NOVPUBAs a joke, if elves have their crappy counterparts, then humans would have their dickhead versions too.
And the Secret Terror was a forest wraith that specialized in hunting those dickheads.
A deep forest where forest fairies lived. Under the blessing of the Mother World Tree, premium timber grew more densely than roadside weeds, and forest fairies and fae cultivated rare spirit herbs and medicinal plants, creating a fantasy realm where even mere beasts carried mana within them.
In this golden forest, where cutting a single roadside tree or picking just a pretty flower could earn you silver coins, it was only natural that otherworldly dickheads would show their greed.
'Seems like their world never had gods directly intervene...'
The fairy forest should have been free from conflict. The ferocity of beasts was soothed by fairy honey, and stomachs could be filled with strangely abundant fruits without killing each other. But this paradise had been touched by the greedy hands of dickheads.
They were an evil race that cut down trees, set fires, and stole herbs, fruits, and honey—a vicious species that broke the eternal cycle of life meant to continue forever under the Mother World Tree: humans.
Thus, the Secret Terror was born from the concentrated human malice embedded in the forest. She was a merciless evil spirit who devoured woodcutters, herb gatherers, poachers, and slave hunters, never releasing even their souls.
And after hundreds of years of being conceived from malice under the World Tree, the Secret Terror encountered true madness.
-He, ro? You claim to be heroes? And followers of the Goddess of Life?
-Huuuk... is there, no rest for meee...
"Yes, that's right. This holy power is proof."
-This light you're pouring into a dark wizard's skull is your proof?
A madness utterly incomprehensible to her: an "internet streamer slash shut-in gamer girl."
As Irene slowly poured holy power into the lich's skull, pure life force bubbled up from it like a spring of holy water. Thanks to this, the wraith recovered from its unstable, crackling state and kept questioning us in disbelief.
It neither charged at us blindly nor radiated spine-chilling malice. Since it was an intelligent being attempting conversation, Irene answered with sincere dedication.
Because of this, the Secret Terror learned that we were the hero chosen by the Goddess of Life and the owner of the holy sword, trying to break through the forest to defeat the Demon Lord and bring peace to the world. Of course, knowing something and understanding it were two different matters.
-So, you serve the Goddess of Life, yet you set fire to the forest?
"We need to defeat the Demon Lord, but wraiths were blocking our way."
-Don't, don't ordinary humans call priests when wraiths appear?
She blinked repeatedly, clearly never expecting that heroes serving the Goddess of Life would bring a terrifyingly destructive fortress-melting weapon to a forest teeming with life and burn it all down.
When covered in burlap with finger-like spider legs, she had been truly horrifying, but now she looked adorably cute—a clear reminder that this world's root was Heroines Chronicle, a weeb game. Perhaps that's why Irene continued the conversation with a gentle smile and maximum kindness.
Han Se-ah led the conversation for her broadcast, while Irene showed compassion to the non-hostile wraith. With the two of them dominating the dialogue, Grace, Katie, and I could only watch from behind. It would be chaotic if all five of us answered every question.
Even so, the Secret Terror seemed unlikely to understand our party.
'Even to me, our story sounds like bullshit when summarized.'
The hero who received divine revelation from the Goddess of Life set fire to the World Tree's forest. This was condoned by a saint dedicated to the Goddess of Life, and before the arson, the forest was destroyed by the owner of the holy sword chosen by the Goddess of Life.
To a wraith unaware that this world had been transferred to the Tower by the Demon Lord, cutting its connection to the World Tree, our actions must have seemed like the crazed work of a terrorist group of psychopaths.
The forest fairies knew about the severed connection and had asked us to rebuild communication between their villages, trying to survive their isekai drift adventure... but the Secret Terror was an evil spirit born naturally in the forest. She had never been connected to the World Tree in the first place.
-Make some, haa, sense, but this is indeed life force, sigh... why did you people steal the fairy seed then?
"We didn't take it—this fellow brought it to us."
-Hmm? Shadow? Why would the shadow fang tiger, urgh, never mind. Everything about you is confusing.
To the Secret Terror, our words must have sounded like nonsense. She could only assume that human authorities who supported poachers and slave hunters had gathered their forces to conquer the forest. Without the holy power and forest fairy emblems, she probably wouldn't have believed us at all.
Han Se-ah's large-scale arson looked more like human tyranny aimed at conquering the forest than the actions of a hero by anyone's standards.
"Hmm, why won't she believe us? We have emblems, sacred items, and holy power."
-Are you saying this for the broadcast? To be funny? You can't seriously be wondering?
-Emblems (possibly stolen), sacred item (dark wizard's head), saint (woman who condoned and aided mass arson)
-Even if ghost grandpa showed up, he wouldn't believe this LOLㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Ah ㅋㅋ Anyway, since you set fire for the greater good, she should just serve you, open the path, and hand over items
-Lending a path is easy, so stop setting fires you crazy bastard ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
Of course, Han Se-ah found it all frustrating.
※
Following the troublemaking shadow fang tiger that definitely triggered one event, and the starlight finch that could open gates and had other unclear abilities, the Secret Terror became our temporary companion.
-Our forest was extracted across dimensions? Demon Lord? Goddess? Orcs targeting forest fairies instead of humans?
"Yes. That's why we're crossing the forest to deal with the Orc Champion, one of the Four Heavenly Kings of the Demon Lord's army."
-Truly, this is an unbelievable story. If it weren't for those children you brought with you, I wouldn't believe it at all.
The massive forest fire that consumed the entire 62nd floor must have left quite an impression. Only after seeing the holy power, forest fairy emblems, the playful shadow fang tiger, the starlight finch perched on our heads, and the beasts that had turned into mana stones after death did she finally accept our explanation.
Still, with the Secret Terror joining as a temporary companion, our lengthy conversation—serving as both content creation for Han Se-ah and evangelism for Irene—bore fruit.
As a wraith that roamed the forest day and night hunting poachers, she knew the location of the gate that had suddenly appeared in the forest. More precisely, while fleeing around to protect her core during the massive fire that consumed all the giant trees, she had spotted a stone arch that remained intact.
-This way, humans.
"If we'd just mindlessly explored the four cardinal directions, it would have taken a long time to find it."
"Well, that's how adventurers typically move."
The basic approach of Kingdom adventurers was to branch out in the four cardinal directions—north, south, east, and west—from the gate. But the direction the Secret Terror pointed us toward required a more nuanced classification than just the four cardinal points.
Perhaps because the forest was so vast, the gate seemed further away. The greater distance meant the angle toward the gate was also ambiguous.
Without the Secret Terror, we would have searched all four directions first, then proceeded to eight, then sixteen, then thirty-two directions before finally finding it, erasing parts of the minimap like using an eraser. Looking at it that way, setting the fire might have been the right decision after all.
...As they say, "all roads lead to Rome." In any case, we'd overcome the trigger that our troublemaking shadow fang tiger had activated and gained a named monster as an ally, so it didn't matter.
-Haahh, bodies that should become fertilizer turn into stones made purely of mana without impurities.
"Don't worry too much. The forest will grow back."
-Can it be called a forest if it grows without the cycle? I simply cannot understand what has happened here.
And so our exploration resumed with a wraith girl (in disguise) added to the party. In reality, since we now knew the location and were just heading straight there, it barely qualified as exploration.
You could hardly call it adventure or exploration when all we did was walk in the direction the Secret Terror indicated and pick up mana stones buried in the ashes. But we couldn't just leave silver-tier mana stones scattered like coins on the road either.
Following the wraith while picking up mana stones from the ash looked uncomfortably similar to the Grim Reaper harvesting souls, but money is innocent.
-Hmm, bones? What are these, humans?
"Oh, looks like a named monster died."
As we continued across the ash heap, the Secret Terror suddenly headed somewhere. Perhaps intending to point out an error in our logic about corpses turning into mana stones, she brought back a large bone.
A beast's bone thicker than my forearm, a mana stone slightly larger than a fist, and an enormous tiger skin that could probably make ten cloaks if cut up. The massive hide buried in the ashes was so large it could be used to make a large tent rather than just a carpet.
"Sweet! We got a guide and what's obviously a rare item. With named-tier hide, maybe we can upgrade Grace's equipment?"
-Going straight to gal talk at the sight of tiger skin is fucking ridiculous
-Is it really okay to show you celebrating after burning an innocent tiger to death?
-Ah. She already told you the gate direction, what are you gonna do about it?
-Scared? What are you gonna do? If you don't behave you'll end up preserved as an item like the lich skull
Unlike the wraith Secret Terror, it seemed the physical forest master had been nicely roasted.
Enjoy the chappy!
