Once the soldiers reach the edge of the forest, they come to a stop. Sensing that an important announcement is likely soon to be made, I fly down to join them, ignoring the urge to check out the ocean a dozen miles to the south.
"Good, you have joined us," Reinhart says to me, before turning to the group. "This is the border of our kingdom, from this point on we shall no longer be in Eroen. This forest before us is infested by many monsters, be on guard. Furthermore, I must warn you that it is not a pleasant place.
"As for our scout," he continues, turning to me, "you will need to stick closer to the ground from now on. The forest is rather dense, so if you end up needing more scouts, inform me. Now, everyone, let us enter."
Our journey changes drastically once we enter the forest. Our progress, where once rapid, slows to a crawl as the path further narrows. Unlike the road through the plains, which was well defended and could be walked parallel to with ease, this road cuts through thick, foggy forest, necessitating sticking to the path too narrow for more than a few to walk simultaneously.
That the path would be poorly maintained should be somewhat obvious; it is not part of any kingdom and is in quite dangerous territory. Though it is getting far more use as of late due to the troops passing through, we are still among the first occupying troops to be deployed; most previous deployments have consisted only of elite troops that had little difficulty crossing the mountains.
Our group becomes quite stretched out, with only two troops being able to walk shoulder to shoulder. Everyone is on edge, quite understandably. We are walking through a forest fabled for its ruthless creatures, and with the way our force is spread out, no more than a few troops would be able to easily access any monsters that may appear.
For the first hour of our slow progression through the forest, our journey is still not too bad. The ground is gently sloping down beneath our feet, and the soft ground, while a bit muddy, isn't much more difficult to walk on than the dusty plains.
During this time, I run wide circles around the group, staying just close enough to always see some soldiers through the fog. With my enhanced vision, that is still actually quite far; I can say with confidence that there isn't any monster of note within a mile of our group, at least.
To enhance my detection range, which is rather limited due to the thick foliage, I employ a rather difficult earth manipulation technique that I had briefly practiced with while I was trying out every elemental manipulation technique of which I could get Lector to tell me.
The method is rather simple, relying on sending tendrils of earth elemental particles through the ground around me and noting their disruptions when the earth above them is stepped upon. I have the spell tuned such that I will only feel it when something the size of a rabbit walks over them; I have no use for knowing the position of every ant in the forest.
Whenever I sense any creature, I immediately move to investigate. Invariably, I find the perpetrator to be one small animal or another. Still, not wanting to leave something alive that could pose a threat, I am sure to quickly eliminate whatever creature notified me.
After the first hour, the trip becomes much worse. The fog grows to be so thick that unenhanced eyes cannot see even a foot into it, and even mine are limited to about thirty. The ground becomes much more muddy, such that every step becomes a bit of a chore, even with enhanced strength and rather high levels.
It is at this point that bugs begin to appear in mass, stinging and biting insects and arachnids eagerly attacking these large and rather defenseless creatures that wander into their territory. While even the most low-level water elementalist can summon a ball of fire capable of incinerating the bugs en masse, the ordinary swordsmen have a miserable time, ineffectively swatting away the bugs feasting on them. While most elementalists have the excuse of being unable to see the plight of their comrades, some certainly do, visibly scoffing at their allies, unwilling to provide any aid.
[Reinhart said this place would be unpleasant, it would seem that that was a bit of an understatement.]
Once the fog grows to a certain thickness, Lector calls me over. While my vision is still quite impeded, my connection with the earth helps me move through the ever-thickening forest with relative ease. And ever-thickening it is; the density of trees seems to have somehow doubled since entering the forest, the canopy a few feet above blocking out the sun and ensuring a near-twilight level of darkness that further impairs vision. I had at first tried to manipulate the fog to improve my vision, but it seems strangely resistant to my water manipulation abilities, so I was forced to rely upon earth sense instead.
I quickly reach him, at which point he says "I had forgotten how unbearably dense this forest is; I must admit, this is my first time moving through it in many decades. Would you like us to appoint a few more scouts to help you, traveling parallel to our group, at least an early warning system?"
I don't have to think over this question; I had worked through it on my own already, so I am able to immediately respond "no, not unless we have any soldiers with vision on at least my level. If we were to send them away from our group, out of anyone else's sight, they would be simply asking to be picked off by a menace. No, I will be fine; I have been employing the earth sensory technique that you once taught me, I can ensure that no monster will get within a quarter mile of us without me knowing."
"Alright, if you are sure. But I must warn you: this forest is only going to get much worse."
The next few hours are spent proving Lector right. The fog somehow grows even thicker, so thick that even I am forced to rely on earth sensory paired with blasts of wind to detect things around me. As for the normal swordsmen, this must be a truly awful experience. Their vision has been reduced to such an extent that they cannot even see a hand raised an inch from their eyes. Mud grabs up to their knees, and the fact that the fog is denser than clouds has left them soaking and freezing. The trees are so compacted together that leaving the foot-wide trail leaves one to push themselves through gaps between their damp and often rotting trunks. And the bugs have not let up, either. I would suspect that they would have trouble flying through such thick air, but they must have somehow adapted for it. And the bugs are big, too; it is not rare for me to blow a bug out of the air only to realize that it was several inches long with massive fangs.
I blow them out of the air not out of mercy but out of necessity. Fire elemental particles are almost nonexistent here, and even if I had brought some, they would immediately be destroyed by the water particles gathered thickly in the air. As for lighting, it has the opposite issue; the water in the atmosphere is simply too thick, I would be sure to electrocute myself if I were to cast it.
Perhaps if I had built up my resistance to the skill somehow, I would be able to do so, turning myself into a human bug zapper. But, as it is, the bugs are let off with merely a blast of air targeting them.
The thick fog is not the only thing impairing visibility; the canopy is so thick that it is dark as night underneath, no matter the time.
Once, I decide to see what this forest looks like from above. I fly up about a quarter mile, passing by numerous layers of canopy that continue on for over a thousand feet, the only sign of my progress being the fog growing lighter, until I pop up out of the top of a massive bowl of mist.
I continue to gain elevation, until the whole of the forested valley rests within my view. I can see the plain to the west, it's dry dust looking surprisingly appealing to one as soaked and cold as I. The ocean is to the south, the valley of the forest rising up only to reach the top of a cliff and to plunge back down to the ocean. To the north are the mountains, looming high above, grand and imposing. To the east, far in the distance, I am happy to see the final mountain that we must go around; however, I am rather unhappy to see that it is still at least 150 miles away. While crossing the plain, such a distance could have been covered in half a day. However, considering that at least half the remaining distance is covered by this wretched forest and that our progress has slowed to a crawl, well, I can see why the journey is estimated to take several days.
As for the forest, I am dismayed to see that most of a day of travel has only brought us a quarter of the way through. [If the forest is already this inhospitable, how could we only be halfway down the valley? And how much worse will the experience be when climbing back out? Seriously, it is no wonder that the Kingdom has voluntarily refrained from even claiming this territory; no one in their right mind would want to rule over such a piece of land. And one must remember that we have not yet even encountered one of the ferocious beasts this forest is famous for. Well, at least we know that they cannot be very large; the forest is too dense to allow for such a thing.
[Perhaps it's more the case that the other parts of the monster territory are famous for their beasts, and that this part is much better known for its overall nastiness? As it is, I can only assume that the monsters of this area are the bugs. Yeah, if the bugs grow much bigger, things could get pretty nasty. They are already like flying needles capable of injecting poison in some cases, what if they became even worse? Like, little air piranhas or flying knives?] I shudder at the thought. [Best not think of such things. Oh, what if there were spiders? No, no, no! Stop thinking, Anetor. You'll only frighten yourself.]
Even on Earth, where most bugs were only a slight nuisance, I feared and despised them. Here, where they could feasibly kill a normal person? Why, suddenly I don't feel very keen on returning to the forest!
[Still,] I reason, [It would be negligent of my duties to not be down there scouting. I have already been away too long; they are reliant on me to warn them if a giant swarm of bugs approaches or something, I guess I need to change the focus of my earth sensory skill; I have been reliant on it for detecting only larger animals, better tune it to detect bugs as well.]
Plunging back through the layers of mist is a thoroughly unenjoyable experience that is only made worse as I push past the dense, wet layers of canopy. Thankfully, when I flew up I went straight, so by going straight down I return close enough to the group to detect them with earth sense.
While I can't see them at all anymore, I know they are nearby by their continuous calls to one another, calls by which they remain oriented while walking blinded down a trail. Their misery often makes itself apparent in their cries of pain as the ever-growing bugs attack them.
Wanting to discuss the situation with Lector, I push my way through the gaps between trees as I move adjacent to the trail. The trees are all in various states of rot, some being so wet and dead that they break into clumps of dirt as I shove past them.