At dawn, the forest slowly began to change its breathing.
It was not that light entered where the darkness had withdrawn,
but the hour when a thin gray seeped in between.
The dew woke first,
and the leaves followed after.
Bido stood, shouldering the box.
The length of the chain, the weight on her shoulder,
the position of her longsword.
The motions of checking them came naturally.
Even without anyone telling her to,
they had already been ingrained in her body.
She stood behind Miryeong’s left side.
Yesterday, it would have been a position she hesitated to take.
But now,
she knew it was the safest place to be.
Erdin stepped to the front,
and Mendel moved half a beat behind.
They did not meet one another’s eyes, but their spacing did not fall apart.
Miryeong was still standing.
Just as she had all night,
she had neither sat nor lain down.
Her ears were pricked,
and the tip of her nose was tracing the texture of the wind.
“We’re going.”
It was a brief statement.
Neither an order nor a question.
When Miryeong moved first,
the group naturally followed.
After taking a few steps,
she grumbled in a low voice.
“One more day of this and my nose’ll be the first thing to break.”
It sounded like a complaint, but there was no hesitation in her stride.
Erdin laughed softly.
“Still, thanks to that, we made it through the night safely.”
Instead of answering, Miryeong changed direction.
The forest still continued on, but the path was different from yesterday’s.
“We’re not going straight to the base.”
“We’ll head to the reconnaissance garrison.”
Bido’s gaze shifted for a moment.
“We’ll join up with the stationed members there first.”
Miryeong added,
“Then we’ll reassess the situation.”
That was the extent of her explanation.
Mendel walked in silence, scanning the footprints around them.
The light was increasing little by little, but the forest had grown quieter.
Dawn was always like that.
The hour when, instead of sound diminishing,
the meaningless things disappeared first.
Miryeong’s steps slowed by the faintest degree.
For now, she said nothing.
As the forest path grew a little deeper, Miryeong’s steps slowed again.
This time, it was clear.
She did not raise her hand.
There was no signal to stop.
Only,
the tips of her feet turned, ever so slightly, in another direction.
Bido sensed the change first.
It was not something she had heard in words,
nor something she had seen with her eyes.
It was simply
the sensation that the air had changed.
A smell.
Between the scents of dew and earth, something unfamiliar had mingled.
It was similar to that of a beast,
but it was far too sharp to belong to the forest.
Mendel also raised her head.
The rhythm of her steps did not falter,
but her hand had already lowered near her waist.
Erdin, too, silently slowed his pace.
From his position at the front, he naturally withdrew half a step.
Their formation changed.
Without anyone giving an order, without any need for explanation.
Miryeong said quietly,
“Don’t make a sound.”
It was a very brief statement.
But the weight attached to those words was different from before.
Bido steadied her breathing
and gripped the longsword’s hilt again.
The forest was silent.
So silent
that even the smallest sound seemed as if it would take on meaning.
A single leaf fell.
It was not because of the wind.
Miryeong’s ear
tilted sharply to one side.
It was not visible yet.
But something was in the same forest as them.
And it was—
moving.
The forest path came to an end.
More precisely,
it was the point where what had looked like a path could no longer serve as one.
A tree had fallen sideways.
It had not been uprooted; it bore signs of having been torn apart midway.
Erdin stopped walking.
His gaze fixed on the tree’s severed surface.
“It wasn’t cut.”
He spoke in a low voice.
“Nor was it broken.”
Mendel approached from the side
and touched the bark with her fingertips.
Her hand followed the grain, then stopped midway.
“…It was ripped apart.”
Sharp marks remained on the surface of the tree.
They were too deep to be claw marks,
and the direction was wrong for teeth.
Looking at those marks, Bido unconsciously swallowed her breath.
The direction of the force did not feel like something a person could have made.
Miryeong stood a little ahead of him.
Her gaze was not on the tree, but beyond it.
The tip of her nose moved again.
“…It smells like blood.”
She spoke in a tone close to certainty.
Mendel examined their surroundings.
A moment later,
she lowered her head.
“Here.”
Between the blades of grass was a dark, dried trace.
It was a small amount,
but it looked like blood spilled while something was being moved in haste.
Erdin’s expression hardened.
“It’s wounded.”
Miryeong did not answer.
Instead,
she exhaled very quietly.
“It’s angry.”
Miryeong spoke.
Her words summarized the situation,
but at the end of them, there was a distinct emotion.
Bido raised her head.
“Could it be a beast…?”
After a moment, Miryeong glanced back.
She did not look directly at Bido.
“It smells of the Black Forest.”
“A demonic beast.”
At that moment,
the air of the forest changed again.
It was different from before.
This time, there was a clear emotion mixed into it.
Mendel’s face was the first to stiffen.
“…I feel a gaze.”
Before she even finished speaking,
Miryeong’s ears flattened backward.
Anger.
Not reason,
but an emotion with direction.
Somewhere in the forest came the sound of something breathing out heavily.
Its form was still unseen.
But this time,
it was clear they had recognized each other.
Miryeong said quietly,
“It’s coming. Get ready.”
The air tore first.
Before Miryeong could turn her body,
a black mass burst out from the right side of the forest.
Fast.
But
not precise.
Miryeong stepped half a pace to the side.
Rather than dodging,
it was a movement like returning to a place she had already vacated in advance.
The creature could not handle its own speed.
Its forelegs failed to plant properly into the ground,
and its body lurched to the side.
Then it grazed a tree trunk and rolled down as it was.
A heavy thud.
Dirt and fallen leaves scattered together.
Erdin was about to step forward,
but stopped at Miryeong’s gesture.
“Not yet.”
The creature scraped at the ground and raised itself up.
It was one beat slow in regaining its posture.
Only then did they see it clearly.
A body resembling darkness and tree bark.
One of its forelegs was bent at an unnatural angle.
That wound was slowing its movements.
Mendel lowered her breath.
“…It’s injured.”
The demonic beast did not move for a moment.
It inhaled and exhaled deeply, raising its body.
And then—
its gaze moved.
The demonic beast searched for Miryeong.
At first, its eyes swept over the surroundings.
But soon,
they stopped on a single point.
Its ears, its nose, its gaze.
All of it turned toward Miryeong.
It was anger.
Not born from pain,
but anger at recognizing its target.
Miryeong did not avoid that gaze.
She only
said very quietly,
“What, did you fall in love with me or something?”
The demonic beast lowered its body again.
This time, it did not reduce its speed.
The air in the forest pulled taut.
It was clear that the next time would not end with evasion.
Bido stood where she was.
She did not run away,
nor did she step forward.
The hand gripping her sword
tightened and loosened repeatedly.
She herself was the first to feel
that the timing of her inhalation was falling slightly out of sync.
The other three were different.
Miryeong was already looking to what came next,
Erdin was measuring the angle of his body,
and Mendel, instead of moving, was holding onto the flow.
All of them wore the faces of people who already understood the situation.
Bido looked at the demonic beast again.
It was large.
It was close.
And it was alive.
Not in her head,
but in her body, she accepted that fact first.
Her heart beat one beat late.
Sweat gathered in her palm.
The weight of her sword became a little clearer than usual.
She did not grit her teeth.
Instead,
she decided not to let go of her sword.
Because she vaguely understood that not running away
and standing against something were different things.
Bido looked at Miryeong’s back and confirmed her own position again.
Here.
Neither in front
nor behind.
Right now,
this was where she had to stand.
The demonic beast lowered itself again.
This time, there was no hesitation.
Its gaze held on to Miryeong until the end.
“It’s coming again.”
At the same time as Miryeong’s words,
the demonic beast kicked off the ground.
Its speed had decreased a little,
but its direction was far more accurate.
Miryeong did not retreat straight back.
To the side,
she moved as if gliding, like part of the forest itself.
The demonic beast’s claws raked through empty air.
At that moment,
Erdin drove inward.
His elbow folded,
and heat condensed at the end of his fist.
A fierce explosion erupted against the demonic beast’s flank.
It was Erdin’s Explosive Fist.
The sound was stronger than expected.
Erdin’s face twisted for an instant.
His shoulder sank by a faint degree.
“Damn it.”
The demonic beast flinched,
but it did not back away.
Instead,
it twisted its body even deeper.
Mendel did not miss that opening.
A condensed mass of water spun,
striking the demonic beast square in the face.
The demonic beast’s movement lagged by one beat.
It had not stopped completely.
Only,
the motion that was meant to follow had been disrupted.
In that opening, Bido moved.
There was no hesitation.
She crossed in front of the demonic beast.
Her longsword drew light.
White Light Rampant Slash.
Rather than a cut,
it was a succession of lines.
Before the blade touched,
the air split first.
The demonic beast’s vision was torn apart.
Its body, which had been trying to advance, stopped for an instant.
It was not a wound, but an obstruction.
And once again, Miryeong did not miss that opening.
Her foot grazed the ground,
and she was already in another position.
From the demonic beast’s sight, Miryeong vanished.
Miryeong rotated her body.
Her footwork, holding a powerful wind, struck the demonic beast’s unnatural foreleg.
Immediately after, Bido’s sword moved.
This time,
it did not block.
It drew a line.
Red Light Sever.
It was not red light,
but the trace left where the light had passed that remained on the demonic beast’s body.
Dark red blood spattered.
It was not deep.
The demonic beast took one step back.
Then stopped.
Its eyes were no longer angry, but calculating.
A judgment that if it went any farther here, it might die.
The demonic beast turned its body.
Rather than simply fleeing, it was closer to a choice made in order to survive.
The forest grew quiet again.
In the direction where the demonic beast had disappeared,
there was no sound for some time.
Erdin rolled his shoulder once.
Exhaling briefly,
he said as if grumbling,
“It really is tough.”
“I thought my shoulder was going to come off.”
Mendel was already inspecting the surroundings,
clearing away the places where water had scattered.
Only then did Miryeong straighten her body.
And
she looked at Bido.
The hand gripping the sword.
The stance she still had not lowered.
“…You learned properly.”
It was a lightly tossed remark.
It sounded like praise,
and also like confirmation.
Bido raised her head.
“I did do as I was taught.”
Miryeong gave a short laugh, as if intrigued.
“Did you?”
“That sword is fairly usable.”
She said nothing more.
But Bido could feel it.
Those words were not only about the battle just now.
Mendel was the first to speak.
“Its attacks were aimed at Lady Miryeong until the end.”
She shook off the moisture and glanced in the direction where the demonic beast had disappeared.
“I don’t think it was a coincidence.”
Erdin nodded and rolled his shoulder once more.
“Its gaze was fixed from the very beginning.”
“It barely even looked at us.”
For a moment,
their gazes gathered on Miryeong.
Miryeong felt it, but did not turn her head.
“This damn popularity of mine.”
For a moment, no one continued speaking.
“Well, looks like it got beaten badly by some other Haraya somewhere.”
“That foreleg looked like it hurt quite a bit.”
Erdin laughed shortly.
“So that’s why it attacked even harder.”
Mendel nodded.
“It was as if you could see the anger in its eyes.”
Only then did Miryeong shrug.
“Still, it seems it doesn’t want to die just yet.”
With those words, the matter seemed settled.
Miryeong turned her head.
“Now we go.”
At that single sentence, the group began moving again.
The forest was still deep,
and sunlight was still lingering above the trees.
But it was different from before.
There was no hesitation in their steps, and their gazes were directed forward.
Bido adjusted the box on her back again.
It felt lighter than before.
Not because the box had become lighter,
but because her body had realized first that she could endure it.
The forest was quiet.
But
it was not as if nothing had happened.