Reincarnated Hero System

Forbidden Outlands

Northern Gledea

Aramis

April 15th

531st Divine Year

About an hour after leaving Resgar, the path they followed the previous day brought the three teenagers through the Dark Winter forest, before eventually stopping at the mouth of a cave.

A huge chunk of one of the mountains had been destroyed, owing to Evan’s ‘Hell Unleashed’ yesterday, and there was a distinct lack of monster presences around that section of the mountain range.

They passed through the network of caves, taking no detours as planned and soon they’d reached the dividing point between the normal part of the continent and the ‘Forbidden Outlands’.

How did they know this? Simple, there was a barrier of divinity that expanded in all directions before them.

According to Artemisia and Beatrix, they encountered this barrier regardless of which save they took, so it was safe to say that the barrier covered the entire mountain range.

To be precise, it surrounded the entire ‘Forbidden Outlands’.

Long before they reached this portion of the cave network, they stopped encountering ancient relics and traces of any civilization, meeting only accumulated moss.

Taking care not to slip on the moss-covered floor, the three passed through the barrier, having no problems due to Beatrix who used her spatial power to make them phase through it.

Though they were now effectively within the Forbidden Outlands, they were still in the cave network of the Desolate Mountains.

“It’s a lot brighter than I thought it would be.”

Evan remarked as he looked at the luminescent pearls stuck in the ceiling that illuminated the cave network.

Though they didn’t find any traces of dead civilizations, it was still clear that this cave network was man-made as they found markings on the walls that suggested the caves had been enlarged by humans.

The three moved deeper in, heading for the exit, and soon, they found it.

Emerging from the rugged mountains, they found themselves standing before a gentle river that wound its way through a vast expanse of flourishing plant life.

The vibrant greenery stretched out in every direction, painting a scene so serene that Evan began to question whether they were truly in the so-called ‘Forbidden Outlands.’

“This feels more like a sprawling garden, than anything.”

“I know, right?”

Beatrix agreed with him as they moved further into the clearing.

The air was crisp, carrying the warmth of the morning sun, and everything around them seemed to pulse with life.

If the plants thrived so abundantly, it stood to reason that animals would, too. Yet when Evan expanded his magic, probing the area, he found something unsettling—there wasn’t a single trace of animal life.

‘Why were there no animals in a place so perfectly suited to life?’

The sound of the burbling water and the leaves rustling in the wind suddenly started to take on a rather ominous tone.

“Did you guys encounter any living beings when you last came here?”

“Well, I wouldn’t exactly call them ‘living beings’ though…”

When Beatrix responded in such a manner, Evan raised a brow, about to question her but he suddenly stopped and snapped his head to the left.

“Something’s coming.”

Evan had wanted to see signs of ‘living beings’ and his wish was granted as a giant ogre barrelled through the forest, heading straight towards them.

“NNNNGROOOAAAAWR!!”

It had a rather long roar, but still monstrous all the same.

Within seconds, the green-skinned, muscle-bound humanoid creature, standing around three meters tall with bright white horns sticking out of its head burst out of the sea of tall plants around them while brandishing a large tree trunk as a weapon.

It roared once more and took a step forward, about to swing the tree trunk when suddenly, it froze.

A second later, the sound reached the ears of the teenagers present.

**BOOOM!

A gaping hole appeared in the ogre’s forehead, courtesy of the supersonic Burst Cannon Evan fired the instant it entered his field of view.

The monster tumbled to the ground, dead, and Evan yawned as he turned back to the girls.

“Let’s move on.”

Without a second glance at the fallen beast, the group pressed forward, stepping over the ogre’s massive body as if it were no more than an inconvenience, while Evan asked Beatrix to Elaborate on what she was about to say earlier.

“Oh, about that.

Most of what we found here weren’t exactly ‘living’ beings. They were… abominations. Mutants, I guess you could call them.

They have so many divine factors that calling them demigods wouldn’t be entirely wrong. But the divine factors were artificially forced into their bodies, and you could see the damage it did to their souls in the way they’re all so… deformed.”

“So those are the ‘Forsaken Divines’ you keep talking about.”

“Yes, they are.”

Beatrix responded while Artemisia stopped to examine a peculiar plant along the path they walked. She knelt before a cluster of deep violet herbs, plucking several for later study and carefully slipping them into a pouch at her side.

When she got up and saw Evan and Beatrix staring at her, she spoke.

“That one’s unusual. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“…I’m just hoping you can keep the experimenting for later.”

“That’s why I put it away.”

Artemisia responded in a sharp tone and moved forward, with the other two following behind.

The path began to change as they ventured deeper with the open, airy landscape gradually morphing into something far more enclosed.

The trees surrounding them grew taller and denser, and soon the river was out of sight. Thick branches wove together above, creating a natural canopy that filtered the light into strange, shifting patterns on the forest floor.

Paths wound between the towering trunks in a labyrinthine web of nature, the gaps between them narrow but walkable.

Every step they took sunk into the damp underbrush, and the air grew colder the further they went.

“This is getting a little tight.”

Beatrix muttered, pushing aside a branch as they edged along a particularly narrow path.

The oppressive silence around them was broken only by the occasional sound of Artemisia’s boots shuffling over leaves or the soft rustle of plants brushing against their clothes.

Evan looked around, taking in the sight of the trees while still searching for any life signs, even if it was an insect.

Just as they stopped again to examine a strange plant, a sound caught his ear.

*sshhh…

Evan’s ears twitched and he turned towards a dense thicket of bushes nearby, his eyes narrowing as he scanned the underbush.

“What is it?”

Artemisia asked, noticing the sudden shift in his demeanour and Evan responded in a low mutter.

“I think something just moved. It might be a monster.”

They had encountered an ogre earlier, lumbering through the trees, but despite its size, it had been easy enough to handle.

Evan looked closely in the direction from which the sound he heard had come, and finally, a tall creature appeared from out of the stand of trees.

It was humanoid, standing at just over two meters, with dark brown skin, smaller than the ogre from before, but the horns protruding from its head were similar to the ones the ogre had.

Seeing the back of the creature moving through the trees, Beatrix cocked her head to the side.

“Might be an ogre variant. I’ve heard about these before—the smaller ones that are stronger than their big cousins. Evolution and all that. Anyway, I’ll handle it.”

She took a confident step forward, but before she could act, Artemisia’s hand shot out, gripping her shoulder.

“Wait.”

“Huh? Arty?”

Beatrix turned, confused but Artemisia didn’t answer right away. Her gaze was locked on Evan, who hadn’t taken his eyes off the creature.

“What is it, Evan?”

“Hold on.”

Something didn’t feel right about this to Evan. It definitely looked like an Ogre Variant like Beatrix had spoken about, but there was something about it that felt wrong.

What’s more, his Danger Sense skill had been flaring up ever since the creature appeared.

He watched the creature as it moved between the trees, waiting for it to finally step into view again.

“?!”

The sight he saw immediately told him why he felt the creature was wrong. Its face, or rather, lack of a face was precisely the first problem.

The space where its face should have been was a nightmarish void. Its head had been hollowed out, the inside filled with writhing, pulsing masses of flesh.

Thick veins and muscle fibres twisted grotesquely inside the cavity, and golden blood oozed from the opening, spilling down its neck and chest in slow, sickening rivers.

Artemisia and Beatrix had recognition dawning in their eyes, and the white-haired goddess spoke with a grim tone.

“It’s one of them.”

Them being the creatures Beatrix had been calling ‘Forsaken Divines’.

The creature, oblivious to their presences, stumbled through the trees, the organs within its skull pulsing erratically.

Evan activated his appraisal skill, hoping to gather some understanding of what they were dealing with, but what he saw only gave him more questions.

| Name- &#@%$!

Race- kijin/ogre/god/el{f&*?/Err#or@]

Gender- [dAtALostEr{or]

Age- Data Lost.

Level- [̶?̵!̴9̵#̷#̶$̶/̴/̵]̵

Existence Level- [XXEpi//c/&#]*Error$]

Titles- *//!!Failure #53,7X$], 854

Class- [$%Er@!R0R_]

Health- &!5%%%Un44F]de@@d

Energy- [3%!!//]{>–2xDIVINE]

Strength- SSSSSSSS—%&/@_%0///Error!

Agility- F!5#%//??]

Durability- &&SXSX??!#/$!!

Intelligence- ???ErrorUNAVIALABLE!

Condition- [C0rr**up3//@@ed]x&/f__]

Magic Tiers- [Err00%%or//??]

Skills- [??Err>>%%%und]

Unique Skills- [*NIL@7n&/]|

None of it made any sense, but Evan knew that whatever it was, it was dangerous.

The garbled mass of data before him made his danger sense flare up again, louder this time, like an alarm going off in his head.

The creature, which had been moving aimlessly in the distance, suddenly froze. As if sensing the appraisal, it turned its neck unnaturally in their direction.

The faceless mass of flesh where its features should have been shifted grotesquely, the rounded head elongating into a strange oval, giving the eerie impression of a smile.

Its browless head tilted upwards, and without warning, it raised a fist the size of a boulder into the air.

Evan’s instincts kicked in as he grabbed Artemisia and Beatrix by their arms.

“We are NOT fighting that!”