About an hour later, the group arrived at a seemingly unremarkable place. Trees grew where trees should, and dense weeds covered the ground where grass should be—it looked no different from any other part of the forest.
However, the Paladin elder said, "This is where we first discovered the Mutated Animals and witnessed them attacking ordinary animals."
Aria was slightly taken aback. She looked around for a long time before saying, "But no matter how I look at it, this place seems no different from anywhere else."
"The attack happened a week ago," the elder explained. "Nature's ability to recover is remarkable. All traces have long since vanished."
Cipher then interjected, "So, you only realized something was wrong a week ago, is that right?"
The elder nodded. Cipher silently marveled at Okhema's intelligence network. A delay of only one week was astonishingly efficient, especially considering this wasn't the information age of her previous life. This level of speed was almost absurd.
To put it in perspective, the All Nations Alliance often didn't even know where pollution had appeared within its own borders. By the time the information reached the councilors, two to three months had already passed—let alone news from the Great Forest.
After leaving the "incident site," the Catfolk Ranger took the lead. She swiftly climbed the nearest tree and, relying on her memory, directed the group.
Douglas couldn't resist teasing Cipher, "Are all Catfolk this good at climbing trees?"
Cipher shrugged. "Isn't it perfectly normal?"
About twenty minutes later, a small incident occurred. As the group traveled, the Paladin elder habitually scanned their surroundings. Suddenly, a flash of blue caught his eye.
At first, he merely glanced at it and continued surveying the area. Then, a thought popped into his mind: Wait, did I just see something strange?
He immediately snapped his gaze back and saw a Blue Spider Lily blooming amidst a patch of weeds, its color strikingly conspicuous.
The Paladin elder's face went completely blank. "What in the world is this thing!?"
As mentioned before, all Druids are botanists and zoologists. While the elder wasn't a Druid, his advanced age and a lifetime spent in the Great Forest meant his knowledge of flora and fauna was naturally extensive.
But no matter how he looked at it, this blue flower was utterly outrageous. It simply defied all logic!
It was like an amateur bringing an antique to an appraiser, commenting on the beautiful carvings and asking for its value, only for the appraiser to see SpongeBob SquarePants engraved on the Tang Dynasty artifact.
As the saying goes, "The layman sees the spectacle, the expert sees the craft." In Aria's eyes, it was just a pretty flower growing in a patch of weeds—novel and beautiful. But to the Paladin elder, this flower was his "SpongeBob SquarePants."
While the elder stood there, dumbfounded, Cipher stepped forward and plucked the flower. "Hmm? Lucky us. To actually find a Blue Spider Lily. I'd better pick it quickly before it withers."
It seemed Cipher's initial lie had taken effect. The five people who met them had believed her, and they'd likely told others in the tribe. That was only natural—hearing about such a novel plant for the first time, anyone would want to share it with friends. And then, Cipher's Authority activated.
"???" The elder was stunned. His eyes widened as he scanned each of the four newcomers in turn. "You were telling the truth before? You're really adventurers who came here to pick flowers?"
Douglas looked just as bewildered. "I have no idea what's going on."
Aria blinked in confusion. "Picking flowers? What are you talking about?"
Feidric, however, subtly averted his gaze. He had already suspected Cipher's ability—the power to turn lies into reality—but he hadn't mentioned it to anyone, unsure if speaking of it would nullify its effect.
Cipher's tail swayed cheerfully behind her as she smiled. "We really did come to help with the Outer God Incident. The flower was just an excuse."
The elder's expression remained one of pure shock. "But this is impossible! How... how... how could a flower like this possibly grow here?"
(To put it another way, it was like finding SpongeBob SquarePants genuinely carved onto an ancient artifact unearthed from the Tang Dynasty.)
The elder's lips trembled slightly. "Since your mission isn't to pick flowers, could you perhaps gift this Blue Spider Lily to me? I'd like to take it back for study."
"No problem~" Cipher generously handed the flower over. As the elder accepted it, he asked, "What are its effects, roughly?"
Cipher thought for a moment. "It allows vampires to overcome their weakness to sunlight, transforming them into perfect beings."
The elder stammered, "Wait... what?"
(The equivalent would be learning that the ancient vase with SpongeBob carved on it is actually a launcher that summons an ultra-ancient spaceship from beneath the earth.)
Hearing this, the two druids and two rangers nearby couldn't help but gasp in amazement. "Is it really that powerful?"
The elder opened his mouth, paused, then finally managed to say, "This... is far beyond just 'powerful'..."
After a moment's contemplation, the elder approached Cipher and whispered, "Are you... one of Okhema's Twelve Demigods? Is this flower a manifestation of your power?"
For someone whose worldview was already firmly established and who had a wealth of life experience, encountering something outrageous—even with the evidence right before his eyes—was still barely acceptable. But when the absurdity reached a certain level, even if it happened right in front of him, he would rather believe he was hallucinating than accept it as reality.
The Great Forest wasn't truly isolationist. They kept up with information from the outside world, such as the disasters currently plaguing various parts of the globe. That was why the elder had immediately linked the mutated animals to the Outer Gods upon learning of them.
Therefore, he naturally knew about Okhema's Twelve Demigods. After all, these twelve were currently active across the world, protecting it in various ways. By that logic, it seemed perfectly reasonable for a demigod to appear in the Great Forest.