CHAPTER 19: CHAPTER 18: INSIDE THE FOREST

The survivors followed the masked man and stepped into the forest with no enthusiasm whatsoever.

The moment they crossed the first line of trees, they instantly moved closer to each other.

None of them had ever set foot this deep before. All they had known their entire lives were vague warnings and stories passed around the village.

But now that they were inside, they understood it was not a normal forest at all.

The trees were unnaturally tall, their trunks thick and dark, their branches so densely tangled that they blocked the sunlight until the ground below was drowned in darkness.

Except for a few weak rays leaking through the leaves.

Fear was written clearly on every face.

Only Oliver looked slightly less afraid, though still tense as he watched every movement around them.

He had seen the creatures that lived here with his own eyes, and that alone made him more wary than the others.

Even so, the only thing giving him a little bit of reassurance was the masked man walking ahead of them, completely unfazed.

The masked man kept scanning his surroundings without pause, glancing behind him every now and then.

Oliver also noticed Teal hiding inside the man’s coat.

That had been part of their deal before leaving the village, to keep her hidden from the others, to make sure she didn’t run off and break their agreement, and most importantly to avoid attracting the beasts that fed on spirits.

The sage tried to maintain his usual confident appearance, but it was a clear failure.

Sadness covered his face, just like it covered everyone else’s. None of them had processed what had happened yet.

The deaths of most of the villagers, their friends, their relatives, all the people they knew... then the terrifying transformation of the Great Autumn Spirit. Everything felt too big to grasp.

And now they had to leave their home for an outside world they only knew through stories.

A man leaned toward his companion and whispered.

"How do you think the outside world looks...?"

"Is this really the time for that?"

"It’s not like we have anything else to do."

His companion leaned closer and lowered his voice even more.

"Keep it down. We don’t want to anger that man."

He nodded toward the masked figure, but the first man replied,

"And why should I be scared of him? Isn’t he the one protecting us?"

"Maybe. But he doesn’t exactly radiate safety. He might change his mind and blast your head off with that strange weapon of his if he thinks you talk too much."

The first man swallowed and went quiet.

At the rear, the old man walked with difficulty, each step slower than the last. A man and a woman supported him from both sides.

Ahead of them, a woman held her young daughter’s hand. The little girl kept staring at the masked man the entire way.

As for the masked man, he didn’t look back at them once. His eyes never stopped scanning the forest.

After hours of walking, exhaustion became painfully visible.

No one dared speak, but Oliver saw the struggle and stepped closer to walk beside the masked man.

"Everyone is tired. We haven’t slept in a long time. We need to stop and rest."

The masked man turned toward him.

"There’s no time to rest. We have to get out of the forest as fast as possible."

Oliver’s face tightened.

"There are elderly people and children. They can’t keep up at this pace."

The masked man replied plainly.

"I only see one old man and two children among you. Whoever can’t keep up will simply be left behind."

The moment those cold words left his mouth, voices erupted behind them. Exhaustion and hunger had pushed everyone past their limit.

One man whispered bitterly to his friend, pointing at the masked man.

"Told you. He might change his mind at any moment."

And beside him, the man who had first doubted the masked man in the tavern grumbled.

"You want us to die from exhaustion and starvation? We’re humans, not beasts like you!"

But the masked man walked on, completely unmoved.

Until Teal lifted her head from inside his coat.

"Exhausting them to death is not part of our deal. They’re humans. Not like you. Even spirits get tired."

The masked man stopped walking, recalculating. Then he finally turned to the group.

"We’ll look for a place to rest."

The tension dropped instantly.

He continued moving through the dense trees until a massive rocky opening appeared. A wide cave.

But as they approached, corpses surrounded the entrance.

Small gray creatures, their fur long and soaked in gray blood, their heads smashed in and limbs twisted.

Most of the survivors recoiled, some covering their mouths, while the mother pulled her daughter close.

Gray blood coated the rocks, and the stench of rotting bodies filled the air. Huge claw marks traced from deep inside the cave outwards.

The masked man raised his hand and gestured toward the entrance.

"We’ll rest here."

Protests exploded immediately.

"Here?! In this place?!"

"Don’t you see the bodies?"

"This isn’t a place for humans!"

The masked man cut them off.

"Anyone who objects can keep walking alone."

Silence. None of them wanted to continue through the forest alone.

In the end, they entered one by one. The interior of the cave was wide.

Small openings in the rocky ceiling allowed soft light to filter through.

Gray corpses were scattered along the sides, some leaning against the walls, others sprawled on the ground beside weapons made of bone and stone.

And there were human bones too. Small and large. Some broken, some bearing teeth marks.

Oliver recognized the place. This was the same cave where he’d seen the masked man throw the bottle of monster blood.

Inside, the cave split into four deep tunnels.

The masked man pointed at the sage and then at Oliver.

"The child, the sage, and I will explore the rest of the cave. The rest of you, stay here."

No one liked the decision, but exhaustion had crushed their resistance.

They dropped to the ground. Some fell asleep instantly. Others dropped their belongings carelessly. A few stayed close to the entrance for safety.

Meanwhile, the masked man lifted his gun and walked toward the tunnels, with Oliver and the sage following him in heavy silence.