Chapter 73

In situations like this, the advantages of bags with expansion magic are particularly clear. Everything you need for hiking and assignments can easily fit into these bags, while leaving plenty of free space.

After finding a suitable place to spend the night, the group quickly set up three tents.

Alois and his disciple occupied one tent, Eulalia and Arabel occupied another, and Nemo and Idan occupied the third. All the tents were spacious, allowing to accommodate several people at once.

The master and disciple pair remained aloof, not coming into contact with Idan's group.

Ever since Idan's body started absorbing the energy of madness, he hadn't felt any noticeable changes yet.

Sitting around the campfire, Idan and Arabel remembered their first days in the forest, when they couldn't sleep at night because of fear. Now, more than two months later, they had gained experience and no longer felt fear of the forest.

However, they were worried about something other than the forest itself.

"Do you think they will launch an attack tonight?" asked Idan, eager to hear Eulalia and Nemo's opinion.

"Probably not," replied Eulalia.

She and Nemo didn't look particularly worried. The whole group was aware that sooner or later both outsiders from other cities and locals would come for them.

"We still haven't entered the middle layer of the Forest. I suspect that they will take their actions there, and it will happen when we return," Nemo voiced his opinion through a mental link after Eulalia.

"Yeah, — Eulalia agreed with him.

They knew from Milica's words that Limbo couldn't take action against the four of them because of the agreement. For some strange reason, Limbo wants to capture and consume the couple Idan and Arabel, rather than just eliminate them.

Based on this, they came to the conclusion that Limbo would most likely try to delay their group and prevent them from returning back to the city before the «Reset». To do this, he will first incite monsters and delay their progress into the central layer of the Forbidden Zone, starting from the middle layer, where the doppelgangers live.

The main forces of both outsiders and locals will probably be waiting for their group in the middle layer if the creatures from the central layer are unable to delay them.

"Aren't you worried about them at all?" asked Arabel, noticing their almost nonchalant attitude.

"Why should we worry? We already know they're coming. We can't hide from them. They have Limbo consciousness on their side, so worrying won't change anything," Eulalia replied calmly.

Although Eulalia and Nemo seemed calm, they were worried inside. It's just that they didn't want to show their juniors this feeling. They were ready to face danger and protect their juniors.

Idan and Arabel came to the conclusion that this is one of the distinguishing features of this world from their own. In their world, everyone is raised from birth in a peaceful environment, without facing dangers.

In this world, the approach to parenting is completely different.

Everyone who gets into Limbo understands that going down into the dungeons is fraught with danger and death can overtake them at any moment. The inhabitants of this world are almost always ready for the challenges they will face.

After dinner, everyone went to their tents. Idan's group wasn't worried about the dangers, as Izzy was always on guard. Her presence eliminated the need for night duty.

Of course, the group couldn't tell Alois and his disciple about Izzy's presence. Her very presence could already shock a man like Alois.

Therefore, when Alois finally asked them to determine who would be on guard first, the order of the queue and the duration of the duty, the group had to split into two pairs. At the end of the discussion, everyone decided that there would be two guards instead of one.

Eulalia and Arabel will be the first to stand, then Alois and his disciple, and the last will be Idan and Nemo.

No one objected, and everyone accepted the proposed course of action.

Idan and Arabel, excited and overwhelmed by their first experience after being under Milica's protection for a long time, felt that time was passing incredibly slowly.

"Idan, what kind of unique creature do you think Nemo needs to be tamed?" asked Arabel, recalling the details of their task.

What could have attracted the attention of their System? Arabel wondered, turning to Idan.

"Who knows? But since this forest is called the Forest of Doppelgangers, I think it will be a creature similar to doppelgangers?" replied Idan, unsure of his assumptions.

But what kind of unique creature could live in such a forest?

"Maybe it's slime?" joked Idan, remembering the works from their world, which described a strange slime that could take the form of creatures swallowed by it.

"Slime?" — Arabel repeated, puzzled, not understanding why Idan suddenly assumed that the creature they needed to tame would be a slime.

Hearing Arabel's puzzled question, Idan immediately realized that she probably didn't know about this slime, and couldn't help but smile. He knew that she came from a wealthy family and had received a strict upbringing, so she couldn't afford to freely indulge in things like him.

Idan, while chatting with Arabel, briefly told her about the novel where the main character was a slime and what he did during the course of the plot. This slime story caught Arabel's attention, and she listened to it with interest.

While they were talking, the time that had been slow before flew by unnoticed. Arabel and Eulalia had to return to their duties.

The others went to rest, leaving the two girls standing guard first.

Eulalia and Arabel weren't too worried. Izzy did everything for them, while they communicated with each other through a mental link. They talked about themselves and other interesting things.

During the conversation, Arabel couldn't shake the strange feeling that someone was watching them. However, since Izzy didn't notice anything unusual, she didn't pay much attention to it.

While the others were sleeping and the two girls were having a conversation from a distance, Arabel was closely watched by a black figure. Even a powerful spirit like Izzy couldn't notice her presence.

This figure was none other than the Dark Valkyrie. All the while, she followed the group, focusing her attention on Arabel. However, the Dark Valkyrie could not comprehend the strangeness that lay behind the appearance of this Valkyrie known as Arabel.