They both walked up Mount Mordor, keeping their guard up the whole time. Ethan's head kept turning left and right, scanning the area around them.
He vaguely saw traces of a fight inside the forest—tree trunks were scratched, and branches were broken off. Ethan narrowed his eyes, trying to focus.
"What is it?" Nuwa asked.
"Nothing."
"There's nothing," Ethan replied.
They continued climbing toward the mountain peak, but their steps stopped when they noticed thick fog suddenly surrounding the area.
Ethan and Nuwa stood back to back. Their eyes were sharp, scanning around, trying to figure out what kind of monsters were surrounding them.
Suddenly, a tree branch with a sharp tip lunged straight toward Ethan. He reacted fast, slicing it cleanly and cutting it down with precision.
The friction between his sword and the branch caused sparks to fly, flames spreading across the branch's arm until it couldn't move anymore.
