“Leah, take the flank!” Ethan shouted, his greatsword crashing down through another monkey as it leapt from the branches above. The blade split the creature nearly in half before continuing through the trunk behind it, bark exploding outward as the body hit the forest floor.
Leah nodded in confirmation and broke away from the group, disappearing into the dense undergrowth. She’d become quick at reading battlefields over the last few months. If there was a way through the swarm, she’d find it faster than anyone else.
“Keep moving,” Ethan ordered, stepping in front of Seb as another pair of monkeys bounded toward them. One launched from a branch overhead while the other rushed low through the ferns. Ethan pivoted, his sword carving through the airborne creature before he reversed the swing and caught the second across the chest. Blood sprayed across the surrounding foliage, but before the corpses had even struck the ground, three more shapes burst from deeper within the trees.
Ethan frowned. The numbers weren’t slowing. If anything, they were increasing.
He’d stopped counting kills a long time ago. Every monkey that fell seemed to be replaced by two more. They weren’t particularly strong individually—most barely reaching the low twenties—but they worked together remarkably well. In a swarm-tactic kind of way. It wasn’t enough to threaten Ethan outright, but it was more than enough to wear a group down through sheer persistence.
A screech echoed from the canopy as another monkey launched itself toward Seb.
The guide stepped forward and drove a sharp punch into the creature’s jaw. The monkey’s head snapped sideways as it crashed into a nearby tree before sliding to the ground.
Ethan’s eyes narrowed. The monster had hesitated. Only for the briefest instant, but just enough.
He’d noticed it several times over the last day. Every opponent Striker engaged seemed to falter at the last possible moment. A missed step. A delayed strike. A slight stumble that created the opening he needed. At first Ethan had assumed it was some kind of luck affinity. Then perhaps some passive skill that improved timing or reflexes. Now he was beginning to doubt both theories.
Something was happening. Something subtle, and it was starting to irritate him that he couldn’t figure it out.
Whatever the ability was, it allowed an unawakened, barehanded guide to survive among powerful monsters.
That wasn’t normal. A level twenty monster would, nine times out of ten, beat a level twenty human. Of course, that was only until cultivation became a factor. Then it shifted toward humans. But that was the point. Ethan could tell Striker hadn’t awakened his cultivation.
He was broken from his thoughts as the forest erupted into movement. Branches shook violently as another wave descended from above. Ethan stepped forward without thinking, aura flowing deeper into his muscles as he met the charge head-on. His greatsword became a wall of steel, every swing carrying enough force to pulp whatever it touched. Limbs flew through the air. Bodies crashed into trees. Yet no matter how many fell, more poured from deeper within the forest.
“We can’t keep this up!” Seb shouted, ducking beneath another monkey before palming it away.
“I know!”
Ethan severed another pair before glancing around. The trees stretched endlessly in every direction. Every shadow seemed to hide another pair of glowing eyes.
Leah burst back into view. Her breathing was heavy, strands of hair plastered across her forehead as another monkey dropped toward her from above. She didn’t even slow down. Her hand blurred.
[Silent Draw] cut the creature from the air.
“This way!” she shouted. “We need to go this way!”
Ethan didn’t waste time questioning her. He trusted her judgment and her skill.
A heavy swing cleared the immediate area, his blade dissecting three monkeys in one brutal arc. Ethan ripped it free and looked toward the others.
“Run.”
Seb hesitated.
“What about—”
“I’ll hold them.”
The older healer looked ready to argue. Striker solved the problem for him. The young guide grabbed Seb’s arm and practically dragged him after Leah.
“Move!”
Leah looked back only once.
“You’d better hurry!”
“I will.”
Another wave of monkeys burst from the canopy.
“Go!”
She gave a single nod before disappearing into the trees, Striker and Seb close behind.
Ethan watched them vanish, committing the direction to memory. Only then did he turn back.
The forest had gone strangely quiet.
Dozens of glowing yellow eyes stared back at him through the trees. Monkeys crouched on branches. Others clung to trunks. More emerged from the undergrowth, slowly surrounding him until the clearing disappeared beneath fur, claws, and bared teeth.
He loosened his grip on the greatsword before letting aura pour from his body.
The poison-green energy rolled outward in waves, swallowing the forest floor as every monkey instinctively recoiled from the sudden pressure.
“Let’s see how many of you I can kill before they get too far away.”
—~~—
Seb ran through the forest, weaving between trees as Leah led them deeper into the undergrowth. Branches whipped across his face while roots threatened to trip him every other step. He kept pouring healing magic through his own body, repairing tiny tears in his muscles as quickly as they formed. It allowed him to keep pace with people far younger than himself and let him use his body like he might have when he was forty years younger. Even after all this time, he found himself appreciating just how useful healing could be outside of treating injuries. Especially now that he could heal himself on command.
He chanced a look back just as Ethan disappeared from view.
The moment he looked ahead once more, the atmosphere changed. Seb felt it in his bones.
A pressure settled over the forest, heavy enough to make the hairs on the back of his neck stand upright. Whatever the armored man had done, it had woken something powerful up. His pace instinctively quickened.
Hopefully…
Hopefully Ethan was actually as strong as he looked.
Leah vaulted over a fallen log before pointing farther ahead.
“This way!”
“Where are we going?” Striker asked from beside Seb.
Leah didn’t answer. She simply kept running.
Seb frowned but followed anyway. At this point, he didn’t particularly care where they ended up. If Bonnie really was somewhere on this island, then every step forward brought him closer to finding her.
After another minute of sprinting, something finally registered. The monkeys had stopped. Seb glanced over his shoulder.
Nothing followed them. No screeches. No crashing branches. No movement at all.
The forest had become unnaturally quiet.
“…Why did they stop?” he muttered.
Before anyone could answer, Ethan burst through the trees ahead of them. His greatsword was already sheathed across his back.
Striker frowned. “What happened?”
Ethan didn’t so much as look at him.
“Run.”
The single word had barely left his mouth when the canopy behind him exploded into motion.
Trees shook violently. Leaves rained from above as dozens—perhaps hundreds—of branches bent beneath something moving through them. The deafening chorus of screeches rolled across the forest like a tidal wave.
Leah’s eyes widened. “What did you do?”
Ethan’s stoic voice rang out from beneath his helmet.
“I think I made it worse.”
Seb looked toward the shaking treeline before immediately deciding he didn’t actually want to know what that meant.
He believed him.
“Shit, you dickhead. Follow me!” Leah shouted, changing direction and running.
Ethan didn’t hesitate. He adjusted course immediately, falling in behind her.
Seb couldn’t help noticing that. The man was obviously a leader. He had all the makings of one, evident by the fact everyone seemed to look to him when things got serious.
So it was strange that they were all running behind the woman instead of Striker or Ethan.
The forest blurred around them as the screeching only grew louder. Whatever was chasing them no longer sounded like a handful of monkeys. It sounded like the entire forest had come alive.
“There!” Leah shouted.
A narrow opening appeared in the cliff face ahead as they burst into a clearing. The four of them threw themselves inside without slowing.
Almost immediately the ground vanished beneath their feet.
“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me!” Striker started to say just as the four of them lost their footing.
They slid down a steep rocky slope, unable to stop themselves as gravel sprayed around them. Seb desperately tried digging his boots into the incline, accomplishing absolutely nothing before the slope finally leveled out.
He crashed onto solid ground with a groan, his body aching from the grazes. He cast another healing spell.
A second later another thump echoed through the darkness, accompanied by two more.
Silence settled over the cavern. Seb climbed to his feet, brushing dirt from his clothes before noting a silhouette already standing.
“Where the hell did you lead us?” Striker’s voice echoed through the darkness.
“At least we’re away from whatever happened up there,” Seb muttered, slowly adjusting his vision to the darkness.
He couldn’t make out much. Only vague silhouettes.
A soft chuckle echoed through the cave. Then light blossomed. Fire danced at the end of a wooden branch, illuminating Ethan’s armor.
Seb blinked. The man was covered in blood. Dark stains coated almost every plate while fresh scratches marked sections of the steel. He could hardly make out any of the whitish-yellow the armor had originally been.
Ethan handed the burning torch to Leah before another stick appeared in his gauntleted hand as though plucked from thin air. Fire spread across its end a moment later.
Seb was quite glad the man had decided to come. Especially with his storage item.
He accepted the second torch with a grateful nod. At least one of them had thought ahead.
Ethan looked around the cavern before settling his gaze on Leah.
“Where to?”
Striker frowned.
“How would I kn—”
Ethan shook his head.
“I wasn’t asking you.” He pointed toward the girl. “I was asking Leah.”
Striker looked between the two of them. “…Why are we listening to her?”
“I have a skill,” Leah answered before Ethan could speak. “It helps guide me toward things I’m looking for.”
She hesitated briefly before continuing.
“When we reached the forest, I focused on finding other humans.”
The cave fell silent.
Seb felt his pulse quicken. “You mean…”
Leah nodded. “I can’t explain exactly how it works. The feeling isn’t perfect.”
She looked deeper into the darkness.
“But I’m pretty sure they’re this way.”
Hope bloomed inside Seb’s chest so suddenly it almost hurt. He opened his mouth to ask another question.
A chorus of furious screeches echoed from the tunnel above them.
The monkeys had found the cave.
“Questions later,” Ethan cut in. He looked toward the darkness ahead.
“Let’s put some distance between us and those pests.”