Lilya's first slash shot fast—straight toward the neck of the Level 35 Hobgoblin.
SHHK—!!
But—
CLANG!!
The monster's iron sword rose just in time. The rough, rusted blade blocked Lily's [Sword Slash] with a heavy impact that sparked small flames in the dark night. The Hobgoblin didn't retreat. Didn't waver. Its hollow eyes stared at Lilya with a hatred that no longer knew whose it was.
"GRAAAK—!!"
It pushed Lilya's sword aside with brutal strength, then immediately countered—a savage horizontal swing aimed at Lilya's stomach.
[Quick Step]
WHOOSH—!!
Lilya's body vanished from in front of the monster, reappearing two meters to the left. Her breathing was still heavy, but her eyes remained sharp. She didn't have time for a long fight. Cecilia was waiting.
But the Level 38 and Level 40 Hobgoblins were already moving to surround her from the other sides.
The spiked wooden shield pushed forward, narrowing her space to move. The Level 40 Hobgoblin's greatsword rose high, ready to strike at any moment. They gave her no time to breathe. No room to think.
But Lilya didn't need to think.
[Battle Instinct]
The world narrowed. Their movements—readable. Their weaknesses—visible. She just needed to move.
WHOOSH—!!
Her body shot forward.
Several hundred meters from Lilya's battle, Rhett's team had reached an area where the trees were beginning to thin out. The ground beneath their feet changed, from the damp, root-filled forest floor to hard earth that had long been untouched by the canopy's shadow.
Rhett raised his hand. "Stop."
They stopped. Heavy breaths escaped their mouths, partly from exhaustion, partly because the air was beginning to feel different. No longer cold like deep in the forest. But warm. Strangely warm.
Rhett took a rough breath, then looked back. His eyes fell on Harlan, who stood slightly apart from the others. The middle-aged man was still staring into the darkness where Lilya had disappeared, his face lined with worry he couldn't hide.
"Harlan."
The call made Harlan flinch slightly. He turned, trying to smile—but it felt forced.
"Still worried about Lilya and Cecilia?" Rhett asked. It wasn't a question that needed an answer, but Harlan nodded slowly.
"As their parent..." his voice was soft, nearly breaking mid-sentence. "Of course I'm worried."
He took a long breath, trying to calm himself. His rough hands gripped his waist pouch tightly—once full of his homemade potions, now empty.
"But..."
Harlan's gaze shifted toward the thinning trees in the distance.
"...seeing Lilya cut down so many Treants and destroy the Elder Treant's core..."
His smile finally appeared. Weak. Tired. But warm.
"...I feel at ease."
He sighed.
"But also worried."
Kael, who had been rubbing his sleepy eyes, suddenly interjected. "Of course. Because that many [Berserk] monsters isn't normal, right?"
He looked at Bram and Darian alternately. His brow furrowed, his usually relaxed face now serious.
"What do you think's causing it?"
Bram shook his head. His axe, which had been resting on his shoulder, he now lowered, the tip of its blade sinking slightly into the ground.
"I don't know," he answered honestly. But then he raised his head, staring into the dark forest. "...but I speculate there's someone... or something... causing those Treants to go [Berserk]."
The atmosphere suddenly fell silent.
Kael frowned. "Someone? Or something? You mean another monster?"
Bram shrugged. "Could be. But Treants that high level... they don't usually get contaminated by just any power. It would take a powerful source of magic. Or..." He paused. His eyes narrowed. "...a puppeteer."
"A puppeteer?" Kael repeated, his tone disbelieving.
Darian, who had been silent, finally spoke. "Bram's right." His voice was low, flat as usual. But there was something beneath that tone—vigilance honed over years of experience. "[Berserk] monsters don't move in formation. But look at them earlier..."
He turned toward Rhett.
"The Treants moved like an army. As if someone was commanding them."
Rhett nodded slowly. "And that means..."
He didn't finish the sentence.
Because they all knew.
If there was a puppeteer behind all of this—then that puppeteer was still somewhere. Maybe in the forest. Maybe in the same place where Cecilia was.
Silence.
The night wind blew gently, carrying the remnants of wood dust from the Elder Treant's ruins. Dry leaves fell around them, dancing slowly before touching the ground.
Harlan gripped his waist pouch tighter.
"Lilya..." he whispered, barely audible. "...be careful."
Rhett sighed deeply. He patted Harlan's shoulder gently.
"We can't help Lilya right now. Our job is to return to the village and make sure everything is safe there."
He looked ahead, toward the thinning trees. Between the gaps of the remaining trunks, faintly visible was the night sky—but not as usual.
There was light in the distance.
Golden yellow.
Pale bluish-white.
Flashing.
Kael noticed it first. "Hey... look at that."
All heads turned.
Among the thinning trees, the night sky in the distance looked different. Not pitch black as it should be. But bright. Pulsing. As if there was a storm silently raging at the edge of the horizon.
"...that's coming from the village," Rhett said softly. His face tensed.
Harlan immediately turned quickly. His heart beat harder. "What—"
BOOOOMMMM—!!
A loud explosion shook the ground where they stood.
The vibration reached their soles, traveling up to their shins, making their knees feel weak for a moment.
Rhett didn't wait any longer.
"Move, quickly!!"
Without pause, they ran.
The ground shook beneath their feet. The vibrations grew stronger each time an explosion sounded in the distance, like the heartbeat of a giant beast running amok. Their steps staggered a few times, but no one stopped.
The distance to the village was still quite far. The trees were still fairly dense on some sides, and the darkness of night still hid the uneven terrain. But they kept running—because stopping meant leaving the village in danger.
Harlan ran with gasping breath. His lungs felt squeezed. His legs felt heavier, as if his entire body was being forced beyond its limits. His wife was in the village. Cecilia was still missing. And Lilya—the girl he considered like his own daughter—was still fighting alone in the depths of the forest against monsters he couldn't even begin to imagine.
He couldn't stop.
But his body was beginning to falter.
And in the midst of that despair—
a voice.
"...descendant... of Veldrin..."
Harlan startled.
His head whipped left and right. His eyes swept the darkness between the trees, trying to find the source of that voice—but there was no one. Only the shadows of tree trunks and bushes swaying gently in the night wind.
"A voice... whose this time?" he whispered quietly, his breath still racing.
He recognized the pattern of speech. Broken. Heavy. Like someone struggling to utter each word.
Just like the Elder Treant.
But not the same.
This voice was different. Younger. More resolute. Though it still sounded like it came from a creature not accustomed to speaking human language.
"What are you—"
Harlan almost said "Treant" again—but the voice cut him off before he could.
"...I will... help... all of you... reach... the village..."
Harlan's pace slowed slightly, not from doubt—but from disbelief at what he'd just heard.
"Follow... this... path..."
And suddenly—
the trees ahead of them moved.
Not falling. Not shifting slightly.
But moving.
Massive trunks creaked loudly, old wood groaning like joints awakening after a long sleep. Giant roots gripped the earth, pulling themselves slowly—then stepping.
One step.
Two steps.
The trees walked.
Creaking.
The sound of old wood scraping echoed from all directions.
CRRRRKKK—
Rhett, running at the front, immediately sensed something was wrong. His eyes narrowed. Instincts honed over years of combat reacted immediately.
"Stop!"
His voice was firm.
Everyone immediately halted.
Kael nearly slipped from stopping too abruptly. Bram and Darian automatically raised their weapons, while Harlan was still bent over, catching his ragged breath.
No monsters.
No attacks.
But the surrounding trees kept moving.
Giant roots tore themselves from the ground with terrible sounds. Ancient trunks, bigger than any human body, slowly stepped aside.
One by one.
As if the entire forest was relocating.
"...those aren't Treants... are they?" Kael said quietly.
No one answered immediately.
Rhett observed every movement of those trees with full vigilance.
But the longer he watched, the clearer one thing became.
He sensed no threat.
No killing intent.
No pressure like he'd felt facing the Elder Treant or the hordes of Berserk monsters.
The trees were just moving.
Opening a path.
As if inviting them to pass.
His gaze then shifted to Harlan.
The middle-aged man was still taking long, repeated breaths, trying to calm his exhausted body.
"Harlan..." Rhett called.
Harlan looked up.
"What do you think is happening?"
Harlan was silent for a few moments before answering.
"...I heard it again."
Kael frowned. "Heard it again? From the Elder Treant?"
Harlan shook his head.
"No."
He stared toward the still-moving trees.
"From another voice."
"Another voice?" repeated Bram.
Harlan nodded.
"Its voice was gentle."
He paused for a moment, trying to remember.
"...a woman."
Silence enveloped them.
"But..." Harlan continued slowly, "...just like the Elder Treant, she seemed to have difficulty speaking."
Rhett listened seriously.
"Difficulty?"
"As if she was holding something back."
Harlan's voice grew quieter.
"Like she was struggling to get a message to us."
They all exchanged glances.
Earlier, during their journey away from the Elder Treant's location, Harlan had told them everything.
About the voice he heard.
About how the Elder Treant spoke to him.
About the warning given before its death.
At first, they had doubted.
Not because they thought Harlan was lying.
Quite the opposite.
They knew Harlan too well.
He wasn't the type to make up stories.
That was why they believed him.
Maybe they didn't understand what was happening.
But they believed him.
"Amazing..." Kael murmured.
He stared at the moving trees.
"...it's like the entire forest is being commanded to move."
No one argued.
Because that's exactly what it looked like.
Slowly.
Little by little.
A new path began to form.
Giant trees shifted left and right, creating a wide corridor that had never existed before.
The ground ahead looked straight.
Not winding.
Not filled with roots.
As if someone had deliberately opened the fastest route to somewhere.
Suddenly Harlan raised his hand.
"Be quiet for a moment."
Everyone immediately fell silent.
Even Kael, usually the most talkative, closed his mouth.
Harlan closed his eyes.
Listening.
A few seconds passed.
Then his expression changed.
"...she's speaking again."
"What did she say?" Rhett asked.
Harlan furrowed his brow.
The voice came with long pauses between each word.
Weak.
Broken.
As if each sentence required great effort to utter.
"...at the... end... all of... you... will... find..."
"...a... portal... to... the village..."
Harlan's eyes immediately opened.
"Portal?" he repeated without thinking.
Kael blinked.
"Portal?"
Rhett himself immediately remembered something.
An old portal.
In the village square.
A portal that hadn't been used for a very long time.
Even most of the younger villagers probably didn't know it existed.
"That means the one in the village square, right?" Kael asked, turning to Bram.
Bram nodded.
"Yes."
"Is there something about that portal?"
"Patience," Rhett said.
He saw Harlan still seemed to be listening to something.
"It seems Harlan isn't finished."
They fell silent again.
Only the sound of creaking trees could be heard.
"There... many... monsters..."
"Your... current... condition... is... weak..."
Harlan fell silent. He was fully aware of their current condition.
Potions were gone.
Their bodies were tired and wounded.
Not taking that path was the right choice.
"Harlan... what did she say?" Rhett asked.
Harlan caught his breath, still gasping. His body felt heavy, his eyelids drooping from the fatigue that had been building since afternoon. But he couldn't stop. Not now. His trembling hand wiped the sweat from his forehead, then he looked at Rhett with eyes that, though tired, still held determination.
"She said..."
He paused for a moment, recalling the broken voice he'd heard in his head.
"...at the end of this path... there's a portal."
Rhett frowned. "A portal? To where?"
Harlan sighed. "To the village. She didn't say exactly where, but it likely leads to that old unused portal in the village square."
Kael whistled softly. "That old portal that's never been used, right?"
Harlan nodded. "Yes. But..." He bit his lip briefly, his voice growing softer. "...to reach that portal, we have to pass through a path filled with monsters."