## Chapter 299 – Lingering Scent of Flowers
“Aah, no! What in the world is going on! Shouldn’t we be outside by now?!”
Copson, his mind completely seized by the horror of the jungle, panicked, jumping around and shouting. Even I was so confused that I couldn’t understand what was happening.
Clearly, there was a long stretch of thick bushes at the edge of the jungle. We definitely cut through those bushes to enter the jungle.
So, it should be the same when we leave.
And since we moved in the right direction, there’s no way we could end up back in the jungle after passing through the bushes.
Wait a minute.
Could it be that the surrounding terrain is so similar that we lost our way and went deeper inside? No, that can’t be. Who are we? We’re seasoned adventurers who’ve been around for years.
Are you saying we made a mistake?
Well, we could make a mistake. If we didn’t make a mistake, maybe the jungle grew bigger in the meantime… Anyway, it’s confusing.
“Copson, calm down. Let’s go back that way for now.”
“Hoo, I suppose we should.”
Since we ended up on a completely different path, it’s right to go back. —Rustle. The bushes were thick even though we just cut through them. Did they grow back already? There’s no way… Everything is suspicious.
—Legends of the South American wilderness.
“Shit.”
Suppressing the uneasy thoughts that rose like smoke, I forced myself to push through the bushes again.
And.
“…Where is this?”
“I-Is this the same place?”
…The place we came out to was unfamiliar again.
The scenery was all similar, so it felt like my memory was playing tricks on me after only a short time.
No, shit?
Are we really screwed?
My heart started beating fast.
“I don’t know. Shit. Hey, we’re totally screwed.”
“We’re doomed! What should we do, Barbarian!”
“Doomed!”
“Doomed!”
Chanting the “doomed” mantra to calm our minds, we took deep breaths and surveyed our surroundings. Getting lost is getting lost, and if we’re lost, we have to find our way back.
Before night falls.
Thankfully, it’s still midday.
There’s plenty of time. With a strong spirit, a warrior’s soul, and experience as adventurers, finding our way back should be easier than twisting a child’s wrist.
Copson and I calmed ourselves and slowly etched the surrounding scenery into our minds.
“Okay, Copson. It looks like we’re lost.”
“I know… Damn it! What are we going to do…!”
“Calm down, you idiot. Is this the first time this has happened? We have to find our way back. We didn’t even go that deep in the first place.”
In terms of time, we only moved for about two hours at a slow pace.
“Hoo, this kind of thing has happened often, but… Thinking about it being the jungle suddenly makes me scared. It would be terrible if bugs appeared.”
This guy must be weak against bugs because he’s not from the generation that went through the Crucible of Solitude. The boys of my childhood weren’t afraid of cruel bugs at all.
“Get a grip, you idiot. We came along these bushes, so we just have to go back the way we came.”
“Alright.”
We went back the way we came.
Our footprints that appeared from time to time told us that the path wasn’t wrong, but even those were quickly fading.
No, shit.
Where did we go wrong?
I thought we wouldn’t get lost because we were constantly thinking about the path… Had we walked for about 20 minutes?
“Barbarian, there’s something over there.”
“…”
—Swish.
Copson, who spoke quietly, slipped behind a tree as if gliding. I naturally silenced myself and followed him.
“…What is it? What’s that?”
“Hmm, I don’t know exactly.”
It seems he took cover as soon as that came into view. Excellent sense. Copson and I maintained silence, craning our necks to observe the unidentified object.
“A person? Is that a person? Is that a person?”
“I’m not sure. Let’s get closer.”
—Slyly.
Slowly drawing our swords, we tiptoed towards the target. The closer we got, the more the shape of it began to come into view.
Finally, when we approached it.
“Oh.”
—Corpse.
The identity of the object was a human corpse.
No, would it be more accurate to say it was the corpse of an adventurer?
It was an extremely standard type of adventurer wearing brown leather clothes and a cloak. Old shoes and gloves… The equipment was meager, he was wearing a hat, and he held a saber in his right hand.
I don’t see where he threw the scabbard.
“Barbarian, was there something like this when we came earlier?”
Copson asked, looking around with fierce eyes. He was already preparing for battle. Being scared is being scared, but he fights when he has to fight.
I’m already on guard in a similar way.
“…There wasn’t.”
I answer the question.
There was no corpse in such a conspicuous place.
—However.
The strange thing wasn’t just that.
It was clear that this adventurer didn’t die today at least. He didn’t just roll around and suddenly die, but was ‘dead’ here from the beginning.
—Above all.
“What is this flower…? Barbarian, do you know? I’m uneasy. Please answer quickly.”
“No, I’ve never seen this flower before either.”
“A flower blooming on a corpse… For some reason, my legs are starting to tremble.”
“Mine too.”
Instead of maggots, the corpse was covered in pink flowers that retained the beauty of spring. The flowers, firmly rooted in the cooled flesh, looked vibrant, as if they were sucking the lifeblood of the dead and gaining vitality.
—Ominousness.
Why is this man dead in such a place… And why are only flowers blooming on the corpse without even bugs? A dark fear began to fill my heart.
The adventure genre instantly turned into a mystery horror.
“…I think we took the wrong path again.”
“We’re totally screwed… Damn it, Barbarian. Surely we came the right way, didn’t we? I definitely think we did.”
“I think so too. And lower your voice.”
Unless some playful murderous imp pulled a nasty prank by moving the corpse here and running away, we’re 100% blending in with the surrounding environment and taking the wrong path again.
“…”
So it just felt like the corpse suddenly appeared.
Damn it, we’re lost.
The bushes surrounding the jungle… are still there. Can we get out by cutting through them? I don’t know. Maybe the bushes themselves are monsters that cloud human judgment.
“Let’s take his belongings for now.”
“No. Wait.”
I quickly stopped Copson from touching the corpse.
“There are no bugs on the corpse. I think that flower is poisonous.”
“Hmm, that’s right. That makes sense. Did the flowers bloom on the corpse first, preventing the bugs from coming?”
“That’s what it would be like if you think about it logically.”
But we can’t just skip over the corpse.
“Go tear off a branch.”
To block the toxicity of the flowers, I put a cloth over my nose and tore off a long branch. We can attack from a distance with this.
Whatever else, it’s better to keep that sword.
“People have to use their brains. Let’s search him.”
“Alright.”
—Rummage, rummage.
We used a fairly long branch to knock off the flowers blooming on the corpse from a distance and searched it.
The strange thing was that we couldn’t find a single bug. It’s extremely strange. No matter how poisonous the flowers are, the jungle is a hotbed of all kinds of life.
There is no absolute.
It’s normal for beetles and larvae to stick to the corpse.
However, this corpse didn’t seem to have any such damage, even though it was clear that it had been dead for a while. It was as if he had died cleanly, as if he had fallen asleep.
Is it because of the toxicity of the flowers?
Is the toxicity that deadly?
Should we run away because the toxicity is scary?
I don’t know, everything is unknown.
The suddenly appearing jungle presented as much mystery as its questionable cause. What’s even stranger is that there were no obvious external injuries either.
…This is really scary.
What the hell is going on?
We couldn’t find anything special on the corpse. Frankly, I’m afraid to take anything even if it comes out because I’m scared of the poison.
“Ah, damn it. Should I take this sword? Or not?”
“I wasn’t paying much attention, but suddenly I’m uneasy.”
“Damn it.”
I hooked the end of the branch on the handle of the saber and slowly pulled it over. And like catching a dragonfly with bare hands, I slowly reached out and grabbed the handle.
“Hmm…”
“Are you okay? Are you dizzy or anything?”
“I think I’m okay.”
I tore off a leaf, tilted the canteen slightly to wet it a little, and carefully wiped the blade. The leaf didn’t change color, and there wasn’t any powder on it.
—Swoosh.
I grabbed it and swung it, and threw it at the same time, but nothing happened. The flowers were blooming on the exposed flesh of the corpse, and it was okay because there weren’t any on the sword?
Anyway, we acquired an equipment item.
“Hehehe, I feel relieved that we got something.”
“I agree.”
We saw an ominous corpse, but we started to feel better rapidly because we picked up something valuable. It’s still midday. There will be no problem finding our way back, we muttered as if hypnotizing ourselves, and we moved like crazy.
We were already in a state of madness.
“Uaaaaaaaaaa.”
“Uooooooo.”
—Rustle! Rustle!
We tried to cut through the bushes with the hands of madmen and escape from the jungle, but what greeted us was another jungle, not the outside.
I’m going crazy, damn it.
The legends of the South American wilderness kept coming closer to reality. If night falls, we might really be screwed. Some unknown night stalkers might be watching us intently…!
“Damn it…! Barbarian! I’m sorry! I shouldn’t have suggested coming in!”
“No! There’s no need to be sorry! We’re comrades!”
“Hehehe! That’s right!”
“Kekeke! Yeah!”
We frantically sprinted, looked left and right, and returned to the original point. It was a kind of experiment, but even though we just moved, it felt like the scenery had changed.
I even marked the trees with a knife, but strangely, every time I did, it was vaguely conveyed that something was going wrong.
Maybe Copson and I were entering the inside of the jungle.
It was then that we were about to despair and wail.
—Swish!
“S-Something’s there…!”
“I saw it too!”
We frantically hid, pointed our swords, and watched the wildly shaking vines. What is it? Another monster? Or… a murderous robber? I wish I could meet the latter.
Please. Please let it be a person…!
—Slash!
“Heok!”
“W-What the hell! Shit!”
What appeared, parting the vines—
—was something similar to a person standing on two feet.
“A beauty?!”
“…”
“B-Barbarian! A beauty! A beauty has appeared!”
—Beauty.
It was a ‘Dryad’, a cursed creature of plants that the Flame Swordsman Kim Kat, who descended in the past, had a history of killing.
“You son of a bitch.”
A beauty, my ass!
It’s a monster!
“Beauty…!”
Suddenly, Copson stood up.
With that, the aggro was drawn, and he made eye contact with the Dryad.
“Hey, hey you idiot! Are you out of your mind!”
Copson couldn’t take his eyes off the Dryad, as if he couldn’t hear my words.
Of course, it was a monster that looked quite decent, as Copson reacted.
—…?
A resilient-looking greenish-yellow body, and a healthy-looking figure.
And the voluptuous breasts and brilliant golden hair were something that no man could refuse, and the curved eyes, compared to the innocent-looking face, created a subtle sexiness.
Above all, the outfit itself was a lewd attire that only covered the main parts with vines and leaves. I understand why his eyes are rolling.
Of course, it’s not even 10% of Claudie’s beauty.
—Saa?
It was a sudden event.
The Dryad smiled and slowly began to approach us.
“That, that bitch…!”
Instead of baring her teeth… she’s smiling? Smiling is a fairly high-level act of communication. There’s no way a monster could do that.
A clearly felt ominousness.
The hand holding the sword tightened.
—Thud.
At that time.
“You son of a bitch! I told you to get a grip!”
Suddenly, Copson took a step forward.
I wondered why this guy was suddenly doing this, but his eyes were unfocused! Shit! He’s charmed! This guy is completely out of his mind!
—Shishishit.
Seeing that, she laughed grotesquely.
But wait a minute.
Looking closely, the Dryad was a little different from the one I saw.
—She had a flower on her head.
That big pink flower that I saw on the corpse earlier.
