The sun’s rays began to peak through the trees of the Unknown Forest.

At the base of a tree was a girl kneeling in front of a mound of dirt. Her hands were clasped together as she continued to keep her eyes closed. Laying in front of her was her mother. During the past few years, she and her mother were preparing for what was to come. Word spread of how home after home was being invaded and taken over. Though they didn’t think it’d be possible for their own home to fall, they still needed to prepare.

Up to the last moment, where she protected her with her life, everything her mother did was for her sake. And yet, she could do nothing. Even after her death, she wasn’t the one to bury her. All she could do now was pray in hopes that she is resting easy.

Akylus was gathering all of the materials he had collected over the few days he’s been back in the forest. Harvesting a large amount to sell to merchants and potentially the guild. He needed the money in order to pay for the upcoming trip he was going to take as well as bring enough money back to his home.

Kaija walked towards Akylus as he was stuffing the giant rucksack with the last bit of skin, bones, and fangs that would fit inside. Noticing her presence getting closer, Akylus turned to look towards her.

“You ready to go?”

“Nn..”

“We’ll be back soon. We’re just gonna go visit my home village for a bit. It’s been a while since I’ve seen them so I’m sure they’ll be happy to see I’m visiting. Since you’re a Val they won’t even think you’re anything but human so you don’t need to worry.”

“Why can’t we go there instantly with that thingy you said you could do?”

“Ah, I used to be able to. But, just in case, I didn’t want to show any connection between that village and here. Some people are very skilled in tracking magic so using [Teleport] would be a bit risky.”

(Though I did say I was from Tahtil when I first started as The Wolf… that’s really going to bite me in the ass...)

“Tracking magic?”

“Erm… how much do you know about magic?”

“My mom taught me a little…”

“Hmm okay. I’ll try to make it so you understand. So you know how when you use magic, you need to use mana right?”

“I’m not stupid you know..”

“Okay okay just making sure… Anyways when you use mana, you take it from the atmosphere around you into your body. You then use the mana inside you to be able to cast your spell.”

“..right..”

“But the mana that comes out after you cast the spell is different then the mana that you took from the atmosphere. If it were the same, people could just absorb your spell as mana.”

(Though it’s not impossible to do…)

“But then how does that make it so they track you?”

“Well, once they find that unique trace of mana, all they have to do is find another one. That’s why it’s actually easier to track rarer spells compared to common ones.”

“Oh.. it doesn’t look at a person’s mana to find them?”

“No. Everyone uses the same mana so it would be impossible to figure out who used it. But when spells are formed, the mana is manipulated and you can get an idea of what kind of spell was casted when feeling the mana around you.”

“... aaaahhhh I don’t get it! You suck at explaining.”

(... why do I even bother)

“What ever.. Let’s just go already. You finish saying goodbye for now?”

“Nn!”

“Alright, let’s go. We’ll head towards the boundary between Unknown and Known. Stay close and hold onto me okay? Once we get further into the Known section, there are going to be a lot more people.”

“Let’s go already~!”

---

“We’ll arrive at the boundary in about 10 minutes. Start to stay close already just in case there are some people adventuring furt-”

Something felt off. The feeling of being watched crawled across Akylus’ skin.

“? What’s wr-”

“Sshh! Quiet!”

Akylus stood completely still. He closed his eyes and focused on his surroundings. Within a forest, life was everywhere. Therefore the presence of life should be everywhere. Yet, for some reason, there were spots with no presence at all.

Just as Akylus was about to be able to pinpoint the locations of what he was feeling other presences were moving towards him.

(Monsters? No… not beasts either. People? But this far in still… well I guess it’s not too surprising…)

Feeling that they were headed straight towards himself and Kaija, he decided to wait.

“Stay behind me.”

Kaija silently nodded her head. She wanted to ask what was going on but the serious expression coming from Akylus was enough for her to understand that something was wrong.

Through the thick of the trees and bushes came two people. One was an average height medium build guy. He wore leather armor over his chainmail. At first glance, one would think he wasn’t a very experienced adventurer but, those people would be wrong.

His armor was completely enchanted. Making his armor that of the hardest metal and yet being weightless. The bastard sword in the hilt on his right side was nothing to scoff at either. It was clear from the high level enchantments that the owner was skilled.

The one beside him was a beautiful girl. She had snow white skin and golden blonde hair. Tied in a ponytail behind her, it gave off a very youthful feeling. Her blue eyes stared straight at Akylus with warmth. Had anyone made eye contact with her for the first time, it wouldn’t be a surprise for their hearts to be stolen.

Even Akylus may have been bewitched by such a sight if he wasn’t completely taken aback by what she wore. Every piece of jewelry she wore was enchanted. Four earrings, six rings, a necklace. Even the staff she held in her hands was something only a select few would be able to obtain.

The amount of mana flowing from the atmosphere into the staff through her body and back out was terrifying. It seemed to be that the staff allowed her to easily absorb mana from the atmosphere and even helped her body control the large amount absorbed.

(It’s good to be safe, especially when it’s the Unknown Forest… but, something doesn’t feel right about them.)

“Whoa~ Look at the size of that sack! You really got a good haul today huh?”

The man talked in a very friendly tone. It caught Akylus a little off guard.

“Er- Yeah I did. Watch out though. I think there was a fight between some beasts or monsters so a lot of these were things I found or I got lucky and just finished off some that were about to die.”

“Oh? Thanks for the heads up. We were just about to go and scout the area for more information. You know, it’s unusual to find anyone this deep in the forest. Especially one with a kid. What rank are you?”

Akylus froze for a bit.

(I really should’ve tried harder to work with other people… I might’ve been able to recognize him and talk my way out of this…)

“..I’m rank-”

“See, here’s the thing.”

He cut off Akylus and began talking.

“This is the Unknown Forest. I don’t know if you know much about it but, it’s called that because there are beasts and monsters here that no one can really deal with. Therefore, we cannot explore further and thus a lot of it is still unknown.-”

Tension immediately built between the two of them.

“- And the guild only lets people of a certain rank even come close to here or, you could have gotten special permission from someone to enter. So either you’re a high ranking adventurer that I just so happen to have never heard of or you have special permission. Which is it?”

(This was too fast. There’s no way they would’ve been able to track me here so quickly. Think. Why would adventurers even help? Rank? Money? Unless...)

“Are you not going to say anything? I’m going to take it that you’re not either of them are you? You know, on top of scouting, we were actually hired to look for someone too. Problem is, we don’t know what his face looks like and what he sounds like. You have any idea who it might be?”

“...”

“Honestly, who would’ve known. What are you? Like 20? And your voice is actually a lot deeper than I thought it would be. But I mean come on. Are you stupid? No armor in this forest? Who would be crazy enough to do that?”

“...”

“What did it say again? ‘Frequently visits deep into the Unknown Forest.’ Well clearly since you were coming from within the forest with such a large haul you must know your way around here? Especially when you’re so confident you can bring a kid along. Lets see… ‘Will have wound on right hand or a large scar.’ And I mean, aside from those things, you’re still wearing the same clothes described here. Didn’t have anything to change into Wolf?”

“Kaija st-”

“Helen.”

“[Envalus]!”

Tree roots sprung forth from the ground like a spear being thrown aiming straight for Akylus’ neck. In a split second Akylus leaned back pulling his dagger out of the air and slicing the root in two.

As more roots began to shoot towards him, he reached his hand forward and casted a spell.

“[Ignis]”

First, a spark. Then, a wave of flames with Akylus at the center burst outwards around him. The roots from [Envalus] were burnt to ash along with every living thing in a hundred kel radius. Trees, plants, beasts, monsters. Anything that didn’t react fast enough was burnt to nothingness.

The charred ground was all that was left after Akylus casted his spell. As the smoke cleared through the air, two sets of people stood facing each other.

Akylus twisted his face. He was hoping that they would’ve been taken care of with just that. Along with the weird absent presences he noticed. But that would’ve been too easy.

“What the fuck was that!?!”

“Sorry?”

“You just blew up the forest! What the fuck! Who uses something like that off the bat?! Aren’t you supposed to save that for when you’re cornered or something?”

The barrier around them shattered. The pale face of the two adventurers leaving no room to guess how they felt about what they just went through.

“What? Why would I save something like that for when I’m going to lose? If it can just deal with you all now, then be done with it.”

The woman called Helen whispered

“Zak…he broke my rings, necklace, and staff. Where are they? We can’t win.”

“They didn’t tell us anything about this. I just thought we were going to have a chance to kill this bastard! But we’re fine. There’s no way he has anything more than that. Didn’t you hear him? He just used everything to get rid of us instantly. Had he made you fight, you might’ve not been able to have enough strength to throw up the barrier. This guy really is an idiot.”

Zak slowly pulled his sword from his hilt and pointed the end towards Akylus.

“If you don’t want her to get hurt, move her to the side.”

Akylus looked down towards Kaija. She was trying her best to hide the fear on her face but it was still all too clear.

“Go wait over there. It’ll be over quickly.”

“B-but…”

“Don’t worry. If they can barely protect themselves from that, it won’t take long.”

Akylus smiled warmly towards Kaija. She could only stare back as he slowly walked forward pulling a second dagger out of the air.

“[Reinf-”

Akylus flew across the burnt field.

Bouncing multiple times off the ground, he barely managed to land on his feet.

In the place where Akylus last stood was a hooded figure. Covered from head to toe in cloth, the figure slowly lowered his leg that sent Akylus flying.

He was one of the things with the missing presence. Had Akylus not noticed the odd presences earlier, he may have taken fatal damage.

Akylus shook both his hands at his side. His forearms had giant red marks in the shape of a foot. Had he not felt the pressure of the wind at the last second, he may not have been able to get back up.

“You’re kind of late aren’t you?! Look at the shit he did! What if we died!?”

“Enough. We can take care of him now. Stand aside and cover us just in case.”

“Are you kidding? Do you know what would happen if people knew that I killed him? I’d become fucking famous! Look at him! He almost died just from that. I can take care of him now.”

“Your job was to-”

“Shut up! I’ll complete the job right now! All he can do is hit hard but, clearly he can’t even take a hit. I mean all you did was kick him!”

“... Fine. But if he looks to escape we’re interfering.”

“Whatever.”

While the two were talking amongst themselves, Akylus’ mind was racing.

(What the fuck was that kick? If I didn’t block it, I think I would’ve just passed out on the spot.)

Akylus opened and closed his hands repeatedly. Regaining the feeling into his arms he called forth his daggers once more.

(If there are more than a few of them, I need to end this fast.)

Zak slowly walked towards Akylus.

Akylus slowly walked towards Zak.

The gap between them became smaller and smaller. Zak started speeding up. He picked up his pace into a fast walk, then a jog, then a full on sprint. He pulled out a small dagger in his left hand now dual wielding his sword and dagger. No more than ten kel away from each other, Akylus made his move.

“[Aevis]”

Swinging his daggers to form an X shape, two blades of wind flew towards Zak.

Zak immediately dropped his right shoulder and spun in the same direction narrowly escaping the blades of wind. Only to meet a barrage of attacks.

“[Aervum], [Aeztel], [Aexil].”

Zak lifted his head to look towards Akylus only to be met with a searing pain in his shoulder. Then suddenly, he was looking up at the sky. Before he even knew what was happening, the fight was ending.

But it wasn’t over.

A blue blade of wind flew towards Zak.

There was nothing he could do. All this occurred in under a few seconds, he didn’t know what hit him.

As the blade drew closer, the ground began to shake.

In that split second, the blade made contact with a wall.

“[Teravius]!”

Helen threw her hands up in the motion of raising something.

As soon as they made contact, the blade exploded.

A fiery blue explosion right between Zak and Akylus. Debris of dirt flew everywhere.

“Huh, she actually blocked it.”

Helen stood still for a few moments, only to collapse to her knees. Sweat trickled down her face onto the ground. The look of exhaustion from just blocking an attack was already more than she could handle. With her staff broken from earlier, she wasn’t able to gather enough mana in time and pushed herself to the edge.

Zak lay there on his back. His eyes wide open looking up at the sky before him. Face covered in black debris. There was no courage from him any longer. Not even greed and selfish desires could force himself to get up. Even though he had taken little damage, his will was gone.

The hooded figure looked at the two on the ground. It was clear they had given up. They would be of no help no longer. He quickly flung his arm in their direction.

Helen collapsed to the ground.

Zak continued to stare up into the sky. The blue sky began to dye in red getting darker and darker. It wasn’t long before Zak could see nothing.

Akylus looked at the two adventurers laying down on the ground. Each with a knife in their foreheads. He quickly turned his head to look at Kaija who could only cover her face and turn away. Despite seeing more than most kids her age, it was still too much.

“Why did you do that?”

“They weren’t able to do their jobs. They breached their contract and so they paid the price.”

“Was that necessary?”

“It doesn’t concern you. You’ll be long dead along with the girl you have over there. There’s no reason to inform you on anything.”

“I see, how many of you are there.”

“That’s… none of your concern!”

The ground beneath his foot cracked as he exploded forth towards Akylus.

Leaning to the right, narrowly avoiding a strike to the head, Akylus began dodging a flurry of attacks.

Suddenly an opening appeared as the figure took half a step too far forward. Using the opportunity, Akylus immediately moved in kneeing his opponent right in the stomach launching the body up into the air and flying a few body lengths away.

But the attack would cost him.

As soon as it landed, two knives flew towards Akylus’ back.

Feeling the intent of the owner of the knives, Akylus was just barely able to cast a spell.

“[Protect]!”

The sound of metal clashing rang as the knives hit Akylus’ back and fell to the floor. But, before relief could even arrive, Akylus had two hands grab and pull his shoulders back, only to have a knee dig into his spine.

A second hooded figure held Akylus. With the full intent of snapping Akylus in half, the figure attempted to kneed him again.

Akylus reached back and grabbed the figures arms, kicked himself up into the air and flipped backwards behind him. In that one swift moment, Akylus pulled his dagger out and pierced the figure in the back. He ripped the dagger from the back by pulling it upwards. Blood sprayed covering Akylus’ face and clothes as the figure dropped to his knees and fell face down into the ground.

Akylus looked up towards the one he kicked earlier only to be blinded by the blood dripping into his eye. In that split moment, a kick arrived in his side sending him flying. He tried landing on his feet but couldn’t.

(Shit. I think my ribs are broken)

Holding the side he was kicked in, he spit the build up of blood in his mouth. Facing the hooded figure he saw earlier he slowly stood up. However, things only got worse.

Another hooded figure appeared beside the first, and now a third. He could barely handle two and now there were three. The situation was looking grim.

“Ha..”

“...”

“Hahaha..HAhaHA..”

“... what is funny about this situation?” (1)

“I think he’s gone delusional from the situation he’s in. Let’s just finish this quickly” (3)

“HAHAHAHA- ‘I call upon the sons and daughters I have killed-’”

“Something’s not right, kill him! KILL HIM NOW!” (2)

“‘- The fathers and mothers whom I have taken-’”

The three figures didn’t know what was happening. For all they knew, it was the ramblings of a person who had given up. Yet the eerie feeling did not let them relax. Instead, they only grew dreadful. The distance wasn’t far, but it wasn’t close. They could get there fast, but not fast enough.

“‘- I ask you to open your arms… and welcome them to the family!’”

The ground began to shake.

Then suddenly, groups of hands began to emerge from the ground around the hooded figures. Glowing in an eerie light, they reached and grabbed at their legs clawing at their clothing and skin.

One tried to cut the hands with a thin curved blade, only to have it go straight through the arm.

“What is happening!?!?” (2)

“It’s pulling me down! Help! HELP!” (1)

“We’re just… phasing through the ground! Please! Call it off! Make it stop!” (3)

The three pleaded towards Akylus. Shouting, crying, begging. But it would never reach him. As they were too distracted to even notice that Akylus had already become unconscious.

Only one person could move. And she was already running towards Akylus. Standing tall as the three in front of him slowly disappeared into the ground.