Once they entered the deeper parts of the woods, the mood shifted.

The earlier chatter slowly died down, replaced by focus and alertness. What remained were only occasional whispers... and long stretches of silence.

They advanced slowly through the foliage, stalking through the undergrowth as they searched for prey.

Teclos was at the front of their formation.

His eyes scanned the terrain while his senses stretched far beyond what either of the other two could perceive.

A few times, he caught traces of small beasts at the edge of his perception, but they posed no real challenge, so he ignored them and kept moving.

After a short while, he spoke.

Whispering.

"There is nothing large within two hundred meters," he said, not even turning back. "A few small creatures... rabbits, a fox farther east. No real threats."

Ralph and Gillard exchanged a glance.

"...Wait, you can sense that far?" Ralph muttered.

Teclos didn’t answer.

Instead, he simply vanished.

Not completely, of course.

They could still see him standing in the same place as before, but only barely.

His form had blurred, blending into the surroundings, while his presence faded until it felt almost nonexistent. Like he was there, but at the same time, not quite.

Like their senses were being tricked.

Gillard frowned, his eyes narrowing as he tried to focus on him. "Damn, I can barely see him."

"Yeah..." Ralph muttered. "That’s a cool new trick, man."

"I’ll scout ahead. Just head to the marked location on the map. I’ll come back if I find a beast worth hunting."

Teclos turned around and disappeared into the canopy with shadow steps, quickly and silently vanishing from view. But even as he scouted ahead, he kept them within range, always aware of where they were and adjusting his position accordingly.

"...Guess there was a reason he was so confident," Ralph said quietly, watching the spot where Teclos had just disappeared. "Declaring he’ll be a famous adventurer."

Gillard snorted.

"Yeah... let’s go."

They picked up their pace.

—

Two hours had passed.

The forest grew denser the deeper they went, the sounds of small wildlife thinning out slightly as the terrain entered more dangerous territory.

The silence made Ralph and Gillard nervous as they slowly made their way forward.

Then—

Teclos reappeared in front of them, without any warning.

Gillard flinched slightly.

"Holy shit!... Don’t do that..."

Teclos ignored him and told them he had found something.

Both of them perked up immediately.

"What?" Ralph asked.

Teclos met their gaze. "It’s a cockatrice."

"...You’re kidding, right?"

Teclos shook his head.

"Don’t worry, it’s alone."

Both of them stared at him.

Flabbergasted.

Cockatrices weren’t something you just stumbled upon.

They were rare, elusive, and dangerous.

Their wind-based sensing ability made them incredibly hard to track or catch, similar in nature to Teclos’s own shadow sense.

Most hunters avoided them entirely, not because they were impossible to kill—but because finding one usually meant finding a whole group.

And groups meant certain death.

"You might start rivaling Kosak in scouting at this rate," Ralph said with a half-laugh, still trying to process it.

Teclos shook his head. "No, I still have a long way to go before that."

A short pause.

"Anyway, ambushing it won’t work. Not with its ability."

Gillard crossed his arms. "So... how do we hunt it, then?"

Ralph let out a breath. "Well, I haven’t hunted one yet. Only read about them." He glanced at Teclos and Gillard. "You two?"

Gillard shook his head.

"Nope. Barely done five proper hunts since I got stuck with that lazy-ass mentor."

Teclos shrugged. "Same. I’ve mostly been clearing pests."

Ralph blinked in confusion.

"...Pests?"

"Kobold camps or goblin camps."

They were stunned... he said it like it was an easy feat.

Gillard stared at him, curiosity taking over.

"...How?"

Teclos answered like it was obvious.

"I took out their leader first. Quietly. After that, I used the chaos to pick off the rest while they were panicking."

Ralph rubbed his face in disbelief.

"The problem is that... I know you’re not lying."

"I hate my mentor even more now..." Gillard added, wondering if he had just wasted his time so far.

Teclos just shrugged again. "Anyway," he said, shifting the focus, "I’m thinking a quick frontal assault. There’s no use hiding from it."

Ralph nodded slowly.

"Yeah... not like we have many options."

"Alright," Gillard said, rolling his shoulders. "Hit it fast, hit it hard. I like simple plans."

They quickly laid out a basic plan, with Gillard taking point.

He would charge in first and act as the vanguard, drawing its attention and holding it if the beast charged at them.

Ralph would support them from range, using his wind mana to disrupt the cockatrice’s own wind abilities while firing arrows to pressure it.

And Teclos—

"I’ll aim for its blind spot and try to kill it if I get the chance," he said. "And I’ll bind it whenever I can."

With the basic plan set, all that remained was to execute it.

It was simple, but maybe that was exactly why it could work.

There was only one problem.

They had to catch it first.

A cockatrice had a nasty habit of running when it was alone.

And once it did—

Once it started moving, catching sight of it again would be difficult.

It was simply that fast.

Teclos looked ahead, his expression hardening into that of a focused hunter.

"Let’s not give it the chance to run."

And with that, they rushed toward it with all the speed they could muster.

Ralph seemed to have been telling the truth at the tavern. He had learned new tricks, and he was the fastest among them now.

All three of them were fast in their own right, each having developed their own way of moving through the forest, but Ralph—

Ralph seemed uniquely talented when it came to movement techniques.

Wind mana constantly surged from beneath his feet, propelling him forward with startling speed. He didn’t need to run anymore—as he was basically flying through the forest. With uncanny control, he weaved between the trees as smoothly as a fish swimming through water.

The air itself bent around him, lightening his body and stripping away resistance, making him even faster.

Gillard had also improved his own method from the last time Teclos had seen him.

His explosive, forceful power was still there, each step driving him forward with raw strength and speed that could rival Ralph’s. He could control those bursts to a degree now, adjusting his direction to avoid slamming into the trees, but his movement lacked the same fluidity.

He was still fast.

There was no doubt about that.

But in the forest—

He was the slowest of the three.

His strength was in straight lines, in open ground where he could fully unleash his speed without obstacles getting in the way.

Teclos moved like he always did.

Shadow tendrils lashed out from him, catching onto tree trunks and branches, pulling him forward like a slingshot as he shifted from one anchor point to the next. At the same time, he pushed off bark and stone with precise shadow steps, turning every surface around him into a foothold.

He tried to close the distance with Ralph, but couldn’t.

Neither of them could.

Ralph was already ahead, his figure darting between the trees, barely disturbing the environment as he moved. Leaves rustled and branches swayed in his wake.

When it came to pure speed, he was above both of them.

Teclos narrowed his eyes slightly as he followed, then looked back toward Gillard.

"Don’t lose him," he called out.

Gillard snorted, his breathing still steady despite the pace.

"Easier said than done."

Meanwhile, the cockatrice was tearing into a horned rabbit when it felt a disturbance in the air.

Its reaction was slow at first, as it assumed some small animals were approaching.

But when they drew closer, it lifted itself upright, looked toward the disturbance—

And froze.

Its pupils shrank in panic. Three fast shapes were rushing toward it, humans...

With a sharp, scraping caw, it jumped back and bolted away.

But it was too late.

Ralph caught sight of it as it broke into a clearing ahead.

"Found it!"

The creature ran in panic, its long legs carrying it forward in uneven, frantic strides. In its haste, it forgot to use its wings and fly away—instead, it simply ran.

All three of them saw it clearly.

Its body was built like a lean, predatory runner—long legs, a forward-leaning posture, and a tail stretched out behind it for balance, much like a velociraptor, Teclos noted. Red and yellow feathers covered its frame, shifting with each movement as it sprinted.

Its head, however, looked like a chicken’s pulled straight from a horror story, with beady eyes, twitching feathers, and a beak lined with jagged teeth that snapped nervously as it fled.

Claws dug into the ground with each step, kicking up dirt, while the tail behind it ended in a straight, needle-like stinger.

And despite the panic—

It was fast.

Three meters of lean muscle and instinct trying to escape. But they were catching up to it.

Ralph made the first move.

He sprang into the air in one smooth motion, already pulling his bow from his back as he rose. The movement was quick and fluid—something he had done countless times before.

An arrow was nocked in an instant.

Wind swirled around the arrowhead as he drew the string back—

Then released.

The arrow flew true.

Ralph had already predicted the cockatrice’s escape path, leading the shot just enough to intercept it.

But at the last second—

The cockatrice reacted.

Its wind barrier flared, twisting the arrow off course at the last second.

The shot missed the cockatrice by more than a meter.

"Damn!"

"Hah! So much for your awesome skills!" Teclos called from behind, a teasing grin plastered on his face.

"Shut the hell up and follow it, god damn it!" Ralph snapped back, clearly embarrassed now.

Both Teclos and Gillard laughed.

"We’re trying, but your circus act isn’t helping!" Gillard called back. "I’m dying back here, hahaha!"

"Oh yeah?!" Ralph barked. "Then go ahead—you stop it!"

And Gillard did.

The moment a clear line opened between the trees, he leaned forward and ignited the mana inside of him.

Flames burst from his feet, propelling him forward in a straight, explosive line like a launched projectile. His sword was already in his hand as he closed the distance, aiming to end it in a single strike.

The cockatrice noticed him too—and dodged at the last second.

Just as Gillard reached it, the creature twisted aside, avoiding his charge and making him overshoot completely.

He flew past it—

Straight into a tree again.

The impact echoed through the forest.

Teclos facepalmed.

"Dude, are you serious?!"

"Bwahahaha! And you call me out?" Ralph laughed, nearly losing his footing.

Gillard groaned from the distance, trying to recover, but despite his failure—

He had done one thing right.

He stopped it.

The cockatrice’s retreat had been cut off, and Teclos didn’t waste the opportunity.

He turned toward Ralph and shouted—

"Ralph! Eyes up! We can get it now. I’ll lock it down—take the shot!"

"Alright!"

Teclos closed the distance just a little more, then raised his hand.

Darkness rose from the cockatrice’s shadow.

Tendrils formed and surged forward, wrapping around the cockatrice’s legs, wings, and tail, binding it in place before it could react. At the same time, darkness spread over its eyes, blinding it completely.

The creature thrashed around, letting out a panicked cry—

But it couldn’t move.

Ralph was already in position.

He jumped again, rising just enough to get a clear angle over the trees. The bow was drawn mid-air, wind gathering around the arrow once more.

The arrow shot forward, cutting cleanly through the air—

And struck true.

Straight through the cockatrice’s skull with a wet cracking sound.

The body jerked once and then went still.

And just like that, the hunt was over.

They gathered around the dead cockatrice, inspecting the body. It had been an almost clean kill, and everything—except the head—was intact, making it a valuable haul.

Ralph crouched slightly, looking it over.

"Hmm... you could rake in massive profit with that shadow bind, man," he said, nodding toward Teclos. "The body’s still intact—we could sell this for a nice amount."

"Everything except the meat!" Gillard added quickly, eyes locked onto the carcass. "This thing’s supposed to be delicious."

He was practically salivating as his eyes roamed over the corpse.

"Hold your horses, you fat—"

"Wait." Teclos cut them off sharply. "Be quiet."

His shadow sense had picked something up.

Rushing toward them.

His body tensed instantly.

He didn’t know what they were yet, but every instinct in his body screamed at him to run.

Humanoid shapes were rushing toward them at insane speeds, more than twenty already, and the number was still rising.

"What is i—" Ralph tried to ask.

"Shit!" Teclos snapped. "Run! Both of you!"

There was no time to explain.

No time for hesitation.

Confusion would cost them seconds.

Seconds that they didn’t have.

Shadow tendrils snapped out instantly, coiling around Ralph and Gillard before either of them could react.

Then—

With everything he had, Teclos threw them away.

Hard.

Their bodies were launched into the forest, away from the clearing, crashing through branches and brush.

"Are you mad?!" Gillard shouted, the words barely leaving his mouth before he disappeared into the trees.

Teclos tried to follow them a fraction of a second later, launching himself into the air as well.

That was when he felt it.

A crushing presence.

Killing intent slammed into him like a sledgehammer, thick, suffocating, and violent enough to make the very air feel hostile.

Still airborne, Teclos twisted his body and looked back.

And saw him.

A green-skinned figure stood where the cockatrice had fallen.

He was massive, clad head to toe in black plate armor.

Two enormous, double-bladed battleaxes were strapped across his back, their edges polished to a deadly shine and etched with glowing red runes.

Long white hair, braided tightly, hung behind him and swayed faintly with each step. Two tusks jutted from his lower jaw, and a scar cut across his forehead.

It was an orc.

And in that moment—

Teclos remembered the conversation at the butcher’s stall.

The war they had spoken about so casually had finally reached their doorstep.