Chapter 405 Dark Forest

"Who are you?"

A blonde elf aimed his bow at Arthur, Agatha, and Jake, who had entered their village through the portal. But, of course, elves would be responsible for caring for the portal, so the moment they passed through it, the elves were already there.

"I thought they would be friendly to us," thought Arthur, looking for ways to leave if the situation got worse, but then, one of the elves there recognized Agatha!

"Agatha? Is that you?"

"Uncle Aubron? You look so different!"

It had been a long time since Agatha had visited the elven village. Despite the elves barely aging, they sometimes changed their looks, hair, and beard, so Agatha did not recognize her uncle at first glance.

When the other elves realized it was someone Aubron knew, they relaxed their bows and stopped aiming at them. Arthur was also relieved by the situation, as he was worried those elves would attack him.

"You cannot play with the elves," he thought.

"Come, follow me; they will want to speak with you. But who are these two?" Aubron asked, pointing at Arthur and Jake.

"Jake's the man I have fallen in love with, and Arthur is a friend of his, an elf, who needed some help, so I did not see a reason to turn my back on him."

The elves around did not look that happy to see more outsiders. Agatha was alright as she belonged to the village, but the others? They had yet to know them better, and they only had heard some things about Jake, as it was a hot topic when an elf wanted to get together with a human.

As for Arthur? Even though it was an elf, just like them, it was still an outsider, so the elves were still apprehensive around him.

They walked through the village, and all the elves kept looking at Arthur, Agatha, and Jake, whispering to each other.

"Who are these three?"

"That one is Agatha. I remember her, but what about the rest? Are they prisoners or trespassers?"

Arthur could hear everything they were saying with his keen senses but kept quiet, walking with the others toward the biggest tree in the village.

That was the location of the village's biggest house.

"Go inside. The chief will talk with you."

They nodded and went inside the tree, just like Aubron told them to. A man was waiting for them, sitting on an oak throne.

Arthur could not pinpoint what, but something felt weird with that man, and a bad feeling arose within. Also, the elf was a rank-three mage, which meant it was not an enemy Arthur could take on.

"Agatha, who is this one?"

The leader first asked her who Arthur was, as Agatha had spoken about Jake with him, so the village chief was not worried about him.

"This one is an elf, a friend of Jake."

A feeling of dread did not disappear, and when Arthur heard the following sentence coming from the chief's mouth, he knew things were not improving.

"Throw him inside the forbidden area and let the beasts kill him," he said.

Arthur was ready to flee when he heard it, but an imposing aura made him stop his moves. A rank-four mage, the elve's ancestor!

Someone sealed his power temporarily, enough time for the guards to toss him inside a dangerous area outside the village, a place that acted like a prison.

"Please, don't do it. He is not a bad person," Agatha yelled, trying to help Arthur out after everything he had done to help them, like fighting with the priests who came looking for them.

Jake also tried to help him, but no matter what they did, the elves were not listening to it and tossed Arthur inside the dark forest anyway.

Arthur had to watch powerlessly while the elves tossed him through another portal leading toward an area called 'Dark Forest.'

The Dark Forest was home to powerful creatures and the place the elves put their prisoners to rot and die, Arthur was tossed in there, and the portal closed.

"Fuck! I escape a freaking dungeon to get locked inside a forest."

With a deep breath, Arthur tried his best to calm down and analyze the situation. He did not believe in unbreakable prisons, and it would not be the first time he fled from such places.

But before he could think about anything, a huge frog jumped from a nearby river and attacked him using his tongue!

"What is that thing?"

Arthur sidestepped the tongue attack, and when he looked at the ground where the tongue hit, acid had destroyed everything!

When the elves said it was a dangerous place, they meant it. The frog was not the only creature that came after Arthur. Even the normal-looking birds tried to kill him.

He dashed toward the frog and used his claws for ripping the frog in half. Arthur did not stop there and used his momentum to jump high and attack the birds sitting on a tree branch.

Blood was all over him.

"The frog, I don't know, but bird blood cannot be that bad," thought Arthur, picking up the birds as he did not know what else he could eat.

"I should look for a safe place."

Anyone who wanted to survive had to look for shelter, fire, and food. The shelter was the priority, as a vampire did not need fire, and food was not a problem; Arthur was a predator! So, he roamed around looking for a place to stay, and sure enough, finding one was not a problem.

With little effort, Arthur found a cave to settle in. Although he did not see any beast inside, he felt uncomfortable inside that place, just like when he met with the elven leader.

"It's daytime, so I should get some sleep."

There was no bed nor a coffin, so a rock was the way to go. Arthur lay there like a corpse, fallen asleep, waiting for the night to come, as it was the best time for a vampire like him.

~~~~

A poke. Arthur felt a sharp object poking his belly, making him wake up. He looked up and saw three people, all of which were elves!

They looked like shit, with their clothes torn apart, and it was evident they were not eating enough food.

"Who are you?" one of them asked Arthur.

Arthur was surprised, but after he remembered what that place was used for, he realized they were other prisoners.

"An elf threw me in here with no reason."

"Was it the leader?"

"Yeah, it was. Is there a problem?"

"It happened the same to us, but we are from other elven tribes."

"Oh?"

Arthur thought the elf threw him inside the prison because he was an outsider. Still, these other elves were citizens from their tribes, yet their leader tossed them inside the Dark Forest, just like what happened to Arthur.

"Is there something more to this?" he thought.

"How long have you been here?"

"Around three weeks. We built a tree house, and for now, our situation is stable, as we know how to survive inside this place. Do you want to come with us?"

These three female elves were there with him, inside a dangerous place. Although they were apprehensive about letting him in, they also knew an additional force would strengthen their party.

"Sure, why not?"

Arthur and the three elves left the cave, and it seemed the situation was not as simple as he thought.