Our Family Has Fallen

Chapter 1159: Chapter 639: Revealed

In fact, with so many years of decline, aside from the area around the town, the Hamlet Region is mostly wilderness, with only the old route leading outward forming some villages and towns.

The so-called wilderness that Lance is developing now is just the section north of the town leading to the ruins, while most other places have long been covered by dense forests.

He proceeds through the dense forest, constructing the location and route in his mind as he goes.

The area circled out by Boslake is Bastia’s path to Hamlet, a desolate region bordered by the Mountains and Bastia, unclaimed by any of the three territories.

Therefore, there are no towns in that area, not even a few villages, all covered by wildly growing dense forests.

Even if there were once villages, they are gone now because Warwolves came from this direction last time.

Those guys basically slaughtered the only villages that existed, and things are no longer the same. The Warwolves probably didn’t expect to die within the Empire, and the Fang Tribe transformed into those twisted beast-like monsters.

But Boslake really has to thank the Warwolves; if it weren’t for the Warwolves leading the Wolf Fang warriors to kill once over, they wouldn’t be encountering just some big birds but more bizarre creatures.

Lance is curious whether the Warwolves were targeted by the Screamer Demon at that time?

Did they fend it off?

Or did they feed it?

Unfortunately, no one can answer these questions for him anymore...

No stops along the way, he quickly arrives at the destination. Lance halts his mind’s wild thoughts and slows his pace to observe the surroundings.

Based on Boslake’s description, it’s basically certain that this is where they encountered the Screamer Demon.

He activates [Blood Hunt Tracking] to capture the lingering scents in the air, but no special scent remains, possibly because that thing was shot with an arrow before landing, scaring it away.

If he had brought Alhazred or Amanda, he could gather information through some mysterious means, with Laura, he could scout the area from above with Hawk, and with Grendel, he could gain insights from nature...

But unfortunately, he is alone now, and after losing the trail, Lance can only seek other ways.

As they say, a higher vantage point offers a wider view, sweeping his gaze around before climbing up a nearby tree to glimpse the wilderness scenery.

Pulling down the dense branches of the tree crown, Lance spies the vast, horizonless expanse of dense forest around.

Despite the increasingly fierce autumn wind, it couldn’t strip away the powerful vitality of this land; the plants remain green, lacking the sense of dying melancholy.

Instead, at sunset, the entire dense forest presents an indescribable serene scene under the evening glow.

He suddenly realizes that he has come to this world for so long but has never seriously looked at Hamlet’s scenery. Whenever he did, it was about its utility, more about guarding against enemies suddenly appearing in those environments.

”Appreciation” seemed like a luxury to him.

For a moment, the impulse driven by a strong sense of crisis gradually dissipates, and he just sits on the tree branch, leaning against the trunk, watching the sunset.

Until he watches the sun sink more than halfway, he can’t help but sigh.

”Even the sun will set...”

But the next sentence immediately changes from a lazy tone to a murmuring self-talk.

”But it will rise again as usual.”

He has rested for too long; the ancestors won’t stand still waiting for him.

While resting just now, he carefully thought about the characteristics of the Screamer Demon in the game, digging out a piece of information from increasingly blurred memories that he hadn’t cared about back then.

It’s about the loading page showing a bizarre large tree before entering the Screamer Demon’s instance... no, a giant tree.

And this is the clue to finding the Screamer Demon next.

Lance stands up, pats the dust off, and gazes afar, with the final glow of dusk spotting within the wilderness’s depths, where even from such a distance, one can sense trees far exceeding normal levels in scale.

The plains’ terrain is certainly better, or otherwise, he wouldn’t see that special environmental marker in the mountains.

Having found the clue, Lance sets off towards the target directly.

The target is far more extraordinary than he imagined; just now, being too far away, he only saw towering tree trunks, but the closer he gets, the more peculiar feelings arise.

The height reaches more than ten stories, compared to the tallest surrounding trees, only reaching its lower section, not even halfway.

Even more exaggerated than the height is the thick trunk, which even ten people may not be able to wrap their arms around, simply standing before it already brings a sense of overwhelming pressure caused by a colossal presence.

Yet more oppressive than its gigantic size is the bizarre appearance of the tree chosen by the Screamer Demon as a nest.

Like numerous corrupted plants here, the tree’s trunk isn’t straight but tilted.

The bark covering it seems dead, like shriveled flesh, irregularly scattered with varying sized knobs, seeping some fluid, resembling puss-filled sores.

No extra branches, not even a single leaf, only the top crown holds coarse branches.

But that thing resembles tentacles, divergent from typical plants growing towards the sunlight, it twists in a disorderly and malformed manner.