Unknown territories always bring surprises or frights. Some of the routes we've traveled so far have never been even by the locals.

Su Su and the others still believe in me as always. In their hearts, I am an omnipotent god, and nothing can stop me.

We've been traveling for a day now, encountering many ferocious beasts along the way. But ever since our battle with Haruna in the sinkhole forest, these wild animals don't seem so threatening anymore, and they don't really pique our interest.

These reckless beasts that dare to cause trouble in front of us are basically wiped out as soon as they appear.

In the end, when we faced some beasts that weren't too threatening, we didn't even bother with ranged weapons and just used our kukri knives to fight them head-on.

For several days, under Haru's intimidation, we've chosen to play it safe and haven't shown our close-combat abilities. Right now, our main strategy is to kill time and, incidentally, hone our close-combat skills.

With just our melee weapons, we managed to acquire quite a bit of wild game. In particular, Susu and Dante's terrifyingly fast hand speed when wielding swords was even more incredible than that of Tachibana Ukyo.

Wild beasts that dare to challenge someone to a one-on-one fight usually fail to survive the first round.

Just as the beast launched its attack, Su Su and the others evaded the fatal blow with astonishing speed, leaving several bloody holes in the beast's vital areas.

…………

Today we've arrived at a new territory, which is different from the areas we've encountered before.

We found that large animals are rarely seen here, but occasionally we can find some half-bones buried on the ground.

It is impossible to verify what animal left these skeletons, but they all have a strange similarity. There are no obvious signs of external injury on the bones, and they all died here for unknown reasons.

Upon seeing this scene, my first thought was that the surrounding terrain might be a rainforest swamp.

Unlike swamps in other regions, these rainforest swamps have a deceptive camouflage, much like quicksand in the desert.

Because plants can still grow normally on the surface of the jungle swamp, it looks no different from an ordinary road, and you can even see some small birds and animals moving around among them.

If a person or other animal accidentally falls into these traps hidden in the jungle during a hunt, what follows is a slow process of death.

Top and I also experienced a swamp once, when we encountered it on our way from our hometown to this rainforest.

That time, I escaped from the clutches of death by sacrificing a set of defensive armor.

These natural terrains are often a hundred times more dangerous than poisonous insects and ferocious beasts. If you accidentally get caught in them, even if you have great skills, you'll have to coil up like a dragon or lie down like a tiger.

They won't give you a chance to use your abilities; death will be just a snap of the fingers.

…………

"Everyone, stop!"

At that moment, I called everyone to a halt, and Top, without exception, came to my side to wait.

"What's wrong, Master? We were walking just fine, weren't we?"

"Yes, sir. Pat is watching over us from the sky right now and hasn't noticed anything unusual. It seems like there aren't many wild beasts around here yet, and the path is much easier than before."

At this moment, Dante and Susu both asked the question that had been bothering them: What am I trying to do by suddenly stopping like this?

However, they have clearly fallen into the trap of thinking only about a single threat. Days of battling wild beasts have instilled in them a habitual mindset that danger only arises from encountering wild animals.

Little did they know that this area without wild beasts was itself an anomaly, and generally, these anomalies were even more dangerous than encountering wild beasts.

The reason is simple: it's a suitable habitat for animals. You don't even need to look for them to find them. When animals don't even want to stay in an area, that's when it's truly worth noting.

Top and I had encountered something similar before when we were exploring the eastern region. It was so foggy that we couldn't see anything more than five meters away.

I initially thought there would be wild beasts ambushing Top and me in the fog, but Top remained quiet the whole way and we didn't encounter any wild animals blocking our path.

But that time, we almost died on the road. Millions of tons of mudslides crashed down on us. Luckily, we were spared because we found a protruding rock cave and took shelter inside.

The area before me is clearly in the same situation as before, and this environment makes me once again mobilize all my senses, daring not to be careless in the slightest.

Seeing that I remained silent and was only watching the surrounding terrain warily, Su Su and Dante seemed to be watching as if hundreds or thousands of Haru were hiding nearby and would attack us at any moment.

Knowing that I wouldn't be cautious for no reason, the two men, seeing that I remained vigilant, also gripped their weapons tightly, ready to deal with any unexpected situations.

After examining the surrounding terrain, I can first rule out the possibility of mudslides.

While there are mountains in our area, I've looked closely and they're not very high; they're more like ridges, with relatively gentle slopes and no large areas of exposed rock.

All indications suggest that the probability of a mudslide occurring here is very small, almost negligible.

Even assuming a mudslide occurs here, those gentle slopes wouldn't allow the mudslide to accumulate much gravitational potential energy; it would simply flow slowly across the surface like lava.

Honestly, if you can't even avoid a mudslide of this magnitude, you might as well find a cool place, dig a hole, and lie down in it.

If it weren't for the mudslide, the only remaining possibility would probably be a swamp. Having reached this conclusion, I said to Su Su and the other person...

"Everyone use spears to poke at the road ahead as you walk. If you find anything unusual, stop immediately and go around to the side."

"Master, what's going on here?"

Su Su was still completely confused, staring at me expectantly, hoping to get some answers.

I sighed and spoke.

"It's unusual that there are no animals here. I feel that the terrain here is probably a swampy area, and the animals have learned from this experience and don't linger here."

Hearing what I said, the two of them became alert. Before, everyone's attention was only focused on the wild animals, but they had overlooked the fact that the most powerful beast was nature itself.

The unpredictable natural environment is a deadly weapon; the slightest mistake could end our lives here.