The forest had fallen silent after the battle. The echoes of clashing steel and roaring monsters had long faded, leaving behind only the faint rustling of leaves and the heavy breathing of those who remained standing.
No one spoke at first.
The soldiers were exhausted.
Some leaned against trees, struggling to steady their breathing, while others dropped to one knee, gripping their weapons as though letting go might cause them to collapse completely.
The ground was still marked by the aftermath of the fight.
Scorched patches of earth.
Broken branches.
Dark stains where corrupted creatures had fallen.
Shira moved through the group slowly, her staff glowing faintly as she continued casting support spells.
"Divine Blessing…"
A soft golden light spread outward, wrapping around the wounded and exhausted soldiers.
Their breathing steadied.
Their strength slowly returned.
It wasn't a full recovery, but it was enough to move.
Collen stood nearby, wiping sweat from his face as he glanced toward the deeper forest.
"They were stronger than before…" he muttered. "And they kept regenerating."
Clara said nothing.
She stood still, her sword lowered slightly as she looked in the direction the monsters had come from.
Her arm trembled faintly from the strain of the battle, but her grip never loosened.
"We can't assume that was all of them," the head mage said after a moment.
His voice cut through the silence.
"If those creatures are being created somewhere deeper within the forest, then stopping now would only allow them to grow stronger."
The soldiers slowly rose to their feet.
Weapons were lifted again.
Formation began to rebuild.
Lucius stood at the back, silent.
His body still felt heavy, the lingering weakness refusing to fade completely.
The group was already moving forward. The deeper the group moved into the forest, the more unsettling the surroundings became. What had once seemed like an ordinary woodland gradually revealed signs of corruption spreading through the land like a sickness slowly consuming everything it touched.
The air felt heavy and unnatural, carrying a faint scent that reminded the royal mages of stagnant magic.
Above them, the branches of the towering trees intertwined so tightly that sunlight struggled to reach the forest floor. What little light slipped through revealed disturbing patterns spreading across the earth.
Black veins.
Thin lines of corruption crawled through the soil, wrapping around tree roots and creeping across fallen branches. The deeper they went, the more numerous the veins became, as though the forest itself had been infected.
No one trusted the silence.
The memory of the monstrous wolves they had fought earlier still lingered.
Eventually, the head mage raised his hand.
"Stop."
Ahead of them
A house, or what remained of one.
The structure stood half-broken between thick trees, its walls cracked, its roof partially collapsed. Claw marks ran across the surface, and the door hung loosely, barely attached.
"Spread out. Search it."
The soldiers moved.
Inside, the destruction told a story of violence.
Overturned tables.
Broken shelves.
Shattered glass.
Strange symbols carved into wood.
Then
"Research notes…" a mage muttered.
"…curse concentration… manifestation stability…"
Silence followed.
Someone had been studying the curse.
Before anyone could react
Then one of the creatures noticed him.
The monster turned suddenly and lunged forward with terrifying speed.
Lucius barely had time to react before the creature's massive claw struck him.
The impact was brutal.
His body was thrown across the clearing before crashing violently against the ground several meters away.
Pain exploded through his body.
Blood spilt across the forest floor from the deep wounds torn across his chest and arms.
For a brief moment, everything went silent.
Then something impossible happened.
Instead of spreading across the ground, the blood began sliding backwards across the soil as though pulled by an invisible force.
The dark red liquid crept across the forest floor before flowing back into the wounds it had come from.
The torn flesh slowly closed.
His power activated.
But the damage had already been done.
Lucius's vision blurred as darkness slowly closed in around him.
He collapsed onto the ground.
The Monster turned to the abandoned house
The ground shook.
A deep, violent tremor.
"Outside!"
They rushed out.
And froze.
More creatures were coming.
But these times were different.
They were larger than before.
Their bodies pulsed unnaturally, as though they were barely holding their form together.
"Form up!" the head mage shouted.
They didn't get the chance before the monsters attacked first, or were able to save Lucius.
One slammed into the front line
And the formation shattered instantly.
"Spread out!" Clara shouted.
She stepped forward, sheathing her sword to attack.
"Crimson Edge!"
Her blade cut deep
But the creature's body split apart on its own, reforming beside her.
Her eyes widened.
"What—?!"
"Blade Rush!"
Liam surged in with confidence, his sword striking repeatedly, but it was of no use; the creature broke.
"You've got to be kidding me"
This is causing their formation to be repeatedly broken.
Don't break formation, that's what the monsters want the head mage shouted.
Collen moved forward, attacking using lightning
"Storm Lance!"
Collen's lightning struck multiple fragments
But instead of destroying them
They reacted violently.
The pieces exploded outward.
"Fall back!" he shouted.
Shira raised her staff quickly despite the exhaustion in her face.
"Divine Blessing!"
Golden light spread, stabilising the group.
"They're unstable! Don't attack blindly!" she shouted.
Another creature charged.
It didn't slow.
It crashed into the soldiers
Screams filled the forest.
Bodies were thrown.
The battlefield descended into chaos.
Lucius stood at the edge.
Something inside him reacted.
Violently.
The creatures
They felt connected.
Then
They stopped.
All of them.
The battlefield went silent.
The heroes were wondering what was going on
Then
The corruption surged.
A wave of dark energy exploded outward.
I have a bad feeling about this, shira said
"Get back—!" The head mage shouted
Too late.
The pressure hit.
Clara dropped to one knee.
Liam staggered.
"…What is this…?"
Collen's magic collapsed.
Shira's staff slipped from her hands.
One by one
They fell.
Soldiers, heroes.
All of them.
The weight crushed them.
Until
Only silence remained, and only one figure still stood.
Lucius.
His breathing was heavy.
His body trembled
But the corruption around him did not suppress him instead it responded.
The monsters turned.
All of them.
Their eyes locked onto him.
Lucius exhaled slowly.
"…So I'm the only one left."
The first creature lunged.
Lucius didn't retreat.
He stepped forward.
The moment it reached him
He caught it.
The impact had an effect on the ground beneath his feet
But he held on.
The corruption surged toward him.
The creature's body twisted violently
Then collapsed.
The second creature immediately attacked.
Lucius moved.
Faster, dodging and driving his hand into its body.
But this time
The energy didn't disappear.
It remained.
Swirling and unstable.
Lucius's breathing grew heavier.
"…This again…" as the pain started affecting him.
Sharp.
His body screamed, but he held on.
The third creature rushed him.
Lucius raised his arm
And the energy reacted.
It surged outward.
For a brief moment
The creature's form broke apart mid-motion
And collapsed before reaching him.
Lucius froze slightly.
"…It's different…"
The fourth creature charged.
Faster than the others.
Lucius stepped forward again.
No hesitation.
This time
He didn't just absorb, but he struck.
The corrupted energy around him lashed outward as his attack landed.
The creature's body destabilised
Then, it shattered completely.
The last one roared.
It rushed him with everything it had.
Lucius stood still.
Barely.
Then he moved.
One step.
Forward.
Their clash
Shook the clearing.
The creature broke apart instantly.
Its energy surged
And was consumed.
Silence.
The forest stilled.
The battle was over.
Lucius stood there.
For a moment.
Then
The pain hit fully.
His body collapsed
After a while, they started waking up. Clara was the first to wake.
"…What… happened…?"
She looked around.
The monsters were gone.
The battlefield was destroyed.
"…Who did this…?" Collen muttered, waking up as well.
No one answered but they were all confused.
Then, Liam, upon waking up, saw Lucius lying unconscious on the ground and started mocking him again.
"…He fainted again," Liam said coldly.
But no one realised
He had been the last one standing.
At the edge of the battlefield where the concentrated curse was after the battle, a black crystal lay among the remains.
The head mage picked it up slowly.
"This… is new…"
Somewhere far from there someone was watching.
Before him, fragments of dark crystal floated slowly, each one pulsing faintly as if it were alive.
Then
One of the crystals cracked.
A faint image flickered within it.
The battlefield, fallen bodies and survivors
"…No."
The voice was quiet.
Cold.
The crystal shattered in his grasp, dissolving into dust that scattered into the air.
"They should not have survived."
The remaining crystals trembled slightly, reacting to the shift in the atmosphere.
"…So why?"
The image flickered again.
This time
It focused on a single figure.
Lucius.
The figure went still.
"…You."
For a brief moment, the air around him distorted slightly.
Not rage.
Not frustration.
But something sharper.
Interest.
"…So you are the variable."
The black veins across the ground pulsed faintly.
From behind him, a voice echoed carefully from the darkness.
"What are your orders?"
A long silence followed.
Then
"Adjust the process."
His voice returned to its calm, controlled state.
"But increase the pressure."
"If this experiment fails…"
A slight pause.
"…we proceed to the next."
"And the survivors?"
Another pause.
"…They are no longer irrelevant."
The crystals cracked one after another.
"They will be tested again."
The darkness deepened.