Now that Jack entered the yellow fog, his view was completely blocked. He couldn't see shit. But with his mana sense guiding him, he soon arrived at the first tree.
The fog in the area directly around the tree was not so dense, so he could see the tree. The trunk had rough white bark with lots of cracking. The inside of these cracks was a yellowish substance. Its branches spread out and were all burning. The flames were strangely burning toward the outside instead of burning upward.
Jack sensed a rune diagram under the tree. After probing the diagram for while, he understood the diagram didn't contain any offensive trap. It only monitored the well-being of the tree. He also saw the traces that the ground was dug. This confirmed this tree didn't originally grow here.
"I don't see anything that looked like a fruit," Jack said. "Do the fruits grow on the tree's roots? Are they underground?"
"No, it should be hanging from its branches," Peniel answered. "Look!"
She was pointing at something that looked like a dangling vine hanging from the branch.
"There is a cut mark at its end. That's where the fruit should be," Peniel said.
Jack looked around. There were more of those dangling vines on the other branches.
"The fruits must have been harvested," Jack surmised.
He decided to go look at the other trees. Using his mana sense, he cut across the fog-filled field. Yet, the next tree was the same. Its fruits had been taken. He went to the next tree, and the next, and the next.
Every single tree was the same.
"Bloody hell...! Does a simple picking up of a fruit need to be this troublesome?" Jack cursed. He then asked Peniel, "How long will these trees bear their fruits again?"
"Their fruiting cycle is one month," Peniel answered. "From the look of it, these fruits were just harvested recently. You will need to wait another month for them to grow again."
"Recently? That means it's probable the harvested fruits are still nearby?" Jack said. His hope was reignited. "If there is a collection station. It should be at the center of this force field."
"Such a place should also have someone looking after them," Peniel warned.
"Hope no one too strong then," Jack said.
He made an estimate of which direction the center of the force field was and headed there. He passed by many trees on the way. They were all similarly devoid of fruits.
Soon, he saw red dots on his radar. They were grouped close to each other. That should be where the barn was, or whatever it was at this place that store the brimstone fruits.
As he studied his radar, he stopped. Among the grouped red dots. One was bigger and redder than the others.
Peniel also saw the large red dot on the radar.
"Guess we should approach carefully then," Jack whispered.
"They are still far away. Why do you whisper?" Peniel scolded.
"You can never be too careful. Let's go nearer," Jack didn't advance as fast as before. Even though the yellow fog still obscured his presence, he focused his mana sense aside from observing his radar. The demons might possess other surveillance methods he was not aware of, or maybe even traps.
Getting near where the red dots were, the yellow fog became thinner. He saw an outline of some buildings. He lay low on the ground and crept forward until the structures were more visible.
There were four buildings. All had weird architecture and looked to be made of hard materials of a dark reddish color. One of the structures was a tall tower. that must be a watch tower. One red dot on his radar was roughly in the location of that tower. Jack had no doubt a demon was at the top of that tower.
The group of red dots on his radar were mostly inside the biggest building. The medium-sized one had two red dots inside while the smallest one was empty according to his radar.
Jack crept to the small building before getting up and sneaking to its entrance. Its door was not locked. Inside, he found multiple assortments of gardening and digging tools. All were registered as junk items in his monocle.
"This is just a place to store common tools," Jack said. He peeked out from that small building. "The harvested fruits should be at that largest or the medium building. Both were guarded."
He then looked at the tower. "We need to take out that lookout first."
A loud banging sound surprised him. He quickly ducked back into the building. He studied his radar, worried that the sound was someone attacking him. He then noticed another large red dot at the edge of his radar.
He peeked out again and saw in the distant sky the infernal stormbird was back and again attacking the force field.
The other red dots on his radar moved. Still in hiding, he turned in the direction of the largest building. Several demons came out from that building. One of them was a winged high demon with two large bent horns. His two lower arms were extremely large, completely disproportionate to his body size.
That demon was within the range of Jack's Inspect.
*
Ramaun (mythical demon), level 84
HP: 1,950,000
*
"That bird again. Does it never learn?" One of the regular demons remarked.
"It's just a monster. It is behaving by instinct. It must be attracted by the scent of our brimstone trees," another said.
"Luckily, the force field is strong enough."
"It seems the chief's worry is unnecessary. He has called big brother Ramaun over for nothing," a demon said while looking at the high demon with reverence.
"Hmph! It is indeed a waste of my precious time to come here," Ramaun said in response. "Let's ignore that stupid bird. If it comes again, perhaps I will just go out and teach it some lessons."
"That will be a spectacle," the low demon said.
Those demons went back into the building while continued chatting.
"Damn it to hell! So that high demon is never supposed to be here? What luck. I just have to need the fruit at the same time when he is here." Jack turned to the stormbird that was still banging the force field up there and cursed, "Stupid bird. It's all your fault."
But then he thought of something.
"What are you thinking?" Peniel asked. She sensed a sudden excitement in Jack's mind but she didn't know what it was since Jack didn't project the thought in words.
"Hehe. I think we can turn this misfortune into an advantage," Jack grinned.
