them, even if I were dying?!”

His menacing aura forced us to hurry out the door.

Even after we left, the old man’s raging voice and Dakam’s voice trying to restrain him continued to echo.

We looked at each other, our faces filled with dismay.

Bisaeng let out a hollow laugh and said.

“What the hell kind of situation is this?”

Those words were exactly what I was thinking.