Chương 49: Oathrunner and Blakwud

"It… is her." Lamb held her breath, her eyes snapping toward Enel as his words reached her ears. Then she looked at Mira hanging from the antlers, then at the black deer slowly making its way toward them. She narrowed her eyes, staring at the gigantic spirit. Even from this distance, it was quite clear to Lamb how large this beast actually was. She was used to looking up at the walls of the barony, and she was sure of it—even without the antlers that sprang like trees, Blakwud was taller than the wall.

"Is… she alive?" she finally asked. Enel tilted his head, once again listening deep into Mira's breath, and even deeper to her heart. And as soon as the first beat hit his ear, he let out a heavy sigh and nodded. Lamb breathed out, but the relief did not reach her face. She only stared at Blakwud, and for the first time since Enel found her in the forest, she… was quiet. She did not grin, nor did she tighten her grip on the axe. She only stared at the approaching deer as it got bigger and bigger.

"Well… this one is all yours, M'lord," she said, sighing as she gently dropped the axe to the ground.

"What do you want me to do?" Enel glanced at her. He still looked calm, but that was what made Lamb swallow. She had seen Enel confused, tired, worried, and even angry—his expression was not any of those. This was the same expression he had before he calmed down during Robert's foiled execution.

"I will get Mother down," he said.

"When I do, take her." Lamb nodded once, and without even picking up the axe from the mud, she ran away without another word. Her steps were a little uneven, and one hand hovered near her ribs. But still, even hurting, she kept her eyes on Mira before disappearing between the trees. And as soon as she was out of sight, Enel turned back to Blakwud… and the Great Spirit stared back. For a while, neither of them moved. The black deer stood among the trees that had opened for it, its hollow eyes fixed on Enel.

Roots hung from its chest, moss clung to its legs, and its antlers reached into the foggy sky, branching again and again. Enel realized then that Blakwud was the same as the Great Spirit he had seen on his way to Guild's Crown. Like how the tentacled carp was the lake itself, Blakwud was the forest. But… that did not really matter right now. Enel's fists curled, and his eyes began to sizzle. Strips of smoke danced from the edges of his eyelids as they dried away any moisture that wanted to slip from him.

His face twitched, his fingers curled even tighter, and his head tilted to the side as he stared up at Blakwud. But he blinked, shaking his head as the smoke from his eyes faded away. He looked up at the gigantic beast again, then lunged. The entire ground folded behind him. Mud, roots, and shallow water blasted away as Enel crossed the clearing in a single breath. He appeared before Blakwud's head, fist already drawn back. But before he could reach it, a tree erupted from the ground between them.

There was no hint of it sprouting at all, and the trunk just rose in front of him like a wall, its branches threatening to claw his flesh. Enel punched it, but the tree only bent from the impact and did not break. Vines then burst from beneath the mud, wrapping around his ankles. Blakwud blinked, and the vines violently whipped Enel backward. He struck the ground once, but Blakwud blinked once more, and the vine dragged him across the mud before snapping him into a tree, then another tree.

But the trunks were not just breaking apart, no—they were moving, almost as if waiting for him to arrive and slap him away, passing him from tree to tree. Finally, the last tree slammed him into the mud and left him there, the vines retracting away from him. And Enel… Enel just lay there. His limbs sprawled and stretched out, staring at the foggy sky with no expression on his face at all. Mud slid down the side of his cheek and onto his ears, but he did not seem to care much at all.

He just blinked, then slowly stood and brushed a broken leaf from his shoulder. He looked at Blakwud and its completely black eyes again, then lunged at the spirit a second time. Another tree sprouted instantly to block him. This time, Enel did not stop—the trunk shattered in half without him even striking it, only ramming his entire body through it as he appeared in front of Blakwud's head again, fist already drawn back and ready to strike.

But at the very last moment while he was still in the air, his hand relaxed. He did not strike, and instead kicked off from Blakwud's snout and grabbed one of the smaller branches growing from its head. The Great Spirit shook its head, and the forest moved and groaned with it, but Enel was already leaping from branch to branch before he eventually reached Mira. Stolen novel; please report.

"Mother," he whispered. Mira did not answer. Her eyes remained closed, her red hair hanging across her face as roots and black flowers wrapped around her waist, arms, and legs. Enel's hands moved carefully, breaking the roots one by one as gently as he could. He focused his hearing on his mother's body, trying to hear which bones had cracked. There were some, but none near her ribs or neck. Her heartbeat was weak, but steady enough. And as he snapped the last root, Mira fell into his arms.

Enel gently caught her, even moving back so that she would fall softly against his chest. Enel closed his eyes, lightly embracing his mother for a moment before the bark shifted beneath his feet. He gazed down, and the antler he was standing on softened and slowly swallowed his boots into the black wood. The warmth in his eyes as he embraced his mother faded. Enel pulled one foot free, then the other, and leaped away with Mira in his arms. He should have struck the ground hard enough to break it when he landed.

He had thrown himself from the head of a creature taller than the wall of Widow's Wall, after all. But somehow, his feet touched the mud softly, and the water around his boots only trembled. He looked toward Lamb, who was already running toward him.

"La—Kh!" Before he could speak, a single vine cracked across his back. This time, the strike made the air ripple around him, and Enel winced as the sound snapped through the clearing. The impact made him take a step forward, causing Mira to shift slightly in his arms. Lamb arrived, and she did not say anything. They only looked at each other as Enel placed Mira into her arms. Lamb slightly buckled from the pain of her injuries, but she held. Enel adjusted Mira's arm over Lamb's shoulder, then nodded once.

Lamb nodded back, and then she left. She dragged herself away with Mira, one step after another, not looking back. The forest tried to shift around her, roots moving in the mud as if to close her path, but Enel stepped between her and Blakwud. The forest stopped moving, and Blakwud looked down at him. Enel looked up, and the vines struck him again. This time, the blow was stronger.

It crashed into his chest and threw him backward with enough force that the trees behind him moved away from the impact before he reached them. Then they twisted back. Trunks bent, roots rose, branches coiled around one another, and the entire grove compressed around him. Enel struck the first tree, and the second wrapped around his arm. The third caught his leg. Roots snapped around his waist, his shoulders, his wrists, and then his throat.

More branches dragged themselves over his face, twisting around his jaw and pulling his head back until only his eyes remained uncovered. And just like that, he was completely chained to the forest, hanging high up in the air.

"Kh… He pulled, and the roots snapped… but more came to bind him.

"Grkh… Enel gritted his teeth, letting out a frustrated growl as he opened his jaw wide. There was a small whimper there, too—like he was some sort of trapped animal. Still, he pulled harder, and the forest groaned as several roots began to stretch. Blakwud took one step closer to him, but then stopped. The roots continued tightening around Enel's limbs and throat, but the Great Spirit did not move.

Its hollow eyes remained fixed on him as the growl crawling out of Enel's throat deepened, no longer sounding entirely like something that belonged to a boy. Enel bared his teeth, his spit and saliva dripping from his lips. And then, for one brief moment, his canines… seemed to shift.

"F…" But before anything could change, his jaw clenched hard enough to make the roots around his face creak. Blakwud continued to stare at him, and Enel stared back despite one of his eyes being covered by roots and vines. Then, slowly, the Great Spirit lowered itself so that its head could be at the same level as Enel—and Enel was already in the air at this point. Blakwud was… large.

Its skull was larger than a house, and one of its hollow eyes was probably larger than the boars earlier, pits of black sap with faint light hiding somewhere deep inside. And then, slowly, its mouth opened. It had no teeth at all, and only darkness layered inside its throat. But soon, glimmering symbols of smoke began to appear within it. Scripts, but unlike anything Enel had seen before.

They grew along the inside of Blakwud's mouth, spreading across the darkness and dancing themselves into a ring, then several rings stacked on each other. Each mark pulsed once, then again, and again. And with every pulse, the forest seemed to bend toward it. Enel could not feel Breath the way others did. He could not feel it at all—but even he knew what gathered in Blakwud's mouth. The mud beneath Blakwud began to boil, and the roots and vines binding Enel shuddered.

Leaves rained down from everywhere, but instead of falling to the ground, they drifted toward the light. The rings folded into one another, forming an orb that flickered violently between black and green. It grew larger, and larger, and larger inside Blakwud's mouth, lighting the hollow of its skull until even the fog above them glowed.

"Grkh…" Enel pulled the roots again, even harder this time… to the point the forest seemed to also follow his pull. But still, the roots around him tightened, and the light in Blakwud's mouth swelled and swelled as if it had become the only sun left inside the Dark Forest.

"What… is going on now?" Outside the Dark Forest at the same time, the vemons had stopped advancing—no. They had stopped moving completely… all at the same time. And of course, the soldiers who were fighting for their lives took this chance to slice and hack everything they could. The knights, however, also stopped as they noticed the creatures began to tremble. But of course, like the soldiers, they took this chance to strike back with everything they could.

Only those on top of the wall noticed that the fog was also trembling. There was a sound coming from it, too. It was faint at first, then it became louder, like thousands of insects scraping their legs against dry bark. Robert stepped toward the edge of the wall.

"What is that?" Gawen landed right beside him.

"T—" He was about to say something, when the hair along his arms suddenly rose. And for the first time since arriving at Widow's Wall, his weapon lowered. His eyes widened, and he looked toward a certain direction. And after a few moments, the Dark Forest… lit up. A beam tore through the fog far beyond the edge of the forest, black and green and wide enough to swallow a hill. The sky flashed with it, and for a moment, Gawen could see Blakwud's silhouette.

But it was completely drowned by the light and the destruction that came with it. Everyone who saw the light now froze like the vemons, and no one found the strength to speak. And after the beam of light was gone, it seemed to have taken a part of the forest with it—no. Not just the Dark Forest, the beam went straight south… and Gawen would not have been surprised if it continued all the way to the southern shore.

"Fuck." Gawen stared at the crevice visible even from afar, rainwater dripping from his jaw.

"…I am too old for this."