An old acquaintance (part two)

Even with his newfound resolve, he still had to finish the mission he had accepted.

Romon cautiously made his way toward a section of the forest, trying not to make any loud noises.

He wore a fitted Druid outfit and carried his longsword. He had nothing else on him, but his Shennong Horn Space held everything he could need.

All manner of supplies and equipment were fully stocked.

Along the way, Romon killed more than a dozen imps foolish enough to cross his path with his longsword. Fortunately, he encountered no large magical beasts.

His goal was to map the demon strongholds in this forest's complicated terrain. His survey of the county he had chosen had originally gone smoothly; in three days, he had recorded the situation throughout the entire area.

But in the final lord's domain, he discovered a forest whose conditions were too complex for Lightning's aerial reconnaissance alone to be much use.

Romon decided to enter the forest alone. It was now his fourth day inside.

His three followers had gone out together to "train" several days earlier.

He had left them a letter, confident they would see it when they returned.

Romon was now approaching the center of the forest. In its outer reaches, he had found only one stronghold housing a large force of demons. Alone, he had not provoked them lightly. Aside from killing scattered demons along the way, he had mostly confined himself to recording the situation rather than acting rashly.

From a kilometer away, he had already sensed a powerful demonic presence. It did not come from a single demon, but from at least a thousand of them gathered together.

There had to be a demon stronghold ahead. He needed to record its circumstances in detail.

His immediate goal was to cross