Ordric strode up, his expression unreadable but his tone brisk. “The camp’s been cleared. Rhalin’s team reported minimal casualties, and we mao recover some stolen supplies. Good work holding the eastern fnk.”
Kaede g Kirara, who had fallen unusually quiet siheir frontation earlier. “Yeah... That's what we were doing." She turo Ordric. "Did we get the leader? Where is he?"
Ordric’s jaw tightened, and the nky woman from earlier, her name was Veeno, replied. “Gone. Slipped out during the fusion. Tracks lead deeper into the forest.”
Kaede crossed her arms. “You’re letting them go?”
“No,” Ordric replied sharply. “We’ve sent scouts ahead to firm their dire, but this isn’t some mindless pursuit. The forest of Jura is uhe storm dragon's influence.”
Kaede frowned. “But we ’t let them regroup. If they escape, they’ll just rebuild somewhere else.”
Ordric hesitated for a moment before nodding. “Fine. You, Kirara, Veeno, and I will track him down. The rest will stay here to secure the camp. But keep your wits about you—the forest is filled with mohat have adapted to the dragon's miasma.”
The group moved quickly, following faint tracks that twisted deeper into the forest. The further they went, the dehe trees became, their gnarled roots snaking across the ground like traps. Eventually, the air grew thid heavy, the faint calls of wildlife fading into an eerie silence.
Kaede felt the abrupt ge, the air growing colder, a stant chill on her skin, promising pain and brutal destru. "What is that?" No one answered, or maybe they didn't hear what she said. 'Artificia?'
'Why isn't anyone saying anything? Am I the only one who feel this wrongness?' Kaede ched her fists, the chill gnawing at her resolve. The sensation wasn’t just cold—it felt alive, crawling across her skin like unseen cws.
Kirara walked a few paces ahead, her movements brisk but still rexed, her earlier anger repced by a quiet determination. Kaede trailed behind her, casting wary g the shadows shiftiweerees.
It was nearly an hour before they spotted the signs of another camp—trampled grass, the remnants of a fire pit, and broken branches leading further into the darkness. Veeno raised a hand, signaling the group to stop.
“They’re close,” she murmured. “Stay sharp.”
Kaede adjusted the straps of her circur shield, a familiar knot of tension f in her chest. Artificia’s voice chimed in her mind, calm and precise.
Kaede’s stomach tightened. She g Kirara. “Hey maybe you should-"
Before Kirara could respond, a low, guttural growl rumbled through the air, sending a shiver down Kaede’s spine. From the shadows emerged a figure rger than any bandit they’d entered—a t creature with bck skin, jagged bck markiched across its body, oh, and a Fifteeer long elongated body.
A bck serpent.
“Damn,” Veeno muttered, stepping bastinctively. “That’s not your run-of-the-mill monster.”
Ordric didn’t flinch. “Formation!” he barked. “Kaede, keep him distracted. Britta, fnk him. I’ll cover the rear. Kirara-"
The snake didn’t wait for them to make the first move. With a hiss, it charged, its massive head swinging toward Kaede. She raised her shield just in time, the impact reverberating through her arms and f her back several paces.
“Kirara!” Kaede shouted.
Kirara stepped forward, her voice sharp and anding. “Sleep!”
The snake faltered but didn’t fall, shaking off the spell with a guttural hiss. Kirara’s eyes widened in shock. “It resisted?!”
Kaede tightened her grip on her shield. “Then we’ll do this the hard way!”
The battle that followed was unlike anything Kaede had faced before. The snake was relentless, each swing of its tail or head leaving craters in the ground. Kaede darted around, her shield intercepting blows that would have shattered the bones of her rades.
Veeno moved like an arrow, her movements graceful yet deadly. She struck with precision, aiming for the creature’s head, but her attacks seemed to do little more than e further.
“Ordric!” Kaede shouted, sweat dripping down her brow. “Fet defense! I'll protect you. I promise!”
“In that case!” Ordric called back, his sword a blur as he darted in to nd a shallow strike against the snake's side. The monster instantly tered, it's bsting into Ordric's skull.
[Loving sacrifice]
Ordric didn't so much as flinch wheack ected, resuming his atta the beast.
Behind Ordric, Kaede grunted, a trickle of blood going down her lips. "I really should have taken that rest."
<...>
"I heard that!"
With the battle raging on, the situation slowly leaned in their favour. Uo harm it's attackers, the monster was eventually felled.
Kaede lowered her shield, her hands trembling. “Is it… dead?”
Ordric approached cautiously, his sword at the ready. He k beside the falleure, studying it ily. “It is.”
Veeno frowned. "That was a B-rank monster. It shouldn't have been this close to the edge of the forest."
Kaede turo the adventurer. "The edge? I thought we were pretty far in "
Veeno shook her head. "No. The forest of Jura is quite massive. We're still on the edge of the forest."
The Forest of Jura stretched endlessly in all dires, shadows coiliween arees, promisis and dangers both. Kaede had heard of its size before, but hearing it was ohing—feeling it pressing down on them was another.
Veeno crouched he serpent’s carcass, studying its bck, slick scales. Her expression inched, her twin swords still drawn and at the ready. “I don’t like this,” she muttered, flig her gaze up to Ordric. “B-rank monsters don’t wahis far out. Not without a reason.”
"Something must be disturbing the forest then." Ordricluded. "Which means it's our time to leave."
Kaede was shocked. "What?"
Veeno nodded. "He's right. This forest is dangerous. The st time something simir happehe kingdom of Brumund was almost overrun by Army Ants. We have to retreat, a this to the adventurers guild."
"But we're so close." Kaede stared at them, her chest rising and falling as frustration ed inside her like a storm. She turo Kirara, desperate for someoo back her up. “Kirara, e on. You know I’m right. If we let him go, more people will die—guaranteed.” She let out a breath. "Who am I kidding, you don't even care."
Kirara hesitated, her silver hair falling over her face as she gnced between Kaede and the others. For a moment, she looked like she might say something, but then her shoulders sank.
Ordric said nothing as he turned, heading in the dire out of the forest of Jura. Veeno followed soon after, and then Kirara. Grittieeth, Kaede followed after them. 'Artificia you find him?'
'You don't even know what he looks like.' Kaede sunk her shoulders. 'Try anyway, ces are he's dressed just like his crew.' above the group, a tiny drone shot into sky moving farther into the forest.
From the er of her eye, she noticed Kirara gnce back at her. The look on her face was hard to read—, maybe, or something else Kaede couldn’t quite pce. But Kirara said nothing, choosing io keep pace with the others as they pushed toward safer ground.
---
The minutes crawled by, and the forest grew quieter, its unnatural silence pressing down like a weight. Kaede kept her gaze fixed on the dirt trail beh her boots, pretending to follow while her mind raced ahead.
Then Artificia’s voice chimed in.
Kaede’s heart skipped a beat. “Humanoid? Is it him?”
Kaede slowed her steps, her pulse quiing. She shot a goward the others—Ordric at the lead, Veeno just behind him, Kirara bringing up the middle. No one had noticed yet.
Now or never.
She darted off the path, her boots barely making a sound as she slipped into the shadowy underbrush.
Unknown to Kaede, Kirara watched her as she slipped into the forest. Thanks to her new passive skill [Battle Awareness] Kirara had a great perception of hostile territory and the forest of Jura was definitely a hostile territory.
Certain that Ordrid Veeno weren't paying attention, she slipped after her only friend.
---
Veeno turned, brow furrowing. “Where are the girls?” she sounded exasperated.
Ordric’s sharp gaze flicked to the empty spot where Kaede and Kirara had been moments before. “Damn it. Those fools!” He spun back to face the others. “Veeno, double back. Find them and drag them out of this forest if you have to.”
Veeno paled. “Wait, what if—”
“No ‘what ifs,’” Ordriapped. “If we leave them alohey're as good as dead.”
---
Kaede ran, dug under low-hanging branches and leaping narled roots that seemed to snatch at her feet. Her breath came hard, but she didn’t slow, Artificia’s instrus guiding her like an invisible thread.
The forest pressed in on all sides, the air colder than before, tinged with a sickly weight. Kaede could feel it deep in her bones.
Finally, she burst into a clearing, the ground uneven and covered in patches of scorched earth.
And there he was.
The bandit leader stood at the far edge of the clearing, his back to her. He was tall and broad-shouldered, his tattered cloak fring in the slight wind. A jagged, slightly rusted bde hung at his side, atered something low under his breath—words Kaede couldn’t quite hear.
“Found you,” she breathed, pnting her feet firmly as she raised her shield.
The man turned slowly, his faing into view. He was older than she expected, his skihered and scarred, eyes hollow and rimmed with shadows. But what struck her most was the purple colour of his skin, and the single horn on his forehead.
Kaede’s blood ran cold.
The man’s lips curled into a sigh. “Once again, you humans take what is mine.” he said, his voice like gravel. “And I'm supposed to just take it. Just another monster.”
Kaede tightened her grip on her shield, ign the tremor in her hands. “I don't wanna hear it.”
The man ughed, a broken, hollow sound. “You’re bold, I’ll give you that.” His free hand rose, red tendrils of energy swirling around his fingers like fire. “ing after me alone.”
Before Kaede could react, the man thrust his hand forward, and the red energy exploded toward her.
Kaede immediately raised her shield in front of her, defleg the bst but sending her skidding backward. Paihrough her arms as she dug her heels in, her shield abs what little energy slipped past.
“Cheap tricks won’t save you either,” the man said darkly, stalking toward her.
Kaede’s mind raced. "That hurt a lot more than expected.'
“Artificia,” she whispered, her voice steady despite the pounding of her heart. “What gives? Why am I so weak?”
Kaede’s eyes widened. "What!"
The bandit leader lunged, closing the distah frightening speed. Kaede raised her shield just in time, the man’s bde crashing against it with a deafening g. Sparks flew as she staggered uhe force of the blow, but she uedly held firm.
Even the bandit was surprised, as he distinued his attack, leaping ba caution.
With the new breathing room she had acquired, Kaede made a quick ge and her circur shield vanished, repced by her bck tower shield. "Bring it."