Meanwhile, Aornn was charging toward another group of Minotaurs. The sturdy bark horns sprouting from Aornn's head were aimed straight at the target.
One Minotaur raised a shield to block Aornn. Aornn's front hooves dug deep into the earth, with the hind legs following immediately. One step, two steps—with each stride, the distance closed, and as weight shifted forward, speed noticeably increased. The dirt ground was scraped long by the hooves, and soon, as Aornn's massive form filled the view, the Minotaur swallowed hard and gripped the shield even tighter.
Aornn's horn struck the shield head-on. A dull impact resonated, and the shield caved deeply inward. The metal couldn't hold and split open, allowing Aornn's horn to push through the shield and drive toward the Minotaur's chest.
The iron armor on the chest couldn't withstand it and tore apart. As the horn pierced through armor and flesh alike, embedding deeply, the Minotaur's body arched backward.
A short groan escaped from the throat, as if breath had been cut off. The eyes rolled back, and as strength left the arms, the shield slipped from the hand, clanging as it hit the ground.
Aornn shook the head side to side. The Minotaur's body, impaled on the horn, swayed with it. Blood pouring from the wound trickled down Aornn's horn.
Aornn jerked the head back sharply. The Minotaur's body, skewered on the horn, staggered and then thudded heavily onto the ground.
At that moment, another Minotaur charged in with an axe. Raising the double-bladed axe overhead, it swung down at Aornn's head.
But Aornn was faster. Before the axe could descend, Aornn's sharp teeth clamped onto the Minotaur's arm.
"Arggk!"
The Minotaur cried out in pain, and the axe fell from its hand.
Aornn tightened the jaws. The jaw, harder than steel, slowly crushed the Minotaur's arm. Blood seeped out through the gaps where teeth dug into flesh. When the bone, unable to endure any longer, finally snapped, the Minotaur's scream erupted.
"Kaaaaagggggh!!"
The Minotaur swung its remaining arm, pounding Aornn's head with a fist. A dull thud echoed as the fist struck the hard bark, but Aornn didn't budge.
The Minotaur struck again with the fist.
Aornn added more force to the jaws still clamped on the arm. Blood oozed thicker from the Minotaur's arm, and the sound of bones gradually crumbling grew louder.
Flesh and muscle, crushed beyond endurance, tore apart, and blood from burst vessels stained Aornn's mouth red. With one final powerful clench of the jaws, the Minotaur's arm was torn off at the bone.
"Aaaaaaaaagh!"
The Minotaur staggered, having lost an arm. Blood spurted like a fountain. It tried to staunch the wound with its remaining hand, but it was futile.
Around them, more Minotaurs were slowly approaching Aornn. One Minotaur shouted to its kin, while others aimed axes and spears at Aornn.
Aornn's front hoof struck the head of the armless Minotaur, which was still screaming.
The head hit the ground with a dull thud, and the Minotaur's eyes, now fallen to the dirt, were already clouded with the light of death.
Vrant was facing several Minotaurs on the other side. The Minotaurs silently surrounded Vrant from all directions. One, two—before long, seven had encircled Vrant.
Vrant stood silently. Motionless, yet Vrant's mere presence made the surrounding air feel strangely oppressed.
A brief silence. And then—
Vrant raised both arms. Vrant's thick arms swung in a wide arc.
Three Minotaurs were knocked forward, and then four more were flung away by the sweeping arms.
The remaining Minotaurs flinched in surprise, but it was too late to flee. Vrant extended the arms again.
The two arms descended like a cascade, then enveloped the remaining Minotaurs.
Without even time to groan, their bodies were wrapped in Vrant's massive arms. From waist to chest, piled atop one another, the Minotaurs could barely resist within the grip of Vrant's enormous hands.
At that moment.
"Aaaáh! Áphes me!(Aaaah! Let go!)"
The surviving Minotaurs thrashed about. But Vrant's arms were an inescapable weight against their strength. Their worm-like wriggling in the massive grasp appeared almost pitiable.
As force was applied to the arms, the bones and muscles of the captured Minotaurs crumbled from within. Screams overlapped, creating a grotesque harmony, and soon all sounds ceased. Their eyes went vacant, and their bodies went completely limp.
Vrant released the arms. The corpses fell one by one to the dirt ground. Heavy, dull impacts echoed at short intervals.
Dust rose from the soil, and the lifeless bodies lay entangled in disarray.
At that instant, another Minotaur leaped in from behind. Aiming for the thinnest root among Vrant's legs, it drove a double-handed axe downward.
The axe blade embedded deeply, splitting the bark. A short, dull sound rang out, but Vrant showed no reaction.
To Vrant, it was merely a scratch on a twig.
Slowly turning the head, Vrant's eyes looked down at the attacker. Within the green-glowing pupils, there was not anger, but rather a faint disappointment.
Meanwhile, Aornn was pursuing yet another Minotaur.
The Minotaur fled through the forest in terror, stumbling like a lost wanderer. It tripped over root-tangled underbrush and rocks, staggering, and collided with outstretched branches. Panting heavily, it pressed forward, but its steps grew increasingly tangled. Struggling for life, yet Aornn's footsteps were already closing in.
Aornn pursued with unrelenting ferocity.
Despite the enormous size, Aornn raced through the forest at astonishing speed. The four legs alternately pounding the ground resembled a massive panther, while the thick wooden armor enveloping the body and the horns thrusting forward evoked a charging rhinoceros.
Aornn overtook the fleeing Minotaur and blocked the path ahead.
The Minotaur tried to veer sharply away.
But before that, Aornn leaped, pounding the ground with front hooves and launching into the air.
Twisting in midair, Aornn swung a massive foreleg, striking the back of the escaping Minotaur.
The bark-covered claws raked across the back, digging in.
The Minotaur's iron armor tore far too easily, exposing the spine.
"Uwaaaaaa!"
The Minotaur let out a short scream and tumbled forward.
Aornn bit into the nape of the fallen Minotaur. Sharp teeth sank between the vertebrae.
"Grrk... gkk..."
A groan rumbled deep in the Minotaur's throat.
The spine compressed, causing shoulders and arms to twitch in spasms, and soon the Minotaur's body stiffened quietly.
Aornn opened the mouth and spat out a chunk of the Minotaur's flesh. The Minotaur's corpse lay prone on the ground. The nape was deeply gouged, and blood quietly soaked the earth. The eyes remained open, frozen, with unerasable terror and despair pooled within.
*****
Vrant thrust thick, knotted root-like hands deep into the ground. The coarse segments extending from the fingertips gripped the soil like clutching claws, and after a moment, with a dull vibration, a massive boulder was uprooted.
The boulder's surface was caked with dirt, and as it was lifted, small rock fragments and dry roots pattered down.
Vrant slowly raised the boulder. The heavy, solid weight tilted over Vrant's shoulder, but with legs rooted firmly like tree trunks, Vrant twisted toward the sky.
And in that moment, the boulder left Vrant's arms and soared. Following the arc of the long swing, the boulder traced a low, thick curve through the air and plummeted into the midst of the fleeing Minotaur herd.
The first impact exploded with a roar that cut across the forest. At the landing spot, dozens of Minotaurs were crushed into indistinguishable masses of flesh. Bones and blood from the crushed sprayed in all directions, and those nearby screamed and scattered.
But it didn't end there. The boulder, still undiminished in momentum, rolled onward. Bearing its immense weight, it swallowed several more from the fleeing group. Some died without even a short cry, shattered to pieces; others were bisected at the waist, writhing beneath the boulder .
The boulder struck a large dead tree trunk, veering obliquely, and more Minotaurs in its new path were caught and crushed in succession.
One screamed upon seeing the boulder rolling over fallen kin while fleeing; another tried to block it bare-handed, only to have both arms shattered. In the chaos and terror, the Minotaurs' ranks collapsed, giving way to disordered flight.
A second boulder took to the air. The humming rumble it made echoed through the forest. This one too fell straight into a cluster of Minotaurs, and again, screams and splatters of blood spread through the woods.
Amid it all, one Minotaur was struck squarely in the chest, which caved in, leading to instant death. Blood surged from the mouth, covering the eyes, and it flailed hands as if grasping at the air before collapsing to the ground.
Another was hit in the leg. The area below the knee was utterly pulverized, with bone shards protruding outward. It rolled to the ground, screaming in agony.
"Aaaáh! Hē skélē mou! (Aaaah! My leg!)"
But the suffering didn't last long. Vrant hurled yet another boulder. This time, the massive rock struck the head precisely and passed over.
With the tremendous impact, the Minotaur's head shattered, and the neck twisted. The body convulsed as if trembling, then went still.
The Tharn Forest, welcoming the invaders, was filled with the stench of blood, screams, and confusion. The surviving Minotaurs were now a mere handful, all pale in the shadow of death. Some clutched their heads with trembling hands, others staggered and fell, and a few crawled across the ground in attempts to escape.
But Vrant and Aornn did not stop. To them, the beings that had invaded the Sarn Forest were all targets to be eliminated.
Aornn approached one trembling Minotaur. It had already discarded its weapon and raised both hands.
"Lýsai me... dêomai! Sōson!(Please... please spare me!)"
The Minotaur sobbed in plea. But Aornn's eyes held no mercy.
Aornn's front hoof slowly extended toward the Minotaur's chest. Sharp, thick claws tore through the armor, embedding deeply.
The armor was pierced, sending metal shards flying. The claws ripped flesh, cleaved between ribs, and burrowed to the heart.
"Kuuuuuuuuughk···."
Blood poured from the Minotaur's mouth. Its eyes widened in shock and pain, and the heart, torn, fluttered a few more times before finally stopping.
Aornn slowly withdrew the claws. The Minotaur's body toppled backward and collapsed to the ground. Blood flowed from the hole in the chest.
Vrant was walking toward the last remaining Minotaurs. They had already lost all will to fight, kneeling with heads bowed to the ground.
"Syngnōmēn aitoumen! Hēmeîs hēmartēkamen! (Forgive us! We were wrong!)"
"Ouk an elthōmen pálin eis to dásos! (We won't come to the forest again!)"
"Tēn psychēn mónon... deḯsō se! (Please, just spare our lives!)"
The Minotaurs pleaded desperately. But Vrant's expression remained unchanged.
"Vrashu ek thalur na drûn, kelun varg uthâr." (The agony of the burning trees is your fate.)
Vrant's deep voice resonated. In that voice, anger and sorrow intertwined.
"Zaruun ek vrélen kaithir, nor akhen drul nedûn." (You should have listened to the forest's song, but you did not hear it.)
Vrant raised both hands. The enormous hands cast shadows over the last Minotaurs.
"Khoren ul draath." (Now death comes.)
Vrant's two hands came down simultaneously. Each hand seized one Minotaur.
The fingers, woven from thick intertwined branches, wrapped around their torsos, and in the next instant—
Vrant's two arms swung wide.
"GRAAAAH!"
With a massive groan, the Minotaurs' bodies flew through the air. Their forms cut through branches and slammed into a thick ancient tree.
The sounds of flesh and iron tearing simultaneously, the bursts of rupturing meat, and from within, muffled screams erupting—
"Aaaaaggh—!"
But the screams did not last long.
The two corpses slid limply from the tree and were flung side by side onto the ground. Heads twisted, limbs broken.
The forest fell briefly silent. The wind, the forest beasts, the birds—all sank into quietude.
Yet soon, from afar, beyond the forest, sounds emerged.
Thud— thud-thud-thud— thud-thud—
In the forest's shadows, unseen but unmistakably present, the hoofbeats of numerous surviving Minotaurs.
The desperate breaths of those stumbling between roots as they fled seemed audible, mingled with whimpers like cries of terror.
Now, the forest held only the Minotaurs' corpses. Blood flowed in places, broken bones scattered here and there. Shattered armor fragments littered the forest floor.
The battle was over.
Vrant slowly surveyed the surroundings. Flames still burned on a few trees. A faint green glow flickered in Vrant's pupils, and within, a deep sorrow passed fleetingly.
Vrant extended both hands toward the burning trees.
The forest quietly yielded its breath to Vrant. From the fingertips, a mossy-green aura spread, enveloping the burning trees like infusing life's breath.
The flames gradually died down. The smoldering branches calmed one by one. The red embers shrank until they vanished completely.
The wounds left by the fire began to heal.
The scorched bark crumbled away, revealing inner flesh. Vital light streamed over the scars, and at the ends of severed branches, young shoots quietly began to sprout. Under Vrant's touch, the forest breathed anew.
Aornn's form began to change. The massive armored body trembled and slowly crumbled. The sturdy bark cracked, and the tangled vines within spilled out. The vines unraveled one by one, falling to the ground and flowing, then seeping into the soil to find their places. The once-sharp horns and teeth returned to their original small size.
Aornn reverted to the natural form. The body, woven from dozens of vine strands, resumed its familiar shape, and the intense green light that had emanated from the empty eye sockets now shifted to a gentle, warm glow.
Aornn bounced small feet lightly, as if carried on a gentle breeze, and with sprightly steps approached Vrant's feet. Rubbing against the enormous branch-formed foot of Vrant, Aornn expressed long-awaited affection for the master.
Vrant looked down and nodded as if satisfied. Vrant's hand gently stroked Aornn.
"Manehn le, Aorn." (Well done, Aornn.)
Vrant's voice now spoke in a gentle tone, unlike when facing the Minotaurs.
Peace returned to the Sarn Forest. Birds began perching on branches again, and small animals poked heads from nests and burrows.
Vrant walked slowly toward Daroon and Tirrellda.
Daroon bowed deeply in greeting.
"Ancient guardian, thank you for aiding us."
Tirrellda also bowed toward Vrant.
"Truly... truly, thank you."
Vrant looked down at them with a gentle expression. Though the face was made of bark, it held warmth.
"Varhûn ek Rûn, akhiæl ek Thalan, draushun na kelûr." (Descendant of the river lord and daughter of the forest, I rejoice in your courage.)
"Thûren vehrash kalun eketh, nor draushun na thurel." (The trees have told me all of you, your courage and sacrifice.)
"Akhiæl ek Thalan, frath unarh kelun thûren morval ûthan." (Daughter of the forest, with your ice, many trees were saved from darkness.)
Tears welled in Tirrellda's eyes. She could say nothing, only bowing deeply.
"Khéru drathûn vakhal. Thalan verûn na rithal." (Now the invaders are all gone. The forest has regained peace.)
Vrant said, looking up at the sky.
"Var thûren draem kalith rithal ûtran, sul ekhen varûn thréla." (But healing the wounded trees will take time. I must remain by their side.)
Vrant looked down again at Daroon and Tirrellda.
"Unarh véla. Rûn na khan lir." (You are safe now.)
With those words, Vrant slowly turned. Aornn followed behind. The two beings began walking into the deep recesses of the Sarn Forest.
Vrant's footsteps gradually faded. Daroon and Tirrellda remained in place until the sound vanished completely.
Finally, tranquility visited the forest once more. Only the chirping of birds, the rustle of wind, and the whispering of leaves filled the air.
The invaders were all gone, and the Sarn Forest was protected. And those who had safeguarded that peace were Vrant and Aornn, the ancient guardians of the forest from time immemorial.
Before their overwhelming power, the Minotaurs' invasion became utterly meaningless.