Affinity:Chaos

"Hehe, that's it, come back to me. Without my help, there's no way you people can go through, even if you're in the Sage Plane." 

A voice said after the group started walking back. 

Surprisingly, they walked back out of the forest with so much ease that they started to doubt if they were truly out. 

"The building is there, and… we all can't be seeing the same thing right?" Reynolds pointed at the building as he asked. He wanted to confirm if what he was seeing was accurate or an illusion caused by their extended stay in the forest. 

"The building is there." 

The others nodded, which came as a relief to Reynolds. 

They walked in the direction of the building, and just as they got there, the gates to the compound opened up. 

The group exchanged glances, and with a cautious expression, they walked past the building, not going inside. 

"Heh? What's going on?" A confused voice came from inside the building. 

Grey and his friends walked past the building and headed back towards the town. 

What was the use of going into the building when they could easily take another route? 

First of all, they had zero knowledge of what was inside. From how the voice spoke, it was accurate to say that this wasn't the first time he was encountering people, and once people got lost in the forest, they would come into the building and speak with whoever it was, but Grey and his friends didn't have such interests. They could easily use another road, it wasn't like this was the only way.

"Where, where are you going?" A panicked voice came from inside the building. 

None of them replied, simply walking past without any thoughts of turning around. 

"Wait, wait! Once you go past here you'll get to the nearest city, all you have to do is bargain with me." The voice called out from inside. 

"Oh, bargaining?" Grey asked curiously. 

"Yes, all you have to do is give me a passing fee and you're free to pass." The voice replied. 

Grey looked at the others, trying to see if they approve of the idea of giving this mysterious person a payment or if they should go ahead with their original plan which was passing another road. 

"We might as well try. It will reduce the time needed to get to where we want to." Alice suggested. 

Grey looked at the others and they nodded their heads as well. 

After the group came to a concession, they turned around and headed toward the building. The gate was still wide open, and it closed shut after they went in. 

Grey, on the other hand, didn't carelessly come in here, he had calculated everything, and with Void's help had been able to predict that whoever the mysterious person was, he was only at the Peak of the Overlord Plane. They could still handle him if he tried to attack. 

Getting to the door of the building, it opened on its own and the group walked in. On getting into the building, they froze at the sight of what stood before them. 

It was a boar, standing on its hind legs, it was over two meters tall. Although it was a boar, they could see slight signs of it being human, for instance, instead of hooves, it had hands, but its hind legs were hooves. 

"Visitors, I rarely get them these days." The boar opened its mouth to speak. 

Klaus rubbed his eyes to confirm if he was seeing properly. Reynolds did the same as well. Grey had a much calmer expression, but he was shocked deep down since this was the first time he was seeing something like this. Alice had a stunned expression, unable to utter a word. 

"Hmm, what's with the faces, haven't you seen a handsome boar before?" The boar said when he saw how the group remained silent. 

"In your dreams?" Klaus asked with an odd expression. He didn't even know where to start. 

"What's with all the staring, you're making me shy." The boar said. 

Klaus almost spat on the floor when he heard this, luckily, he didn't. Alice was a little amused by the way the boar spoke. 

Grey didn't think much of it. 

"You said you can help us get through the forest, correct?" Grey asked. 

"Correct. All you have to do is drop something nice." The boar said while licking his lips. 

"Aren't you afraid we might rob you?" Grey asked curiously. 

"You humans are too weak for that." The boar grunted. 

"What's with the forest?" Grey asked. He didn't speak on his previous topic any longer. The only reason he said that was to see the reaction of the boar, and from how confident he was, he was sure that he wasn't relying on himself alone. 

'There's most likely something that gives him so much confidence. It's best if we don't see it.' Grey thought to himself. 

The boar was already at the Peak of the Overlord Plane. So it meant what he was relying on must be above the Overlord Plane. A single Sage Plane Elementalist could easily take out all of them. Their only hope of surviving was the talismans given to Klaus. 

The boar looked at Grey, and after a while, he spoke up, "There's a natural formation in there. According to what I know, it was made thousands of years ago. You can try if you want, but I know for a fact that an Elemental Sovereign came here once and was unable to get past it. Even flying above it is almost impossible." 

Listening to the boar's words, Grey was amazed. An Elemental Sovereign was unable to get past it, then how could they who were only in the Overlord Plane get past it. 

'A natural formation.' Grey fell deep in thoughts. 

He had read about this from one of the books he read back in the Lunar Academy. There were some natural formations in the Azure Continent as well. 

One thing he also knew was that, wherever there's a natural formation, there's definitely something treasure. In some cases, it will be a rare treasure, while in others, a powerful beast.