When they neared the heart of the forest, the organic feeling of the area became that much more intense. As Li and Launcelot waded their way through waist deep mud while the heroines flew above, Li could smell a peculiar stench lying rank around them, only intensifying as they took steps closer to the heart.
It was a raw, gruesome smell. The smell of butchered innards freshly laid bare. It smelled like raw meat with a strong hint of bloody iron that permeated through the nostrils in thoroughly nauseating fashion.
"Thank the gods we've no Darkbeasts to face under this stench," said Faye as she crinkled her nose. "I am precisely this close to retching."
"You mean, the Darkbeasts he's facing?" noted Ava as she pointed to Li.
"Goodness, you know what I mean," replied Faye, and the two sisters exchanged light smiles.
"We've never made it this far," said Celeste in almost a whisper. "I'm nervous."
ANNOUNCEMENT: I accidentally activated privilege for this novel way too early before I had the chapters ready for it (I had intended to do this next month), and unfortunately, webnovel has no option to disable it once activated. As a result, for updates to show again, I currently have to write about seven chapters because my privilege is set for 6 advance chapters.
I will try my very best to get all seven chapters out, but even if I write all day without taking any breaks, I may not get all the chapters done today. However, I will try for sure to have them out by tomorrow so that people do not have to wait for updates!