Chapter 8: The Low Danger Zone: Swamp Islands
The comfortable forest around them became shrouded in mist as the duo stepped over the Low Danger Zone's threshold. The trees seemed to have fused together, their bulky frames standing like silent guardians, draped in capes of tangled vines. Above them, a canopy of intricate knots further obscured the view, darkening the swamps.
This didn't faze the duo. They took out a lamp the size of an adult human head, framed in black steel. Nith attached its handle to his left arm, and the magical bulb illuminated the path ahead of them.
What bothered them the most was the road itself. The water levels rose up to their calves, and Nith and Kyouka occasionally stepped into holes, sinking deeper.
"Ah!" Kyouka fell once again into a natural trap.
Catching her arm in time, Nith pulled her closer to himself. He checked to see if she had sustained any injuries or if there were any monsters dwelling within the hole. Finding nothing, he nodded.
She thanked him and confirmed his assessment before they continued along their path. Because of the dense water and its light green color, seeing through it was impossible. So the duo marked their path on the minimap and tentatively checked the ground ahead.
"Fuck!" Nith cursed as his boot plunged into a crevice.
This time, Kyouka reacted quickly, grabbing his arm and pulling him closer to her. She let her emotions take over, pushing his face into her chest and holding him a little too tightly.
Nith wasn't sure what exactly made his strength evaporate.
"…thanks."
"…no problem."
Fifteen minutes had passed, wading through the swamps. The duo hadn't encountered any monsters so far, only falling prey to the treacherous environment.
Did Nith really want to come here?
Yes.
Places known as Danger Zones used to be leveling areas two thousand years ago. Monsters regularly spawned there and disappeared into particles upon death, dropping items as trophies for players or NPCs.
This much hadn't changed even today. Monsters still spawned in all danger zones, threatening to expand the zone's boundaries if left unattended.
Clueless as to how the world turned into a game in the first place, all Nith wanted was a constant flood of monsters to test his poisons on.
A frog fulfilled his wish, shooting its tongue at him from its nest in the water. It wrapped around Nith's right wrist and began pulling him toward the depths.
Opening his inventory with a thought, Nith took out one of the vials he had prepared prior to this journey. He had used Kyouka's alchemy basement without her permission to create the poison, earning a reprimand on their way to the danger zone.
The dark purple liquid sloshed against the glass.
Thumbing open the vial, Nith drank the liquid.
"It's a poison, isn't it?" Kyouka asked.
"Yeah… I drank the poison I created. My body can now produce it," Nith replied.
"Couldn't you have done that back home?!"
"Hah, silly girl, it's cooler this way," Nith sneered.
Behind him, Kyouka's cheeks flushed. She didn't worry much about Nith. He could wrestle against the frog's tongue, keeping himself upright. She wasn't sure, however, if his poison would actually harm the monster.
And how would he even spread it?
"You're in for the main surprise, Kyouka," Nith said, glaring in the direction the tongue had come from. "This poison—my poison—will work."
As Nith exerted his strength against the frog, his body began to perspire. He turned his sweat around his hand into the dark purple poison, which slid down onto the frog's extended tongue, slithering toward its mouth like a snake.
The monster weakened in no more than ten seconds. Nith gathered saliva around his tongue and then spat a super-fast poison bullet of the same color at the frog's head. He hit it squarely between the eyes.
"This is just muscle memory," he commented.
"Does that mean you often spit at people?" Kyouka deadpanned.
Nith sneered.
The first monster was dead. As of now, Nith's muscle memory of spitting at others was much stronger than his poison. The frog left behind a chunk of meat, skin, and tongue—all of which could be used in poison crafting. Nith picked them up and tossed them into his inventory.
The monsters in Swamp Islands were poisonous. Of course, the sanctuary's blessing ensured that no one would get gravely poisoned by them, but those weak enough to hunt in the low danger zone would still feel nauseous, feverish, and sick if exposed to the toxins for too long.
For that reason, the Low Danger Zone was famous for training new adventurers and soldiers, and it was conveniently close to the kingdom's capital.
"What exactly is that purple poison?" Kyouka asked.
Nith replied, "Venom that only deals damage is cheap. I create poisons with at least two layers. This one saps the victim's strength and feeds it to me. It's because of it that I was able to produce a poison bullet with my tongue. I call it Eclipse Venom."
He glanced sideways at Kyouka and added, "This poison doesn't affect the environment since it has no strength on its own. Happy?"
His natural demeanor made it seem as though he was threatening her to be happy.
Kyouka's ecstatic smile, however, was so pure that no one would interpret it that way.
"Very much!" she replied.
Feeling better than he thought he would, Nith instinctively shoved his hands into his pockets and walked ahead of Kyouka, regretting his decision as soon as his legs tangled in something beneath the water's surface.
He fell face-first into the swamp.
After a lengthy rescue effort, which left both Kyouka and Nith drenched from head to toe, Nith exclaimed, his voice booming across the forest:
"Give me high ground, and I'll fuck up everyone here!"
"You have to work for your own high ground, silly jerk," Kyouka added with a faint smile.
Understanding what she meant, Nith couldn't wait to get to the heart of this swamp zone.