The surrounding trees had already changed too much from what she remembered.

The ground she was standing on was far removed from the mountain path she had created while traveling around her territory, and now it wasn’t even a “path” anymore.

Rough terrain that even wild animals wouldn’t seem to traverse. The trees surrounding Haniel’s running path swayed strangely as if they were alive.

Many had bizarrely misshapen forms that gave the illusion they were writhing, and though it was surely due to the wind, some of them felt eerie as their branches swayed, seeming to reach out their hands toward Haniel.

What was clear was that the “path” was getting narrower. Almost like a drive hunt…

“Oh sh…”

Haniel thus came to a dead end.

A twisted tree wall firmly blocking the front and sides like an artificial structure.

“N-no way… this can’t be…”

As she tapped on the trees, unable to believe this absurd reality, she turned around creakily at the growling sound.

Gruk. Gruk.

The bear, which had perfectly caught up with her by now, was right behind her, drooling.

With its muzzle covered thickly with the “twisted beast’s fur” that Haniel had seen earlier…

“B-bear…”

Haniel pleaded desperately in an imploring tone.

Though she looked as pitiful as a single flower that could make even an emotionless golem hesitate, the beast ignored the female’s plea with a mere snort. Instead, the bear drew closer to Haniel with an even more excited appearance.

And then…

Grrruk! Keoong!

“Waaah, stop it!”

The house-sized bear instantly pinned her to the ground and began threateningly pressing its lower body against her.

‘This, this is death.’

On the verge of being pounced on by a wild animal. Despite her experiences with Regan and Nasir, this was too much even for Haniel.

She gritted her teeth and wildly swung the axe from her waist.

“Get off, get off, you beast! I’m human!”

Desperate struggles erupted as she felt the threat to her life, truly believing she might die.

As the rather sharp axe blade threateningly grazed its skin, the bear momentarily removed the body it had been pressing down.

Had Haniel’s attack succeeded? The massive predator seemed inwardly bewildered by the strong resistance of the female it had marked.

But only for a moment. As if its hesitation was brief, the bear approached her again.

Sparks flew in Haniel’s eyes.

She had had enough of axe and knife work. There was no rule saying that such predators couldn’t also become her harvesting targets, was there?

She would turn this impudent animal that couldn’t understand a female’s command to stop into a piece of meat.

Just as Haniel was quickly calculating in her mind whether to cut down the bear’s thick nape or vulnerable eyes…

Splash!

Her vision suddenly turned red.

“!”

Some liquid and solid chunks showered down onto Haniel’s face and body.

What is this? Haniel dazedly touched her wet face.

“…Blood…”

It was blood and flesh.

The heavy blood and flesh of the bear that had been crushing her just moments ago. Haniel raised her gaze.

“……”

There was a blood-covered black beast holding the bear’s torn throat in its mouth.

Blue eyes filled with rage bordering on madness. A ferocious beast that gripped the writhing flesh between iron-like teeth, tearing away the last blood vessel connecting it to the body as if leaving no room for mercy.

The wolf that had completely torn apart the bear on top of Haniel turned its head toward her.

A growling sound bubbled up from below its throat.

[…I warned you.]

It was Regan.

A black wolf.

His glossy black fur was so similar to darkness that it was almost indistinguishable when buried in shadows.

Ptui. As the wolf opened its jaws, the huge head of the now-dead bear fell and rolled away.

Haniel unknowingly drew in a breath.

Blue light flashed in the eyes of Regan, who had approached her silently and now stood close.

The wolf brought its blood-soaked muzzle close to Haniel’s frozen face and spoke with teeth clenched in barely contained rage.

[Why did you come all the way here. How much I’ve been looking for you…]

Drip, drip. Blood leaked through the wolf’s savagely opening and closing jaws, falling a drop or two on Haniel’s white face.

Thin, delicate eyelids fluttering and trembling at that. Seeing this, Regan inwardly chewed on curses and returned to his second form with two legs similar to hers.

“……”

It was truly a strange sight. Haniel’s eyes widened as big as saucers.

The skin of the black wolf, which had been as large and massive as that bear, writhed, and its fur lay flat and disappeared as if washed away in an instant, soon revealing human skin, and its skeletal structure also changed with cracking sounds as if by magic.

Regan raised his head, now in the familiar form of a long-haired man.

The man’s face, overlaid with the vivid red blood that had stained him in wolf form, was chilling with its blue glow in his eyes.

Regan stretched his massive body while methodically testing the alignment of his transformed skeletal structure. He soon turned to look at Haniel.

Huh… Haniel, who had been tense all along, unknowingly exhaled in relief at his gaze.

The coldness reflected in his deep blue eyes rippled and melted away the moment they captured her image, and only then did he feel like the man she knew.

“…Are you hurt anywhere?”

That was the first thing Regan said as soon as he took human form.

‘I thought he would scold me more about why I came here…’

She had been prepared to hear things like ‘Didn’t I tell you?’ or ‘Did you do wrong or not?’… but that seemed to be Haniel’s unfounded worry.

Regan seemed more concerned about the scratches on her body than determining right from wrong.

Regan extended his pot-lid-sized hand and carefully lifted Haniel’s clothes to thoroughly examine the skin underneath.

Haniel was held like a child receiving a physical examination. There were some marks on her body from being scraped against the ground, branches, and bushes, but fortunately, there were no major injuries.

Haah. Only after confirming this did Regan run his hand down his face in a dry wash.

“I couldn’t smell your scent…”

“My scent?”

“Yes. I thought you were inside the territory…”

His heart, which had been beating so hard on the way here that he thought it might burst inside his ribcage, still hadn’t calmed down.

“That bird…”

“Regan?”

Regan, who was about to say something, bit his lip.

For a moment, an unmistakable anger was glimpsed in his blue eyes, but instead of explaining what had happened in detail, Regan narrowed his brow and jerked his chin toward the bear.

No, toward what ‘had been’ a bear, now just chunks of meat.

“If I had arrived even a little later, that beast would have violated you long ago.”

“That’s… true.”

Right. That would have happened.

Fortunately, Regan had arrived at the right time, but if he had been even a few minutes late… Haniel shuddered and trembled.

Regan’s warm arm touched her hand.

A man with a hot body temperature reminiscent of a hand warmer.

Although there was an animal carcass sprawled nearby, she was covered in blood, and the surrounding scenery was still eerie, having Regan in front of her brought only relief.

Regan rubbed his bridge of nose against the crown of Haniel’s head as she leaned against him, then said to her:

“We need to return before nightfall. How on earth did you end up in such a remote place?”

“I was chased by the bear… and I thought I saw someone, so I unconsciously went this way…”

“If it was someone…”

Did he have some idea of who it might be?

While Regan wrinkled his nose bridge, Haniel noticed the weapon tucked at his waist.

‘I haven’t seen that sword before… what is it?’

A sword with a sun-like emblem engraved on the end of the hilt.

It was a sword she hadn’t seen among Regan’s belongings or things he carried around before. Where had it come from?

Just as Haniel was about to ask what that weapon was.

Rumble. Boom.

The ground they were standing on suddenly began to shake.

“Oh no…”

“Wh-what?”

Regan looked around carefully with a bewildered expression, and Haniel grabbed a nearby tree.

‘What was that just now? An earthquake?’

But the tree she grabbed didn’t serve as a support in the middle of the shaking terrain.

Because everything was moving—the trees, the ground, everything around them.

Boom… as the ground surface shook again, Haniel lost her grip on the tree and staggered.

“Uh, wh, whoa, aah…”

“Haniel!”

Regan grabbed Haniel’s small body and wrapped her in his arms.

D*mn it! Just as the man holding her in his arms was about to run toward the entrance of this path, the ground shook even more violently and eventually the surface began to crumble.

And then…

“Ahhh!”

Rumble! The ground beneath them began to collapse.

The floor below, which should have been filled with soil, was empty, gaping wide with a hungry void ready to consume them.

Regan and Haniel were instantly suspended where the collapsed ground had been, then helplessly fell.

“……”

At that moment, Haniel saw something beyond Regan’s arm and drew in a breath.

A white garment. No, something white.

What she had thought was a mirage was standing under a branch, watching Haniel fall into the pit.

It was a boy.

A beautiful boy clutching at his heart.

A clean and white boy who seemed strikingly out of place in this cursed forest, looking so disconnected from his surroundings, was staring at Haniel with a surprised expression.

His red eyes, as if a drop of blood had fallen into them, were wide open, and he reached out his hand toward the falling Haniel.

Was this also a mirage?

In that moment that felt stretched out as if time was extending, Haniel thought so.

And before the boy’s hand could reach her, Haniel and Regan’s bodies instantly disappeared from that place.