Wonderful Insane World-Chapter 43: Doodle a Map

They finally managed to leave the clearing and stumbled into the thick patches of trees, panting, exhausted, welcomed by the twisted branches like open arms.

As if this gloomy, nauseating place could offer them, even for just a few seconds, a shred of respite.

Dylan collapsed to his knees behind a hollow trunk, breathing hard, Elisa sliding limply off his shoulder and landing on the ground with a dull thud.

Maggie fell heavily beside them, still clutching her weapon in both hands, like she expected to have to use it at any second.

A fragile silence settled over them.

A real silence this time.

Not the tense wait before the storm, not the fake peace of the clearing.

Just... a black hole of drained adrenaline.

They looked at each other without saying a word.

Dylan’s face was dripping with sweat, eyes wide, a thin trail of blood running from his temple — he didn’t even know when he’d gotten hurt.

Maggie was trembling slightly, but gritting her teeth not to show it.

Dylan didn’t waste time worrying about what wasn’t his business; he turned his head toward the other one — the elf.

Elisa groaned again, her eyelids fluttering. She was coming back.

Dylan let out a heavy sigh and listened closely.

No more noise.

No more invisible waves.

Just... the soft rustle of the wind, finally brushing through the leaves again.

He slumped backward against the tree and let out a dry, hoarse, completely wrecked laugh.

"Fucking hell..." he muttered.

Maggie nodded, unable to come up with anything better.

But that calm, precious as it was, had a bitter taste.

A taste of temporary.

Like somewhere behind them, the thing was just waiting for them to lower their guard.

"Well, not gonna happen, you sons of bitches," Dylan thought, throwing one last dark glare toward the clearing now hidden behind the trunks.

No way were they getting munched just because they took a random path without knowing what was living there.

He groaned as he pushed himself upright, his muscles screaming in protest, and angrily brushed dirt off his pants.

Pointless, really. He was filthy to the bone.

But hey, knocking some of the caked mud off his belly? That was just dignity at this point.

Without wasting another second, he headed toward Elisa.

He leaned over and patted her cheeks twice — not too harsh, but definitely not the gentle touch of a grandma either.

Enough to drag her back out of her KO princess coma.

Her eyes fluttered, blurry, unsure.

And she immediately landed on Dylan’s face, frowning at her, a look screaming:

"Wake up, Lise... Wake the hell up!"

She blinked again and gave him a tiny, dazed smile — but she was alive.

"Handsome boy," she croaked, her voice rough, "for a second, I thought I was in heaven... until you started slapping me like that."

Dylan let out a short, half-relieved, half-done laugh.

"Yeah, well, you can thank me later, princess.

Right now? Breathe, check for broken bones, and let’s get the hell outta here."

Maggie moved closer, throwing anxious glances around them.

"That thing..." she whispered, "it’s still here. I can feel it."

Dylan nodded grimly.

"Yeah. Like a hangover just hiding behind the trees."

He grabbed Elisa by the shoulders and helped her sit up.

No time for epic speeches.

The real question now was:

Where the hell do they go next?

They couldn’t just keep blindly following Elisa.

As confident as she acted, she’d already messed up.

Not once — but twice.

And the second time? They had been one thread away from disappearing without a trace.

Dylan clenched his jaw.

This forest wasn’t the kind of place where you could afford to be chill, even for a heartbeat.

"Alright, new plan," he grunted, crouching next to her.

"You still got clear memories of the area, Lise? Like, paths, clearings, stuff to avoid?"

Elisa ran a hand over her head, almost expecting to feel hair — but nope, still that bald head.

"A few scraps... I can try to piece it together."

"Good enough," Dylan said, his gray eyes faintly gleaming. "Better than nothing."

She grabbed a pointed stick, and Dylan helped by scraping the leaves and rocks away with his boots, clearing a patch of earth.

Then, she started drawing on the ground, her movements sharp, precise — like each place had been burned into her memory.

In her sketch, Dylan could spot lots of familiar markers: two lines probably meaning a river, triangles for mountains, and a bunch more.

Honestly, he’d expected some messy scribbles, but nope — even Maggie looked impressed at how clear it all was.

When she finished, Elisa drew two things that looked like castles — one bigger than the other.

One was westward, the other southeast.

This time, she lifted her head and smiled:

"I pulled together all the clearest spots I could remember. We’ll find a way to reach either of those two castles. We’d better pick the faster one though — otherwise, what should be a two-week trip could turn into a month."

"We’re here," she said, pointing at a spot where she’d drawn trees circling an open space to represent the clearing. Next to it, she’d sketched three tiny figures — them.

Then, her finger slid to the right, toward where trees gave way to a river.

This river flowed downward until it met a lake — which she labeled "Green Lake."

So, if they went straight ahead, they’d need to cross the river.

Elisa had drawn it wide — and Dylan figured it was probably just as wide in real life.

"Of course," he thought, "because nothing can ever be simple."

After the river, a broad area, less packed with trees, stretched out ahead.

They’d move faster through it... assuming nothing nasty popped out at them, naturally.

Because honestly? In a place like this, it wasn’t just possible to run into demon-class monsters.

It was pretty much a given.

Up north, Dylan noticed a weird sketch: a giant skull pierced by a sword.

Intrigued, he pointed at it and asked Elisa what it meant.

She smiled faintly, looking pleased he’d spotted it, then explained:

"That’s the Upside-Down Giant Skull. They say a giant fought a dragon here for three whole days. Look..."

She pointed to a hatched area on the map.

"That’s the Abyss. Where they battled. It wrecked the land so badly that even a thousand years later, the place’s still a den for high-rank creatures."

Further down, Dylan saw four swords drawn into the dirt.

Following his gaze, Elisa added:

"That’s the Heroes’ Graveyard. Hundreds of famous warriors died there. They came to challenge the creatures living inside the skull.

But none of them ever made it to the heart of it.

Some died along the way.

Some gave up and went home in shame.

But before leaving, they’d leave their swords behind — as a sign of failure.

And if I remember right... the last expedition was like a century ago."