The wind whispered through the leaves like a warning.
I stood at the edge of the Redstone Forest, the morning sun casting faint rays through the crimson-tinted canopy. The ground beneath my boots was moist and uneven, littered with old roots and strange, glowing moss. The deeper we went, the dimmer the light became — as if the forest itself swallowed the day.
Behind me, twenty-eight men and women stood ready. My men. My squad. Their armor gleamed faintly, newly reforged, each plate fitted to perfection. The talismans Alex had chosen for them hung from their belts like silent guardians. The faint scent of iron and spirit herbs clung to us all.
Alex stepped beside me, his calm expression masking the subtle surge of mana beneath his skin. His aura — pure, sharp, and vast — felt like the calm before a storm.
"They said this forest eats the unprepared," he murmured, glancing toward the endless maze of trees. "Let's make sure we're not on the menu."
I smiled faintly. "If anything tries, it'll choke."
He chuckled, and that small sound cut through the tension like sunlight through fog.
We'd been briefed by Captain Lin Mei just three days ago — a 4-star stronghold hidden within these woods, ruled by a Sacred Lord. Three months to wipe them out. It sounded simple on paper. But standing here, surrounded by the eerie stillness of Redstone, I could feel it — the presence of predators watching from unseen shadows.
I raised a hand, signaling the squad to move.
"Formation Delta. Eyes open. Sound suppression active."
The first hour passed in silence. No beasts. No birds. Even the wind refused to stir. The forest was too still — unnaturally so. My instincts screamed that something was wrong.
Then we found them — a patrol of bandits camped beside a shallow stream. There were ten of them, their weapons crude but their auras sharp. Two were Mystic Realm, the rest weaker. They were laughing, unaware of the death creeping toward them.
Alex caught my gaze from across the clearing.
"Silent takedown?" he mouthed.
I nodded once.
Three gestures later, the squad split apart like mist.
A faint shimmer of mana ran through the air — the cloaking talismans activating. Blades unsheathed without sound.
Then, in the next heartbeat, the camp fell into chaos.
An arrow hissed through the air, piercing a man's throat before he could shout.
Two others turned, only to be engulfed in a swirl of wind and steel as Sera and Linx cut through them from opposite sides.
I moved forward like a shadow, my qi compressing into my palm. When the nearest bandit swung his axe, I caught his wrist, twisted — bone cracked — and sent him flying into a tree.
The last Mystic Realm bandit roared, releasing his aura in a panic. Flames burst from his palms — too slow.
"Too loud," I muttered, and a surge of lightning qi arced from my fingers, shattering his chestplate and silencing him forever.
When the last echo of the fight faded, only the sound of the stream remained.
My men moved with practiced discipline, dragging the corpses into the underbrush, stripping them of tokens, weapons, and pouches. Alex crouched by one of the dead, his fingers brushing a leather satchel.
He opened it and froze.
"Maps," he whispered. "Patrol routes. And this—" He pulled out a silver insignia marked with a burning sword. "The stronghold's crest."
That was when I felt it — a faint ripple of qi in the distance, like a pulse in the air. My senses sharpened, and I turned east.
"They'll notice this patrol's missing within a day. We move before the next wave finds the bodies."
Alex stood, eyes glinting with resolve. "Then we hit them first."
As the squad regrouped, I looked back once — at the blood staining the rocks, at the forest swallowing the signs of battle.
Each step forward would be harder.
Each enemy stronger.
But the fire in my chest burned brighter than fear.
We vanished into the Redstone Forest once more — hunters stalking the dark.