"Proceed as planned."
"Yes, my lord."
After three days of marching, the Gray Knight army reached the edge of what was known to them as the Silent Forest.
The name fits.
There was no birdsong, no rustle of leaves in the wind, no chirping of insects. The silence was so profound it was almost a physical presence, pressing in on them from all sides. The air was still, heavy with an unnatural stillness that made the hair on the back of their necks stand up.
Even the light seemed different here, filtered through the dense canopy in a way that painted the forest floor in eerie, shifting shadows.
The trackers and rangers Marak had sent ahead had returned with the same report: nothing. No signs of the missing army, no tracks, no signs of a struggle. Just... silence.
"I don't like this, my lord," a Gray Knight said, his deep voice barely a whisper, as if afraid to disturb the oppressive quiet. "This place feels... wrong."
"We have no choice, Brother," Leonardo replied, his voice steady, betraying none of the unease he felt. "We have our orders."
Leonardo was 100% sure that a trap was ahead.
He could feel it; he could almost taste the anticipation in the air, a hunger that seemed to emanate from the very trees.
The Silent Forest is the border of the elven kingdom, a place that even the elves themselves avoid, a place where the world's magic is thin and weak.
However, the biggest reason that almost everyone avoids it and those who dared to enter never returned is that, aside from the edge of the forest that still represents what a forest looks like, inside it, it's a completely different story.
It's a massive swamp.
A swamp filled with deadly poison, gas, and monsters, most of them variants of insects and arachnids.
And the army's destination was the other side of the forest.
So they either have to spend three months marching around the forest, which they don't have, or they have a three-day march through the swamp, which is a death sentence.
And Leonardo had no doubt that the king and the nobles knew this, and that was their real goal from the start.
"Let's move out," Leonardo said, ignoring the knight's comment. Then he turned back and glanced at the sky, searching for that raven who had kept following them ever since they left the fortress.
Of course, it was there, perched on a branch, its three eyes fixed on him.
It hadn't done anything hostile. It just... watched. But Leonardo couldn't shake the feeling that it was a scout, an observer sent by the new goddess to monitor their progress.
And it was pissing him off.
'What are you waiting for?' he thought, his frustration mounting. 'Just attack us already and get it over with.'
But the raven just stared at him, its three eyes unblinking.
"My lord, the barrier squad is ready," a Gray Knight approached, reporting from the center of the army.
Leonardo turned to see a group of five Gray Knights, each carrying a large crystal in their hands. The crystals were glowing with a faint white light, a special device created by the church mages to protect the army from the deadly poison and gas of the swamp.
"Good," Leonardo said, nodding. "Activate it."
The five knights placed the crystals on the ground in a pentagram formation and chanted a prayer. The crystals flared with a bright white light, and a shimmering barrier appeared around the army, a dome of pure holy energy.
"Now, we move," Leonardo said, his voice firm. "Stay in formation. Keep your eyes open. And don't touch anything."
The army started to move, their armored boots sinking slightly into the soft, muddy ground. The barrier hummed with energy, a small island of light and order in the middle of the chaotic, deadly swamp.
...
The deeper they went, the more oppressive the silence became. The only sounds were the squelching of their boots in the mud, the clanking of their armor, and the low hum of the barrier.
The swamp was a nightmare landscape of twisted, skeletal trees, their branches like gnarled fingers reaching for the sky. The water was black and stagnant, covered with a thick layer of green slime. And the air was thick with the stench of decay and death.
They had been walking for hours, and they hadn't seen a single living creature. Not even a fly.
"This is unnatural," Marak's voice crackled through Leonardo's communication crystal, a private link between the commanders. "Even the deadliest swamps have some form of life. This... this is like the land itself is dead."
"Just keep your men alert, Brother," Leonardo replied, his eyes scanning the shadows. "I have a feeling we are not alone."
That feeling was getting stronger. The presence of the raven was still there, but it was joined by other presences. Dozens of them, hidden in the shadows, watching them with hungry, malevolent eyes.
He could feel their malice, their desire to tear him and his men limb from limb. But they didn't attack. They just... watched.
Leonardo had a theory about that too. He guessed this swamp wasn't just a natural phenomenon. It was a territory. A hunting ground. And whoever, or whatever, ruled this place was toying with them. Letting them get deeper and deeper into its web before striking.
...
More marching. The swamp seemed to stretch on forever, a twisted labyrinth of death and decay. The knights were getting restless, their hands gripping their weapons, their eyes darting from shadow to shadow.
"Anything?" Leonardo asked into his communication crystal.
"Nothing, my lord," Marak's voice replied. "The trackers are reporting the same thing. No signs of life. Just... silence."
"Keep looking," Leonardo said. "I'm sure they are there. I can feel them."
He was right.
They were there. Hidden in the mud, under the water, and in the trees.
But no one was able to spot them.
"Hm?" Leonardo narrowed his eyes. The fog was getting thicker as they went deeper, and the barrier started to flicker. The crystals were losing power.
"We need to find a place to rest and recharge the crystals," Leonardo said, his voice a low growl. "We can't keep moving like this."
"Agreed," Marak's voice replied. "The men are getting tired. The swamp is... draining them."
"Find a clearing," Leonardo ordered. "A defensible position. We will make camp there."
"Right away, my lord."
...
After a few minutes of searching, the scouts found a small clearing, a rare patch of solid ground in the middle of the swamp. The knights quickly set up a perimeter, their weapons at the ready, while the barrier squad began the process of recharging the crystals.
The clearing was eerily quiet, the only sound being the low murmur of prayers and the occasional clank of armor.
Leonardo stood at the edge of the clearing, his golden eyes scanning the surrounding darkness. He was a man on high alert, every nerve ending tingling with anticipation.
"They are close," he muttered to himself. "I can feel them."
He was right.
The moment the barrier flickered and died for a few seconds during the recharging process, they attacked.
It wasn't a roar, a war cry, or a scream.
It was a deafening, collective skittering sound.
Like a million tiny legs moving all at once.
The ground around the clearing erupted, a black tide of chitin and fangs pouring out of the mud and water. Giant spiders, centipedes, scorpions, and creatures Leonardo couldn't even name, their eyes glowing with a malevolent, hungry red light.
"HOLD THE LINE!" Leonardo roared, his sword bursting into a shower of holy light as he charged into the fray. "FOR URIEL!"
The knights responded with a roar of their own, their faith a beacon in the oppressive darkness. They fought with a desperate ferocity, their swords and axes cleaving through the tide of monsters, their shields deflecting razor-sharp claws and venomous fangs.
But the monsters were endless. For every one they killed, a dozen more took their place.
Surprisingly, the knights were able to hold their ground, their faith and training giving them an edge over the mindless swarm.
Then...
A yellow fog started to rise from the ground, a thick, cloying miasma that clung to their armor, seeping through the smallest gaps.
"POISON! HOLD YOUR BREATH!" Leonardo yelled, but it was too late.
The knights started to cough and choke, their movements becoming sluggish as the poison coursed through their veins.
This wasn't just any poison. It was magical, a potent concoction that sapped their strength and dulled their senses.
Leonardo felt it too, a cold, creeping numbness spreading through his limbs. He gritted his teeth, forcing his body to move, to fight, but even he was starting to feel the effects.
"Ugh... I have no choice," he thought, a grim determination in his golden eyes.
He swiftly closed his eyes and started to chant, a deep, resonant prayer to the goddess of light.
"O holy Uriel, goddess of light and purity, I beseech thee. Lend me your strength, your divine fire, to cleanse this darkness and guide your children through the valley of death. In your name, I pray..."
A brilliant white light erupted from his body, a wave of pure, unadulterated divine energy that swept through the clearing.
The monsters shrieked in agony as the light washed over them, their chitinous bodies dissolving into ash. The yellow fog was also dispersed, the poison neutralized by the holy power.
The knights looked at their chapter master in awe, their faith renewed.
But the respite was short-lived.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
"Arrows!" Leonardo yelled, raising his shield to block a volley of arrows that rained down from the trees. They were not normal arrows. They were made of a dark, viscous substance, and they dripped with a potent poison that ate through their armor like acid.
More knights fell, their bodies convulsing as the poison consumed them from within.
"We are surrounded!" Marak roared, his voice a mixture of rage and desperation. "There's no way out!"
Leonardo looked around, his golden eyes wide with a dawning horror. He could see them now.
Up there on the dead, skeletal trees, perched like gargoyles, were the elven archers.
But they were not the graceful, noble elves he knew.
Their skin was a sickly gray, their eyes glowed with the same malevolent red light as the monsters', and their bodies were covered in writhing, black tattoos that seemed to move and shift with a life of their own.
They were primal wood elves. The ones who live in the Silent Forest.
"This is gonna be tougher than I thought," Leonardo said, a grim smile on his face as he raised his sword, the light flaring brighter.
"In the name of Uriel, we will not fall!" he roared, a defiant cry that echoed through the swamp. "WE ARE THE GRAY KNIGHTS! AND WE WILL NOT BE DEFEATED!"