"So this is the Mist River?"
Souta's group was standing on top of the cliff looking at the huge snake-like river in front of them. It was an enormous body of water that has a length of 15,566 km and a width of 5 km. It was the second largest river in the entire central continent.
There were dozens of tribes that were living around the river and these tribes were dangerous. They possessed great hunting skills and fighting skills. Each one of them lived in this rainforest and most of them were hostile to outsiders.
"So how do we find the Witch Clan's territory?" Gragas asked while observing the famous river. This was his first time coming to this place so he was quite amazed by the beauty of the Mist River.
"We could find a thick mist that's covering the river. From my information, the Witch Clan's land is covered in thick mist and it's the one that's protecting them from outsiders." Eztein replied. "Don't ask me about the thick mist. I just heard the information and I haven't visited that place personally."
"But we can already see dozens of spots that are covered in thick mist from here so how are we going to identify the Witch Clan?" Amanda asked.
"Forget the spots on the rainforest. Just focus your attention on the spots on the river. The rainforest is ruled by various tribes and I think the Witch Clan is the one handling the river. It's just a guess but I have a feeling that I'm right." Souta said as he glanced at them.
"We should handle it cautiously. The tribes in the rainforest are vicious and brutal. They will not hesitate to kill or capture us once we're spotted." Eztein warned them.
The tribes lived in this rainforest their entire lives. The hunted and hunted and hunted. That's all the things that they've done so they were all experienced fighters and had great combat prowess. They couldn't communicate using the most common language so it was almost impossible to talk to these tribes.
"Let's go."
Souta jumped down from the cliff and the rest followed him. The cliff had a height of 200 meters but it was nothing for their current power levels. Even if they fell from a height of 1 kilometer they would feel nothing.
The group walked cautiously inside the rainforest. The trees around them were tall and it's blocking the sunlight. So no sunlight had reached the ground. They followed the river hoping that it would lead them to the Witch Clan.
A few hours later, the sky was getting dark and they still haven't found their target. As expected finding the Witch Clan in the Mist River was difficult. They needed to be patient and observe their surrounding.
They even felt mana fluctuations on the other side of the river. It seems that someone was fighting judging from the surge of energy in the atmosphere. From the density of the energy, they concluded that it was a person at A-rank level or Extermination Realm.
"It must be someone from the tribes in this place," Gragas muttered as he glanced in the direction where he felt the energy fluctuations.
"They must be hunting some monsters," Eztein said while shrugging his shoulders.
Souta glanced at Amanda and whispered, "Do you remember anything about this place? You're a witch so I think that you must have an idea how to find the Witch Clan."
Amanda shook her head and said, "I don't remember anything about this place. It feels familiar and nostalgic to me but I can't recall anything and it's frustrating me."
"It's fine. Just don't forget to tell me if you remember anything." Souta said to her.
Finding the Witch Clan was included in Quest 3 but he didn't expect that it was difficult to locate it even if they knew that it was here in Mist River. The reward was high so he wanted to complete it as soon as possible.
Days had passed quickly. They were following the river for a whole week but there's no progress. They had one clue and that's a mist in the river but until now they haven't found any mist in the river.
"What the hell?! Is the Witch Clan really in the Mist River?! Maybe, your information is wrong!" Gragas said in a loud voice as he glanced at Eztein.
"I don't know. I already said before that I've only heard this information. I don't have to confirm it or not." Eztein rebutted.
"What should we do, Souta?" Amanda asked Souta.
Souta looked at them one by one before he took a deep breath. He actually didn't know what to do in this situation. The only thing that comes into his mind was to attack the tribe that they were avoiding and force them to answer their question. Who knows if those tribes knew the location of the Witch Clan or not?
'I have an idea.' Saya's voice suddenly sounded in his mind.
'Oh, what is it?' Souta asked as he motioned Amanda and the rest to wait for a while.
'I'm observing the river for a week. I realized that you will not find the Witch Clan if you simply walked on the land.' Saya said.
'What do you mean?' Souta was a little bit confused.
'I say that you should travel on the river. It's called Mist River yet people could only find the mist inside the rainforest. Why is that?'
'Okay, I understand. I trust you.'
Souta turned to Amanda and the rest and slowly explained his plan to them. The plan to travel on the river was risky.
"If we really travel on the river then the tribes would discover us! We don't know how strong the tribe but in the past week we already sensed several Extermination Realm!" Gragas rejected the idea.
"It's risky but we have nothing to lose. We are following the Witch Clan for a week and we found nothing. So I think that we should risk it. Traveling on the river will let those tribes discover us and if we haven't found anything we should simply launch an attack at those tribes." Souta paused for a moment and an evil grin formed on his face. "If we used everything and wiped out the tribes the Witch Clan will undoubtedly sense the battle. Then, they will send people to investigate what happened. What will we do next is up to your imagination."
"You are really vicious. As expected of a monster. I think that you just want to fight and massacre them and this plan is just an excuse." Gragas said with a sigh.
"Tsk! I thoroughly thought about this plan. And I think that this is our only way to find to Witch Clan." Souta said.
"I know, I know, oh, by the way, what kind of monster are you again?" Gragas asked.
His question gathered Amanda and Eztein's attention. Yenxa was still silent on the side but she was listening to their conversation. She was the only one who knew that Souta was a goblin.
"A goblin." Souta simply answered.
"What the actual fuck?!! You!! You are a goblin! Are messing with me! Your release form didn't look like a goblin at all!" Gragas said in a loud voice while pointing his finger at Souta's nose. "You fucker!! Imma subjugate you right here right now!!"
"Shh! Noisy." Souta covered his ears as he turned his face away from Gragas. He sighed and said, "Ah~ I'm a rare species of goblin called Blood Goblin. I have a characteristic of a few monsters that I've eaten before. I actually wanted to gain some dwarf's characteristics so maybe I will eat you if you kept spitting your saliva."
"You!! I've decided that I will subjugate you!!"
"Anyway, let's start our plan." Souta quickly changed the topic as he walked beside the river.
After an hour, the group finished their preparation. Gragas build a small boat using the lumber from the trees in the rainforest. It was fragile but they didn't need to worry about it. They will only use it once after all.
The group boarded the small boat. A black ball of energy appeared on Souta's back. Using the power of gravity, he pushed the boat forward to follow the flow of the river.
"What the hell?!"
"This...?!"
"How?!"
The boat had just traveled for a few minutes and they already saw white mist in every direction. The mist grew thicker every second until they could only discern everything in the radius of five meters. They couldn't even see the rainforest because of the mist.
"It seems that my decision is right."
A grin formed on Souta's face as he heightened his senses. He could feel that the white mist was stronger than the black mist that was produced using the [Dark Cloud Hunting] spell.
'It's an illusion so be careful of what you see and felt.' Saya warned him.
'I understand. For now, I will only trust my energy sense.' Souta replied to her with a serious expression.
