Morning arrived quietly.
Not with sunlight, But with color.
The endless darkness between the trees slowly faded into deep shades of blue and grey while thin streams of pale dawn filtered through the canopy overhead.
Mist drifted across the forest floor beneath them, curling around roots and stone like wandering spirits. The air felt colder now.
Fresh.
Calm.
Ryker remained awake against the trunk, lazily watching the forest below while occasionally fighting off sleep himself. Nothing dangerous had appeared during the remainder of the night.
Thankfully.
One nightmare-filled evening had already been enough. Below them, the horses stirred quietly near the ridge.
The wounded one tested its injured leg carefully before lowering its head toward the grass again.
Better than before.
Ryker exhaled softly.
"…Good."
Beside him, Randell finally shifted slightly from sleep as faint morning light touched the branches overhead.
His eyes opened instantly.
Alert immediately.
No confusion.
No grogginess.
Ryker noticed and frowned.
"…That's unsettling."
Randell blinked once.
"What is."
"You wake up like you were never asleep."
Randell sat upright slowly, adjusting the bandage around his wounded arm.
"…I was asleep."
"Your face says otherwise."
Ryker stretched again with visible suffering.
Several joints cracked loudly.
"…Meanwhile I feel like I got beaten with a chair."
Randell glanced downward toward the horses.
"We should move before full daylight."
Ryker followed his gaze.
The fog still covered most of the lower forest.
Traveling now would conceal their movements better.
"…Yeah."
He stood carefully on the branch.
"And preferably before another oversized monster decides we look edible."
Randell dropped silently from the tree first.
Landing without sound beneath the roots below.
Ryker stared down at him.
"…You really enjoy making normal people feel inadequate."
No response came back.
"…Right."
The forest remained quiet as both prepared to continue their journey beneath the cold early dawn.
A FEW HOUR BACK BEFORE DAWN.
Cyan rested upon a distant branch highabove the forest floor, his body motionless while his consciousness drifted elsewhere entirely.
The skill Reaper's Grip remained active throughout the night.
His mind no longer viewed the world through human eyes alone.
Instead Through steel.
Two hovering swords glided soundlessly through the darkness like hunting phantoms, their sharpened edges reflecting fractured moonlight as they patrolled the forest around him.
Cyan's senses flowed directly through the blades, allowing him to perceive every movement beneath the canopy with terrifying precision.
Nothing approached unnoticed.
A massive serpent slithered silently through the roots below, its body thick as a tree trunk and covered in black scales slick with venom.
The sword descended instantly.
A silver flash.
The serpent's head separated cleanly from its body before it even realized death had arrived. Elsewhere, a pack of night stalkers crept between the trees with glowing crimson eyes. The second blade pierced through all three in rapid succession.
Blood painted the leaves.
The corpses never reached the tree.
Hours passed.
The swords continued their merciless dance across the forest. A horned beast resembling a malformed boar collapsed with its skull split open.
A massive spider fell from the branches after losing half its body mid-leap. Even a shadow panther attempting to stalk beneath the canopy was reduced to a twitching corpse after both swords carved through its spine simultaneously.
All night long.
The forest fed the blades.
As dawn approached.
Meanwhile, several hundred meters away, Randell and Ryker still rested within their own massive tree hidden beneath thick layers of leaves. Ryker remained awake against the trunk, quietly keeping watch while Randell slept across the opposite branch.
Time stretched onward slowly.
Cold winds whispered through the canopy while distant insects chirped beneath the endless darkness.
Occasionally, the howl of wolves echoed faintly through the far reaches of the forest before fading once more into silence.
Time crawled forward.
Eventually, the horizon began to pale. Dawn approached.
The first traces of early morning light filtered through the trees, transforming dew-covered leaves into shimmering fragments of silver and gold.
Cyan's crimson eyes snapped open instantly as his consciousness returned fully to his body. A dull ache ran through his muscles from remaining motionless on the branch throughout the night.
The floating swords slowly drifted back toward him before hovering silently at his sides like obedient guardians returning to their master.
Below the tree, The forest floor had become a graveyard. Monster corpses littered the earth in every direction.
Decapitated serpents.
Dismembered beasts.
Creatures pinned against trees by swords driven through bone and flesh alike. Blood soaked the roots beneath the canopy.
Cyan stared downward calmly.
"…Efficient."
His breath escaped in visible mist against the cold dawn air.
"What a miserable night"
He thought while stretching his stiff limbs carefully.
"Thank the heavens it isn't winter. Otherwise death was eminent without proper equipment."
The swords spun once around him before settling into formation overhead.
Then.
Cyan vanished.
A violent burst of speed exploded through the branches as he launched himself across the canopy with terrifying momentum. Leaves scattered behind him while tree limbs bent violently from the sheer force of his movement.
His crimson eyes glowed faintly beneath the early morning light.
Focused.
Relentless.
MEANWHILE....
Back within the temporary Ranon encampment, dawn arrived far more peacefully. The world remained hushed beneath soft golden light while the nearby river flowed gently through the forest outskirts. Wind stirred through tents and unfinished wooden structures as insects hummed quietly within the waking grasslands.
Gradually, the settlement began stirring to life. Villagers emerged from tents.
Workers prepared tools.
Smoke rose from early fires.
The rhythm of rebuilding resumed once more.
Lyriel already stood near the construction sites overseeing repairs with calm authority while nearby, Ryan remained wrapped tightly beneath several blankets, still battling the cold.
Mirai and Marilyn remained beside him, tending to him despite his repeated complaints that he was
"perfectly fine."
Far away from the camp, Cyan surged across the forest relentlessly. Broken branches and scattering leaves marked his passage while the morning forest roared with birdsong and distant wildlife beneath the rising sun.
He never slowed.
And time never waited as the entire day passed by from morning—Noon
Util Evening.
Finally the day nearing its final hours and twilight threatening to reclaim the sky.
Randell and Ryker finally crested a small hill overlooking the remains of Ranon.
Both froze instantly.
Disbelief.
Horror.
Pain.
All crashed into them at once.
Because Ranon— Was gone.
Where the village once stood now rested only a massive crater carved into the earth itself. Jagged blackened edges stretched endlessly outward like wounds torn into the land by some monstrous claw.
No homes remained.
No streets.
No laughter.
No signs of life.
Only emptiness.
A void so vast even the wind seemed unwilling to cross it.
"…Nothing,"
Randell whispered quietly.
The words felt hollow.
Dead.
Boots pressing against charred earth with faint crunching sounds that echoed unnaturally across the silence. Ryker followed behind him without speaking.
Randell's eyes remained locked onto the crater as memories surfaced violently within his mind. Dust-covered streets filled with children. Warm evenings spent among villagers he once considered family.
Fresh bread drifting from communal ovens.
Simple laughter beneath peaceful skies.
Gone.
All of it gone.
A broken roar suddenly tore from his throat.
"AHHHHHHH!!!!!!!"
Blue lightning erupted violently across the ground the moment his fist slammed into the ash-covered earth.
Aura crackled outward in jagged arcs, scorching the soil around him as grief and fury exploded together.
Ryker stared silently into the crater while the blue light reflected within his eyes.
"A dragon did this…?"
The very thought felt impossible.
The destruction was too complete.
Too overwhelming.
Even the wind seemed afraid of the place.
Ryker's fingers trembled then curdled.
Fist clenched, no other sound.
The face of a fully grown man controlling a mix of Unbridled emotions.
They thought they were ready.
But in person it was even horrible to stay calm.