In that new world, we—fifteen from Woldtor and fifteen from Antila, thirty in total—landed in the middle of a forest. Unlike the thinning forests we know here, the forest there was so dense that the sunlight barely reached the ground. There wasn't much difference between day and night. Some trees were so large that they might only be found in the elf's forest. Which, unfortunately, is off limits. But despite all the greenery, there wasn't a trace of life. The only thing that echoed through the forest was the howl of the gusts of wind.

With no way of exit in sight, we split into four groups to search. After a while, my group heard a noise from our left direction. We rushed. There the whole expedition team grouped again. Guntsil silently pointed in front of him. There, behind some bushes we saw a small beast. It was the first life we'd seen so far. But it was unlike any beasts we’d find here. All the team thought the same thing. To hunt it.

But Guntsil raised his hand to stop us. He said, "It's been hours since we've arrived here. Our supply of water is emptying, and we haven't found any water source. Let's follow it. We can kill it whenever we want."

We all agreed with Guntsil's plan. But we shouldn't have. It was our first mistake. We all tailed it silently for hours. Sometimes it felt like it was moving us in circles. But it was hard to tell for sure in that forest. After hours of walking, we finally heard the sound of flowing water. Hearing it, the beast also ran towards it. Without noticing our surroundings, we chased it hurriedly. After a few minutes, we could finally see a water stream flowing. The beast sat on a rock beside the stream, and was drinking water. One of the infuser, Rancher I think, drew his sword and finally jumped over the beast. But that beast slipped away from him, and his head crashed on the rock. But the sound we heard wasn't the sound of a head crashing on a rock. It didn't even come from Rancher's direction. It came from behind us. A crunching sound.

We turned back. There we saw the lower half of Guntsil standing. The upper half was in the mouth of a beast. That beast was huge. More than three times of any average human being. That was when we realised that we were lured in a trap. That small beast stood between those monsters that had cornered us. Everyone got into the fighting position. Mages, including me, took out our wands, infusers picked up their weapons.

We were thirty. No. Twenty nine, after Guntsil. Twenty mages and nine infusers. We clearly outnumbered those eight beasts that had cornered us. But it was our second mistake. We couldn't notice it because of the eeriness of the forest that was wrecking our hearts. But in front of those beasts, when we tried to hone our wands and cast spells, we couldn't. None of the mages could use magic. None of the infusers could imbue magic into their weapons. Everyone could clearly fill something. Something that resembled mana. But it felt like we weren't allowed to. We weren't allowed to use it. We couldn't channel it into our body.

With the people there, we could've taken down one of those legendary dragons. But without magic, we were nothing. We couldn't do anything. Everyone. Everyone fell on their knees. After Guntsil, there were two other mages. But they never devoured them whole. Again, they left some remains. As if they were playing with us.

It was then, after those two mages died, that Anthor. No. Sir Anthor drew his wide sword. Even without imbuing magic, he rushed towards a monster and slashed its chest. Looking at him, other infusers also got some courage and started fighting back without magic. Even mages. I think it was Vencil who did it first. One of the fine Woldtor mages threw his wand and picked up a sword. After hours of resistance, finally we were able to slay those monsters.

We couldn't mourn those five people who died. We all were just happy that we survived.

After the sound of that frantic battle subsided, the forest was again filled with silence. But having a water stream nearby made us feel better. For some hours we followed it, and decided to make a camp nearby. After that, we ate the meat of those monsters, who had devoured our friends. It tasted like shit. Even the cheapest meat here would taste better. Without any way to tell day and night apart, we went to sleep. Only to wake up just a few hours later.

Those monsters, there were more. They hung on those tall trees, looking down on us. We took whatever we could and ran. Ran as fast as we could. Shitty taste it may be, but the meat of those monsters gave us enough energy to run for an hour and get out of those monsters' claws. As we ran, we were finally able to see some life. Maybe we were unlucky. If only we had teleported to that new area from the start, Guntsil and all others might've survived.

The small beasts  there hinted that there wasn't any big predator. We finally took a breath of relief. There, after scouting the area, we decided to make a camp. We took turns to keep our eyes on any threat. Everything seemed to be going well. Those small beasts tasted better.

As we walked, we encountered more beasts. It wasn't easy. Only infusers could fight. They fought those beasts without magic. Except Vencil and a few, all mages were helpless. We didn't want to be part of those barbarians. We had pride. We can't just throw our wands, that we've given our entire lives to hone. But that pride couldn't assure our survival.

As time passed, one by one, mages gave up. They put their wands aside and picked up swords, bows, spears. Whatever suited them. It was still too hard. It was no different from a child swinging a sword while playing. But Sir Anthor and other infusers helped us.

They weren't annoyed or anything. They helped everyone regardless of whether they took a weapon earlier or later. I was the last one to put my wand aside and pick up a sword.

After travelling for some time, we were no different from those hideous mercenaries. But it didn't matter, as long as we could survive. But we shouldn't have. We shouldn't have advanced. Not being able to use magic should've already told us that the expedition was a failure. That that world wasn't for us. But we still advanced. And after a long time. No. How long was it? How long have we been there? How long have we been in that expedition? That darkness never let us count our time there.

After don't know how long, we finally saw some light. It came past the forest. We ran towards it. We shouldn't have, but we did. As we ran towards the light the forest became thinner. There weren't those tall trees. Past that forest, we saw a very tall wall. We couldn't tell the height because of the distance, but it was still smaller than those tall trees in the forest. And, we saw people going in.

For the motive we were there, it was already a failure. Finding people wasn't our goal. It was a sign of failure. We should've returned after seeing them. Heck. We should've returned just after finding out we couldn't use magic there. But we did not. The sun was setting, so we decided to camp at the edge of the forest. We decided to check inside that wall the next day. That was our third and last mistake.