Back into the Forest (1)

"You already did your best. This wasn't your fault," Ang comforted Lika.

"You've been out for so long, and you've been through battle. You're exhausted right now. Hurry and get some rest. Once you've recovered, Captain, I think we may have to fight again," Ang said worriedly.

Lika took a deep breath and tried to compose his turbulent emotions. He looked at Enbei, whose eyes were vacant and whose face was full of exhaustion and hunger. They had not had a proper meal in days, and fighting the Demon had kept them in a state of constant tension.

"Enbei, come on. Let's get something to eat first." Lika walked over and patted Enbei on the shoulder. Enbei nodded and followed Lika and Ang toward the camp's mess hall.

On the way, they passed other warriors. Everyone looked at them with complicated expressions—sympathy, admiration, and a trace of fear. Lika understood that the failure of this mission and the sacrifice of their comrades had left everyone deeply unsettled.

They entered the mess hall, where bread and thick soup sat on simple wooden tables. It was breakfast time. Lika and Enbei sat down, while Ang watched them wolf down their food. The meal was not much, but all they wanted at that moment was to fill their stomachs and regain their strength.

"Captain, can we really defeat those Demons?" Enbei asked quietly, unease in his voice.

Lika paused with the bread in his hand. After a moment of silence, he said, "We have to believe in ourselves, Enbei. No matter how dangerous it is ahead, we have to keep going. For the comrades who have already fallen, and for ourselves."

Enbei nodded. The loss of their teammates was hard for him to accept. The Demons were far too powerful for them to contend with, yet the lone Demon their squad had killed together before had made both him and the rest of the squad think that Demons were nothing special.

But this mission had shown him just how overconfident they had been. Last time, if Ang had not stood at the front and taken the attack, while also burying his axe in the Demon's neck, they would never have had an opening. Only then had they been able to work together and kill the Demon.

But they had not been so lucky this time. The moment the Demons discovered them, they launched an attack. The force of more than sixty men from three companies had each investigated from a different direction.

They had moved to encircle the area where the Demons had been sighted. Everyone had thought their first contact with the Demons would involve probing each other, but the instant they encountered them, the Demons launched a ferocious assault. Many had been killed before they could even react.

When Enbei recalled the Demon attack, a chill still ran through his heart. The Foul Spirit Scouts were huge, their fangs bared, their eyes gleaming with bloodlust. Every Demon held a black greatsword, and each swing of those black blades took the life of another comrade.

The battle had begun without warning. The appearance of the Foul Spirit Scouts had caught them off guard. Greatswords whistled through the air, and their comrades fell one after another. Blood dyed the ground red, and the hearts of everyone in the company pounded wildly.

"Hold the formation! Don't panic!" At the critical moment, Captain Lika shouted, trying to maintain the squad's morale.

Enbei gripped his spear tightly, his eyes fixed on the Demons. He tried to block every strike, but the difference in strength was simply too great. Every swing of a Demon's sword carried suffocating force, like Death's scythe harvesting lives.

"Retreat! Retreat now!" Lika knew that if this continued, they would be wiped out. He fought as he retreated, doing his best to signal the other two companies. Signal flares burst in the sky, sending out urgent calls for help.

They fought as they fell back, trying their best to buy time. Every second felt unbearably long, and the shadow of death followed close behind them. At last, the other two companies arrived. The warriors quickly gathered together and formed a new defensive line.

"Quick! Focus your fire! Attack the Demons!" Grunak, the mission commander, shouted as he directed everyone to concentrate their strength against the powerful enemy.

A new battle began. Although Lika's company had already lost more than half its men, everyone gritted their teeth and fought with all they had. The archers drew their bows to the full, and Arrow Rain fell upon the Demons like a downpour, while the axemen and shield-bearers worked in coordination.

With the combined efforts of the two companies, the Demons' assault finally slowed. Lika and Enbei fought side by side, charging forward without fear. Lika's sword flashed as it struck at the Demons' vital points, while Enbei's spear swiftly pierced the enemy line.

The battle lasted for a long time. Finally, the Demons began to show fatigue. Under the concentrated attacks, the scouts were defeated, and the other Demons retreated one after another.

Lika panted heavily as he looked at the surviving comrades around him, his heart filled with gratitude and admiration.

Grunak called the three company captains together. "We only drove the Demons back temporarily, but the mission can be considered complete. We need to return to camp immediately and report this." Grunak looked at the three company captains, all covered in blood.

He had been injured in the battle as well, but he was a Rank 1 Swordsman, so his injuries were relatively minor. Still, he understood that the Demons on the other side were all Rank 1 existences. Otherwise, they could not have inflicted such heavy casualties.

In a one-on-one fight, Grunak did not believe he could defeat any one of the Demons. He did not tell the others how strong the Demons truly were.

"We need to return to camp at once. The Demons may attack us again. Everyone, get ready. We leave immediately," Grunak shouted to the crowd.

Many of the warriors were still on edge. Their comrades' corpses lay scattered around them, along with severed limbs and broken bodies. Some people were silently trying to piece their teammates' bodies back together.

Grunak swept his gaze over every survivor on the battlefield. If the Demons attacked again, they would have no way to resist.

"Everyone, withdraw immediately!" Grunak ordered loudly, a trace of tension and resolve in his voice. He knew he had to make a decision quickly, or they would all be buried here.

Hearing the order, the warriors quickly gathered their equipment. Though no one was willing to leave, they understood the severity of the situation. Lika looked at the fallen comrades beside him, sorrow welling up in his heart. He wanted to collect their bodies, but Grunak stopped him.

"We have to leave this place immediately!" Grunak's voice was full of urgency. He looked at Lika, his eyes filled with helplessness and pain. "I know this is hard, but if we don't leave now, everyone will die here."

Lika clenched his teeth, but in the end, he nodded. He knew Grunak was right. Survival was the priority.

"We'll come back for them," Grunak continued, a note of determination in his voice. "Once it's safe, we'll return, gather their remains, and cremate them. We will never leave them exposed in the wilderness."

Under Grunak's command, the warriors retreated quickly, running toward the edge of the forest. Every step felt heavy, and every departing figure was filled with helplessness and grief. The terror of the Demons cast a shadow over everyone's heart. They only wanted to leave this place of death as quickly as possible.

Along the way, Grunak kept looking back to make sure no one had fallen behind. His heart was full of anxiety and worry, as if a Demon might leap out of the darkness at any moment. Everyone gripped their weapons tightly, their nerves stretched taut. All they could hear were hurried footsteps and pounding hearts.

At last, they reached a relatively safe place. Grunak signaled for everyone to stop, then took a deep breath and tried to calm the fear in his heart. Looking at his surviving comrades, he silently swore that he would seek justice for those who had fallen.

"Rest for now. We'll find a way to go back and retrieve them," Grunak said quietly, his tone carrying comfort and resolve. The others nodded. Though the gloom in their hearts had not faded, they had at least escaped danger for the moment.

Ang sat on a rock, listening as Enbei quietly recounted the nightmare-like battle from a few days ago. Though the sunlight around them was bright and birds sang among the trees, the air was still filled with tension and unease.

"That Foul Spirit Scout was huge, with its fangs sticking out. Every strike carried lethal force." Enbei's voice trembled slightly. He clearly had not fully recovered from the terror. "Its black greatsword was like Death's scythe. Every time it swung, it could easily take a life."

As Ang listened, he could not help growing tense. His heartbeat quickened, and his palms began to sweat. Although he knew quite a few combat techniques, he still felt deep fear toward Demons he had never seen before.

"That feeling is impossible to describe." Enbei continued, "Every time it swung its sword at me, I felt like I would be split in two the next second. We could only keep retreating. We had no way to confront it head-on."

Ang swallowed and tried to calm himself. He knew his nervousness was not only because of Enbei's story, but also because of this body's instinctive reaction. Since coming to this world, Ang had never truly seen a Demon with his own eyes, so he could not predict the true threat posed by such creatures.

"Do you think we have a chance of defeating them?" Ang asked quietly, trying to find some confidence in Enbei's experience.

Enbei was silent for a while, and a dim look flashed through his eyes.

Ang looked at Enbei and said nothing more. He knew Enbei had no confidence in anyone.

"We'll find a way." Ang took a deep breath and tried to calm himself. "No matter how powerful the Demons are, we'll find a way to deal with them."

Ang patted Enbei on the shoulder and told him to hurry and rest. It was safe now, so he could rest without worry and recover his strength.

Watching Enbei walk toward his tent, Ang turned his gaze toward the distant forest. He knew he had to adapt to the dangers of this world as quickly as possible.

The next morning,