With Zeldir leading the way, we quickly made our way through the forest.
Even the barrier that should have stopped us wasnât able to do anything to us in the end.
This barrier was something that was created by Zeldirâs tribe using the powers of the God of Night, so it wasnât as if it would actually do anything to him. Since he was leading the way for us, it was only natural that it didnât have any effect on us either.
As for why we were leaving the barrier...
"This is the place." Zeldir said after bringing us to a random spot in the forest.
This was a spot that didnât have anything at all, it seemed like a very random spot in the forest. This was the kind of spot that could have been seen anywhere in the forest, so there was no explanation of why the âpestâ had appeared here.
That was until Zeldir showed me something when he saw the confused look that was on my face.
"This is the surveillance system that we have set up. If anything approaches the barrier, then weâll find out about it right away."
"If thatâs the case, then you should know where the pests that the village chief was talking about are, right?"
Zeldir just gave a simple nod in response.
"If thatâs the case, why didnât you tell us sooner?" I said while my lip was twitching.
"You said that you wanted to see the place that they were before, you never said anything about where they are now."
This should have been something that he should have been able to figure out quite easily, but Zeldir still said something like this. It was almost as if he was making things difficult for me on purpose...
Or there was something that he wanted me to see.
So I didnât bother saying anything as I started looking around the area.
After walking for a bit, I found something.
Or it was better to say that it was the divine energy that was inside of me that found something.
It seemed like that divine energy sensed that there was something that resonated with it nearby, which was why I felt a sensation coming from it.
Following that sensation, I soon found what I was looking for.
"Is this a patch of corruption energy?"
It was strange seeing this patch in the middle of nowhere like this, but it didnât seem like a good thing to leave this patch of corruption energy here. Though I had no idea what this patch of corruption energy was for, it certainly wouldnât be for anything good.
But before I could actually do anything to it...
"What are you doing?" I said to Max as he approached the patch of corruption energy with the tools in his hand.
It didnât seem like he heard me as he was focused on the patch of corruption energy on the ground, so I just grabbed him before he could actually get too close.
"What are you doing?"
It certainly was strange to hear him asking the same question that I had just asked him back to me, but I didnât let go.
"This is a dangerous thing that youâre trying to approach. Shouldnât you be thanking me for saving your life?"
Max gave a snort before saying, "This is a rare chance to get in contact with a live sample and youâre telling me to thank you for getting in my way?"
I couldnât help shaking my head when I heard this, but I still said, "I know that you want to study this thing, but it really is dangerous without any precautions. If you touch it without any protection, it could make you seriously ill."
"Really?" His eyes lit up when he heard this.
It seemed like I had underestimated the fervor that Max felt towards the things that he studied.
It seemed like he wasnât afraid to even use his own body to test things like this...
It was just that I couldnât let him do that.
But when I was about to say something, I suddenly realized that there was someone else that had approached the patch of corruption energy.
I had been so focused on Max that I had completely forgotten about her, so she was able to make her way over before I could stop her.
When she did, she didnât hesitate to reach down towards the pool on the ground.
"Why didnât you stop her?" I said to Zeldir and Lupus who had been on the side, but neither of them said anything as they stared at Dorothy.
With the way that they stared at her, it was as if they had been waiting for her to do this.
It seemed like there was something that they were expecting to see from her making contact with this.
Nothing seemed to happen at first, but then it seemed like there was movement from the patch of corruption energy. It seemed like it was becoming smaller and smaller as it started to move towards Dorothy.
Or it was better to say that it was moving towards the hand that she had used to touch it.
It seemed like there was something that was pulling that corruption energy into Dorothyâs body.
After a while, the patch of corruption energy completely disappeared.
However, it didnât seem like Lupus or Zeldir let down their guard as they watched Dorothy. It seemed like they were even more guarded after seeing her absorb this patch of corruption energy like this.
When they made it this clear, it was hard to misunderstand what they were doing.
I just watched Dorothy carefully just in case anything happened, but it wasnât as if I would let Zeldir and Lupus just do whatever they wanted.
After a while, Dorothy suddenly turned around and said, "What are we waiting for?"
It seemed like Zeldir and Lupus finally let their guard down when they saw that nothing changed with her.
However, I still had questions.