Karl looked around; the scenery inside the Misty Forest was largely the same, with no significant differences.
All of them are tall, towering trees with lush foliage, and short, dense thickets.
But for some reason, he felt a sense of unease.
He frowned and observed more closely, trying to find where the incongruity lay.
Lady, who was with him, didn't feel anything; the scenery here was exactly the same as the scenery he had just seen.
He looked at Karl's furrowed brows and couldn't help but feel curious.
This was the first time he had seen Karl's expression remain unchanged since they entered the inner part of the Misty Forest.
"What's wrong, Karl?"
He peered over and looked at Karl, who was sniffing intently at the giant tree.
"It doesn't taste right."
Seeing this, Lady leaned closer and sniffed as well, but unfortunately, apart from the scent of the trees themselves, he couldn't smell anything else.
Moreover, he suspected that the smell of trees might be a result of his own psychological suggestion, which was why he perceived the smell as wood.
"What's wrong with it? Aren't they all the same?"
He scratched his head and looked at Karl with a puzzled expression.
After sniffing the giant tree for a while, Karl suddenly turned around and lay down on the ground to sniff it.
Lady was shocked!
Lady gaped in disbelief at Carl sprawled on the ground, completely disheveled.
Is this still the same Karl who was meticulous about his words and actions, and who never neglected his appearance even in the wild?
“I finally believe that your family has wolf blood!” Lady murmured. “I didn’t believe you when Ilya called you a stinking wild dog before, but now I’m starting to believe it.”
Lady had known for a long time that the Carl family had wolf blood, but seeing Carl's refined manners and the aristocratic air he always exuded, she had always wondered if the Carl family had made a mistake.
In fact, Karl was adopted; he actually had a trace of elven blood.
However, after what happened today, he is convinced that Karl is his biological son!
Look at him, standing on all fours, skillfully twitching his nose – that's exactly how a wolf behaves!
Karl, focused on discerning the aura, paid no attention to the somewhat dumbfounded Lady.
He smelled a different scent, not the grassy smell of the bushes in the forest, nor the stench left by wild beasts.
It has a slightly sweet taste, but with a hint of plant flavor, yet it doesn't quite match the woody aroma.
What exactly is it?
Karl pondered deeply. He had never smelled this scent before. It didn't seem like an artificially created fragrance. It must be completely natural. What could it be?
Karl fell into deep thought and lay motionless on the ground.
"Karl, what are you thinking about?"
Lady walked over and was about to give Carl a push when she caught a glimpse of something rushing towards her.
"Karl! Watch out!"
The thing was so fast that Lady couldn't catch it in time and could only shout a warning to Carl.
Fortunately, Karl heard the shout and quickly rolled away to avoid it.
The sound of something hitting the ground was a "thud".
Seeing that Carl had dodged the sneak attack, Lady breathed a sigh of relief and then had the time to observe what had suddenly attacked her.
Karl crouched down, his right hand bracing against the ground to steady himself, and looked up to see what had attacked him.
The spot where he had been lying was still filled with smoke and dust, making it difficult to see with the naked eye. The surroundings were quiet again, and everything was as usual, as if it had just been their illusion.
However, Carl remained vigilant; all of this was merely a facade of calm.
He believed that if he dared to relax even slightly and not take what had just happened seriously, he might lose his life there in the next second.
This is the first thing an explorer learns over the years: to always be vigilant, no matter where you are.
It was precisely this vigilance that allowed Karl to escape danger once again.
Before anyone knew it, vines had silently approached Karl's feet. Just as the vines launched their attack, trying to trap Karl, he leaped up and jumped twice to escape the predicament.
Thanks to his wolf bloodline, Karl's hearing was also incredibly sharp. He sensed something when he heard an unusual rustling sound at his feet.
Fortunately, he did not doubt his judgment, otherwise he might have been tightly bound by the vines.
"Karl!"
Lady suddenly exclaimed.
He saw that just as Karl leaped over, a dark figure raised its head from where the dust had been rising.
Lady took a closer look and gasped in shock; he hadn't expected it to be the Devil Vine!
Devil's Vine is a unique plant in the Misty Forest, and you can see many winding, climbing Devil's Vine on the outer edge.
Ghost vine is generally dark brown and has a certain degree of toughness. It also has a particularly strong reproductive ability. If you are lazy and don't tidy up the outer ring, it will climb all over the place in a few days and become densely packed.
However, the devil vine is not very powerful, and because of its resilience, people often use it as a substitute when they lack ropes.
However, the devil vine in front of them seemed to have mutated. It was as thick as a child's arm and completely black, with a metallic sheen under the occasional rays of sunlight, making it quite unique.
Before Lady could think it through, the Devil Vine swung out as soon as Karl’s attention was focused on his feet!
"This is the Devil's Vine!"
In the blink of an eye, Lady had no time to help Carl defend himself; she could only remind Carl what the sneak attack was.
Fortunately, Karl was prepared. Without even raising his eyes, he drew the short blade hidden in his boot and used it to block the devil vine that attacked from behind.
However, Karl did not expect that the short blade would not cut through the vines as smoothly as he had imagined.
Instead, he felt that he was making no progress in his battle against the vines.
"bite--"
The devil vine clashed with the short blade, producing a metallic clang.
Carl was startled; the voice was completely wrong!
He gripped the short blade and pushed upwards, taking advantage of the Devil Vine's momentum as it flew in the opposite direction, causing Karl to retreat backwards.
Karl took several steps back before stopping.
He looked up to see what it was that he had just clashed with.
Lady was right, this was indeed a devil vine, but it was different from ordinary devil vines. It was much stronger, and even when Karl's short blade just grazed the vine, it only left a faint scratch.
This was the first time Carl and Lady had encountered such a devilish vine. Carl's heart tightened, and he asked himself, "Are the plants in the Misty Forest changing so fast now?"
As seasoned veterans, Carl and Lady frequently roamed this area, a place that would be tricky for others but was well-known to the two of them.
They happened to receive a mission today—to hunt a Moonlight Silver Wolf. So the two of them followed the silver wolf here. They were initially quite pleased with themselves, thinking that the silver wolf had simply walked right into their trap.
Unexpectedly, Carl acted strangely as soon as he arrived today, sniffing around everywhere, and then a devil vine appeared that was completely different from the ones he had seen before, giving everyone a huge fright.
Lady's mind was racing with a thousand thoughts, but the Devil Vine didn't give him any time to figure them out.
As the sound of something cutting through the air approached, Lady instinctively tilted her head to one side, then reached out and grabbed the Devil Vine, pulling hard.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com