The forest roared.
There was no silence this time.There could not be.The purple mist trembled with screams, the clash of metal, the crack of branches snapping beneath bodies running to stay alive.
Selvryn stopped only long enough to catch her breath.They had rescued the second group minutes ago, but another eruption of chaos in the distance sent ice through her veins.
"Another group," she murmured. "That's Leryn's voice. They're too close to the corrupted."
Lusian didn't ask.He didn't need to.His body was already wrapped in living darkness.
"Kara," he ordered.
The warrior shot forward between the trees, her greatsword colliding with the first creature that burst from the foliage.A roar exploded.A tree fell.Another elven cry was cut off too quickly.
Selvryn clenched her teeth.Since entering the forest, her people had done the impossible to keep moving, splitting into small groups to avoid being surrounded.It was a desperate strategy… and it was only working because the humans were there.
A sharp sound tore through the air—the shriek of a corrupted tearing flesh.
"THERE!" Adela shouted.
The white tiger leapt through the brush, breaking the line.Its stride left a trail of frost.The fleeing child fell—but the beast-tamer was already reaching out, freezing the arm of the creature that lunged for him.
Behind them, Emily and Isabella moved with the rear guard, tending to the wounded from the previous group.
"Emily, cover him!" Isabella called.
A slicing wind drove back a corrupted that had thrown itself at an old man.A warm light wrapped around him, sealing his open wounds.
Selvryn surged forward, blade raised, toward the new center of battle.
"This group was closer to the boundary—! They should have reached us!"
"They split off," Lusian replied without slowing. "Out of fear. Instinct. Mistake."
The shadow trailing him twisted with hunger.
"They're still alive. For now."
The third group emerged among twisted roots: five adults, three children, two gravely wounded.
And behind them…
The corrupted.Like a black tide that never tired.
Dayana moved first.
She dropped from a branch, her cloak unfurling, releasing two corpses she had dragged from the previous fight.
The dead rose.They hurled themselves at the corrupted.And died again.
But every second gained was a life saved.
"SELERYN!" an elven woman cried upon seeing her leader. "HELP US!"
Selvryn stepped forward—but a hand stopped her.
Lusian.
"You're about to break," he said coldly. "Let us open the path."
She wanted to argue—
But another scream split the air.
A child fell.A corrupted lunged.
Lusian vanished.
He didn't move.He vanished.
The shadow reappeared a meter behind the corrupted, piercing through its chest.The body dropped like an empty sack.
And Lusian's voice echoed from everywhere, as if the forest itself carried it:
"Kara, left flank!""Isabella, get the children!""Dayana, clear the center!""Adela, cut off their advance!""Emily, stabilize the wounded!""Elizabeth, hold the rear!"
The team moved without hesitation.
Elizabeth raised her hand—and the sky exploded. Lightning rained down through the canopy.Adela charged, tossing the children toward Emily as the tiger tore through their pursuer.Kara felled three in a single swing.Isabella raised a wall of wind that forced the corrupted to circle.Dayana drove a claw into the ground, and the risen corpses slammed together, forming a living barrier.
Selvryn watched, gasping, filthy, trembling.
She could not deny it anymore.She could not lie to herself.
These humans… had not come merely to help.
They had come to dominate the forest itself.
And they were succeeding.
Five minutes later, the third group stood safe, reunited with the other two they had already rescued.
Selvryn dropped to her knees.
Not from weakness—but from the crushing weight of horror, responsibility, fear… and the bitter clarity of truth.
She looked at Lusian.
"One group left," he said. "The largest. The first to split away."
Selvryn swallowed.
"The farthest… and the most hunted."
Lusian nodded.
"Then we don't waste time."
The elf turned to her people—exhausted, bleeding, alive only because of those who were not their kind.
And she understood the gravity of the moment.
"We'll guide the last group to you," she said, forcing steadiness into her voice. "But once we leave this forest… there will be no alliance."
Lusian did not smile.He did not take offense.
He simply answered with the calm of someone who had already seen too many endings:
"I know."
And the team moved deeper into the forest.
Toward the place where the screams had gone silent far too long ago.