Aethelgard: The Survival Game (Chloe) novel Chapter 53

Chapter 53

Chloe carefully surveyed her surroundings. She had been in the Forbidden Forest for quite a while now and still hadn’t seen a single wild creature.

That didn’t line up with what she had encountered back in her territory, where monsters tefided to gather in clusters

Something just didn’t feel right.

She glanced at the sky. On her way here, she had been leaving marks on tree branches with her knife to keep track of direction.

Ever since she’d used the Direction Sense Skill Tome, her sense of direction had improved dramatically.

She couldn’t really explain how much it had improved, only that she clearly remembered coming from that direction.

Chloe scanned the area, picked up every herb she could find near the stone, and tucked them into her backpack.

Then knife in hand, she kept following the trail of Vitality Fuel deeper in.

This looks a lot like the trail a snail would leave behind, she thought.

As she moved forward, Chloe scooped up the Vitality Fuel on the ground while collecting every herb she came across along the way.

Thanks to her Herb Identification Skill Tome, the moment she saw certain plants, the relevant knowledge surfaced in her mind automatically.

She could even tell the difference between magical plants and common herbs.

Chloe had no clue how much she’d collected so far. If a plant looked even a little unusual, or if she recognized it as an herb she tossed it straight into her bag.

She kept collecting as she walked, until she suddenly realized she had reached the end of the trail.

The winding trail had come to a halt right here.

She’d already gathered almost 20 units of Rare Vitality Fuel.

She paused, puzzled, staring at the dead end in front of her.

At the same time, she heard something that made her skin crawl. It was the sound of chewing

Out of the corner of her eye, Chloe spotted a patch of grass swaying off to one side

Her whole body instantly went tense.

Without even realizing it, she had followed that snaking slime trail deep into the forest much deeper than shed intende

The thick canopy of trees blocked out the harsh sunlight from above

It was already afternoon, but the world around her had grown dun

This was the first time Chloe had heard any sound other than her own since entering the Forbidden Forest

15

3:47 am P PPP

Chapte

the plair was so quict she couldn’t even hear birds or insects.

Chloe tensed up, slowly raising her head and watching the grass ahead for any movement.

Then. Chloe spotted a creature so shocking it stopped her cold.

It was a blob of succulent, sprouting a crazy number of legs.

Is this really a succulent? Chloe thought, feeling a bit thrown.

Layer upon layer of round petals were stacked on top of its head, and underneath them writhed a dense cluster of transparent, slimy little legs.

Its fleshy leaves were a deep green, mottled with black spots and scattered with bright, glassy white specks

At that moment, the succulent was wrapped around a towering tree, munching on it like it was lunch.

And every time it took a bite, a lump of clear gelatinous matter would drop from the sticky legs trailing behind it.

Just as Chloe stared at the bizarre creature, the system chimed in with a warning: [Legendary monster found! Magical Alchemy Product, Mutant Health Succulent!]

‘Legendary?’ Chloe’s mind reeled in shock.

Chloe felt a chill run down her spine, every hair standing on end.

She held her breath and froze where she stood, not daring to move.

The Legendary Mutant Health Succulent didn’t notice Chloe at all, or maybe it just didn’t care. It just kept clinging to that enormous tree trunk and kept gnawing away.

With her Flora Whisperer’s Cap on, Chloe could read the thoughts of the succulent right in front of her.

[Pain.]

[Hungry.]

[Water]

[Energy ]

[Sunlight.]

[Corruption]

‘Even mutant creatures still think in such simple terms, Chloe mused

She could only stand these and watch as the succulent steadily devoured the tree while all kinds of Vitality Fuel dropped the ground around it.

Its movements were painfully slow

Still, the entire area around it seemed coated in a layer of slime

2/5

47 am PPPP

Chapter 3

the plair where was feeding was at the very top of those layered petals. Chloe could see undigested branches caught there, and mixed in among them were animal bones and human boties too.

Chloe didn’t dare move a muscle.

Legendary monsters always had something terrifying up their sleeve.

Chloe gripped her single-use teleport scroll, silently watching and waiting.

Once the succulent seemed to have eaten its fill, it slowly lowered itself and shrank down into something that looked like an utterly ordinary succulent.

Then it started spinning, and right before Chloe’s stunned eyes, it slammed straight into what had looked to her like a solid wall with no path through it at all.

A Magic Circle lit up across the wall, but Chloe had absolutely no interest in investigating it.

Chloe was at a loss for words.

The forest around her was deathly still.

Even Chloe had never imagined she would one day see a succulent as tall as a house, let alone one that ate trees and got around by rolling.

“This is insane. Absolutely insane,’ she thought, still reeling.

She lay low for a while, then cautiously approached the spot where the Mutant Health Succulent had been.

In the wrecked patch of earth it left behind, Chloe noticed nearby plants rustling, inching closer toward the Vitality Fuel it had dropped.

‘Guess I’ll have to race these plants for the loot,’ she thought.

She grabbed her knife and, with ruthless efficiency, chopped through the branches reaching for it from the side

Then, she quickly scooped up the small pile of Vitality Fuel in front of her and stuffed it into her bag.

Congratulations! You’ve obtained 11 units of Active Vitality Fuel (Rare)!]

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