Chapter 3 : Hunted in the Forest of Elves

The forest shook as the Dark Angel Pig charged again, its broken halo flaring brighter with every step. The air around it warped slightly, like reality itself didn’t want to hold its shape.

Ron didn’t retreat.

He exhaled once—slow, controlled.

Then moved.

The moment the creature closed in, Ron shifted his weight to the side instead of meeting it directly. The pig’s claws tore through empty space, snapping bark off a massive tree behind him.

Ron used that opening.

His katana flicked upward.

Not a full swing—just a precise cut.

A thin line of steel kissed the creature’s foreleg.

Black blood sprayed out.

The pig screeched so loudly the leaves above them shook loose.

Pin flinched behind a root. “Big brother—!”

“I said stay back!” Ron barked, eyes locked on the beast.

But even as he spoke, he noticed something unsettling.

The wound wasn’t closing… but it wasn’t slowing the creature either.

Instead, the black blood on the ground was starting to move on its own—crawling back toward the pig like it was being recalled.

Ron’s eyes narrowed.

“Regeneration… or something worse?”

The Dark Angel Pig slammed its hooves into the ground.

A pulse rippled outward.

The trees around them groaned.

And for a split second, Ron saw it—

Faint silhouettes between the trunks.

Dozens.

Watching.

Waiting.

Pin saw them too this time. His voice cracked. “Ron… we’re surrounded…”

Ron didn’t answer immediately. His grip tightened on the katana until his knuckles went white.

“Not surrounded,” he said quietly. “Hunted.”

The pig lunged again, but this time Ron didn’t dodge.

He stepped in.

Steel met bone.

This time, he twisted his blade mid-impact, sliding under the creature’s guard and driving the tip upward into its shoulder joint.

The pig roared in pain—louder than before—but something changed in that sound.

It wasn’t just rage.

It was a signal.

Every shadow in the forest shifted at once.

Ron felt it instantly.

“They’re coming.”

He yanked his blade free and grabbed Pin by the collar, pulling him backward into cover behind a thick tree trunk.

“Listen carefully,” Ron said, voice low and sharp. “We’re not fighting everything here. We’re breaking through.”

Pin nodded quickly, trying not to panic. “H-how?! There’s too many!”

Ron glanced once at the moving shadows.

Then back at the wounded creature still stumbling forward.

“…We use the weak one.”

He stepped out again.

But this time, he didn’t aim to kill.

He aimed to lead.

The Dark Angel Pig charged to finish him off.

Ron ran straight at it.

At the last moment, he slid beneath its legs, slicing a deep cut along its underside—not fatal, but enough.

The creature roared and turned wildly—

Exactly as Ron predicted.

It crashed into the trees where the shadows were gathering.

A shriek erupted.

Not from the pig.

From them.

The hidden creatures scattered in panic as their own bait crashed into them.

Ron grabbed Pin’s arm.

“Now. Run.”

They sprinted.

Branches whipped past them. The forest became a blur of twisted wood and flickering light. Behind them, the forest erupted into chaos—screeches, breaking trees, and something far larger moving in response to the disturbance.

Pin struggled to keep up. “Big brother—what was that plan?!”

Ron didn’t slow down.

“That wasn’t a hunt,” he said. “That was a warning.”

They burst through a curtain of hanging vines—

And stopped instantly.

A massive clearing opened ahead.

In the center stood an ancient stone altar, covered in glowing elf runes.

And above it—

Something was watching them.

Not an animal.

Not a monster.

Something intelligent.