The pack of weasel dogs appeared out of nowhere. Had they tracked our scent? Either way, we had to run. We could fight, but with this many of them, someone was bound to get hurt.
“Everyone, slowly back away. Let’s move over here quietly.”
If these things were lurking around, we wouldn’t be able to meet the King of Spirits. The weasel dogs, sensing they had the advantage, began to press in from behind. They were surely targeting Piyo-chan and Pauline.
The sun began to set, and the surroundings grew dark. These creatures likely had good night vision. If that was the case, we would be at a disadvantage.
We retreated through the forest without turning our backs to the enemy. It was cowardly, but I wanted to avoid a pointless battle here. I suddenly bumped into someone’s back.
“Hey, Karubene, you need to back up.”
“Brother, where are we supposed to run?”
“Don’t ask me that!”
The weasel dogs were closing in. If I looked away for a second, they would pounce at our feet. Yet, Karubene didn’t move. What was he doing?
“Karubene, hurry up, I said run!”
“That’s what I’m saying, there’s nowhere to run!”
“What do you mean!”
When I looked back, I saw a dense cluster of trees and thick bushes filling the gaps. Damn it, we couldn’t escape this way. Even if we forced our way through the undergrowth, they would catch up. Moreover, animals had the advantage in places like this. If Philiana got caught and stuck, she’d be a sitting duck.
“Escape up the trees!”
“Up the trees? Aaaah!”
That Karubene guy is so annoying. What was it this time? To my surprise, he was pushing me forward.
“Stop it, Karubene!”
“B-but, a snake…”
It seemed like bad luck followed by more bad luck. Everyone else was in chaos in the forest with no escape route. Right, Elana’s magic.
“Elana, fire, unleash fire. Scare them with it.”
“Yes, of course.”
Elana unleashed a fireball towards the pack of weasel dogs. The beasts, startled by the sound and heat, scattered and fled.
“Haa, that was close. What the hell was that?”
“It’s like the forest itself is trying to kill us. It won’t let us go further in, nor will it let us escape.”
Her words sent a chill down my spine. What the Giant Clan had said flashed through my mind. Those who stepped into the forest never came out. Not that they didn’t come out, but that they *couldn’t* come out? If so, were we destined to share the same fate?
I absolutely didn’t want that. We weren’t hunters, nor were we their enemies. There had to be a way out somewhere.
If what Pauline said was true, it could be a hint.
“Pauline, when you said you saw a flower you’d never seen before, did you mean it wasn’t there when we first came?”
“Yes. I don’t know when it appeared, but it wasn’t there the first time we passed.”
Had we been teleported to another location? No, would they do something so inefficient? Simply put, a flower grew, but could it grow that much in just a night or two?
I looked back and observed the bushes. This particular spot felt as if it were created just to hold us back. Sharin’s mark was carved into the tree next to it. This meant we had passed this way many times before.
“The forest is changing its form…?”
The forest itself, with a clear will, was trying to eliminate us. If we were simply a nuisance, they would just drive us away. The reason they weren’t doing that was likely to prevent anyone who learned about this forest from leaving.
“Hey, look, look, strawberries here!”
It was Piyo-chan’s voice, but I couldn’t see her. Where had she gone?
“Hey, Piyo-chan. Oh dear, what should we do? She crawled under here.”
Philiana pointed into the bushes. It seemed she had squeezed through a small gap in the bushes and gone to the other side. What was she doing? It was dangerous. How were we going to get through? Burning it would be impossible since it was too big.
With no other choice, I decided to go the long way around. After getting caught on twigs, I finally reached Piyo-chan, only to find her happily munching on strawberries.
“Hiro, you came too? They’re delicious.”
“You idiot—wait, Pauline’s here too.”
“Ehehe, it smelled so good.”
The sun had set and it was dark. The weasel dogs might come back.
However, after not eating anything decent for days, the strawberries looked incredibly delicious. They resembled wild strawberries, but were larger and vividly red.
“Hiro, you should eat some too.”
“Huh? But they might be poisonous.”
“It’s okay, I ate one and felt fine afterwards. Someone must have eaten it.”
Hmm, I guess it’s fine then. I picked one and put it in my mouth. The sweet and sour juice burst forth. They were so juicy and delicious, it was hard to believe they were wild.
“Wow, these are good. This is squirrel’s delight.”
I harvested them with both hands and ate them ravenously. Come to think of it, why had Piyo-chan said “someone”? I looked down at the ground and saw the discarded stems of eaten strawberries.
“Did someone eat these?”
“Yeah, hey, let’s take some back for everyone.”
Wait a minute. Would mice or other animals really discard them, leaving only the stems? I picked one up and examined the bite marks. The perfectly aligned incisor marks were unmistakable—human teeth. And they were quite small, meaning someone was nearby. Based on the traces, it was someone, a Hummingbird Harpy, who had come very close.
