Alex was shocked for a moment.
"So, it was nature's call. I see."Alex muttered and looked up while thinking which goddesses had a hand in one but whatever may be their intention, he was happy to get free slaves.....he meant good subordinates.
Moreover, he knew that Goddesses are not omnipotent beings who controlled everything.
The only thing that controlled everything was fate and even the Goddess can't escape from the shackles of fate
Though he didn't know what fate had in store for them,he wasn't one of those who would reject free servants after all it would be rude to do that.Since mother nature had sent them to him, he would make sure to properly utilise them.
They stayed at The Fortress and helped them in fending against the beast.
Their presence was enough to scare the beasts and monsters who already knew that these beastaman could be said to be rulers of the forest.
Seeing the beast and monster tide decreased, they discussed and sorted things out and decided to form a squad and head to the forest to the other side.
Everybody had a hunch that Bright might have a hand in creating all those troubles.
....
" It's too dark, it doesn't seem to be a good time to take a stroll right now, "Alex spoke with a smile.His eyes swept across everyone as he walked towards the centre of the fifty people squad where many oddballs were present.
His squad consists of a puppy wolf, a vicious two faced monster Orc while seemingly docile servants but can bite back his back when given the chance.
A squad led by Peru and Kassel accompanied him while Aeon took charge of maintaining order.
The Orcs and Wolftribe subconsciously parted to let him cross ahead.
The tension in the forest was as taut as a bowstring.
They were traversing the forest at night so that they could reach the other end by the day.
If it was only Alex and his human squad, he wouldn't agree to march into a forest which might be full of traps at night but he had groups of monsters with him who have fairly better eyesight than humans and can even see at night, unlike humans.
Alex stood before them and spoke" From here on we have to be careful. First off all don't forget that from now the forest territory comes under Bright and I don't think that they had a screw loose who wouldn't lay any traps or preventive measures allowing the trespasser to pass through."
Everyone looked at each other and nodded.
"And one more important thing, I don't want any disobedience. I don't care if you are human or a beast or a monster. In this mission, we are allies and we all have to watch each other's backs and if any of you tried to create trouble, I will make sure to properly reward him." Alex said with teasingly smiling which rang like words of the Devil in the ears of those who heard it.
.....
The deeper they went into the mountain pathway, the more desolate the scenery became. There was nearly no vegetation on the ground, and the path that was void of life was filled with intersecting rocks that appeared like sharp fangs.
Wilted brambles and grass had grown from within the cracks of the walls. Withered trees seemed to manifest themselves in the distant darkness. The cold wind could be heard blowing through tree branches like ghastly whispers which rang in the ears of listeners from time to time.
Alex looked around to see the trees were unusual and drained the nutrients from the soil and turned this into a barren wilderness that people came to know about. He raised his flame torch, and there were occasional decrepit skeletons' corpses that appeared in the shadows. They appeared to be small and weak beasts who had accidentally barged into this area, and turned into dead meat
Max nimbly followed behind with his torch raised with one hand, while he gripped his bag with the other hand and looked everywhere with curiosity and tension. This was the first time that he travelled this far away from the human pathway while exploring the forest , and with a hint of excitement he muttered"It's so exciting."
Aeon and Ben, who heard his words, almost stumbled and fell back on their butt on hearing Max's words.
"What the hell is exciting about this place?" Ben shouted.
Max scratched his cheek in embarrassment and said"Haven't you heard ghost stories of wonderland from your grandparents. It's so fascinating and heart-wrenching and I always wanted to experience it."
Aeon's lip twitched a couple of times as he muttered, 'Anyone who can tolerate the king will never be sane.'
Even though he can feel his sanity slipping away after staying and getting used to Alex still he shook his head to clear the thoughts and spoke"You two don't waste time on these meaningless things. You two are commanders so behave like it."
Ben wanted to scream that he was being wrongly accused but Aeon already expected some bullshit coming out of Ben to counter Max.
Hearing Aeon's stern words both Max and Ben lowered their heads in shame.
On the back, the expression was still quite good but contrary to it, the atmosphere at the front of the march was quite depressing.
Peru gritted his teeth seeing the devastated scene, all the trees had been withered and all one can see here were bones and corpses and lay here and there.
They were considered children of mother nature and seeing the nature here devastated to such an extent pained him greatly.
It looked as if this entire place was cursed to a great extent.
"Peru, I remembered you told me that you inspected this place.So, was it like this before?" Alex asked with a solemn expression.
"No, your highness. This place wasn't like this. It hadn't been a month since we inspected this place and this place had become like this."
"It was full of lush and green trees while many beasts and monsters were hunting here and there," Peru spoke and explained.
As they took steps ahead, Peru suddenly halted his steps and shouted"All of your stops now."
Alex frowned and raised his hand for the soldiers to stop.
"Peru, what happened?" Alex asked.
