Chapter 5 Once the light is no longer shining overhead…
Once the sun was no longer shining overhead, the dark forest was immediately filled with a gloomy atmosphere that seemed to rise from the ground, and even the grass blades that touched your calves were chilled to the bone.
Lex felt the dampness on his calves through the thin fabric. He pursed his lips and continued walking forward, following the route he remembered.
Behind him was the small wooden house that he was leaving further and further behind. A crescent moon hung on the pointed corner of the roof, illuminating the silvery dream of the witch and the raven sleeping inside.
It has been six days since Lex arrived in the Dark Forest. His wounds have completely healed, and it is time for him to leave.
So when night fell, Mela and Silas fell into a deep sleep, and Lex opened his eyes.
After observing them for the past few days, Lex has learned that once Mela and Silas fall asleep, they sleep soundly until dawn without waking up suddenly.
Nevertheless, Lex tiptoed to the door.
With a very slight creak, the door opened.
Lex immediately glanced behind him alertly and found that, as he had expected, Mela and Silas still had their eyes closed and were breathing steadily, clearly undisturbed by the slight noise.
Very well, Lex closed the door, his slender figure turning and disappearing into the night.
Upon reaching the first fork in the road, seeing a cluster of perfectly grown yellow flowers swaying gently in the night breeze, Lex turned right without hesitation.
At the second fork in the road were two identical trees. Lex climbed the trunk, counted up to the fifth branch, and found the cross mark left by Silas. Then he nimbly jumped down from the tree.
Fortunately, the two trees weren't too tall, otherwise Lex might not have been able to climb them.
Although Lex had been learning martial arts from the Knight Commander since childhood, Cherk would never teach the Crown Prince how to climb trees.
Only a country bumpkin would be interested in hanging from a tree like a monkey.
For the Crown Prince, climbing a tree was a violation of court etiquette.
Lex continued on until he stopped at the next place where he needed to orient himself.
There aren't always forks in the path in the forest.
In fact, the so-called roads were also made by our predecessors. Back then, the Dark Forest was not nearly as dangerous as it is now. Daring hunters would occasionally venture in, trying to catch some tough prey to exchange for more food.
However, as the years passed, fewer and fewer people dared to venture into the dark forest, until they disappeared completely. The paths that had once been carved out by humans were naturally reclaimed by the rampant growth of plants.
Thorns covered in bark, shrub roses struggling to bloom, and ball vines with glossy, dark green leaves that usually curl up in a ball, etc.
They grew wildly, and changed drastically at night, to the point that Lex hesitated, wondering which way to go.
Left with no other option, Lex carefully examined the area by moonlight. Just when he thought he was on the right track, he would always find several places that differed from what he had recorded in his diary during the day.
...This is difficult. Must we leave the choice to an uncertain fate? Lex frowned, unable to make up his mind. Precisely because of the uncertainty of fate, he preferred to trust his own judgment.
"Croak—croak—" A low croak suddenly came from Lex's right side. His sharp gaze immediately swept over and saw that a toad had suddenly jumped onto a rock that was a little taller than Lex, its two blood-red eyes staring at him.
The red color looked particularly eerie under the silvery moonlight. Lex immediately thought of the strange materials that Mela had stored in various jars, and subconsciously took a few steps back, increasing the distance between himself and the toad.
However, the toad stared at Lex for a long time, and the next second, it stuck out its tongue and quickly scooped up a passing small flying insect into its mouth, even dripping two drops of saliva.
Lex's eyes widened slightly as he confirmed that he hadn't misread it; the two drops of saliva had indeed slightly corroded the surface of the stone.
Is this the Dark Forest? Lex had never seen such a dangerous toad before, and he couldn't imagine what it would be like if its saliva dripped onto a person's skin—the entire flesh would probably rot away.
Lex instinctively took a step back, his hand reaching for the dagger strapped to his waist.
This dagger was forged from fine iron by the kingdom's best craftsmen, and even through the scabbard, one could almost feel the chilling sharpness of its blade.
It was a weapon that Chelge left specifically for Lex to use for self-defense before he left.
Originally hidden in Lex's boots, and with Lex usually trying to conceal it, neither Mela nor Silas noticed the occasional strangeness in his gait.
Lex took it out of his boot tonight just in case, so that it would be easier to escape.
However, if the toad's saliva gets on the dagger and corrodes it, creating several holes, then his only weapon for self-defense will be rendered useless.
With that in mind, Lex withdrew his hand from his waist and decisively chose what he considered the most reliable direction to leave, getting as far away from that dangerous toad as possible.
The wind rustled through the grass, creating a soft, whispering sound that Lex captured perfectly in the stillness of the night.
At the same time, Lex took each step with extreme caution, afraid of stepping on snakes and insects resting in the grass, or worse, stepping directly into a swamp of mud and being unable to pull himself out.
Lex was quite lucky tonight. Apart from the toad, he didn't encounter any other animals along the way, let alone the ferocious beasts like tigers and leopards that he was wary of.
My heart, which had been hanging in suspense, finally felt a little relieved.
Wait a minute, Lex suddenly stopped moving; it seemed a little too quiet around him.
Even in the dead of night, it's impossible for the forest to remain so deathly silent. Apart from the sound of the wind, Lex could only hear his own deliberately slowed breathing.
Even when he was in the cabin, Lex could hear the occasional roar of an unknown beast from a distant direction in his sleep. So why couldn't he hear anything here?
Unless the owner of this territory kills every enemy who dares to invade.
Lex's keen intuition was frantically reminding him, and his golden eyes scanned his surroundings, but he didn't see anything that warranted his attention.
The next second, Lex suddenly looked up and met a pair of emerald green vertical pupils.
As Lex retreated swiftly, the owner of the vertical pupils also landed on the ground at an extremely fast speed. It was a giant python with a completely black body, which, under the cover of night and dense foliage, was completely hidden in the towering tree.
Because it was perched in the tree, Lex didn't notice its presence.
When Lex spotted the python, it seemed eager to open its mouth, planning to swoop down and swallow its prey whole.
Unfortunately, Lex, who was alert at the last moment, escaped unharmed.
Now, the giant python, which had fallen to the ground, straightened up and looked down at Lex with a superior posture.
Lex's gaze went down, not missing the python's lower body, which was still coiled several times under the cover of grass. He roughly estimated that the python was about five to six meters long.
Fighting a giant python? No, Lex immediately dismissed the idea. He only had a dagger, which was fine for fighting thugs, but would be rather useless against a giant python.
If Lex only manages to make a small cut on the python, allowing it to take the opportunity to get close and bare its fangs, he will have suffered a greater loss than he gained.
The best course of action right now would be to turn around and run, but Lex's feet seemed to be rooted to the spot, and he didn't move an inch.
This wasn't because he was terrified, but because Lex was certain that if he didn't choose the right moment to turn around, the giant python could pounce on him and devour him in the next second.
Now, the python seemed intimidated by Lex's composure, constantly flicking its bright red tongue to gauge the extent of Lex's danger.
The two sides are locked in a temporary standoff.
But Lex knew very well that this stalemate would soon be broken:
The next moment, the giant python made the first move, pouncing straight at Lex.
Almost in the blink of an eye, a dark, gaping mouth opened to an unimaginable size, its two sharp fangs seemingly gleaming with a cold light.
Lex reacted quickly. He deduced that the python's attack was just a test, so he nimbly dodged the python's attack and quickly seized the opportunity to turn and run.
The python was surprised that Lex would turn and run away without a second thought. It felt like it had been tricked by its prey. In anger, the snake's belly quickly rolled through the grass, and it caught up with Lex at lightning speed.
At this moment, the python opened its mouth again, this time targeting Lex's calf.
It knew perfectly well that if it bit Lex's calf, he would be unable to move.
Lex seemed to have anticipated this, and nimbly rolled to the side, causing the giant python's attack to miss its target once again.
The repeated failures did not deter the python; instead, it became determined to devour Lex.
Under the python's frenzied and continuous attacks, Lex almost got bitten in some part of his body by its fangs several times.
It seems that simply hiding is useless; Lex must defeat the giant python to have any chance of escaping.
With that thought, Lex's gaze darkened, and he drew his dagger without hesitation, ready to see who would survive!
*
The witch's cabin remains peacefully secluded, and no wild beasts dare to approach it easily. Even if a plump wild boar occasionally leaps out of the bushes, it will consciously detour after seeing the pointed roof, avoiding stepping onto the silver-lit path.
Suddenly, a long, dark shadow, stretched by the moonlight, appeared at the end of the path—it was Lex.
He walked toward the cabin, clutching his injured arm.
If someone were to observe closely, they would notice that Lex was limping slightly. This wasn't because his leg was injured, but because he had been severely entangled by the python's tail during the fight, leaving bluish-purple bruises.
Walking is accompanied by undeniable pain.
Fortunately, Lex won the fierce fight in the end, at the cost of an injured left arm.
However, when Lex sat down beside the giant python's corpse, panting heavily, and realized that most of the night was already over and there wasn't enough time left for him to escape the Dark Forest, he didn't hesitate for long and decided to go back to the cabin first.
However, the wound on his left arm was a problem. The faint smell of blood seeped through the fabric into the air, and even without getting close, one could tell that Lex was definitely injured.
It was practically the same as telling Mela directly that he had secretly left the cabin last night.
No, Lex needs to find a way to hide his injuries.
I wonder if Mela still has any of the healing potions she mentioned last time. Silas said that Mela's potions are famously effective; for example, his arrow wounds could be healed in just half a day after drinking a few sips of the healing potion.
However, Mela wouldn't easily give away such a good thing.
A bottle of hemostatic powder only costs ten copper coins, but a bottle of healing potion costs a whole eight silver coins. Mela must be crazy to give Lex such an expensive healing potion. Just sprinkle some hemostatic powder and let the body heal itself.
Lex had come to realize in recent days just how stingy Mela was; she wouldn't even throw away a quill that wrote intermittently and replace it with a new one.
So Lex figured if he could find the remaining healing potion, he could just open the bottle and secretly take a sip, and Mela wouldn't notice, right?
Lex walked to the door, tiptoed to the door, and found Silas still standing on the perch, fast asleep with his head buried in his feathers.
As for Mela, the moonlight shone on her smooth, porcelain-like face, casting a small, fine shadow on her long eyelashes.
Lex breathed a sigh of relief, closed the door with the lightest touch, then went to the cabinet that was flush with the entire wall, squatted down, and felt around in each compartment, trying to find a bottle of dark purple potion by the moonlight.
Unfortunately, Mela really loves to leave things lying around. Every compartment in the cupboard is not only piled with bottles and jars of various shapes, but also with other odds and ends such as buttons.
Lex had to be extremely careful not to sweep things onto the floor and leave any flaws he didn't know about.
Later, after searching everywhere without success, Lex felt a growing sense of anxiety, fearing that Silas or Mela might wake up prematurely and witness this scene.
Thank goodness, Lex finally found the healing potion he wanted in a cabinet.
Judging from the color, this should be it. Lex relaxed his furrowed brows, disregarding how many strange and unappealing ingredients had been added, and prepared to tilt his head back and drink it all in one gulp.
"A healing potion costs eight silver coins. When do you plan to pay for it?"
Mela's voice came from behind Lex, her tone as languid as ever, seemingly unsurprised by Lex's actions.
Lex's pupils suddenly contracted.
Is Mela actually awake?
When did she wake up?
Was it just now, or was she actually awake from the beginning?
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