At dawn, when Samantha stepped into the Dark Forest of the Brown Kingdom, the thin winter mist was gradually rising from the humus-covered soil.
This ancient forest, located in the buffer zone between the Brown Kingdom and the Norman Empire, had earned its name from the magical miasma that distorted directions and lingered there year-round.
Therefore, for Samantha, who had now become a fugitive, this was clearly an excellent place to hide.
And for the Allied Forces pursuing her because of her actions in the Brown Kingdom, it was an even more natural maze.
Ever since destroying Oak Town and investigating the clues along the way, Samantha had been relentlessly pursued by troops sent by the Brown Kingdom. She did not take the narrow paths commonly used by hunters, but instead ventured deeper along a moss-covered beast trail.
Every few hundred meters, she would stop and use a spell formation to erase the tracks she had left behind.
It was an anti-tracking technique she had learned while serving in the Steel Warband.
But she knew very well that this was far from enough.
Ever since she had killed the Webweavers pursuers who had followed her during her investigation in Blazer City, she had clearly sensed that the Allied Forces hunting her were stronger than the previous wave.
They had also become much more targeted.
At this thought, she could not help recalling the reconnaissance magic falcons she had occasionally spotted streaking across the sky during her journey these past few days.
The magic-sensing traps that flashed by in the middle of the road.
And those ordinary patrols that had coincidentally "appeared" along the direction she was traveling.
All these traces proved without exception that someone—or rather, some force—was systematically hunting her down.
"But it shouldn't be a problem. As long