The Dreamer's POV

[Time Left: 30 Days, 21 Hours]

<Current Number of Participants: 10,509>

"Haa..."

Walking around the dense shrubbery, I glanced around me, patiently paying mind to everything that encapsulated the forest.

The trees were creepily tall and twisted the deeper I went into the forest, and the bright light in the sky slowly began to lose its reach.

That didn't matter much to me because I had enhanced vision, but still...

'I've been walking for hours, yet there's no end in sight. How large is this forest?'

Granted, I wasn't being too swift in my search because it was possible to miss certain details of I rushed the process. I also instructed my minions flying overhead that they shouldn't move too quickly.

Still, it wasn't like I was being particularly slow either.

'None of the minions have reached the end of this forest, and it's been almost three hours. This is quite a dense place.'

Judging by the average standard of survivors, it could take a month to search through all of it.

'No. maybe even more. I guess that's why it's called a trial. It isn't meant to be easy for everyone.'

Without the help of my summons, I was also certain that it would take me longer. Fortunately, that wasn't going to be the case.

'I've gotten some basic layout of the forest's structure. I was on a specific lookout for monsters, but it seems there isn't anything here but trees.'

Wasn't that weird?

"No matter. There's still time to actively explore this place, I guess."

Then there was the other thing I had to consider: the participants.

Soon after I started exploring the forest, the numbers began increasing at a solid pace.

I guess it was already predictable that more people would show up late for the event.

'I also think that some of those who arrived early and saw what the quest would be about decided to bail and prepare more before trying...'

It was only a theory, but I felt it was a reasonable position to take.

'I won't be meeting them, though, so I guess that's fine.'

Brushing the thoughts from my mind, I focused on the shrubbery parts before me.

It seemed I had a long way to go.

I kept advancing through the forest, keeping my pace steady, and my eyes peeled on everything around me...

"Huh?"

... Until I found myself in front of a tall gnarled, and extremely crooked tree.

"What's this?"

*********

[Time Left: 30 Days, 18 Hours]

<Current Number of Participants: 101,003>

Five hours... it took over five hours, but I finally reached it.

The edge of the forest.

"Looks like another clearing, huh?" A smile formed on my face.

Right now, I was standing in a clearing, surrounded by the tall, dark, and crooked trees of the forest.

In front of me was an oddly misshapen tree. It stood ominously at the center of the clearing, with no leaves, and several branches pointed at different directions.

It's bark was dry and dark, and it seemed so twisted that it looked almost alive.

"Hmm..."

Some parts of the roots seemed to extend from the ground, and I noticed dried-up vines coiled around the tree's massive trunk... like a long snale slithering around its prey.

It felt disturbing.

"<Absolute Appraisal>" I muttered, focusing my gaze on the tree.

[Status Information]

Name: Dark Demon Tree

Level: 6/10

Life Force: 1,000

Energy Level: 500

Combat Ability: 300

[Titles]

<Great Dark Demon Tree Offspring>, <Dark One>

[Skills]

<Regeneration>, <Vibration Detection>, <Wooden Spikes>, <Night Predation>, <Darkness Attribute>, <Confusion>

Current Status: Asleep

[Additional Information]

A Dark Demon Tree in it's adolescence. It hasn't fully reached maturity, but it is well on its way there.

Being one of the three cardinal guardians of this forest, it is considerably powerful.

[End Of Information]

"Aha! Looks like my guess was correct." My smile automatically broadened.

This thing was a Demon—just like the tree I encountered when I first arrived at the Wild Lands.

'Looks like a dark variant, though. I guess that's why it's so strong.'

~VWWRRRRR~

As I still analyzed the creature, slight shifts in the surroundings began to manifest around me.

The trees that surrounded this clearing slowly began to move—their branches extending, intertwining with one another to form something akin to a net.

The trees coiled around one another, slowly closing whatever gap remained for anyone to have left the clearing... until it was all sealed.

"Ah... I see how it is."

With the trees blocking my path to leave this clearing from all angles, it meant my escape routes had been cut off.

'That means I either face this Demon, or I give up and return to the Ground Floor.'

This was a good way for the System to force many participants to choose to retreat, especially given the stats of the creature.

'No average survivor would be able to defeat that thing in a fair fight.'

Not only did it have stats on par, if not exceeding a Ranker like myself, but it also had the home advantage.

Most people would see this as impossible.

'But, there's one important thing I've noticed. The Current Status...'

"Looks like it's asleep." I grinned, taking a step closer.

"I see now. Demon Trees generally sleep in the daytime and attack at night, so I suppose the same could be said for the dark ones."

The System probably wanted survivors to fight this thing in the daytime when they had the most advantage to win.

Unfortunately, not many people were going to know this, thus they were going to die meaningless deaths.

'Considering the distance between the clearing and this place, it might take all day for the average survivor to reach this clearing...'

That meant the System was being intentionally brutal by pitting survivors against this creature when it was most likely going to be awake.

"That's harsh."

Fortunately, I wasn't just your average player.

"Might as well finish it off now..."

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[A/N]

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