CHAPTER 204: CHAPTER 204: THE VILLAGE (2)

The raid party made their way steadily through the dense forest. Groups 1 through 9 had formed up to advance, while the remaining three groups stayed behind to guard the camp.

At the front led Group 6, the same team that had previously cleared the path they now tread.

Group 7 trailed along the edges of the formation, keeping a sharp eye out for any disturbances in the surrounding wilderness.

Gwen, in particular, walked with her hands resting lightly on the hilt of her sword. Her crystal-blue eyes scanned the trees just beyond reach, alert for the slightest movement.

The forest was eerily silent—a suffocating stillness that only heightened the tension among the hunters. After spending over a day in these man-eating woods, everyone had grown paranoid of even the smallest snapped twig or rustling branch.

Fortunately, Team 6 had done a thorough job. Gwen spotted the signs of their passage everywhere—fallen trunks, blackened stumps, and the lingering remnants of corrupted trees littered the way forward.

After roughly two hours of travel, the terrain began to shift. The ground sloped sharply upward, forcing them into a steady climb.

Within minutes, they had ascended over three hundred feet, reaching the top of a narrow ridge.

Whoosh!

A sudden gust of wind tore through the air, whipping Gwen’s long silver hair around her face. As she brushed it back, a breathtaking view unfolded before her.

"How pretty..." Hana muttered absentmindedly, her wide eyes reflecting the golden hues of the setting sun. The vast wilderness stretched out beneath them, bathed in a soft, warm glow that made the dangerous landscape momentarily seem serene.

Landur also took a glance at the view, blinking slowly.

"...?"

No matter how long he stared, all he could see was a man-eating forest—one that, in his opinion, could desperately use a good arsonist.

"Alright, everyone," Liam’s voice carried calmly over the ridge. His hands were still clasped casually behind his back as he addressed the group. "From here on, we’re entering unexplored territory, so we’ll proceed with extra caution. The path is narrow so we’ll move in formation. Big boys up front, lightfoots to the sides."

He swiftly organized the group, and soon a basic formation was established.

The ridge was incredibly narrow, barely three meters across, with a sheer two-hundred-meter drop on either side. Normally, a fall like that wouldn’t pose much of a threat to Martial Warriors like them, but the bottom was thick with a dense canopy of trees—and nobody wanted to test whether those trees were corrupted or not.

Luckily, vegetation atop the ridge was sparse. Only a few scraggly patches of grass clung stubbornly to the otherwise gravel-strewn ground, granting the hunters a much-needed sense of relief.

As the sun dipped below the horizon, the visibility inside the rift dropped sharply. To their left, the endless forest became a mass of twisted shadows, far more menacing under the cover of night.

To their right, the forest thinned out before giving way to a towering mountain. The colossal peak stretched thousands of meters into the sky, completely obscuring the view beyond. Still, few doubted that it was just more untamed wilderness waiting on the other side.

Jayce marched at the front with the other larger hunters, forming the vanguard. Gwen and Landur walked to the left and right flanks, respectively, while Hana squeezed between them, keeping close.

As Gwen moved, her gaze swept along the bottom of the ridge wall, searching carefully for any signs of danger—vines, roots, or anything else that might be lurking out of sight.

"Hm?"

Her focus snapped forward as the person in front of her came to a sudden stop. Looking ahead, she noticed the vanguard had stalled, their posture tense.

"What’s going on?" Hana whispered, trying to peer around the hunter ahead of her. Unfortunately, the man was far too large for her to see past.

The atmosphere shifted immediately. Everyone in the back stiffened, weapons subtly drawn and ready.

From the rear of the group, Liam strolled forward, his steps unhurried and his expression calm despite the rising tension.

"What seems to be the matter?" he asked, his voice easy as he approached the front.

"It’s nothing. We just noticed something strange..." Jayce scratched his head as he pointed at the source of their unease.

"Strange?" Liam raised a brow and followed Jayce’s gesture.

There, scattered across the path, lay patches of charred earth. Warmth still radiated from the blackened remains, the ash faintly glowing in the dim light.

"Hmm..." Liam’s slit-like eyes opened slightly as he scanned further down the ridge. After a moment, he turned back to the group. "Proceed as normal." With that, he returned to the rear, his expression unreadable.

The hunters exchanged uneasy glances but obeyed, resuming their march with heightened vigilance.

As Gwen passed the scorched earth, she caught sight of something half-buried in the ash.

"Charcoal...?"

She frowned, recognizing the unmistakable remnants of deliberate burning.

’Is it the remains of a tree? But who, or what burnt it?’

The questions lingered, but with no time to investigate, she pressed on.

The further they traveled, the more frequent the charred patches became—blackened scars marring the ridge as if a wildfire had swept through. Trees, grass, even the soil itself had been reduced to smoldering debris. And the closer they got, the fresher the burns, as though they were gaining on whatever had left this destruction in its wake.

Soon, another anomaly appeared before them.

A bridge.

It was small, made of weathered stone, and spanned a narrow gap in the ridge. It was the first sign of civilization they’d encountered since entering the rift, a silent reassurance that they were on the right path.

Yet even here, the flames had left their mark. The bridge’s edges were singed, the ground around it littered with more ash.

"We’re getting close," Liam murmured, his smile widening as the group crossed over.

Minutes later, the ridge split into a fork. To the side, a narrow staircase had been carved into the rock, descending into the shadowed forest below.

One by one, the hunters carefully made their way down, each step measured. A single misstep could send them tumbling hundreds of meters into the unknown.

As they neared the bottom, the dense canopy above thinned, revealing what lay beneath.

"This..."

"Crazy."

"It’s like something out of a movie."

Reactions varied, but the sentiment was unanimous—awe.

Before them stood a village unlike anything they’d ever seen.

Gigantic trees, their trunks at least ten meters thick, formed the foundation of the settlement. Luminescent plants and winding vines bathed the area in an eerie glow, illuminating the night. Bridges stretched between the colossal trees, connecting hollowed-out homes carved directly into the bark.

"Are those... houses?" someone whispered.

Liam’s voice cut through the murmurs. "Stay sharp. We don’t know what we’re walking into." His gaze swept across the village, assessing. "Reform into your groups and search for any signs of life—or clues about who lived here."

Gwen nodded, regrouping with her team.

"Wow, look at those flower vines!" Hana pointed excitedly, the vines glowing in a translucent light as the beautiful crystal like flowers grew on it.

"Sure. Can’t wait until they try to strangle you," Landur muttered.

Hana responded with a swift elbow to his ribs.

"Enough," Gwen shook her head at her teams ability to joke around even in such a serious moment. Her eyes scanning the tree-carved dwellings.

Through the open doors and narrow windows, she could see most were empty—save for the occasional piece of abandoned furniture. "Assume everything here is as dangerous as the forest. Stay alert."

"Mhm."

Everyone nodded in agreement, proceeding forward with caution.

House by house, each group advanced with upmost vigilance. Though the trees and vines remained still as they passed, no hunter dared lower their guard—not after losing three of their own to this accursed forest.

Gwen’s team moved through several dwellings, cataloging anomalies. The homes stood empty save for a few heavy furniture pieces—tables fused to floors by vines, chairs swallowed by creeping roots. Thick cobwebs draped the interiors, yet no spiders skittered across them. The dust lay undisturbed, as if even insects had fled whatever doom befell this place.

The village bore all the hallmarks of long abandonment.

They passed clusters of crystalline flowers next—unnervingly vibrant blooms that shimmered in hues of amethyst and jade. Gwen paused before one particularly large cluster, her fingers hovering near the hilt of her sword. The way the stems arched and branched... something about it unnerved her, yet she couldn’t pin point exactly why.

"Over here!" A hunter’s shout shattered her focus, drawing her attention away from the cluster. A member of group 4 deeper in the village was the one that called out. It seems his group had found something.

Taking one last glance at the crystalline cluster, her gaze lingered for a few moments before she turned on her heels and headed deeper into the village.

"...."

Snap!

The sound of branches snapping echoed out softly in the now empty clearing, yet Gwen had long left. Only the strange crystalline cluster remained, its branches swaying strangely in the wind.

Weirdly, the flowers on the branches all seemed to face towards the direction Gwen had left...

The teams converged where Group 4 stood before an enormous carved tree, its gnarled roots rising like petrified serpents as it towered hundreds of meters into the sky.

"What did you find?" Liam arrived on the scene last, his gaze tilting up as he observed the massive tree.

"We found a body inside. We think its a corpse of one of the past villagers." The leader of group 4 explained, "The inside seems to be a kind of hub, perhaps a council room from before the place was abandoned."

"Interesting." Liam nodded, his expression unreadable as he calmly made his way inside.

The other hunters exchanged glances before following after their carefree raid leader.

Inside, the building looked exactly as Group 4’s leader had described: a vast hall carved beneath the tree, with numerous chairs seemingly grown from the ground itself—each one appearing to be shaped from the very wood of the tree.

Etched into the walls were ancient hieroglyphs, seemingly chronicling the history of a long-forgotten civilization.

"Hey, isn’t that a fairy?" Hana suddenly called out, drawing everyone’s attention.

On one of the wooden walls was a carving depicting several humanoid figures with insect-like wings, floating above what appeared to be a thriving civilization of humans.

"Wait... are those supposed to be elves?" Jayce asked, unable to hide his curiosity as he noted the elongated, narrow ears of the figures standing below.

"Perhaps we’ve stumbled upon a remnant of the fairy race’s world," Liam said thoughtfully, his eyes scanning the grand hall once more.

The place had long since been overrun by vines and shrubs, nature reclaiming what was once lost. Yet at the far end of the hall, perched on a throne elevated several tiers above the rest, sat a skeleton. Vines and roots had grown through its empty ribcage and skull, entwining its remains as if to anchor it to the throne for eternity.

All eyes, including Gwen’s, were drawn to its solemn, regal posture.

Her brow furrowed as unease prickled at the back of her neck. Something about the skeleton’s presence didn’t sit right. Her instincts screamed a warning, but before she could voice her concerns, several other hunters had already begun approaching the corpse.

"Is this supposed to be an elf’s body? Maybe the leader of this village?" asked one of the hunters, a burly man from Group 3, his hand axe loosely gripped at his side.

He began to climb the steps toward the throne, each footstep echoing in the quiet, vine-choked hall. The others remained at the base, watching his movements with a mixture of anticipation and caution.

Reaching the top without incident, he hesitated for a moment, then began examining the throne. Still, nothing happened.

He let out a sigh of relief. "Doesn’t seem like there’s anything here," he called down, shifting his attention to the skeleton seated before him.

"Sorry about this..." he muttered awkwardly, and with the head of his axe, began carefully prodding around the corpse.

"Nothing here, either." He sighed again, turning to descend—only to pause, his eyes narrowing.

There, nestled deep within the tangled vines coiling through the skeleton’s chest, something shimmered. It was faint, but unmistakable: a strange amethyst glow, pulsing dimly from within the ribcage.

Curious, he leaned closer. But before he could reach in to investigate further, the glow pulsed—this time with life.

He stumbled back, startled.

But it was already too late.

Swoosh!

Putch!

The sound of flesh being pierced tore through the silence.

Before anyone could react, a long, tendril-like vine lashed out from the corpse, impaling the burly hunter through the chest in a single brutal strike.

In an instant, the mood within the hall turned grim.