The relatively clear sign by the forest that it, in fact, did NOT want us entering it was simply ignored as we carefully entered the forest, waiting for any surprise attack by the large trees. Who knew maybe they would throw fruit next? Being attacked with flying apples could be quite a horrifying experience!

But to my disappointment, nothing like that happened. Instead, we were greeted by a bloody trail of dead ogres that led into the depts of the forest. The dangerous monsters that we had been supposed to kill laid dead, their bodies cut by swords and decimated by powerful magic.

My eyes flashed and used one of the numerous new magic spells I had been able to copy from the battalion of royal mages. Mana flew out of my body and spread out into the surrounding area becoming a sort of field that extended my awareness to the outside world.

It was like the so-called divine sense of the characters in Chinese fantasy xianxia tales. Within an area of about 20 square meters, I could ‘see’ and sense anything. Even the small critters that crawled across the moist forest ground were clearly visible within my mind.

Sadly, as cool as this spell was, it was merely a low tier spell with a small range and only useful to check for hidden ambushes or to enhance the accuracy of your attacks. The later had been the way that pesky battle mages had used it.

“It’s clear.”, I told my companions after making sure there was nothing dangerous within close distance. Then we began to advance further into the forest. Everywhere we looked we saw hordes of dead ogres.

Actually, the number of ogres was even more astounding than the fact that they were dead!

“I have already counted over 30 ogres…”, Riina remarked in shook.

“That should be impossible, they usually don’t tolerate any sort of competition and I have never heard of such a large number of them gathering at one place!”, Ignatius said with a grave face. His hand rested on the hilt of his sword ready to draw it and engage in battle at any moment.

In fact, everyone was tense and ready for battle. Whoever killed these ogres was clearly powerful enough to threaten our party and we had no information on whether he was a friend or a foe. Furthermore, there was clearly something weird going on in this forest. The unusual number of ogres could only mean that someone was artificially gathering them at this spot. Who knew how many of them still remained in this thick and vast woods?

As we advanced even further, we heard the sounds of intense battle. Furthermore, the corpses on the ground became fresher and fresher, the blood that had formed small puddles on the ground still warm.

Suddenly Riina darted forwards and disappeared behind a bush. There was a small cry and the sound of something falling to the ground, then I heard Riina’s voice.

“There is an injured adventurer here!”, she sounded both relieved and a little worried.

We quickly followed into the scrubs and found a heavily wounded priestess propped up against the trunk of a tree. Her white robes were tainted with partially dried blood and her cute face was deadly pale.

“H-help us…”, she squeezed out with difficulty.

“t-they will soon overwhelm my party…. W-we did …not expect them to b-be so n-numerous….”, it seemed like the poor girl was about to faint from blood loss. Maira quickly kneeled down and made her gulp down a healing potion. That stuff was expensive as hell, but we couldn’t reasonably let her die, right?

“How many of you are here and what are you doing here?”, I asked with a tensed voice. It seemed like another adventurer party had arrived here before us and begun to clear the same quest we had received, but seeing the state that their priestess was in it seemed like they had underestimated their enemy.

Now that she had drunk the potion, the girl’s complexion cleared up and she seemed a little better.

“W-we are… w-were four people. A mage, a warrior, a monk and me, the priestess. B-but Monika, the monk already died an hour ago. T-these ogres, they are supported by some sort of assassin!”, she was clearly disturbed by what had happened, but her experience as an adventurer helped the priestess to stay collected.

“Please help them! Otherwise, Rika and Melias will also die!”, she pleaded in true desperation.

I hesitated for a moment.

“Maira, you take care of the priestess and make sure she isn’t killed by some roaming ogre. Ignatius and Riina, you come with me. We will help these colleagues of ours!”, we had come to kill these ogres either way. And even though the situation had clearly changed it would be quite refreshing to save someone else for a change.

Neither Riina, Enri nor Ignatius had anything to disagree with and we quickly began to run towards the origin of the constant explosions and battle noises. When we arrived, we were greeted by a truly horrifying scene worthy of being included in a gore movie.

Dozens of Ogre’s had been slain, their bodies hacked or burned beyond recognition. Blood had sprayed over the vegetation, tainting it red and making the whole scene look like an abyss of hell. Multicolored spells exploded and rained down, as a heavily injured mage used her remaining mana reserves to bombard the twenty or so ogres that were locked into combat with another injured swordsman.

It was obvious that they had already reached the end up their rope, only barely hanging up. Hadn’t we arrived here and found the priestess they would have died within the next view moments.

Seeing their distress Riina and Enri shot forwards and come to their aid while I began to mutter spells. One after another I created a barrage of ice arrows, followed by a rain of fire and a gale of wind. The fire melted the ice, evaporating most of it and creating a mist that rose up and began to obscure the vision of the Ogres. The gale, on the other hand, cleared a path into this mist, giving me full vision on my next targets.

Unsheathing my sword, I dashed into the masses of ogres and began to unleash mana infused strikes against these green mountains of fat and muscles. Blood scattered and enraged howls echoed out, but these monsters were far more resilient than the normal human, easily taking these relatively shallow wounds and beginning their counter-attack.

As I had already encountered one of their species, though it was without a weapon and in a state of madness, I expected this quick recovery and dodged the mighty slash of its club. The earth tore up and dirt was flung up into the air, getting into my eyes and worsening my situation.

At the same time, I heard a high pitched, truly angry voice come from behind a row of, especially large ogres.

“Why have you come here, hero? Don’t tell me you also want my death!”, a miniature person with wings, ah fuck it, it was a male fairy that coldly stared at me, it’s small eyes burning with ire.

My head went blank for a moment as I almost didn’t block another slash of the ogre due to the surprise I felt.

“A-are you… Maira? The OG of this forest?”, I asked confused.

The fairy seemed surprised by my ignorance.

“So, you haven’t come to kill me after all.”, he seemed very smug about that fact.

“Seems like that bastard Jahear isn’t as powerful and influential as he thought if he can’t even get a hero to do his dirty work!”, my eyes flashed as I suddenly understood some of what was going on. Jahear was the name of the god of wealth and agriculture, a god known to sometimes help farmers to overcome trials that hindered them from expanding their fields.

I turned around and shouted to Riina, Enri and Ignatius.

“Stop fighting and retreat, this is a misunderstanding.”, then I turned back to the small fairy and politely bowed towards him.

“I am sorry for this misunderstanding. I wasn’t aware that these Ogres were your subordinates.”

Meanwhile, the club of an ogre was heading towards my completely unprotected head. The OG’s eyes widened at my words and a satisfied smile spread across his lips. With a single sign of his hand, he stopped the attacks of the ogre and came closer towards me.

“If you are sorry, will you help me to punish these dirty scums who dared to attack myself?”, he asked and pointed at the struggling Mage and swordsman who were encircled by five large ogres.

I shook my head slowly. Though I didn’t know this group of adventurers I would like to help them if I could.

“I ask you to be merciful and spare them. I will make sure that they leave the forest and never come back. Furthermore, I will stop any further attacks directed towards you or this forest.”, I stocked and gathered my thoughts.

“If I’m correct these adventurers were paid to get rid of you to allow the surrounding villages to finally cut down the forest and expand the fields. Jahear has obviously helped them in some way, but why can’t you simply kill them yourself?

You are a being in the realm of the gods after all!”, it was something I couldn’t understand. The other OG I had met was easily capable of cutting down me and twenty more of my kind. A small party of adventurers shouldn’t have been a problem.

Maira shook his head and his complexion turned even worse.

“That bastard Jahear came and sealed most of my powers. All I could do was to call these stupid ogres to my help and use them as guards while I try to unlock the seal. But these pesky adventurers came too fast and were too powerful for the weaklings to handle!”, he gave me a long look.

“Since you are the hero, I will allow you to take them away. But you have to promise me to stop any further attacks against my forest!”, his eyes sharpened.

“You should know what awaits you if you should break your promise.”

Honestly, I didn’t know what awaited me. After all this fairy-like OG wasn’t even powerful enough to strike down some silver ranked adventurers, having to rely on ogres to do the job. But considering that he was most likely older than any of the gods, it was likely that he knew some tricks that could make my life even more miserable than it already was.

In short, I didn’t plan on finding out what he would do if I broke the promise.

“I understand.”

The OG nodded and signed the remaining ogres to stop their attacks against the adventurer duo. They were in a wretched and heavily injured state, only a brink away from death. But they were alive. Confused they stared at me and the small flying person floating next to me.

“W-who are you?”, the mage asked with difficulty. She seemed like she was about to faint any moment.

“The reason you are still alive.”, I replied with a cool voice. Had to look badass after all.

“Leave. The god has already promised to let you go. But you cannot return here. EVER!”, my voice was harsh and dark as if it wasn’t my concern whether they truly survived on not.

The pair threw a short look at each other before beginning to come closer. He sheathed his sword while the mage packed away her wand. I relaxed a little as they didn’t seem to have any intention to fight anymore.

“Please let us thank you. How is your name?”, the swordsman asked as they arrived in front of me.

My expression eased up a little. They were friendly and polite enough and even though they attacked this old god for mere money, this wasn’t something that really offended me.

“I’m Chris.”, I stretched out my hand to shake his.

He smiled.

“I’m Melias.”, he grabbed my hand, then his arm somehow exploded with power, dragging me towards him, before he locked my body within his embrace. Somehow his tired body felt like it was made of steel, not bulging under my desperate attempts to free myself.

“Now Rika!”, the swordsman shouted desperately, and the Mage finished her incantation. At some point in time her wand had reappeared in her hands. A fireball flew and slammed into the small figure of the air. A wretched roar echoed through the forest as Maira fell to the ground while I struggled myself away from the swordsman, unsheathing my sword and brimming with rage.

I had been conned. And you shouldn’t con an insane hero!