C43: Im Lost But Not For Long
2/19/2026
A bit of a late mention but the official artist for this book is Fictional Wall/Sara Mark. Their insta is Sara_Mark767. They made the current cover art for this book and by next chapter I'll have another piece available for viewing. For now I'll repost the full cover image since it's snipped a bit by wn
-------------------------------
"I think I'm lost." I say to myself as I try to make my way back to the small village I was exposed to but fail under the now 'open sky' of the forbidden 'Forest'. Only the clouds of ash now reside in the sky.
"No, I got this." I think to myself as I emphasize my recent pathing with my hands, criss crossing them as I go.
'First there is the stone bridge, then take a right around where the large huntsman who is now missing is. Cross the small gap. Slide down. Right, the hill, I have to go up and then down a small path to the metal gates leading to the village.' I orient myself as I head up the hill which no longer has the broken ruins as I head straight for the gate I can see from a distance.
It's very normal for me to get lost now as there are no trees blocking my way anymore, meaning I am free to explore the completely empty space around me now. Which I'd prefer to not do as ill surely get lost with no map or notable landmark.
I go up the left side path near the gate, clear out the five dogs inside their cages as they were somehow safe, though it probably helps that they are quasi zombie dogs so thats fun.
I take to the main road here and enter a half stone house with wooden supports. I get [4x blue elixir] inside as well as hear a thunk outside. Looking out, I spot a huntsman guarding a completely wooden gate that somehow did not burn down even though the surroundings trees have.
"Buddy, ey." I call out to the huntsman as I just feel he is perfectly retarded and I have to call him out on it. "You do realize, I can just climb the fence right there and get around your dumb gate" I point to the waist high fence to my right which borders another house that seems to have partially collapsed or this is only it's roof.
Regardless, the huntsman has the sensibility to look through his own gate to see the fence and then look between the two with abject shame, like his whole life purpose has proven to be for nothing.
"Okay buddy, here is whats going to happen. You open this gate and then fuck off to some chapel to wait out the rest of the night. I won't bother hunting you as you are clearly too dumb to be a beast" I try to negotiate with him but he just hunches over and begins walking away without opening the gate.
"Dumbass" I curse him as I go around the house where the cages are. Kill the crow here before finding that somehow the flimsy ladder attached to the back of this house didn't burn down.
"What is your problem smokey? This is not essential to your lifestyle." I ask in confusion over why a random ladder was saved as I climb up it only to kill 3 crows and collect the white church set which honestly has some drip to it with its white overcoat.
'Shame it just doesnt fit my style. Wait, right, doesnt that dumb nun from the hypogean gaol need you to wear a church set to even properly talk to?'
I climb back down and then get ambushed by two dogs which I put down and then encounter a random kidnapper who i take down and get 2 blood stone shards. Next to there is the leftover husk of a burnt tree that had [6x blood vials]. I then finally arrive past the gate and I still see that idiot hunch walking away. I head inside the house here and collect what looks like a beasts hand claws
[Beast Roar acquired]
I open the gate for myself as I can briefly see the guy who was walking away turn around to see this happen as he slumps even harder, as if I just proved his words right that his gate was useless.
From here there is only one path forward and that is the scenic rooftop with random huntsmen scattered around. I can see the giant pit with birds at the bottom from here which means im still in the same general vicinity.
"Oh, these aren't only huntsmen, they're also just the regular dumb villagers mixed in" I realize as I kill two of them, one with a pitchfork and the other with molotovs or the oil pots or whatever they have. They only give 611 echoes compared to the 764 from the huntsmen.
I slay another two with only one of them being a huntsman. Though one of their bodies fell into the swamp water down below. And unfortunately, I have to follow as there is one item just a level below me and nothing up here anymore.
I collect a ton of molotovs and begin using my old ones that I had personally made to take care of the three rotted corpses here before slightly returning to the giant pit area, killing another corpse on the way before clearing out the village area just cause I can, it gives me a few vials and bullets. Im running low on my pew pews again since im getting better at parrying them now.
'Wait, wasnt there some guy hiding behind the houses?' I remember from when I was up on the side path and looking down, saw some back entrances to the houses here. I stumble around a bit and find the random guy and take him out before getting 6 beast blood pellets that I pocket. "Very nice"
I then return to the giant pit but don't bother with it this time as it's not worth my time. I head into the shortcut area I unlocked here…illegally. Collecting the two twin blood stone shards and ending up at the end of the swamp area with only one rotted corpse and a large huntsman here. I take out both as one molotov for the corpse and a sneak attack dash on the quasi beast takes it down.
[2x twin blood stone shards] 'yes yes. I have enough. I could probably upgrade my gun correctly now. Though I'm pretty sure I could get an upgrade somewhere soon if my gamer knowledge is correct.'
I muse to myself as I slowly walk around the hill, hoping to not attract the attention of the gun man on top of the houses here as I've spotted a few around with my tracking skill. I take out the two regular huntsman guarding the one on the roof, getting a total of five more bullets.
"How the hell did none of these burn down. I don't see a single speck of stone in their architecture here. It's literally soggy mossy wood that is totally viable to burn down. Come on, did Smokey intervene personally?" I rant a bit as I enter the first house on the right, a molotov thrown in right behind me but my gait is just too wide and it doesnt even touch me or make me even feel threatened.
I collect six more vials and then look through the opening to see where the molotov guy is and once i spot my target half blending in, I dash out and gut him like a fish. Except it was not a molotov guy but a literal cannon mounted at the top of the hill here with some bum randomly firing it into the village and the sound of the explosion just made it sound near.
"Oh well, alls well that ends well" I say as I retract into the rundown shacks to collect whatever is left and take out the few villagers and huntsmen that remain. I had also stored away the mounted cannon into my inventory since there was nothing saying I couldn't.
My greatest misfortune strikes when encountering a random large huntsman inside the house and I miss my parry and get stun locked for a bit until I dodge out of the way.
"Fucker nearly killed me" I curse him as I mad dash back inside and return the favor with a vengeance [1]. I even stomp the corpse a few times once it's down before collecting the 4 beast blood pellets and then finally arriving at what I assume is a windmill.
I head inside and from the light peeking out from the other side, I can make out a figure slowly trailing down the stairs across from me. I go around and sneak up on them but even as I hit them, they just droop their head until it's like a watermelon.
The bandaged head just explodes into a gathering of slithering snakes that begin to bite at me but I dodge out of the way. I get up the stairs and drop down, stomping on the enemies body until it dies and giving a good chunk of echoes but they are quite a bit tougher than the normal enemies so it's not really worth it.
I climb back up the steps and look out the other side to find that it's a small drop to essentially a wooden cliff.
"Alright, the fire hasnt burned down most of the village buildings, so please don't break now. "I pray as I drop down unharmed as the small tick of damage that would have occurred for a normal player was negated by my level 1 silver cat reflexes skill.
[Silver Cat reflexes has leveled up. Level 1->level 2]
'I stand corrected' I hum to myself as my good mood returns while I explore around the venue here. Only encountering another large huntsman which I successfully parry this time and take out.
I then climb up the ladder here and find myself near the ceiling of the windmill as I spot two items here. One of the far side of myself and the other on a small drop. I get the item at the drop which turned out to be a Cannon. Certainly an upgrade to my gun but I don't have the stats to make it into an effective one shot weapon for the backlogs [2].
With my impressive thighs, I jump up to the ledge I dropped down from and collect the poison knives here before finding an opening forward to the other side of the roof that overlooks the village I was just in.
Through the scent of fresh blood, I find a half naked bandaged man scavenging a corpse. The creaking of the wood alerts the man who turns around but stays in a crouched state.
"Blimey! Don't scare me like that. I almost took you for a beast. Oh, thank the stars, you're fairly normal... Was it you put down that awful beast?" he points to the inside of the windmill to which I nod.
"Oh, that thing had me be trembling, frozen in me boots. And then you came along. Well... if you're a hunter... then... Would you know of any safe havens?" He asks and I do get some strange sensations from him like I cant fully trust him but I choose to humor him.
"I know of a few, whats your poison?"
"My what mate?"
"What type of haven would you prefer? I got simple houses, safe from any beasts. Heavily protected ones in old Yharnam where no hunters tread, just need to be mindful of the few mad ones out and about there but plenty of supplies to keep yourself satisfied for the night." I offer up the options and he is stunned in silence that there are so many options on a night so bad.
"I uh, I think ill try to stay away from others for now. Bit too much excitement here." he finally chooses and I relax a bit as I take a seat, motioning him to join me. I also ask the system to help duplicate my master key to the Old Yharnam houses I got from my brother. It costs 3k to duplicate which I can easily afford and take out said duplicate key.
"Here, this is usable for Old yharnam. The beasts there are fairly docile as long as you don't get too close. I've already opened the paths there so you can easily enter but be mindful of the single hunter there. He will warn you of killing there as he is pitying the beasts there. Mindless husks bereft of humanity." I explain and hand the key over. The beggar remains silent for quite some time as he hears my words before simply nodding.
He trembles a bit and I notice a tear slide down his cheek as he thanks me. "Thank you kind sir. Even if you are a hunter, you have shown a breathe of character far befitting your role. I won't forget this kindness. Though I must also confess something to you"
"Im no priest so spare your confession. I already know you're a beast, as long as you control it then I won't be putting you down. " The beggar is stunned into silence as he nods, a few more tears streak down his face at my 'mercy'. He thanks me again and is about to walk away but I stop him.
"Come join me for a drink at the very least. It's a rare occasion. Hunter and Beast coming together like this, won't you say so?" I muse out loud as I take out a couple of the molotovs I had previously made. I still had two bottles left over that I got from those kind party ladies back in central Yharnam. I share one with the beggar who eyes it for quite some time before help him pop it open with the saw spear I still have stored away. He flinched a bit upon seeing it but relaxed again when I put it away.
"To the night" I raise my bottle in cheer.
"To the night" he clinks his bottle against mine as we dig into the drinks and some snacks I had on hand.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Word Count = 2625
Exploring the rest of the first half of Forbidden Woods before finding myself a friend.
Enjoy
[1] So I actually messed up on this guy in-game and lost over 100k echoes to him because on the return trip. I got shot by the mounted cannon and got blocked by a piece of the wooden buildings (which had broken from the cannon fire but it had landed directly on me), oof.
[2] So because I had watched a few videos back when I first played, I got introduced to a few ytubers who play the game and try to do one shot hits on bosses and they explain their build. I believe the steak driver and cannon were both viable but it's been a long time and I don't remember. Not that it would work all that well here since we have the challenge mode anyways.
Whether you like the chapter or not, drop a comment. I can't be letting myself get complacent in my writing. I still have plenty of growth in all forms.
discord channel still has the next chapter preview like usual: https://discord.gg/rE6gtg28XH
Patreon.com/Xanok to find me.