The eastern wall of Valcrest Manor no longer felt like stone.
It felt like a boundary.
A statement.
Leon stood before it at dawn, watching workers reinforce wooden barricades with iron braces. Farmers had volunteered to carry supplies. Guards moved with sharper awareness than before. No one treated the forest lightly anymore.
Word of the golden-eyed creature had spread quietly.
Not publicly.
Not dramatically.
But enough.
Leon's shoulder still ached when he moved too quickly. The dent in his chest plate had been hammered back into shape, but the metal bore the memory of that strike.
He welcomed the reminder.
It had not attacked to kill him outright.
It had tested the wall.
The line.
Leon turned toward the training yard.
Two armored warriors stood waiting.
This time, he did not train alone.
Six village guards stood across from him, spears in hand. Their grips were uneven. Their posture uncertain.
None of them possessed talent above average.
None of them had ever faced something like what had come from the forest.
Leon stepped forward.
"You will not fight like heroes," he said calmly. "You will fight like a wall."
Confused glances passed between them.
He planted his spear firmly.
"Individual skill matters less than alignment. If one breaks formation, all break."
He motioned to the first warrior.
"Shield forward."
The armored warrior stepped into place.
Leon positioned himself just behind the shield's edge.
"Distance," he said. "You must know it without thinking."
He gestured for the guards to approach.
They did.
Leon thrust at them suddenly.
Not to strike.
To test reaction.
Two flinched backward.
One raised his spear too high.
Another froze.
Leon withdrew immediately.
"Again."
They reset.
He attacked once more.
This time they held slightly better.
Not enough.
He exhaled slowly.
This would take time.
Time they might not have.
The system flickered faintly in his awareness.
It did not give instructions.
It did not highlight errors.
It simply observed.
He remembered the warrior's words.
When you no longer rely on me.
He looked at the armored figures.
They were not meant to replace men.
They were meant to reinforce them.
Leon repositioned the guards, adjusting foot placement, correcting grip angles. He demonstrated how shields overlapped, how spears aligned in staggered depth rather than single rank.
Hours passed.
Blisters formed.
Sweat soaked through linen.
But gradually, something shifted.
The guards began stepping in unison.
Their spears rose together.
Their retreat synchronized.
Leon felt it.
A faint hum in the air.
Not magic.
Not power.
Coordination.
The first armored warrior moved among them, adjusting stances silently. The second locked into position beside Leon.
For a brief moment, eight figures stood aligned.
A crude formation.
But a line nonetheless.
Leon thrust forward.
This time, no one broke.
The system responded softly.
Formation stability detected.
Battlefield authority incrementally increased.
Leon's chest tightened.
Incremental.
That was fine.
He did not need leaps.
He needed steadiness.
That afternoon, a messenger arrived from House Ferrowyn.
Aldric himself followed shortly after.
"You are fortifying," Aldric observed as he dismounted.
"Yes."
"You expect another wave?"
Leon met his gaze calmly.
"I expect escalation."
Aldric glanced toward the forest.
"My father believes we should send word to the imperial garrison."
Leon shook his head slightly.
"If the empire arrives too early, this becomes their problem. And when they leave, it becomes ours again."
Aldric frowned.
"So we do nothing?"
"We prepare."
Aldric studied him more closely now.
"You speak differently since the siege."
Leon allowed a faint smile.
"I have had reason."
Aldric's gaze drifted toward the armored warriors.
"They move like veterans. Not mercenaries."
"They follow discipline," Leon replied evenly.
Aldric seemed about to press further, but a distant tremor cut him off.
Both men turned toward the forest.
The ground vibrated faintly beneath their boots.
Not like a charge.
Like a pulse.
Leon felt it in his bones.
"They are gathering again," Aldric whispered.
"Yes."
But this time it was not at the eastern ridge.
It was deeper.
Farther north.
Toward the trade road.
Leon's expression sharpened.
"If they cut the road, we lose supply access."
Aldric's jaw tightened.
"I will inform my father."
"Do that," Leon said.
"And Leon."
He paused.
"You fought well during the hunt."
Leon inclined his head.
"And you adapted."
Aldric mounted without another word and rode back toward Ferrowyn lands.
Leon turned to the armored warriors.
"We move."
They reached the trade road at dusk.
Broken wagons lay overturned along the path. Two horses lay dead. Claw marks scored the earth.
But no bodies.
Leon knelt and examined the tracks.
Smaller.
Faster.
Not the golden-eyed leader.
Scouts.
Testing supply lines.
The mist began creeping in again, low and deliberate.
Leon rose slowly.
"They want us spread thin," he murmured.
The first armored warrior nodded once.
"Then we do not spread."
Leon planted his spear.
"Line."
The two warriors moved into position beside him instinctively.
Three shields would have been ideal.
He had two.
That would have to suffice.
The mist thickened.
Shapes darted within it.
Four.
Six.
Eight.
Smaller than before but faster.
Leon steadied his breathing.
They struck simultaneously.
Claws collided against shield.
Teeth snapped inches from exposed flesh.
Leon thrust forward in controlled rhythm, never overextending.
One beast fell.
Another leaped over its corpse, only to be intercepted mid-air by the second warrior's spear.
Leon adjusted.
Step.
Thrust.
Withdraw.
The rhythm grew steadier.
But they kept coming.
Not reckless.
Persistent.
Testing endurance.
A beast slipped past and clawed at Leon's thigh again. Pain flared, reopening the earlier wound.
He gritted his teeth.
Hold.
The line cannot break.
He thrust again, deeper this time, forcing the creature back.
The mist swirled violently.
Then parted.
Golden eyes watched from beyond the trees.
It did not join the attack.
It observed.
Leon met its gaze across the chaos.
"You measure," he said under his breath.
The creature's lips curved faintly.
The smaller beasts retreated suddenly, melting back into the mist.
Silence fell.
Leon remained in stance long after they vanished.
His breathing was ragged now.
The warriors stood firm beside him.
No casualties.
No breakthrough.
The trade road remained open.
Leon exhaled slowly.
"They test supply lines," he said quietly.
"Yes."
"They want to see if we chase."
"Yes."
Leon looked toward the golden eyes still visible in the distance.
"I will not."
The creature watched him for several seconds longer.
Then it turned away.
The mist thinned gradually.
Night reclaimed the road.
Leon lowered his spear.
The system flickered again.
Sustained defensive engagement completed.
Battlefield authority increasing.
Capacity threshold nearing.
Nearing.
Leon felt the weight of that word.
He was not simply surviving anymore.
He was shaping resistance.
And the forest knew it.
As they returned toward Valcrest Manor, Leon glanced once more over his shoulder.
The golden eyes were gone.
But the tension remained.
This was no longer a series of skirmishes.
It was preparation.
For something larger.
Something that would not probe or test.
Something that would strike with full intent.
Leon tightened his grip on the spear.
"If you escalate," he murmured toward the dark forest, "so will I."
Deep within the trees, the golden-eyed creature paused beside a far larger silhouette.
It bowed its head slightly.
"He does not break formation," it said.
The larger presence stirred.
"Then we break the ground beneath it."
The forest exhaled.
And somewhere deep underground, something ancient shifted.