The forest was eerily silent—a kind of silence that pressed against the ears and quickened the pulse. Malgrave's eyes, accustomed to spotting the faintest hint of weakness in any foe, scanned the unbreakable wall that loomed before them.
It was an anomaly, a barrier that defied the natural order of the woods, and it stood resolute—a monolith of enigma. He circled the perimeter, his gaze intense, searching for a crack, a seam, anything that could be exploited. But to his astonishment, there was none.
The wall was seamless as if carved from a single, impenetrable thought. Frustration simmered within him, a rare feeling for a man who was seldom caught off guard. With a curt gesture, he summoned one of the hunters, a young man whose eyes still held the fading light of hope. "Come," Malgrave commanded, his voice a low rumble that seemed to blend with the whispers of the forest. "You are to examine this barrier. Use your senses, tell me what you see, what you feel."
The hunter approached, his movements hesitant but deliberate. He reached out, his fingers hovering mere inches from the wall's surface. A shiver ran through him, and his eyes widened in realization. "It's not just a wall," he whispered, his voice barely carrying. "It's alive, breathing almost. And it's warm, like skin warmed by the sun." Malgrave's interest piqued. A living barrier was a rarity, a challenge that he had not anticipated. "Can you find a way through?" he asked, his tone now laced with a hint of excitement. The hunter shook his head, his expression somber. "No, it's like it knows we're here, and it's keeping us out, or... keeping something in."
Malgrave's command was clear and carried the weight of desperation: "Attack the barrier," he ordered, his voice cutting through the tense air. The hunter hesitated for a mere second before launching himself at the barrier with all his might. The collision was met not with the splintering of wood but with a ripple across the surface, like a stone thrown into a still pond. To their collective astonishment, the barrier absorbed the impact, its wooden texture morphing back to its original form as if healing itself. Before they could process this anomaly, the ground beneath them stirred. With a violent surge, wooden tendrils erupted from the soil, lashing out with a life of their own. The hunters, caught off guard, were ensnared and struck down one by one. Screams pierced the night as the forest claimed lives with ruthless efficiency. Malgrave, ever the strategist, had anticipated a counterattack. Shadow Gaze Howler, a creature of both flesh and phantasm, stood as a bulwark between Malgrave and the vengeful forest. With a protective ferocity, the beast repelled the wooden onslaught, its claws slicing through the animate wood with supernatural precision. The aftermath was a scene of devastation. The survivors, few and scattered, looked upon the carnage with hollow eyes. Malgrave stood amidst the chaos, his expression unreadable, but the set of his jaw spoke of a resolve hardened by the night's events. The barrier remained a silent witness to the bloodshed, its secrets locked away as tightly as ever.
The forest, once a place of ancient silence, now quivered with the force of a thousand whispers. The slight crack in the barrier, a mere whisper of defiance against the unyielding wood, had caught Malgrave's eye. It was a vulnerability, however small, and in the world of the hunter, such opportunities were as precious as life itself.
With a heart hardened by necessity, Malgrave turned to the fallen hunters. Their breaths were shallow, their spirits tethered to their bodies by the thinnest of threads. One by one, he lifted them, their forms limp in his iron grasp, and hurled them towards the barrier with a grim resolve.
As each body collided with the barrier, a burst of ethereal energy radiated from the impact, the crack widening ever so slightly with each sacrifice. The air grew thick with the power of the forest, a maelstrom of life and death that consumed everything within its reach.
The barrier disintegrated as if the very soul of the forest had been awakened, and its fragments dissolved into the ether. The hunters, who had been part of the forest's wrathful retribution, vanished, leaving no trace behind except for the memory of their existence.
The forest itself seemed to roar in response—a deep, resonant sound that echoed through the trees and the very bones of the earth. It was a warning, a clarion call that resonated in the marrow of every living creature. Someone or something had been alerted to the breach, and the story of Malgrave and his hunters was far from over.
Rose and Gracilia who were away from the cave immediately alerted without a moment they immediately rushed in the direction of the cave