WebNovels

Chapter 50 - Episode 50 — The Trail of the Fallen

The deeper they went, the quieter the forest became.

Even the whisper of wind that once danced through the canopy seemed to hold its breath. Every leaf, every droplet of dew clinging to the moss, appeared frozen in uneasy anticipation. The forest no longer felt like a place of nature — it felt like the mouth of a great beast, slowly closing in around them.

Ragna led the way, his eyes scanning every shifting shadow. His spear, darkened by blood and mud, rested firmly in his grip, the faint shimmer of its edge barely visible under the pale light seeping through the thick canopy. Behind him, the squad moved in silence — a silence born not of discipline, but of instinctual fear.

Kaen guided his Shadow Stalker carefully, its claws making almost no sound as it stepped over fallen branches and roots. He could feel its tension through the reins — the beast's heart raced fast, muscles coiling like a spring at every faint sound. The connection between rider and mount was sharp now, almost painful.

The survivor they'd rescued earlier walked near Darren, his steps uneven, his eyes darting constantly to the treeline. He no longer cried, no longer spoke. He just breathed — slow, shallow, as if every exhale might draw something's attention. The bloodstains on his armor had dried to a dull brown, blending into the forest's decay.

"Keep your formation," Ragna's low voice cut through the gloom, steady and measured. "We're not alone here."

The words didn't echo. They were swallowed instantly, as though the forest refused to let them escape.

Kaori glanced upward, her eyes narrowing. "The birds are gone," she whispered. "Not even insects."

Aya adjusted the strap of her crossbow, her movements deliberate. "That's never a good sign."

Riku crouched near a shattered tree trunk, running his fingers along the bark. "Claw marks," he murmured. "Deep ones. Fresh. Three layers deep — something massive came through here."

Boran stepped closer, his hammer resting on his shoulder. "Titan Charger?"

Riku shook his head. "Too wide. Too high. This one's something else."

The survivor flinched, glancing into the shadows as if hearing something the others couldn't. "I've seen those marks before," he muttered, voice trembling. "They were near where Captain Ryn… fought."

The squad fell silent again. Only the faint rustle of leaves far ahead hinted that the forest was still alive.

Ragna's gaze lingered on the survivor, studying the trembling man before turning forward. His tone softened — not in comfort, but in quiet respect. "Then that's where we're heading."

They pressed on.

---

The air grew thicker as they advanced. A strange mist began to creep along the forest floor, curling between roots and coiling around their legs. It shimmered faintly, almost alive, pulsing in time with some distant, rhythmic vibration. It wasn't wind. It was deeper — like the slow heartbeat of something buried beneath the ground.

Kaen frowned. "You feel that?"

Riku nodded. "Yeah… like the earth's breathing."

Darren's grip tightened around his hammer. "If it's breathing, I don't want to see what it is when it wakes."

The faintest of smiles ghosted across Ragna's lips — the kind only soldiers made before walking into hell. "Stay sharp."

They continued, each step heavier than the last. The mist thickened, rising higher, swallowing their legs, then their waists. Visibility dropped. The world became shades of grey and silence.

Then came the smell — faint at first, then overwhelming. Metallic, sharp, unmistakable. Blood.

It hit them like a wall.

Kaori pressed a hand to her nose, eyes narrowing. "It's fresh."

Ragna didn't stop. "Eyes up. Weapons ready."

They emerged into a clearing — or what was left of one. The ground was torn apart, deep gashes carved into the soil as though giants had raked their claws through it. Trees lay splintered in jagged heaps, their trunks twisted and shattered. The remains of several soldiers — armor torn, limbs broken — were scattered across the area, silent witnesses to the violence that had unfolded here.

The survivor froze mid-step. His eyes widened in horror, his lips trembling. "This… this is where it happened…"

Kaen dismounted, landing softly on the ruined earth. His boots sank into mud laced with dried blood. "So this was Ryn's last stand…"

The silence that followed was not just grief. It was reverence.

---

Far away, something growled.

Low. Deep. Heavy enough to shake the leaves loose from their branches.

The Shadow Stalker hissed, tail lashing as its fur bristled. Kaen's breath caught in his throat — the sound wasn't from a single beast. It was layered. Several growls, overlapping, merging into one monstrous resonance.

Ragna raised a hand — a silent signal. The squad froze instantly.

The growl came again, louder this time. Then another sound followed — the cracking of trees, one after another, like bones snapping under immense weight. The mist stirred, rolling back as if retreating from something vast.

Kaen's eyes darted through the fog. "It's coming from the east."

"No…" Riku whispered, his tone grim. "It's coming from everywhere."

The ground trembled beneath their feet — a slow, rhythmic quake. Boom. Boom. Boom. Each step heavier than the last. The mist churned violently now, stirred by the sheer displacement of air from something massive moving through it.

Kaori's bow was drawn. Darren steadied his stance. The Shadow Stalker snarled, its instincts screaming in warning.

Then came silence.

Utter, crushing silence.

Ragna's hand gripped his spear. His eyes, calm but unblinking, peered into the thick fog ahead. "Positions. Now."

From within the mist, two enormous shadows took form — shapes too large, too inhuman to belong to anything they had ever faced before.

And as the faint light broke through the canopy, the squad saw it — just for an instant.

A towering silhouette.

A single glowing eye.

And a roar that shattered the forest's silence into pieces.

---

The Trail of the Fallen

The roar faded, but the echoes clung to the trees, reverberating through every branch, every drop of mist. The forest trembled as if the sound itself had weight.

No one moved for a moment. The squad stood frozen — not out of fear, but out of pure, disciplined restraint. Every heartbeat sounded louder in the stillness.

Ragna was the first to break the silence. "Hold positions. Don't engage until you see it clearly."

The fog shifted again, and with it came a faint rumble beneath their feet — not the movement of a beast, but the distant echo of a collapsed battlefield. Darren took a step forward, his boots sinking deep into the damp earth. The mud was dark — too dark. Blood had seeped into it, staining the ground permanently.

Kaen dismounted his Shadow Stalker once more, running a hand along the torn soil. "These claw marks… they go deep. This wasn't just a battle." He looked up, eyes narrowing. "It was a massacre."

Riku crouched beside a fallen tree, examining a jagged piece of armor wedged into its bark. The insignia on it was faded but still visible — the crest of Ryn's squad. He turned it in his hands, the blood still wet. "They fought hard," he murmured. "But whatever hit them… it wasn't alone."

Kaori, standing a few steps behind, kept her bow raised, scanning the perimeter. Her voice was low, almost like a whisper meant for herself. "There's too much destruction for a single creature. It looks like… several of them trampled through here."

Aya walked slowly through the ruins, each step careful. She picked up a broken communication device — its crystal core shattered. "No signal traces. They must've jammed before it happened."

Boran's hammer rested heavily on his shoulder as he stared at the ruined trees. "Or the beasts learned to target sound…"

The survivor followed silently, his eyes darting across every familiar ruin, every corpse. He knelt beside one, his shaking hands brushing away the mud from a soldier's armor. His face contorted — pain, recognition, guilt. "He… he was my friend," he whispered. "He covered me when the Titans charged…"

Kaen placed a hand on his shoulder, quiet but firm. "He'd be proud you made it this far."

The man didn't reply. He just nodded, tears streaking through the dirt on his face.

---

They continued moving, each step taking them deeper into the destruction zone. Trees lay in spirals, their roots torn from the earth as though twisted by some unseen force. The canopy above was split open, and through it, shafts of pale light poured down onto the devastation — a cruel, beautiful spotlight on tragedy.

Then, they found it — a massive, charred crater at the center of the clearing. The soil here was burned black, fused in places into glass-like fragments. Darren crouched beside it, running a finger over the surface. "Energy discharge. Heavy. Could've been from one of ours… or from something else."

Aya shook her head. "If it were ours, the energy residue would've been blue." She pointed to the faint red shimmer left on the ground. "This isn't human tech."

Riku's gaze hardened. "So the dinosaurs have evolved again."

Ragna didn't answer immediately. His eyes were fixed on the horizon, where smoke still lingered in the air, curling upward in thin, ghostly tendrils. "No," he said finally, his voice low. "They're adapting. Someone — or something — is teaching them."

A silence heavier than before followed. Even the air seemed to recoil from the weight of his words.

Kaori exhaled softly, lowering her bow slightly. "Teaching them…?"

Ragna turned toward her. "There's precision in this destruction. The attack patterns aren't random. They didn't ambush for food. They eliminated targets systematically — starting with the command."

Aya frowned. "So they went for Captain Ryn first."

The survivor flinched, his hands clenching. "No… he… he made sure of that. He drew them away. He saved us…" His voice broke. "He fought them alone."

Everyone fell silent again.

---

Ragna walked to the edge of the crater and knelt. He picked up a fragment of broken metal — Ryn's insignia, the same engraved crest now cracked down the middle. He stared at it for a long time, the faint reflection of the forest flickering in his eyes.

Riku stepped closer. "You think he's gone?"

Ragna didn't answer immediately. The question hung in the air, twisting between grief and denial. Then he finally spoke, his tone unreadable. "If he were dead… the forest would've gone quiet."

Kaen frowned. "Quiet?"

Ragna stood, turning toward the forest. "This isn't silence. It's waiting."

At that, even the survivor looked up. Something in Ragna's words struck a chord — a primal recognition. The kind that came before disaster.

---

They followed the trail again, guided by the claw marks and the shattered remains of armor. The deeper they went, the darker it became, the air thick with moisture and the faint hum of unseen life.

Kaori whispered, "It's like the forest is breathing with us."

Aya murmured, "Or against us."

The survivor stumbled suddenly, his boot catching on something half-buried. He fell forward, landing hard — and when Kaen helped him up, both froze. What the man had tripped over wasn't a root. It was a hand — human, armored, lifeless.

The squad gathered. Darren brushed away the dirt, revealing the full body — one of Ryn's lieutenants, his chest caved in from a crushing blow. His weapon still clutched in his hand, the blade bent beyond repair.

Kaen's jaw tightened. "They didn't even have time to run."

Ragna looked down at the fallen soldier for a long moment, then placed his hand gently over the man's chestplate — a silent gesture of respect. "Mark the spot," he said quietly.

Aya nodded, planting a signal beacon beside the corpse. Its light pulsed faintly — a soft blue glow in the sea of grey mist.

Riku's eyes shifted upward. "Sir… look."

High above, carved into the bark of a massive tree, were deep gashes — slashing in wide arcs, easily thirty feet up. The marks glowed faintly, a sickly red, as if something unnatural pulsed beneath the wood.

Kaori stepped back, her breath shallow. "What kind of creature leaves that?"

Ragna stared up at the marks. "The kind that doesn't hunt for survival. It hunts for dominance."

---

The ground shook again — heavier this time. Not a distant tremor, but close. Very close.

The survivor's voice was barely a whisper. "That sound… I heard it before. When Ryn… stayed behind."

Kaen's Shadow Stalker hissed violently, lowering itself instinctively. The mist ahead began to shift, swirling as if repelled by an unseen force. The rumble grew louder, heavier — each impact resonating in their chests.

Branches cracked. Trees bent. The forest itself seemed to bow.

Ragna raised his hand. "Form up!"

Weapons lifted in unison. Arrows readied. Spears leveled.

Through the mist — just barely visible — something massive moved. A silhouette unlike any they'd ever seen. Its steps were slow, deliberate, each one leaving a crater in the ground. Its outline dwarfed even the tallest trees.

Then, for the briefest moment, the mist parted.

Two eyes — burning gold and crimson — stared back at them.

And then it roared.

The world shook. The sound was so immense it broke the mist apart, scattering leaves and dust like a storm.

The survivor screamed. Kaen shielded his eyes. Darren's stance faltered for the first time.

Ragna didn't move. He stared directly into the beast's silhouette, unflinching. His expression was unreadable — somewhere between dread and fascination.

"That," he murmured, almost to himself, "is no ordinary dinosaur."

The roar faded, but its echo lingered — a promise of what was coming.

And as the mist closed around them once more, the forest fell silent again.

Waiting.

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