Chapter 2263: Chapter 2264: Empty Expanse

The moment Angel stepped into the Lost Forest, a powerful pressure surged in like a tide.

Angel stood still for a moment, sensing: In terms of energy level, the pressure here has already reached the level of an Official Wizard. However, it’s different from a Wizard’s pressure, as its destructiveness is relatively low.

The so-called low destructiveness doesn’t mean it doesn’t destroy. Its essence is fundamentally different from a Wizard’s pressure, which is a shocking force, an oppression from the inside to the outside, from the soul to the flesh. If you don’t have a means to ward it, you’ll suffer severe internal injuries in no time under the pressure.

But the pressure of the Lost Forest, its main purpose is not "shock" but "expel."

It’s more like... a repelling force, more intent on driving you out of the Lost Forest than killing you.

This feeling is very noticeable because as long as you keep advancing, the pressure continuously increases; but once you retreat slightly, the pressure diminishes. It seems to encourage you to retreat rather than advance.

And when you reach the limit of what the pressure can endure, injuries must still be suffered, so it’s not without destructive power. It’s just that compared to a Wizard’s pressure, it appears slightly lacking in destructiveness.

"Mr. Pat, perhaps we should ponder over this thoroughly," Dangross suggested.

Dangross noticed that Angel had stopped moving for a long time after entering the Lost Forest. Worried that Angel was struggling amidst the aura and too embarrassed to retreat, Dangross proposed a way out for Angel.

Angel, unaware of Dangross’s speculation, felt comforted by its concern and reassured it, "It’s fine, I’ll retreat if I can’t endure it."

Saying this, Angel finally began to move forward. His pace was neither too fast nor too slow, appearing not to struggle, with a leisurely strolling demeanor.

A few seconds later, Angel’s figure vanished into the mist.

Watching from the branch, Leaf Groot saw Dangross still looking worried and couldn’t help saying, "Don’t worry, the pressure on the periphery is not very strong. If he can’t bear it, retreating will relieve it. No need to worry too much."

Dangross was taken aback, seeming to realize something, pouting, "I’m not worried at all."

After speaking, Dangross secretly glanced at the position of the Lost Forest, ensuring Angel hadn’t heard, and then breathed a sigh of relief.

Leaf Groot, failing to understand Dangross’s tsundere demeanor, puzzled, "I thought you had a good relationship with Mr. Pat? Did I misunderstand?"

Dangross hesitated for a moment before saying, "My relationship with Mr. Pat is actually, um, alright. But, I prefer Lord Toby over Mr. Pat."

"Lord Toby? You mean that bird?"

"Lord Toby is not an ordinary bird; it’s a transformed shape. Its true identity is the lineage of the ancestors!" Dangross proudly said, with a sense of honor.

"Oh?" Leaf Groot was already curious about the bird that could accompany Angel into the Lost Forest, and now even more intrigued by Dangross’s revelation, "Care to share more?"

When talking about Toby, Dangross’s previous tsundere expression vanished, replaced by frank enthusiasm, "Since His Highness wants to know, then..."

...

Amid the lively discussion outside the Lost Forest, Angel continued to wander through the mist-laden woods.

The pressure on the outskirts of the Lost Forest, for him, had little effect. Even more troublesome than the pressure was the pervasive poisonous mist.

At least, when faced with the poisonous mist, Angel had to preemptively cast a Level 1 Trick ’Expel Toxins’, whereas the pressure he could easily resist merely with the strength of his physical essence.

However, Angel did not become complacent. He clearly sensed that as he delved deeper into the Lost Forest, the surrounding pressure grew increasingly intense, and it was expected to reach True Knowledge Level before long.

Sure enough, when Angel had ventured about ten minutes into the forest, the pressure reached True Knowledge Level.

Facing this level of pressure, Angel became a bit more serious. Though it hadn’t caused him trouble yet, he was sure that he was still on the outskirts of the Lost Forest, and the pressure level hadn’t reached the peak of the Lost Forest. Increasing further, it wouldn’t be so easily managed.

Moreover, along the way, Angel kept silently calculating the amplification curve through energy formulas.

With each updated answer, Angel’s estimate of the pressure peak at the center of the Lost Forest gradually rose. Correspondingly, Nami Midori’s strength level also skyrocketed in Angel’s mind.

Previously, from Frost Iser, he had heard that Nami Midori was the "Crownless King." He was somewhat indifferent then, but if the pressure peak calculations were correct, the title of Crownless King was well-deserved.

Moreover, the scope might not be just the Green Forest Domain, but the entire Tidal World... the Crownless King.

When Angel entered the mid-layer region of the Lost Forest, this notion grew stronger.

Because by then, the surrounding pressure level had exceeded Wallace and was approaching Sanders’ level.

Second-level True Knowledge Wizard pressure!

At this point, he still hadn’t reached the deepest part of the Lost Forest, meaning the pressure hadn’t reached its peak yet.

Angel had initially estimated that the strongest elemental creature in the Tidal World was probably only at the level of a second-level True Knowledge Wizard. But now it seemed he might need to revise this thought.

Perhaps, the strongest entity in the Tidal World could reach the peak of second-level True Knowledge... or even higher.

And this strongest being, without a doubt, is Nami Midori.

The true Crownless King of the Tidal World.

Angel’s walking speed began to slow down. In the outskirts, he even had the mind to observe the scenery, but now, besides moving forward, he maintained a defensive stance throughout, concentrating on resisting external pressure, having no mind to observe the surroundings.

Until Toby suddenly cried out, forcing Angel to divert some attention to survey the exterior.

Angel lifted his head, looking around.

It was still dense fog, with visibility even lower than the periphery.

Yet, oddly, the surrounding trees had become sparse... No, in Angel’s visible range, there were almost no trees at all.

Previously, though Angel hadn’t paid much attention to the surroundings, he could still catch glimpses of dense tree trunks out of the corner of his eye.

But upon reaching here, the trees vanished. What’s happening?

Could it be an illusion technique? But Angel didn’t sense any illusion technique fluctuations.

He looked back and, surprisingly, found that, compared to the misty front, the rear view remained quite clear. It seemed that the one exerting pressure was also using this method to tempt or urge penetration into the dense forest to retreat.

Because the back view was quite clear, Angel could clearly see that there were indeed many trees behind.

Only as he got closer to his current position, the trees became sparser.

So, this wide-open area is not an illusion; it’s inherently so.

When something is out of the ordinary, there is bound to be something wrong.

"Chirp chirp—" At this moment, Toby suddenly jumped out of Angel’s pocket and flew to his shoulder, whispering in his ear.

"You say you want to scout ahead?"

Angel refused without hesitation; the pressure outside was extremely terrifying, and Toby was relatively safe within his protective field. As soon as he left the field, he would immediately be suppressed by the pressure.

Moreover, there wasn’t much necessity for scouting, they weren’t exploring unknown ruins.

Yet Toby flapped his wings and pulled out a platter covered with a special colored glaze from the Snow Feather. He pointed at the platter and chirped a few times to Angel.

Although Angel couldn’t translate the scientific name of the food platter, he still understood the meaning Toby expressed. Toby was telling Angel that the food on this platter was prepared by Greya for him, which could temporarily reduce the effects of negative pressure.

Combined with Toby’s ability to transform into a highly resistant Gryphon or a Snake Bird, along with the food on the platter, it could virtually ignore the pressure outside for a period.

"Then give me some too." Angel eyed the exquisite food platter.

Toby flapped his wings again, explaining that this was specially prepared by Greya according to his physical condition, and eating it would have no effect on Angel.

It was the first time Angel had heard of food being... tailor-prepared. It sounded unreliable, but considering Greya was a Gourmet Sorcerer and was well aware of Toby’s condition, perhaps it really was possible.

"Then be careful. If you encounter an anomaly, don’t rush, come back and tell me. We’ll devise a strategy together."

Angel ultimately agreed to Toby’s proposal.

Although he felt there wasn’t much necessity for scouting at this moment, he thought it wouldn’t hurt to let Toby try since Toby wanted to.

He trusted Toby’s judgment and believed in Toby’s strength.

Also, even if the front was Nami Midori, based on the information he had obtained from Frost Iser, Nami Midori had a deep relationship with Kalomchis, and encountering Toby wouldn’t likely pose much difficulty.

Toby nodded, uncovered the colored glaze from the food platter, and gobbled the small, fragrant dumplings inside. Then, he transformed into an arrow and shot out of Angel’s protective field.

At the moment of leaving the field, Toby transformed into an enormous Gryphon with flames surging all over his body.

He glanced back at Angel and took a leap, plunging into the mist ahead.

Although Toby went ahead to scout, Angel did not stop his steps and continued walking forward.

As he moved forward, Angel had Earl Mi activate the protection of the field while he himself perceived the surrounding conditions.

With his perception, some details that hadn’t been noticed before gradually surfaced.

The "repulsion" enveloping the Lost Forest still existed, occupying the bulk of the feedback from his perception. But apart from the repulsion, Angel also discovered a faint energy fluctuation around.

Though this energy fluctuation wasn’t as strong as the pressure, it was filled with aggression.

This aggression was not unfamiliar to Angel; it was actually a kind of "domain power" declaration. Like a beast carving out its territory using pheromones in body fluids.

The aggression perceived by Angel was a warning to anyone entering this region.

So, by slightly reverse-engineering it, Angel roughly guessed that perhaps this region was the territory of a certain elemental creature?

Precisely because of this, it did not allow other plants to enter here, causing the area to be desolate?

Could it be Nami Midori? From the energy fluctuation, it seemed unlikely.

Then could it be other elemental creatures living in the Lost Forest?

At this moment, Angel regretted just thinking of Nami Midori and not inquiring with Leaf Groot about the existence of other elemental creatures in the Lost Forest.

However, Angel wasn’t deliberately neglecting it. Just that Leaf Groot kept emphasizing that no elemental creature could enter the Lost Forest, causing Angel to develop a misconception that Nami Midori was the only "King" in the Lost Forest.

But now it seemed, that assumption might be wrong.

As Angel thought this, a ball of fire pierced through the mist, flying straight toward him.

Angel did not dodge, allowing the firelight to reach him. Because he had already seen the familiar figure within the fire.

It was Toby, who had gone to scout earlier.

The Gryphon, flying at low altitude and adorned with blazing flames, stopped in front of Angel.

Toby did not revert to his seabird form, maintaining its large form, and softly described to Angel what he saw.

According to Toby’s description, the vicinity for several miles was very desolate, without any plants. The only plant was a tree six or seven hundred meters ahead.

In the vast expanse, this single tree stood alone. Even without Toby’s analysis, it was clear that this tree was definitely unusual.

Toby, remembering Angel’s advice to "not rush," only glanced at the tree half-hidden in the mist from afar before returning.

The specific situation of the tree wasn’t visible to Toby.

After hearing this, Angel could mostly confirm that the tree should be the source of the "aggression" and possibly the first elemental creature he encountered in the Lost Forest.

Toby’s suggestion was to bypass the tree.

They were currently in a narrow depression, and due to the terrain, they must move forward to delve deeper into the Lost Forest. However, according to Toby’s description, the tree didn’t seem large, perhaps only one to two meters taller than Toby’s Gryphon form.

Since the tree was not very large, it was entirely possible to avoid it by detouring through the fog on the side.

This was also why Toby returned hastily, as the tree was not far ahead, and it would be best to deviate from the route now if they wanted to bypass it.

Toby’s suggestion was based on what he saw, but Angel ultimately shook his head, denying this proposal.

"Realizing the energy fluctuation from the other party means we have entered its territory range."

"This also signifies that it has already detected our presence."

Angel paused at this point, his voice gradually lowering: "Moreover, its true form may not be as small as you saw."

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