Reborn as a Snake! (1.) [COMPLETED]

91. - Forest of Spirits Pt.1

    The Next day...
        Morning...

        I slowly opened my eyes, yawning before getting up in a sitting position, grabbing my head lightly. A classic morning headache. If I remember correctly, last night after I returned to the 'campsite' I joined Odale and Frindel in the hot spring of a bit - Of course, in my snake form, not human form.
Why? Well, since my human form is nothing more other than me piloting a 'husk' I actually wasn't able to feel anything with my human body. Or at least.... Some oddly specific things I wasn't able to feel.

Anyways—
I yawned again, before looking around, only to find myself all alone, with no one else around.

"Uh... Wezrall? Odale? Frindel?"

I called out to them.
...Nothing. No answer, no movement - nothing - it was dead silence. I immediately jumped up onto my feet, before looking around in a panic.
They couldn't have left without me, because the carriage and stuff was still here and let's be real, they wouldn't dare to leave without me.

So... Where were they?

"Wezrall!? Frindel?! Odale?! Where are you?!"

I shouted, looking around a bit paranoid.

'Ancient One, perform a full scale analysis of the area.'

Understood Master.

In the moment that followed, a full scale scan of the surrounding area was performed using 'Overworld Detection', however I did not pick up any trace of them around me — The only thing I picked up was just remains of their traces.
I shed a sweat. Something was wrong, I could feel it. But I couldn't tell quite what was wrong, other than my friends being missing.

I decided to quickly collect up our stuff - placing the carriage and other things inside the shadows using my 'Shadow Manipulation' skill before looking around, finding the nearest remaining traces of their Magical Energy and slowly beginning to walk towards it.

However, right as I took 2 steps forward, a sudden strong headache hit me again.

'What the—?..'

Master, I have some bad news...

[Devourer] is slowly losing its effectiveness against {Corruption of the Abyss}.

What?!
Didn't we increase its intensity last night?! How is it losing effectiveness already?!...
I sighed heavily, before sort of forcing the headache back. I then quickly got back up. It seems like 'Devourer' wasn't going to cut it to keep the corruption at bay for any longer any more. I had to find a different way to keep it at bay or maybe even remove it.

Although... It was stated that it cannot be stopped once it had been activated even once right?
Well, I hope that's false...

After pulling myself together, I began the sprint towards the area I was going to head to - starting my search for my friends.

...

        After reaching the first area where their Magical Energy had a presence, I began to march down a path of their Magical Energy, which led deeper inside the forest we had taken camp inside of.
While I was running down this path, it felt like there were a million pair of eyes watching me from all sides - right, left, front, behind, even above.

'A super unsettling feeling...'

I thought, shedding a sweat.
I chose to ignore the feeling of being watched for now and simply kept on running down the path, following the traces of the Magical Energy I was detecting.