After leaving the village, the four of us began traveling deeper through the forest, following routes that Bora seemed to know extremely well.
From the very beginning of the journey, it became obvious that he was highly experienced when it came to traveling outside the village. He moved through the forest with confidence and almost never hesitated while choosing directions, as if every part of the path ahead was already familiar to him.
The deeper we traveled, the clearer it became that this was not his first time leaving the forest.
Bora carefully selected routes that avoided dangerous regions while still allowing us to move quickly toward our destination. Sometimes he would suddenly change direction after observing the surroundings for only a brief moment, and not long afterward we would discover traces left behind by powerful beasts nearby.
Whenever we encountered beasts along the way, Bora immediately judged whether it was safer to fight or avoid them. His decisions were quick and precise, leaving very little room for hesitation.
Low level and moderate level beasts were usually dealt with swiftly before they could become much of a threat. Most of the time, Bora and Tara handled them with practiced coordination, while Charlie and I supported from the sides whenever needed.
However, things changed completely whenever signs of a high level beast appeared nearby.
Even the smallest traces, broken trees, deep claw marks, or the lingering pressure left in the surroundings, were enough for Bora to immediately alter our route without hesitation. He never acted carelessly when it came to high level beasts.
And no one questioned his decisions.
Bora and Tara were both moderate level controllers, clearly stronger and far more experienced than Charlie and me. Meanwhile, Charlie and I were still considered low level controllers, though we had already reached the edge of breaking into the moderate level ourselves.
Even with Bora leading us, the forest still remained dangerous. The deeper we traveled, the more oppressive the atmosphere of the forest became, constantly reminding us that one wrong decision could easily cost lives.
The days passed entirely within the forest like that.
From morning until nightfall, we continued traveling through the endless sea of trees, rarely stopping unless necessary. Only after Bora found a location safe enough to rest would we finally settle down for the night.
Even then, no one truly relaxed completely.
Someone always remained alert, keeping watch over the surroundings in case beasts approached nearby. The forest never felt fully safe, even while resting.
The food we had brought from the village was stored carefully and used sparingly throughout the journey. Instead of consuming those supplies immediately, we mostly survived by hunting beasts along the way and cooking their meat whenever we stopped at night.
It allowed us to preserve the village provisions until we reached our true destination.
Though Charlie and I proved useful during hunts and never slowed the group down, Bora still clearly did not like us much.
He rarely spoke unless it was necessary for the mission, and whenever his eyes landed on us, especially on me, there was always a faint dissatisfaction in his expression, as if my presence alone annoyed him.
At first, I assumed it was simply because I was an outsider.
But after spending several days traveling together, it became obvious that Bora simply had a difficult personality in general. He was strict, blunt, and impatient with almost everyone around him. Even when giving instructions, his tone often sounded more like an order than normal conversation.
Still, despite his attitude, he never once neglected the mission itself.
Tara, the woman accompanying us on this mission, was completely different from him.
She was kind toward both Charlie and me and often helped ease the tension during the journey whenever Bora became overly harsh. While Bora focused entirely on efficiency and survival, Tara seemed much easier to approach and talk to.
Whenever Bora gave rough instructions or explained things in his usual blunt manner, Tara would often calmly explain the details afterward in a way that was easier to understand. Compared to Bora's rigid presence, her attitude made traveling together feel far less uncomfortable.
One evening, after we had stopped to rest for the night, the four of us sat near a small fire while the meat from a beast we hunted slowly cooked over the flames.
The forest around us had already grown dark, and the only sounds nearby were the crackling fire and the occasional noises coming from deeper within the trees.
Tara glanced toward me and gave a faint smile before speaking quietly.
"Do not mind Bora too much," she said. "He little cold sometimes… but also kind."
I looked toward Bora instinctively. He was sitting a short distance away from us, sharpening his weapon with a serious expression while completely ignoring the conversation around him.
"A little?" I replied.
Tara let out a soft laugh after hearing that.
"When we on mission , he very reliable," she explained. "Me and Bora leave forest many times before. Because of him, we always come back safely."
As much as Bora clearly disliked Charlie and me, I could not deny that Tara was right.
He was extremely good at what he did.
Most of the reason we managed to travel safely through the forest was because of Bora's decisions. His experience became more obvious with each passing day. He knew which paths were safe to travel, which areas needed to be avoided completely, when stopping to rest was safer than continuing forward, and when fighting was the better option instead of retreating.
More importantly, he also knew when retreating was necessary.
There were several moments during the journey when I sensed dangerous pressure somewhere deeper in the forest, only for Bora to quietly change our route before we ever came close to the source of it.
Without someone like him leading us, traveling through the forest would have been far more dangerous.
After six full days of traveling, we finally reached the border of the forest.
Even though Bora had guided us through what he called the safest and shortest route possible, it had still taken nearly an entire week just to cross the forest itself. The farther we traveled, the more unbelievable the sheer size of the forest became. Endless trees stretched in every direction day after day, making it feel as though the forest would never truly end.
Yet eventually, the surroundings slowly began to change.
The density of the trees started thinning, and the oppressive atmosphere that had accompanied us throughout the journey gradually lessened. More sunlight reached the ground, and for the first time in days, the forest no longer felt endless.
Then, on the afternoon of the seventh day, we finally stepped out from the final stretch of trees.
The moment I stepped out from the forest, my footsteps slowed on their own.
A vast sea stretched endlessly before us. Bright sunlight reflected across the water in countless shimmering waves, and the sound of the ocean crashing against the shore filled the air continuously. Compared to the heavy silence of the forest, the open space before me felt almost unreal.
The endless blue horizon extended farther than my eyes could see, blending into the sky in the distance.
For a moment, I simply stood there staring quietly.
Then, before I even realized it myself, a genuine smile slowly appeared on my face.
It has been so long since I saw something like this.
The sight of the open sea brought back distant memories from before I came to the village, memories of a world far larger than the isolated forest where I had spent the last four years.
Bora, who had been walking ahead of us the entire time, finally turned around and spoke.
"There boat hidden for us."
As he spoke, he pointed toward a rocky area near the shore where a cave entrance was partially concealed between large stones and shadows.
Without wasting time, the four of us began walking toward it.
The closer we got, the clearer the hidden entrance became. From a distance, it looked like nothing more than part of the rocky shoreline, making it difficult to notice unless someone already knew it was there.
Once inside the cave, I immediately noticed something massive resting within it.
A huge wooden boat.
I slowed for a second in surprise when I finally saw it properly.
The boat was far larger than I had expected. Its size filled most of the cave itself, and it looked large enough to carry around fifty people comfortably without feeling crowded.
Even Charlie looked surprised beside me, his eyes briefly widening as he stared at the enormous boat.