Into the Forest

-I made it. The roads.

After trekking through what seemed to be endless trees for a few hours. Jeyson Arostarea had finally come out of the forest and is now on the roads of the southeast forest.

The sun is no longer shining bright on him like it did earlier today. Sweat dropped from his face and his breathing was heavy from relentlessly moving onwards . He shook his head, snapping himself out of it and walked along the roads to his right; away from the kingdom.

Jeyson walked along the roads for a considerable amount of time and a familiar cart came into his sight. As soon as he realized who's cart it was, he hid behind the trees making his way towards the cart.

As he gets closer, he sees Aner, who is Luno's pet boar, asleep at the front of the cart. Jeyson thinks it's possibly because they have been away from it for a while so the boar just slept in their absence, he decided to not interrupt it.

However, he sees an unfamiliar man of an average build and dark yellow hair wearing ragged clothes laying down on the back of the cart, asleep. The man had minor injuries all over his body and Jeyson became curious about what happened. He came out of hiding and approached the cart.

He jumped on the cart, causing a violent shake that startled the man causing him to wake up. The man in panic turned his head around to see who did that, he saw a pair of unfamiliar legs, he lifted his head up to see who it was.

"Who are you?" He asked Jeyson. he had gotten enough rest and was able to speak fluently. He saw him wearing light blue clothes but his head was covered by a hood which hid his facial features, however he could see a glimpse of his silver hair.

"I'm no one important. Tell me, where did they go?" Jeyson answered in a calm tone and wasted no time to ask what he wanted to know. The man raised an eyebrow hearing Jeyson's question.

"Who?"

"The people who were on this cart." Jeyson clarified.

"Why do you want to know?" The man asked, still in confusion of who this person was, suddenly appearing in front of him and asking questions.

"Just answer me." Jeyson stomped on the floor of the cart next to the laying man's hand as he said that. The man became intimidated from his sudden actions and replied to him immediately.

"Uh.. t-they went into the forest ahead to find my wife."

-That's all I needed to hear.

With that thought, Jeyson jumped off the cart and started running ahead. He ignored Aner who was still enjoying his nap and the man who was still confused with what just happened.

"Wait! Wait!"

The man tried to call Jeyson again. However he hasn't fully recovered from his injuries earlier causing his legs gave out when he tried to stand up.

"Boy! Wait!" He screamed, trying to get Jeyson's attention, but Jeyson just kept running forward ignoring the man's calls. His goals right now have nothing to do with that man, if anything, responding to that man will only slow him down.

Jeyson kept running, he was now far enough from the cart that he could no longer hear the man's voice. He became focused solely on what is ahead. After a while of running, he arrived at a place and saw wheel tracks cutting deep into the dirt, remains of broken wood and footprints.

It was a scene of a troll attack.

-I'm getting close.

However, this troll attack aftermath was different from the usual ones. Jeyson approached a footprint closest to him and observed them, they were twice as big as his own. He crouched down to examine them in more detail, he picked up a piece of dirt from the road that the trolls stepped on and crushed it, turning into dust.

Then something bizarre happened.

A hint of black miasma oozed from the dirt that turned into dust. Jeyson widened his eyes under his hood as he discovered it.

-This!

Jeyson was immediately able to piece together what happened and how it happened. In dread, he turned his head towards the direction the footprints and the wheel tracks led to. Broken trees, remains of wood, wheel tracks and footprints creating a pathway leading deep into the forest.

-They're there! The monsters

Jeyson gritted his teeth, knowing once again he is coming closer to his target. Knowing what he needs to do, he rushes into the forest, following the trail.

___________

"LUNO! MIRA!"

I, Yusof Harim, called out their names as I am running into the forest following the trail of broken trees, footsteps, broken wood remains and wheel tracks. My breath is unstable because of my terrible fitness and that I hadn't stopped running since I entered this forest.

"LUNOOO! MIRAAAA!"

I screamed one more time before my legs gave out and vocal cords gave out. I held both hands on my knees releasing rough breaths while sweat ran down my face.

"Haaah.. Haaah.. where are they?" They couldn't have gotten that far. Unless I am going in the wrong direction, I should at least have seen some sort of sign from them.

I observe my surroundings, there were still broken trees and footprints, however the wheel tracks and broken pieces of wood have lessened, which means I should be getting close to something soon enough. I glanced behind me and I could no longer see the end of the forest, I have come too far in.

I controlled my breathing, wiped my sweat and stood up straight, I needed to press forward. I continued following the trail of broken trees, l'm sure I'll eventually catch up to them. I walked slowly, trying to preserve as much energy as I could.

I kept walking for what I can only say to be a few minutes. I have mostly refreshed my energy. All I need to do is to find Luno and Mira.

"Luno! Mira!"

I called out their names. I stood there while my calls echoed through the silent forest. Then after a while I feel like I can hear something in the distance.

"Yusof! Here!" I heard Luno's voice, it was far up ahead. Learning that, I started to run. I gripped my sword as a precaution if I were to run into anything on the way.

I kept running and shortly after, I saw images of 3 people, one crouching, one standing up and one sitting against a tree. As I came closer, I was able to discern that Mira was crouching, Luno was standing up and an unfamiliar lady with blonde hair wearing a dress sitting against a tree.

"Yusof! Here!" Luno, who was standing up facing towards me and holding her sword with her right hand, waved her left hand at me. I started to walk in their direction and let out a breath of relief. Thank god that they're both safe.

"You're both safe. That's good." I said to her, smiling.

I looked around, I followed where the tracks led to, it turned left and ended at a pile of destroyed wood which is what I assumed to be the cart - or at least what is left of it.

The footprints kept continuing deeper into the forest and the broken trees didn't end until a little up ahead. I decided to not care for that and just continued to where Luno, Mira and the blonde woman are.

I got even closer, completely oblivious to what was going on. As I got close enough to be able to see all of them closely, my eyes were painted with shock and my body froze.

The blonde lady leaning on the tree was unconscious. She had blood flowing from her forehead, multiple spots on her dress torn and dyed red. Several parts of her skin that aren't covered by the dress had bad cuts and blood oozed out to the ground. I almost threw up in this sight, because I have never seen anyone injured this badly in my entire life. I would've mistaken her to be as good as dead if I didn't notice that her chest was going up and down.

Mira, had light emitting from both of her hands directed to the lady which made her body glow and her wounds slowly close. Seeing this, I gulped my saliva and spoke in a low voice.

"What happened to her?"

"We found her like this, her condition was already horrible so we started healing her immediately. If we arrived a minute late, she would've died from blood loss." Mira replied without turning her gaze to me. She was focused on healing the woman.

"By what I can put together. The trolls must've dragged her and her husband's cart into the forest. Her husband fell off earlier, sustaining only minor injuries, while she was on the cart gaining injuries until it was destroyed over there and fell off." Luno added as she looked at the woman with severe injuries with a sullen expression. I nodded and went into thought. I should ask what is going to be our next move.

"So what's the plan?" I asked.

Mira, who was still focused on healing the woman explained.

"Originally, we would just ask you to escort this woman back to our cart and we'll deal with the trolls. But look at their footprints, they're a lot bigger than normal, we don't know how dangerous they might be because of that, so we won't go after them. So, after I stabilize this woman, we'll have to go back and report this to the Mercenary Union."

"I see." I nodded listening attentively. I was originally intended to be an escort boy while they just do all the battling, that hurt me a bit.. Mikra was right, they did all the work and I'm sure carrying two injured people back to the cart isn't even 10 percent of it, it's like 2 percent at most.

"How much longer until you're done?" I asked her again, putting back my sword. I quickly accepted that I will just be carrying injured people in this commission, maybe next time I'll do some real fighting.

"It'll take a little while. Her injuries are serious, I have to take my time." She replied. I nodded my head and waited for her to finish.

I spent most of my time wandering around examining my surroundings. I turned over to the pile of wood that used to be their cart and examined them. I touched the pieces of wood that didn't have any sharp points to sate my boredom. I kept doing this until I felt something on a certain piece of wood I touched.

When my finger came in contact with that piece of wood I felt something vaguely, but I couldn't tell what. I didn't investigate it further because I couldn't put my hand on what it was.

After messing around with the remains of the destroyed cart, I turned around to the broken trees and examined their damages. They were damaged pretty badly, it seems these trolls are strong. I moved my hand around a tree that had broken down and when my hand reached a certain part of the tree I suddenly felt something, it was the same vague feeling as before.

I kept dragging my hand around the tree, the vague feeling became stronger and stronger. It became a strong alluring sensation, my skin felt a tender touch, and it became an pleasing feeling.

I shook my head and stepped away, removing my hand from the tree. I remember that feeling, it was the same as last night and this morning.

Recalling that, I understood what happened.

I detected Magic Flow.

There was no miasma but it's there. On the trees and on the cart remains, I definitely felt it. I moved my hand around the tree I am holding right now and the feeling disappeared. I placed my hand back where I felt the Magic Flow first and it was there - the alluring feeling. It was hidden extremely well, even Luno and Mira didn't say anything about them.

I have to tell them. Tell them quick! We must escape before those trolls come back! These trolls aren't just 'bigger than usual' they have Dark Magic too!

I turned towards Luno and Mira and ran towards them with all my might.

"Luno! Mira! Hurry! We have to go!" I spoke to them in a loud voice. The noise I made attracted their attention, Luno tilted her head and Mira didn't even lift her head because she was still focusing on healing the woman.

"Yusof? What's wrong?"

"Hold on, I'm not done yet."

"We have to leave quick! These trolls aren't usually this big right?" I tried to rush them, urging them to finish up and leave together. I might be paranoid but I'm not taking risks against trolls with dark magic.

"They aren't, but don't worry, If a few find us we can take care of them." Luno replied in a nonchalant manner. I shook my head with intensity, and spoke again trying to set them straight, to be wary.

"No! listen! They ha-"

"GUAAAAAAARGH"

An inhuman scream interrupted my sentence. It was an extremely loud noise that I never heard before. It violently shook my eardrums and caused all the birds in the vicinity to fly away in panic.

"What was that?" Luno asked in a frightened manner. A drop of sweat ran down her face as she turned her head around trying to find what was going on.

I gulped my saliva hearing that noise. I glanced over at Mira, her expression hasn't changed from her serious demeanor but I can clearly see sweat running down her face. She struggled to keep her arms and hands firmly directed at the injured woman, who is still in bad condition.

*CRACK* *CRACK* *CRACK*

Sounds of trees breaking can be heard from afar, it started quiet but it got steadily louder.

"We have to go! Hurry!" I tried to urge them to leave and already started to run but Mira screamed at me with her glowing hands still directed at the woman.

"We can't! She isn't stable! If we move her, her wounds will reopen and she'll bleed out!"

As she said that the sound of trees breaking became even louder. Signifying that whatever is that has now come close to our location.

I gritted my teeth, my legs are shaking, reminiscent of the fear that coursed through me when the Dark Beast attacked. The pain from the huge scratch inflicted onto me by the Dark Beast that severed my tendons carved into my mind.

I don't want to go through that again.

"Yusof. Don't worry, calm down. I felt the same way in my first battle too. Well my first battle wasn't with something of this scale but it was still my first, so I was scared too." Luno spoke to me in her usual happy manner. She must've been able to sense the fear from me when she said that.

Her words cleared my mind, and my legs stopped shaking as a result. I looked up at her and smiled as a reply.

I straightened my body and lifted my head. I steeled my determination and opened my mouth to speak.

"I'm ready!"

I almost did what my past self would do in this situation. I see now, I still have a lot to change about myself.

My journey has only just begun and I almost threw away my chance at my first step of change.

"Okay! Once it comes into sight I'll try to slow it down. Our goal is to buy enough time until the woman's condition is stabilized."

"And after that?"

"You lift her up and both of you get out of this forest."

"What about you?"

"I'll stay behind, someone needs to slow that thing down." Luno said without hesitation. I wanted to protest but just as I opened my mouth to speak Mira beat me to it.

"No! Luno! It's too dangerous! I can sense it's Magic Flow, it's extremely strong, you can't fight it alone!" Mira's voice was strong but I can hear a hint of it cracking.

"None of us can get out of here if we don't intercept it."

"B-but! Still!"

"Don't worry, I'm not planning to die." Luno gave a smile to Mira as she calmly said that.

Mira became speechless from her reply and just focused on healing the unconscious woman.

*CRACK* *CRACK* *CRACK* 

"GUAAAAARGH"

It's coming, and fast.

Trees in our line of sight have started to break from the thing's rampage towards us. It broke trees that were obstructing his vision which caused its body to be visible.

It's huge, I had to lift my head a little just to see the top of the thing. Its body was big, which explains why it had to snap all those trees to move around. It came close enough for me to discern its features

It was extremely tall, probably around 10 times my size, easily as big as a 2 story house. It couldn't move getting caught into trees, branches or leaves, which shows how big it is.

It isn't wearing anything except for a cloth covering it's crotch, it's skin is green and it's body is extremely hairy. I couldn't make its face because of how much hair it has on its body. I don't know if it's a coincidence but it looks just like trolls and goblins in those fantasy games I played before.

"That's.. a troll?" Luno spoke in a confused tone.

So that's a troll? They said it was going to be an easy opponent, that is anything but easy! Dark Magic enhanced trolls are nothing to mess around with!

"HAAAAAAAAARGH!"

It screamed, it lowered its head which brought us to its sight. Signifying that it finally noticed us. It began charging to us with huge footsteps that looked like hops.

"Luno?" I gulped my saliva as I asked her.

"We have to cover Mira-chan!" She replied and immediately crouched, placing her hand on the ground. As she did that some sort of nervous system became visible from her shoulder, it was glowing brown. It kept moving from her shoulder towards her arm until the ground. When it did, the earth trembled.

"EARTH WALL!"

The earth around us shook, dirt and dust flew and the ground deformed to create a huge wall of dirt that blocked it's path.

"That should buy us a little time!" She said as she stood up again.

"HAAAAAARGGH!"

*BANG*

The ground trembled as the loud hitting sound happened. It came from the other side of the wall. The troll must be punching the wall.

"Why isn't it going around it?"

"Trolls are known for its low intelligence, it always tries to take the direct path to whatever it is their targeting"

So trolls are idiots. I let out a relieved breath knowing our opponent isn't an impossible foe with both strength and wisdom.

I celebrated too early.

*BANG*

The second hit on the wall cracked it, the wall won't survive the third time. Luno's face became distressed as she noticed this. She crouched and placed her hand on the ground and the brown veins started to glow again.

"This guy is strong!"

The dirt and dust flowed from our surroundings and her hand towards the wall. The earth began fixing the wall that was cracked

*BANG*

The third hit which should have broken the wall, didn't, because Luno's is constantly fixing the wall with her Earth Magic.

"Yusof!"

"Yes?"

I replied immediately when Luno called. She then spoke to me as she broke a sweat and her eyes focused on the ground.

"You need to weaken the troll!"

"Wait? H-How?"

"Just stab it anywhere! I can't hold this forever! So when it chases us it will be slower because of it's injury."

"Leave it to me." I tried to sound confident but right after I said that I gulped my saliva and was almost hesitant to go.

But I had to, I unsheathed my sword and started walking around the trees towards the edge of Luno's Earth Wall in order to find a good position to injure its legs.

____________

*BANG*

I have moved to the edge of the wall, I could see the troll banging on the infinitely regenerating wall. The troll was even bigger up close which made me unintentionally gulp my saliva. However, I knew Luno couldn't hold the wall forever, so I had to be quick in weakening it if we were to have any chance at escape.

I didn't know what were the weak points of a troll but looking at it was a humanoid, I assume that it works like it too; and to weaken the movement of anything with legs, you have to injure the legs.

I gripped my sword tightly as I remained hidden. I tried to make my move towards the legs of the preoccupied troll using the safest route possible, which is the one closest to the wall. However, as I reached the place, I couldn't see or reach the troll from here. I couldn't clear the way either because the way was blocked by a huge tree that had fallen over.

This was very unfortunate, that was the least risky position to attack it and the easiest one to make a quick escape from. I didn't let this affect me as I moved around again to see where I could move to injure the troll's legs.

However, all of the routes I could take to injure it and safely escape are closed - except for one.

The troll had to push all of the things that interrupted its way in order to get to us, which explains why the left and right of the troll were filled with broken trees. The only place where I could go to get a clean shot on its leg beside risking climbing a tree.

Is going behind it.

This thought made me unintentionally shake my legs but I gritted my teeth to suppress my fear. This is no time to be taken over by fear! I carefully navigated around the trees and exited through a path unblocked by the troll.

This is it. In front of me is the troll, vigorously banging whilst roaring on the wall Luno made. It didn't notice me, which is amazing for me since this is my chance. I have to be quick and precise. I have to cut it's tendons a little above the ankle so that his movements will be severely hindered.

I gripped my sword, lifted it up and rushed towards the troll's left leg. I swung down my blade on the area a little above it's ankles and it made a clean cut through it.

"GUAAAAAAARGH"

The trolls roared in pain. I had to cut it on the other leg quickly before it turned around. It had already stopped hitting on the wall and is now turning around. I didn't waste any more time, I lifted my sword again and slashed the other leg above its ankle causing it to scream in agony.

"GUAAAAAAAAARGH"

However this time, the blade became stuck. I tried to pull out my sword from the flesh with all my strength but I am unable to, causing myself to be thrown away by the force of the troll turning around.

I fell on my stomach on the ground. I immediately stood back up and saw the troll almost made a full turn towards me. I hurriedly went for the path I took coming here but in the process of the troll turning around, it hit another tree which broke down, falling over and blocking the path, leaving me surrounded. 

I turned my to observe my surroundings. I couldn't see any escape routes.

This is bad!

This is really bad!

I can't escape and the troll's attention is fully on me. If I ran anywhere, it might probably be able to catch up to me, regardless. I gulped my saliva as my eyes widened in focus, waiting for its next move. In the midst of this, I was able to see the handle of my sword still stuck on the troll's legs. I wonder if I can get it back.

But that's not my main concern.

As I observed the sword, the troll roared and tried to lunge at me. However, the cut on its legs took a toll on its movements causing it to be sloppy, allowing me to be able to evade it easily.

"Woah!"

I evaded the trolls stomp at me by a tiny margin, I let out a breath of relief as I repositioned myself so I could see the trolls next attack while also searching for a path to escape.

The troll kept jumping and lunging and I kept evading. It was terrifying and I almost lost my life a couple of times.

"Ugh!"

I evaded again but this time I was able to see the sword stuck on the troll's leg is now wobbly, this gave me an idea to injure it further.

"Hey! Stupid! Over here! Get some of this!"

I taunted the troll, baiting it to make the next lunge, which it fell for.

"GUAAAAARGH"

It  lunged at me with amazing speed but I was still able to evade it. A lunge of that strength caused the troll to take a while to recover, which is when I seized my chance.

"Take this!"

I jumped to the height of my sword and grabbed the handle, I used my body weight to drag the sword down, which resulted in the troll having a huge cut from above it's ankle to the ankle itself. I pulled out the sword and sheathed it while the troll screamed in agony again.

"GAAAAAAAAAAARGH"

"Thank you for giving me back my sword."

I said in a smug manner, I'm doing more than 10 percent of the work now Mikra, I am proud!. I went back into a focus stance and quickly distanced myself from the troll's strike range. The trolls recovered quickly and wasted no time readying to attack me.

I think I pissed it off.

However, just as it was about to attack, I heard something from the other side of the wall.

"FROZEN SNARE"

I heard Mira scream, and a moment after, something broke the wall, I couldn't see due to the dust cloud from the wall's destruction.

After the dust cleared, I could see.

 It was ice.

The ice broke the wall and rooted the troll's arms and legs. I quickly ran past the troll towards the hole that they made. I saw both of Mira's arms extended forward with two veins that glowed in blue, she was pointing her the head of staff forward and Luno who was standing there holding her sword.

"Yusof! Hurry! I already stabilized her, let's go!"

"Good Job Yusof! Now Hurry! Before the troll frees himself."

"Yes! Let's get out of here!"

I replied, I ran past the broken wall and observed the woman who was still unconscious but definitely looked better than she was a while ago.

"You carry her Yusof." Luno said. I nodded and immediately crouched down in a position to give her a piggyback ride.

Now we're all set.

"Let's get out of here!" I screamed.

I ran ahead carrying the woman on my back, Luno and Mira followed behind me. We ran ahead attempting to get as far as we  possibly could from the troll.