The hunt continued in a methodical cycle.
One creature emerged from the forest and died. A second followed in its footsteps and met the same fate. Then a third, and a fourth. The pattern was always flawless: lure, isolate, execute, and retreat before the pack noticed the absence. Four corpses already lay outside the forest, but eventually, the pack learned.
The remaining beasts stopped chasing the decoys. They no longer separated. They responded to the humans' calculated aggression with cold patience, waiting silently in the shadows.
Kara broke the stalemate.
She advanced just as a new figure tore through the mist: a colossal feline. Although it did not match the proportions of the abomination Dayana had sensed deep within the forest, its presence was overwhelming enough to make the soldiers instinctively step back.
Albert raised his shield, standing firm.
—Back! —he ordered. —The soldiers do not intervene!
—But, Commander...
—I said back!
The beast leaped.
Kara met the impact head-on, and the collision kicked up a dense cloud of dirt. The Hero of Strength planted her feet firmly into the ground, stopping the charge with her shield, though the metal warped instantly under the force.
She gritted her teeth.
—It's... strong.
The feline pressed forward again, bringing one massive claw down with devastating force. Kara pivoted, letting it pass mere inches from her shoulder. The claw sank into the earth, splitting the ground where she had stood a second earlier.
—Kara! —Emily shouted.
—I'm fine!
Kara countered immediately with a direct slash. Her greatsword crashed into the feline's side, sending it flying several meters. The creature tore through a thicket before slamming violently into a tree trunk.
For a second, the mist fell silent.
Kara flashed a satisfied smile.
—One.
The tree exploded into splinters.
The beast emerged from the wreckage with a bloody wound along its side, yet it remained firmly on its feet.
The warrior's smile vanished.
—Well...
Lusian assessed the wound from a distance. It had not been nearly enough.
—Kara.
—What?
—You won't be able to kill it quickly.
—I had already figured that out.
The feline charged again.
Kara blocked the assault, but this time the impact sent her flying backward, carving two deep furrows through the earth before she finally managed to halt her momentum.
Emily paled.
—We won't last long at this rate.
Lusian calmly drew Dainsleif.
—Then we won't let it drag on.
His gaze shifted toward the darkness of the forest, where the mist revealed countless moving silhouettes.
—Albert.
—I'm listening.
—Pull the men back. No one attempts to assist.
The commander immediately understood the gravity of the order.
—General retreat! Now!
The soldiers obeyed without hesitation. There were no displays of heroism or protests. They knew enough to recognize that this was not a battle for ordinary men, but a slaughter reserved for a select few.
Thunder stepped forward.
The magical steed struck the ground with one hoof, releasing a surge of electricity that snaked across the earth. The feline turned toward him just as the horse shot forward.
The beast lunged, but the steed cut through the air and changed direction at the last possible instant, flashing past it like a bolt of lightning.
—Now! —Lusian shouted.
Kara understood the signal.
Instead of attacking, she sprinted toward the flank. The creature attempted to turn and follow her, but Thunder crossed its path again, disorienting its senses.
Emily raised her orb of light, and a pure radiance tore through the mist, illuminating the entire battlefield.
The sight chilled everyone's blood.
There were not one or three enormous beasts.
There were eight.
And behind them, dozens of hungry eyes glimmered between the vegetation.
Emily swallowed.
—We need to finish this quickly.
Dayana coldly examined the enemy formation before pointing north.
—There's one isolated. That one.
One of the creatures had strayed too far while pursuing Thunder's feints.
—Perfect.
Lusian smiled faintly.
Kara tightened her grip on her sword.
—Then we have our first target.
Thunder swept past the monster again, this time openly provoking it. The beast roared and charged after him at full speed. The horse accelerated, feeling the feline's jaws snap at the air mere inches from his back, then veered at exactly the right moment, drawing the creature toward the clearing.
Then Lusian disappeared.
No flash. No smoke.
He simply ceased to exist.
The feline skidded to a halt, confused. It searched from side to side, but neither its sense of smell nor its perception could detect a trace.
Lusian reappeared behind it.
Dainsleif pierced straight through the beast's side.
The monster roared in pain and spun violently, attempting to tear its attacker apart.
But Lusian had already vanished again.
Kara entered the fray immediately. Her greatsword descended with savage force, striking directly into the same open wound. The creature dropped to one knee.
—Now! —Emily commanded.
A beam of pure light pierced the feline's torso.
Even then, the beast tried to rise one last time, but Kara's second strike finished it.
The body collapsed lifelessly onto the earth.
Silence reigned.
No one celebrated the kill.
Lusian shook the blood from Dainsleif with a sharp motion.
—One.
Dayana did not take her eyes off the forest.
—The others noticed.
The remaining creatures did not respond with rage. They had all stopped at the same time, watching the clearing in absolute silence.
—They're learning —Lusian remarked.
Emily frowned.
—What do you mean?
—They know exactly what we're doing.
To confirm his words, the seven remaining felines began retreating simultaneously. It was not a flight. They regrouped shoulder to shoulder, closing ranks to protect one another.
Kara tightened her grip on her greatsword.
—Then we'll have to force them to separate again.
Lusian shook his head.
—Not yet.
—Why?
—Because now they know what we're looking for.
Dayana smiled maliciously.
—And if we keep slaughtering the weaker prey...
—They'll stop sending them —Lusian finished.
His gaze remained fixed on the forest.
—And we need them to keep coming out.
A distant, guttural roar reverberated from deep within the forest.
The seven felines immediately raised their ears and, as though obeying an invisible command, began retreating into the shadows.
Emily slowly lowered her orb of light.
—The leader?
Dayana closed her eyes, extending her perception through the dense forest. She sensed the movement of the seven beasts and the restless prowling of the smaller creatures.
But beneath all that movement, she sensed something else.
An immense presence.
Motionless.
Waiting.
She opened her eyes.
—It's watching us.
Lusian did not take his eyes off the darkness.
—Then let it watch.
The second incursion began an hour later.
This time, they did away with the ten soldiers. Four were enough.
They advanced only a few meters beyond the northern edge of the forest before beginning a simulated retreat. However, the creatures did not come out to meet them. The men continued falling back, but the darkness remained empty.
Albert glanced over his shoulder, frowning.
—They're not taking the bait.
—Because they've learned —Lusian murmured from the shadows.
Emily remained beside Elizabeth, guarding the outer defensive line.
—Well? What do we do now?
—Wait.
The silence stretched for several tense minutes.
Then Dayana narrowed her eyes.
—Three.
Lusian gave a faint smile.
—Good.
The four soldiers continued their retreat, and the beasts slipped after them.
One.
Two.
Three.
That was when Thunder burst in from the flank. The lead creature reacted a second too late: Kara's shadow fell over it before it could even rise.
When the second monster attempted to cut her off, Emily flooded the battlefield with light.
—Right side! —she warned.
Lusian appeared in that exact opening. Dainsleif carved a line through the air. He was not aiming for a killing blow, but rather to force the feline's trajectory.
Thunder exploited the opening, cutting off its support and isolating it instantly.
Kara killed the first and spun around to finish the second.
Then the third fell.
No grand speeches.
No room for error.
Attack.
Separate.
Kill.
Retreat.
An unforgiving cycle.
Every time a beast strayed too far from the formation, it disappeared into the night. The pack steadily lost numbers, but its behavior changed once again.
They stopped pursuing the soldiers.
They ignored the decoys.
They refused to separate.
They remained shoulder to shoulder, transforming themselves into a single wall.
Dayana's eyes snapped open.
—It's over.
Lusian turned toward her.
—What happened?
—They won't send anyone else.
In the distance, the pack had become completely still. The survivors held their formation, their hungry eyes fixed upon the human contingent.
They did not attack.
They simply waited.
Lusian calmly sheathed Dainsleif.
—We've reached the limit of this strategy.
Kara wiped a smear of blood from her cheek with the back of her gauntlet.
—How many are left?
—The truly strong ones —Dayana replied, studying the shadows.
—And the leader?
The vampire remained silent for several seconds before whispering:
—It's still there... but now it's much closer.
Suddenly, the air in the clearing grew dense, almost heavy.
There were no warning roars.
No display of rage.
Only a single step.
CRACK.
An ancient tree tilted violently in the distance.
CRACK.
A second trunk gave way beneath overwhelming pressure.
Kara's smile disappeared completely. Emily clutched the orb of light against her chest, her knuckles turning white. Thunder lowered his head, pawing anxiously at the earth, while Dayana instinctively took half a step backward.
Only Lusian remained motionless.
The darkness of the forest seemed to thicken, closing in around them.
In that moment, everyone understood the true scale of the situation: they had spent hours thinning the pack, hunting the weaker specimens and isolating the careless. They had brought down several of the larger beasts.
But the hunt's filter had left behind only those who had never needed to leave the heart of the territory.
The leader's guardians.
The deadliest of them all.
Lusian watched the silhouettes stationed among the trees.
—Now the difficult part begins.
Kara raised her massive greatsword, settling into a fighting stance.
—And the leader?
Lusian stared into the depths of the shadows.
—Not yet.
—Why?
—Because if we go in now...
His eyes moved from one remaining creature to the next, assessing the trap hidden within their formation.
—We won't make it back out.
Dayana's lips curled into a slow, razor-sharp smile.
—Then we'll have to force it to come to us.
Lusian nodded.
—Exactly.
Far away, deep within the heart of the forest, two enormous golden eyes opened behind the mist.
It had witnessed every movement, every death, and every retreat from the very beginning.
And now...
it had decided to move.