Konstant still held the knife with all his strength, driven by desperation. His movements were pure instinct, without conscious thought. He managed to position the blade horizontally between himself and those deadly jaws.
The jaws closed on the metal with a loud, resonant CLANG.
The creature snarled fiercely, shaking its head violently from side to side like a dog with a toy, trying to break or rip away the knife. Konstant could feel the immense, impossible force in its jaws, the metal beginning to slowly give way under the constant pressure. He could feel the claws methodically tearing his chest, cutting through his clothing, opening his skin in multiple deep lines.
Blood. His own blood began to rapidly soak his shirt.
Thick, viscous drool dripped continuously from the creature's mouth, falling directly onto Konstant's face hot, sticky, with that unbearable, rotten smell that made him want to vomit.
He realized with absolute and terrible clarity that he couldn't hold on much longer. The knife will break in seconds. When that happens, those jaws will close on my neck and it will be the end.
Then, he heard a roar.
A completely inarticulate shout, full of absolute terror but also something more… something like desperate rage mixed with suicidal determination.
He saw Rady.
The boy wasn't running away, fleeing, but toward him, in a desperate charge, with his arms raised high above his head, trembling, holding the sickle with both hands and swinging it without control or technique.
And his eyes were closed. Completely closed.
He was screaming at the absolute top of his lungs, a continuous, broken sound that formed no comprehensible words, only terror and determination vocalized.
Konstant felt his heart stop beating. He's going to miss. With his eyes closed and swinging like that, he's going to hit me. He's going to kill me trying to save me. He's going to…
The curved, sharp blade of Rady's sickle plunged directly into the Grusk's left eye.
It was pure chance. A stroke of luck that defied all probability. A coincidence that defied all probability. It couldn't have been intentional, not with his eyes completely closed, not with that absolutely uncoordinated and desperate swing.
But it hit perfectly.
The creature let out a piercing shriek that stabbed through Konstant's brain like a hot needle, so loud and penetrating he could feel it painfully reverberating. It immediately jumped off him, staggering away, shaking its head violently and frantically from side to side. Rady's sickle remained grotesquely embedded in its eye socket, swinging with each violent head movement.
Konstant immediately rolled over, coughing desperately, trying to regain the breath that had been squeezed out of him. His hands flew instinctively to his chest, feeling the warm blood soaking his entire shirt. The cuts burned intensely like fire, each breath sending waves of sharp pain through his entire torso.
"Konstant!" Rady was at his side instantly, his hands shaking uncontrollably as he helped him sit up. His face was completely pale, streaked with tears that flowed freely, uncontrollably. "I… I hit it! I didn't believe I'd hit it, I thought I was going to kill you, but I hit it!"
"You hit it," Konstant managed to say with a hoarse, pained voice. He looked at Rady, at that boy who had been completely paralyzed by terror seconds before, but who had found courage from some impossible, deep place to act when it mattered most, and he felt something warm and tight form in his injured chest. "Good job. You… you saved me."
For an impossible moment to categorize, Rady seemed caught between hysterical laughter and uncontrolled sobbing at the same time. Then, in a completely unexpected and absurd gesture given the mortal situation, he punched his own chest in a terrible imitation of bravado. "You can… you can count on me!"
His voice came out broken. His legs still trembled so visibly it seemed he might collapse at any second. But there was something different in his eyes now a fragile but real determination that definitely hadn't been there before.
That's true courage , Konstant thought with sudden clarity. It's not the absence of fear. It never was. It's acting despite paralyzing terror. It's forcing yourself to move when every instinct screams to freeze or flee.
"CHILDREN!" Joren shouted from where he leaned heavily against the tree, holding his injured arm pressed to his chest, his face a mask of barely contained pain. "The other one! Watch out for the other creature!"
Konstant turned his head painfully and saw the second creature the one that had been meticulously blocking their path advancing now with deliberate, measured steps. It moved slower than the first, more cautiously, having clearly seen and learned from what happened to its companion.
The first creature, the one with the sickle still horribly embedded in its destroyed eye, had retreated several meters, but it was definitely not dead. Not even remotely close to dead. It made a low, continuous sound, half animal whimper, half menacing growl. Black, viscous blood flowed copiously from its completely destroyed orbit, but its good eye that bright red, malignant point was still absolutely fixed on them with palpable hatred.
"Joren," Konstant forced the words through the pain pulsing in every nerve. "Can you really walk?"
"I think so," the carpenter said, but his voice was dangerously weak, unstable. "But I can't really fight. My arm…"
"You don't need to fight. You just need to run when I say so." Konstant brutally forced himself to his feet, completely ignoring how his vision swam dangerously, ignoring the lancing pain in his chest. "Just that. Can you?"
He looked around quickly, assessing their resources with growing desperation. The sickle he had brought lay several meters away lost when the creature attacked him so violently. Rady had no weapon now, having left the sickle embedded in the Grusk's eye. Konstant still had the knife, but the blade was visibly dented and dangerously twisted from the creature's jaws, practically useless.
We're unarmed. Gravely injured. And there are still two of them perfectly capable of killing us.
The second creature took another calculated step forward. Then another. It was almost at the perfect leaping distance now, muscles visibly coiling under its oily skin.
"Rady," Konstant said with surprising calm despite absolutely everything. "When I say 'now,' you grab Joren and run as fast as you can. Don't stop. Don't look back for a second. Just run straight toward the village."
"But you "
"I'm going to distract them. Buy you time to escape. It's the only way."
"No!" Rady shouted, his voice completely broken by emotion. "I won't leave you! Not after what you did… I can't!"
"YOU HAVE TO SURVIVE!" Konstant shouted back with a ferocity that surprised even himself, and there was something absolutely fierce in his voice. "Someone has to go back! Someone has to warn the village about what's happening! Do you understand? DO YOU UNDERSTAND?"
The second creature slowly crouched, muscles visibly coiling, meticulously preparing for a fatal leap.
"DON'T MOVE!"
The voice cut through the mortal tension like a sharp blade coming not from any of them, but from behind the creatures, from the darkness of the forest.
A man emerged from the shadows with impressive speed, and even in the extremely faint and flickering torchlight, Konstant recognized him immediately with a wave of relief.
Gareth.
The hunter had his large bow fully raised and drawn, with a dart not a normal arrow, but a short, thick, obviously special dart nocked and pulled to its maximum. Visible at his waist, glowing softly even in the oppressive darkness, was something Konstant had never seen the hunter use before: a short sword with runes clearly etched into the blade, pulsing with contained power.
"When I say," Gareth said in a voice that was absolutely calm but laden with indisputable authority, "you three hit the ground immediately. No questions. Understood?"
Konstant didn't question for a second. "Understood."
"Three," Gareth began counting with metronomic precision, adjusting his aim microscopically. "Two…"
The second creature perceived the new critical danger and began to turn with frightening speed.
"ONE!"
Konstant, Rady, and Joren threw themselves onto the hard ground simultaneously.
The dart roared violently over them, a bright line of intense blue light tracing its path through the darkness like a comet. It was no normal arrow; the runes meticulously carved into it glowed with palpable mystical power, and when it finally found its target…
The impact hit the first Grusk in the center of its chest with devastating force, literally lifting it off the ground and hurling it back three meters. It slammed into a thick tree with a horrible crash that echoed through the forest and slid to the ground like a broken doll, its limbs spasming uncontrollably.
"STAY DOWN!" Gareth shouted with absolute urgency, already preparing another runic dart with practiced movements.
The second Grusk the one with the sickle still horribly embedded in its mutilated eye made its decision in a fraction of a second. Instead of continuing to fight, it turned abruptly and ran, disappearing into the shadows so incredibly fast it seemed to literally dissolve into the darkness, leaving only a trail of black blood.
Gareth kept the bow tensed and raised for several seconds, his eyes methodically sweeping the entire area. Then, very slowly, he lowered the weapon.
"It's clear," he said cautiously, but he definitely didn't put the bow away. He moved quickly to them with controlled steps. "Anyone badly injured?"
"Joren," Konstant said, pointing with a trembling hand. "Arm. It's really bad. And I…" He looked down at his shirt, completely soaked with blood, which shone black in the torchlight. "Deep scratches. Many. I think."
Gareth quickly knelt beside him, carefully pulling the torn shirt aside to examine the wounds. His eyes narrowed with clear concern. "Deep, yes. But clean at least they don't seem infected yet. We'll need to treat them properly when we get back, but you'll survive."
He looked at Joren with more intense concern. "And you?"
"My right arm," Joren said through clenched teeth, his breath coming in short gasps. "Something tore it deeply. Muscles… maybe tendons. Bad."
"But can you walk?"
"Yes. I have to."
"Then we need to move immediately." Gareth stood up with urgency, carefully helping Konstant to his feet. "That creature that fled could come back with reinforcements at any moment. And there's much more in the forest. Much more than we can handle."
"More?" Rady whispered, absolute terror clear in his broken voice. "How many more?"
"I don't know exactly. But I heard at least three or four different roars from various directions before I found you." Gareth looked seriously in the direction he had come from. "The barriers have failed completely. I don't know how or why, but they've failed. And now there are several Grusks, maybe other, much worse things, hunting freely in the forest."
"And the children?" Konstant forced the question through the pain, though part of him already knew he wouldn't fully like the answer. "Luna and the others… are they safe?"
"Keiko found them," Gareth said quickly, and there was genuine relief in his voice. "Luna is safe. Keiko was taking her and the other children back to the village when I came looking for you."
Konstant felt something heavy loosen in his injured chest. Luna is alive. She's safe. Thank god.
"Then let's go now," Gareth ordered with authority. "Rady, you help support Joren. Konstant, can you walk on your own even injured?"
"I can," Konstant lied deliberately. In truth, each step sent absolutely agonizing waves of pain through his torn chest, and he was beginning to feel a concerning dizziness from the significant blood loss. But he would in no way slow down or delay the group when lives depended on it.
They began to move with urgency: Gareth led, with his bow still absolutely ready; Rady helped Joren, who limped heavily; and Konstant followed in the rear, fighting to keep pace.
Fifty meters of painful progress. One hundred. The village had to be close; they had to be near.
An absolutely devastating roar cut through the night.
But it was nothing like the sharp, disturbing shrieks of the Grusks.
This one was much deeper. Very, very deep. It resonated through the entire forest like rumbling thunder, making the ground literally vibrate under their feet, birds exploding from the trees in panic, and small animals running desperately in all directions.
Everyone froze instantly.
Gareth turned slowly, and what little color remained in his face drained completely, leaving him pale as wax. "No," he whispered with a horror Konstant had never seen in him before. "By all the gods, no…"
"What is it?" Konstant asked, though a deep part of him already knew he definitely didn't want the answer.
"Borak," Gareth said in a completely empty voice, and there was absolute terror in every syllable. "There's a damned Borak here. In our forest."
He didn't know exactly what a Borak was. But what he saw on Gareth's face wasn't just fear. It was pure, uncontrollable panic. It was the expression of a man who, after decades of hunting in the deepest forests of Excelsis, had never encountered something that made him retreat. Until now.
They were in mortal danger.
"Run," Gareth ordered in a voice that brooked no discussion. "RUN NOW!"
They ran.
Konstant had no idea how long they'd been running seconds, minutes, a painful eternity. His lungs burned like fire. His legs screamed in protest. The deep cuts in his chest sent waves of absolute agony through him with every movement, every desperate breath.
But he forced himself to keep running, ignoring everything.
Rady was at his side, half carrying Joren, who limped very heavily. Gareth led, constantly looking back with barely contained terror.
And behind them, that roar came again.
Closer.
Much, much closer.
Konstant could clearly hear not just the devastating roar, but also the footsteps. Extremely heavy. The loud rustling of vegetation being brutally crushed, the crash of young trees being violently pushed aside or broken like twigs.
"We're not going to make it!" Joren shouted, his voice broken. "It's catching up to us fast!"
Konstant was sure he was absolutely right. He could feel the ground vibrating stronger and stronger with each passing second and hear the thing inexorably approaching, methodically hunting them.
Then he finally saw the village lights through the trees.
Not far now, perhaps only a hundred meters. Eighty. Seventy.
"VILLAGE!" Gareth shouted with everything he had, his voice breaking with extreme physical effort and genuine fear. "EMERGENCY OPENING! LET US IN IMMEDIATELY!"
The monstrous footsteps behind them accelerated audibly and menacingly, as if the creature instinctively knew it was about to lose its prey.
Sixty meters.
Forty.
Konstant could see people clearly now villagers carrying torches, running toward the edges of the village, illuminated faces full of absolute terror.
Twenty meters to safety.
"GO GO GO!" Gareth was shouting continuously.
Ten meters remaining.
Joren stumbled violently.
He fell heavily.
Rady, trying desperately to hold him, also fell in a tangle of limbs.
"NO!" Konstant shouted with everything he had, turning instinctively.
And finally, he saw it.
The creature emerged from the darkness like an omen of calamity.
It stood nearly four meters tall, its body covered in dense muscles and irregular bony plates that rose from its shoulders and back like natural blades. Its arms were too long, disproportionate, thick as logs, ending in claws that seemed made to tear flesh and stone without distinction.
In its hand, it wielded a colossal club, studded with bone spikes. The weapon pulsed with an abyssal purple aura, distorting the air around it as if the world itself rejected its presence.
But the face…
It was an exposed skull, with a jaw fixed in a smile that expressed no emotion, only hunger. Enormous, crooked, irregular teeth. And in the center of its forehead, there was a deep hole, an absolute void, like a fragment of the Abyss embedded in the world's flesh.
The mere sight of the creature made Konstant's heart shrink, as if his very instinct had realized.
The Borak looked directly at them with those empty eyes.
And smiled.
It shouldn't have been possible: it was an inert mask of bone, completely fixed and immobile. Yet Konstant clearly saw the smile widen in an impossible way and perceived something deeply sadistic and genuinely malevolent in that supernatural gesture.
The creature slowly and deliberately raised its massive club.
Joren was almost there. With a final surge of adrenaline, he threw himself forward, his fingers almost touching the distorted air that marked the barrier's boundary.
Gareth had already crossed and turned immediately.
But Rady was on the wrong side of the line. He was frozen. And Konstant was too far away.
"JOREN!" Gareth shouted.
The club descended.
Joren made the final movement, and his body contorted through the protective barrier.
Almost all of it.
The impact of the club, wrapped in its corrosive aura, was not blocked by the barrier. It tore the air and reality where it passed. Konstant saw the tip of the weapon graze Joren's heel at the exact moment he crossed the threshold.
And he saw that part of the body just the foot and part of the leg not split or be crushed.
Disappear.
Disintegrate into a momentary flash of particles before turning to dark dust. Joren fell on the other side of the barrier, but his scream was cut off in an abrupt, unnatural way. He wasn't dead, but that leg, from the calf down, had ceased to exist. The cut was smooth and perfect, without blood just a smoking stump of flesh and bone that ended in nothingness.
The pain and shock made him pass out instantly.
The club, however, continued its arc. The tip the outermost part of the swing now came directly for Konstant and Rady. The very edge of the swing brushed lightly against Konstant's forehead.
He felt the impact, but distantly, as if it were happening to someone else in another place. He felt a bone definitely break, perhaps more than one. He felt a sudden, wet heat gush abundantly down his face.
And then he felt the burn.
It wasn't normal fire. It was as if something alive and malevolent was eating his skin from the inside out, cell by cell. Like concentrated acid, but infinitely worse, much worse. As if the fundamental energy of life itself was being violently drained from the point of impact, voraciously sucked into that dark, putrid aura.
Konstant felt the pain explode behind his eyes a pain so intense, so absolute that it literally had no words in any language to describe it. He felt something warm and viscous flowing, not just blood but something much more viscous, more dense. He felt his vision the vision he still had, the one that still worked beginning to darken rapidly at the edges, black spots spreading like spilled ink in water.
He tried to scream, but the sound came out completely strangled, broken, inhuman.
His legs gave way instantly.
He fell heavily.
"The last sound that penetrated his consciousness was the Borak's roar which sounded like a sadistic and satisfied laugh.
After that, there was only darkness."