The Eastern Forest of Phoenix was not a place of nature; it was a festering wound on the land. The trees were twisted, their bark black and oozing a sap that smelled of sulfur. The canopy was so thick that noon looked like twilight.
"Hold the line!" Kaze roared, his voice cutting through the humid air.
The Phoenix Army moved in a phalanx formation—shields locked, spears protruding like the quills of a porcupine. It was a formation Reynold had drilled into them for weeks. It was boring, it was slow, and it was the only way to survive the swarm.
Screech!
A pack of Shadow Wolves burst from the underbrush. These weren't normal animals; their eyes glowed with chaotic mana, and their claws could shred plate armor.
"Brace!"
The collision was deafening. The soldiers groaned under the weight of the beasts, but the line held. Spears thrust forward in unison. Blood sprayed the black soil.
In the center of the formation, two soldiers fought with a strange nonchalance.
"Your left," Vanz said lazily, parrying a wolf's bite with the shaft of his spear.
"Got it," Eru replied, decapitating the beast with a bored swing. "This spawn rate is broken. The RNG (Random Number Generator) is definitely stuck on 'High'."
"Shut up and fight, private," a sergeant barked at them.
Reynold watched from a small rise in the land, surrounded by his elite guards. He wasn't fighting; he was observing. His eyes scanned the treeline, not looking for wolves, but for patterns.
"Something is wrong," Reynold murmured. "The monsters are not attacking randomly. They are being... herded."
"Herded, My Lord?" Kaze asked, stepping back to report. "By what?"
"Wolves and Goblins don't work together," Reynold pointed to the flank where a group of goblins was providing cover fire for the wolves. "Unless they have a commander."
Reynold drew his sword. It was a simple blade, but perfectly balanced.
"Morze!"
The scout appeared from the shadows. "Yes, Lord Reynold?"
"Use your anti-scrying technique. Go deep. Ignore the fodder. Find me the brain of this operation."
"At once."
As Morze vanished, Reynold turned to Kaze. "Tighten the formation. We are not clearing a forest, Kaze. We are knocking on the front door of an army."