Chapter 64: Forest Wave – Interlude ⑤: The Forbidden Land ①

In the end, even by morning, Torquetum did not appear.
Bid said he was fine, but deep down he had to be worried sick.

“Sorry, but we need to hurry.”
“I get it.”

Bid nodded at Garad’s words.
They had to deal with the dungeon anomaly in the Forbidden Land as soon as possible.

“Those three will be fine.”
“They’re strong.”
“Ugh, I know already!”

After being told the same by Hoss and Nabel, Bid snapped back.
Everyone knew it was just embarrassment.

“Alright. Feeling better? Let’s move out.”
“Geez… this is why I hate men.”

Bid stuck out her tongue.
We laughed, the tension easing, and left the exploration village.

After walking a bit, Garad, who was leading, spoke up:

“Be careful. The forest feels completely different from yesterday.”
“Second Wave?”
“No… it’s not like that.”
“What is this uneasy feeling…?”
“There’s a strange smell.”

Nabel sniffed the air.
I felt it too—the forest atmosphere was different from yesterday.
It felt… more savage.

“Woof. Any enemies?”
“None for now.”

Using Danger Detection, I confirmed—zero.

“Stay cautious. We don’t know what might attack.”

We all nodded and proceeded through the Great Heizen Forest with a tension that hadn’t been there the day before.

The air was heavy, yet strangely, we encountered no enemies.
Eventually, we reached a rocky area.

Huge boulders were piled up in the middle of the forest.
Garad stopped there.

“…What is it?”
“Garad, what’s wrong?”
“Over here.”

Garad scanned the area, then crouched by the largest rock and brushed away the sand.
A faint green light began to show.

Could it be…?
Once all the sand was cleared, a teleportation circle appeared.

“Teleportation…?”
“You hid something like this here?”
“That’s surprising.”
“Garad… does this lead to the Forbidden Land?”
“Yeah.”
“Did you set it up?”
“…Yeah.”

We all grimaced.
Garad looked conflicted.

“I know what you’re thinking—that there were better places to install it.”
“Well… yeah.”
“You should’ve put it in the hunting village.”
“I agree.”
“It’s a waste.”

Even a simple teleportation circle costs hundreds of millions.
A fixed one easily exceeds a billion.
Using something that expensive here was absurd.

“I agree, but this was funded privately by the Poor Man Club.”
“Privately!?”
“That just makes it worse.”
“Haha… as expected of one of the Three Great Houses’ heads…”
“I thought so too. Still do.”

Even Garad couldn’t hide his true feelings.

“Well… anyway, having a shortcut is good.”

I tried to smooth things over.
We couldn’t afford bad morale.

“…Yeah. Walking would’ve taken nearly a week…”
“Cutting that to zero is definitely a plus.”

Nabel backed me up, and Bid and Hoss reluctantly agreed.

We used the teleportation circle and arrived in a stone-built city.

“So this is the Forbidden Land…”
“Looks like Heizen architecture.”
“Yeah, very Heizen-like.”
“I thought the same. Apparently it’s a prototype of Heizen.”
“But it’s in ruins… well, it is a dungeon.”

There was a melancholic atmosphere.
The savage feeling from the forest was gone.

“Any treasure?”
“No. Nothing worth mentioning.”
“I see… Hey, Wof-kun?”

Bid looked at me with sparkling eyes.
Smiling wryly, I used Fortune’s Circle.

Hmm… not completely empty—some green signals scattered around.
Wait… one blue!?

“There’s one item of immense value.”
“Really!?”
“What? We searched thoroughly.”
“It’s in that temple-like structure.”

Far away, a faint light flickered.

“…There, huh.”

Garad narrowed his eyes at a half-collapsed building.
Temple-like, at least.

Judging by his reaction, the anomaly must be there.

“It’s quiet…”
“No enemies detected.”

Danger Detection showed zero.

“Let’s check it out.”
“And treasure too!”
“Just one, though.”

We headed toward the temple—and arrived without incident.

“No enemies at all…”
“It’s eerily quiet.”
“No presence… is anything even here?”

Inside was a large hall with broken pillars.
No signs of life.

“…Strange.”

Even Garad frowned.

“This is where that giant spider was.”
“There are webs.”
“But nothing else.”
“Not even a single spider…”
“Ah!”

Suddenly, Nabel spoke up.

“What is it?”
“I found a hidden room.”
“What!?”
“This way.”

He led us deeper.

Ah… a relic that detects hidden rooms.
That explains it.

We stopped at a locked door.

“There’s an entrance to a hidden room beyond this.”
“It’s locked.”
“What now?”
“We force it.”
“I’ll open it.”

I used a small Vanish on the keyhole.
Click—the door opened.

Inside was a small white room with a jar and a wooden box.

Nabel touched a blank wall.

“There’s another room beyond this wall.”
“There must be a mechanism.”
“This place is cluttered…”

Using Fortune’s Circle, part of the wall glowed green.
Beyond it—the blue signal.

The mechanism… the large jar nearby glowed green.

Inside was a small statue.
A deity-like figure on a long base.

At the bottom—grooves connecting it to the floor.

“…Let’s try it.”

Push—no.
Pull—no.

“…Then rotate.”

Click.
Half a turn clockwise—and something locked into place.

The wall opened.

“It’s really a hidden room!”
“What did you do?”
“The switch was in the jar.”
“Complicated…”
“Treasure!”

Inside was just a single box.
Inside it—

A sword.

No… more like a katana without a guard.
A white sheath with black mottling, and a glossy amber handle.

“…This is it?”

It emitted a blue glow.

“Looks like it.”
“A sword…”

Garad picked it up.

“Doesn’t look special.”
“Could be an ancient artifact.”
“Maybe.”
“Check your soul capacity first.”
“Didn’t, so I pass.”
“I’m fine.”
“Me too.”
“Same.”
“Then Hoss.”

They passed it around.

“…Spider Cutter… Bekko Eight-Character Slash.”

Nabel muttered.

“Bekko… tortoiseshell?”
Ah—that amber sheen.

From my past life, it’s a material made from hawksbill turtle shells—used in luxury ornaments.

“What’s Bekko Eight-Character?”
“Um… A sword-drawing technique. It can cut spider legs. If it slices all the spider’s eyes at once, it can kill any spider—but the blade will break.”

“A spider-specialized relic.”
“That’s powerful.”

“Any spider” is insane.
Even if it’s one use, it’s perfect for this dungeon.

“Well done, Nabel. This could make things easy.”
“…Do I have to use it?”
“Of course.”
“Do your best!”
“We’re counting on you!”

Nabel looked troubled, then sheathed the blade.

We continued searching, but found nothing more—
and no sign of the dungeon anomaly.

Where did it go?